Chosen, Chapter 58: Inseparable Hearts

AidanThe RealmsFifthday, 2nd week of the 8th month, Age of the Chosen 1Early AfternoonStarchaser Village, Mistvale Highlands

Aidan planned to sort out his new levels and Talents on the trip back to the village. He was so tired, and Brighid's gait was so gentle, that he fell asleep after a few minutes of fruitless staring at his status screen. He didn't awaken until they came to a stop hours later, and even then, it took him a moment to realize where he was. His brain still felt like a jar of molasses. He looked around as he steadied himself and slid down off of Brighid's back. Ceirios and Ysbail were no longer with them, but Cai and Llwyd took up positions on either side of the door to Brighid's home.

Aidan had a brief fantasy of ordering them to go home but discarded it a moment later. I need to get used to them being around. Besides, I don't think they'd listen. Although... "Cai, Llwyd. I know you plan to guard Brighid and me, but with only the two of you, you're going to have to take shifts. I'll leave the details up to you for now, but unless you're expecting trouble, one of you should be resting or doing other things. Regardless of any oaths you've sworn, you still have your own lives to live. I won't have you abandoning everything for me, fealty or no." A murmur went through the gathered crowd of centaurs, but Aidan ignored it. He couldn't hide any longer; the very fact that there were so many onlookers proved that what Brighid said earlier was true.

Cai and Llwyd shared a look. "He makes sense," Cai said.

"It had to happen sometime," Llwyd quipped. "You take the first shift. I will bring you some food when I return." They shared a brief hug and kiss, then Llwyd trotted off.

"We'll be inside, sleeping," Aidan told Cai.

"Yes, my Lord. I am certain that is what you are going to do." Her voice held a healthy dose of skepticism as she eyed the open doorway, Brighid and Riama having already vanished within. "Sleep."

Aidan chuckled at her sarcasm. It was good that she wasn't bowing and scraping to him; he didn't know how much of that he could handle. Much better that she felt comfortable enough to joke with him. He followed Brighid inside and closed the door behind him. His lover waited for him on the bed, naked and trembling, facing away from him. She watched him approach over her shoulder, guilt and need warring in her viridian gaze. "Please," she whispered, "Aidan, my Lord, my love, Master of all that I am, I need you. I know you are tired and want to sleep." Her hand rose to finger the tag dangling from her collar. "I know that while I wear this, I serve you and not the other way around. But please, I cannot bear the thought of another minute spent where that thing was the last man to have me. Please, please, cleanse me with your love."

Aidan shed his clothes as he approached, cursing the lack of elastic and the need for laces. Brighid's tail lashed with every step he took, teasing him with glimpses of her nether lips and wafting the scent of her arousal towards him. Aidan might be tired, but he couldn't deny her. He stepped up behind her and grabbed her haunches in both hands, pressing himself against Brighid's rump. She let out a sound halfway between a whimper and a moan, and her tail flipped up onto her back. "You do not need to be cleansed." Aidan rubbed his length against her thick outer lips, coating himself in her slippery juices. "You did nothing wrong," he continued, lining himself up with her entrance. "You are not soiled." He pressed forward, sliding into her molten embrace an inch at a time. "You are not, have never been, and will never be unworthy of my love," Aidan grunted out as he bottomed out inside her.

He paused there a moment, reveling in the feel of her inner muscles rippling around him. Brighid was still watching him over her shoulder, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. He stroked his hands up and down her flanks and told her, "I love you, Brighid Fireheart. That is all that matters between us. Let go of your guilt. Give it to me; I absolve you."

Brighid's eyes widened, then squeezed shut, sending twin trickles down her cheeks. Aidan wished her could hold her in his arms, but simple geometry made that impossible. Or, wait, no, it doesn't! He opened up his Talent interface, purchased the second and third ranks of Extra Magical, and then activated Magic Hands and That Loving Feeling twice to create a pair of ephemeral arms, which he wrapped around Brighid from the front. She stiffened, her eyes flying open. "What in the—?" She gasped.

"A little trick I picked up. I wanted to be able to hold you while we make love; now I can. I can also do this..." He concentrated again, forming a mouth that he used to rain kisses across Brighid's shoulders, neck, and upper chest.

"Mmm." Brighid relaxed into his embrace and bared her neck to his lips. Her hips rolled back toward him, encouraging him to start moving. "I would not trade what we have for anything, but I must admit that Ysbail had a point."

Aidan slid in and out of her with long, slow strokes. "I promise not to tell Ysbail about this particular talent if you'll let me know why you were so jealous of her."

Brighid ducked her head. Aidan could see her blush reddening her ears, though. "It bothers me to think of you riding another centaur. Especially a woman. I know it is not rational, but it is how I feel. I am sorry."

Aidan gave her a swift swat on the rump. "No apologies! To be honest, I'm relieved," he chuckled. "Your utter lack of possessiveness was freaking me out a bit; now that I see a chink in your armor, I feel a lot better about it." He swiveled the phantom arms around to embrace Brighid from behind and attempted to make a pair of hands for them. When only one formed, he grumbled to himself, Why is it called Magic Hands if I can only make one hand without another Talent? Bah! He purchased the next rank of Extra Magical, added the second hand, then started rubbing Brighid's waist and abdomen.

It took an immense amount of focus to coordinate everything. The arms and hands were the worst of it; they were separate instances of the Ability and weren't linked in any way, so he had to spend extra mental effort to maintain the illusion. He decided that the effort wasn't worth it and turned the arms into another pair of hands. These he sent straight to Brighid's breasts, trailing the fingertips across her skin in a feather-light caress. She shivered and moaned at the contact. "A girl could grow addicted to this kind of treatment."

With six hands available to him, there was nowhere on Brighid's body that was out of Aidan's reach. He took ruthless advantage, exploring every inch of her for sensitive spots and erogenous zones. When he found such a place—the nape of her neck, the crook in her spine where her humanoid torso met her equine lower body, the upper ridge of her ears—Aidan moved his phantasmal mouth to the area. He nibbled, bit, sucked, and licked her, cataloging every reaction she made. All the while, he kept up a steady, slow rhythm behind her. Brighid pushed back against him with increasing urgency, but he refused to be hurried.

Once Aidan was satisfied with his exploration of his love's body, he switched things up. Two hands returned to Brighid's bosom, cupping from beneath and sinking the fingers into her yielding flesh. Aidan used the magical mouth to kiss his way up from his partner's abdomen, between her heaving breasts, across her throat, and onto her lips. She opened her mouth to his, moaning into the following kiss. Because Magic Hands had no physical substance, her panting and moaning went unmuffled. The remaining two instances of the Ability, formerly arms and then hands, Aidan changed again, this time into additional mouths. These he experimented with, latching them onto Brighid's nipples through his phantom hands.

The redhead jerked and arched her back at the unexpected sensation, letting out a loud moan that spoke to her appreciation. Aidan could feel the rubbery protrusions in his mouths and the palms of his hands, so he imagined that she could feel both as well. Seeking to experiment further, he shifted his hands so that he could squeeze Brighid's nipples between his fingers while simultaneously sucking them into his mouths and lashing them with his tongues.

"Please, love!" Brighid cried out, "Please, harder! I am so close!" Her words were distorted by the formless mouth and tongue pressed to hers, but Aidan could make out her meaning.

"Do what harder?" He teased. "This?" He grazed his ephemeral teeth across her areolas. "Or maybe this?" His fingers twisted and tugged at her nipples. "Or maybe you meant both at once?" Actions followed words, causing Brighid to grab onto the bedsheets, wrapping them around her hands. "That's right, love. Give in to the pleasure and release your worries. I have you, my heart. Let yourself go."

Brighid let out a shuddering half-scream half-moan and lunged back at him. Aidan groaned as her dextrous inner muscles clamped down around the base of his shaft while fluttering and pulsing around his tip. He gritted his teeth, fighting against the pleasure, and continued his steadfast pace. He wanted to leave no room for doubt in Brighid's mind that he loved her and desired her. It wasn't about ownership, despite their shared kinks, but rather the depths of his feelings for her. His goal was to shatter any doubt she could hold in the deep, dark recesses of her mind, and to that end, he pulled out all the stops.

Aidan disengaged from the magical kiss, then brought that mouth around between her legs. Brighid was still shuddering through her first orgasm when his lips closed around the thick nub of her clit. "Fuck!" Was her eloquent response. "Oh, fuck! Aidan!" She bucked again and would have unseated Aidan if it was not for his grip on her haunches and how tightly her depths clung to him.

That Loving Feeling only transmitted touch, not taste, so Aidan couldn't savor Brighid's flavor, but he could feel her thick juices flowing past his lips. He also couldn't interact with himself with Magic Hands, a fact that he took full advantage of by sending the phantasmal tongue plunging inside Brighid alongside his manhood. He lengthened the imaginary organ, sending it writhing into her depths even as he pulled back for the next thrust. At the same time, Aidan intensified the actions of his hands and mouths on Brighid's breasts. He hefted them in his hands, followed their contours with his tongues, and used everything available to him to stimulate her peaks.

Aidan briefly considered taking yet another rank in Extra Magical, but instead decided to experiment further. He could create exact copies of his mouth, hands, and arms; could he create other appendages that he didn't have? Aidan focused on the mouth affixed to Brighid's plump nether lips. He first removed the teeth and then turned the lips into another tongue. It was harder to control, but Aidan was able to send the second organ snaking down to wrap around Brighid's pleasure button.

"Ah! Oh! Unnnnnh!" Brighid lost the capacity for words as Aidan worked her over. Her head whipped back and forth, sending her hair spraying like streamers of lava erupting from a volcano, and her hips rolled and pressed backward against him with urgent, desperate purpose. Aidan could feel every ridge of her inner walls as they conformed to his probing appendages, clinging to him as he withdrew and parting eagerly at his return. She writhed all around him, his relentless motion and magical manhandling driving her into one orgasm after another.

When he felt Brighid's motions weakening and his own climax approaching, Aidan decided it was time for the finishing blow. He removed the mouths from her breasts, then shaped them into copies of his dick. Moving them into their positions, he told Brighid, "That's right, let it all out. Give everything to me, as I give everything to you." He pulled out of her spasming pussy, then pressed the three throbbing tips to Brighid's mouth, pussy, and ass. She stiffened, then, with a wordless cry, thrust herself backward and tilted her head forward, impaling herself triply upon Aidan. He cried out himself as he felt her surround him in her tight heat three times over.

The human mind wasn't built for that sort of stimulation, and it only took a few seconds of bliss for Aidan's pace to turn from slow and steady to uneven and frantic. He didn't so much approach the cliff as fling himself off of it, shouting, clutching, ramming himself home into his Soulmate. All thought poured from his mind and shot forth into Brighid's willing depths as she joined him in ecstasy. He shuddered and jerked through the pleasure until all strength fled his body and he collapsed against Brighid. The last thing he remembered for a time was a brief flash of satisfaction as Brighidslumped down into unconsciousness with him.

AidanLate Afternoon

Aidan woke hours later, feeling refreshed and revitalized. Brighid was still dozing, so he made his way around to her front and slipped into her arms. Riama looked up from her spot at the far corner of the bed. His familiar's <exasperation> filled his mind as she stood up and stretched, then made her way over to him. "Mrrow!" The cat demanded, butting her head against his leg, and Aidan gave her the requested tribute of head-scratches.

"Alright, alright, let's address your growth, shall we, love?" Aidan asked, voice low so as not to wake Brighid. Riama's purring intensified and she climbed up into his lap, prompting a chuckle from Aidan. There were still a few notifications he hadn't checked, and after a quick filter, he found the one he was looking for.

Aidan wasn't sure how to spend Riama's Attribute points. Her active Abilities were similar to those of a rogue, highlighting mobility and crippling attacks. Her small size meant that she had penalties to her Strength and Toughness; should he leave those alone or try to shore up her weaknesses? Also, she was supposed to be capable of casting his spells. Did that mean that he should invest in mental stats for her? As it was, her Concentration was half of his. Shaking his head, Aidan set that aside for the moment and focused on the Ability Advancement points in the hopes that her higher-tier Abilities would give him some guidance.

Well, that isn't very helpful. Without a preview of the improved Abilities, there wasn't much to help Aidan make his decision. In a way, that made things easier, since there wasn't much to debate. Aidan decided to spend a point on Empathic Bond, figuring that better communication would always be worthwhile.

Nice! So it wasn't just an upgrade to the existing parameters of the Ability. The cost increased, but the bonus Attribute points would be worthwhile in the long run. Still, the first level of each Ability was cheap, so Aidan bought the others just to see what he was working with.

The bonus to Shadow Pounce made it much safer for her to use. Aidan approved. Steal Destiny's stun would only work on weak creatures, but it seemed like a thing that would improve with further investment. He still didn't like how vulnerable it made her to other enemies, though. Aidan looked over his options again. He was drawn once more to Empathic Bond; not only did it increase his ability to communicate with her, but it also made her smarter. That was precisely the sort of thing he was looking for in spending these points.

Spending three points there would reduce him to three remaining, meaning that he couldn't advance the Ability further. He also would only be able to improve one of the other Abilities. He still felt it was worthwhile; ever rank so far had been a significant leap forward, and he didn't expect that to change. He was nonetheless surprised by the outcome of spending those points.

Aidan was torn. Having the ability to use Riama as a long-range information relay by letting her mind-speak to others would be of incalculable value. As a student of history, Aidan was keenly aware of the role information transmission played in warfare and civilization's advancement. At the same time, if he had the opportunity to make her smarter and more intellectually aware, didn't he have the duty to do so? He remembered how gutted he had been at the end of Flowers for Algernon.

A thread of thought intruded on Aidan's internal debate. He glanced down at Riama, whose golden eyes were looking up at him. <deep and overwhelming trust in his decisions; eternal, unconditional love; fleeting, fragmentary desire to be more closely connected to him> He was so overwhelmed by the richness and complexity of the emotions she was sending him that he almost missed the tiny spark of desire at the end. Hugging Riama close, Aidan chose One Mind.

A tiny paw pressed against his chest, steadying Riama as she raised her head level to his. She leaned forward until they were almost nose-to-nose, then a soft, feminine voice spoke in his mind. "I love you, Master." Accompanying the voice was a veritable flood of pure <love>. Aidan wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight. Tears spilled from his eyes as her love washed over him. It was one thing to know that someone loved him—there was no doubt in his mind about the depth or breadth of Brighid's feelings for him—but it was another thing entirely to feel it. No drug back on Earth ever gave him a high so pure and soaring as his bond with Riama.

Aidan cuddled with his lover and his familiar for a long time before disengaging the mental link and dragging himself back to the task in front of him. He still had three Ability Advancement points and forty-four Attribute points to spend on his familiar, plus all of his own leveling. He tried to ask Riama's opinion on the matter, but she only sent him pulses of <trust and contentment> in return. Eventually, Aidan decided that Steal Destiny made her more vulnerable while Shadow Pounce allowed her to contribute to fights without risking herself. He spent the remaining point on Wild Heart.

The Attribute buffs from Riama's various Abilities and his As Above, So Below Talent were starting to add up to something significant. Even without investing any Attribute points, her Speed was already almost 30. Her Might and Toughness were barely above their starting values, though, and Shadow Pounce seemed to be pushing her into the role of a burst damage dealer. He decided to invest ten points each into those two, and a further ten in Willpower to increase her Concentration for spellcasting.

With fourteen points remaining, he looked over his other options with a critical eye. Endurance wasn't something he was concerned about; Riama was a cat, which meant she was lazy. She wouldn't even do her own walking if she could avoid it, so Stamina didn't like a pressing concern. Agility and Speed were already her highest Attributes and advanced naturally with her levels. She didn't have a use for Charisma aside from using his magic, and there was no way he was going to invest in her Attractiveness or Luck; she already had plenty of the latter anyway. That left him with Senses, Logic, and Intuition, and of the three, Senses seemed most crucial and had the most substantial bonus multiplier. He put another ten points there and then invested the remaining four in Speed to help her evasion and mobility.

"You're a ferocious little beastie now, love," he whispered to her. Riama’s rumbling purr was her only response.