Chapter Twelve

~*~Part Twelve~*~

~*~Flash~*~

//”Lysha…”

“Zan…”

“You two are too sweet for words.”

“But you love us anyway, Aves.”

The blonde smiled, her sweet laughter filling the room. “That I do. Care to come back to bed and let me show you just how much?”//

~*~Flash~*~

//They were waiting for him, back in the royal suite. Dark and light. Sweet and sassy. Opposites…yet not. Like two parts to the same half that, combined with him, made one, single whole.

It was so easy to love them both.

Even with the way everyone was carrying on. His mother….Rath…

Did no one see that they all just wanted to be happy?//

~*~Flash~*~

//Liz in Tess’ arms. A kiss so sweet and tender that it filled him with indescribable warmth.//

~*~Flash~*~

//”The three of us were…together… One, loving bond shared between three people…”//

~*~*~

Max broke from her grasp, his startled gasp ringing in his ears as he scrambled backwards over the hard, dusty floor of the cave. His palms stung where they came into contact with small rocks, the hard points digging into his flesh.

“Wh-what was that?”

“Memories,” Tess snapped, her eyes slowly coming back into focus. A light flush spread over her cheeks as he continued to stare at her. What was she thinking of, right at that moment?

The memories came back in a wash to assault his mind and body. Images of…Zan and Ava and Lysha…together. Walking through the palace grounds, arm in arm in arm. Shopping in the markets. Watching the girls try on their purchases as he lounged in one of the oversized chairs in their rooms. He’d been a King. Ava…Tess…was his Queen.

And Lysha was the girl that they both loved.

The three of them, naked in bed. Body next to body. Skin on skin. Heated, cooled. It was all the same. One dark-haired lover pleasing him with her body as his light haired lover pleased him with her mouth…. As he did his best to provide satisfaction to both of them at the same time.

He groaned without thinking, eyes widening as a heated blush spread over his cheeks, matching the one that Tess also had. “We…”

“Yeah,” Tess nodded, tearing her eyes away as if his gaze burned her. He knew the feeling, to be honest. It was currently searing him from the inside out, feelings that he’d never thought possible. A bond, long since gone dead, that was growing with every passing moment, pulsing within him, wanting the satisfaction it had felt once upon a time ago. “The three of us.”

“Liz is…” Again the words failed him and he was thankful that Tess seemed to be doing a pretty good job of reading his mind.

“She’s one of us, Max. I don’t know how. Nascedo never mentioned anyone else. He never mentioned any of this.” A frown marred her pretty features, her lower lip disappearing into her mouth courtesy of clasping teeth. It was an expression that was so Ava he could scarcely resist taking her into his arms and reminding himself exactly how her body, mouth and skin tasted.

No, there would be time for that later.

With every passing moment he was remembering more and more, courtesy of the rather brutal connection Tess had forced on him. He’d been upset when he first broke from it, and more than a little scared. But now, as the memories continued to push at the boundaries of everything that he had ever known, he found he couldn’t blame her.

“He only told me what he wanted me to know,” she sighed, sullen. “I get the feeling he wasn’t one of our supporters back home. Which means he wouldn’t want you and I to know about Lysha. I doubt he even knows she’s here, for that matter. Much less that ‘she’ is Liz. If he was against us being together…back then…he wouldn’t want us to remember what it was like to be… ”

“Happy?” Max snorted bitterly. “He wouldn’t want us to know happiness? Because that’s what it comes down to, Tess.”

She nodded slowly, her face sad as she seemed to try to come to terms with the reality of what they were discussing. If Nascedo had pushed her destiny at her so long and hard…and never once mentioned that there was a third person involved…then he had never wanted her happiness. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

Worried blue eyes traveled to the opening of the cave, reminding Max of one key fact –

Liz was out there, wandering alone in the desert.

He bit off a curse, bounding to his feet and out of the cave without another word. His mind was awhirl with confusion, but one thing still remained the same – always would if these memories were to be believed –

He loved Liz.

There had never been any doubt in him. Not when Tess had first entered their lives. Not when he had started to feel things for the petite blonde.

And not now, either.

At least now, he mused as he paused to peer into the darkness of the desert, he didn’t need to feel guilty for feeling something for the other girl.

It was natural. She was one third of his soul, just as Liz was. Only together were they complete.

He’d been about to take a step when that thought shot through his mind, and now he stopped in place. If someone had asked him that morning what he thought of a man and two women being…together in that way…he would have said that it was wrong.

And yet…now it didn’t feel wrong. He couldn’t summon up a single iota of his being that felt that what he had shared with Ava and Lysha, now Tess and Liz, was wrong. It was like the memories had set him free.

“Are you going to stand there all night or go find her?”

Max looked over his shoulder, arching an eyebrow at the blonde that stood there. “You coming with me?”

She shrugged. “She might react better to me, anyway. Your whole denial-slash-hatred of what we are really hurt her.”

He winced as the words hit him like a slap to the face. The last thing he had wanted to do was hurt Liz in any way. It was the exact opposite of everything that he desired, for that matter. Why was that always the way the story went? He did his best to not hurt her, to make her happy and try to keep her safe –

And in the end he only ended up tearing her to pieces.

Well, all that was going to stop right now.

Right.

Now.

He nodded. “I’m coming with you.”

Tess snorted. “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

~*~*~

Liz stumbled blindly in the darkness, her arms crossed over her chest. The desert was cold at night, not the type of place to be wandering around. It just wasn’t safe.

Yet she couldn’t find it within herself to care.

Max, her darling Max, the man that she had thought she’d finally be able to be with, hated what he was.

And therefore, by default, hated what she was.

She sniffled, tears blinding her eyes thought it made no difference. It wasn’t as if she could see where she was going anyway. There could be a snake laying in front of her, ready to strike, and she’d walk right on top of it, never the wiser until it sank its fangs into her foot.

Maybe that would be best. Painful, but best. It had to hurt less than the pain in her heart, anyway.

Her movements stilled until she was just standing there, body shaking as sobs poured from her mouth.

He hated her. Not a single word had passed his lips, but she knew it for sure. Why else would he not want to let her in…not want to experience that which she had to share with him?

This was Destiny screwing with her again, wasn’t it? Give her the man of her dreams and so much more in the form of Tess –

And then yank part of it away.

“It’s not fair,” she whispered brokenly, turning her gaze up to the very heavens she had supposedly somehow come from. “DO YOU HEAR ME?!?” she screamed. “IT’S NOT FAIR!!!”

“Liz?”

Footsteps pounded the hard, packed earth of the desert, heading straight towards her. A small, bobbing light in the darkness and Max’s voice.

Why was he doing this?

Why was he following her?

“Liz, just stay there. We’ll find you.”
Liz deflated slightly. Tess was coming, too. Tess wouldn’t let Max hurt her anymore. At least the other girl was in the same boat she was. If he wanted to deny his alien side he’d have to deny both of them.

They’d still have each other, she thought; the knowledge doing little to bolster her flagging spirits. What good was two-thirds of a whole? They’d have each other, true.

But they’d never be complete.

The footsteps slowed, scuffling along the desert floor. Max was nervous, she thought with bitter wryness. What did he have to be nervous about? Holding all the cards to their future was a place of power, after all; one that he was wielding cruelly, if she did say so herself.

“Liz, please look at me.”

She turned, seeing his face through the illumination of the tiny shimmer of power he held over one hand. Her eyes met his and she shivered.

“I love you Liz…Lysha…whoever you are,” he smiled self-consciously. “And apparently I always have.”

Liz looked away from Max, not daring to believe what he was saying. She looked to Tess, meeting the other girl’s eyes in the darkness. The blonde’s head bobbed slowly up and down. Whatever had happened after she had left the cave must have been something pretty interesting.

“And Tess?” Liz arched an eyebrow, knowing fully well that she could be pushing her luck and not caring one bit. He needed to accept both of them and the situation that the three of them were in, or it was a no go. “Do you love Tess, too?”

Max nodded slowly. “I remember loving her…and there’s something there now, awake and in the back of my mind. I think…with time…” He stopped. “Is that okay?”

Liz laughed under her breath, feeling her insecurity fade away under his sincere gaze. “It’s the smartest thing you’ve said all night.”

~*~End Part~*~