Kayn watched as Irelia went to retrieve a small square of silk from her belongings. Within it was some sort of clear gem, unassuming to the eye but vastly important.
Keystone magic, she told him, was just as imperative as his own mastery of she shadow arts or her own mastery of blades. But instead of ancient scrolls or tomes, their power remained sealed in said gems harvested around the world runes that remained dormant until channeled correctly.
The sound of joints cracking sounded from Kayn's position on the tatami as he attempted full lotus. Though young and limber, his flexibility admittedly needed some work.
"I take it you don't meditate very often," she teased. Her bare feet padded across the room before settling onto her knees in front of him.
"Not really," he muttered, recalling the difficulty he'd encountered with it during his training at the monastery.
Irelia placed the square between them, the keystone atop it. Her slim fingers brushed his forearm as she reached for his hands.
"You're tense," she said with a small frown, noting the rigidness of his shoulders.
Kayn let out a slow breath, sagging slightly without breaking posture. His larger hands felt clumsy and imprecise in hers, but her grasp was firm and confident in him.
The blade dancer waited until his breathing had eased. "Are you ready?"
He nodded, willingly.
Carefully, Irelia transferred the keystone into his open palm where it began to flicker with veins of white-red.
"Know the power of domination."
He felt it all way to the roots of his eyelashes. Everything in him pleaded to pull away, to let the stone fall and scald the ground beneath him. His fingertips blackened and the sickening smell of his own charred flesh pervaded the air.
"Master it, Kayn. Find where it lives within you and tame it."
He scarcely heard her. His eardrums rattled with the crackle and destruction of lightning. Her face was obscured by the smoke of burning wildfire left in its wake. His lungs became clouded with ashes he felt like dry timber being split in two.
It had been a few months already since his first taste of her. Though both fighters, her smooth, slender form seemed mismatched against his that was pitted and puckered with old wounds. But flush together like pages in a book, she was cool against the fevered warmth of his chest as he explored every inch of her. He seethed with hot blood as she breathed the biting air of the storm rattling against the windows.
His hands licked her curves like flames on lantern glass, fingertips dragging over the dip of her back, the mound of her breast, the hollow of her navel. He made her cry out in ways that surprised them both, whimpers against his neck sending shocks down every one of his nerve endings. Her hands traveled the paths of defined muscle as she mounted him, and he found the flare of her hips to guide the rhythm. Her hottest point was tight around him as he arched into her, and with a deliberately deep thrust he made her quake from her very core. The resounding cry became swallowed by the roar of thunder outside as she rode through her pleasure, and then it became too much. Like lightning splayed across the night sky, he burst within her with a cry of his own, consuming and consumed.
And then he was calm. Still as a great tree in the rainy season, the blisters healed, his lungs cleared, and the air filled with the heady perfume of spring — wild grasses, flowers, and mist.
Kayn opened his eyes cautiously, letting the olive tones of the room filter through one eye before both, then looking into his palms. The keystone glowed steadily now, veins twisting together to shape a single bolt of lightning. He placed it back onto the square of fabric, channeling enough electricity to spark between his fingers as he did so.
"Impressive, young pupil," Irelia smiled wryly. "The magic is yours."
The shadow reaper grunted dismissively as she gathered the keystone to store once again, following as she did so with her back to him. In a single, calculated move, he had her pinned against the wall, still-hot hands snaking into the silk of her hair at the nape of her neck with dominance.
Irelia's gaze only faltered for a moment, almost like she'd expected such a thing to happen. Pulling him closer, she pressed her hips against him like it were a challenge.
Kayn smirked. He could do better, and he intended to prove it.
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These two are way too hot together and I literally can't stop writing, send help. Again, can read alongside Equinox but can also stand alone.