Flame of Cytherea: Cytherean Chronicles book 1 (8 page)

After all, it wasn’t just her in danger.
 
They would hunt her whole bloodline if they
suspected anything.

Trusting her friends could walk back on their own she said
goodbye and shifted into a falcon, heading north with a heavy heart.

Justin slowly clawed his way out of sleep.
 
He had never been a morning person really,
but the ground was just a little uncomfortable and he had a crick in his
back.
 
He was a bit confused for a
moment, he felt Katrina snuggled into his left side, but there was someone else
snuggled in on his right.
 
His sleep
addled mind took a moment, but it had gotten cool last night, and Nora didn’t
want a fire for fear it would be seen.
 
Perhaps she was just cold last night and needed warmth?

He cracked his eyes open to confirm and jumped a little when
he saw long curly red hair the shade of… fire was the best his mind could come
up with, instead of the short curly blonde he had been expecting.
 
His eyes roved further down, he couldn’t see
much from that angle, except the large D, or was it double D breasts that were
tightly confined in thin leather armor.
 
His fuzzy brain thought it looked more like a bustier than armor though.

He raised his head slightly in concern, and caught a glimpse
of Nora lying on the other side of the strange girl cuddled into her back.
 
It took a minute, but he guessed this must be
the princess Nicole?
 
Dressed like
that?
 
His mind rebelled a bit, and then
she opened her eyes, their faces mere inches apart.

He opened his mouth to say something, not sure what, but he
never got the chance as she screamed in his face and jumped up and went for her
dagger with a fierce look on her young face that would have looked cute, if he
wasn’t in danger of being stabbed.

Thankfully, Nora intervened, “Nicci!
 
STOP!”

The princess turned and spluttered, “But he… he,” and then
understanding lit her face and she looked sheepish, “Didn’t do anything did
he.
 
You found me and carried me here and
put me against him for warmth didn’t you…
 
Thank you, I was worried when I passed out like that from using too much
magic.”

Turning to Justin, she apologized and put the knife back.

Nora snickered, “Exactly, maybe next time you won’t panic in
a situation like that.
 
Nicci, this is
Justin, a Flame of Cytherea and on his other side is Katrina.
 
Justin, Kat, this is Nicole Christina
Althone
, princess of Abelaweth, and also a runaway.
 
Who I am proud to say killed a lot of those
fucking Egerians last night.”

Justin almost laughed, he thought Nora was being more polite
with the princess present giving an introduction and all, but nope…

Nicole said demurely, “Just call me Nicci.
 
I’m glad you found me, I was hoping to run
into you so we could work together Nora,” looking at Justin shyly she asked,
“Are you really a Flame of Cytherea?”

He just nodded, then thought to add, “Nice to meet you
Nicci.”

Kat caressed his lower stomach, which was distracting, as
she said, “It’s lucky Nora saw you passing over us, we are actually heading
north to support the army.”

Nicole looked to Nora questioningly and Nora sighed before
she said, “I know what I said yesterday morning, but protecting the Flame is
more important, I can still avenge my sisters, perhaps even more so this way…”

Nicole sighed despondently.
 
“I can’t go north to the Army, they will send me home.
 
One of my brothers is there, and even with
the way I am dressed he is sure to recognize me.”

Nora winked and said, “I’ve been trying to think of a way to
keep you since I saw all those roasted Egerian soldiers.
 
It came to me on the run back.
 
Would it be unreasonable for a royal to make
an oath of protection, for the duration of the war, to a Flame of the goddess?”

Nicole looked thoughtful…

Justin stirred uncomfortably, he was just him, not some
legend.
 

Katrina must have sensed his unease because she started to
caress his back.
 
He thought longingly of
the comfort of the tavern and wished they were still back there for a
moment.
 
He also wished Cynthia was here
as he smiled wryly, he was sticky, dirty, sweaty and worried that he stunk,
what he would give for a hot shower…

Nicole looked at him calculatingly and finally said, “Yes,
that might work.
 
There would be no shame
attached to the crown by swearing to one such as him.”

Confused he said, “Oath?”

Nicci raised an eyebrow in surprise but Nora explained.

“He is from another world Nicci, he doesn’t know many of our
ways,” turning to Justin, “An oath is a binding between two people.
 
Normally a princess could not make an oath,
as her loyalty is to the king and kingdom only, but this is not a normal
circumstance.
 
An oath is a serious
thing, oath breakers are shunned by everyone.
 

“If you ever swear to anything, you had better mean it, and
be able to accomplish it.
 
Point being
that if she makes an oath, even the king will not be able to naysay it and
recall her to the castle.”

It seemed surreal to him as Nicci went on her knees before
him.
 
Out of the bottom of his eyes he
could see her long mouthwatering cleavage, but he was very aware of Kat on his
arm and the seriousness of the situation, and he managed to keep eye contact with
the young beautiful woman, somehow.

Nicci swore, “If it be within my power I swear to protect
your life from all harm until the war is done.”

He flinched as Katrina poked him and whispered in his ear.

He blushed and said, “I accept your oath.”

He asked what the first part was about and Kat filled him
in.

“Wording the oath is important, it means she will do her
best to protect your life, but if you still die through no fault of her own,
her oath won’t be violated.
 
If she had
left out the first part and somehow you died, she would be an oath breaker, her
fault or not.”

He considered this and the seriousness of it, and felt a bit
overwhelmed.
 
An oath being serious on
this world wasn’t too big for him to deal with, but things just kept piling
up.
 
For a moment he desperately wished
he was back home in Chicago.
 
He had been
rolling with things and it had been going fast.
 
Too fast, too much.
 
He was
actually on his way to fight in a war, and he had three very different, but
equally attractive women around him.

Ok, so being surrounded by beautiful women wasn’t one of his
issues.
 
Especially Kat, the promise of
them being together was making all the rest a little more bearable.
 
He wasn’t really considering running or
anything, it’s just, he wished things would slow down a bit, everything was
coming too fast to process.

He followed Nora, holding Kat’s hand like a lifeline, as she
led them toward a large stream where there was a still water pool breaking the
current that looked a few feet deep.
 
There was a small waterfall at the other end.
 
As they started undressing around him he
blushed.
 
Okay, another new thing, coed
bathing.
 
He could deal with that, he
started undressing trying not to think about it.

When he slipped into the water he gasped, it was hot, almost
too hot.
 
It should have been freezing
and he wondered what the princess’s talent was.
 
Nora had mentioned charred bodies, so maybe fire?
 
Remembering at the last second what Kat had
told him repeatedly, he swallowed down the question.

He did his best to maintain eye contact, but of course, he
couldn’t help but get a few delicious eyefuls as they all washed as best they
could, passing around a pungent bar of soap that Nora had.
 
As he got out, he wondered how they would get
dry when he was suddenly pummeled with a high wind from every direction at
once.
 
It was intense.

He laughed, he was awake now, as well as dry, “Thanks
Nora.”
 

When he glanced back he blushed as they were all unabashedly
staring at him, and not his face.
 
He
couldn’t really help his reaction after all, he wasn’t used to communal
bathing.
 
They were beautiful and he was
just eighteen.
 
He picked up his clothes
and smelled them as he walked behind some bushes to dress, they weren’t too bad
but he still grimaced as he put them on…

He was gawking, and knew he should close his mouth.
 
When he had guessed fire talent he couldn’t
have been more wrong, or at least, so understated.
 
Nora had told them she couldn’t push four
safely, and since Nicci could fly faster than she could run, she was elected to
fly above them.

At first he was confused, how could a flying animal warm a
pool.
 
Then she had changed, flashed into
a bird.
 
But bird was an
understatement.
 
She was close to the
size of one of the pterodactyls in the Jurassic park movie.
 
But looked nothing like them, she was shaped
closer to an eagle, but her wings were pure fire, no feathers, no flesh, simply
fire.
 
Her body ranged from dark red to
burnt orange feathers and rippling flames sheathed her from head to tail.

She was simply magnificent.

Nora snickered and poked him and he managed to move again.

Nora said, “We need to move, we should meet up with them by
lunch.”

He reluctantly released Kat’s hand, he always seemed to be
holding it, it felt good in his and after their confessions to each other last
night, and the commitment, he wanted to be close to her.
 
To show his affection.
 
But they couldn’t hold hands while moving; it
would make it harder for Nora to push them along.

As they took off in a jog, at about thirty miles an hour
with the wind pushing, he wondered what new surprises awaited him…

They met up with the military shortly before lunchtime, and
they were on the move as well.
 
There had
to be thousands of them, and it had Justin feeling uncomfortable.
 
Not that he was really intimidated, he was
just still to ignorant on customs and such.
 
He found himself allowing Nora to take the lead, at least she knew what
she was doing.

All he really knew was, the goddess had moved him to this
world and healed him.
 
He was as sure of
that as he could reasonably be.
 
And for
some reason she had gifted him with this ability, and given him the choice to
roll over and die again, or fight for her, fight for her world.

She had also given him a huge incentive he thought, as he looked
over at Kat.

He had been thinking about things all day while running, he
had also come to the conclusion that she had put him in the woods like that,
specifically so he would meet Katrina.
 
His power depended on compassion, protectiveness and love.
 
What better way for the goddess to ensure his
success then surrounding him with women he was compatible with and would
instinctively want to protect?

At first he had been angry at the thought, as if he had no
choice in the matter, but he finally realized that simply wasn’t true.
 
The goddess may have set up their meetings,
but neither he nor Kat had been required to fall in love, it was a choice, had
been their choice all along and still was.

It had also been Nora’s choice to stay and protect him, and
Nicci’s choice to do the same with the oath, so she would be able to fight and
not be sent home.
 
Did that mean he
would, or could, fall in love with them too?
 
Well, probably, but the choice was there for them all, he didn’t think
it destined.
 
At first when he had
considered it, he wondered if Kat would react badly to it.
 

But that was his old pattern of thinking, the way things
were on Earth.
 
He knew the simple truth
was, that if he decided not to because of her, she would actually get mad at
him about it.
 
Weird…
 
So completely opposite of how things are on
Earth, but here it somehow made sense.

Perhaps he was over thinking this, arrogantly reading into
the intentions of a goddess, but he didn’t think so.
 
He had noticed a change in Nora today, she
still cursed like a sailor most of the time, unless she had been speaking
directly to him.
 
And yesterday’s looks
of confusion had turned more thoughtful today as he continued to treat her as
an equal.
 

She was a strong woman and he respected that, a lot, and he
had been thinking that perhaps…

He wasn’t sure what to think about Nicci yet, he didn’t know
her well enough.
 
She was certainly
attractive though on physical level.
 
Her
body was built for sin, yet her face had a fresh youthful innocence to it.
 
Her voice was cute, but with enough of a sexy
overtone for it not to grate.
 
It was a
killer combination of traits, but no more so than Kat and Nora, they were all
beautiful in different ways.

They marched alongside the troops, back tracking their
morning travel, but at a much slower pace.
 
He was starting to wonder what the plan was, since they hadn’t talked to
anyone yet, when Nora addressed his unspoken thoughts.

Nora said softly, “We’ll track down the leader of the troops
when they halt for lunch, if we try and get in there now during the march we’ll
just make a mess of things.”

He was glad to hear it; hopefully they would feed them
too.
 
There hadn’t been much for
breakfast, just cold dried venison, like jerky, and slightly stale bread from
the day before.
 
He could use a rest too,
his legs muscles were really sore.
 
Then
he suppressed a snort, what good was his power if he never used it.

He didn’t burst into flames, but he touched his power and it
refreshed, restored and healed his body, leaving him feeling great.
 
Not wanting to burst into flames before the
soldiers and start a scene, he simply reached out to the three women and
touched their shoulders one at a time.
 
They looked at him gratefully as his power restored them.

He just wished he had thought about it earlier, it would
have made running easier, especially for Nora who was supporting all three of
them.
 
He shrugged.
 
Next time.

He heard orders to halt and the soldiers stopped, some few
broke off and started forming a perimeter guard while the rest seemed to fall
into chaos, slowly forming small groups and pulling food from their packs.

He heard a caw and looked up, a falcon was coming in for a
landing.
 
It was larger than a natural
one, though not by much, it looked fierce regardless.
 
There was a bright flash of light, then a
woman was before him on her knees.
 
She
had long straight raven black hair, large brown eyes and creamy brown
skin.
 
She looked up at him with a
disturbing amount of awe in her face before loudly stating an oath.

“Flame of the goddess, I Sally, swear my life to yours and
will follow you until you have no need of me.”

While the rest of his brain tried to figure out what was
going on, a thought with a sardonic note on it said, so much for not causing a
scene…

From the wording, he thought it meant he would have control
of her life, her decisions, and possibly even her death, and that she would
follow him around until he sent her away?
 
That seemed… wrong.
 
Extremely
excessive.
 
There was much more than the
fact he was a Flame of the goddess behind such an oath, there had to be.

He had no idea what to do, but he was loathe to accept such
a sweeping oath from the young woman, although older than him, she looked to be
about twenty one or so.

She was also stunning… four?
 
He would have to have a chat with the goddess one day.
 
There wasn’t enough time in the day for him
to keep four women happy, well he had a choice, Kat was one of them, he would
see what happened with the rest.

He bent down and took her hand.
 
“No,” he said simply, and pulled her off so
they could talk privately, he didn’t want an audience, and didn’t think she
would either…