Blood of Azura

Part VIII

She stood naked by the side of the basin, trembling; the sight of it arousing him beyond all reason. His body hardened, his blood surged, his member lengthened. He prepared himself for another onslaught to his mind too, so tense and heightened his senses were, but it never came. His mind remained quiet. The only noise and sensation coming from his need.

He enjoyed her fear - but only when it was inspired by him, as this eve's earlier events had demonstrated - but he decided quickly that he enjoyed the sight of her unclothed body more.

Naked, she looked less like the small fragile thing he'd found cowering in the sand, and more like some ornament carved from Azurian gold itself.

Her skin was bronzed and smooth, but it was scattered with cuts and bruises, fissures of torn skin which had not been given the proper time or attention required to heal. They would heal quicker with his assistance but he knew she would never allow that. The backs of her arms - which she had pulled across her body to shield herself - her shoulder, the backs of her legs; all bore the evidence of a beating.

He felt a low rumble of rage emit from deep within him at the idea of another causing her harm. Causing harm to something which was now his under the law of spoil. He should have choked the life from Prahan as honour bid him. Why had he let that dog crawl away from him and breathe another breath?

Cassine avoided his eyes and stared down into the water by his feet, unmoving. Theodan's body felt softer from the wine and hot water, but her constant disobedience gnawed at his patience.

'What are you waiting for?' he asked, impatient. 'Get in.'

She stiffened and lifted her eyes to him, her hatred burning bright for a moment, brilliant and blinding before it dimmed and an almost soft look replaced it.

'I, I t-told you,' she began. 'I am untouched..' she cast a furtive glance over his body, then down where the water covered his modesty. 'I have never bathed with a man. I have never...' She trailed.

'But I'm not a man,' Theodan pointed out. 'I'm not even human. I'm an animal - a beast of Leoth as you so named me.' He stopped, raised an eyebrow at her. Smirked. 'Or have you seen something which has altered this perception, Cassine? Do you now look upon me as a man?' he spread his thighs suggestively and she paled.

For an instant, she thought about turning and bolting from the tent; he could see it in her eyes and in the way her body tensed in readiness. Her body shook still, and still, it was from something more than the chill that was creeping in with the night.

He could see how badly she wanted to run from him. Could see her consideration of how far she might get before he caught her. Considering if submitting to the sea would be an easier fate than what he had planned for her. He could see her mind work over every possible outcome and with it, its repercussions. And all of them were written plainly on her comely features. He wondered if she was aware of how expressive her eyes were.