by Vela Roth
“Thank you for the explanation, Sir Diplomat.”
“If such occurred, you might experience an overabundance of physical energy and a sense of…euphoria.” He caressed her forehead. “Followed by a feeling of safety and well-being as your physical processes return to normal.”
Her eyes slid shut. She still wore that smile. “You make me feel that way with or without magical healing. Although I have a great fondness for your…bodily fluids.”
A grin overtook Lio. He tried to hold back his laughter, but all the strain of the evening had been too much.
She peered up at him, grinning. “Fragile mortal women have been known to faint from sheer pleasure, you know.”
“Anyone who imagines you are fragile is deceiving himself. And in great danger, I might add.”
“Even dangerous mortal women have been known to faint from unbelievable pleasure. Even so,” she added, “I hope I remain conscious next time. So as not to miss a moment.”
“We’ll try not to let that happen again. The fainting, that is. The unbelievable pleasure will happen every night, and you needn’t worry about missing a moment, for there will be plenty.”
“Every night?” she asked softly. Her tentative tone did not disguise the hope in her eyes, nor the rush of joy he felt through their Union.
“Every night that you wish for my company.”
She lifted a hand to his face. “Every night.”
Lio gathered her closer in his lap. “I dearly hoped you’d say that. If you want a moment’s relief from me, I fear you shall have to banish me with great force.”
“If I do anything with great force,” she informed him, “it will not be your banishment.”
They laughed together this time. A little more of this, and he would feel the night had been salvaged. This every night, and he might well feel as if all that his departure from Tenebra had ruined could yet be repaired.
Surely she too felt as if they rebuilt something precious with each passing moment they lay quietly together like this, holding each other. The moonlight shifted in the room; she grew chilly, and he wrapped them closer in the blankets.
It was some time before she spoke. “I have many things I need to tell you.”
Lio ran his hand down the length of her hair. Pure luxury. “As do I. But I say they can wait. We have plenty of time.”
The Blood Union told him he was right—those words did repair something inside of Cassia each time he said them.
Awhile later, she let out a splitting yawn. A real one this time. “Is it normal for your magical healing properties to make me feel sleepy?”
“I understand fragile mortal women have been known to feel sleepy after astonishing pleasure.”
“Mortal men always fall asleep first.”
He grinned at the darkness. “I’m not a mortal man.”
She stirred against him and lifted her head. She blinked, clearly struggling to keep her eyes open. “Not fair. I’ve barely seen you. I have no intention of falling asleep.”
He eased her head down to rest on his chest again, and she didn’t put up much of a fight.
“Sleep,” he murmured into her hair. “You need more rest. And more food. Don’t think I’ve forgotten.”
“I can sleep after you have to leave.”
He couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. “What makes you think I have to leave?”
This time she succeeded not in lifting her head, but only tilting it so she could look at him. Her lips were parted in surprise, deliciously swollen and kissable. “You don’t have to be somewhere? To…”
“To avert the suspicion of your father’s royal mage? Or avoid frightening the populace? No. You are in Orthros now. There is no dungeon I must return to at daybreak so the superstitious humans can lock me in. There is no daybreak. I go where I will, and I never sleep.” He indulged his urge to give her a brief, gentle kiss. “I will be right here when you wake.”
A few minutes later, her breathing eased into the gentle rhythm of sleep.
The depths of her slumber beckoned. Lio opened himself up to her and let himself slide into the embrace of her heart. There was nowhere else in the Goddess’s good world he would pass the night when he could be here, lying with Cassia in restful Union.
46
Nights Until
WINTER SOLSTICE
A lady always keeps secrets.
—Solia’s instructions to Cassia
Morning in Orthros
Cassia first became aware of a delicious smell. As the scent drew her out of sleep, she noticed something much more important.
She lay entangled with a long, male body. She could feel his muscled thigh on the inside of her leg, his warm skin under her cheek, his chest hair against her breast. Oh. Because she was completely naked.
She was waking up next to Lio.
Cassia lay with her eyes shut and didn’t move. She had waited so long and wanted so fiercely. If she didn’t move, she could keep this moment a little longer.
She couldn’t think straight. Too sleepy, too happy. She would have to think of difficult things soon. But not right now. Just a moment longer.
One more moment to savor the knowledge he was here as she awoke, just as he’d said he would be. To lay here with him and focus her thoughts on nothing but how it felt. What they’d done before she’d fallen asleep. What he’d said.
His hand trailed up her back. “Good moon, Cassia.”
It must have been her smile that had given her away, or perhaps only the change in her breathing. She lifted her head and opened her eyes.
Now that she was in this moment, it was here she wanted to stay for a while, opening her eyes and finding he was the first sight she saw.
He was wonderful to behold, with that stubble and his hair tousled and his elegant embroidered robe hanging askance about his shoulders. A healthy dose of color had returned to his fair skin, and he gazed back at her with eyes that were no longer dilated and blood-shot. She realized she could see him so well because the room was full of his spell light.
“Good moon,” she echoed, a bit shyly.
Was it correct to return the pretty greeting? Why was she worrying about it? His gaze was drifting over her, showing that he too was enjoying the sight before him.
He touched his lips to hers in a kiss that made an even lovelier greeting. Soft. Adamant. His kiss acknowledged the night before more eloquently than any words he might have spoken.
She could only smile back at him. “You’re still here.”
“Indeed. Knight didn’t run me out. I admit I may have bribed him with a pastry.”
That was the wonderful scent. Now she recognized it from last night. It must taste as good as it smelled, for Knight dozed contentedly on the floor by the bed.
“You fed him my pastry?”
“It was cold and dry, although he didn’t seem to mind.”
“He seems to have tasted the nectar of the gods. But I’m afraid I must feed him something more before long and change his bandages. We brought provisions for him, but I’m concerned they will be very offensive to Hesperine hospitality.”
“We would never begrudge an animal his natural sustenance. Knight is what he is. So are we all. You can see to all his needs in the courtyard. His lady’s needs come first, however. For you, I have a fresh pastry.”
Lio sat up, and Cassia pushed herself up in bed beside him. She stretched, and a yawn overwhelmed her.
“You’re not accustomed to Orthros time yet,” Lio said. “You’ll probably feel tired at odd hours, but restless and sleepless at others. To help you adjust, I raised the light level in the room to make it feel more like morning to you.”
“Your spell light feels better than morning to me. I’m so glad the Dawn Slumber will not take you from me. Is it really night all winter long?”
“No Slumber to come between us. We will soon go even deeper into polar night. Ships will carry us north to Selas, the capital, which will see no sunrise until months from now.
”
“It isn’t surprising we will sail the rest of the way, since stepping is an ordeal for mortals, especially when they’re injured. What astonishes me is how quickly your elders brought the rest of the embassy to Waystar. How did they manage it?”
“It was a concerted effort between the Stand, the Charge, my mother and everyone waiting here with her. That many Hesperines, some of our most powerful elders among them, were able to apply enough magic to make the transition safe and bearable for the embassy.”
She smiled. “It only took one recently initiated Hesperine to get me here.”
“Well, you are a veteran stepper by now. You have become quite intimate with Hesperine magic.” Lio gave her a candid grin, his fangs much in evidence. “The rest of the way, I intend for us to enjoy the scenic voyage to the fullest. There is time yet before we board. You can wake up slowly and eat a good breakfast.”
A damp towel suddenly appeared in his hand, and he offered it to her. She blinked, taking it from him. The warm water and soft cloth felt good as she washed her face. He lounged beside her, watching.
She was hardly accustomed to being waited on, except by her handmaiden. It was something entirely new for him to drink his fill of her with his reflective blue gaze from the moment she awoke.
She lowered the towel, and before she could wonder where to put it, Lio flicked a finger. The cloth floated out of her hands, across the room, and draped itself tidily over the rim of the washbasin.
She raised her eyebrows. “You never did that in Tenebra. Except to my underlinens.”
“In Tenebra, we were on our best behavior.”
“Can you levitate many other things besides towels and breast bands?”
“Didn’t you notice?” His voice lowered a pitch. “We were levitating last night.”
“Oh. I thought that was just how I felt.”
He held his hands about a foot apart and wiggled his eyebrows. “This far off the carpet.” His humor faded somewhat. “Although, about that…I’m sorry. The bed would have been more comfortable for you.”
“Nonsense. It’s a lovely carpet. Much nicer than the one in front of the fireplace in my old rooms at Solorum. May I remind you how little you minded having that one under you?”
“I hope you will remind me. Soon. But not till you have eaten enough pastries to sustain such exertions.” He waved a hand in a beckoning gesture.
A fresh pastry landed gently in her waiting palms. By Lio’s spell light, with all her worries out of sight, the gooey roll made her mouth water. It was large enough for two, glazed in honey and dusted with a reddish brown powder that must be her namesake. Her belly felt hollow just looking at it. She couldn’t remember when she’d felt so hungry.
She gazed at it wistfully. “I don’t think I have nearly enough time to do such a thing justice before the embassy is up and about, Perita charges in to dress me, and Benedict attaches himself to me to stare daggers at you.”
“It is not the embassy that sets the schedule. You are on Hesperine time now, and we have plenty of it before the others awaken.” Lio pinched a piece off the roll and lifted it to Cassia’s lips.
Blushing and feeling entirely indulgent, she let him feed her one honey-soaked, cassia-dusted bite.
She held it in her mouth, curious and attentive, and savored her namesake for the first time. A rich, strong taste teased her tongue. Its spicy bite seemed a perfect counterpoint to the sweetness. It was a powerful flavor, complex and heady. She loved it instantly.
“Does it please you?” Lio asked.
Perhaps it was purely the effect of the handsome, half-naked Hesperine who fed it to her, but she found the flavor arousing. She smiled at him. “I shall gladly eat as many cassia pastries as you deem necessary for my health.”
His own smile told her he knew the effect the taste had on her. What must this moment smell like to him? Not just the cassia spice on the roll. She blushed again.
He plucked another piece from the pastry and moved it to her lips.
“Lio,” she protested, laughing. “You needn’t serve me.”
“You would deny me the pleasure of feeding you in return?”
“I…I had not thought of it that way.”
As he fed her the roll bite by bite, she wondered if her blushing would ever cease. She knew her enjoyment of watching him certainly wouldn’t. His graceful fingers mesmerized her, pulling off warm, sticky pieces of roll and bringing them to her mouth. Sometimes he kissed her between bites, sharing the taste with her. Their hands and their lips were very sticky indeed by the time there was nothing left in the napkin but crumbs.
She had escaped a world where she must look over her shoulder every moment. She had awoken in one where she was with Lio and could afford the luxury of letting him feed her breakfast in bed.
He retrieved her next course from the bedside table, this time without even a wave of his fingers. In his hand, there appeared a small glass filled with a creamy white substance. He lifted a silver spoon, and she obediently let him place it in her mouth. Thick, tart yogurt, fresh and chilled.
“Why haven’t you been eating?” Lio asked casually. He withdrew the spoon so she could speak.
“I’ve been busy.”
He filled her mouth with another bite of yogurt, more generous this time. “All the more reason to keep up your strength.”
She swallowed the yogurt and opened her mouth for another bite.
He didn’t take the invitation. “You haven’t been taking care of yourself.”
There was true worry in his eyes. She looked down, gazing at the geometric pattern on the bed cover instead. She wasn’t used to someone worrying about her the way Lio did, nor to feeling the need to spare him worry. “I don’t have to battle my fear of the king the way I used to. But I have other worries, and they tie knots in my stomach too. Eating too much just makes it worse.”
He cupped her face, turning her to look at him again. “Your taster is a liegehound with natural poison resistance. Why is Knight no longer enough to reassure you?”
Lio saw right through her. She could not plead for his honesty, then fail to give hers in return. “Gift Collectors have tactics for hiding magic that Hesperines have never heard of. What if Skleros has some secret poison up his sleeve that would hurt Knight and me too?”
Lio kissed her forehead. “You don’t have time to sleep, I imagine.”
“I have more important things to do than sleep.”
“Not more important than your health and well-being.” He picked up the spoon and fed her another bite of yogurt. “I can offer you a kingdom full of good sleep and safe food, my lady.”
“Orthros is indeed the land of abundance you led me to believe, Ambassador.”
When he had fed her every last smear of yogurt, he concluded her breakfast with a flask of water and slices of ripe winter fruit. There was another cloth for washing her hands, but they licked the sticky juice from her fingers instead, along with the remnants of honey from the pastry.
“Will you be breaking your fast?” she asked.
He tasted her palm, but only with his lips and tongue. “Not now. I couldn’t possibly hold another bite.”
She studied him. He had yet to account for how underfed he was. “Lio…”
“I am in earnest. I remain entirely satisfied.”
“How often do Hesperines normally feast, when they are at home?”
“Ah.” He kissed her other palm. “Once a night is quite sufficient.”
“Sufficient. I see. What is ideal?”
He nibbled her thumb.
“Lio?”
“It depends on expense of magic, the Dawn Slumber and if we’re busy with sucklings.”
“You’ve been using a lot of magic, there is no Dawn Slumber this time of year, and you aren’t a father.”
“Hesperines have been known to feast twice a night.”
Twice. She had awoken in a world where Lio wished to bed her twice a night. “What a terrible struggle f
or us.”
He laughed. A relieved sound. “We shall have to exert ourselves.”
“Are you sure you do not require our exertions now?”
“Right now, I feel ready to take on the world. Besides, I want to give my, ah, healing properties more time to diminish in your body.”
She sighed. “I suppose that’s wise.”
“Speaking with you is another pleasure I have had to do without, and I have hardly begun to satisfy myself in that regard.”
“There’s so much I never had a chance to say.” She ran a hand down the side of his face, simply because she could, touching his familiar features and the new texture of his stubble.
He caught her hand and put her fingers on his braid. “That’s what this means. We wear braids to signify promises. This is my promise to you that, in time, I will say all that needs to be said.”
It would take time. She would never cease to speak openly with him, but some honest words must wait for the right moment.
She ran her thumb down the length of the braid. “What happens to this once the promise is kept?”
“Usually, the person to whom the promise was made gets to undo the braid. Except in the case of Grace braids. Those are never undone.”
“I thought Hesperine braids might hold spells.”
“Promises are powerful spells, aren’t they?”
She nodded, playing her fingers through his hair.
He relaxed onto the pillows, clearly enjoying her fondling. “What shall I tell you first?”
“How discreet we need to be. Who knows we are sharing?”
“When you said you no longer objected to me telling the others about you, I took you at your word.”
“I meant what I said. I am not ashamed for any of your people to know. But I will not have a careless word from me reflect badly on you.”
