Chapter Seven
Another meal was waiting when Cera felt ready to leave the bed again. Being curled up against Renn was a very attractive way to spend her time.
“Come on, my lady. Time to get you on a schedule.” Renn took over the role of caretaker and boosted her out of the bed by yanking on the covers until she was completely exposed.
She ended up splayed with her legs wide and hands propping her up. It lacked dignity, but she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood facing him. Being only nipple high on him was peculiar. “You know. I don’t think I ever looked at you before. You are big.”
He chuckled. “Your thoughts designed me.”
She elbowed him, wrapped a sheet around her and shuffled to the table where the meal was waiting. “My thoughts may have designed you, but I was sitting on a bier sculpted with the body of a giant. I am pretty sure that was you and that you liked being tall.”
He flicked the cascade of red hair over his shoulder. “Perhaps. I had not thought that my preferences entered my form.”
“Think again. I don’t ever recall asking for fangs, but there they were.”
He wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted her until she was even with his gaze. “Give them a chance, you will enjoy them, I promise.”
She was kicking her feet idly as he held her, and she pursed her lips. “I will believe it when I see it.”
Renn laughed. “I will enjoy the challenge. I have worn a hundred forms, and I think there is enough control left in me to make a few adjustments you will enjoy.”
“So, a hundred women have entered and left your life over the years? No pressure on the bed front.” She made a face.
“My thoughts and focus are only on you, Summoner. I am yours and yours alone for your lifetime.”
She smiled sadly. “That won’t be long enough.”
He kissed her, “A thousand years would not be long enough for me, but we will make do with what we are given.”
Cera looked into his eyes. “I just wish there was a plan B. I am a huge fan of plan B.”
He caressed her cheek with his free hand. “We have time. Who knows what might happen?”
She looped her arms around his neck. “Feed me.”
Renn chuckled and carried her to the table where he sat down with her tucked on his lap. “Looks like Orvi’s cooking. He is a one-pot fanatic.”
There was a stew with chunks of flatbread arranged artfully around the bowl. The stew itself was enough for three people Cera’s size. Renn dipped a piece of bread in the stew and held it to her lips.
She blushed. “I didn’t mean you actually had to feed me.”
“I want to. You are still recovering from a draining process. As the physical result of that process, it behoves me to assist in your recuperation.” He nudged her lips with the bread until she took a dainty bite.
She nibbled and then took a larger bite of the second dip. Cera supposed that double dipping lost its threat when the person you were sharing with had just had his tongue inside you.
Her skin was warm, as if she had sunbathed for hours with a good sunscreen. She tingled and felt surprisingly strong with light on her skin and the orchestra back in her thoughts. She was fed in companionable silence until she couldn’t eat another bite. Renn finished it off.
“No matter how many times it happens, hunger still takes me by surprise.” He laughed, and she watched him finish the food. “I am not a fan of having to stop work for it. It always seemed like something designed to slow me down.”
She leaned against him and sighed. “Tell me how the brothers come to Haloth?”
He finished and set the bowl aside, wiping his fingers on a napkin. “The world sends out a signal on the frequency that your mind operates on. It calls them, and if they answer back, a recruitment team comes and runs a quick interview before they are brought back here where the frequency, the signal, links them together.”
“So, why am I needed?”
“Twofold. You are needed to bind the frequency together into a solid, tangible state. You take it from a whisper to a shout. The second is that you are needed to bring me out of my sleep, to give me physical form so that I can defend Haloth.”
“Why can’t the brotherhood do it?”
“They are servants of the minds here. They are the conduits through which the energies flow. You are the commander of the pattern. You shape the waves of power and make them into a greater whole.”
She liked the description but was fairly sure he was exaggerating. “I just listen and try to figure out what needs to be done.”
“And you have amazing intuition.” He stroked the side of her face with his fingers, trailing down to her neck.
She shivered. “What do the marks on the brotherhood mean?”
“One arm is service, the other is harmony.”
“Where do they get…everything?”
“Fruits and vegetables are grown in the surrounding forest. Most of what you classify as meat is actually a fungus or mushroom. There have been attempts to domesticate animals here but few are able to survive the impact of new arrivals.”
Cera relaxed as his trailing fingers stroked up and down her arm.
Renn whispered, “Under has brought you some clothing. He says that Charm’s wife saw you wearing them, so it would be best not to mess with destiny.”
She chuckled. “I have spoken with Rhoda. She claims to have a talent for drawing the destiny of the people she is focussing on, and I have to say, she is right.”
“Good. He also included some of the portraits that Rhoda painted after your disappearance. They are rather interesting.”
“I look forward to seeing them and the clothing.”
He sighed, “I believe that the brothers have already filled your wardrobe with the clothing.”
“Why the big sigh?”
“If you are interested in clothing, then our time together is over.”
She pressed a kiss to his neck. “Not over, it is just beginning, but I want to learn about the world I am on and some things have to be done on foot.”
“You want to go for a walk?”
“I do. Stretching my legs might just let them come back together again.” She shifted to leave his lap, and he held onto her for a moment before letting her go.
She pattered to the wardrobe on bare feet and gasped at the riot of colour and fabric that greeted her when the doors swung open. Part of her inner princess squealed with delight. With an eye to taking a walk, she put on a pair of boots, yanked on a bright blue dress and then laced a tight leather vest over top to keep the flow of fabric under control.
“That feels better. Do you want to come with me for a walk?” She smiled at the picture that Renn presented. He was already dressed in boots, trousers and a long white shirt.
If he were a puppy, his tail would have been wagging.
She extended her hand, and she hauled him out of their rooms and into the hall with a laugh. He tugged her hand and grinned as he swung her back into his arms. “Allow me.”
He held her against his chest and jumped over the stair railing, levitating slowly to the main floor.
Her heart was pounding heavily at the peculiar sensation of falling, and the moment they were on the ground, she punched him in the chest. “You could have warned me.”
He grinned. “You have your skills, I have mine. This is the first incarnation where I could fly though. Your influence?”
“I was a fan of comic books growing up. Flying men who could lift me as if I weighed nothing was a huge turn on.” She winked as he set her back on her feet.
She turned when she heard chuckling. The Guardians were watching them.
Pathway nudged Tailwind. “You could have been in there.”
Cera blushed, and so did the shy bulk of Tailwind. His physique was similar to Renn’s, but his huge bat-like wings made for a marked difference.
He ducked his head. “She’s too tiny for me. I need a woman I won’t crush.”
Cera grinned. “Ask Charm’s wife to do a portrait.”
Tailwind shook his head. “I am not ready to settle down yet, and if I know what she looks like, I won’t stop searching.”
Renn kept an arm around her waist while she talked to the attractive Enjel and Diettie hybrid. His link to her was protective but wary of the other males in the room.
She put her fingers over his on her waist, threading her digits through his grip. She felt him relax.
The collection of Guardians was down to ten, but all of them were staring at Cera and Renn as if waiting for them to strip off and mount each other.
“Okay, well, I want to see a bit of Haloth, so I will say good day to you and hope to see you when we get back.” She headed for the two large doors and hauled Renn with her.
The brotherhood was going about their daily tasks, and as the doors opened, Cera was struck with the earthy scents of plants, loam, mulch and humidity. She looked up at Renn with excitement in every inch of her. “Which way to the gardens?”
He pointed, and she ran off in the direction he had indicated.
The pitch of the song in her head changed from static to welcome. She sprinted, her skirts flicking up around her thighs with every step.
The gardens opened up in front of her, acre upon acre of trees, plants and members of the brotherhood.
One of the brothers looked up, noticed her and came toward her. “Can I help you, lady?”
“This is…this is huge.”
He bowed his head. “It is, lady. We represent several different species, and we have different dietary needs.”
“It makes sense, but wow. Can you give me a tour, or are you busy?”
“I can give my tasks to another.” He cocked his head, and she heard singing along the lines of communication that bound her to the brotherhood and bound them to her.
“Now, lady, where would you like to begin?”
Renn followed at a distance but merely watched as she learned about the fruit, vegetables and the funguses that made up the diet of Haloth. It was a start.
Chapter Eight
Cera stood on top of the cliff and looked out over the span of Haloth. “This is really lovely. Like a patchwork quilt of colour and light.”
Renn was standing next to her, and he nodded. “It is striking, there is no doubt about that.”
Taking her courage into her hands, she turned, “Can you show me where you are? The real you, the stone or crystals or whatever.”
“Are you sure? It doesn’t look very impressive.” He looked shy about her request.
“It doesn’t matter. You have seen my secrets and didn’t flinch. Show me yours.”
He smiled and lifted her in his arms, flying them back to the home of the brotherhood.
“Why are we going here?”
“This is where I am.” Renn took her hand and led her through the halls to the chamber that she had been locked in while he came into physical form.
The door swung open at his touch, and she finally realized what the images were. They were forms he had taken over the years, called by women who had their idea of their perfect man fixed firmly in their minds. It was not a skill that Cera had been able to master. Her idea of perfect was far more fluid than most women she had met. It was probably why Renn’s preferences were starting to seep through.
Her booted feet clicked on the stones as he walked them through the chamber, into a hallway behind the statues.
“I didn’t see this when I was in here. What the hell?” Cera looked around at the separate hall that led down at a steady slope.
“It wasn’t here. The building and everything in it is at my command. I can move doors, give you a larger tub, whatever you like.”
She giggled at the mundane applications he was listing. “How about a harmonic cannon?”
“We don’t really use weapons.”
“I beg to differ. On that first day, I was held at blaster point by five of the brotherhood.”
Renn grinned, his teeth white and sharp in the dimness. “Stone replicas with crystals as power cells.”
Cera wanted to punch him. “So, I didn’t have to come all this way?”
“Well, the brotherhood would have simply surrounded you and transported you here. You were going to be on Haloth whether you liked it or not.”
She grabbed him from behind in a hug. “I don’t mind. I just have to question my instincts when I don’t fight something.”
He was surprised at her voluntary contact and froze in place, wrapping one arm to cover hers. She stroked her hand upward and unfastened the first closure on his shirt then the next.
“Cera, I thought you wanted to see where I am.”
“I do, but there is time, isn’t there?”
He laughed and turned in her arms, wrapping his arms around her. “We are only a few metres away. Don’t cool down.”
She laughed and let him run with her down the hall toward a steady glow of light that pulsed and shifted as they approached. As they rounded a corner, her breath left her body in a rush as she stepped inside a geode a mile wide.
“Oh wow.”
He smiled bashfully, “So this is me.”
She looked from the endless vista of crystals to the man standing next to her with a nervous expression as if terrified that she wouldn’t like what she saw.
Cera reached up and pulled on his shoulders until she could meet his lips with hers. She licked, teased and bit at his lips, unfastening the rest of his shirt so it hung free.
He gripped her waist and stood her on an elevated stone.
She smiled against his mouth and let her hands roam over the heated ridges and planes of his chest.
The musculature wasn’t human, the bands of muscle hinted at a tremendous capability for strength, and he had too many ribs, but it was enjoyable for her to caress his skin. Hot satin over a smooth rock.
She moved her kiss to his neck and worked down with her hands preceding her. She heard him groan, and he flicked his head back, sending a cascade of crimson hair down his spine. She slid her hands under his shirt and caressed the deep curve of his back as she flicked one nipple with her tongue and then used her teeth on the other. She hopped off the rock and slid her fingers into the waistband of his trousers, unfastening it with a delicate touch and easing the other closure out of her way.