Obsession is the height of passion, but what does one do when they find themselves enthralled with their enemy. Talamayas Sol loses his mother when he stumbles upon a mage in the deserts of his territory, and he is plunged into a despair he's never...
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Tala eased him onto his back on the bed and opened up the robe to start the ceremony. Warmth glided Wren's bare chest as Tala trailed his hand to cradle Wren's neck in his palm. Their eyes connected, both shining with tears, but Tala's had yet to fall as he spoke.
"Once we are bound, you will exude my energy over your own, dark magic, Wren Song. No mages will view you without knowledge of what you've married into. Are you committed to leaving them behind?"
"Any who mean anything will not care about such trivial things," Wren said and Talamayas smiled, though it wavered.
"This part is painful, though not so much as what comes after. It is bearable at first, but when I bind you to me it grows so immense you will scream. I will be here, but the process or forcing your body to accept my energy rewrites you, and even if you accept it, you will suffer."
"I understand. Stay by my side, and I will climb over any obstacle, be it drowning in the pain that comes with our joining."
"Very well. Turn your head if you're ready," Talamayas said.
Wren complied, straining his eyes to the far side of his vision to see a spell form on Tala's fingertips. The heat sent a tremor though Wren, but he did as he was instructed. It had taken time, but Wren trusted Tala not to hurt him more than what was needed.
"Just use this for now." Tala twisted a towel and set it between Wren's teeth. "This seal will mark you as mine for all to see, in the place I will draw your life into me when I hunger. It is a promise to accept no one else's fangs at your throat and a display of our devotion to one another."
Tala touched Wren's neck with a finger, and Wren whined into the towel as he bit down. The pain was so intense that Talamayas had to hold his head in place as he traced the shape of the brand. It wasn't like any burn or ink that could be cut away or removed. The bonding seal was carved into his flesh and soul with Talamayas' magic, and it would persist until his death and after.
It just hurt like hell.
There wasn't much worse than having his skin burned off and this took the cake. It felt like Talamayas was melting himself into his flesh, burning it away and replacing it with a mark that stabbed into his very core. And there were so many points, small triangles of red that matched the tattoos on Tala's shoulder–a simplified sun to match the emblem of his people. There were eight spikes in all, and the last mark he did in the center, a long circle, drew tears to Wren's eyes as it spun under Tala's fingers to complete the design.
By the time Talamayas was done, Wren was covered in sweat from head to toe, and he could barely catch his breath as Talamayas kissed his forehead. Tala helped him up to his elbows to see himself in a small mirror, and Wren smiled at the red sun that took up the left side of his neck, circling just around where Talamayas' bite marks had been the first time he's fed from him.
