Hers to Claim (Verdantia Book 4)

by Patricia A. Knight

  She shook her head buried in his chest. “Not brave—a scared, fluffy-tailed hopper.”

  He made a low sound of comfort. “There can be no bravery without fear. The soul’s triumphant fight over what’s most feared is the definition of courage.” He caught her chin under his knuckle and raised her gaze to his. “That makes you one of the bravest people I know.”

  She snorted. “Why, because I’m afraid of everything?”

  Gentle amusement filled him. “Are you always so painfully truthful?”

  “I’m not afraid of the physical act…well…maybe a little. I think you aristos have out-of-the-ordinary tastes.” She rubbed at her behind and choked off a laugh then once more pressed her cheek to his chest. All he saw was a wealth of fine brown hair, and he had to strain to hear her. “I’m more afraid of the aftermath. I have a fatal habit of associating sex with love. I cannot seem to divorce the act from the emotion, and my thoughts already dwell too often on Nyth Uchel’s prince.”

  Fierce satisfaction filled him at her forthright words. Perhaps he hadn’t blundered as badly with her as he’d feared. Perhaps when all had been set right—if all could be set right—Adonia would choose to stay with him—not for Nyth Uchel or her people, or because of the dictates of a genetic match, but because of him. He hid the heady joy of that thought in a secret place in his heart.

  He couldn’t ignore the brave vulnerability she displayed to make such a statement. Though he doubted Nia would believe him, he’d tell her his honest feelings.

  “Adonia DeCorvus, you have drawn me from the first moment I glimpsed you. From the first day in High Lord DeTano’s office, I’ve considered how I might persuade you to remain in Nyth Uchel. Every moment I’ve spent with you since has reinforced that desire.”

  He tipped her face to his. He needed to see her eyes, judge her reaction to his words. He sighed. Patent skepticism was not the response he’d hoped for. He leaned in and kissed her gently on her parted lips—a kiss hinting at his passion and desire. “I would welcome your love.”

  She gazed at him for a long moment, expressions fleeting across her face. He wished he knew her thoughts. Finally, she took a breath and spoke.

  “I will tell you my greatest nightmare; I’m not what you and A’rken seem to think I am. I will fail you in your time of greatest need.”

  “I understand your fears, Nia, and I share them. Not that you will fail…but that I will.”

  “No. You cannot doubt yourself.” She pushed away, and her gaze blazed with fire. “You are splendid and steadfast. You carry the weight of Nyth Uchel on your shoulders like the mountain upon which this city is built. Immutable. Your people look to you for their salvation and their trust is well-placed.” Her eyes fell and her tone softened. “Your only weakness is in those upon whom you depend.”

  Hel doubted words would persuade her. Acts and time would show his Nia her value—make her understand what she was to him. This moment would be one of many he could use to demonstrate what they were—together.

  “And I will prove to you there is no weakness.” He pulled her up into a passionate assault of lips and tongue. His hands tangled in the fastenings on her dress. The taste of her mouth and her generous response affected him like a potent brew and he lost himself, intoxicated by her. Many minutes passed before he slipped the rose gown from her shoulders, picked her up in his arms and laid her on the dais.

  “Stay on your back. Hands above your head.”

  He stripped quickly. Her heavy lidded eyes never ceased their scrutiny. When he lay down beside her, he could feel the thudding of her heart against his chest. Her ribs rose and fell in quick pants, but to her credit, Nia remained pliant against him.

  “Open your mind, Nia. Relax your body. Close your eyes. Concentrate on the rhythm and cadence of my words, the touch of my fingers and warmth of my tongue.”

  A faint smile answered his directive.

  He briefly considered tying her wrists and ankles. I wonder how she’d react? No. For this first time, he’d keep things conventional. Perhaps tomorrow I will show her the playroom below.

  Without thought, he fell into the familiar words of the lesser rite for heat and flame. The pads of his fingers passed across the satin of her skin in feather-light swirls. His concentration became so intent the merest hitch in her breathing registered. He started at her forehead, then traced her face to behind her ears, under her jaw, down her neck to her collar bone.

  “I am going to cover every inch of your body like this.”

  A soft moan answered him.

  By the time he got to her delicate navel, goose bumps peppered her entire body and Nia’s nipples were hard buttons on the tips of her breasts. With a quick lick of his tongue, he latched onto her right nipple and flicked his tongue back and forth.

  “Ah!” Nia arched into the air. Her hands grabbed at his hair and she curled into him.

  “No…no. Flat on your back, Nia.”

  She rolled her head in protest but complied, never opening her eyes.

  “Lie flat and accept the sensations. Submerge yourself in the arousal. Feed it with your mind.”

  Hel resumed the cadence of the chant. With light tracery, he outlined her hipbones and then the small concave of her belly. His fingers tickled into the groove separating her thigh from her mound and then tangled in the hairs of her pubis.

  “Spread your legs, Nia. Whenever I touch below your waist, you will spread your legs to their fullest extent and keep them that way.”

  Hel watched as Nia obeyed and veed her legs His cock gave an unruly jerk. He contemplated how, in the days to come, he would educate her on how wide she really could open them. For now, this would do. Hel picked up the chant again and resumed the tracery of his fingers on the outsides of her thighs, behind her knees, down her calves to her feet and then back up the insides of her legs. He disciplined his breathing to slow, regular inhales and exhales. The twitching of his painfully hard cock was not nearly so disciplined and cool spills of precum escaped the tip.

  He worked his fingers up the insides of her thighs. Now the flesh at the apex of her legs glistened with her arousal, the swollen pink lips a target for sensual play. As he slipped his fingers up and down the seam in the lightest of teases, Nia groaned and writhed her hips. More fluid leaked from her plush flesh and he caught it on his knuckle. A slight swipe of his tongue transferred the heady taste of Nia into his mouth.

  Not enough, not nearly enough. The warm diaman crystal slab pressed his hard cock into his abdomen with almost cruel pressure as he slid his shoulders between Nia’s legs. He rolled slightly onto one hip to relieve the strain. His thumbs separated her moist lower flesh to reveal the prominent nub of ruby red at the apex of her sex. He lowered his face between her legs and feasted. With a feminine cry, she boxed his ears with the inside of her thighs.

  “Spread them and keep them spread, Nia, or I will tie you.” Hel’s ears rang from the resounding blow of her legs, but he resumed his erotic kisses. With a helpless growl turned whimper, her thighs spread wide. He pulled her clit into his mouth and suckled. With soft swirls of his tongue, he teased the hard nub. Periodic convulsions in her pussy alerted him to the height of her arousal, and he slipped a finger into her. With firm strokes, he thrummed the fleshy pad on the front wall of her slick pussy, just opposite the bundle of nerves he teased with his tongue and lips.

  Her sharp gasp signaled him in time to prevent his ears being boxed again. “Next time I am tying you,” he muttered. The chamber thrummed with a low sound, as if a deep-toned bell were ringing…but that could have been the result of the blows to his head.

  “Please, oh, please.” Nia’s head thrashed back and forth. Her palms and fingers massaged her hard nipples. “Please…in me…please.”

  Intent on the cadenced rite and on arousing Nia, he’d missed when the glow had begun but there was no missing the pearlescent luminosity of the dais, now. The entire chamber held a soft brilliance that rivaled the sunlight streaming in the win
dows. The low chiming wasn’t a result of a box to his ears. The dais, itself, hummed with life. As he drew back and absorbed the changes, he bared his teeth in a snarl of victory. Damnation, it was good to be right. Nia would be a powerful magistra.

  “Please, Hel.”

  “Yes,” he growled and plunged into her slick center, sliding her up the smooth stone with the force of his entry. “Yes.” Too much heat, too much pleasure, just...too much. The firm, slick walls of her pussy sheathed him tightly. With his every withdrawal, her inner walls tightened further as if to hold him within.

  The timbre of the altar’s vibrations tormented him on another level. All the pleasure centers in his body pulsed. Perhaps it was the anticipation, perhaps it was the four-day hiatus but he did something he hadn’t done since his teens. When the convulsions of her slick channel signaled Nia’s climax, he allowed the reins of control to slip through his fingers. He retained only enough awareness to channel their energies into the diaman crystal they lay upon. Like some great beast unleashed, he pounded into the woman underneath him and gloried in his savage possession. Climax detonated in his brain, and the explosion wiped all conscious thought.

  ~~~

  Adonia’s muscles and bones had turned to warm honey. She would have slipped from semi-consciousness into sleep, replete with satisfaction, but a heavy weight pressed her with uncomfortable firmness into the diaman slab. Her shoulder blades and tailbone complained—each a point of pain. Hel. She had no sooner thought it than the pressure lightened and the weight lifted. Her thoughts drifted in dazed euphoria and strolled a wandering path to the present.

  “Nia.” Hel relished her lips in a lingering kiss.

  I must ask him to do that more often.

  “Nia, you must rise. We are not finished. There is something I want to show you.”

  Unwilling, she opened an eyelid and caught Hel’s gray gaze, his face scant inches above hers. Soft gold light haloed his head. The effort to keep her eyelid open was too great. “Mmm.” She nodded her head a fraction. “Mmm-hmm. Moment.”

  His deep chuckle vibrated in her ears. “Open your eyes, Nia. You’ll want to see this.”

  “Can’t wait?”

  “No,” he murmured and pressed another soft kiss on her mouth. “Put your arms around my neck.”

  He slid an arm behind her shoulders and another under her knees and lifted her limp body from the dais. She sighed a protest as he placed her on her feet. “Sadist. I don’t have the strength to stand.”

  He stood with his hands on her hips until she steadied. “Open your eyes.”

  “Oh! The tower walls are glowing.” She looked at her bare feet, planted on warm, golden stone. “The chamber floor is glowing.” She turned. “Hel! The dais. Oh, my stars…” The formerly cold, gray, crystal block radiated with amber brilliance. Within, an occasional streak of white lightning blossomed then faded. “The diaman platform is pulsing!” A frown creased her brow. “Tell me it always does this?”

  His sultry smile widened as he slowly shook his head. “Normally this lesser rite for heat and flame generates only enough energy to empower the small crystals on the floor. I’ve never seen it make the walls and dais glow. I’ve always wondered what the rites would be like with a powerful partner.” He cocked his head and those gray eyes of his seemed to look into her soul. “However uncomfortable it makes you, you have an exceptionally strong link to our Mother. With even minimal schooling, you will be an exceptional magistra.” He bared his teeth in a predatory grin. “I’ll enjoy every lesson.”

  His eyes lit as he examined her, and she remembered she stood before him nude. She couldn’t hold his gaze and dropped her eyes. The pattern engraved into the floor finally registered. “The lines form a sun with flaming rays. I hadn’t noticed before.”

  “Yes. Our House is DeHelios. In the old form it means, ‘of the sun’ or ‘bringer of light’.”

  “Ah. May I have my dress, please?”

  “I prefer you naked.”

  “Ummm.” She reached and gently tugged her gown from his loose grasp. While she slipped her dress over her head and settled it on her shoulders, Hel stepped into his pants. He gathered the rest of their clothing and her mynx coat and laid it across the dais.

  “Let’s get these baskets filled and to Bernard. I told him to meet us on the first floor chamber. Turn, I’ll fasten you.” His warm hands did a few hooks at the nape of her neck, then at her waist. When she pulled her hair over her shoulder, he nuzzled a kiss below her ear. “I’m not doing all of your hooks. I’ll have this dress off you again, shortly.”

  What did he have in mind? More sex? While the idea wasn’t without its appeal, she needed a little more recovery time—and a bath. At bare minimum, she needed a wash cloth. The results of their last encounter bathed her thighs. I wonder if I could get pregnant? She straightened. Why hasn’t this occurred to me before? Probably because she hadn’t had sex in over two years and her courses had been irregular to nonexistent in the years prior. I’ll need maiden’s clover. The thought of using the contraceptive herb brought a heaviness of heart. I would like his child. Strange—she had never had those thoughts with Klaran.

  ~ ~ ~

  “My lady, my lord.” Bernard’s deep bow greeted them as they stepped off the mechanical lift. Echoes of “magistra,” uttered in reverent voices accompanied his. Several of the townsmen stood alongside Bernard and began to remove the baskets filled with glowing crystal from the lift.

  “I cannot describe my emotions when I saw the gray walls of the Torre Bianca gleam amber.” Bernard seemed almost giddy in his happiness. “For the first time in years, you give us hope, Lady Adonia. Goddess, bless you, you give us hope.”

  Confronted with his fervent, joyous face, Adonia searched for an adequate reply. Her eyes sent an appeal toward Hel, but he simply stood and grinned like an idiot.

  “Ah…glad to help,” she stuttered. Gah…glad to help? Great Mother. Well, no one would accuse her of a polished tongue.

  “I’m taking Nia to the subterranean grotto.” Hel wrapped a warm hand around her upper arm and began to draw her away.

  Bernard’s eyebrows shot up. “Could she? When Lady Athena failed?”

  “Yes, I believe so.” Hel nodded and continued to lead her toward a small arched door at the far end of the chamber.

  The indigo painted door opened onto a narrow stone stairway that wound down into darkness. A humid gust of hot air brushed her face. Two small lanterns hung on brackets fixed to the wall.

  “Here.” Hel handed her one lantern and kept the other for himself. He placed an amber diaman crystal inside each. Amplified by mirrors inside, each lantern cast a circle of light. Slipping past her, with a murmured, “Follow me,” Hel began a descent into darkness.

  “Remember the hot pool at the beginning of our journey? The small grotto?” Hel’s voice and the scrape of their shoes on the steps echoed hollowly off the diaman crystal walls.

  “Yes.” I remember every second, every word, every touch...

  “I am taking you to another. It is also the source of the heat in the tower. Torre Bianca sits on a thermal feature. Her walls have ducts to vent the rising hot air, though in the past they were little used.”

  As they descended further and further into blackness, the temperature rose. Condensation dampened the walls and slicked the steps. Soon moist tendrils of hair adhered to her cheeks and Adonia reached back to hold her hair off her neck. “It is hot down here.”

  “Yes…and we’re here.”

  She followed Hel around a corner. An exotic and incredible sight spread before her. A huge lake of clear water covered the base of a vast natural cavern that extended beyond sight. Radiance filtered up through the water and played across the stone walls in ripples of green and gold. The walls themselves shone here and there with a luminous glow as if nature herself refused to hide her glory in darkness.

  “Ohhh…Hel…never, I’ve never…” She had no words to describe the splendor.

&nbs
p; “Staggering, isn’t it? Grotta D'oro is one of Nyth Uchel’s best kept secrets.”

  Hel set his lantern on the rock floor and pulled Adonia into his arms. A gleam lit his gaze—one she had seen last in the Chambre Cristalle.

  “What?” She eyed him suspiciously.

  His busy hands freed her gown.

  “I think you need a hot bath.”

  She nodded and pulled her dress over her head. “Umm-hmm. Is that all?”

  “Perhaps. Probably. We’ll see.” Suddenly sober, Hel stepped back and started shrugging out of his clothes. Adonia didn’t think she would ever tire of seeing his nude body. He entered the water and held a hand back toward her.

  She stood on the shore and eyed his extended hand. “Perhaps. Probably. We’ll see? Somehow, I’m not reassured.”

  He simply smiled. “Come.”

  She obeyed and took his hand.

  “Mmm, the water feels wonderful.” Though she stood waist-deep, she could clearly see her feet outlined in the green-gold light. “Where does the light come from this far underground?”

  “Organisms live in this lake that interact chemically with the natural mineral deposits.”

  Adonia had lived her entire life in an arid desert. This much water was an unknown to her. The unknown made her uneasy. In a body of water this large, her brain suddenly produced images of flesh-eating aquatic snakes or acid-squirting mollusks. “Um, animal life or plant life?”

  Hel walked further into the water and sank to his neck. “A little of each, I would imagine. Come here.”

  “Ah…I’m good, thanks.”

  His hand beckoned. “Nia.”

  With a grimace, she part walked and part dog-paddled her way to him. It should be safe. He’s the one with the dangly bits.

  Hel sat on a natural rock ledge and pulled her onto his lap, facing him. Inches from her face, his gaze lingered on her. She didn’t trust the glint in his eyes. It didn’t matter. The kisses he pressed to her mouth soon destroyed her ability for logical thought. She could feel the lips of her pussy grow fat with arousal. The bumps of his hard cock between them teased her with his desire. His mobile lips paused then drew back, and she opened her eyes. She turned her head to see what had captured his interest.