by Marie Harte
Miranda couldn’t argue with that.
“I was a brat, and he was an ass,” Clarissa said bluntly, to which Philippe chuckled. “But somehow we came together. We married and are expecting our first child in three more months.”
“I see.” This new circumstance might have upset her before she’d found her reason for being. Her new life as journeyman. But now Miranda knew she’d never go back East, not for a long while, at least. “So Philippe, you have no plans to accept the throne, even should King Norcross offer it?”
“Not a one. Clarissa and I intend to make a place for ourselves here.”
“As king and queen of the Crystal Palace.” Familiar avarice sparked in her cousin’s eyes.
Philippe coughed. “We’ll have to rethink those titles. My new outlook on life is going to take some getting used to, you understand.”
Clarissa looked confused. “But Philippe—”
Miranda nodded. “Yes, I do.” She’d lived with Clarissa’s selfishness for years. Though the princess wasn’t mean-spirited, she did need to grow as a person. But now that Philippe knew how best to behave, he could see to his wife’s journey as well. At the thought, a little tingle lit her from the inside out, and Miranda knew she’d done her part with Philippe and Clarissa.
Watching the princess made Miranda understand how much she herself had had growing up. Even as a servant, with no recourse but to live as directed by others, she’d had the love and affection of her mother. Miranda had mattered not because of her title or her blood, but because Minerva Anvers had loved her. And she would treasure that always.
“Come, Clarissa. Let’s retire and let your cousin see to her friend.” Philippe clumsily stood, apparently still feeling the lingering effects of her lightning.
“Philippe, really,” Clarissa said and blushed, looking at Miranda. In a lower voice, she whispered, “We don’t discuss such low relations.”
Miranda sighed. Not that it mattered, because she wasn’t actually related to Clarissa. But it would have been nice to hear her cousin acknowledge a family tie. “Can you direct me to this Lavender Room, Philippe?”
“Michael will.” He nodded to the doorway, where Michael stood, waiting. “Miranda, I’d like to cordially invite you to remain as our guest. Whatever you need will be at your disposal.”
She nodded, not sure who she’d contact if she needed anything since there didn’t seem to be any maids around.
“Michael?” Philippe nodded to the man, then took his wife and walked with her slowly out another door.
“Miranda, please follow me.” Michael bowed to her, then strode from the room down the hall. They walked for several minutes in silence, and then he started whistling again.
“That tune.” Miranda stopped, suddenly recalling where she’d heard it before. “Olaf Anderer was humming that under his breath when he told me about Danner.”
Michael winked at her, and in his eyes she saw the wizened stare of the old prophet.
“But…how?”
Michael’s body melted into the form of an older man, then into another and another, and finally stopped when he’d taken on the massive build of a warrior several heads taller than her, but with a handsome face that closely mirrored Danner’s. He seemed to glow, and one of his eyes disappeared behind a black patch.
“Odin?” she squeaked.
He chuckled, and the crystal walls all around them lit in a kaleidoscope of color. “Had to see for myself how the boy’s been getting on. Stubborn fool. Takes after me, he does.” Odin looked more than proud. He seemed like a doting father, and his attention unnerved Miranda. “Has an eye for the pretty ones too,” he purred, eyeing her up and down with that one blazing gray orb.
“He thinks you don’t care.” She clapped a hand over her mouth. That wasn’t my secret to tell.
Odin shifted back into his form as Michael and continued down the hallway, forcing Miranda to hurry to hear him. “I know. Boy has a hard head, always has. Wants it done his way or no way at all. But he’s a strong warrior with a good heart. Just took the love of a good woman to show him the way.” He stopped in front of a door and studied her. “You do love him, don’t you?”
“Yes.” She didn’t need to think on the answer.
He smiled and winked, but beneath the exterior of Michael she now saw him clearly. “Then tell him, little godling.” He pushed open the door and walked away, tall and proud, and then merely human once more.
She blinked and shook her head, not sure of anything anymore—except that she loved a man who had yet to confess how he really felt about her. Yet for all that uncertainty, she’d never been more sure of herself, or of Danner.
Chapter Eleven
Danner blinked up into Miranda’s beautiful eyes. The affection shining there made him question whether he was awake or dreaming. She couldn’t be too happy with him, not after he’d failed protecting her and nearly gotten her killed. Before he could ream himself a new one, he felt her naked thighs gripping the bare skin of his waist and couldn’t much think past the need to sink into her and never let go.
He lay on a wide bed, undressed, under the sexiest woman alive. She sat astride him, her breasts so close, just begging to be touched. Dream or not, he wasn’t so much a fool he’d forgo pleasure with Miranda.
“Do it,” she dared with a naughty grin. “Touch me.”
Then she scooted back over him, and he sucked in a breath. She was wet and rocking over his growing erection. To feel her moist, ready for him, set him aflame.
“Shit. I ain’t dreaming, am I?”
“No, you’re not.” She squirmed, and he groaned.
“I want to come inside you again, darlin’. Everywhere.” The urge to claim her, to show her that nothing could touch her but him—He froze as the past came rushing back to him. “The spyders? Philippe? What happened? Where are we?”
She leaned down and pressed those breasts against his chest, and he couldn’t help thrusting against her slick folds.
“Shit, Miranda. Darlin’, please, I need you safe.” Facing danger, thinking about dying without ever telling Miranda how he felt or having her by his side, had shaken him. He knew what he wanted. But he also knew he had nothing to give her, not when she had a Ride just waiting on her from her father, his immortal enemy. He sighed. A helluva thing.
“Danner, how do you feel?” Miranda cupped his chin.
Like I’m gonna explode. He ached to be inside her. And not her mouth or that fine pussy, but her virgin ass. To lay claim. Every part of her is mine. “Fine, darlin’. I’m good.” He cleared his throat. “But I’m a mite confused.”
“Of course you are.”
“Is Philippe behind this?” The remembrance that the bastard had made her watch a naughty film struck him. “Is he taking his pictures right now? Did he threaten you? What the fuck is going on, Miranda?”
She flushed and hurried to relate the events as explained to her by the royal couple. “So you see, Philippe kidnapped her, but it’s all right. They married, they’re happy and soon expecting a child. They’re no longer a threat to you or me. I found my cousin, Danner, and in the doing I found myself. I have no more worries about my future.” She smiled, the glow of elation infusing her face with more beauty, were that possible. “Thank you so much. Without you, I never would have made it here.”
He shifted under her, uncomfortable with her praise as well as his body’s needs. “Hell, Miranda. I could have gotten you killed. The spyders took me out, hard. You might have died.” He couldn’t believe he’d let her down.
“Nonsense.” She took his face between her hands and kissed them both breathless. Then the little witch reached between her legs and lifted herself so she could grab his cock. She positioned him at her entrance and slid down, encasing him in her hot, wet pussy.
“Oh Miranda, girl, fuck.” He thrust upward, loving the feel of her all around him. Reaching up, he held her breasts, losing himself in the fullness of them, the rich flesh that fit in his hands per
fectly.
“You protected me from the longtooths. You guided me out here.” She paused and lowered her voice, her cheeks flushed with desire and something more. “You showed me what it means to be a woman. And I finally learned the true meaning of joy.”
“Gods, Miranda. Don’t make me out to be such a good guy. I’m selfish. I used you.” I love you. And it’s killing me that you’ll leave me behind when you join your father. He ran his thumbs over her nipples, wanting this moment to last forever and knowing it couldn’t.
“No, you showed me how to love.”
He blinked at her and let her go, not sure he’d heard her right. “What’s that?”
“I love you, Danner. Son of Odin, lover of mortals and immortals alike,” she teased and put his hands back on her breasts. “I want to travel with you.”
His heart broke. To not see her smile again, to do without the touch of her small hands, the wonder in her eyes, the sincerity in her voice. The pain clawed at him, settling deep. He’d never find peace. Not without Miranda. “But darlin’, I don’t have a Ride anymore. Your father hates me. I don’t want to ruin your chances at a full life. You don’t know what you’re missing in the godlands. Honey, riding the lightning is better than anything I’ve ever experienced.” He stopped, aware that wasn’t true. “Well, not as good as everything.”
“What could be better?” she asked, still smiling, and rocked over him.
His eyes nearly crossed, but he forced himself to concentrate. This conversation was important, if only he could tell his dick that. “You’re better, and you know it. Being with you trumps any lightning or traveling, any god, goddess or miracle created.” Emotion balled in his throat. “Dammit, Miranda. I love you. I don’t want to lose you, but I won’t let you sacrifice your very nature because of me. When Vi finally offers you that Ride, take it. Don’t let me hold you back. You won’t regret it, I promise you.” He couldn’t say anymore, perilously close to losing his fucking composure.
“Oh, Danner, I already have my Ride.”
Before he could ask her what that meant, she drew his head to hers and kissed him, and then nothing else mattered but taking her.
He squeezed her breasts and sat up, causing her to hitch her breath as he surged deeper inside her. “Wrap your legs around me, yeah.” He sucked her nipples and bit gently, drawing out her pleasure as her channel clamped tight around his cock.
Danner kissed his way back up her chest to her neck and sucked hard. She gripped his hair, moaning his name, and yanked him back to kiss her mouth. He loved how much she wanted him, how she squirmed on his shaft and rode him, wanting more. Her breathy moans and desperate cries pushed him harder, until he couldn’t stop her from taking what she needed.
He let her come around him and struggled to hold back. Not wanting to climax just yet, he quickly flattened her to the bed, then pulled out.
His kisses continued, stroking her tongue, along the cavern of her mouth, her smooth teeth. Her lips felt like velvet, and he sucked and nibbled until she moaned, pleading for all of him.
“Remember, honey, how I once said I’d fill you up? Well, I filled that pussy. And I filled that mouth. But I haven’t yet filled that ass.”
She blinked up at him with lightning in her eyes, and he knew he’d found the future of all his tomorrows right here. “Then I think it’s time, don’t you?”
He groaned and kissed his way down her body, lingering on all the soft, sweet spots in between. Her flushed breasts, her slender belly, her wet folds and that sweet little clit growing hard once more.
Danner ran his finger down her slit to play at her anus and rimmed her. Sliding his finger around that tight rosette, he slowly pushed inside, bit by bit, until the tip of his finger disappeared.
“Miranda, baby, this is so fucking sexy. So hot. I want to come in you so bad, darlin’.”
She groaned and shifted, putting her pussy right under his mouth. Too tempted to turn away, he sucked on the honeyed flesh and pulled his finger out of her. Using her wetness, he lubed up two fingers with her come and gently prepared her.
He managed to get one finger inside her hole and played with her. “That’s it. Feel the burn that turns to pleasure. Like lightning, Miranda. So hot, so fierce. Wait until I’m stretching you, shoving up in you.”
He moaned, turning himself on all over again as he watched his finger disappear inside her. He couldn’t get enough. Danner added that second finger, attuned to her sudden flinch and the press of pain she must be feeling. But he wouldn’t relent. He needed this, needed to see her writhing under him as he breached this last place inside her body.
Scissoring his fingers, he stretched her while he sucked her into a second, more intense orgasm. She was panting hard when he removed his mouth and leaned up to look at her. Dazed and flushed with pleasure, his woman looked on the verge of passing out. Just where he wanted her.
Danner eased his fingers from her body and wiped them on the bed. Then he moved over her and kissed her until neither of them could breathe. When he caught his breath, he said, “I’m dripping wet, darlin’. On fire for that ass.” He loved her flush, that small spurt of embarrassment that had no place between them but served as a testimony to her innocence all the same. “You gonna take me? All of me?”
She nodded, her eyes sparkling, and spread her legs wider, waiting for him.
He angled her hips up and slid inside her pussy, lubing himself in her moist body. Then he pulled out and positioned himself lower, in that forbidden hole that had him so hard, so ready to come just from thinking of the act itself. “Take me, darlin’. Deep in you,” he panted as he slowly pushed inside her ass.
Danner moved slowly, letting her body adjust to his girth. It took some time, and he did his best to tease her, running little jolts of lightning through her nipples and clit, until she begged him to fuck her.
“Shit, baby. You just said fuck.” He grinned past the sweat dripping down his temple. “Now you’re a true Westerner.”
She gave him a sultry wink, licked her lips and flicked her fingers over his nipples, and he lost it.
He took the extra push and wedged the rest of his thick shaft up her ass.
“Stuffed full.” She moaned and wiggled beneath him.
“No, Miranda. I’m gonna come too fast.” His white-haired beauty apparently didn’t want to wait, because she moved again. Danner couldn’t help stroking deeper. He pulled out and inched back in, then increased his thrusts.
“More, yes,” she hissed, and he gave it to her, looking down at where he disappeared inside her slender body.
Gods, she was perfection. His every desire made real. All of him locked into the virgin flesh of her ass as he fucked her good and hard. “Oh darlin’. Oh yes, yes. I’m coming hard,” he warned as he surged deeper.
“In me, Danner. Please.”
He yelled as he came, filling her with such pleasure it was a wonder he didn’t lose his damned mind. Danner blazed with his lightning and hers, feeling every bit of his woman as he lost his soul and his seed in one blinding, godfelt rush. The power built between them, cresting and surging, until neither could stand a moment more and the energy suddenly sought its place back inside each of them.
Resting over her on wobbly hands, Danner didn’t realize he’d closed his eyes until he opened them again and saw the beauty of passion on Miranda’s face.
“I love you so much,” she whispered and stroked his chest.
Tears filled his eyes and he hastily blinked them away. He leaned down to kiss her. When he could no longer support himself on his trembling arms, he slowly pulled out of her and flopped onto the bed.
“I think you’ve killed me, Miranda.”
She laughed. “Don’t move. Let me clean us up.”
“That’s my job,” he murmured, but he was still having a hard time thinking past the throbbing in his dick. Had he ever come so hard before? He didn’t think so. And wonder of all wonders, his precious, innocent little journeyman had taken him t
o Valhalla and back again.
She left his side and returned moments later with a cool cloth that she used to clean him.
“Can I tend to you, Miranda?” he asked, feeling lazy and way too good to complain about her seeing to him.
“I already did, but feel free to kiss any places I might have missed.”
He grinned and caught her to him, cuddling and kissing every part of her he could find.
When he could catch his breath, he stared into her bright eyes. “Gods, I’m gonna miss you, Miranda.”
“No, you’re not.” She kissed him again, then ordered him to dress and clothed herself. “Because you’re my Ride, Danner.”
“I don’t understand.” He buttoned up his trousers and shoved into his shirt, not liking the separation of skin-to-skin contact with Miranda. The clothing felt like a barrier between them, just one more he didn’t need.
“Nothing is right without you.”
“I get that, I do. But I can’t let you lose this chance to be who you’re meant. It’ll slowly kill you. Please, don’t do it.” He didn’t like this panicky feeling. What if in her stubborn need to stay with him, she suffered Vi’s wrath too?
“Well, well. He finally falls.” A familiar, throaty laugh made him groan.
He turned, shoving Miranda behind him, to see Demise, as beautiful and lethal as always. The goddess wore her hair piled in a dark coil atop her head. A sheer white dress spun of fate silk and woven by the Norns themselves draped across one shoulder over her full breasts, cinched at the waist by a band of black gold, and trailed over perfect legs to tiny feet. The sheer white of her eyes looked like the sun at high noon, blinding in their intensity. But her bloodred lips and sly smile warned that the woman was not all rose petals, but thorns as well.
“Who is that?” Miranda whispered and stepped around him, despite his protests.
Demise answered in a voice as pure and cold as the spikes of Hel’s ice. “Me? I was the vessel used to prove a point to your fallen traveler.”
