Oh, he was quite handsome. That was one of the lesser reasons she'd put her claim on him. The more important reason was that he was a genius, and not just in physical activity. Though he has been learning his lessons quite well. She smiled briefly, a thrill running through her at the very thought. Though they weren't married yet by Aquitian definition, it didn't matter. She had come to his bed every night since his arrival there.
It wasn't merely for the pleasure of the experience, it was for the effect of the spell she had on him. Love-spells were one of her strongest abilities, and always had been. Being able to back them up with lust was just a little added bonus to the effectiveness of it.
Footsteps sounded down the hallway, quiet to human or Aquitian hearing, but plain as day to her own. With a quick flash of golden light, she morphed from her true form into that of Cestria and stepped from her hiding place out to where Billy could see her. "Cestria!" he smiled quickly and warmly at her. "Where have you been, I've got a program ready to show you!"
"Maybe later, we're about to have company," she told him, turning towards the door to their shared quarters. By Aquitian custom, a betrothed pair shared a suite of chambers but were not supposed to share anything else. Since honor was of great importance to the water-dwelling people, a betrothed pair was trusted to be alone together. Of course, it's not like I'm a true Aquitian, 'Cestria' chuckled to herself.
Billy lifted one eyebrow. "How do you know?" At the question, she made a quick mental note to give him a double dose of the potion and enhance the spell as much as she could that night. He wasn't supposed to be thinking this clearly, at least not about her, for quite some time.
"I can sense them," she lied quickly, then ran her fingers across his wrist gently, meeting his eyes with a faintly predatory gaze. As she lifted her hand, a faint beep sounded from the door. "Yes?"
Delphine's voice came from behind it. "May we enter? We have brought news from Earth for Billy."
"Enter." 'Cestria' said, her voice imitating the Aquitian flow, ebb, and accent perfectly. She was a mistress of disguise, right down to the last scale, and as the door slid open, she put on the faint smile that was the only way an Aquitian greeted their friends, and made the traditional greeting gesture.
Billy duplicated it, then smiled softly at Delphine and Cestro. "What sort of news?" he asked.
"All of your old companions will be arriving shortly for your bonding ceremony," Cestro told him. "They have begun to gather in the Power Chamber already."
"Excellent!" the ex-Blue Ranger smiled widely. "I can't wait to see them all again!"
'Cestria' almost smiled just the tiniest fraction. I have to have the spell completed by then. If it isn't, then Tommy and Katherine could possibly detect what I'm doing. The thought of those two traitors to evil discovering her plans made her sick to her stomach. Of all the people who could interfere, those two were the most unwelcome. "It will be nice to see your friends, Billy." She cooed softly at him.
Delphine watched the two of them quietly and carefully. The faintest of frowns was between her eyebrows. Something was not right between this couple, but it was nothing she could precisely identify. Perhaps it is because of Cestria's accident. Less than a week after Billy had left from his first visit to their world, Cestria had been tending to the Eternal Falls when she had slipped and fallen, hitting her head rather violently. Since she worked there alone most of the time, it had not been until her apprentice, Dara, had arrived that medical attention had been brought. Cestria had appeared to make a full recovery, with the only drawback being some of her telepathic abilities were being slow to return to her. With such a head wound, all counted her lucky to have merely survived in the first place.
But since then, Delphine had been wary, very wary, of Cestria. Something had changed about her, and the leader of the Aquitian Rangers did not know what it was.
'Cestria' didn't make it obvious, but she was well aware of the fact that the White Aquitian Ranger just didn't trust her. She knew she couldn't keep up her charade for very long, not in a world of telepaths, but long before they would figure out just what was going on, she would be long gone, with Billy. And then he and I will be out of here, and away to my hideout. A shiver of purest pleasure ran through her at the thought of finishing up the spell there. Once it was complete, not only would Billy believe every word that fell from her lips, but he would beg for everything that she wanted to do to him, be it pleasurable or painful. Imagining him on his knees begging for her to flog him or put him on the rack thrilled her entire being.
She had been working on him day and night for almost a solid month now. Getting him to trust her perfectly had been the easy part. A simple dose of the love potion in the treatments from the Eternal Falls had taken care of the emotional part. She had gotten it from Finster; it was the same formula that had made Lord Zedd fall so completely in love with Rita. And just as the evil lord had, the first moment he had seen her after waking up with it's effects in his blood stream, he had fallen in love.
Once he was securely on Aquitar, the physical side had come almost that same night. She had almost literally stalked him into his bedroom and slipped in to join him there. It had been the work of a moment to persuade him that yes, they really could do this. It had been his first time, but she had taught him quite a lot, and had enjoyed it almost as much as he had.
It had been easy to get him to accept the spell, too. The tensions that he had went through on Earth drained away while here, and she actually had saved his life from his premature aging. That put him in her debt, and she was eager and willing to drain every last bit of advantage out of that possible. All of his troubles and worries and complaints had drained away as she not only manipulated his body, but his mind as well. She was almost convinced he wouldn't worry about anything, as long as she was there with him. She liked that thought...it made him so much easier to twist. If she hadn't known better, she would have sworn he wanted someone to take all the decision making out of his hands, to leave his life in someone else's control.
Or at least, he was going to want that by the time she was through with him. She'd settle for that.
"Cestria?" she looked up to find Delphine standing right next to her. The female Ranger looked concerned. "Are you quite all right? You appeared..distracted."
She smiled. "I am fine, Delphine. Thank you for your concern." She turned to Billy. "We must continue to make our plans for our bonding."
Those words were the only ones guaranteed to make the two Rangers leave. With the proper farewells, they left Billy and 'Cestria' alone. The young woman turned back to her lover and smiled. "We do have preparations to make, you know." He nodded, standing up. Before he could step towards the plans they'd already lain out for the ceremony (which was carefully calculated to draw every ounce of available energy in and transform it into something she could use to first, destroy Aquitar, then completely dominate Billy emotionally so he wouldn't even care), she stopped him.
"Later," 'Cestria' purred the word out as she ran her fingers down his spine. "We can enjoy ourselves a little first."
Billy smiled, reaching up for her. Before their flesh made contact, however, there was an explosion in the very center of the room, blowing the two of them apart. Billy and 'Cestria' both were knocked to the floor, and as they looked up, the fireball that had formed from the explosion faded, revealing a very angry looking Trini Kwan.
Her eyes, burning like twin coals of flame, turned to 'Cestria' almost immediately. "Your little game is over, Scorpina." She hissed, furious as Billy could not remember seeing her. "You're dead."
