by Vela Roth
She floated, impaled on him. He raked his hand down the length of her back, through her hair and the trail of her blood. His impulsive caress on her hip left behind a bloody hand print on her skin.
She put her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, drawing him closer. She reveled in the sight of her legs wrapped around him while his body worked. She smiled at the vision of her hands buried in his hair, holding him to her throat while he took his pleasure at her vein. Their bodies were beautiful together, joined fast, rocking in tandem in the water.
“Lio. You are magnificent.”
She saw him smile against her skin. His mirrored gaze met hers again, heated with more than she could name, all of it ardent, all of it for her.
Their gluttony of sight and sensation fed her until she moaned, speechless, that she had had her fill. She let her head fall back, only to see another mirror on the ceiling. It showed her Lio supporting her head, biting down and feasting on her throat anew as she tightened her hold around him, bracing herself for release.
She wanted to see him release inside her. She looked over his shoulder again at his back and hips. All his muscles strained with effort.
She managed to find her voice. “Let go. Right now.”
He shuddered in her arms, but kept sucking, kept thrusting her toward her own pleasure.
“I want you to. I want to see you climax. If you let go…right now…”
With a rough groan, he surrendered. His body spasmed against her, all around her. She felt his rhabdos pulse and fill her with warmth as she watched his body pump in her arms.
“The goddess outdid herself when she made you,” Cassia breathed.
Then the erotic vision surrounding her and the force of his release inside her robbed her of her breath and thrust her into climax again.
Was that woman in his arms her? That sensual creature writhing with him, riding him, having her extravagant fill of him?
Yes. This was her. This torrent of gratifying release was all inside of her. She felt her thighs holding him to the last ripple of his climax, her hands upon his skin as his body relaxed at last. It was her heart that thundered in her chest and her blood that gleamed on his mouth when he lifted his head. It was with her own strength and tenderness that she held him close as they both sighed and breathed together.
She didn’t want to let him go. She couldn’t bear to let him go. Not a second time.
The thought realized in her mind before she could stop it. She had been trying to keep it at bay, to deny it a chance to crystalize and confront her. But she had been under its power all along.
She never wanted to leave Orthros.
She hid her face against his neck to keep from weeping aloud. Not that she could hide her feelings from their Union.
She had sworn she wouldn’t let herself get her hopes up. It was too late. Far, far too late. Hope, desire, need had already swept her aloft, and she was flying high now.
It had happened when he’d said those words in the courtyard. We are going to win your fight. She had meant her answer.
She believed they could.
It actually seemed possible that they could solve this another way than the last resort she dreaded. That would mean she wouldn’t need to find the strength to set foot in Tenebra ever again. It would be all right for her to stay. With Lio.
If that was what he wanted.
Lio eased their bodies apart, only to take her in his arms. He settled on a bench built into the side of the bath and gathered her on his lap. He said nothing, just held her close, lounging with her in the lulling warmth of the water.
He might assume her feelings were the afterglow of what they had just shared. Or perhaps the revelation inside her made sense to him already. Perhaps he was thinking the same thing.
Was that not what his welcome here had meant? He had made a place for her in his life, his family, his home. It would take longer than the Solstice Summit for their roses to reach full bloom. That empty window with its perfect light was surely a promise of a future.
How long a future?
How would she know? She had no idea how Hesperines communicated these things to one another. Their language of courtship was utterly unlike heartless bids of bride prices and offers of dowries.
She wanted to learn that language. Let Lio teach it to her. Discover what his messages to her meant.
She had only just arrived, and it was much too soon for them to talk about a future in any case. They were still becoming reacquainted. And that too was wonderful.
She let herself sit on his lap and enjoy every moment of indulging themselves and each other. This was what would keep her motivated not to leave, but to stay. What would give her the strength to keep fighting so they could keep this.
Good things didn’t last long in Tenebra. She had lived by that law. But this was Orthros. Good things could last…even forever.
She rested her face against his chest, trying to keep hold of her emotions. But why should she? Not only was it fruitless, it was not in keeping with their Oath.
She didn’t know how Hesperine courtship worked, but she knew how things worked between her and Lio.
Yes, they had spent too few nights together again to speak of how many more they would have. But let him feel what these few nights had done for her. Let him feel the first hint of what she wanted. This was her courtship of him, too. It was fitting that it should begin in the Union, which was both secret and honest.
She couldn’t feel his response by magic, but she did feel the change in his touch. His arms tightened around her, and he caressed the hair away from her face, tilting her head back to look at him.
There was a new light in his eyes. “There’s one more room I want to show you. It is still mostly empty, like the rest of the tower, but it offers an inspiring view.”
He carried her out of the bath and into a corner of the room where dry warmth drifted out of the tile. He stood holding her while their skin and hair dried.
At length, he set her on her feet and summoned her cloak. He wrapped her up from head to toe in the bespelled silk. She returned his veil hours robe to him, and as soon as she fastened it up to his waist, he scooped her up against his bare chest again.
She smiled at him, dawdling her legs over his arm. “How long do you plan to hold me?”
“Now that I have you to feast on, I shall never tire. I shall not let you go.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck again in agreement. With a laugh, he bounced her in his embrace and carried her out of the bath, taking the steps two at a time all the way back to his room. He crossed the chamber to another door that flew open before them.
He carried her up a larger stairwell, around and around in a spiral toward the top of the tower. No stepping, no levitation, just his preternatural strength carrying them ever upward.
At the top, a yawning opening awaited them. He swept her up into a loft, and polar wind blasted her, ready to snatch her from the warmth of her cloak and his arms. This was the tower’s peak she had spotted from the ground.
Lio stood in the very center of the room and turned with her slowly, letting her see all around them. It was indeed an empty chamber with only a bare stone floor. The roof was nothing but rafters, and there were no walls, only eight perfectly matched, floor-to-ceiling window frames. The wind whistled and moaned by turns, gusting through the six empty window frames, tugging at the fabric that covered two.
But Cassia smiled at the unfinished work. “I can imagine what this will look like when you complete it. How beautiful it will be. A room almost entirely of glass.”
“It’s my next project.”
“You’re skipping to the very top of the tower?”
“Yes. Do you wonder why?”
He carried her toward the nearest window frame. He kept going, nearer and nearer, until his toes perched on the very edge. On instinct, Cassia clutched more tightly at his neck.
He was holding her over empty space.
Spr
ead out below her was the garden, so lush she thought she might dive into it as into a depthless sea. Above and all around them was the indigo sky, blooming with stars and damp with snow clouds.
“No, I don’t wonder,” she said. “This view is incredible.”
Even as she said it, the clouds shifted and revealed a new and strange light. Cassia gasped at the vivid color that seemed to dance in the sky. A curtain of crimson and scarlet stretched across the horizon.
“Lio, is that the ward?”
“No, that is an entirely natural wonder of the Goddess’s. An aurora. But it does not look the same anywhere else, for the ward reacts to its light and enhances it to even more astonishing beauty.”
“Do auroras happen often?”
“On nearly any clear night. And you got to see your first one from right here.”
“I can understand why you work to capture light in glass. What designs do you have in mind to do this room justice?”
“Something suitable for the bedchamber.”
She turned her face to him again. “This is the bedchamber?”
He smiled down at her with his gentle humor at the corners of his mouth and that new heat in his gaze. He stepped back into the room and turned her to face the two shrouded window frames.
The cloth coverings fell away. The wind snatched them and her breath. Lio had already installed two exquisite stained glass windows.
The first portrayed their roses in perfect, tiny petals of crimson and slender panes of green intertwining. Blood ran in rivulets inside the glass. Lio’s lifeblood filled the petals of each rose he had wrought there.
The second panel was all vivid hues of purple, a whole garden of betony flowers in full bloom. The glass blossoms emanated spell light and the feeling of Lio’s magic, intimate as when his power touched her mind.
They had both saved their roses. They had both triumphed over their nightmares.
“Please accept my welcome gift,” Lio said.
Somewhere in the distance, the bells of Selas sounded. High, crystal tones chimed through the clear air, ringing in moon hours.
A fortnight would never have been enough. Neither was one more Summit. Not for her and Lio. Not for Zoe. Not for evenings around the Ritual circle with family or for laughter with brothers like Mak and Lyros. Not for that vast, neglected garden below or all this room would become.
She would not end this fight only to begin another. This Summit, she would not settle for anything less than complete victory. Not just for Orthros and Tenebra, but for them. For her. She wanted triumph…peace…life. Here, with Lio.
She reached up and caressed his face. “I accept.”
END OF BOOK II
THANK YOU
Dear reader,
Thank you for persevering with Lio and Cassia through the second volume of their story. They’re much happier at the end of this book, and hopefully you are, as well! It gets even better in Blood Sanctuary (Blood Grace Book III), available now:
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Keep reading to learn more about Book III, which has the distinction of taking place entirely in Orthros!
Until we meet again in Selas,
Vela
BLOOD SANCTUARY
Blood Grace Book III
She wants his love for eternity. But the mortals want her back–if they don't kill her first.
Cassia has finally reunited with her immortal lover Lio in Orthros, land of eternal night. She wants to stay with him. Forever. But as long as the threat of persecution hangs over his people, the Hesperines, she cannot abandon her political position in the mortal kingdom of Tenebra. She and Lio must convince the Tenebran embassy to overcome centuries of fear and hatred of Hesperines and form an alliance with Orthros.
Lio is determined to free Cassia from the human world and persuade her to remain at his side for all time. But he will not force her to choose by admitting he will die without her blood. As the risks she takes for the Hesperines put her in ever greater danger, he must push his magic to new limits to protect her. As politics threaten to drive them apart once and for all, he must decide: will he reveal the truth and fight for their love, or will he lay down his life for peace?
It is only a matter of time before conspirators within the embassy will sabotage the negotiations. A threat unlike any the Hesperines have ever faced is rising at the very heart of Orthros. Lio and Cassia cannot afford to lose a single ally. Above all, they cannot afford to lose each other.
Blood Grace Book III is a paranormal vampire romance full of epic fantasy lore, featuring both worldbuilding and pleasure building. Legendary, ancient evil will cause lots of trouble, but a defiant mortal will still manage to enjoy explicit, consensual intimacy with her fanged, fated mate. Bring an enthusiasm for complicated names, political intrigue, and love bites.
EXCERPT
The taste of Cassia’s blood lingered in Lio’s mouth. Her aura filled his residence. Her scent was all over his bed. He watched her sleep and counted the freckles on her left shoulder.
Now that she was with him, he no longer missed the Dawn Slumber. Polar night was a balm when it meant he could lie awake with her sleepy face against his chest and her body relaxed in his arms. He didn’t dread the return of sunrise months from now, either. If he dreamed of her, he would awaken to find she was not just a dream. She would be here to satisfy his Craving for her. His addiction to her blood would be no torture, only a pleasure for them both.
By the time polar night ended for the season, the Tenebran embassy would be gone—short one member. Cassia would still be here in Orthros. She would have the chance to choose a future here for herself. That was Lio’s silent vow to them both, and he would keep it, no matter what challenges they faced during the Solstice Summit.
She didn’t even know she was his Grace and that without her, his Craving for her would be fatal to him. She had only spent one night here so far.
But what a night. He was certain he was already making progress in his unspoken effort to convince her to stay. She had revealed her feelings to him through the Blood Union. His Hesperine nature imparted that empathy and bound him to all living things, but Grace bound him and Cassia together most powerfully of all. The change of heart she had experienced in his arms last night had been as good as a promise.
Over the sound of her restful breathing, he heard the bells of Selas chime second moon across the capital city. Unease uncoiled within Lio, but he tried to let it go. Of course it was excruciating that Cassia must return to the guest house. Of course it would be grueling to act as if they meant nothing to each other.
But they were equal to the task. Cassia was the courtier, traitor and unsung hero who held her violent countrymen back from the brink of war. Lio was the diplomat who had convinced immortal, unchanging Hesperines to invite a human embassy from Tenebra to Orthros for the first time in history.
The peal of bells ended, and Lio knew he must wake the unseen hand of Tenebran politics. Should he kiss the lips that swayed free lords with a word? Perhaps he ought to nibble the short, upturned nose that could scent the king’s lies a mile away. No, he would nuzzle the temple of the mind that devis
ed brilliant schemes.
Cassia stirred and burrowed deeper in the silk sheets to tuck herself closer against his body.
“With a good moon like that,” he murmured in her ear, “I hope you’ll stay for breakfast.”
She ran her hand down his chest, as if testing to see if he was solid and not one of the illusions he conjured from light. “I really am in your residence at House Komnena. Last night wasn’t all a marvelous dream.”
“No. Shall I pinch you to convince you you’re awake?”
“I don’t think that will be—ow!”
At his bite on her earlobe, she laughed. He followed the nip with a slow suck, and a shiver went through her hip under his hand.
“I don’t have to leave yet, do I?” she asked.
“Not quite yet. I’m afraid I only let you sleep for an hour.”
Cassia let out a relieved sigh. “The hours are indeed long here. I can’t believe how much has happened since we sailed into Harbor last night. Time hardly seems to pass at all in Orthros.”
“Such is the pace of life here. We don’t rush anything.” He twirled his fingers in slow circles on the back of her thigh.
She told him how much she liked that with a caress from her foot, which had enjoyed such devoted attentions from him the night before. She lifted her head and blinked at him. The stained moonlight pouring in through his windows caught and gleamed in her hazel eyes. “I’m in Orthros.”
He caressed her face. “We made it.”
They shared a smile that they both understood. That only they understood.
Her beautiful, fierce determination stirred in her aura. “Now we have to make it through the Summit. We have to win.”
“They couldn’t stop us before. Not the King of Tenebra, not the Mage Orders of Cordium, not the heart hunters they hired.” Lio cupped Cassia’s cheek, holding her gaze. “We will win.”
“Their warmongering is no match for our peace. We will see the king’s alliance with Cordium broken to bits and Tenebra’s ancient truce with Orthros thriving like roses in the dark. This Summit isn’t going to end like the last one.”
The last one, when any chance of peace between their peoples had shattered. When the threat of war had separated him and Cassia and trapped them on opposite sides of the border for half a year.
