Chương 15: Safe

Ch 15: Safe Felix had meant to ask the girl if he was still a slave at her 'wizard school'. If she was so excited about his test because it meant she'd be rewarded by her father, if their family would get a fine, new, expendable weapon for whatever noble war they waged. Except she hadn't let go of his hand since the sewer. And she was smiling up at him and watching his eyes, and talking like she was planning their future. Like they were secret lovers and finally they could be together, and wasn't that amazing?

It was a ruse, a ploy. He knew that. She was an oh so beautiful carrot dangling before his eyes, and he was a big, dumb work horse who just… who just wanted one fucking bite. So he pushed her up against the wall. He let his hands slide up her body without touching something he shouldn't. He looked in the endless pools of her brown eyes and touched her thick lips with his. He was ready to stop there. He was. Ready to accept that he was right and despite a moment of madness he could pull back and keep his dignity.

Then she kissed him. Just like that. Her lips were as soft as they looked. They pressed into his until they opened, and his did the same without thinking. It was like she reformed into him, the warm wetness of her tongue looking for his, testing his lips until he tasted her, until he pressed closer and wrapped his arms around her body. It was clear neither of them knew what they were doing, but it felt incredible.

He just locked his mouth against her, trying to feel everything, to smell her body, to trap every second of it away in his mind. She didn't pull away. Didn't slap him. Didn't flinch. She just pressed her soft, warm curves against him and kissed him with closed eyes and a little moan. He didn't want to stop, didn't want to breathe. He just kissed and tasted her, hands dropping down her back, lower and lower until they'd found the swell of her ass…

"It's safe, my lady," called the bodyguard from down the hall. Isa finally pulled back and let him go. Felix didn't. He was panting with lust, lost in the girl's scent and softness. She opened her beautiful eyes and shook her head.

"Thank you, Cara. We're coming." Felix did not want to go down that tunnel. He wanted to stay right there and keep kissing and he didn't care if it was a lie. Except he also did. He cared desperately. But he was a virgin and had no clue how to tell if a woman wanted you or just your hidden magic wizard powers. Isa looked down the corridor, bit her lip, then leaned back up to kiss him one more time. It was like another bite of the greatest food you'd ever tasted. And a warmth consumed his chest.

This time he closed his eyes. He heard himself groan as Isa found his tongue and literally sucked it into her mouth. When they came apart he felt something between mental satisfaction and raging physical lust that made him very happy it was too dark to see properly.

"We…have to go now," Isa whispered, looking like she wanted to say more but didn't know how. He nodded, and took her hand, no intention of letting it go. But it seemed like she didn't intend to, either. They walked down the hall with fingers locked, Isa only looking back once as they crossed and found Cara at the other side. She smiled at him shyly then looked away. And if it was all just a trick and a lie, it was the best lie Felix had ever seen.

"Best not do that in the palace," Cara said, her voice soft, maybe even sympathetic. Isa nodded and slowly let go of Felix's hand. It felt like he was stripping off a warm jacket in a storm. His mind was foggy but the way the bodyguard spoke made it sound like she could see real affection, too. Didn't that mean if it was a ruse she'd have to be in on it? Could they be that clever? Yes, he decided. They certainly could.

He didn't think so, but he was tired and horny and surrounded by beautiful women, and it made him stupid. He followed the girls back to the now familiar quarters he'd been in before. They made him sit and drink water and eat a handful of things he didn't really taste, then led him to the same comfortable bed. Isa lingered at the door. Felix turned and their eyes met, and he would have sworn to any god that this beautiful princess wanted to come inside and close the door. You could be reading stolen content.

Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. The bodyguard's hand wrapped around the handle, and pushed it closed. Felix heard their voices murmuring and maybe arguing back and forth, but he was too tired to listen. He lay down and closed his eyes, so overwhelmed by the day he had no idea how to think of it. There was the girl, yes, and the island itself. That was enough to keep him thinking most of the night. But that wasn't the only thing. Not even the main thing.

Because even now, staring up at the ceiling, there was a furnace of fire in his mind's eye. It swirled and blew, waving like a snake before it struck. It wasn't his enemy, it wasn't his friend. It just was in the same way his thirst or lust or need for sleep existed. He couldn't ignore it, not anymore. He couldn't lock it away and build up walls to keep it in. The fire burning in Felix's 'soul' had tasted freedom and made new pathways. And sooner or later, it was going to get out again.

But as he drifted towards sleep, and tried to see Isa's brown eyes instead of that pillar of flame, he began to realize: he didn't want to stop it anymore. ** Felix dreamed of fire. He was a boy again, still with his mother before the plague. He could see her blue eyes, just like his, her pale skin and fair hair. Everyone said she was beautiful. The men in town were always offering to help her with things, asking about her husband. If and when he was coming back from the wars.

Felix the child had always thought they were nice, helpful. That they were so insistent because they were just so very neighborly. His mother had sometimes had to fight them from getting in the door. In the dream, he burned them. They screamed and ran off in flames, running for the well before falling down in charred husks to cook. His mother clapped and thanked him. The townsfolk cheered and called him a hero. His magic wasn't a curse. It was a gift. Later he burnt the plague right out of people's bodies.

He boiled the well water to keep it clean, he burned rat-infested squalor and chased out vagrants and scared off bandits. His mother lived, and his father came home, and they were together and a family again. Hurray for Marcus! The bestest, most welcome mage in the town of Bremen! And definitely not a witch or a Lifestealer at all. Then he was at sea. Burning ships. He laughed as the cloth sails went up, as the rigging collapsed and the hulls burned and sailors went screaming into the drink.

A Sea Dragon was a frightening thing on the waves. But a fire elementalist with an ever-burning soul? He was death incarnate. The screams mixed with the cheering peasants of Felix's village. His mother still clapped and only his father stared with sunken eyes, shaking his head as Felix burned the ships, the men, the world. He woke up covered in sweat. The bed was on fire. He jumped up and tossed his only jug of water at it, then flipped the mattress and smothered it with his hands and feet and a nearby blanket.

Fire was death to a sailor. In seconds a ship could become a funeral barge, a tribute to fallen kings, a prison of flame that swallowed its crew. Not only had Felix been taught not to weaken his grip on his power since he was a boy, he had been taught to fear the very thing hiding inside him. Someone knocked, and the door creaked open. Felix had his hands in his hair, staring at the smoking ruin as he turned and looked to see Cara in a night gown. She had a knife in her little hand, slippers on her little feet.

"The bed…" he pointed, as if it wasn't obvious that it was half burned. Isa's bodyguard looked between it and him. In fact her green eyes raked over his mostly naked body without a shred of embarrassment. Though it was hard to tell if she was interested, or just sizing him up.

"Would you like breakfast? It's almost dawn." Just like that. No tone at all. He laughed and shrugged, because it made as much sense as anything. Cara handed him some kind of robe, which he put on before following her out to an already bustling dining area outside the rooms. Servants were scurrying around lighting their own fires and setting tables, a nearby kitchen filled with voices.

He sat at a table across from the little blonde, who was a lot less covered now, her maybe shoulder-length hair tied in a ponytail, thin but sinewy limbs on display. He shook his head, still fighting off the dullness of sleep and the strange dream.

"Isa likes you," Cara said, popping a grape into her mouth.

"She doesn't like anyone, so I've not had to make this speech before. I'll keep it short. If you take her virginity, I fail my oath. I will not fail my oath, therefore, I'll kill you first. Nothing personal. I still owe you for protecting her." Felix swallowed, then reached for a grape. They both sat and chewed for a minute before he let out a deep breath. He never could dislike anyone who took their job seriously, especially when that job was protecting Isa.

"If you killed me after, it might still be worth it." Cara stared, a tiny twitch cracking a corner of her mouth before she battled it down. As if summoned, Isa's door squeaked and the princess stepped out in a loose robe much like Felix's, rubbing at sleepy eyes and clomping on slippers. She looked… adorable. Absolutely stunning. Her face was just as beautiful without any of the coloring, her long hair tied back with a simple braid. Felix couldn't tear his eyes away from the skin showing up to her thighs.

It was clear her 'dress code' was somewhat different when she was at home.

"Oh." She turned and looked at him, a big smile spreading across her face before she pulled her robe closer.

"You're up early." She nodded or half bowed in some kind of cultural gesture, then met Cara's eyes and stopped smiling.

"I'll, um, go…check on breakfast," she said, tapping off in her ridiculously large slippers. Felix's eyes locked on the shape of her hips, the swell of her ass, the feel of it practically re-emerging on his hands…

"And before I kill you," Cara said, staring daggers at him.

"I'll also geld you. It's the law."

"With that little knife?" Felix swept the tiny blonde with his eyes.

"For balls like mine, you'll need something bigger." The bodyguard's lips finally cracked with a grin. But her eyes looked no less serious, and Felix decided it was more 'oh I like a challenge' than 'oh I think that's funny.' He cleared his throat, and ate another grape.