Moving Upstream

New Estra, Three Hundred Years Before

Meguitte paused, one hand braced against a tree-trunk. “Do you hear that?”

Happy laughter and splashing told them that they were getting near to their destination. They approached the riverbank, looking down the gentle slope to where a group of women had found a rocky spot where the water was shallower. In their shifts, they beat clothing against the rocks to clean it, whilst others spread already washed items out over the bushes. The wet fabric clung to their bodies, hiding little, and Thaelen averted his eyes, feeling his cheeks heat.

He should have taken Wilhelma or one of the other priests and priestesses that had offered, he thought. It had been too long since he’d had the comfort of losing himself into pleasure. Combined with the sudden thirst for human blood that surged after his time on animal blood alone, he was very tempted by the women below.

The young human women would not appreciate his attention, however, he told himself. On their ow