by Donna Raider
“Oh?” Leah raised a single eyebrow. “Just exactly what attributes were you looking for?”
“Yours.” Mika smiled. “Someone with an infinite capacity to love. One that was fiercely protective of her loved ones, and…”
Mika inhaled as she searched for the correct words to say to her wife.
“And…?” Leah prodded.
“I wanted a woman that was my equal,” Mika said slowly, watching her eyes.
Leah tilted her head, raising her chin slightly in that regal way that made her every bit a queen.
“In short,” Mika continued, “I wanted a woman that would love me as I loved her. I also had to meet the criteria given me by my God. That is where the rules and consequences part come into play.”
Leah studied Mika. She was in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean with a woman about whom she knew little. Mika was fascinating. Her story was fascinating. She was either crazy as a loon or one hell of a storyteller. “What were the rules?” Leah asked.
“I could have any woman I wanted, as long as I could make her fall in love with me as a mortal. I could not tell her what I was until after we were married. She had to love me enough to make sacrifices for me. I could not have relations with her until after we married. We will send our children out into the world to make it a better place.”
“Oh, I see.” Leah nodded. “And if you failed?”
“I would lose my immortality.” Mika lowered her head. “So, you see, you truly are the keeper of my soul. You passed the no-relations rule the night of Samson’s birthday party when you threw me against the wall. You also met the sacrifices criteria when you put aside your own wants and desires to honor my beliefs.”
“In my realm,” Leah closed her eyes as if her next statement was unspeakable, “I murdered you.”
“Yes, well, I may have been a bit overconfident.” Mika grinned. “By your sixteenth birthday, your beauty was already being discussed among my peers. I made my way to your kingdom and set up a church in the parish near your home. By that time, you had become the Wicked Monarch of Judah. I didn’t know how you had earned that title; I only knew you were breathtakingly beautiful, and I wanted you. I did not know you were a witch.”
“Except for the time I slit your throat,” Leah grimaced, as if in pain, “I don’t recall ever seeing you.”
“I was walking on the road to your castle when the ground began to shake, and your guards thundered toward me, leading the way for your carriage. A small child was on the road with me. She was an orphan, a pitiful-looking little thing. I ducked into the bushes with her, but she ran back out onto the roadside. She wanted to see the queen.”
Leah held her breath. She remembered the girl.
“You halted your carriage. I watched as the door opened. First, your left boot and then your right boot appeared. Then you appeared out of the darkness of your carriage. You were—and are—the most beautiful person I have ever seen. You walked to the child and asked her if she knew who you were. She said, ‘Yes. You are the beautiful Queen.’”
The look that went across your face was so soft and so caring, I knew you weren’t evil. You picked her up and carried her to your carriage, along with my heart. I knew, at that very moment, you were the woman for whom I had been searching.”
“I remember the child.” Leah smiled. “She’s the young woman who owns the bakery in our town.”
“Unfortunately, the guards riding behind your carriage found me in the bushes and threw me into prison. You know the rest.”
“I thought you provided refuge for Samson.” She frowned.
“No, I had met him, but never gave him aid.” Mika grimaced. “Apparently you were in one of your fits of rage and your guards feared for their lives. They decided to throw me into the fire—so to speak. I was in prison for so long, they thought I was at death’s door, so they offered me up as a sacrifice to appease you.
“One can’t kill an immortal, so when they threw me on the pile of dead bodies in the field behind your castle, I started planning my strategy to meet you. I was convinced that you would love me because I already loved you. I just had to meet you. When God cursed you, I was frantic. I had no idea what had happened. I didn’t know where you had gone. You had simply disappeared, without me. With the cloaking spell you put on the town, it took me thirty years to find you.
“By the time I found you, Richie had awakened the love in your heart. All I had to do was let you know how much I loved you and hope you would fall in love with me.”
“I have,” Leah said softly, “fallen deeply in love with you. But I killed a priest who was a man. You’re a woman. Only your blue eyes told me it was you.”
“I can be anything I want to be.” Mika shrugged. “Man or woman. I failed miserable at my first attempt to meet you as a man, so I decided to approach you as a woman this time.”
They talked until the sun began to set. “How do you feel about meatloaf for dinner?” Leah asked.
“You know I love your meatloaf.” Mika pulled Leah into her arms and kissed her soft lips. She could feel Leah’s magic sizzling to get hold of her. Tonight would be a great night.
##
They sat on the boat deck, drinking wine. “Are there others like you?” Leah asked.
“Yes.” She nodded. “Amber.”
Leah’s eyes snapped up to stare at her. “Amber,” she said softly. “Why didn’t you choose her?”
“I love her,” the priest said, “but I don’t desire her. It would be like marrying my sister. She has the same rules I have. Unfortunately, she hasn’t found anyone to love and return her love. Hopefully, she will now.
“Are there others like you?” Mika asked her.
“Yes. Richie, Emily, and Legion,” she answered.
“Richie!” Mika gasped.
“He may be the most powerful of us all.” Leah smiled. “He doesn’t know because I’ve never tried to train him. Emily is pretty much a lost cause. Instead of embracing her magic, she fights it and tries to suppress it. So far, she has done a good job. Legion is more powerful and dangerous than I ever thought of being. His magic is pure black magic.”
The sun had completely left the sky, and they were alone with nothing but the blackness of the heavens and the brightness of the stars and moon. “It is truly beautiful out here, away from the city lights,” Leah said softly.
She studied Mika for several minutes. “At Richie’s ball game, you re-energized him. You are not magic. What are you?”
Mika stood and pulled Leah into her arms. She kissed her, then slowly turned her around and pulled her back into her. Slowly, so she wouldn’t scare Leah, she began to lift her as she rose above the boat.
They were far above the boat before Leah realized they were rising above the Earth. Occasionally Mika would halt their rise and call her attention to points of interest: Niagara Falls and the Grand Canyon in the United States; Mount Vesuvius in Italy; Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England; the Great Pyramid and the Great Sphinx of Giza in Egypt. She told her the histories of all the sites she pointed out. Leah was overwhelmed by the wonder of it all and her wife’s vast knowledge of the world.
Leah suddenly realized that the Earth looked small, like the world globe in her office. As they continued their rise, she marveled that she had no difficulty breathing. She watched as the Earth disappeared, merging into its galaxy, the Milky Way. She looked around and saw millions of galaxies as they rose into the universe. Mika spoke softly into her ear, describing all the things she was seeing.
At some point during their tour of the universe, Leah realized that she was wrapped in a soft, warm cocoon that held her tightly against Mika, while her hands soothingly stroked her body, reassuring her. Tentatively she touched it and marveled at its downy consistency. She had never felt as loved, as protected, as peaceful. She turned in the cocoon and faced Mika.
She kissed Mika as they floated weightlessly through the universe. “You’re an angel,” she whispered in awe.
“Yes.” Mika smiled.
As the dawn began to break over their boat, Mika gently lowered them onto the deck. She unfurled her wings and released her. Leah was speechless. Mika was magnificent, more beautiful than anything Leah had ever seen. Her wings spanned the width of the boat. They slowly receded to disappear into her back.
Leah stood looking at her wife. She couldn’t make herself move toward her or away from her. After many minutes, Mika put her arms around Leah and held her tightly against her.
“Did I scare you?” Mika asked. Her voice was husky with concern.
“No,” Leah answered truthfully.
“This is why I wanted to honeymoon in the middle of the ocean,” Mika explained. “I wanted you to experience all that I am and all that we are together. Tonight, if you want to, we will make love, free of all our inhibitions and secrets, free of all the restraints of this Earth.”
“I do,” Leah whispered, wondering how it could be any better than the experiences they had already shared, but knowing it would be.
Mika could tell that she was almost in shock and tried to move them back into familiar territory. She kissed Leah gently then took her hand, pulling her below deck to the galley. “Coffee,” she promised.
As Leah sipped her first cup, Mika cheerfully made them pancakes, watching her closely. She knew she had hit Leah with several overpowering revelations and was worried that she had moved too fast in her quest to be honest with her.
“I should not have been so fervent in my desire to be completely honest with you,” Mika spoke softly. “I thought it best that there be no secrets between us as we begin our new life together.”
Leah began to laugh, a deep, happy laugh. “I’m married to an angel. The Wicked Queen is married to an angel. You should be glad you didn’t marry Delilah; she would be discussing this with everyone in town.”
“I am glad I didn’t marry Delilah,” Mika laughed with her. “Because I wanted to marry you.”
Leah laughed uncontrollably. “Couldn’t you just see Delilah’s expression when she got a look at your wingspan, or the rest of you, for that matter?” She salaciously raked her dark eyes down Mika’s perfect body.
They giggled like teenagers as they ate their pancakes.
Leah moved toward Mika, lowering herself onto her lap. She kissed the angel slowly, moving her soft lips sensuously against Mika’s, feeling the silky fullness of her lips. The kiss quickly escalated to wanton desire as she moved her hands over Mika’s body and explored her mouth with her tongue. Mika stood, carrying her to their bed, where they spent the rest of the day.
##
The sun was beginning its descent from the heavens when Leah awoke. Mika was asleep on her stomach, her arm thrown protectively over Leah’s waist. Leah was burrowed tightly into her side.
Leah’s mind was still numb from the events of the previous night. She hadn’t even attempted to evaluate the insight Mika had given her. Normally she would have already examined, deciphered, categorized, and judged the new information, before filing it away in her mind. She didn’t even know how to begin wading into the deep waters that were her wife. A part of her felt as if she would drown. She simply wasn’t ready to think about it yet.
Mika’s revelations had come so far from left field that she couldn’t even wrap her mind around them. Leah knew she loved her desperately, no matter what she was.
Leah slowly raised herself on one elbow and ran her hand over Mika’s muscular back. She could find no trace of wings. Maybe I dreamed it, she thought.
Mika moved slightly, tightening the grip on her, then opening her eyes as the realization that she was sleeping at her side dawned. “Good morning, my love.” Mika brushed her lips with hers.
“Good morning, my wife. It’s good evening.” She moved to allow Mika to turn to face her. “Did you sleep well?”
“Of course.” She smiled. “I’m sleeping with you.”
“We’re supposed to return home tomorrow.” Leah frowned. “Everyone expects us back in time for you to conduct Sunday Mass.”
“Is there any chance we can return on Monday?” Mika asked hopefully. “I’m not quite ready to give up being alone with you.”
“Um, I could get my secretary, Odette, to move all my commitments to Tuesday. What about you?”
“I will just let Gloria know I will not be back in the office until Tuesday.”
“Yes.” Leah kissed her longingly, as if she couldn’t bear to break their connection. Thinking aloud, she said, “Everyone knows that I am the former Wicked Queen. What… who you are is a total secret.”
“Yes,” Mika nodded, “and it must stay that way. No one can know but you, not even Richie.”
“Your secret is safe with me, Mika.”
“I know, otherwise, Delilah would be prancing around the diner, saying, ‘Here comes the Wicked Queen and her angel.’”
Leah laughed. “You make it sound like you’re my pet.” She was secretly pleased that she had stated it as if she belonged to her. The truth was she unequivocally belonged to Mika. She moved on top of her, kissing her lips, trailing her lips down to her breasts.
“Wait,” Mika said. Her voice was hoarse with desire for her. “Before it gets too late, we need to give the folks a little warning that we won’t be back in our respective places until Tuesday.”
She called Gloria and informed her she was extending her honeymoon two more days and they would be home Monday, but not back in the office until Tuesday.
Leah called her secretary and gave her the same information. She then called Richie and put him on speakerphone.
Richie couldn’t conceal his excitement at hearing his mother’s voice. “Mom, it’s so good to talk to you. I miss you and Mika. What time will you be home tomorrow?”
Leah shot Mika a help me look and the priest took over. “Hello, Son. How are you doing?”
“Great now that you two have called. I get worried when I go so long without talking to you.” Richie dropped his voice to almost a whisper. “How is the honeymoon going?”
“It’s wonderful.” Mika laughed. “We have visited many places. That is why we are calling. We have gotten a little off schedule and won’t be home until Monday afternoon. I hope you aren’t disappointed.”
Still talking in his low, husky voice, and doing his best adult impersonation, Richie said, “It is okay, Mika, I know how honeymoons are.”
Leah and Mika chuckled at their son’s conspiratorial tone. “We can’t wait to see you Monday,” they both said into the speakerphone.
Leah talked with her son for a few more minutes, smiling as he told her how much he loved her and missed her. By the time she hung up the phone, Mika had two grilled-chicken salads on the table and was pouring their wine.
Leah put her arms around Mika’s neck, pressing the full length of her scantily clothed body against the blonde. “I’m glad we are eating light tonight.”
“Trust me,” Mika said as she grinned sensuously, “you don’t want to take this ride on a full stomach.”
Leah shivered in anticipation as she kissed her.
I can never get enough of you, they both thought.
##
Mika was stretched out on the deck sofa, her back propped against the cushioned arm. Leah was sitting between Mika’s legs, leaning back against her. She trailed her fingertips from below Mika’s knee up to her thigh, her magic sizzling as she touched the angel lightly.
Mika leaned down, nuzzling her hair and kissing her neck. Leah’s scent drove her crazy. The feel of her burned into her soul’s memory. Her touch filled Mika with desire. She reached beneath Leah’s shirt and pulled it over her head, leaving the brunette nude in her arms.
Leah turned in her arms, facing her. Leah trailed her fingertips up Mika’s body, bringing them to rest over her heart as she gently sucked at the quickening pulse in her neck. Mika wrapped her arms tightly around Leah and captured her soft lips in one easy move. She traced Leah’s breast, making small circles around her dark rose-colored areola, careful n
ot to touch her nipple.
“Please,” Leah whispered as Mika’s tongue began to tease her already erect nipples. She pushed at Mika’s swimsuit and slid it off.
Leah closed her eyes, giving herself over to the feeling of floating. She released her magic, allowing it to consume her and her wife. It ecstatically embraced them, enhancing their already heightened desire and need for one another. She vaguely realized that they were underwater. She could feel the cool saltwater running through her burning body, both enhancing and soothing her desire. Her magic thrilled at the cool ocean waters, sizzling in the dark depths. Slowly they began to whirl around, the center of an ocean vortex reaching from the ocean to the heavens. The saltwater released them, falling back into the ocean as they floated into the heavens.
Leah realized she was once again wrapped in the softness of Mika’s wings as Mika touched her, moving her hands over every inch of her body. They made love with pure abandon; two forces of nature woven together to resonate throughout the heavens.
She was Mika’s every fantasy, the complete satiation of centuries of desire that rolled through her in wave after wave. Mika was the embodiment of her every dream. Mika caressed her continuously, touching her with soft fingers, worshipping her with her mouth. The urgency of their desire threatened to consume them both as Leah’s magic danced in wild exhilaration inside the cocoon Mika provided to encompass their love.
As they floated in the universe, she realized that Mika’s wings provided the foundation for their lovemaking. Whether Leah was on her hands and knees, straddling Mika, or on her back, wings enveloped them, providing the basis for positions and leverage to unite their bodies. Her magic thrilled at the gentle way Mika made love to her, then taking over and moving it to an entirely different level. As in the past, their bodies became as one, one heart, one breath, and one life. She was totally lost in Mika and she in her. Their bodies screamed for one another, releasing all the pent-up passion of a lifetime. The begging had long ceased, and only sounds of joy and wonder were expressed as they moved tirelessly to please each other.
Exhausted, Leah fell asleep in Mika’s arms as they remained suspended in a faraway galaxy. When she awoke, she was lying beside her wife in their bed. Even though the sun was high overhead in the sky, she snuggled closer to Mika and closed her eyes, slipping back into the dreamless sleep of the very content.
