The Shadow Doctor Ch. 04

Tam stared at her in awe. "Gods above, you might be right. Be quiet and let me think about it; altering your mind is the last thing we want to rush into doing."

Yelena paled slightly; she evidently hadn't considered the possibility of side effects. She sat quietly while Tam rose and paced the floor, muttering to himself. Once he was satisfied, he quickly came over and sat on the floor in front of her.

"Alright, we're going to try it. Lie down and put your head in my lap; I don't want to risk you falling over or anything like that. Cross your arms over your chest and close your eyes. Good, just like that."

He placed his hands on either side of her face, holding her loosely. "We're going to steal some techniques from hypnosis; what we're trying doesn't bear any real relation to that parlor trick, but the framing should help. Now, everything I say from here on out is going to be a command. Let me know when you're ready."

Yelena took a deep breath and shifted herself slightly to be more comfortable. "I'm ready. Make me a wizard."

Tam rolled his eyes but began anyway. "Listen to my voice. Clearly picture everything you sense and feel right now. Preserve this moment in your mind. When I tell you to wake up, you will return to this exact state. Now, become calm, like you did yesterday. Picture the pool of water in your mind. Describe the first ripple in the surface to me."

"Your voice is the ripple. I'm thinking about what you're saying."

"Good. Smooth the ripple away. You can still hear me and understand me, but you do not think about it as you do. It simply happens. Tell me the next ripple."

He slowly talked her through the process, taking away the thoughts about her physical sensations, her thoughts about what they were doing and how it would or wouldn't work, her worries and fears about her new life. Tension slowly eased out of her body, until she was perfectly motionless except for the slow rise and fall of her chest, her voice a quiet monotone as she responded to his prompts without thinking about her answers. Finally, when he asked for the next ripple, she replied "There isn't one. The water is perfectly still."

"Good. Now let the water go. It's draining away, but it's not taking you with it. You remain. There's nothing else in your mind but you. Now tell me what you sense."

"I don't sense anything. Wait, no, there's something. There's a ball of light; it's a sphere, resting inside me. It's down in my center, between my hips. It's all gold like the sun, with little threads of darker gold running through it."

Tam wanted to run around the room screaming in triumph, but he stayed calm and kept going. "Good. Reach out with your mind and touch it carefully. Just brush the surface for now. Don't try to do anything with it. Just get used to the feeling. That's your chi, Yelena. Describe it to me."

"It's beautiful. It feels so warm. The threads feel different when I touch them though; they don't move to meet my touch like the rest of it does."

"The threads must be my chi; they're the enchantment that binds you to me. Alright, that's enough for your first time. Let go of the chi. Let it rest like it does when you're not in this state; it knows what's best for your body on its own. Feel the water rise again, float on its surface. Are you floating?"

"Yes, I am. The chi is shining under the water but I'm not touching it anymore."

"Good. Wake up."

Yelena blinked slowly in confusion and stared up at Tam. He waited nervously; as stunning as it had been to see her find her chi so easily, it would still be a horrible failure if she somehow lost herself in the dive. Her brow wrinkled slightly with a small frown. "I told you I'm ready, Tam. What are you waiting for?"

Tam laughed with joy. "I already did it, Yelena. You've been in a trance for just over an hour. We did it together. You found your chi."

Her eyes widened in shock. "But I don't remember anything! How does that help?"

Tam laughed again. "Here, sit up. Carefully, your muscles will feel a little unfamiliar to you for a moment. Now, here's the magic trick – without actually repeating the process, I now command you to remember everything that happened while you were in the trance."

Yelena gasped. She slumped forward as the memory poured through her; Tam hurriedly caught her, berating himself for having her sit up. He'd planned everything else out so elegantly, and she almost hit her head on something because he forgot to anticipate one detail.

Yelena put her hands on his shoulders and pushed herself up to face him. Tears were running down her cheeks, but she was smiling the purest smile he'd ever seen on her, her eyes glowing with joy. "Oh Tam, it was so beautiful. That was my chi. It's pure magic and I touched it, I really touched it, even if it was just for a moment."

Tam grinned and stood, tugging her to join him. "You were right. We did it. You've done something no one else has ever done in recorded history. You touched your chi on your first day trying."

Yelena laughed and threw her arms around him. "We really did it! Oh, thank you Tam, it was wonderful. You moved me through it so perfectly; I touched magic because of you!"

Tam returned her embrace and tilted her face up to look at him. "My spell made it possible, but you were the one who realized we could do it. I never thought of the possibility. You made this happen just as much as I did." He lowered his head and kissed her. Yelena kissed him back passionately while he tightened his arms around her, both of them drunk on their success.

Yelena was the first to return to her senses. She gently pulled back, breaking their embrace. "So, do you think it'll take me months to learn to do it without you putting me in a trance?"

Tam kissed her on the forehead and released her. "No. Finding the path is the difficult part. Because you remember what happened, you should be able to retrace the steps on your own. It's always easier after you make that first contact; you can feel the chi waiting for you once you start, and it will help guide you. You'll fail as often as you succeed at the start, but you'll gradually get better and faster at it. It might take you a little longer to become proficient than most because of how we cheated, but you did really touch your chi. You can try again right now if you want to."

"I do, yes, thank you thank you!" She gave him a quick kiss and hurriedly returned to the lotus position.

"Yelena. Before you start, one warning – if you make it there, don't go any farther than I took you. Just touch it lightly, don't try to do anything yet. It takes training to use chi properly; you can permanently damage yourself or your chi trying to use it if you don't know what you're doing. Never try to do anything with chi until you've been shown what to do."

She nodded seriously, then closed her eyes and began to empty her mind. Her breathing quickly slowed and she became perfectly still with the ease of someone who had been practicing meditation for months. Tam still almost couldn't believe they'd done it; his spell truly was amazing.

He went to pour himself a cup of tea while Yelena made her attempt, but realized it had grown cold while he kept Yelena in the trance. He sighed and decided to make another pot; he wouldn't be able to sleep any time soon anyway, not with the rush of adrenaline from success coursing through his system. Yelena would be busy trying to reach her chi; she likely wouldn't even notice his absence. He found a lamp and lit it, then walked to the kitchen.

As he waited for the water to heat, Tam began to consider the possibilities. He had another chi user under his control, hard as that was to believe. True, she was a raw novice, but he could use the spell to speed her training. She could assist him in enchanting, or he could have her trained in more martial techniques, giving him another set of abilities to use to complement his own specialization. His mind raced through plans and schemes; the ultimate goal of the mind control technique was power, of course. He reviewed old plans that he had dismissed as too hasty or over-ambitious, fitting the possible uses of this new Yelena against their flaws, drawing up the outlines of new schemes.

He was still scheming when he returned and settled behind his desk with the fresh pot of tea. He had almost finished his first cup when Yelena opened her eyes. She relaxed out of her pose, stretching her legs out in front of her, and smiled at him.

"I take it from that contented expression that you just touched your chi unaided for the first time?"

"No." She grinned. "That was the second time. I reached it earlier, but you were gone. While I was touching chi, I could sense where you were, just like when we were testing the ten foot rule. Based on the direction, I thought you were probably in the kitchen. It looks like I was right."

Tam smiled in pride. "You're a natural, Yelena. Even without cheating, you would have been a prodigy. Are you ready for your first lesson in how to use your chi?"

"Oh, yes, definitely. But it will have to be something you can teach me in five minutes or less."

Tam frowned. "Why on earth would you say that?"

Yelena pointed at the clock behind him. "You may remember that we made a bet. You get to choose which hour of the day is my free one, but in five minutes there will only be one hour left in the day, so either I start my free hour now, or I start it in five minutes."

Tam slapped the top of his desk, rattling his tea cup. "You are infuriating, woman! We make the greatest breakthrough in the history of learning chi, you have a master willing to teach you, and you want to spend an hour lazing around pointlessly?"

"A bet's a bet."

He brought himself under control with an effort. "And what if I don't feel like teaching you anymore once your hour is up?"

Yelena studied him for a moment. "I think you want me to be more useful, so you're going to teach me eventually even if you make me wait. And besides, you shouldn't punish me for taking my free hour. It was an honest bet and I won fair and square."

"You'll recall that there were no terms in the bet regarding how I treat you during the rest of your day outside your hour, and I don't need a reason to punish you if I feel like it." Tam softened. "But you're right, we made the bet and you won it. I won't spoil tonight by sulking. Your time is your own for the next hour. What do you want to do with your hour?"

Yelena grinned wickedly. "Oh, I think you'll be happy with my choice. I really should demand some time to myself, but I feel too alive and amazing right now. I want to fuck."

Tam stared at her wordlessly. She grinned back at him. "Yeah, I thought you'd like that. Don't get too excited though; if we're fucking in my hour, I get to decide how we do it. No tying me up or hurting me; I call the shots in bed for the next hour. If you can't handle that, I guess I'll just meditate in the garden or something."

Tam nodded. "I can handle that. Where do you want to get fucked first? Couch, desk, floor?"

Yelena wrinkled her nose at him. "First I am going to finish this excellent tea. I get Master's cock plenty every day, but this tea is a treat. After that, I would like to get fucked in a bed, thank you very much, like a proper lady."

Tam grinned and raised his tea cup to her in a silent salute. They stared at each other wordlessly as they drank, the tension slowly mounting. Finally Yelena rose, and Tam moved to join her, but she just refilled her cup and sat back down on the couch, grinning at him. Tam raised an eyebrow at her and sat back down himself.

After a moment's thought, he reached under his desk and undid his robe, slipping his hand into his pants and stroking himself hard. Yelena coughed with her cup halfway to her mouth as her pussy suddenly flooded to match his hardness.

"That's not very sporting."

Tam tried to look innocent. "I'm just making sure I'm ready to please the lady whenever she's ready to be pleased."

She growled at him and went back to sipping her tea, her nipples hard little dents in her top. She finished her second cup a bit more quickly than her first one, but she did finish it before rising and extending her hand.

"Would you please escort me to your chambers, Doctor Hsien?"

Tam rose, picking up the lamp, and took her hand. "Of course, Miss Alexovna."

They managed a sedate stroll through the hallway, but as soon as the door to his bedroom closed behind them, Yelena wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed him hungrily. Tam managed to deposit the lamp on an end table and kissed her back, hands now free to roam over her bare back. She moaned and pressed herself against him, but when his fingers went to the knots holding her top in place she grabbed his arms and pulled back.

"Wait, wait. I always end up naked first. I want to watch you strip. Can you do that for me?"

Tam wanted to rip her clothes off and fuck her on the floor hard for stopping him, but he had said he would follow her lead. He carefully stepped back and slowly unfastened his robe, sliding it off his shoulders to fall around his feet. He tugged his tunic off and dropped it as well. As his hands went to the laces of his trousers, he felt himself becoming oddly self-conscious.

Tam had never considered his physical appearance much. He supposed he was fairly average; a bit taller than most men, slim and without much in the way of muscles. An average face, perhaps. Women had never made much of him, but he didn't think about it much. The occasional visit to a Silver House had satisfied his infrequent need for companionship, and he had always assumed his eventual marriage would primarily be a business transaction, a woman whose dowry and connections would matter more than any physical attraction between them.

He had certainly never thought about his appearance around Yelena. She was his slave, in every imaginable fashion, and was there to serve his pleasure. But here, now, he was giving her a limited form of freedom, and she was actually watching him drop his pants and stand naked before her, choosing to take him as a bed partner. He had a sudden irrational fear that she wouldn't want him, despite her declared intention and the fervor with which she had just been kissing him.

Tam shifted slightly under her silent gaze, unsure what to do next. Then he saw Yelena was staring at his crotch and unconsciously licking her lips. He grinned and stroked his erection for her. "See something you like?"

"Mm-hmm." Yelena looked up to meet his eyes, blushing at being caught. "Would you . . . um, could you try seducing me? Like just a woman and a man, not a slave and her master?"

Tam grinned. "I think most seductions are already considered a success when they reach the point where the couple is in a bedroom, one partner is naked, and the other is practically naked. But let me try this and see how you like it."

He walked up to her and reached out to gently cup her cheek. "Yelena, you look beautiful. You're like a ray of moonlight in the dark, so pale in your white silks. But the moonlight is cold; your skin is warm to the touch, and I love the way the way you redden when you blush."

He leaned forward and kissed her gently on the cheek, then moved to trail soft kisses down her neck. When he reached to untie her top again, she didn't stop him, letting the thin scrap of silk slide off her and settle on the floor. He kissed her shoulders, the hollow of her throat, moving gently to the slopes of her breasts as she made small sounds of pleasure.

He was very tender when he reached her nipples, just barely brushing the hard tips with his tongue, bracketed by the little silver wings. She gasped as he did so, clutching his shoulders, but let him work. He didn't linger too long, kneeling before her as he kissed his way down her stomach. He kissed his way across her hips, then caught the string at her side in his teeth and tugged it loose, her skirt dropping to leave them both naked in the lamplight.

He knelt before her pink lips, glistening with moisture in the lamplight, and inhaled deeply, savoring the scent of her arousal. He breathed out over her sensitive skin then softly kissed her at the top of her cleft, shifting with tantalizing slowness until he took her clit in his mouth and sucked gently on it. She gasped and leaned on his shoulders, her knees growing weak. "Ah, damn. Whatever other talents you have, poetry isn't one of them, but you know how to kiss a girl's body. Bed. Now." She bit out the last two words tensely.

He rose and followed as she pulled him after her, falling into the bed and tugging him down to cover her. "Get your damn cock inside me; I want to feel that magic."

She cried out as he entered her completely in one long thrust, shuddering as he stretched her open. "Ah, so good. Wait, don't move yet please."

Tam held himself back and let her adjust. She hooked her legs around his back then looked into his eyes. "Um, can you prop yourself up a bit? Your weight is right on my poor nipples."

Tam grinned and complied, lifting himself up on his elbows. Yelena winced in relief. "Alright, Tam. Fuck me now; slow and gentle, like a lover."

He slid slowly in and out of her, watching her face below him as he experimented with different strokes. She closed her eyes, concentrating on the sensation. As he patiently worked, she began to moan and pant, eventually reaching down to rub her clit and crest into an orgasm, gasping as she did so. He held himself still inside her as she peaked; she opened her eyes and smiled up at him. "I'm surprised you haven't come yet."

"I've actually been using chi to hold back my release for the last few minutes, by cutting off the channels from my balls." Tam explained.

"Wow. You're using chi while fucking? How do you maintain that level of concentration?"

"Years of study. And it gets easier as your mind becomes more accustomed to it. More of the same, Miss Alexovna?"

"Mm, yes please." She slid her hands over his shoulders and Tam slid smoothly into motion again. Yelena tugged him closer and slid her hands farther up, running them over his braid where it fell down his back. She lifted her head and whispered in his ear. "You can fuck me harder, now. Do it like you mean it."

Tam needed no further encouragement. He'd been kind and patient, but if she was ready to really get fucked, he was going to give her what she wanted. He thrust into her with a steady rhythm, slamming his pelvis into her with each thrust, grunting with effort. She rose to meet him with equal fervor, her heels locked together beneath his ass, her hips flexing to match his rhythm. She reached up and tangled one hand in his hair at the base of his braid, pulling her head up to kiss him clumsily, their tongues pushing against each other, lips sliding as she shook beneath him. She bit his lip as her orgasm hit her, spasming beneath him.

Tam felt the copper taste of blood in his mouth and growled, grabbing her shoulder and pushing her down. He grabbed her biceps and pinned her to the bed, changing the angle of their joining until her waist was bent up and he was fucking downward into her. She wrapped her legs around his waist and wailed as he fucked her through her orgasm.

Yelena wrestled one arm free, but only so she could reach down to frantically rub her clit. Tam used his free arm to grab her ankle and push it back to hook over his shoulder, her other leg still clenched around his waist, spreading her wide so he could fuck deeper into her. She spat curses at him and urged him on until she lost control of her voice, head rolling back and crying out with each thrust. She came again, hard, and Tam pushed off her and scrambled to kneel over her, spraying his cum across her stomach and breasts.