by Reid, Stacy
Her lover’s body was an exquisite work of art she wanted to worship with her lips. His muscles rippled and contracted across his chest and stomach. A dark and heady desire rose in Xian, and the shivering sensation low in her stomach felt as if she were falling.
When he lowered his head, his eyes had been eclipsed by pure blackness. A jolt of shock went through her. The harsh contours of his face were uncompromising, dangerous, and implacable. There was an otherness to him she had never seen before. And inexplicably she felt frightened. “Gavyn…your eyes, they are pure black.”
His thumb dragged softly across her tender bottom lip. “I must tell you…”
The awareness she stood on the edge of revelation scythed through her heart. "Must tell me what?" she breathed shakily.
“The reason I did not ask for your hand in marriage all these years…even though I am hopelessly…desperately in love with you Xian Rein Haddin."
The world shattered at her feet and a sob rose in her throat. She slammed her fist into his chest with driving force, yet he did not move or stumble back. “You tell me this now…when it is too late!”
“I tell you this now because you do not hate Tehdra.”
Confusion rushed through her. “What does Tehdra have to do with us?”
He hauled her to him and dragged her up the length of his chest. Xian tilted her face to his, and he dipped, their lips only a scant inch apart. There was something eerie about the pit of blackness that had taken over his eyes. In their unfathomable depth, she spied a power that seemed dark and mesmerizing. Swirls of black, blue, and red ink appeared in slashing streaks across his jaw as if painted with violence from the inside.
An awful suspicion flowered in her heart and she lifted a trembling hand to cup his jaw. “Gavyn….” She breathed. “Why did you not ask me to marry you?”
“I am a half-blood.”
A fierce shiver overtook her entire body. “Say it!”
“The blood of the dark ones run through me.”
“You are part Darkan?” she asked through bloodless lips, her thoughts frantically churning at the implications. “Exile…Darkans are not welcome in Nuria. You will lose everything…I…I…”
She stared up at him, pain and anger tightening her throat. "You feared I would hate you. And why wouldn't you? So many times when we camp in the mountains all I speak of is revenge against the people who killed my mother on the battlefield. I only spoke of hate and revenge.”
Her forehead dropped to his chest, and the fierce beat of his heart trembled through her.
"I should have trusted you," he murmured, kissing atop her head. "I should have shared my darkest secret and trusted that you would help me understand the powers that rise in me when I least expected them."
She slipped her hand around his neck and hauled herself up against his body, wrapping her legs high around his waist. A wave of energy rushed from him and surrounded them. Perspiration glistened on her skin, and the fireplace roared and leaped to life as fire climbed the walls of the chamber and swirled around them. Xian peered into the blackness of his eyes and did not feel fear or see ugliness. His face was dark, savage, and beautiful in his arousal. “It is impossible for me to hate you,” she said hoarsely.
One of his thumbs stroked away the line of tear that ran down her cheek. “I could not have hated you,” she said, pressing a kiss to the corner of his mouth. “Nothing in this world or the next could make me hate you. I love you.”
“You are beautiful,” he said gruffly, cupping her cheeks. “I will miss you, my Xian, more than I will be able to ever express.”
She turned her head slightly and kissed the palm of his hand. "And I will miss you, Gavyn Westk'arr."
He grabbed her and move with speed toward the bed.
Xian gasped against his mouth as the bed sheet caught fire. Then it was out as Gavyn sent the flames elsewhere. She twined her hand behind his head and pulled him down. She kissed him with all the aching yearnings she had held in her heart for him over the years.
Swirls of want and need denied for more than ten years came rushing to the surface. Xian moaned into his kiss, a shock of powerful lust tearing through her. An aching, terrifying awareness of how much she wanted him forever by her side wreaked havoc with her emotions. They kissed even as tears coursed down her cheeks. She wrapped her legs high around his waist, wishing he could wrap his skin around hers and hold his scent in her heart forever.
“I know,” he murmured against her lips. “I feel it too.”
“Gavyn,” she sobbed, stroking her hands through his hair, and ripping it from the queue. His hair felt like a waterfall of silk as it ran through her fingers. Gripping his hair, she kissed him over and over.
Reaching between them with one of her hand, she gripped his length taking in the thick silky feeling and the ridge of knots that spanned his cock. Acting on instinct, she rolled with him and shimmered down his body. Clasping his cock in her hand, she licked along his length, before enveloping the flared mushroomed head into her mouth.
He growled in pleasure, a charming sound. She engulfed the tip in her mouth. His taste exploded on her tongue, rich and earthy. His hand tightened almost violently in her hair, sending a tingling heat through her scalp.
“Xian,” he snarled, his free hand twisting in the sheets.
Xian moaned around his taste, which was dark, heady, and sultry, like the rain. With a flash of speed, he reversed their position, and split her legs open wide. She flushed at the vulnerable position, sweat trailing between her breasts.
He caressed her slick folds, and she shivered at the astonishing pleasure that tightened low in her stomach. He rubbed around her slipperiness until he found her clit, which he circled firmly, before pressing down hard.
"Gavyn!" she gasped, her hips arching from the bed as the pleasure became a pounding ache of unfulfilled need. "I need you now."
“You are so beautiful in your passion.”
Two of his fingers stroked deep, sending her senses careening. The sensual little pain had weakness shuddering through her body. He stretched then curled his fingers, making her pussy a juicy mess. She moaned brokenly when a third finger joined the others. Her skin felt engulfed in flames and arrows of exquisite sensation shot through her as he worked her soaking sex with his fingers in a deep, piercing rhythm. “Gavyn!” she gasped as something unbearably hot broke inside her.
Her pussy clamped and quivered on the tormenting fingers working her with such wickedness. He split her legs open even wider, bent, and covered her clitoris with his lips, sucking that bundle of nerve into his mouth with lustful greed.
She cried out weakly, her thighs falling apart even wider at his urging.
The firestorm of sensations that peaked in the low of her stomach made her trembled. Ripples of pleasure began to build as he awakened something primal and wicked within her. She felt out of control, and it scared her. He licked her drenched sex, forcing a piercing pleasure through her body that made a white burning desire snap through her.
“Gavyn!” His name tore from her in a wild cry as waves of delight rippled through her, bowing her back from the bed.
He lowered her legs and crawled up on her. His larger muscled body blanketed over hers. Perspiration trickled over her neck, between her breasts. Framing her face with one of his hands, he took possession of her mouth in a tender, lingering kiss. With the other hand, he reached between them, fisted his cock, and pressed it against her sex, and thrust, burying himself to the hilt in one move.
Xian’s scream of pleasure and pain poured from her throat to his, and he consumed it, as he had taken every part of her. She whimpered at the tight, stretching sensation, and she bit deep into his lower lip, tasting his blood—a bewildering flavor of darkness, fire, and sweet sultriness.
He drew out and then plunged deep. Again. And again. And again. Each deep stroke into her wickedly stretched sex was a shock of agonizing pleasure. She sobbed and clutched desperately at his shoulders as he rode her
, the thick almost brutal ridges of his cock scraping against every sensitive spot in her wet sex. He hoisted her legs about his hips, slid his hands beneath her buttocks, lifting her to every thrust. Dark erotic pleasure-pain claimed her as he took her with savage passion, ecstasy crashed in upon her senses, and she climaxed in his arms, shuddering at the bone-jarring pleasure as he found his release deep inside her body.
Chapter 6
Gavyn had never seen another female form so delicate yet voluptuous and firm. He studied the elegant line of Xian’s spine as she lay exhausted amongst the rumpled sheets. He admired with lustful satisfaction the curves of her hips, which were sensually flared, and the rounded globes of her buttocks that made him want to lower his teeth and bite that firm flesh. She was dramatically and lushly curved with a body made for carnal pleasures.
Acting on the impulse, Gavyn lowered his head and licked along her spine. The darkness of her skin against his much paler one was an erotic contrast, and he wanted to gobble her up. She had been created purely for him, and he would treasure her for all eternity. He froze at the thought, for it felt as if it had not come from his own mind, and he knew he had to let her go.
Our kingdom before our needs, always.
Pushing away the disquiet, he nudged her legs apart, and she murmured something into the soft mound of her pillows. He tugged her onto her knees, and pushed three cushions below her, arching her lush buttocks high into the air. She murmured sleepily, but a sweet, sensual smile curved her lips. He came upon his knees, bent behind her, and licked her pussy in one heated swipe before drawing her clitoris into his mouth. She surged awake on a wild cry, convulsing in his arms in a shockingly easy orgasm.
“Gavyn,” she gasped, her fingers twisting the silken sheets below her.
He rubbed his tongue at her center, in a long, slow, heated lick. “You taste a bit of sin…and fire…and surely what the heavenly waters of the universe must taste like.”
He stabbed his tongue deep, fucking her into another staggering release, before rising behind her, clasping her hips to hold her steady, and stroking deep inside of her. An intense burst of red flames washed from Xian, and her hoarse scream slid over him. The tight fit of her had him groaning and cursing. It took every ounce of control not to seize her hips and fall into her like a ravaging monster.
Instead, he withdrew and thrust back into her wet heat with piercing depth and slow tenderness. Her cry of delight wrapped itself around his heart, and Gavyn groaned, and peppered praises as the hottest of pleasure speared his cock. He dipped low, and kissed along her shoulder blades, inhaling the fire that seemed to rise from off her body. It distantly occurred to him he was eating the chakra that leaked from her, and its flavor was one of rage and decadence.
He pressed an open-mouthed kiss to her neck, and whispered, “I love you.”
She turned her head and press a kiss against the forearm braced by her head. Her touch was like a soft brush of satin, but he felt it deep inside of him. When her lips parted from his skin, a mix of red and black chakra coated her lips. “I love you too, Gavyn Westk’arr. So very much.”
His gut went tight and hot when she licked along the seam of her lips and purred in pleasure at whatever she tasted from his chakra.
“Are you sore?” he asked, conscious he had taken her three times already for the night.
“Are you asking permission to take my pussy hard, lover?” her eyes tempted him with wickedness and laughter.
Instinctive and primal, knowledge filled him. You are mine.
With a guttural moan, he relinquished control and stroked into her tight, clenching pussy over and over and over. Red dots of blood…or perhaps chakra, formed on her back in the image of a massive wing and curled up around him. The fire that speared through him tore a scream from Gavyn, but at its center, there was a force he could feel, and it stabbed through his body seeking and digging until it found the heart of darkness inside.
They slid against each other, monster acknowledging monster. Pleasure dominated his thoughts as Xian convulsed in his arms, gasping her delight as he rode her through the aftermath. With a hoarse shout, he emptied deep inside of her, never feeling this sense of contentment in his life.
How do I let you go?
She collapsed to her belly, and he rolled with her and fitted her into the crook of his arms. For an instant they both lay unmoving, then he dipped his head and pressed the softest of kisses at the top of her sweat-dampened forehead.
Her fingers danced over his chest, over his stomach and down to his loins.
“What are these?" she murmured with a soft brush at the ridges at the base of his cock and along its flaccid length. “I could feel them in me.”
“Did it hurt?”
“No…the opposite,” she said drowsily.
They were hard knotted ridges that labeled him a twisting admonition or something far worse. “They are nothing,” he murmured.
“I may have never had a man before you Gavyn, but we have enough art and sculptor in our gallery for me to know this is not true of all males.” Her fingers danced over his rapidly hardening length, tracing the hard ridges on the underside that stopped right below the bulbous head of his cock.
“You are also much thicker than those stone sculptors,” she said, barely able to encircle his girth with her fingers.
He grunted, hating that his throat closed. He had lived for years knowing that his half Darkan side must be hidden and suppressed at all cost. If not for their king claiming a Darkan as his consort, there might never have been this tentative acceptance of his kind. How would his people react to knowing a high duke of the realm, who had lived amongst them for two hundred and fifty years was a half-blood to the dark ones?
Would they demand Ajali to fulfill the law and demand Gavyn stripped of his title, lands, and sent into exile? And the apprehension of what he held inside of him was a living entity beneath his skin. There were so many rumors of the dark ones being ravaging monsters, for a long time he had worried what would be his fate. Isolated from the rest of his race, he held no knowledge of what to expect nor had he known who to approach. "The ridges I believe are a part of my Darkan side. Perhaps a manifestation of the beast that is present in me."
“Does it scare you?” she asked softly.
"The unknown does. But since meeting Tehdra, it has lessened. I will learn all that I can from her."
“And will you share with me?”
“Always.”
“I wish you could come with me to Avindar,” she whispered in the crook of his arms.
He closed his eyes briefly. “I must stay. Ajali now faces war on two fronts. The Assias believe they are the blood right ruler to the throne. They have proven with their attack that our kingdom is divided. Mevia is also coming for us, and though we do not understand the Emperor’s reasoning for war when we have been at peace, Ajali is a target that is very important to the empire.”
She nodded. “And he will need you by his side. Did he…did he tell you of my mission in full.”
Gavyn closed his eyes. “Yes.”
“Do you think Prince Baku has promised me to the empire?”
“He would be a damn fool. It was only a few days ago the empire tried to capture Ajali. Why would they attempt another abduction so soon? It would also profit Avindar greater if they had a Tenzu in their kingdom.”
“I…I do not know that I can marry him. I do not think when the three months is up…I can allow him into my body when you hold my heart.”
A monstrous fury pounded through him with such ferocity, a shard of pain splintered through his head.
“Gavyn?”
“Give me a moment,” he muttered, breathing through the pure fury.
Smoke wafted from beneath him, and he struggled to contain the unexpected burn of violence through his body. And he knew with certainty if the prince touched Xian the man had forfeited his life.
"Do not allow him to consummate the alliance." His voice sounded hollow and rough
as if it was the beast in him which spoke. Gavyn dug his head into the pillow, trying to be logical and rational. He rolled her beneath him, keeping his weight on his elbows, and peered down into her eyes. “Your king is asking you to sacrifice much for our people.”
She cupped his cheek tenderly. “Us. He is asking us. And I almost hate my kalija for it, because I know he would not relinquish Tehdra for the world.”
“It is hard,” Gavyn said, dropping his forehead to hers. “The most difficult thing we will ever have to do. It is normal to feel the press of doubt, but I know your honor, and you will not waver."
And for the hundredth time, he wished there was another way.
With a growl of frustration, she shimmied from beneath him, and he let her go. She flashed off the bed and started to pace. Standing almost a foot shorter than he was, she seemed so fragile, yet waves of energy simmered in the air around her, testifying to the relentless fire buried at the heart of the woman. One she did not control and struggled to understand how it fed her rage and emotions.
“Calm your thoughts,” he urged sitting up. “We will do what we must, and I swear we will find each other again.”
She whirled to face him. “Do you swear it, Gavyn?”
“I swear it. Even if it takes one hundred years.”
Even if he had to slit Prince Baku’s throat. The dark, brutal thought made him flinch, and he glanced down at his hand to ensure the inks were not becoming more.
She flashed onto the bed, and he tugged her atop his chest, and he settled back against the mound of cushions. They held each other for a long time, with no words spoken between them. She was a pleasant weight against his chest, her head on his shoulder, her locks spreading out across his torso. Her sigh of contentment filled him with pleasure.
“Tell me about you,” she murmured. “I need to know before I depart tomorrow.”
“What do you wish to know?”
“How…when did you know you were half Darkan?”
