The Path to Destiny: Tia's Folly (4 page)

           
Reaching up, Tia tangled both hands in Bylan’s hair and
grasped his mouth closer as he slid a finger inside of her. Immediately, tidal
waves of pleasure crashed through her body making her shudder and shake in the
most delicious manner.

           
Moaning, Tia shivered in delight as the overwhelming
sensations started to ebb. Sighing contentedly she melted against him. At that
moment, she swore, she would never be able to move again.

           
“And to think,” Bylan smiled against her mouth, “You can
save your entire race by simply doing that. I will make it good for you.”

           
“What was that?” She inquired breathlessly.

           
“It is a woman’s pleasure,” he answered as he slipped a
hand beneath her and pulled her up higher on his lap.

           
“Is that bonding?” Tia yawned closing her eyes. She was
so totally relaxed, she didn’t notice when Bylan removed his hand and replaced
it with something else.

           
“This is going to hurt a little,” Bylan replied as he
slid himself inside her just a bit.

           
“Wha-?”
Her eyes snapped open as
she jerked her head down to look between her legs.

           
She was shocked into silence for a number of reasons.
First of all, Bylan was large, her body burned as it tried to accept him fully.
But mostly, she had never really known what bonding was until this moment.

           
“Stop!”
Tia cried, trying to
twist her body away from him as her mentor Uren flashed through her mind.
She could not bring dishonor down on him
!

Uren
was like a father to her and thinking of him was like jumping into a frozen
lake. Immediately, her scalp tightened and her body forgot the pleasure of
Bylan’s hands. “I do
not
want to bond
with you!”

“Think
about it Tia,” Bylan tried to convince her as he firmly grasped her hips.
Holding her in place he explained his reasoning to her. “Druids are homely and
plain. The women are flat chested and plump. Their hair hangs in strings while
their skin is rough and covered in blemishes. They have been since the very
beginning. It was the Gods’ way of safe guarding your race from people like me.
So…why would the Gods make you so very beautiful and alluring that no man can
resist you? Why create you if not to whore you out to me?”

           
“Bylan, this war has already destroyed so much.” She
struggled to get away from him, hoping her words were penetrating and he would
release her. “Aren’t you ready to be seared? Have a family? It has been five
hundred years of fighting. When will it ever be
enough
for you?”

           
“For five hundred years I have left the Druids alone and
right when I plan on attacking them, the most beautiful creature I have ever
seen strolls into the truce council,” he countered calmly. “Your body was made
for fucking. Your breasts overfill my hands and yet I can easily wrap my hands
around your waist. Your eyes are like liquid smoke, promising ecstasy like I
have never known before. For two weeks, I have been staring at your lips,
imagining my cock sliding in and out of your mouth. Tia, don’t you realize I am
offering you the life of every Druid for
this
!”
Pulling her down fully onto his cock, Bylan breached her maiden head, gasping,
“
And you don’t see the Gods hand in
that?”

           
Moaning from the sudden pain, Tia was horrified to wonder
if he could be right.

Standing
up, Bylan pushed her over his table without separating them. Not moving, he
stayed still to give her time to adjust to his large size.

Breathing
heavily from the pain she was still feeling, Tia offered no resistance as he
quickly pulled her robe over her head and tossed it aside. Clenching her jaw,
she tried to relax, tried to do anything that might lessen the feeling that she
had just been ripped wide open.

She
felt him lay heavily over her back and opened her eyes to find him staring
intently at her. Tia vaguely noted that his eyes seemed to be warring on
whether they were blue or green. Sure that the pain was making her see things,
she pushed the thought aside and wondered how to convince him to get his
painful appendage out of her.

“
It doesn’t have to be like this
!” He
seemed to be pleading with her. “As long as you are
willing
,
this
can save us
all
.”

“I
am sworn to another man,” Tia cried out as she took too deep of a breath, the
pain was nearly crippling her. “I cannot do this, please…p
lease
stop!”

Tia’s
eyes widened as she watched his eyes swiftly change from green to clear blue.

“Stop?”
Bylan laughed as he pulled out almost all of the way and then thrust crudely
back inside of her. “Why would I do that?”

Over
and over Bylan rammed painfully into her body. She was sure his fingers were
digging grooves into her hips and his manhood
had
to be destroying her womanhood. Tears fell from her eyes and
she realized that every time she made a sound of pain, he laughed maniacally.
Tia forced herself to relax into the hard table and accept his brutality.

As
if on cue, the moment she truly surrendered, Bylan stopped ramming into her and
started gently gliding in and out of her. Slipping a hand underneath her hips,
he rubbed that sensitive area again.

“Tia,”
he groaned, sounding distressed. “Can’t you see how important it is that you
accept me?”

Burying
her face in her arms, Tia gasped as the pleasure quickly built into a raging
inferno inside of her. Pushing up off of the table, she began to rock her hips
backwards in time to meet Bylan’s forward thrust.

Suddenly
pulling out, Bylan quickly carried her to his bed and lay her down on it.
Thrusting back into her, he wrapped her legs around his waist, reveling in the
feel of her enthusiasm.

“Oh, Gods!”
Tia cried out as the tidal wave of pleasure crashed into her again and again
and again.

Bylan
lowered his head and ravaged her mouth in time with his thrusts.

As
he threw back his head and groaned in ecstasy, Tia was surprised to find
herself shuddering with a woman’s pleasure again.

Without
missing a beat, Bylan continued to love Tia. Losing himself in her willing
body, he refused to stop until late into the night when they finally collapsed
in exhaustion.

***

Always
having awakened with the sun, it was no surprise that Tia awoke at dawn even
after her late night. Stretching languidly, she opened her eyes and immediately
sat straight up in the bed.

Staring
in horror at the sleeping Warlord next to her, Tia was sure her heart had just
dropped into the pit of her stomach. Not really believing this wasn’t some
crazy dream, she delicately got out of his bed and silently dressed.

As
she crept through the canvass door, she burst into a run and headed straight
for her hut. Tia couldn’t deny the truth of what had happened after seeing the
blood on her thighs. She wanted to beg the Gods to tell her it wasn’t true.
That somehow the enchantment on the tent negated what happened inside it…

Tia
prayed for a way to go back and change what had happened. She had just
committed a
grave
sin; she had lost
her virginity to someone other than her bonded
and
she had mated outside of her race! How could she break
two
of the sacred commandments in one
night? Would the Gods
ever
forgive
her?

           
Holed up in her hut, Tia leaned against the door taking
deep cleansing breaths. She could almost hear Uren telling her
to
carefully and
rationally
considered the situation. The first lesson of an apprentice is to understand
that only the Gods truly know a Druid’s destiny and to trust that they will guide
you true.

           
Tia knew she wasn’t ready to be a Gatherer yet, but as a
Gatherer, it was her duty to discover exactly what destiny the Gods had laid
out for her. Whether it be through experience, meditation, or an actual
discussion with the Gods; she must use all of the skills she learned as an
apprentice to find her destiny.
 
Dropping
to her knees, Tia poured her heart into communicating with the Gods and begging
for their forgiveness.

After
a few minutes, she pounded her fist on the dirt floor and tilted her head
towards the thatch of her hut.

           
“Please, help me,” Tia begged the Gods over and over.
“Please tell me this
isn’t
what you
have planned for me. Just please! Talk to me! Tell me what I should do!”

           
A deafening silence was all that answered her.

***

           
Tia hid in her hut that day requesting that Roland attend
the council in her place. She claimed she wasn’t feeling well and in truth she
was ill at heart. She was terrified of telling Roland what had happened. She
was afraid of seeing Bylan again…she was horrified by the thought of facing
Uren after what she’d done.

That
evening, when Roland came to check on her, she brokenly confessed everything.
She explained how her body had reacted to the things Bylan was doing and his
reasoning for her beauty. She was blatantly honest while she admitted she was
no longer pure and for the most part, it was consensual.

Tia
waited fearfully after her confession, she expected an outburst, or some sign
that he was disappointed in her; instead Roland sat back and appeared to be
calmly considering her words.

           
“I will consult the Gods.” Roland licked his lips
nervously as he wrung his hands anxiously.

           
“You have got to be joking!” Tia exclaimed angrily at his
seemingly lack of concern. “I am your promised bonded! Don’t you even
care
what I did? Aren’t you
disappointed
? Do
normal
Druids
feel anything
without permission from the Gods
?”

           
“You need to talk to your dragon. I swear you are losing
your mind!” His expression grew frosty as he rose to leave.

           
“Does everyone want me to
fuck
the Warlord?” Tia growled in frustration. She deliberately
used the word Bylan had taught her try to force a reaction out of Roland. His
response was so anti-climatic she didn’t know how to handle it. All day she had
worried herself sick over his reaction and some part of her needed to see that
he was affected, to prove to herself that he still wanted her. “
Is that why I am here?
If so, it wasn’t
all that bad! Maybe I
should
be
bonding with him!”

           
Roland spun around and stalked Tia around the room. Forcefully
grasping her upper arms, he pressed his face into hers.

           
“Do you honestly believe I
want
to share you with
that
pig
?” He growled. “I am a High Priest! I have waited nearly
one hundred years
for the Gods to choose
a bonded for me! I couldn’t believe my luck when they chose you for me; you are
so damn beautiful every Druid man was begging the Gods for you! And now I have
to share you with a
Phoenix Warlord
?
I cannot stand the thought of him touching you; being the first to bond with
you; having you at his beck and call. But if that is what the Gods demand of
us,
then that is what we must do
!”

           
Releasing her with a look of disgust, Roland turned away
and stormed out of the hut, slamming the door behind him.

           
“But how do I know if it
is
the Gods’ command?” She railed at the closed door before turning
her eyes to the thatches. “
Why are you so
silent?!
Why not just tell me yourselves?!”

           
Leaning against the wall, Tia slowly crumpled to the
floor in tears.

What
if she had angered the Gods? What if this wasn’t her destiny?

Fear
wormed its way around her heart as she considered the implications of going
against her destiny. With more bravado than she felt, she looked up and called
“If this was truly your wish,
why
don’t you just tell me so?”

***

           
“So that’s the whole story,” she finished with a flourish
to Aldeed, her dragon. Watching him roll over, Tia knew he what he was asking
her to do. Without missing a beat, she scratched his belly for a moment, before
confessing.
 
“Roland is upset with me for
refusing and I don’t know what to do. I honestly do think the Gods would tell
me, or show me, if this was in fact, my destiny.”