How would he go about this? The fundamentals of magic were already taught to her, albeit curbed and censored by the gentle and neutered guidance of the magic colleges that scattered the land. Forbidden were lores like the Lore of Death, and the Lore of Blood, condemned as too inhumane, or too dangerous. The danger itself was the same danger that was carried within fire. Useful, yet hazardous in the hands of an incompetent.
Duke stood in his bedchambers, poring over a series of parchments and notes that floated about him, swirling rapidly and quickly like a hurricane of paper. It moved at a rate that would've been impossible to read, were it not for the sky-blue gem he had pressed against his forehead. A gem of Enlightenment enhanced his ability to work with an overwhelming barrage of information, essentially allowing for manyfold times more streams of thought to flow through his mind. All his efforts were dedicated to laying the stones for Hollis' learning here at his estate. Alchemy, the manufacturing of poisons, cures, enhancements, and delibitating draughts. A study of the various beings a witch would be expected to encounter and use for their own purpose, as well as more powerful fae and fiends they could parley with for means beyond their own. Artificery, enchantment, the list goes on. This was in addition to the time he would take awakening the potential within her, stablising the raw wild magic that coursed within her veins. He had not taught before, but that was no excuse for half-arsed efforts.
In his concentration, he had begun to forget the passage of time. One thing did catch his eye however, as the scrying orb that fed into the baths floated past his gaze. He paused, concentration broken, and had to catch himself before the quills and parchment surrounding him fell to the ground with a a cacophony of shattering glass and crumpling paper.
"Curse you Iyesha, I am in no mood for your pranks." He grumbled, though his eyes did not leave the clear orb that spied upon his charge. "Oh but master~, you have such an eye for the pretty little thing, we Ouphes are tasked with the duty of fulfilling the needs and desires of the house's inhabitants, are we not? Especially for the Serpent Prince himself, the one who freed us from the clutches of the Three Hags."
The Three Hags, initial inhabitants of the manor and powerful witches who had managed to decipher a script that described part of the process needed to make a lich. Unable to create a true phylactery, they had instead binded themselves to a painting, that of three fair maidens performing miracles for a village. They could enter and exit the painting at will, and so long as they remained within it, the process of ageing was brought almost to a standstill. They thus manipulated the world through pawns and servants, promising power in exchange for physical proxy upon the world. Binding blood contracts and cursed vows were a staple among them, and the Ouphes were simply some of the entities that had been tricked or coerced into serving them, in this case through the promise of a curse should there be failure to comply.
Almost a decade back, Duke had been wandering the lands, looking for both powerful connections and a potential place to settle down. A place that was remote enough to the point where uprooting and forcing him out of reclusion to be judged for his crimes would be more of a hassle than it was worth. To wield magic in the woods beyond manor grounds would attract all sorts of undesirable predators, and that feature alone made the manor more than adequate . An empty manor, untouched even by a speck of dust, drew enough suspicion from him that he had discovered the Hags without too much difficulty. Their powers combined surpassed him by an order of magnitude, but their half-arsed intepretation of the Lich's script had proved to be their undoing. Protective charms left their painting just short of indestructible, but they had neglected the possibility that their refuge would also be their prison. A fourth level seal was enough to bind them within the painting, after which he had the item locked within his personal reliquary. Doing so had earned him the respect and fealty of the Ouphes, and the title of Master of the Estate.
Iyesha was the Ouphe that tended to him personally, a cheeky being that adopted a sisterly attitude towards the notorious practioner of forbidden arts. In a way, Duke was grateful for the treatment, a sense of normalcy in an otherwise bizarre life. Right now though, she really was pushing his limits.
Tempting pure white flesh flashed past his eyes, the water and steam thankfully concealing the more intimate parts of her figure from hungering eyes. Damp glowing hair begged to be clutched and tugged on, and the way water dripped from her skin was almost sinful. Closed eyes and a pleasured expression only added to the entire affair, and it took what felt like a lifetime's worth of will to dismiss the voyeuristic sight.
Sighing, Duke let the papers and quills return to their respective shelves, the sapphire crystal's light dimming away until the glow was no more, like a dying firefly. With his thoughts preoccupied by bare skin and lush lips, there was no way he was going to see anymore use out of the gem. Returning it to a cushioned holder alongside an assortment of colored rocks and trinkets, he stretched and sat at his bed. His bed mirrored the one in Hollis' room, though this one had sheets of velvet red and a mattress of pure white, a sharp contrast to the relatively dark aesthetic carried by the rest of the room. The wooden floor was reminiscent of volcanic ash, muted and warm. The right wall was split into two halves. The first half was lined by 5 mannequins. The first one was bare, nothing on it, while the other four were clothed, each wearing an outfit for a different occasion.
The first one was dressed in a obsidian doublet with silvered trimmings, accompanied likewise with black trousers and a scarlet mask to round off the outfit, the design covering the eyes and mimicking the upper portion of a jaguar's head.
The second dressed itself in a far more conventional set of Witch's robes, though this one was modified to leave the right torso exposed, much like the robes worn by wandering Cathay Monks, or perhaps the dress worn by Hellynistic scholars. Simple sandals rounded out the ensemble, and overall relied on the grace and figure of the wearer for any form of visual effect, serving to enhance rather than stand on its own.
The next was a gift from Talesin's Thieves Guild, a black cloak and hood that wrapped around close-fitting leather armor, the collar of the armor fitted with additional fabric to mask the face if need be. Supple black trousers and padded shoes rounded off the outfit, perfect for infiltration and stealth.
The last was a white shirt and pants that saw use when he needed something that let him breathe. After medical procedures or on days of rest, he would don these clothes, meant for sheer comfort within his own domain.
The last mannequin was nude, the clothes presumably being the ones he wore now.
The second half was decorated with weapons and wands, each of unique design and origin, from Taleigh bows and arrows to Easterling Schmitars.
The opposite wall was where he had previously worked, adorned with enchanted items and colorful vials all meant to aid in academic pursuits.
"It has been so long since you have laid with a woman, why not let it be this one? She is suited towards your.. deviant tastes." Iyesha teased and prodded, her tone both curious and mischievous.
"I still am contemplating it myself." Duke sighed, stripping slowly and letting each piece of clothing be carried away by the Ouphe to be cleaned. Once down to his briefs, he lay in his bed, staring at the void-like ceiling that simply stared back, giving no answer. "You already break the rules as-is, and I doubt one more will make a difference." Iyesha reasoned and argued, nothing she said something he could contradict.
"She needs to want it. To desire it. An unwilling student and an unwilling partner are both simply inevitable failures and disappointments to come." Duke argued back, his tone bitter and frustrated. Fool Ouphe. Had it been that simple, he would have already been between her legs, prying moan after moan from those soft, strawberry lips.
Cursing his own weakness, he brought four scented candles and placed them equidistant from each other at the four cardinal directions. Sitting at the very center, he lit each candle and crossed his legs, taking in a deep breath as the world faded to black around him.
You are the eye of the storm. Before one can display power, one must display control.
The flames danced upon the candles, carried by a soft draft, and then held perfectly still, as if each flame had become suspended in time. Slowly, the each droplet of light stretched from their candle, becoming a beam of fire that converged at a single point above his head, forming from the outside what appeared to be an illuminated cage. Control of Ashyq, or the element of fire, was a basic principle and the first thing learned by an aspiring magic practitioner. This exercise was a basic demonstration of control, and for Duke, a way of showing himself that he still had agency over his own emotions and will. The objective was to maintain the cage until the candles burnt out.
All was silent.
A soft moan, the voice feminine and lustful. Hollis'. Duke's brow furrowed, and the cage dimmed ever so slightly, before the thought pushed itself out of his mind.
The taste of her skin, sweet and smooth on his tongue, as he took a pert breast between his li-
Enough. A steely voice, Duke's, breached his sinful fantasies. His iron will was what had brought him this far, and it helped him push back the wave of need that overcame him. Burning passion funneled through cool discipline. The will to grasp those fantasies and claim it for his own, true ambition wielded by immaculate cunning. Within him lay a true beast, but it was chained by his own wisdom, calm collectiveness masking what lay beneath.
The flames calmed themselves once more, nearing the end of their life.
So deep he was into his trance that he barely noticed the intrusion into his bedchambers. While possibly seen as careless, had true hostility been sensed, the automatons would have fought on until they were naught but dust and rubble.
In his void, he saw only the faint blue current of mana that flowed through the flame, but there was something else. A maelstrom of energy, uncontrolled and wild, sometimes weak and unnoticeable, then suddenly swelling to brightness like a dying sun.
"Hollis." His greeting was curt, and slowly he opened his eyes. Where amethyst used to be was a blue aurora of light, his pupils and irises unseen, replaced only by the bright teal flame that filled his eyes. Slowly, the blue bled away, returning his gaze to back to its prior state.
Her heartbeat had skyrocketed once more. Her speech was disjointed and in disarray. And worst of all, what she wore left little to the imagination. Her left shoulder was exposed and begging for tender ministrations, her frazzled hair only adding to her innocent charm. She probably wore nothing underneath, and the thought alone caused the cage around him to sputter. He did a quick once-over of the girl, and let the flames die away.
"You're a Grymhold Witch, and my charge. Displays of power are to be acknowledged, not feared. Narrow-minded ignorance is what led to witch-hunts, persecutions, and censorship of our arts." His voice was stern and firm, but softened a bit towards the end.
"Remember what I told you? About auras? Some people have auras so strong that they bleed into the physical realm as well, manifesting in phenomena like this." Swinging his legs over the bedside, he stood and placed a hand onto the small of her back, taking her back to her room. As they crossed over again, the statues stared at Hollis with what almost felt like disgruntlement, somewhat offended by the way in which they had been dismissed. It almost looked like the Orc had huffed.
Duke let how a low whistle as he gazed at the winter wonderland that had become of Hollis' room. "I knew you had potential but this...this is something else." Joy tinged his voice, like the excitement of child. "You may be a.. Nevermind." he cut himself short, not wanting to plant a seed of false hope in her mind, lest he be incorrect.
"Your latent power is being held in check by a seal. Whether present from birth or from external influence, I cannot say. However, sometimes, during especially volatile times like solstices, times of strife, or planar alignments, seals can weaken, resulting in magical outbursts like this one." He paused, considering his options.
"Come." Reaching out and grabbing her hands, he let their mana circuits join, and immediately realised his mistake.
Blood splattered the ground as he coughed up scarlet, though his palms remained in contact with hers.
Blood and ash! He had misdiagnosed the issue. Initially, he had thought it was a simple case of current instability, but in truth, it was that alongside a simply immense amount of power coursing through her veins.
He gasped for air, tasting copper on his lips, but remained on his feet, the damage relatively minor. Drop by drop, with control this time, he let her magic into him, acting as a second conduit to stabilise her flow of power.
"Like I said, everyone is a vessel. However, one of the ways to measure a magic user's aptitude is how they allow bleedoff of power. Failure to do so leads to either the inability to display magical aptitude, or uncontrollable bursts of energy." Allowing the flow of magic into him, he slowly manipulated the current into a more stable tide within Hollis, sweat beading on his brow, and eventually, managed to momentarily abate the swirling whirlpool of power.
Sharing mana flows was a common practice among bonded witches, and as intimate a process as kissing or sensual caresses. The flow carried emotion with it, and Duke sensed a myriad of feelings, fear, anxiety, comfort.. desire? She would have felt his too. Excitement, confidence, and more worryingly, lust and hunger. Duke wanted her.
To an untrained practitioner, their partner's emotions may be passed off as emotions of their own, the ability to distinguish them borne of time. Regardless, for a brief moment, they became one and the same, as if wrapped within an embrace.
Reluctantly, he let them part, but not before a chant. "Emberosa, Lafaviel!" A wave of heat swept from him, melting the snow and ice that coated the furniture and floor, leaving faint puddles that were quickly attended to by Rex, an invisible towel that mopped away any moisture with due diligence. He sent a wave of heat through Hollis as well. Magic often left the user numb to their senses, and without proper aura control, Hollis was not impervious to her own winter chill.
It was only after the excitement had died down did Duke realise how vunerable the situation was. They were both wearing essentially their underwear, and the way her nipples seemed to struggle against her satin dress did not do his humor much good, the already noticeable outline in his briefs becoming ever more pronounced with the intimate mana exchange that occured just now. He nodded to her and turned to his room.
"I will perform the proper diagnosis and rituals tommorow, but for now, get yourself changed and ready for breakfast. I expect to see you downstairs within an hour and a half, understand?" His voice was back to its authoritative self, asking for confirmation yet expecting only one answer.
And, their first day together began.
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