by Elsa Jade
“Lishelle,” he whispered. “My lady Lishelle.”
In front of the goddesses appeared a radiant fathomless vortex of darkness. At the heart of the unending fall was his lady, looking away from him. His fingers twitched, wanting to caress the strong lines of her profile—the arch of her brows, the defiant jut of her chin, the elegant sweep of her throat emphasized by the black coils of her hair caught back from her face. But she was so distant. Hopelessness overcame him like a blaster set to stun and kill and explode all at the same time.
The dark goddess clicked her tongue. “It’s too far for you, warlord. These are forces you cannot defeat.”
His chest and throat ached, as if they were being squeezed by a violence that would crush him to nothing. “Not by myself,” he acknowledged.
As if she heard him across the unreachable distance, Lishelle turned. Her shining black gaze opened to him like the pathway a ship charted between the stars.
“More than believe,” she whispered. “I’ll fight for it.”
She’d never said those words aloud, not to him, but he knew the sentiment was true. He’d seen the change in her, how the boldness covering her fear had become bravery even in the face of battle. He stood on the verge of the black hole and every particle of his being yearned to match itself to hers.
Through the vaporous whorls of light and matter, with Lishelle as his one desire, he challenged the goddess-demons. “We were meant to be together,” he said, “not by chance or coercion, but because we made it so.”
For an infinite moment, they considered him. Then they smiled.
“You make us believe,” murmured the dark-haired one. “Go, Tynan. And be loved.”
Chapter 15
Light. So much light…
This time when he woke, he remembered everything. The life of the warlord, the crimes of the disgraced nobleman, the new chance.
With her.
He opened his eyes and stared up at the broken roof of the great hall. Hmm, there were more holes than he remembered…
Through the plasma-scorched breaches left by the invading mercs, the velvety night sky glinted with stars, and the chirps and whistles of jungle creatures played a muted melody, not of love lost, but of life, which was sometimes a battle, sometimes a win, but always an endless dance. The ribs of the hall arches glowed a soft gold with lantern light, and his soul filled with peace.
He was back, lying draped over the throne as he’d been in his…dream? Had the goddess-demons really…?
Slowly, he lifted one hand over his chest, feeling for the beat. Ah yes… He was alive.
A scream brought him bolting upright, and he almost fell off the throne.
Lishelle was skittering on her backside down the dais steps, staring at him in wide-eyed shock. When he met her stare, she froze, her hand over her heart as if she was mirroring him.
“Tynan?” she whispered. “Oh God, you aren’t…”
“No, I’m not a god anymore,” he said, his voice rasping. “But I’m not dead either.”
“Your eyes…” She put her trembling fingertips over her lips. “They’re blue.”
He frowned. “My eyes were always blue.”
She shook her head, her curls bouncing. “They were black when I met you, and right up until you…”
“Died,” he finished for her.
Warily, she crept toward him. He ached to reach for her, but he didn’t want to frighten her, not after abducting her twice and dying on her once.
“I fell asleep,” she said, “and I swear I saw you.”
“In the Lightlands.” He slipped off the throne to be closer to her, though he still kept his hands at his sides. All the offerings and tokens had been cleared away, leaving only the solar lanterns and a small pillow on the dais where Lishelle must’ve been sitting beside the throne, and then sleeping, dreaming of him. He gave her a wry grin. “There, this castle is in one piece, and all my people are gathered still.”
“Heaven,” she murmured. “I saw heaven?” Her dark eyes widened, capturing the glow of the lanterns. “And those were angels?”
He grunted. “Demons, more like. They tried to tempt me to stay, to remain God of Beloveds.”
“But you didn’t.”
He gazed at her and finally could hold back no longer. “Not without you.” He stretched one hand toward her. “Lady Lishelle, you are my beloved, and no other.”
With a sweet cry, she scrambled toward him, throwing herself into his arms hard enough to rock him back against the throne. Her frantic fingers played over his bare chest.
“All healed,” she marveled. “Like the wounds never were.” Her gaze lifted to his. “Tynan, you were dead. I had my hands in your blood, and I felt it—no heartbeat. Nothing at all.”
When her voice cracked, he hauled her closer, closing his eyes at the wonder of having her in his embrace again. “I’m sorry I didn’t throw the blaster far enough.”
With a watery laugh, she slapped her palm against his chest. “I’m sorry I didn’t actually shoot Radek.”
“We can both practice,” he said.
She pulled away to scowl at him. “No. That’s never happening again.”
He looked down at her, uncertainty creeping in. “When you say never, you don’t mean…us?”
She stared back at him. “When I say never, I mean no more of Blackworm. Not just your eyes changed; your genetics changed. This body is yours now. And I never want to see it laid out in state again.” She shuddered and leaned in to him. “Nor said that’s how a Thorkon warlord would spend his last night—laid across his throne—before immolation.”
He held her tight. “I’m not a god anymore,” he reminded her. “This was my third and last death. I won’t get another chance at life. But…the only life I want is with you. If you want that too.”
She tipped her head against his shoulder and cupped his cheek. “Oh, Tynan. I would love that. Because I love you.” Tucking herself against him, curve to hollow, her voice broke when she explained, “I didn’t say it before, and then I thought I’d never have the chance. Now…I will tell you every day, every hour how much it means to me to be with you in a universe so vast that it’s statistically impossible that we’d ever find each other. Not to mention”—she poked his chest again, as if she needed to reassure herself that his heart still beat there—“you weren’t even in this universe anymore, black hole boy.”
“I won’t leave you again,” he vowed. “Through any dimension, I will be with you.”
“I just want you here,” she said, “and now.”
“I am.”
“Prove it.” Her dark eyes sparkled.
Rising swiftly to his feet—and much to his smug delight, she squeaked and wrapped her arm tight around his neck—he spun away from the throne. “Before, you wanted me to show you the secrets of this castle. Grab a lantern.” He dipped, startling another squeak from her, but she snagged one of the bright little globes.
“We don’t need your secrets anymore,” she told him as he carried her deeper into the keep. To his delight, she didn’t struggle to be put down, just kicked her bare heels playfully where her legs dangled over the crook of his elbow. “Everyone believes you are Tynan.” She pursed her lips. “Of course, they also believe you’re dead.”
“We’ll convince them otherwise later.” He took one of the ramps leading downward and repeated her words. “I just want you here, now.”
***
The ramp turned into a steep downward spiral that left Lishelle dizzy. Or maybe that was just being in Tynan’s arms again. She would’ve made him put her down, but she wanted to stay as close to him as possible, her body pressed against his.
Alive alive alive.
The chant of his impossible return beat in her heart like a drum keeping time. Maybe someday she’d want to drink too much and debate the reality of what she’d seen/dreamed/hallucinated. Had she seen heaven? The other end of a wormhole?
For once, she didn’t care to look too closely
. She had him back and that was—for now and for always—enough.
Following the spiraling stairs, they descended almost as far as they’d climbed upward earlier in the day, and she sensed the awesome weight of the mountain above them and all around. The lantern she’d chosen suddenly seemed very small. But this time she didn’t ask where they were going. Because she was with him.
One of the ubiquitous archways deposited them into a cavern too vast for the lantern to reach through the darkness. The mineral tang of stone smelled like a lightning strike.
For a moment, vertigo spun in her, and she clung to Tynan as he let her legs slide down his front to stand on her own. Under her bare feet, the rock was warm, though not as warm as his wide chest. A few steps away from them, the cavern floor turned as slick and shiny as obsidian. A good excuse to hold on to him.
He kept one arm looped behind her. “Turn off the lantern.”
She wanted to protest that they’d be blind, but he’d said he wanted to show her some secret. Reluctantly, she touched the power control on the lantern.
And in the resulting darkness, the cavern filled with stars.
She gasped in wonder. Turning in a slow circle in the shelter of his arm, she stared up at the spiraling galaxies traced across the stone sky. “Glowworms!”
“And lichens,” he said. “And some of the rock inclusions are photoluminescent as well.”
She finished her circle to look up at him. The glimmering lights were bright enough to bring out the royal blue of his eyes. “It’s amazing.”
“Once a year, there’s a night flower called lamanya that blooms down here, as fiery yellow as that ring on your finger. I want to show you.”
She smiled. “I want to see it.”
He blew out a breath. “This is in better shape than the rest of the ruins, but… I want to make the castle the glory it once was. Will you live here with me as my lady?”
Her whole body seemed to glow. “Yes, Tynan. I will stay with you here.” Or anywhere, but she supposed that was obvious from the way she tightened her arms around him.
“We can visit Azthronos Prime or the station whenever you want to see your friends.” His brow furrowed. “And I’ll have to figure out my claim to the castle since right of conquest is probably frowned upon in these days.”
She grinned. “Probably, but talking to the duke would be a good first step—after the wedding. He and Rayna are always wanting to improve the duchy, and the historical shrine of the God of Beloveds should be known everywhere.” She rested her chin on his chest, reveling in the steady thud of his heart. “The universe needs more love.”
“Speaking of more loving…” He took her hand and tugged her out into the cavern where the floor turned glassy.
She gasped again when her toes touched water, and a ripple spread outward from her feet farther than she could see. She waded in another step, and deliciously warm water lapped at her ankles. “An underground geothermal pool?”
“You don’t think a conquering warlord would settle for just a cold bath, do you?”
She laughed and whipped off the robe she’d gotten from the Azthronos cruiser to replace the antique wrap that had been soaked in Tynan’s blood. This was her chance to wash away all those bad memories.
He watched her, sparks in his blue eyes that had nothing to do with the luminous rocks. Her gaze dipped downward. Well, something was hard as rock…
With painstaking slowness, as if they had all the time in the world, he unsealed his pants. The turgid weight of his erection pointed her way the whole time while he stripped. It was her turn to watch, appreciative, until he finally stood bare, exposing the powerful shoulders she’d held on to, the lean flanks where she’d wrapped her legs, that wide chest whole and untouched.
Oh, but she would touch it. Soon.
When he reached out, she glided back a few steps. “Come get me,” she purred, “one more time.”
Then she ruined her sultry vixen routine when she eeped in alarm as a gleaming shape wriggled between her ankles. She jumped, splashing water in all directions that sent more ripples marring the perfect black glass. “Tynan! Tell me there’s nothing bigger in here than those glow-in-the-dark fishies.”
He waded out to her, laughing. “Nothing but me.”
He caught her around the waist and swung her deeper. The luscious hot water rose around them, caressing her skin in silky waves. But it was his calloused touch, gentle and rough at the same time, that made her shiver.
“You can’t be cold,” he said.
“With you, never. But hold me closer, just in case.”
With a rasping oath, he hauled her into his arms and bent her back to slant his mouth over hers.
She moaned and thrust her hips toward his, threading her fingers up into the black strands of his hair. Her own hair would be a worse wreck than the castle when this was over…and then she forgot everything except his devouring kiss.
His tongue traced her lips and delved inside even as his cock nudged between her thighs. Despite the heat—of the water and between them—her nipples beaded hard, aching, and she teased herself against the smooth skin of his chest. He groaned and grabbed her thigh, lifting her knee to grant himself access. She was willingly conquered, and when he slid into her slick core, she cried out his name.
With each stroke, the ripples across the pool returned to them higher and more chaotic. And she loved it, loved the way he made her body sing and her heart soar. At the outer limits of sensation, all her muscles convulsed and she jackknifed against him as she came. With the orgasm rolling through her endlessly, the constellations of light above them seemed to brighten, though surely that was her imagination.
She’d have to go again to be sure…
Then he was shuddering into her, great gulps of air expanding his chest against her, his pulse—from his beautiful heart—pounding almost as hard as his cock.
She cried out again, wordlessly this time, overcome, and they sank slowly into the water.
Fortunately, the mineral content was high enough and the gravity low enough to keep them afloat with minimal effort, because she didn’t think she could move except for the gentle rocking of the waves that lapped at them.
“The universe,” he said serenely, rolling her to lie with her back across his chest, their legs tangling together, “has more love in it now.”
Her heart floated like a bubble on the dark, starlit sea. “So, crazy idea…”
“Crazier than flushing all our troubles away?”
“Maybe.” She reached one hand back to locked behind his head. “Once we get the castle squared away, what do you think about relaunching the Intergalactic Dating Agency on Earth? No alien abductions,” she hastened to add. “Just…a chance for love to go as far as it must to find its place.”
He thought for awhile, his arms crossed over her breasts and his hands resting lightly on her belly so she was all but cocooned by him. She basked in the feeling of haven even though, really, he’d brought her out of the lonely shell she’d used to protect herself. “When I was wandering the space station after meeting you, I heard a bit about the IDA and the Black Hole Brides.” He hugged her tighter. “I told the goddesses that you and I being together was something we’d fought for, but… Yes, I think I would enjoy giving others the same chance.”
Shifting languidly, she twisted around to surf his chest, reaching up to entangle her arms around his neck so he might never get away. “While they honeymoon on the station, they can daytrip here to leave an offering to the God of Beloveds.”
A wicked smile curved his lips, and he half closed his eyes. In the shadow of his lashes, the blue deepened to the hue of bright sky verging on outer space. “What gift you would leave for him?”
“My heart,” she whispered. “I’d give you my heart.”
The next adventure!
While Lishelle and Tynan rebuild the Intergalactic Dating Agency in Sunset Falls, there’s an Earther girl who still has no idea that sexy aliens are
waiting out there among the stars...
FREEFALL: Team Prism
By Elsa Jade
She doesn’t believe in aliens.
He can’t believe he’s stuck on a repurposed honeymoon starcruiser with an Earther girl.
To survive the Great Space Race, they need to find the legendary Firestorm Queen’s Prism in the perilous Paragon Galaxy—but along the way, they might just freefall into love!
Scarred by life and scared by it, Amy Long finally found peace in quiet Sunset Falls, Montana…until a malfunctioning popcorn popper transports her across the universe.
She arrives accidentally—and nekkidly—on the honeymoon cruiser Blissed where the widely viewed and wildly entertaining Great Space Race is already in progress. Now if she ever wants to return to Earth, she has to pretend to be the famous intergalactic explorer who was supposed to be half of Team Prism, searching for the legendary Firestorm Queen’s Prism.
Can this unsuspecting Earther wrap her head around a universe of aliens and adventure? While she’s at it, maybe she’s gonna wrap her arms around the uptight but sexy drakling male who is her teammate.
Luc Amaveo of the Flamewalker Clan just needs a treasure. Any treasure, even the imaginary ones teased by the Great Space Race. Every drakling needs a treasure to prove himself, and being a respectable transgalactic accountant doesn’t count with his raucous clan. If he can take the Great Space Race prize to his twelve older brothers’ mating ceremonies, maybe they’ll finally stop trying to make him into something he’s not: a ferocious, fiery, bold beast. But he might need to do some pretending of his own if he’s going to keep his innocent Earther girl alive.
Because even as they realize that the cruel corporation of the Great Space Race cares more for ratings than their lives, Amy and Luc also discover that the real danger is facing their own fears…and the risk that they might be falling in love.
