Few understood how lust could often surface in the wake of sorrow, how seeking pleasure served the very purpose of remembering that one was alive.
And she was alive - deliciously so.
“I left him.” She spoke softly, her voice hauntingly beautiful, and I wondered why she was choosing to speak in English when French was clearly her native tongue. “I left him,” she raised her voice, repeating the words in frustration at the river itself, “not you. I lefthim.”
The cadence of her speech was breathy and low, her syllables dragged out as her French accent was accentuated. She was an enigma, this Witch with her white hair yelling at the river - as if she had the very power to command the rapids themselves.
And yet, the water seemed to quiet itself against her words as if it truly were listening to her - as if she indeed mattered in the natural order of things.
Strange.
Strange and intriguing.
She slid her white trainers off, tucking her socks inside them neatly before placing them on a bolder that sat beside the riverbank. I couldn’t tear my gaze from her - from her movements - from the very fluidity and grace that she seemed to embody.
If I didn’t know she was human, I may have mistaken her for another type of being entirely.
Meticulously, she rolled the hem of her trousers, exposing her delicate ankle - a gold chain decorating the flesh there. And it was as if I - a Demon - was caught in the enthrall of her spell because I couldn’t look away from her - didn’t want to.
Instead, I stilled my breath and watched as she dipped her foot hesitantly into the quiet waters beneath. Silence greeted her, and even though I knew these mountain waters to be freezing, she didn’t pull away. Instead, she seated herself on the riverbank and slid in her other foot tentatively.
And for but a moment, all seemed well - as if the river truly was welcoming her. But even I understood just how fickle the element itself could be. It took only one heartbeat for the wind to howl up in a rage and the rapids to thrash beneath her, the water wrapping its icy grip around her ankles, dragging her into the river itself.
I watched as her clothed body dipped between the water with a violence that couldn’t be deemed anything but personal. The Witch had obviously pissed off the elements, and now the river sought its revenge.
Did I intervene?
The moaning and gasping from the Meliae was a welcome distraction, and even as I turned to take them in, the sight of the auburn haired beauty with her thighs positioned on either side of the other Meliae’s head, her knees digging into the earth as she bent forward, allowing them to taste one another simultaneously, did nothing to harden my cock.
I turned back towards the Witch and the water just in time to watch her pretty blonde head dip beneath the water, and something about watching the ethereal creature struggle against the element itself made my cock harden.
That was how my decisions were made these days - well, that, and thwarting new orders and the gods of old.
I emerged from the shadows at a languid place, striding towards the river carefully. If she thought that I was on the Witch's side, the element may not take kindly to me, and so in order to extract the Witch, I would have to tread carefully.
The elements could be emotional - driven by a sense of justice and often malicious in their perceived betrayals, which was problematic because they were not lust driven, meaning that I had no hold over them.
I couldn't sway them to my cause simply by showing them my cock, or nudging someone they desired in their direction.
I spoke the words that I knew would halt her progress.
"Acta non verba." As soon as the old latin phrase had been uttered from my lips, the river seemed to release the Witch and I watched her blonde head rise above the water, her hair plastered against her skull as she turned her blue eyes on me, anger sparking within as if she were furious I had intervened.
But it was done now. There was no going back, the words had been uttered, effectively opening up the bargaining discussion, for the water had released the Witch, and now I was in the element's debt.
Later I would think on why I wanted the Witch, after I had bargained with the element herself.
I ignored the fire in the Witch’s gaze - ignored her annoyance, and instead turned my focus towards the rapids that seemed to rise up as if waiting to hear exactly what I had to offer.
“The Witch transgressed against you.” I spoke the words, knowing them to be true, even if they made the blonde Witch scowl harder at me. With her clothing drenched, sitting flush against her skin, she looked almost fragile - petite, even, but I knew better than to underestimate a Witch.
The water stilled, her silence an agreement in itself.
“I propose that if you release the Witch into my care, I will ensure that she settles the debt owed to you.”
I raised up my palm in her direction, silencing whatever the Witch was about to say. Regardless of my own desires, I was saving one of Charl’s Witch’s, which would place The Magician squarely in my debt.
The rapids swirled slightly, and I stilled my very being, awaiting the element to deliver her terms. Even the Witch knew well enough to remain silent.