Page 31 of Phoenix Chosen 3

By theGods. I’ve never come so hard. My head is ringing. I’m panting for breath, and Tyler, his shoulders rising and falling with his exertion, has his face buried in the crook of his elbow. He peeks back at me with a heavy-lidded eye that flutters as I slowly withdraw from him and sit back onto my haunches. The view I have of him is glorious and worthy of monument, with his perfect ass tilted high and the thick drip of my seed slowly flowing down his balls and inner thigh. His swollen cock hangs throbbing between his legs, his come still dripping from its tip like milky honey from the comb.

My phoenix energy wells up within me like an overflowing fountain. I’m revitalized, and the depth of my desire and love for him has grown even deeper. It seems impossible, and yet it’s true. Tyler is perfect, he is everything to me, and I will not ever let him forget this.

TYLER

The village is peaceful in the morning. Then again, it’s probably always peaceful.

I wake before Kalistratos to birdsong outside the window, a staccato tweet and a high-pitched croak unlike anything I’ve ever heard before. Are the birds here the same as on Earth? I stand at the windowsill and watch them flit around the grass, black and white things with emerald shimmers going through their wing feathers. A butterfly with oil-slick wings lands on a flower, sampling the nectar before moving on. I’ve never been interested in birds or butterflies, but each one is a tiny reminder that I’m in a distant world. Interesting how the most mundane shit can suddenly stand out when they’re slightly different from what you would normally expect.

The egg sits safely in a basket next to the bed, its shell gleaming like a beautiful precious stone. I sit on the ground and take it into my lap.

Are you ready to speak to me?I think.I could really use whatever powers you can give me, little eggy.

I close my eyes and try my best to focus.

Nothing.

Is fearing for my life the only way I’ll ever have any kind of access to my powers? Is that how this works?

“Fussy, aren’t you,” I whisper to the egg. “Is this how you’re going to be when you’re born? Daddy couldreallyuse some help, you know.”

“Having a conversation?”

Kalistratos smiles at me sleepily from the bed.

“Morning,” I say to him, setting the egg back into the basket. “Sleep well?”

“Fantastic.”

The sheets fall from his naked body as he rises and walks to the window, and I take in an unapologetic eyeful.Phew. Goddamn.

We dress in new robes and leave to check on Airos. The path goes along a terraced hill of olive trees that overlook small fields of grapes growing beside mud and clay brick houses drenched in the morning sunlight. There are a few elderly villagers down there, and I can hear them singing some kind of work song as they shuffle slowly through the vineyard, tossing bunches of grapes into baskets on carts pulled by skinny gray donkeys. They spot us and wave excitedly.

“Never thought I’d be famous,” I muse.

“Let’s hope we don’t disappoint them,” Kalisratos replies, then adds, “I hate to admit it, but maybe Airos was right. Perhaps we should’ve gone east. We wouldn’t have gotten tangled up in this situation.”

“Going east would’ve involved taking a boat, right? Let’s be real… With our luck, we would’ve gotten tangled up in something else. I’m thinking sea monsters. Giant tentacles.”

“I hate that you’re probably right,” Kalistratos says. “Truthfully, I wouldn’t have even been able to step on that boat.”

“Why not?” I ask, but he avoids my eyes. I connect the dots. He’s afraid of sailing. “Kalistratos, isthatwhy you pushed to come this way?”

“No,” he says quickly. “Well, it may have played a part. But I did believe this way was the better choice.”

“I don’t blame you. The ocean is scary as shit. And I can’t even imagine what kind of stuff is hiding in the oceans here. Release the fucking Kraken.”

Airos’s house is like ours, left empty after its inhabitants passed away, slowly decaying as nature works to take it back. Vines and ivy have overtaken an entire wall, while dense scrub surrounds the front. A small herd of ragged-looking goats grazes nearby. Inside, Airos is still asleep. His gold hair pokes out from beneath the wool blanket pulled to this cheek, and he snores quietly.

Kalistratos walks over to the bed, but before he gets close, he stumbles forward and I see a gleaming flash of green light like a wire stretched half a foot above the floor. It whips around his ankles, binding him, and he falls to his knees, then his face.

“Curse the Gods!” Kalistratos shouts into the floor. “Airos, what the fuck?!”

I hurry over to help Kalistratos—only to get my feet caught up in the invisible magic booby trap too. I flap my arms like a deranged penguin trying to stop myself from falling but topple onto Kalistratos. Airos stirs, then turns over and peeks groggily over the edge of the bed at us on the floor.

“Will you unbind us, dammit?” Kalistratos demands.

Airos yawns like a cavern and waves his hand. The invisible thread loosens from our ankles and we get to our feet.

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