11. Xax

Chapter 11

Xax

T his game was fun because I could tell it was working. I could smell Amanda's arousal in the air. It floated between us, a lure I had no will to resist.

And it came about because I'd called her a good girl.

Praise kink. I liked the term already.

She quivered beneath me, her eyelids closing and her plump pink lips parting. They'd lost their ruddy color, and that was a true shame.

But she had said we needed to wait a few days before taking this further, and I respected her. I craved her, but I wanted her for more than one moment. I was battling for a lifetime and while I'd use any weapon I was handed, I wouldn't force this.

Because of that, I made myself back away from her and sit in a newly formed chair.

Her eyes snapped open. "Fuck."

"Right now?"

"No fucking. "

I held in my smile. "I'll keep praise kink in mind."

"I'm sure you will." Her body shuddered, and I could tell when she regained control. While the scent of her arousal still called to my cock, I did the same thing, struggling to maintain control. "Did your gods cause the disease?" she asked.

I shrugged. "No one knows."

"Have you asked your god?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"It no longer matters."

"Sure it does. The answer could change things for you."

"Like what?" I glanced around my nice home. "I don't want to live in a crystal building like the Indigan Clan. Or stone homes and fly on winged creatures like the Dastalon Clan."

"Don't tell me you have dragons here," she breathed.

"Dragons?" The word didn't translate. "The creatures are enormous birds. They train them from the time they slip from their eggs. They're amazing, but I have no wish to live like they do or to fly. My home is here. The god who deigned to control our village shrooms is happy and so am I."

"I thought you said everyone abandoned their homes?" She stifled a yawn. We'd walked a long way today. This wasn't new for me, but I suspected it was for her.

I hadn't finished the story, but I could wrap it up quickly. "A few years ago, the Indigan Clan moved back into the still vibrant crystal structures. Others settled in the trees their ancestors had lived in. My clan planted spores to grow shrooms. The Dastalon still rode their birds, but they moved from the vast plains, back to their floating stone islands. My people are happier now, but we never recovered from the disease. Fewer young are born each year to replace our elders who die, and most of our younglings are male."

"I assume you reproduce like humans do on Earth with a male and a female and sex with that big thing between your legs and . . ." She glanced down. "You know."

"You're correct." My cock kicked, pressing against my loincloth. I told it to behave, though it didn't appear to be listening. "Our people are dying. Some of the other clan traedors joined together and went to the central island where the strongest gods still live."

"Lots of gods here. Do they ever argue?"

"Why would they?"

"I don't know. I picture storms and lightning when they do." Her yawn stretched out again.

"Lightning comes from the clouds."

"You're right. I was teasing." She flicked her hand my way, suggesting she was letting go of that train of thought. "Why did the traedors go to the central gods?"

"To ask them to intervene."

"And that resulted in robocops grabbing me."

I wasn't sure what they were, and I suspected it no longer mattered. "The gods said they would help us. They told the traedors they would send us mates and when the mates arrived, we'd be given a sign."

"And you think the purple plant is your sign."

"It impaled itself into the ground in front of me not long after I'd rescued you from the lake."

She looked to where it lay on the floor. "Romance doesn't work like that. Where I come from, we have courtship before we decide to marry—mate."

"We do the same thing here."

"You're not courting me. You're telling me that a plant spontaneously sprouted in front of you, and that means I belong to you. It could be a random event and not a true sign."

"It didn't sprout. It plunged from the sky fully formed."

"Was it uprooted and carried to you by a stiff wind?"

"I felt no wind; did you?"

"No but this can't be true."

I gestured to the plant. "Examine it. I've never seen anything like it before and as one of the Ulistar Clan, I understand vegetation. We grow up learning about every plant in the world around us."

Rising, she approached the plant tentatively, like one would a wild beast. She didn't touch it. Bending down, she examined it. "It's not like your trees or the plants I saw while we were walking here, but that doesn't mean anything."

"Describe it."

"It's purple and—" She reeled backward so fast, she would've landed on the floor if my god hadn't quickly constructed a chair beneath her. With her feet lifted and her body in recline, she continued to stare at the plant. "It moved like it's a pet, not a flower."

"See?" I said. "It is a sign from the goods. When it plunged into the ground by my feet, I knew you were mine."