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  Rekfa jerked her forward, and Yodin shouted. “You are coming with me, daughter. There is much you need to learn.”

  Light and wind surrounded them, and the body of the youth filled with the soul of the planet held her tight. The howl of fury followed them and echoed in the air.

  Chapter Six

  An hour later, she was dressed in a pale rust gown and walking with the Avatar through his home.

  “You must be wondering why I spirited you away.”

  “It does seem a little odd considering that we have just met.”

  Rekfa sighed. “Yodin has a powerful pull on women. I have seen them leave their husbands and families to be with him. I want you to know that your choices are yours and yours alone to make.”

  She sighed and looked around at the temple-style building. “They have not been mine to make for a year. I still don’t know what is happening.”

  “What is happening to you is what has already happened to our dark lord. You claim an accident, but I can tell you that you died, if only for an instant. The moment you died, your body kicked in your talent and your talent is immortality. Your cells replace themselves as soon as they are injured and your body is becoming the strongest, fastest version of itself that it can be.”

  Rekfa sighed. “Yodin was one of the first colonists; the gladiators broke free of their confinement and fled here. I welcomed them, but until Jurad offered himself to me, I could not help them fight off their enemies. Yodin and I stood side by side and fought off those who had captured and imprisoned them. I recognized what he was then. I had heard of his kind, but you are extremely rare. One in a billion, and that one has to die for their genes to activate their immortality.”

  “How long ago was this?”

  “Nine hundred years. Arez joined him here three hundred years ago. They are both vital for the safety of Rekfa, but they are boisterous in the extreme.”

  “I thought that folk called on Yodin as a spirit.”

  “They do, and he takes his shadows and gives them strength and stamina for a night. He rarely comes into the towns and cities with the exception of the great night.”

  “Last night.”

  “Yes.”

  She nodded. “So, the average citizen doesn’t know he is real?”

  “They know, they just don’t believe it. There are a few that have begun a cult, but he ceases the worship before it gets too far, usually after a woman has been offered to him.”

  Aster pursed her lips. “I am sensing a theme.”

  “Good. I want you to know what you are getting into if you let him back into your bed.”

  They walked through the gardens, and her sandals made a slight hissing noise on the stones, Rekfa made no sound at all.

  “Why did you want us apart?”

  “If you come to your power fully, I want you to shape it, not Yodin. He shaped Arez in his own image, and while he is an excellent warrior, he could have been so much more.”

  Aster smiled and stepped toward a gathering of flowers, only two of which were blooming. She touched the open blooms and inhaled the fragrance. “These are lovely.”

  “They are.”

  “After you fought off the arena personnel, what happened?”

  “There were women as well as men, and the gladiators claimed them. I separated them and gave the women the choice. No slaves on my surface. Jurad was insistent.”

  “Very kind of you.”

  “It wasn’t just kind, it was sensible. There was less than one woman to every three men. They formed bonding groups, and their population began to grow. Ships arrived and traded for water and plants. Some of those who landed remained, and we began to grow.”

  Aster smiled and ran her hand along the shrubs as they walked.

  “We offered our world to those seeking solace and relaxation. We became a resort world. That lasted for four hundred years until a jump site was opened in our system. From there, we became a trade hub, and so we are today. Many more species have asked for and been granted permission to remain here, but the initial population and my true citizens are descended from those gladiators.”

  “So, now I have the background of Rekfa, what about Yodin? How did he come to be immortal?”

  “He said that he was struck down on the arena station. He died and was reborn as what he has become today.”

  “Arez arrived on a visiting ship?”

  “Yes, he had already died in a mining accident. He was in the process of his second maturation, as you are now.” Rekfa smiled. “Yours seems to be moving in a more positive direction.”

  She looked at him curiously, but he was staring at the way they had come. Flowers bloomed and the plants had grown a foot since she had passed them.

  “That was unexpected.” She grimaced.

  “Only by you; now come and I will show you to your home where you will reside until you have grasped your potential.”

  “Won’t Yodin simply scoop me up?”

  Rekfa smiled grimly. “He would not dare. This is my home and no one enters without my permission.”

  The house that he offered her was also temple-based, but the open air and the bright colours of the interior were a stark contrast to the dark stone and furs of Yodin’s home.

  “What do I do now?” she asked him as much as she was asking herself.

  “You have a com terminal and my access to the great archives; do what you wish and learn what you have become. If you want to leave here, call me and I will deliver you to any part of my globe at any time.”

  She smiled tightly and took the tour of her new home with him. When he left, she walked back into the garden and stroked the flowers and trees, sure that they were somehow linked to what she was becoming.

  Four months passed before she was ready to leave the house of Rekfa. She walked to his home and sat in the living space, waiting for him to return.

  A whirlwind arrived and she got to her feet. “Hello, Avatar, do you remember you said you would take me where I wish to go? I wish to see Abrieth and Lerodan at Yodin’s home.”

  Rekfa nodded and he grimaced. “They have left my surface. When he was confirmed pregnant, they left and claimed his property.”

  She looked down at herself and nodded. “I see.”

  “You do not. They have requested colonist status, and it has been granted. They will return by the end of the week.”

  She looked up again and grinned. “Good. I still want to get out though.”

  She paced and twisted her lips. “What is Yodin up to?”

  “He is supervising a fertility festival on the northern coast.”

  “Oh. I am guessing he wouldn’t want to be interrupted.”

  “I think he would be delighted to see you there. He has changed since you have been gone. I believe he is on his best behaviour.” Rekfa winked.

  She had gotten used to always speaking to the planet. Jurad was the thinker. He enjoyed being the silent voice in the planet’s head. Jurad came out at night, and he was a lovely dancer, if a little stiff.

  “Could you take me to him?”

  “Of course. I think he will be impressed at the changes you have made.”

  She ran her hands nervously over her hips and she was hopeful. “You think so?”

  “Not just the physical ones. I am very glad that you no longer equate muscle with strength. You look more comfortable with your own body now.”

  He wrapped her in his arms and touched her new curves.

  Aster had to admit that she had missed her breasts. The softness over the muscle had been a battle of will, but she had won and she was proud of her triumph.

  In a whirl of wind and light, they lifted up and flew across the land, frightening Arez in his bird form and racing him up the coastline.

  The roaring of the wind in her ears tried to drown out what she heard as they approached, but she could make out the moans and groans of the party in progress.

  When Rekfa landed, he made a face. “Apologies. You should not be exposed to this.”

  “Why? With few exceptions, most living beings arrive through this kind of acrobatics. Sex is quite fun with the right partner.”

  She looked around at the couples in various poses. “I am guessing that the local economy depends on cushions.”

  Rekfa laughed. “Call me if you need a ride home.”

  He disappeared in a whirl, and she looked for the empty spot in the bodies. When she found him on the dais, overlooking the activities, she walked carefully through the writhing bodies toward him.

  A few enterprising men and women stroked their hands up her calves as she passed, but she exhaled gently, and when her breath touched them, they dropped back in blissful delight.

  That trick was one of her favourites, and it worked on all manner of wild animals.

  Yodin was pouting. There was no other description for him watching the bodies twisting and humping in all sorts of permutations, with his chin resting on the fist of the arm propped on the arm of the chair.

  His dark features were positively saturnine as he stared into the main cluster of participants.

  “Your face is going to stick if you keep frowning like that.”

  He lifted his head and looked for her. “Aster?”

  Smiling, she removed the hiding field that Rekfa had shown her how to generate. It only worked on Yodin, but that was enough.

  “Who else is going to tell you the truth? Everyone else here has a busy mouth.”

  She finished clearing the party on the floor, and she smiled brightly at him. With a bit of nerve, she extended her hand to his. “Good afternoon, Yodin.”

  He took her hand and tugged her toward him, pulling her until she stood in front of him.

  Smiling softly, she leaned in and kissed him. His hands caressed her back and breasts, paused and resumed his slow stroking.

  He had to relearn her. She had worked hard to put the curves she had had before her accident back in place. She still had muscle under them, but she now looked more like a woman than a warrior.

  “Are you back with me?”

  She smiled at him. “I am here for a visit.”

  To his surprise, she sat in his lap. “What are they celebrating?”

  “It is the end of the harvest time; they wish to start pregnancies now if they can. There is another orgy in the spring to bring on the fertility of the fields.”

  She laughed and watched two men grappling together. “I think pleasure is more the goal, rather than pregnancy.”

  He held her tight and buried his face against her neck. “It is possible. I missed you.”

  She stroked his jaw and smiled. “I missed you as well. I assume that you had plenty of volunteers to keep you busy.”

  “I have had no woman since you.”

  His words were stark and hung in the air between them.

  She smiled and tried to distract him. “Disappointed that I didn’t keep my warrior shape?”

  “The muscle is still here. You are no less the warrior for now looking more like a woman. You are happier this way?”

  “I am, though it takes much effort. My new physiology doesn’t like it.”

  “It is your subconscious that doesn’t like it. You are equating softness with weakness.”

  She was amused to be holding such a polite conversation surrounded by so much sex.

  Aster waved at the gathering. “You do this often?”

  He smiled and his hand shifted to stroke her thigh. “Twice a year I supervise the festivities.”

  She kissed his cheek. “I will let you get to it.”

  Shadows bound her in place and held her against him. Aster smiled at the expected response and bound him in green vines, pulling him back against his chair.

  His distraction let her slip free, and she picked her way through the couples and groupings once again. The musk was getting a little thick.

  The amber-coloured gauze dress that she wore floated around her as she moved with deliberate speed through those celebrating the harvest.

  It was reflex to travel in a zigzag pattern, and when a flash of shadow missed her by inches, she ducked behind a wall and caught her breath. Baiting him into following her had not been part of the plan; she had simply done it on impulse. It was an impulse she was currently regretting.

  She lifted her head and found the scent of a garden. She focused and put on a burst of speed, sprinting for the green space and her leafy army.

  She heard the scream above her, and Aster promised herself that Arez was going to be missing a few feathers the first opportunity she got.

  She heard footfalls behind her and kept moving. She had goaded him into action, and now, the god of war, death and sex was on her heels. This was not something she had ever considered while she was finishing physio.

  Chapter Seven

  The shadows snapped at her heels, and when her feet touched the cool grass of the public garden, she felt herself growing stronger.

  A shadow wrapped around her ankle and tripped her.

  As she fell, she turned and a nearby bush fired a volley of razor-sharp leaves at Yodin’s face.

  She heard him gasp, and there was an evil smirk on her face as she scrambled to her feet and ran further into her domain.

  When arms came around her and bore her to the ground, she grunted in surprise.

  “You have picked up a few tricks over the last few months.” Yodin’s words were rough as he pressed her into the turf.

  “Well, I do love to learn.” She struggled, but he had her firmly wedged to the ground.

  “So, you tease me and then run away?” His breath was hot on her neck, and he grazed his teeth over her neck and shoulders.

  “We were having a calm conversation, and I left you to your work.” She kept her voice reasonable.

  “That is not what we were having.” He rolled her over, pinning her arms above her head with one arm.

  Her skirt was up above her knees, and his hips weighed her down. She winced at the slices that the leaves had made in his face, causing blood to drip onto her gown.

  “Isn’t it?” Playing dumb was getting embarrassing, but she couldn’t just give in or admit she had sought him out for sex.

  He kissed her, sliding his hand up her inner thigh. She lifted her hips when his fingers brushed her sex, and she blushed at the wet heat that he found.

  Yodin leaned back and he gave her a knowing look. “Conversation?”

  “Yes. Are you going to continue talking or should I take my conversation elsewhere?” she arched her eyebrows at him.

  His golden eyes took on a sleepy cast, “I think I can manage to keep the topic entertaining.”

  He slid two fingers into her and rubbed her clit with his thumb. Aster trembled and fought his grip on her, wanting to take a more active role in their coupling.

  He kissed her and used his fingers to coax her to the edge of release, and then, he pulled back.

  Her eyes snapped open, and she watched his satisfied expression turn to amusement.

  “Two can tease, Aster.”

  He cloaked himself in shadow and disappeared in a swirl of darkness.

  Aster was breathing heavily and knew that he wanted to be chased, but she was not in the mood to do it. Smiling, she got up, moved closer to trees and vines, and removed her dress, lying back on the sunlit greenery.

  At her command, the vines snaked forward and wrapped around her wrists, pulling them up and back toward a tree. She heard a gasp in the shadows, but she kept going.

  Tendrils with delicate flowers trailed over her breasts, dusting her nipples with pollen and sending shivers through her skin.

  When vines gripped her knees and pulled her thighs wide, trailing up toward her core, she heard rustling in the darkness behind her and a naked and eager Yodin took her up on her invitation.

  He knelt between her thighs and lifted her legs to drape over his. With focus, he flexed his cock downward and slid it into her; his eyes closed as her wet heat wrapped around him.

  Aster arched upward, asking the vines to lift her higher. She was supported as he pulled her against him and thrust from the kneeling position. She unravelled her bindings that held her against the tree and dismissed the flowers teasing her breasts.

  Her entire focus was on Yodin, and he stroked his hand down between her breasts and up again before slipping the arm behind her and lifting her onto his lap.

  Eye to eye, they rose and fell together; she kissed him and licked the wounds the leaves had caused, healing him with her tongue. His skin was already closing, but she finished the job.

  Aster smiled as his skin brightened to silver for a moment before healing without a mark. She had been proud of learning that trick.

  He sought her mouth again, and she focused on their skin rubbing and the exchange of breath. Sweat coursed between them, and the feel of him inside her took all of her attention.

  Yodin kept his hands around her, stroking her back and caressing her thighs as she rose and fell on him, lifting high and slamming hard, grinding her hips against his.

  The change in her breathing warned her of the rush of release, and she dug her nails into his shoulders as the waves swelled inside her and powered out in bright ripples of energy.

  She heard his gasp of surprise, and she held on while her body gripped his. His bellow followed her soft sounds, and as he held her tight, shadows reached out and snapped through the air holding her as his arms did.

  Her heartbeat gradually slowed and he relaxed his grip.

  “What did Rekfa turn you into?”

  His words of wonder made her smile.

  “He didn’t do anything. He brought me to a garden and let me relax. The beauty that I saw around me shaped what I can do. There was so much, so much that I hadn’t even imagined, and when I let it flow out of me, the result was growth.”

  She smiled and leaned back in his arms. “I wish I could figure out a faster form of transport, but it seems to be the skill that I lack.”

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