Taboo

Keywords: Angel, Ch., 08,

" "The men are way fine."

Now it was Ma'ayan's turn to jest. "Some treacherous one got you though."

Samara just "thought" to throw some water at Ma'ayan, and at once, three apprentices looked at her.

"Damn."

Ma'ayan smiled. "You need to keep appearances better."

At that time Eleanor passed by them with her adopted child, Ganesh. Eleanor gave Ma'ayan a positively disdainful look, and went to settle far away.

"What is the matter with "her"?"

Maya's voice dropped. "There is bad blood between us."

"You can say that again."

"She wanted to adopt Aditi when she was born. I got to do it."

Little Aditi had seen Ganesh. "Can I play with him?"

Maya kissed the toddler's hair. "Yes, sweet, but stay where I can see you." She motioned for an apprentice to follow her.

Samara continued, she had never caught Maya gossiping before. "Ahn. But that boy is about her age."

"She adopted him soon after."

Aditi came back. "Can I swim with Ganesh?"

Maya talked to her sternly. "We never enter that lake honey. Never."

Aditi and the boy went back to Eleanor's company.

An apprentice took Ma'ayan aside. Samara hated that Maya would switch to that awful priestly language on her presence. She knew that her children were required to learn it, still she could not catch a word of it.

Molly was the one now sporting a closed face. Samara pat her cheek.

"What is the matter dear?"

The little girl pouted. "Now mommy will stop singing. I hate that woman. I hate Aditi. I hate Ganesh!"

Samara embraced the fairy girl. "They are playing far away now."

Maya came back smiling.

"Another baby?"

"Yes, I will be needed there in a few hours." Maya's smile disappeared at once. "Where's Aditi?"

Samara looked all around. She was not to be seen. Neither her, nor the little boy. Maya turned into the High Priestess again before Samara's eyes.

"Harel, gather your brothers and sisters. No one leaves the towel. For no reason, no matter what happens." Samara did not think the terrified children would breathe if she did not say so.

A girl apprentice moved to be near them. Another went to alert Eleanor's party.

Samara watched Maya turn deathly pale. She went still for quite a while, why was no one running to her rescue? Quite suddenly, she reanimated, dropped all her clothes, and jumped into the ice cold lake.

The children screamed.

Maya disappeared for what seemed to be a lot of time: Samara was afraid for her. An apprentice was sitting by the water, and Samara was confused. He could have been Maya's twin! How could she have missed seeing him before?

Maya emerged, handed the apprentice a lifeless child.

Aditi.

Samara could see the woman was "counting" the children sitting on the towel. The boy Harel met her gaze, and Samara saw his father in him for just a second. Then Ma'ayan came back to the murky water. An eternity passed until she emerged with another still bundle. Ganesh.

There were Healers all around the lake now. Marius was there. Someone came to cover Ma'ayan, for she was quite naked and very cold.

"When had them all been called? Not enough time had passed."

***

Samara was hoarded back together with Ma'ayan's children back to their house quite roughly by some of Marius's apprentices. She stayed there with the bewildered children, and waited for news. When she got tired of waiting, she walked to the Healer's Temple thinking to demand answers. To her surprise, they took her straight to Marius.

"Thank you for looking after the children at this time."

Samara had not done much, there was an army of servants in the house. "I am happy to help. Where is Ma'ayan?"

"Ma'ayan is not well. It is nothing serious though. She will be quite recovered in a day or two."

Samara was puzzled, she had not seen the priestess get injured. "And the children?"

Marius' face contracted in pain, and he looked older all at once. For the first time Samara thought that there had to be some good age difference between them. "Aditi will live. Ganesh might not make the night. We are doing all we can."

Samara wanted to cry.

Marius attention turned to her swollen body. "This is harsh business, you need to think of yourself."

"I am well, Sir."

"Samara?"

The man seemed afraid to involve her further.

"Yes, Sir."

"Did Maya entrust Aditi to Eleanor's care?"

"No Sir, but the children were playing by her side."

Marius thought on this. "She should have done it. Did Eleanor entrust Ganesh to Maya?"

"No! The bitch is blaming us for this?"

Marius' eyes, already large, went wide. Then he smiled.

"Your Master must be looking forward for your return."

Samara now understood how Marius ruled. It stung no less. "Does Maya have a brother?"

"No, she is an only child."

"A relative then, a nice fairy cousin?"

"No."

Samara thought. "The man who saved Aditi, looked just like her." Samara then put two and two together; understood why she had never seen him before. She had to sit down.

Marius smiled. "If he let you see him today, you will meet him some day. We would be in your debt if you did not mention him until that happens."

***

Ma'ayan's only duty for the next few weeks was to nurse Aditi and Ganesh back to health. Samara stayed around as well, at Marius' prompting. Ma'ayan needed her company; and Samara's pregnancy had them somewhat worried. It was nothing for Ma'ayan to keep an eye on her as well.

When Samara had told her of Marius' prodding, that Eleanor seemed to be blaming her, Maya had become furious.

"She can't behave this way. I put my life on the line for the children, and even then she can't stop the gossip."

Samara regretted this afterwards, when Ma'ayan had drawn the line at Eleanor being around her children's house. She had forced the woman to choose between her caring for the boy, and Eleanor actually seeing him. Samara had thought it harsh, but she knew the reason: Ma'ayan would not let anyone she considered unsafe into her children's living quarters, in this matter there were no compromises.

Marius brought Zaran in a few times, and Ma'ayan did not seem to mind that. Aditi had recovered slowly, Ganesh was a lot more lively than her, and they kept each other company.

***

Maya was on her back on the table, her legs folded so impossibly, she was not sure what was where, and not that she cared anyway. Blue eyes stared, only at her, intently from above. Beyond the stare, the only other thing she managed to be aware of, was the feel of her lover buried deep inside her, her self dissolving into the moment, her soul longing to expand beyond the confines of her body. Even the stare was more than she could muster at this point, but she had to keep her eyes open, keep her orgasm in her belly where it belonged, giving the gorgeous man a few more moments of enjoyment.

The blue eyes smiled at her, and her lovers pace quickened, so fast now she could not follow, her depths dissolving with the sensation. As Marius moved for his own pleasure, Maya let her eyes close, and at that, she inevitably sank into the visions she had been avoiding.

Most of Alrana was celebrating the moon change the proper way, though the images kept moving from her children's house, where Nadia and Diedra spoke quietly, to her Temple, where it seemed Arvind had snuck in again to chat with the lonely Danae, and to Kieran and Maazel, who were giving their brand of love to a very pregnant Samara.

Maya was so annoyed that her powers were running so riot, for the man with her was the only thing of interest at the moment.

"My powers don't work idly, I am missing something."

Marius noticed the change of heart, and picked her up easily, to give her a break, planning to finish her up in the bedroom. Resettled on the bed, she managed to concentrate, and he obliged by giving her another nice orgasm, on the house. When his thrusts passed the point of no return, Maya started screaming in a horrifying manner, so much, that the dismayed man took her in his arms, covering her, trying to calm her down.

An alerted Edar entered the rooms, despite being sure that only his Master was inside. It was a breach of decorum he had never before committed, and one that could get him leashed in public. Edar's mother had been a great Seeress among his people, and he too felt uneasy tonight.

As he entered, he saw his High Priestess crying inconsolably in her husband's arms, as he kissed her repeatedly. Under the protection of the tall man's embrace, the powerful woman truly looked tiny, not much more than a scared fairy.

"Forgive me ... my Lord, I was afraid for her."

The man looked up, and he was not angry.

"That is well, Edar. I forgot to shut the door."

"Is it a vision, my Lord?"

Marius made to chastise him for being so forward, then remembered that Edar's warrior people had more seers among them than they owned swords.

"Yes, Edar. Please go check with Mazor in the house of children just in case. And please fetch me my own sword before you leave us."

"Are you sure I am to leave you, my Lord?"

"Yes."

Edar brought the weapon reverently to his Master, and laid in on the bed, still covered in the blue velvet that protected it. Then the warrior left in a hurry.

"Maya, don't leave me like this."

"I am sorry, Marius. It was not a vision. Something just happened, and I am supposed to understand what it is. Please give me a moment."

"Very well. Take you time."

Marius left her be, then came back with some tea for her, which she did not touch. Maya made to clean herself, get dressed, so when she finally understood what her vision meant, they would loose no time.

"Kieran, Maazel, Danae, Arvind, Nadia, Diedra. What am I missing?"

Marius was already dressed, and Maya realized how lapse she had been. "I am sorry about what happened, you were just to ..."

"Don't mind it now. Up to that point, it was the best I ever had ..."

"You always say that."

"It is always true."

Maya lowered her head and smiled, thoroughly in love with the man before her; then she sank into her mind again, went inside to pick up her own sword.

Keywords: Angel, Ch., 08,