Seven Sorcerers(32)

The Almighty had taken no notice of Mahaavar’s disappearance. He was not the first of the High Seraphim to be found unworthy, sent to salt, and consumed by his kind. It was likely that he would not be the last. The High Lord Celestial had more weighty matters on his mind, and a thousand other High Seraphim to serve him.

In the dream Sungui the woman made love to Mahaavar on a bed of crumpled flowers. Yet at the moment of climax, Mahaavar turned to salt. Sungui cried out and woke abruptly in the dark cabin, still entirely male. He blinked into the darkness and realized that he was not alone. He might have been startled by this realization, but he was strangely unmoved for some reason. Warm hands moved across his chest. The scents of jasmine, rose, and lavender. A lithe, pale form lingered next to him on the edge of the cot.

Sungui whispered a word of flame and the candle on his bedside table ignited itself. A woman’s round, heavy breasts hung before his face. Above them Ianthe’s white tresses framed her exquisite face. Ruby lips smiled at him as her palms explored the muscles beneath his taught skin. Her eyes were black diamonds reflecting the candlelight.

“Sungui…” She whispered his name like a spell. “I want you.”

Sungui sat up, taking her wrists in his strong hands. She did not struggle or resist him.

“You wish to drink my blood.”

Ianthe laughed. “The wine of your veins is far too rich a vintage for me,” she said. “I do not drink the blood of allies… only enemies.”

And slaves.

Her breath was honey-sweet in his face. He had expected the breath of a carnivore. Suddenly he became fully conscious of her nudity and his own. Already his body was responding to her presence. Her hips were wide, her legs long and slim. She was pale perfection.

“We cannot do this,” he told her. His words contradicted the promise of his ready loins.

“Why not?” she asked. “Gammir is not my lover. He is my… heir.”

She is of the Old Breed, like us.

Yet, unlike most of us, she is not fully Diminished by the will of the Almighty.

She is ageless and full of mysterious power.

“I am told the Seraphim often take lovers among their own kind,” she said. “And that your last paramour is no longer among us.” Her lips hovered close to his. Her hot breath quickened his pulse.

“I am not…” A rushing flood of lust washed away his words and thoughts.

His hands fell to the softness of her breasts.

His eyes closed tightly, as if he were staring at the sun.

“Do I please you?” she asked. Her lips smothered his before he could answer. Heat surged to the limits of his body. He grabbed her narrow waist and pulled her close. The world and all its powers were lost as he fell into a red dream.

When their lovemaking was finished, the candle guttered low. She lay wrapped in his arms, cheek resting against his chest. Had she worked a spell to enchant him? Or was it only that ancient enchantment that all women possessed? He could not be sure. The pantherish aspect of her nature had shone through in her savage mating. He lay spent and exhausted. Sleep stole his awareness, despite a growing sense of alarm.

She woke him with kisses before the sweat had dried on their bodies. Starlight through the porthole of his cabin told him it was still deep night outside. Where he had been exhausted, he was aroused once again. Her taloned fingers worked a tender magic on his flesh.

“You were marvelous,” she said. “A most glorious lover.”

He returned the praise. Yet he did not tell her the whole truth, that her skills had eclipsed all of his previous lovers. Through ten thousand years of carnal delights, he had experienced nothing like her. Already he craved more.

“Is it true that you alone among the Seraphim,” she asked, “assume both male and female forms to suit your moods?”

His hand lingered on the warm curve of her waist. Her snowy tresses smelled of lilac and rosewater. “I possess both aspects,” he said. “But in truth my moods are most often determined by which aspect I wear. Temperament follows form, as form follows function.”

She cooed into his ear and wiggled in his arms. “Never have I found such an enticing lover,” she breathed. “Show me!”

Sungui shook his head. None who shared his body had ever made such a request. As a male he took female lovers, just as his female aspect enjoyed a variety of male lovers. The idea of mingling the two for a single paramour seemed strange. Perhaps forbidden. The Almighty would not allow it, of that he was certain.

“Please,” she begged, touching him in places he could not resist. “I wish to make love to all of you, Sungui. I can find this thrill nowhere else in the world. I have loved women before. You will see that I know how to please both your aspects equally well. Let me do it.”