The Seeker and the Source Pt. 06

"What will happen to them?" She re-asserted, her voice pitched with ever-growing concern.

He furrowed his brow, schooling his emotions before he finally explained as calmly as possible.

"They've been found guilty of racial treachery. The only punishment is death." His tone was matter of fact as he said this.

"What?" She exclaimed in a mixture of horror and anger. "How can you just stand there and let that happen!"

"It's already been done. There's nothing more that I can do. And they aren't even my concern. You are, however."

"That's barbaric." She sniffed.

Illandriil winced at her words. Anger pain and frustration all rolled into one look as his mouth worked to form counter arguments that could not escape his lips. Instead he walked across to her and tried to place a hand on her shoulder in a way that could almost be mistaken for caring, only for her to shrug him off and step back away from him.

He frowned, agitated emerald eyes tinged with worry. He stalked toward her, slowly backing her toward a wall. There was a quick look of fear crossed Aurelia's face as she glanced around for a quick escape.

Too late.

He had her quickly caged her between two giant well-built arms. Trapping her there as his virescent eyes locked in on hers.

"You are resisting me, and I need to know why." He said, his voice low and dark.

"Because what happened in there wasn't right" Aurelia shot back, her upper lip quivering despite her steely nerve even as she held his darkened gaze.

They stood there glaring each other down before her eyes widened in a look of recognition.

"You weren't expecting this were you?"

Illandriil raised a single eyebrow in question. His expression remaining stony and un-phased despite this.

"You didn't know I could withhold my magic, did you?" she clarified. "In all your plans, you didn't once take into account the possibility that you would need my co-operation."

Illandriil's eyes narrowed in frustration, she knew she had him.

"Not entirely no. That's no matter though" he said through gritted teeth. "You will submit to me. Eventually, you will tire, the pain of expended magic would be too much, and you will submit."

"No, I won't."

"Aurelia." Her name left his lips like a warning, his expression somehow growing darker, threatening. His face looming closer as he did. She continued defiantly staring at him unflinching. She was not going to let him talk her down from her stance. His hands forcibly grabbed both her wrists, transferring one into the other, locking them above her head in an iron grip.

His voice dipped into a low dangerous octave, hot breath warming the tops of her lips as he said.

"I am unused to tolerating disobedience for this long."

Aurelia steeled herself against flinching from him, as she stood there, locked between a literal wall and the solid rock that was his body.

Finally, he drew from her pulling her with him, toward the massive bed, brushing off her struggles as he did. He deftly maneuvered her so that she laid over his lap. He slowly lifted her skirts up exposing her pale round of her bottom to the cooler air of the chamber, even as she struggled against his unrelenting grip. Her skin tingled at the feeling of his warm slender fingers trailing along the curve of her behind. Electric sparks tingled up and down her spine with the intimate touch before she felt it.

crack

The sound reverberated off the stone walls as his hand found its mark, delivering a hefty smack. Aurelia let out a yelp in surprise, momentarily pausing her struggles as she registered the sudden blow, before she resumed them tenfold. He was going to spank her over his knee. Like a child needing discipline for acting out. She pressed her eyebrows together in fury. Her cheeks flushed with reddened embarrassment at the infantilising punishment he was doling out.

"Count"

"No" She hissed as she wriggled in his grasp.

clap

"We'll be here all day 'til you do"

snap

"Fuck you"

Aurelia winced at the last one, as the creamy pale of her ass deepened into a brighter scarlet. His hand delivered three more swats before he swapped to the other cheek and repeated the process. She bit her lips every so often to steel herself from crying out in full, though tears welled within her eyes. Refusing to give him the satisfaction of eliciting any form of pained reaction until she could bear it no longer. After the seventh or eighth smart strike to her behind she finally let out a stifled cry. She went on squealing and hissing at each blow after that. Her cheeks warmed and burned with each time his hand connected. The act feeling more demeaning than painful. Still she refused to let him have her submission, even in this.

She cried out in full as another stinging swat connected with her rear.

Finally, his assault ended. He leaned his forehead to the crook of her neck, her body unmoving, having long since given up on struggling. Blessedly cold fingers massaged the burning flesh of her behind as he casted a frozen spell to cool his touch. She could feel the vibrations of his deep bass as he spoke to her softly, as though he were speaking with a frightened animal.

"Aurelia, what happened in the throne room won't be the last time and I'm trying to protect you."

"I don't need your protection."

He sighed as he released his hold on her.

Feeling his hands ease off her, Aurelia rolled of his lap and retreated to the other end before turning to face him.

"Stay away from me"

Illandriil squeezed his hands into fists at his sides, knowing he overstepped his bounds once again. His eyes watched as Aurelia found her way back across the room to their bed opposite where he sat. In angry jerky motions she reached for a pillow and proceeded to find a place on the floor near the fire.

"What are you doing?"

"Well I'm sure as hell not getting in bed with you"

"Take my bed. I'll sleep somewhere else." He growled. With that he stomped out the door, slamming it shut behind him with an audible bang.

###

Aurelia struggled to stifle a yawn as she sat on one of the soft burgundy velvet upholstered chairs that dotted the library close to her chambers. Absently listening to one of her tutors drone on about statecraft even as her eyes wandered about the various mahogany shelves of the room. Pedestals featuring various orbs of light hovering just above the surface served as secondary lights to a large crystal chandelier that hung in the centre. Books seemed to whisk by on their own, shifting and changing as if with a mind of their own, a destination knowable only to them.

Her eyes felt heavy from the lack of sleep. She hadn't slept well these past few nights. She wasn't sure what caused her sleeplessness.

It couldn't be because she honest-to-goodness missed sleeping with him could it? She honestly hadn't seen him, ever since he gave up his bed to her.

Her mind roamed back to the topic her tutor was droning on about. Her eyes wandered to her tutors earrings. The rosy tones of coppered-gold, a metal alloy the elves came up with combining copper and gold together, shone in the fluorescence of a nearby mage light. A scholar. Or a wizard. He could honestly be either. She mused to herself glancing at the flowing robes he wore.

"Now, on top of their royal duties, it is the job of the monarch's consort to guide and assist them in their decisions. However, you are just a human, with no capacity to make such decisions..."

If she had a copper piece, or whatever form of currency the elves used, for every time an elf said something like that...

Aurelia glanced up at a pretty ceiling mosaic that seemed to come alive if one stared at it for too long. Large fluffy clouds, outlined in rich, brilliant golden hues illuminating the silvery pathway. Crystallic trees draped in iridescent dewy leaves lined the way to an unknowable beyond that looked as if one need only move closer to see even though the surface was completely flat.

"The Aether." The prince's familiar deep timbre echoed through the room, startling Aurelia out of her daydream.

Aurelia glanced up just in time to see her tutor bow and take his leave at the prince's arrival.

"The Aether; the place where all souls are laid to rest. On there with which the throne of Akash sits, surrounded by the principal deities" The prince explained further; as he circled around the table til he stood behind her chair. He placed his hands possessively on her shoulders, tightening his fingers along the bladed bone.

"Why are you here?" Aurelia asked, eyeing him warily. She noted the slight sunken look of his eyes, despite his regal attire. His face seemed almost saddened. She felt his grip tighten around her shoulders as he said.

"We're needed in the council chambers."

His hands slipped down her shoulders to grab hold of her arm as he hauled her out of the plushy upholstered chair and dragged her to the exit.

She felt his cheek brush against her ear as he briskly dragged her along the long gilded hallways and corridors of the palace.

"So are you ready to obey?" he said in a voice loud enough so that only she could hear.

Aurelia fought the urge to bark out a laugh at his question. Obey? He really still expected her to obey? She glanced up at him catching hints of that perfect but oh-so-fake look of concern in his eyes. She'd almost believe he cared. Almost.

"You're insane if you think I'm going to do anything you say"

This earned her a scalding look of both fury and disbelief. She paid no mind to it though, she was beyond caring. She was not going to let more people die because of her.

Whatever they wanted, they were going to have to fight her for it.

Rights and lefts flew by and he navigated the palace with familiar ease with her in tow until they stood in front of the great double doors leading into the council chambers.

Aurelia could hear the sharp inhale of his breath as they stepped into the room full of the same people intent on tearing her apart.

Aurelia gazed at the advisors and nobles that lined the room. The Quene's closest, high ranking officials, those who took part in running the Dominion. Cenath and Cerrella standing right beside her majesty herself. Illandriil herded her til she stood just before a grand stone table holding one of the largest maps of Beria she had ever seen. Everywhere from the evergreen forests of Kravalia, to the rolling sands of Ymdoren.

Like the mosaic in the library before this map seemed almost alive. An invisible wind licked the tips of tiny trees dotting forests, teeny droplets of snow crested mountain peaks, oceans waves that seemed to lap and flow around the land adding to its seemingly mystical existence. Aurelia couldn't help but feel the purest sense of awe as she beheld the great map. The fact that the Elves had something like this available trumped everything else she had seen thus far. This wasn't just any map. It was THE map.

The Quene must have caught her look of amazement as she nodded with approval.

"Do you like it?" She asked, though her tone gave inclination that she already knew the answer. "This was made by some of our best mages, designed by your husband's father. My late husband, Gods rest his spirit. It was finished just before Illandriil was born. Well..."

The Quene paused as she narrowed her eyes at Aurelia.

"Almost finished."

"You see he could never quite find one bit of land that has been lost to our people for generation."

"The Fae Lands" said Aurelia in recognition of missing lands the Quene was referring to.

The Quene gave a wry smile, her expression fixed on Aurelia as she continued.

"Ah, so those silly mages had bothered to teach you something. Yes, the Fae Lands, you see, in the early days of creation, as the fabric of the realm was stitched, every fae spirit resided in the Fae Lands. Halflings, Orcs, Elves, those who existed before the creation of your kind all descend in one way or another from those first spirits. Each spirit populated the weave with much of the little things you know today. Air, grass, trees. In the end much of their powers had been diminished that the spirits could no longer exit the weave."

Aurelia nodded along, cautiously eyeing the quene. She had heard the creation stories before. The lesser spirits who couldn't create life quite like the Gods could in humans but still had a hand in the creation of other living things.

"Your divine father pitied us, in the end gifted the fae spirits with a magical orb that they could use to sustain themselves even as their powers waned. "

Aurelia could feel her almost getting to the point.

"Akash's sphere, was ours for generations. Long before our ancestors who controlled it became the elves. Unfortunately, it was lost thousands of years ago, along with the Fae Lands during the Great Sinking and its location has since been lost to time."

"And this is where I come in." Said Aurelia interpreting Eliinor's intention.

"You and Illandriil will divine the location of Akash's Sphere."

Aurelia felt Illandriil's hand tighten around her forearm as Eliinor said this. She readied herself internally, entering the small part of her brain where her magic energies existed. There was the familiar tugging of her magic as a rush of bright yellow erupted from her skin. Aurelia steeled herself for this as she clamped down on the flow. She looked at Illandriil as he knitted his brow in concentration momentarily increasing the flow before she pulled it back further. Locked again in their battle of wills, with so much more at stake.

She had almost managed to stop its rush before pain slammed into her brain with the force of an avalanche, burying her in its wake. She nearly stumbled over on the table gasping as it tore through mind, had it not been for the iron-like grip that the prince had on her arm.

Illandriil was fairing no better, as beads of sweat worked down his forehead. His eyes were no longer on her, instead focusing on the large map in front of them. Aurelia let out a painful scream that echoed across the walls. Her hands flew up to her head as she clutched at it in agony, not wanting to give into the fight for control.

Finally after what seemed like hours, she felt the trickle slowdown to a stop as the last of her magic energy was depleted.

Illandriil collapsed pulling her down with him, exhausted from the exerted effort. Despite the excruciating cranial ache she felt, Aurelia smiled between each panted breath, knowing she had won. The amount of magic required to divine anything especially something unknown to her like the relic, required more magic than the half Illandriil could access with her fighting him. He could go on draining her magic slowly until they both ran out of energy but he would never have enough of the raw power to do this.

Eliinor frowned as she stared at the map devoid of the lands to which she sought. There was a momentary stunned silence. Illandriil finally stood, heaving himself up by the edge of the stone table.

"My apologies your majesty, it appears to require more magic than originally anticipated." Said an elf in mages robes when the quene looked to him for explanation.

"The problem then, seems to be with you, your highness." Hissed Cenath, looking outraged by the turn of events. "The Seeker is supposed to act as a beacon, amplifying the Source's powers. You've barely managed a dribble."

"No matter, we shall try again tomorrow" the quene said sharply cutting the Illandriil off before he could counter.

"Your majesty, she's tired, please give us a day for rest." Illandriil protested

"Fine, see that she is rested." Said quene Eliinor finally, shooting Illandriil a scathing look that made Aurelia flinch. He however, held her bitter gaze stoically.

###

Aurelia stared up at cloudless night sky through her moonlit window, wishing she could stay in the overstuffed bed forever. Lost in a haze of nothingness. Her body entirely numb to everything.

It had been days since they had started using her magic to locate that damned sphere. Every day spent as though nothing happened, drifting silently in and out. With tutors and more tedious walks through the gods forsaken gardens cutting through the monotony of the day. Aurelia felt indifferent to it all. Nothing to compare to the suffering she felt whenever the prince arrived to drag her back in front of that Gods forsaken map.

Then it was just pain. Like great iron bells ringing in her head. The ongoing fight for control of the highly sought after resource. A magic energy tug of war with neither side fully giving in to the other. Rightfully hers though his as well, if the Gods were to be believed.

Pain.

Each time, he'd beg her. 'Give in.' 'Submit.' His words would echo through her head like a prayer, whenever she contemplated conceding.

The only thing that kept her going were thoughts of all those who lost their lives because of her renewed her resolve. Each face bouncing around in her mind, letting her know no peace.

Outside she drifted, ceasing to inhabit herself until the time came for her to continue their ceaseless wrestle for dominance. Her body simply going through the motions of living. Library, lunch, walks through the garden, dinner. Alternate days in that cursed chamber. The one redeeming factor being that every time they met, Illandriil seemed more desperate than the last.

Finally at the end, he'd carry her back to her room. Gently lay her in that giant bed, his warm caresses almost soothing. She shut him out mostly at this point that even if they were supposed to be comforting, it barely registered. Yet still, he'd stay, coax food in her mouth, bathe her, all while she absently stared away. Then he'd pull her into his arms, loving embrace, until she slept or pushed him away. It was all the same either way.

The Aether occupied her thoughts more and more often as each day passed. The painting in the library seemed to almost beckon her as life seemed almost too much. She was tired of having every choice made for her. Tired of the lack of autonomy over her life. There was however still one choice left in her head. One she felt she could still make by herself. A choice between a sheltered life, with no control over her powers, nor the fate of her people or

death.

She'd happily choose death. She could give up using her powers. Never use magic again, never having it used against her will to hurt others until her time came. She'd even be stopping the war in the end. That was after all, what both sides wanted. Right?

At least this time it will be my decision.

Lie and justify to herself all she liked, this was reluctant forced decision, brought upon by both sides. Not a real choice. Not one she'd make willingly at least, but it was still hers to make. No exits. No outs. One side or the other. At least no one else would have to die for her sake. Her people safe from Elven domination. The so-called Dominion brought down. Her death, and no more. No one dying for her, but her. It almost seemed poetic.

What was that? Aurelia shook her head and glanced around the dimly lit room. Light spattered shadows along the greying stone walls. Navy and gold seemed to darken and brighten with each shift of the flickering flames.

She paused using her abilities to detect nearby lifeforms. A positive, she noted, to her time with Illandriil, each time they had sex, it seemed her powers grew stronger, more potent. Each time they coupled it seemed the small pocket where she kept her powers drank it in, seemingly storing it, building it up.

Her eyes caught the shimmer of a lifeform outside her window. She reached out to its mind, sensing it's thoughts.

Human.

Distinctly human.