Crazy Seduction(erotica)

Henry shifted uncomfortably. “Her transformation may have happened that way because I was in contact with her during her entire change.” At her raised eyebrow, he sighed in exasperation. “I’m not a wielder! I don’t understand how magic works! I don’t even want to know how it works. I’m happy to leave it to you!”

She nodded as she agreed magic was for wielders to control.

“You’ve brought me three… individuals who need glamors. If I do this for you, I expect three favors in return.”

Henry felt Mahati’s hand rest lightly on his shoulder, and he closed his mouth as he’d been about to agree.

“These favors must be defined in scope if not in substance,” the lawyer said in her calm, professional manner.

“Scope?” Mab said, her eyes locked on Mahati’s. Henry felt a pressure building between the two women. Wills were clashing.

“Yes. The favors cannot, in any way, impinge upon Henry’s physical or mental freedom. They must not, in any way, endanger him physically or mentally. And those two conditions also apply to those Henry considers important to him.”

Mab went still as she reviewed the points in her mind. Suddenly, she smiled. “I can agree to that! Harming Henry, or his friends is the furthest thing from my mind.”

Henry made an involuntary choking sound as his mind took him to the night he found Tish horrifically crippled from an attack Mab, herself, ordered. He wanted to jump up and scream BULLSHIT directly in her face, but he knew he couldn’t. His friends depended on him to give them a chance at getting their lives back. He fought back the bile that threatened to climb up his throat then lifted his eyes to look into Mab’s. Her expression was open and curious. She knew he knew and she was waiting to see what he would do. She was also quite aware his hands were tied.

“Past is past,” he ground out, and her smile widened slightly.

“But never forgotten.”

Mab froze as she looked into his eyes and he held her gaze. He wasn’t going to be the first to look away this time. Realization of this began to appear in Mab’s eyes.

“So we have a deal,” Mahati blurted and drew their attention. They nodded and shook on it.

Giving Henry a final glance, Mab stood and walked back to the others with Henry and Mahati following.

Lise-Anne immediately stepped forward to address the monarch. “Good evening, Queen Mab. Thank you for the invitation but… what are we doing here and who are these people? Aside from the new Satyr, whose existence is a shock, I don’t recognize the Races these two are from,” she said pointing to Dayshia and Sandy. Kesini rose up and fanned out in annoyance over her condescending tone. “Are they your creations?”

Queen Mab aimed her shark’s grin at the councilwoman. “Not mine. Henry’s. He’s altered his Human friends… accidentally?” she asked Henry with a coy smile.

He frowned. “Yes, accidentally. Wild Magic has the power to alter humans.” Henry looked to Mahati who stepped forward and gestured for the four former human females to join her.

“These four women were once Human. Now, they are more,” she said.

Clive pointed to Mary. “Is she wearing a glamor?”

Mary shook her head. “I don’t need one.”

Lise-Anne looked upset. “We have a problem. There is no contingency for Human’s being altered by magic because… it doesn’t happen. They belong to no treaty-” Queen Mab’s eye lit up, and she moved to speak.

“They’re mine.”

Everyone looked at Henry. “My treaty covers their creation as offspring. My treaty protects them.”

“There’s no offspring section in your treaty. You’re one of a kind.” Lise-Anne glanced at Tish. “Or were when it was created. There was no need for the offspring section.”

“Yet it’s there, and you all signed it. So it’s binding,” Henry replied firmly. The Council members looked to the historian.

“There was limited time, and the request to remove the sections was missed,” Michelle said quietly.

“You don’t miss things!” Rand growled.

Michelle drew herself up to full height and stared down her nose at the much shorter man. “When I’m given sufficient time to prepare the required documents properly, you can be assured of one hundred percent accuracy. I was not, so you received less. As you noted, there was one Satyr. The inclusion of the unedited section was too insignificant to reconvene all parties to sign a new revision.” She handed Lise-Anne the treaty. The Security Minister skipped to the Offspring section and quickly reviewed the text. Her expression just soured as she read. Finally, she handed it back to Michelle to look to the others.

“The treaty is binding. Post-Humans are protected by it,” Lise-Anne confirmed, glancing at each of the other Council members and Queen Mab. “What about this missing male, Roger… Jensen,” she grumbled, looking at his details from the message on her cell.

“We’ve been unable to contact him. He’s an anarchist, impulsive, and highly motivated by conspiracy theories. Finding him quickly is imperative. While we don’t agree with the more… extreme measures the Security Division may choose to deal with him… we understand the danger he represents,” Henry acknowledged with a sad frown.

While the Council members were not happy with the inclusion of the post-Humans, they saw no benefit in challenging the validity of Henry’s claim, for the moment.

Lise-Anne was particularly uneasy about the slippage this seemed to be imposing on their security. With firmly drawn lines between the Hidden Races and the Humans, it was easier to define Us and Them. Now the Satyr was bringing Humans into Us. The lines were blurring and she couldn’t, wouldn’t accept that. She glanced at Rand, and she saw his agreement. Their decision to launch their contingency plan now felt utterly justified.

Rand glanced down at a vibration in his pocket. He pulled his cell out and ignored the frown from Mab. He read the text, and his face paled. He looked to Lise-Anne, and she knew something was very wrong. Rand struggled to get control then looked to the Queen.

“Thank you for the gracious invitation but… I’ve just received news of a death in the family. I’m afraid I must leave. I must return to Germany, to collect his body.”

“A parent?” Queen Mab asked curiously.Content protected by Nôv/el(D)rama.Org.

He shook his head with a troubled frown. “Cousin. Thane del Neev.” The Queen nodded, granting him leave and he gave her a deeper bow than he usually would. He turned to go, and Lise-Anne walked a few steps away with him. She whispered something to him, and Rand shook his head fiercely. Those watching this heard him growl murder before he stormed off. Lise-Anne walked back to the group with a worried expression.

The Queen had an interested twinkle in her eye then gestured for Henry’s group to proceed. Marisa and Henry led their friends forward to meet the mages. Mahati stayed behind to bring the others up to speed on the contract he’d made with the Queen.

“Is this going to hurt?” Sandy asked nervously.

“Not for long. The Fae know how to bind glamors to people linked to the Wild Magic. They won’t linger. Their old realm magic won’t let them,” he said gently.

Seeing the ladies unease, Marisa picked up the conversation from this point. “The link between you and the mages is very intimate, and they are as open to you as you are to them. Normally bindings like these are done to infants whose unformed minds don’t look back. The mages don’t like it so they will complete the binding and leave as quickly as they can. You mustn’t resist them as they are delivering something you want. Your job is to concentrate on the photo you brought, locking that image of you in your mind so you can impress it upon the blank glamor they will bind to your core. They will tell you when it’s time to do that.”

“That doesn’t sound too hard,” Tish responded and received a nod from Marisa.

Dayshia took a deep breath and stepped forward to stand next to the first bench. An older Fae approached with six others behind him. “My name is Joren. We will begin with a shallow insertion to determine the strength of the foreign magic. The Satyr’s link was so strong we lost one of our own to it. We’ve learned how to perform the binding, but we need to know how much of this magic we will be working within. Please recline and clear your mind. Allow us access and remain calm. There will be no binding in this first stage.”

Dayshia glanced at Marisa then stretched out on the bench on her back.

Marisa addressed the Fae mage. “The Wild Magic within them isn’t as strong as Henry’s. While linked to the new realm, the flow doesn’t feel like a raging river as it does with him.” The older mage gave her an evaluating look then tilted his head to her in acceptance and thanks for her assessment. Relief was visible in his expression as well. He gestured for some of the others to hold back. It initially looked like he intended to have the entire group participate in the exploratory dip into Dayshia’s mind.

Only four mages took up positions around the bench and closed their eyes. Marisa saw them taking deep, slow breaths which quickly became synchronized as they linked minds and prepared for the effort.

“Oh!” Dayshia chirped as she suddenly felt the presence of otherness in her mind. She instinctively pushed it out.