Essentia (15 page)

    "Yes My Lady, I will help you, and I will try not to peek," I say to her. What am I saying?  Of course, I want to peak.  I am wanting a hell of a lot more than that, to be honest. But I will do my best to be a good boy.  For her sake and mine.

    Carrying her to the bathroom, she says "Thank you Enre."  Smiling up at me, the rosiness still filling her cheeks.

    "Anything for you, My Princess," I say to her then I place a kiss on her forehead.  I sit her down in the chair I had placed earlier, and I hand her a large towel.  I then say to her "I will turn around while you undress, wrap that towel around yourself.  When you are done My Lady, I will set you in the tub, and you can put the wet towel on the floor. That way you won't be embarrassed."

    "I am not embarrassed about you seeing me naked silly.  I was embarrassed because you had to rescue me once again.  This time from myself. You have already practically seen me naked when you cleaned me up remember."  She is right, I did see her almost naked before, but why would she be embarrassed about my helping her?  She must feel terrible, not being able to walk yet. And having to depend on us so much. 

    "Only if you are sure My lady." She nodded and took her nightgown off.  Such a beautiful sight.  She is perfect in every way.  I look away, embarrassed myself that I was watching her undress.  I hold out the towel to her, and she giggled and took it.     The next moment she says "Ok You can turn around."  When I do, she has her hair down and the towel wrapped around her. I knew her hair was long, but I didn't know it was this long.  It is a beautiful russet brown with auburn highlights when you look at it just the right way.

    I walk over to her and ask "Ready My Lady?"  She is pink from head to toe.  It is an alluring vision wrapped in terry cloth.  I gently pick her up and place her in the bathtub. 

    She smiled up at me shyly and says "Would you mind staying with me?" 

    "For always My lady."  I sit in the wooden chair she was just in, using all of my willpower to not stare at her luscious body. Even glancing would be my undoing.

      Chapter Nineteen

          Terra

    The warmth of the water feels so great on my body.  I glance over at Enre, and he is obviously trying not to look at me.  His face has a red hue to it.  Is he embarrassed about sitting with me in here?  You can't see anything; the tub is full of fluffy bubbles with the scent of lavender.  I guess that he added it to the water to calm me down some.  He is such a thoughtful man, always thinking about others. Always thinking about me.  My heart flutters when I think about him.  I want to stay with him forever, but is that something that he wants as well? I am just about positive that I have fallen in love with him, this warm feeling I have inside is something I have never felt before. I mean, I admit that I have been infatuated before, but it never felt nowhere close to this.

    When he kissed me earlier, it made my head swim and heated my body to the core. The passion in his lips is almost overwhelming, But I could get lost in that feeling alone, forever and never look back.

    My face must be red because he says with a concerned look on his face “Is the water too hot My Lady?" No, He is too hot. That's the problem.

    "No no, it feels fantastic, thank you,” I say back to him, the tension leaving his face.  So attentive. 

    He then looks away and says "It is my pleasure, My Lady."  I finish washing up and am ready to get out of the tub.  How is this going to work?  He is going to have to pick me up naked. I can feel the heat rise in my cheeks as I look down at myself and back up to him.  Ok, I can do this.  It's not like a man has never seen me in my birthday suit before.  Why am I so nervous?  What if he doesn’t like how I look?  I think to myself. 

    Oh well, it cannot be helped. I breath in deep and say to him "Can you help me get out of the tub... please?"  My voice only shaking a little. He instantly blushed and hesitated for a moment.

    Then he said with a smile "Yes My princess."  He stood up and bent down, scooping me up with ease.     He is trying not to look down at me.  I know he is just trying to be modest.  I gather up my courage and reach up and kiss him on the cheek.  His eyes widen, and he gets a small smirk on his face. "Are you trying to tempt me, My Lady?" He says in a husky voice. 

    The phrase is out of my mouth before I could stop them "Maybe I am."  Why did I just say that? This man has me all messed up in the head. 

    "Mmhmm.  Anyone ever tell you not to it is not wise to feed a hungry lion?" Then he reaches down and playfully bit me on the neck making a growling sound deep in his throat.  I couldn't help but giggle at the tickling sensation he was leaving on my skin.  He whispers in my ear "You are so Beautiful."  I instantly blush from head to toe.  My heart beating wildly.  Why does he affect me so much?  As he carries me to his bedroom, the door swings open and I let out a screech "Shhh."

    Enre quickly turns us around so that whoever is there can't see my naked body "GET OUT!" he hollers.

    Thegan then says "I am so sorry." Then I hear the door shut quickly.  I can feel Enre's heart beating hard against his chest/

    I tell him "It's alright, he is gone."  I am glad that Enre turned us around so that Thegan couldn't see me. 

    He says to me in a low possessive voice "It is not alright, I do not want anyone seeing your luscious body but Me."  Hmmm... really. 

    "Are you staking a claim on me Dear Prince?" I ask him jokingly.  Trying to lighten his mood.

    He looked at me with seriousness in his eyes and said "Yes. If you will have me” Wow I wasn't expecting that.  My heart reacts to his claim.  Beating wildly.  It is all a bit sudden, but as much as I think about it, I cannot find a reason to not want to be with him.  I want all of him and everything he has to offer. 

    So I say to him "Of course I will have you."  He tightened his arms around me and buried his head in my shoulder.  Planting tiny kisses across it.

    He whispered, “Really, you will have me?"  I would be crazy to say no to this man.  At this point, I don't think I could if I wanted to. I am too far gone for that.

    So I whisper back to him "Yes I will."  With that, my heart beat uncontrollably. He raised his head and kissed me with such ferocity that my head was swimming.     We stayed like that for a few more minutes, then he says to me “I think I need to go apologize to Thegan" he started laughing.

    "Yea, that would probably be a good idea,” I say to him snickering.  He set me down on the bed and helped me get dressed in a pair of sweatpants and one of his loose t-shirts.  It smells like him, a hint of lavender and leather.  A strange combination, but very intoxicating.  Enre grabs a brush and starts to brush my hair. "You don't have to do that you know," I say to him.

    "I know, I want to," he says, flashing a dazzling smile at me.  I just smile back at him.  After he finishes brushing my hair, he sets the brush on the nightstand and turns to pick me up "You ready My princess?" he asks.

    I look at him and say "Yes my Prince."  My Prince? I guess he is now.

    We head to the living room where everyone else is, and Enre looks at Thegan and says "I'm sorry Brother."  I know he feels bad for yelling at him. I think it was more shock than anger, though.

    He gestures with his hand in the air dismissively and says "No need for that" with a wry smile.  We sit down, and he says "The Haruspex have the protection spell done when you are already."

    Apparently, the protection spell consisted of us drinking this awful tasting mixture, marking on our temples, and them chanting a spell in a language I had never heard before. "That should protect all of you from whatever harm that befalls you in your dreams," Crios says.  After our protection spells are in place, the Haruspex look over at me and say "Now to try and return your powers My Lady." Ok um....

    "Is it going to hurt?" I ask Crios. Not sure if I am scared, Or possibly excited. Both, I am pretty sure it is both.

    "I do not know My lady, but once we start, we will not be able to stop it. Are your positive you want us to do the spell?"  I'm not sure what to say, or what to expect. What if the power is too much to handle? What if I can't control it? 

    I need to ask, "What if the power that you release is too great?"

     Dazna says back to me "We will not know until it is released."  She isn't very nice.  She has a very harsh attitude for some reason.

    After thinking about it for a moment, I say "Alright.  Let's do it." I am just glad that the Haruspex are there, just in case something does happen.

     Enre squeezes me tight and says "I will keep you safe My Princess."

    I put my hand on his and tell him "I know you will." It came out a little more nervous than it was supposed to.  But he just kisses me on the forehead and smiles at me.

    They have me sitting in the middle of the living room floor, with strange lines drawn all around me with symbols for all the elements and then some.  Crios puts his hand on top of my head and starts chanting in that strange language again.  Dazna pours a warm mixture over Crios's hand and my head. Then tells me "Clear your mind My Lady" I nod to her and then close my eyes.  She starts walking from side to side of the lines and starts chanting a different set of words from Crios.  My body feels like it is warming up.  It's really is getting hot.  My skin tingles from head to toe.  Then the most unimaginable pain I have ever felt ran through my body.  It felt like all of my muscles were cramping and being ripped from the bone.  I scream out in pain.

     I can hear Enre yelling far off "Stop this, it is hurting her, you have to stop, Brother let me go."

    Then I listen to Thegan say to him "You cannot stop this now, it will hurt her worse."  After what felt like an eternity of pain, it starts to ease up and slowly goes away. 

    The chanting slows as well, then Crios removes his hand and leans down to my ear and says "It is done, My Lady."  I slowly open my eyes, and the first person I see is Enre, the look of worry, shock and pain across his face. 

    I say to him in a weak voice "I am alright."  Thegan lets go of him, and he rushes over, kneeling just in front of me.

    "Do not touch her yet My Lord.  We do not know what power she holds yet" Crios says to him. Oh, that's not scary at all.  Thanks for that, I think to myself.

    Enre looks at Crios like he could run him through and says "I don't care what powers she has. Only she can tell me not to touch her."  I am afraid of what I may do to him if he touches me, but I don't really feel any different than I had before.  I'm sore all over, but no different.  He reaches his hand out and cautiously cups my cheek. 

    He immediately jerked his hand back and says "You are scalding hot."  I look at his hand, and he has a small burn on him. 

    I start panicking and say in a shaky voice "What have I done?" and I start crying.  "I am so sorry," I say to him. 

    He looks at me and says "It is ok My Princess, we will figure out how you can control this ok, it will be alright" the look on his face was sadness.

    Thegan asks the Haruspex "Do you know what essence she has acquired." I would like to know that too. They could have warned me that I would hurt someone. Now I am stuck between pissed, and sadness because I hurt Enre. Wonderful.   

     Crios answers "She could very well have more than one.  I believe the one she just showed was of the Sun.  Only those with God or Goddess blood can acquire such Essence."  So I have the power of the sun.  What am I supposed to do?  Tan everyone.  I burnt Enre, how would he want someone he cannot touch. I do not want these powers if all they do is hurt the people around me.  I can feel hot tears running down my face, and a single tear drops to the floor scorching the wood.  Dammit, now I can't even cry safely.

     Dazna seems to notice and says in her usual grouchy tone "It seems her powers are affected by her emotions."  If this happens when I am sad, what will happen if I get angry or upset, or happy even?  Not knowing is more terrifying than anything. 

    I do not want this "Take them back" I say to Crios.  I am not sure if I can handle this.

    "We can not do that My Lady, it is much harder to bind a Goddess's powers than it is to release them.  But there may be a way that we can help you control them." He walks over to Aiden and whispers something to him and hands him a key. He then looks at me and says "Aiden is going to our dwelling to fetch something that may help you."  I just nod my head.

    Dazna then says "You need to calm down, that may help till he gets back." Calm down she says, easier said than done.  I just burned my Princes' hand with a single touch and scorched a hole in the floor with a tear.

    I look at her and say sarcastically "I will try that" My hands shoot to my mouth. Why did I say that?  "I am so sorry, I didn't mean for it to come out like that."

    What she did next surprised me.  She came over and squatted down beside me and says in a calm nurturing voice "My Lady it is alright, I know you didn't mean it, all of this is overwhelming and hard on one's nerves, so no worries alright." I nod at her.  She gets up and goes and sits on the couch with Crios.