Chapter 221: Healing Flare [1] [18+]
Damon pulled his robe off in one smooth motion, the black fabric pooling around his ankles on the stone platform.
The heat from the lingering flames licked at his bare skin, but he barely registered it.
His attention was fixed entirely on Flare.
She lay sprawled before him, her red hair fanned across the scorched stone, her robes torn open from when he had ripped them aside to check her condition.
Her pale skin glowed faintly with residual fire qi, a soft orange hue that pulsed beneath her flesh like a second heartbeat.
She looked peaceful, her chest rising and falling in shallow, rhythmic waves, her lips slightly parted, her expression entirely unguarded.
The orange glow beneath her skin pulsed softly in the dim light of the stone platform, tracing the lines of her collarbone, the curve of her throat, the swell of her chest. It was almost beautiful, in a terrible sort of way.
She looked like she was sleeping.
But she wasn’t sleeping. She was dying.
The fire qi was consuming her meridians, burning through her channels, every wasted minute bringing her closer to the point of no return.
The healers couldn’t touch her.
The suppression formations hadn’t held.
There was no technique, no pill, no senior cultivator waiting in the wings with a solution.
There was only him.
And in three days, if he did nothing, she would be dead.
Damon exhaled slowly, steadying himself, pushing the weight of the moment into the back of his mind where it couldn’t interfere with what needed to be done.
He moved forward, positioning himself between her legs, and with careful, deliberate hands, he gently eased her thighs apart.
Her body offered no resistance, no tension, no awareness of what was about to happen.
She was completely limp, completely vulnerable, completely at his mercy.
He hated that. The thought settled in his chest like a cold stone, heavy and uncomfortable against everything else he was feeling in that moment.
He had taken women before, had pursued them with patience and strategy and earned every willing surrender, and that was how it was supposed to be.
That was the only way he had ever wanted it. A conquest meant nothing without the awareness of the conquered.
She couldn’t choose this. Couldn’t curse him away, or pull him closer.
She was simply here, limp and breathing shallowly beneath him, her body a vessel running out of time, and he was the only solution available.
There was nothing.
But he hated the idea of her dying even more. Hated it with a quiet, certain ferocity that surprised even him.
He didn’t know her. She was a stranger with a sharp tongue and a dangerous amount of fire qi currently consuming her from the inside out.
And yet the thought of simply watching her burn to ash on this scorched stone platform, of doing nothing when he had the power to stop it, sat even worse than this did.
He positioned himself at her entrance, the tip of his cock pressing lightly against her folds.
He reached down with his right hand and pressed his palm flat against her lower belly, just above her pelvis.
He activated Incubus Touch, letting a gentle wave of pleasure seep into her body through his skin.
Her hips twitched.
A soft, involuntary sound escaped her lips.
He kept his hand there, spreading the sensation through her core, letting it loosen her muscles and coax moisture from within.
He didn’t want to hurt her. Not like this. Not when she couldn’t even brace for it.
When he felt her body relax beneath his touch, when the first trace of wetness touched his tip, he pushed forward.
He entered her inch by inch, watching her face the entire time, ready to stop the moment she showed any sign of pain or distress.
Her brow furrowed slightly. Her lips parted.
A low, breathy moan slipped from her throat, instinctive and raw, the kind of sound that came from deep in the body rather than the mind.
He kept going until he was fully sheathed inside her.
The heat was intense. Her body burned with residual fire qi, her inner walls hot and tight around him, clenching instinctively even in her unconscious state.
He stayed still for a moment, letting her adjust, letting his presence settle into her body without forcing anything.
Then he began to move.
Slow, shallow thrusts at first. Just enough to stimulate without overwhelming.
He kept his hand on her belly, feeding a steady stream of pleasure through Incubus Touch, making sure every sensation she felt was good rather than painful.
Her moans grew louder.
Her hips began to move on their own, rising to meet his thrusts with a rhythm that came from somewhere deep in her instincts.
Her body knew what to do even if her mind was absent.
He picked up the pace.
His thrusts grew deeper, harder, more deliberate.
Each one drove him further into her, pushing against her inner walls, spreading the pleasure through her core until her entire body trembled beneath him.
Her hands clenched into fists at her sides.
Her back arched off the stone.
A long, shuddering moan tore from her throat as her climax hit her, her inner walls clamping down around him in wave after wave of involuntary contractions.
He followed her over the edge.
He buried himself deep inside her and released, his seed flooding her core in hot, pulsing streams.
His own climax hit him hard, his body shuddering as he emptied himself into her.
But he didn’t stop.
He kept his cock inside her, still hard, still connected, and activated the Yin-Yang Harem Scripture.
The technique flared to life between them, a bridge of golden light that connected his dantian to hers.
His yang qi flowed across that bridge, pouring into her damaged meridians like water into cracked earth.
He felt it happen.
Felt her shattered pathways begin to knit themselves back together under the influence of his qi.
Felt the fire qi in her body calm, settle, align itself with the new flow of energy he was providing.
It was working.
Slowly, painfully slowly, but undeniably.
He kept the technique active, kept feeding his qi into her, kept watching her face for any sign of distress or awakening.
She didn’t wake up.
But her breathing steadied.
The glow beneath her skin faded from a dangerous orange to a healthy, warm gold.
And the countdown to her death stopped.
