cry left his throat as he flapped his wings and leaped into the air. Two beats of his wings and he broke through the trees, leaving the palace and his mate far behind him. It would take him half the night to travel to the spring, and he didn’t want to delay his return even for a minute.
Chapter 32
At high moon, Silvas descended into the silver-lit grove. The leaves of the trees, though weak and half-withered, bore testament to the beauty of this sacred place. The fountain itself was almost crystalline as it reflected the gentle light.
Dropping beside it, he released the form of the roc, the feathers drifting away from him as he resumed his true form. He stood there upon the moss-covered rocks that lined the edges of the spring and waited, his body taut with tension. His tail flicked slowly, the only movement he allowed himself, as his eyes fixed on silvery spring that fed into a natural rock basin.
The water rippled, and slowly a naiad, her silvery hair flowing around her shoulders, stepped out. She was radiant, the drops of water appearing as stars on her dark body as if born from the royal womb of the night, and her eyes the darkest blue of watery depths. Her gaze fell upon him as she waded into the shallower waters until naught but her sex was exposed to the air. Her naked body was supple with muscle, her breasts high and round. She was undoubtedly the most beautiful of nymphs. Her hot gaze slid down his body, lingering on every sculpted muscle. Her tongue stroked over her lips, the scent of her desire perfuming the air.
“It has been a long time. It has been ages since I have enjoyed such a fine feast for my eyes. What brings the lucomo to my spring? Is it because you desire to lay within my arms and watch the ages pass us by?” she breathed in enticement. “Do you desire me above all things?”
Lust spiked briefly through him in reaction to the powerful nature of the naiad, his cock swelling in reaction. A low growl broke free from his chest. He traveled too far to play her games to test his will and the true desire of his heart. His lust was a superficial reaction to the nymph’s beauty and it only served to make him ache for his mate, his entire being grieving in separation from his uxorem. His temper immediately flared to life.
“I did not come for you, Thera, pegaeae nymph. I came to seek your spring’s divine blessing to restore us,” he growled. Lifting Nocis high, he imbedded the sword in the soft ground between the rocks in emphasis as his words rang out.
The nymph’s flirty demeanor dropped away to be replaced by a soft smile as she stood, the lapping silvery waters flowing over and around her. Her hand stretched forward beckoningly, her voice ringing out as she addressed him.
“Very well, Selvans,” she intoned, her voice sounding hollow and roaring as flowing water. “Approach with Nocis and return to your glory.”
Yanking Nocis free, Silvas stepped down into the fountain’s pool, the forest quiet except for the fall of water and the gold chiming lightly from his antlers. The water was cold and biting, plunging through him as he waded deeper. With the sword outstretched, he handed to it the pegaeae. Her dark hands outstretched and took the sword.
Stepping back from him, Thera waded deeper into the water to approach the fountainhead. Rather than rough, weathered stone, it had been carved in some past age to resemble a lion’s head, the water gushing from the opening beneath its mouth. Raising the blade laying lengthwise across her palms, a hum vibrated from her as she lifted it to the view of the heavens where the moonlight shone down through a break in the branches. A sheen ran along the length of the sword as she plunged Nocis beneath the fountain’s spray. Silver light burst from the edges of the sword where the water drops struck it.
The nymph lowered it until it was completely submerged. The water lit up as if the moon itself was contained within the round pool. The hum became louder, deeper, as the water rippled and bounced from the epicenter. The sword, beneath the water, appeared darker, negating all light that surrounded it. This was the nature of the sword. Tendrils of miasma were pulled away, burning all the darker like the empty blackness at