Page 28 of The Rake OR The Orca Who Met His Match in a Selkie Desiring Revenge
Elspeth grimaced and shook her head. “Too sweet, but thank you.”
Filing the fact away, Aegir measured out his morning dose of lunula and dumped it into the tall glass of apple juice, stirring so that it was well mixed.
“What isthat?”Elspeth asked, eyes huge and glued to the now dark glowing glass.
“Oh, it’s lunula, the algae that I use to shift. It tastes better in juice.”
“It looks so… strange,” she whispered, bending over to examine it closer.
“Absolutely. It doesn’t look like that normally, it just looks like any normal glowing algae, but when we powder it, we mix in charcoal so it’s notsoobvious. After all, why would anyone have reason to bring powdered glowing algae with them?”
“Unless they want to change how they look every ten seconds, that is.”
“Exactly, and I’m not exactly keen on being the one that breaks the secret to the Empire.” Aegir stirred the glass and gulped most of it down.
Elspeth frowned, pursing her lips in thought. “Does it makeanyonemagical? What would happen if I drank it?”
“To my knowledge, and based on the non-humans who live in Sanctuary… nothing much would happen? Perhaps they are healthier, so it might make a good supplement, but no one there develops extra magic because of eating it all the time. The current theory is that humans are inherently non-magical, whereas everyone in the Empire is inherently magical. because we don’t have magic, we have, over generations of exposure, acquired it… or something. Whereas you all already have magic, so nothing really happens.”
“How odd. So humans have no magic at all—normally I mean.” She chewed on a piece of toast, chewing thoughtfully. “We’re the same that way then. We bothneedsomething outside of ourselves in order to do our magic.”
“I suppose we are then… I suppose we are.”
They left town onfoot, but once they were well in the distance, Aegir nodded that Elspeth should follow him off the road. He undressed, shoved his clothing into the saddlebags, and then shifted into a centaur. Humanoid from the waist up, the rest of his body was a black horse, whose markings he always made sure mimicked his orca spots.2
“I have other clothes for you as well.” Digging in his pack, he pulled out a more simple dress, that laced up the front with a long panel down the middle to cover her chemise. Her soft slippers were traded out for a pair of sturdy boots, and he smiled at the picture she presented. She’d been beautiful in a Lady’s fine attire, but something about this more casual wear suited her. She looked ready for adventure and that warmed a part of Aegir he wasn’t certain he was willing to examine too closely, yet.
“I noticed that touch can be bothersome for you. Do you have any experience riding?”
His mind skittered off into wondering if she hadotherriding experience, and he cleared his throat. Damned minds, they thought they could do whatever they wanted.
Having never ridden before, it took Elspeth a while to find the way she needed to move her bodywhile riding. Aegir gave helpful tips, and he was doing what he could to compensate, even if he sometimes moved in ways that made it feel as if she were about to fall, only to place a careful hand out to right her and then immediately retract it.
After several hours, Aegir trotted off the path and into the forest. Elspeth on his back had been a distinct distraction and he needed a break from feeling her shift against him. It was obvious that certain touches caused a flood of bad memories, though she’d touched him freely all morning.
“Right then,” he said, stopping and kneeling so she could dismount. “We’ll begin your training.”
He pulled Aegir the Captain around him like a cloak. Allowing himself to slip into the familiar role. His no-nonsense attitude and pointed movements were well suited to this sort of training, and hopefully it would help him to focus.
As they’d previously discussed, he knew she would likely do best with a dagger, though she’d have several, if he had any say, hidden about her person.
First, he stepped her through a sequence of attacks, having her repeat it until sweat dripped down the sides of her face.
The familiar set allowed him to embody his Captain Aegir persona, calling out “centerline thrust, forehand thrust, backhand thrust,” from his own training memories with the Shades3. His own instructor, Jorund, had always influenced the character of Captain Aegir, but never was it more apparent than during training. “Step with the thrust,” he reminded as her form began to slip. He noted where she needed improvement and corrected, grateful for the distance that being the Captain granted. He could disconnect from his own emotions and drill her so she could complete the motions in her sleep.
When she was truly tired, Elspeth bent over, placing a hand on his arm. Her breaths came heavy and she didn’t seem to notice that she touched him. Aegir on the other hand, couldn’t tear his eyes away. Her touch was hot and slightly slick from her exertion, and he was flooded with images of how she’d looked while practicing. He’d stuck to routine, and the guise of Captain Aegir had kept him in control, but with her hand on his arm, desire came crashing in.
His hair fell over his forehead from where he’d slicked it, as if it too was abandoning the persona in the wake of the heat that blazed through him. He couldn’t ruin this, he had norealidea what he wanted of Elspeth,and knew that part of his desire had to do with their bond. At that moment though, his desires dueled with one another. The desire to touch her, to caress each curve and worship each inch of her skin fought to quell the steadier desire to see her happy, safe, and at peace. The first wouldnotget him the second, and in fact, it might be its very undoing.
So, harnessing the power of his lunula, he tamped down his desire, forcing blood from where it had been flooding to his cock to other places, and steadied his racing heart. He needed distance, the separation he could only get from a deep cover. So, he changed tactics.
“What did he look like, your brother’s captor?”
“I don’t know, an elf?” Elspeth was tired, he could see she was flagging, but he needed to make sure she could react appropriately under pressure.
“How tall was he?”
Elspeth held her hand uncertainly above her head.