The Sisters of V'Gedra

Ishuna felt tremors going through her. His fault, it was that boy's fault—exactly what she had been saying these last months. Did that mean the Third Sorcerer and Ruler himself agreed he'd been reckless? Too violent with her sister and her?

She whispered, "That...that would require him to touch me again?"

"Yes, but with Houda's guidance."

"Not yours?"

"I have none of the grey magic in me, Qu'eesan. I'm sorry."

She barely withheld a scoff at the presumption. She hadn't been asking for Leur to touch her instead of his little brother. She didn't want any one of them to touch her again. She wanted to go inside and leave them, though that would be unbecoming rudeness from her Mother's daughter to these much-anticipated guests.

Don't touch me.

"I do not need your help," she murmured.

"Yes, you do," Leur said some noted seriousness. "Your magic will become harder to focus with each passing year, the results less predictable. You may start dreaming unsettling things, if you haven't begun to already."

Ishuna blinked, and in that instant of darkness, she saw again the pregnant Queen preparing to stab herself for what was coming out of her womb. She hadn't intended her face to be so easy to read, but Leur reached for her hand without asking, closing it in both of his, and pressed a sincere kiss of apology in the manner of the Drowh.

"Let us help you, Ishuna. We can make it balanced again."

"H-how...how did you know?" she murmured.

"I didn't. Houda is wise for her age. Please at least speak with her, Qu'eesan. We would help you, not leave you to face these obstacles alone when it was my blood who set them before you."

"Why, because you'll be a ruler one day and peace is best between our peoples?"

The Sorcerer's heir took that with bemusement. "I cannot deny that truth, but no. It is because of your strong gift as a mage and a seer that I'd not see this injury left to fester and scar. That way leads isolation and insanity."

Ishuna glanced at Innathi, who was still teasing and talking with her would-be Consort, teaching him new Drowh words already as if he was moving in! Her Mother and sister had left her alone to suffer, hadn't they?

"I will speak with Houda," Ishuna agreed, watching the large, brown hands withdraw at her answer.

Leur smiled with a slow, deep nod. "Thank you, Qu'eesan."

*****

They managed to make it back to the cooler, darker and more private wings their Mother often used for negotiations and discussions without Innathi slipping away for long with Cris, but there had been a few moments when Leur had to stop walking and call out for his little brother in a strong, magic-tinged command that ultimately, each time, Cris did answer.

Ishuna had a near-permanent scowl on her face. It had become a tiresome game her sister was playing against the Sorcerer's elder son, splitting the youth's attention and loyalty to show that Leur was fighting a losing battle against this undeniable attraction.

Every time Ishuna thought she was getting somewhere very interesting in the conversation with the elder heir, Leur would have to stop and make sure his young brother was not rutting between her sister's legs on a table somewhere. Innathi was being a selfish slit. For bragging about being ever-aware of how her choices affect the Queendom, her sister was certainly missing something fairly damned important within her own family due to her own burning loins.

For that reason alone, Ishuna asked Leur if she could speak to Houda the first time without Cris-ri-phon being present.

"I do need to watch my brother, and still interpret for Houda," Leur voiced his concern with some attempt at humor. "Make sure he doesn't promise the entire desert and all its peoples to your sister for a kiss."

"Let your sire do that for an hour or so!" Ishuna pressed.

"I believe he's still meeting with the Valsharess, as is Houda."

Ishuna threw up her hands. "Then let them couple and break the tension. This is exhausting, Leur. Gag him to keep the promises out, if you need to, I'm sure he can still figure out how to hump her with a rag stuffed in his mouth! I can't stand them like this!"

Leur was chuckling helplessly as she spoke so vivid and frank, his face flushing with embarrassment at the mental image she pressed. Innathi was finally both close enough and taking a break in teasing Cris to actually hear Ishuna's last comment.

"I admit I like that idea, sister," Innathi said, stepping toward them with her hips swaying, her grace hypnotic and likely magically enhanced.

They watched as she pulled free a length of silk attached to the waist of her royal purple gown. Ordinarily it would be used as a light wrap and sun shield over her head while out walking, but now she made a small show of tying two knots on top of each other, right in the middle, and holding it up for Cris's inspection.

"Would you bite down on this for everyone's contentment, my handsome mage?"

Cris did glance at his older brother for permission to play and after the last several hours, Leur was finally worn down enough to consider it.

Ishuna leaned up to whisper, her frustration leading to a plea. "You think he'll be able to focus on Houda's instruction to help me before my sister gets what she wants? She always gets what she wants!"

"So I see," Leur granted, his shoulders slumping a little.

He'd finally accepted he wasn't in a position where he would be able to command more than he had. It was his first time coming head-on against a female Drowh's will—even a very young one choosing a mate—and level heads and reason like his wouldn't prevail in the end.

Innathi put the silk knot up against Cris's mouth, and he parted his lips willingly as she giggled and tied it snugly behind his head as he bit down. She stared into his eyes the entire time as she gagged him. Much as she disliked the display, Ishuna noticed her sister's hands were trembling.

"There," Innathi breathed, taking his hand and reached for a door handle with the other. She looked at them; her eyes were burning. "Will you wait out here, dear siblings, or will you step inside to make sure we don't burn the Palace down with our passion?"

She chuckled at her own jest, but Leur nodded in acceptance. "I will step just inside, Qu'eesan. Thank you."

Ishuna's eyes flew to his and the tall Man nodded—he was set in his choice—and she had no choice but to go along with it or be left out. Not two hours ago she had been set to be just this—left out and leaving the idiots to their dealings. Now she'd changed her mind; if the older brother wasn't ready to give up, neither was she.

Innathi shrugged and pulled Cris into an unused meeting room not three down from where their parents were. She left the door open for Leur and Ishuna to follow.

"You'll be safe this time, Qu'eesan," Leur whispered as he touched her waist. "I promise."

I'm not afraid of him! she thought as she frowned up at the elder son.

But she didn't say it aloud as Leur stayed beside her the entire time.

*****

As at the waterfall of Koorul, Innathi enjoyed keeping in the back of her mind that someone was watching her pleasure and her beauty at once. Cris fumbled to open the front of her royal gown, desperate to touch her soft breasts as she leaned up against the nearest, sturdy table, and Innathi again allowed him between her thighs—this time with clothing between them—and willed the extraordinary merging of their auras to wash over them, into them.

Oh, Goddess! she cried silently as he finally got a large, hot hand into her dress to squeeze a breast, pinching the stiff, purple nipple. Simultaneously he pressed his blatant, hard need for her against her groin, and she wished the clothes would simply vanish into thin air!

She planted small, hungry kisses along the edge of Cris's mouth as he couldn't kiss back, his back teeth already set hard and grinding on her silk knot as he trembled in her arms. He pulled harder on her dress, a bit roughly tugging it farther down off her shoulders so he could put his nose to her skin and inhale with a groan.

"You won't last long this first time, will you?" she whispered in his ear. "I've teased you too much."

He groaned, then growled with a small nod.

"But you'll rise again, won't you? You won't even pull out before you'll plough my depths and plant your seed a second time..."

He grunted wordlessly, cramming his erection against her with a nod, his grimace bordering on desperation as he gritted his teeth around her silk. She yanked up her skirts on one side, and he took that as permission to pull them up the rest of the way, exposing her bare legs. He stared down with elation, seeing the proof at what she'd been whispering to him by the fountain.

She hadn't worn any underclothes, knowing he was going to arrive today. She was already open, available...glistening. He could just slide right in.

Innathi giggled and worked impatiently to loosen his waistband and push the loose, black trousers down over his hips and ass before attacking the undergarment keeping his erection restrained. It was an interesting, banded wrap not unlike what the Drowh males wore that was meant to keep the groin dry and lightly swaddled while leaving most of the buttocks exposed. She liked it—it looked good on him—but it had to go.

His penis was leaking when she finally got the stiff, hot spear into her palm. She almost jerked it but they both knew he'd probably spurt all over her mound and thighs in that case, so she pulled him toward her slit instead. This time, it was her own hand which guided his flared, engorged head to her slippery cleft.

"Now," she whispered, and Cris rammed inside in one stroke and she cried out, shocked as he was as they held still for a moment, adjusting to the new equilibrium after their magic surged.

She did glance over toward Leur and Ishuna....and grinned when she saw the older brother's arms wrapped lightly around her younger sister, his face flushed just like his brother's. He was looking down at the top of Ishuna's white head as she, too, tried to pretend she wasn't looking at them.

Just relax, sister. Maybe a good rut with a Human sorcerer is what you need to sleep better, too.

The knot in Cris's mouth was completely sodden by this point and he murmured something unintelligible as he stroked again, slowly, and she groaned feeling him stretch her. They were probably going to drip their juices down the underside of her dress, but she didn't care.

"Faster," she gasped. "Twice before you're finished, remember?"

He quickened his pace until he pummeled her for a glorious, brief reliving of their first time at the waterfall. She rose up with him thanks to their entwined auras, effortlessly carried on his pleasure and squealing more than a little herself, her hands clasped behind his neck, her shoulders bare and her breasts mostly free of her gown and jiggling with every stroke of his hips. Suddenly he was groaning louder then grunting, his cock jerking inside her as he kept thrusting, her cunt soaked and making pure, sloppy, sexual noises as he filled her up.

"Yes!"

Oh, that the mate bond could be this good! She couldn't wait for the agreement to be met, for Leur and Begir to leave and let Cris stay here as her Consort. She didn't have to worry about becoming pregnant with a Human, and she could mount him as many times as he was capable of—or have him mount her, she kind of liked his showing such ardor and aggression! With his magic being so right for her, it enhanced her own, she was so starkly alive every moment.

She was truly blessed by some deity to have found this so early in her life!

Cris rested his sweaty forehead on her shoulder and kept his cock inside her, as she'd commanded. She helped him stay hard by squeezing him with her pussy, murmuring her desire for him, licking her fingers and playing with his dark brown nipples, pinching them.

"Ohhh, Cris, you were made for this."

"Mmmnngh," he garbled through his gag, pressing his turgid penis in a bit deeper, pulling out, feeling her squeeze hot and wet around him again.

"You bring such pleasure breeding a worthy female...I love it. I don't want to share you with anyone else! You are mine!"

He put his arms around her at this, whiffing at the scent of her throat and grumbling his own pleasure. She kissed his blunt, round ear, purring in satisfaction even as she wasn't finished yet.

"You might have tasted some Human girls after we met, but they weren't enough, were they? You couldn't forget me, could you? Now we both feel why."

Light, magical shocks crossed over his clothed back from her fingertips and he bit down harder on his gag with a loud groan. Innathi encouraged him as Cris drew out farther, his prick harder than he had been shortly before, and plunged inside her. She felt—and imagined—his creamy, white seed leaking out and coating her dark, purple netherhole before landing on her dress. Soon he would give her more.

So brazen. So primal and powerful, it had to be god-driven. Not even her Mother could deny that this match would have to see itself through. It would drive them insane to be parted forever without exploring this.

Their siblings would simply have to wait a little longer to leave the room.

******

Ishuna had her face buried in Leur's chest. She could hear every sound, every thrust and grunt and chirp of delight from her horny sister, she could smell musk and feel the humidity rising in the room. But she did not have to watch. Not again.

Leur had already apologized to her; he had an erection and occasionally it would brush against her stomach, and it likely wouldn't go down for some time. He was male, it couldn't be helped. The Sorcerer's heir took no other action but to allow her to remain where she was—protected, somehow, as he'd promised—where Cris's aura couldn't strike her again.

"Not even Houda expected it to be this way," he murmured at one point where Cris and Innathi clearly weren't listening.

Ishuna hesitated to respond to the leading statement, but decided to bite.

"What way?"

"Cris is special, born under Musanlo's power omen on Yom Amalti," he said low in his chest.

"On what?"

"Our Day of the Dead. The Deathwalker predicted he would make allies with the Elves somehow. Just...maybe not like this."

Ishuna snorted. "Omens. Mother doesn't like to hear about those. Best not say that to her or you won't get whatever treaty you're after. She doesn't govern by visions and predictions."

"Of course," Leur murmured. He paused. "Is...that why you aren't healed yet, Ishuna? Does the Queen not acknowledge you as a seer?"

"I'm not a seer," she replied, clutching at his shirt. "I have strange dreams sometimes. They mean nothing."

"I don't believe you, Ishuna. You don't believe your own words."

She should strike him for saying something so insolent to her! As if she hadn't tried and tried to explain and have her own family even consider it! Ishuna fisted one hand but... took it no farther. Suddenly she just felt so tired.

Again the lump was back in her throat.

******

Innathi and Cris-ri-phon were soon back with the Valsharess and Begir-al-phon, momentarily sated and on much better behavior with their eyes twinkling. Houda moved her chair slightly to make room for Leur and Ishuna at the table as the youngest Drowh accidentally made eye contact with her. Unlike the solid black eyes of before, now Houda's irises were so light blue they were almost clear while her sclera remained black. It was unsettling.

"Our honored Begir and his Deathwalker have described a bit of what Our Daughters interrupted last year," the Valsharess said, looking especially at Innathi. "You should know this."

"What was it, Queen-Mother?" Innathi answered, leaning forward. "I do wish to understand."

"Yom Amalti," the Valsharess enunciated in the Zauyrian tongue, and quite well. "Not a ritual performed at Koorul every year, but only rarely, in times when a young grey mage may step forward for apprenticeship. Though in this case, it also happened to be the very day of a Phoenix-son's birth, on his twentieth year, when he discovers his greatest strength and discipline in magic."

"You well understand the needs of our people to claim control of the fates now and again, Valsharess," the elderly Sorcerer chuckled.

The Valsharess looked amused, her finger again placed at her temple as she seemed contemplative, a delicate glass of pink-tinted wine in her other hand. "Indeed. Ours are very much the same. So these two Zauyrian moments were to be combined: a rustic, solitary ritual without other Phoenix children around to sway his self-discovery, though a Deathwalker still had to be present at the start of the ritual for Yom Amalti."

The Drowh Queen tilted her head coyly at Houda. "It only seems she arrived a little late for her stated purpose."

The Deathwalker didn't react to the jab, did not even blink her strange eyes, and Begir continued next.

"After the chance meeting of our two children under those falls, I assure you all who were there have told my people it wasn't by chance. They are open to trade and mutual defense with the Elves more than they've ever been, but they will not accept my young Cris-ri-phon as a grey mage now any more than he believes he could be one after that day. We've discovered a different magical strength in him thanks to the challenge of the Firstborn Daughter of the Drowh, and now we need the attention of the Valsharess to come to understand it."

"He is certainly no necromancer, Sorcerer Begir," Innathi said with a nod. "He is clearly a Consort."

"And that is what, Qu'eesan?" Leur-en-phon prompted.

"Among the Drowh, it is a male of high fertility and focused, sexual magic," the Valsharess explained. "They are valued for their pleasure services."

"If you'll consider, Valsharess, I can tell you my brother has far more capability than that," Leur said, nodding to Innathi next. "As honored as we are for any insight into this strong connection, which we've never heard of before but you have, I still say Cris would be wasted as only a bed servant."

Innathi frowned, turning her gaze directly on her lover. "What else can you do, Cris?"

"Indeed, tell us," the Valsharess said.

The young Man glanced between Innathi and the Valsharess, and Leur and his sire. He exhaled softly and straightened up, speaking clear Drowh words for the first time in hours. "I have training in strategy, defense, leadership of Men. Survival in the desert. Many spells related to these things."

"Hm," the Valsharess hummed with a short nod. She wasn't tremendously impressed with the youth's claims but was humoring him.

"He can learn anything needed of him," Leur spoke up in his favor. "He has shown strengths in spells of the elements—fire, earth, air especially—he still shows talent for the grey spells of the Mists, thanks to Houda. And now you tell us he has a focus of fertility and pleasure, some kind of life magic—"

"But only with me, thus far," Innathi interrupted. "This Elf magic has more to do with the specific auras involved than it does a pure 'life magic.' There is no 'life magic' discipline such as there is for the arcane elements or healing, or even a more mystic Death as you claim. You discover this with another mage, or you do not. It's really quite forward, nothing mysterious about it. Like recognition."

Leur listened to her and nodded slowly, absorbing this.

"Such as the 'Mists,'" the Valsharess mused curiously, looking again at a still and quiet Houda. "Did We hear correctly a bit ago that she can make predictions beyond what can be deducted with enough eyes and ears and insight of Elves and Men?"