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At one point Yixli thought her role in the apocalypse couldn’t possibly be more dull. Escorting the newly awakened Singers to their strongholds in central Alethkar had been a miserable experience. Nothing but questions, walking, then more questions. Yixli could hardly believe this era’s Singers were so moronic. Sure they’d only just regained their minds after lifetimes of severed identity and connection, but as a Voidspren, Yixli could hardly empathize. What, had they never had to transfer their consciousness between realms before? Amateurs.
Yes, she’d thought she’d started low, but after that royal screw-up in Revolar, she’d been removed from even that dull duty. The Fused held her responsible for their inability to capture Stormblessed, and she’d been booted out of the physical realm entirely. It turned out what she’d thought had been mind-numbing was merely the riddens of a bigger storm; nothing compared to the dullness of running a security checkpoint at Celebrant. Word from up top said the boss wanted the cognitive realm under their control as soon as possible, and since Yixli apparently couldn't be trusted with anything more complex than a subspren could handle, they’d sent her here.
The Everstorm raged, the Fused returned, Odium reigned, and Yixli? Yixli sat behind a rickety wooden desk in an empty tent, doing the most pointless job in the world. They didn’t even trust her enough to let her supervise the shipping manifests or police the market itself, instead, she was a ‘security contact’ representing Celebrant’s new management. That meant she sat and waited for other spren to bring her thieves or smugglers, where she would process their paperwork and draw up their punishments; something that had happened a grand total of zero times so far. Storming honorable creatures the lot of them. The Fused must have known there wouldn’t be any infractions, they just wanted a glowering face posted in the city to remind Honor’s little sprenlings to remember who was in charge now.
So Yixli sat at her desk, staring out into the market, watching all varieties of so-called sapient spren walk past, doing her best to look menacing. It was so dull she’d had nothing to do but stew on the failure that had sent her here. Stormblessed, she resented that even those on Odium’s side had started calling him that, and his damnable spren. If it weren’t for those two sneaking around under her nose none of this would have happened. Feeling a spike of frustration Yixli chided herself, perhaps it wasn’t completely their fault. She might have delayed turning them in a bit too long, she might have gotten just a bit caught up in playing with that Honrospren. It wasn’t Yixli’s fault she’d been so cute, so easy to tease. Yixli had gotten so caught up finger fucking the little doll that she’d puffed away, disappearing from Yixli’s arms and turning into a spear in that storming human’s hands as he flew away. The most fun she’d had in ages, vanished in an eyeblink.
Maybe it was because there was nothing to do but stew on her frustration that Yixli noticed her at all. She looked almost completely different, with tan skin and black hair like a human, not to mention standing at their relative height, but those noble features were unmistakable. Yixli stood up in shock as she saw Sylphrena, the goddamn ancient daughter herself, wearing a lightweaving and walking through the market with a pair of other humans. Yixli’s eyes darted around, looking for Stormblessed, finding him quickly, speaking to a merchant nearby. This was perfect, her redemption, dropped serendipitously in her lap. She could tell the Fused and be granted her old station back, no, she’d get far more than that; she’d be a hero.
She watched them walk further into the market and went to leave, planning to dash off and find the closest Shanay-im, when another turn of fortune caused the Honorspren to turn away from her Radiant, taking a few steps before walking headlong into Yixli. A snap of energy passing between them erased every plan in Yixli’s mind. With no thought for rationality, for her position, or even her own safety if she was caught, Yixli took Sylphrena by the arm and dragged her back to the tent.
The Honorspren gasped, “You?!” She said incredulously.
Yixli couldn’t help but notice she didn’t do anything to stop herself from being dragged, even as the other human turned, looking confused, and called after her.
“What, you don’t remember my name, pet?” Yixli hissed, arriving at the tent and throwing the flap closed behind them.
Once they were alone Sylphrena pushed away, tearing herself from Yixli’s grasp. As they pulled apart something dropped from the Honorspren’s hand, a single sphere, as it rolled away the illusion on her faded, returning her familiar blue-white coloring. She cradled the arm where they had touched, Yixli could still feel her palm tingling, and she knew Sylphrena felt it too.
“How could I forget after what you did to me?” Sylphrena said, her voice hostile, matched with her fiery eyes.
“Don’t act like you didn’t love it,” Yixli replied, stepping closer. Sylphrena had backed to the desk so Yixli closed the gap, barely a foot of air between them.
“I hate you,” Sylphrena whispered.
“Not the same thing,” Yixli replied sweetly.
They stood, tension heated to a boiling point. Yixli watched Sylprena closely, earnest hatred did burn in those eyes, but that wasn’t all she saw. The Honorspren leaned in ever so slightly, biting her lip on one side. Good enough.
Yixli pounced, pulling Sylphrena into a passionate kiss. The Honorspren melted, going limp in Yixli’s arms, moaning into her mouth. Yixli delighted in the heat that spread between their lips, but she knew she wouldn’t have long to enjoy it. Lifting Sylphrena onto the edge of the desk, Yixli spread her legs with both hands and shoved a finger into her cunt. First one, then another, just how Yixli knew she liked it.
Sylphrena moaned desperately, breaking off the kiss, her head lolling to one side weakly. Yixli dug in harder, her fingers arching upwards in a frantic caress.
“Why- Why are you here?” Sylphrena asked, barely managing the words between gasps.
Anger boiled up in Yixli, and she let the Honorspren writhe at a cruel twist of her fingers before answering.
“It’s your damn fault. Losing you and your storming human at Revolar got me sent to this dump.” She replied, punctuating the statement by using her other hand to yank the other spren further forward on the desk, resting more of her weight on Yixli’s prying fingers.
Sylphrena squealed at the pressure, only barely muffling her voice by crying out into Yixli’s shoulder. She shifted forward, finding her footing and pushing Yixli back, the Voidspren’s fingers leaving her made a slick sound.
“That’s ridiculous.” She said, her expression incensed, though her legs were trembling. “You could have turned me in at any time, but you got greedy. I should have figured Oduim’s spren would be slaves to their passions-”
Yixli cut her off with a furious backhand, sending the Honorspren sprawling back to the desk with a cry of pain.
“You're. The. Slave.” Yixli snarled, pressing her face so close to Sylphrena’s ear that if she'd been human the Honorspren could have felt her breath. Taking advantage of her dazed state, Yixli maneuvered Sylphrena into a better position for what the Voidspren had in mind: her chest flat against the desk, her legs spread in a wide V-shape and her ass free for the taking. In this position, it was all too easy to abuse her, and Yixli let one hand slip back inside her while the other bunched up her hair and yanked backward, contorting her at both ends. Sylphrena's pained groan stoked Yixli's fervor and encouraged her to continue her tirade.
“Slave to that human of yours. Slave to Honor. You dance at their beck and call. I wonder what Stormblessed would think if he came in and found you like this.” Yixli said, jerking Sylphrena by the hair to punctuate her point. “I heard what happened in Kholinar, he must be practically broken right now. He needs his sweet little Honorspren more than ever, but where are you? Do you think he'd rage if he found you spreading your legs to the enemy like a whore? Maybe cry?”
Yixli redoubled her efforts, ramming her fingers knuckle deep in Sylphrena’s pussy, delighting as the Honorspren spasmed at the mention of her human. She wailed, though out of agony or ecstasy, Yixli didn’t know. She didn’t care. She didn’t know what about their clashes that drew out the worst in her. She should hate her, yes; a creation of the enemy, something to crush and then forget. But something about the spren laid before her, even humiliated and beaten was so noble, so beautiful, it stirred a deep emotion in Yixli, one she didn’t know how to parse. She shook her head, no, if she could break the ancient daughter, ruin her, then surely that feeling would go away.
So Yixli made her hurt, grinding her thumb against the Honorspren’s clit, working in tandem with her clawing fingers inside the spren until Sylphrena was moaning deliriously. Her face was twisted in pain, a blissful climax likely ruined by the monster forcing it on her. A pale sort of shimmer dripped down the Honorspren’s thighs, Yixli pulled back and realized it was staining her fingers too. She sneered, wiping the disturbance on Sylphrena’s dress, the garment still bundled carelessly around her waist. Yixli realized then that the dress was real, a genuine cloth dress, probably meant to go along with that lightweaving to act as a disguise. Why was this one always hiding who she was? Didn’t she realize it would never work? You couldn’t hide beauty like this so easily.
Sylphrena had gotten a hand under herself and was beginning to rise. Yixli squashed the treasonous feelings rising in her chest and slammed the Honorspren back onto the desk, knocking a feeble wheeze from her. Yixli didn’t give her time to rise again, pressing one hand against the small of her back for stability, Yixli reared the other back for a tremendous slap on Sylphrena’s waiting ass. It quivered delightfully in the aftershocks, and dissatisfied with the meager whimper her strike had elicited, Yixli struck her again, and again, repeatedly until the burning feeling in her chest roared hotter than the guilt trapped beneath it. Sylphrena was trembling, her ass blushed a pale white from the beating. Yet each blow drew less of a response, so Yixli turned to a different tactic.
“You’re a traitor, you know?” She hissed in Sylphrena’s ear. “All that talk of honor and yet you can’t resist me. You don’t fight, you find excuses to come back for more. I’ve got the ancient daughter laid out like a needy subspren, should I open the tent? Let everyone see. I’m sure they heard you already, let's give them a show!” Yixli punctuated that last statement with another slap, letting her hand linger this time, one finger toying dangerously close to the only hole she hadn’t violated yet, hanging over Sylphrena like a threat. She’ll break from the fear, it’ll be over. Yixli thought to herself. Why did that thought horrify her, somewhere deep down?
“Why… don’t you?” The Honorspren said, her shoulders were quivering and her voice was so soft that Yixli barely heard it, but the words echoed to her very core.
“Don’t think I won't-” Yixli shouted, her words trailing off as her victim managed to turn her head, a single passionate blue eye staring up at her.
“You can’t,” Sylphrena whispered. “Maybe I can't resist you like you said, but you've fallen for me so hard you can't even see how far you've dropped.”
Yixli fumed with rage, and without thinking she pressed down, shoving a finger inside Sylphrena’s ass. The Honorspren let out a sharp gasp, what little of her face Yixli could see tightened in pain, but that shining eye opened again, more lucid than ever.
“You won't open that tent because you can't bear to share me.” She said, her voice sounding stronger with every word, “Yixli, if I'm a traitor for letting you touch me then you’re even worse for doing it. You’ve had Honorspren royalty in your hands twice now, why haven’t you turned me in?”
Yixli twisted her finger, and Sylphena’s back arched, her voice breaking off into another strained moan. Yixli pushed harder, bringing her other hand back to grind against the Honorspren’s clit fervently. She wasn’t listening, she couldn’t hear-
“You don’t know what they’d do to you!” Her voice seemed to say. Yixli was confused, she hadn’t meant to say anything.
“They would torture me, unmake me, use me as a symbol to demoralize the Honorspren, to ensure no one else formed bonds,” Sylphrena said through gritted teeth. Somehow she’d managed to roll nearly halfway over, still staring Yixli in the face. “Your side would win, Yixli. Without Kaladin and I, you really would win. But you don’t want that, do you?”
“Don’t tell me what I want! Don’t talk about him when I’m here!” Yixli demanded, everything was blurring together, why was she fighting like this? Was this what she wanted? She staggered backward, covering her face with her hands. By the time she opened her eyes, Sylphrena had righted herself and stood to confront her. She was still half naked, her hair disheveled and lust dripping down her legs, but Yixli could feel herself wilting before that staggering expression.
“It doesn’t have to be like this,” Sylphrena said, her voice soft, yet unyielding. "I can tell you care, in your own twisted way. We can find a way to do this right."
"Don't get full of yourself," Yixli snapped. "You're nothing but a toy to me, a pet."
Sylphrena frowned, "If that's true then I'm done here."
"You don't get to be done!" Yixli bit her lip and scowled. “You’ll lose anyway, you know. Odium will conquer Roshar, he will rule the Cosmere. Nothing you can do will stop that.” She said, trying to project a conviction she wasn’t sure she felt anymore.
“You’re wrong.” Sylphrena rebutted. Nothing else said, stately plainly, fitting for a splinter of divinity. How did she look so right, even now?
“But you don’t have to die with them.” Yixli stammered, “Come with me, give up on humanity and I’ll protect you, we can hide and-”
“You have to know I can't do that...” Sylphrena replied, sounding weary of arguing. It made a part of Yixli want to reconsider, but the rest of her mind railed in protest.
Instead, her expression darkened further, "Storm you then! If you hold to your principles you're as good as dead. Your only hope is with me." Yixli said.
"No." Sylphrena's voice was firm again, the moment of vulnerability passed.
“Is it him?!” Yixli demanded, growing furious. “I know he can’t make you feel like I can. He'll scratch out your eyes and leave you broken! Bonds with humans are object foolishness, we should keep to our own. If you come with me we can live in the cognitive realm forever-”
“I made an oath. Yixli, I’m not going.”
Yixli opened her mouth, stumbling over her words. All these new emotions jumbled together in a mess in her chest jostling each other and leaving no room for intelligible words to escape her lips.
“If you leave now, that’s it, we're over,” was all she managed to say.
Without another word, Sylphrena fixed her dress, smoothed down her hair, then smiled at Yixli. That stunned the Voidspren, it was a soft smile, one that didn't reach her eyes; eyes that looked like they wanted to cry. Then she turned on her heel and walked away. She left the tent flap hanging open, and to her credit, she never looked back, not even for a moment. Yixli was all too sure of that, after all, she’d watched the Honorspren’s back the entire time as it faded into the crowd.