by Rowan, Cate
With his teeth, he loosened the laces of her trousers, lips in a devilish curl at her sighs of anticipation. He slipped his fingers under the waistband, then between her panties and her skin, and tugged the garments from her legs.
Jilian’s breath caught at the sight of him, naked and hard, above her. He tasted the skin of her stomach, then slid downward in a swirling, tantalizing spiral. With infinite slowness and a torturous softness, he pressed his lips against her. She breathed in as the hum renewed. His tongue gently parted her and slid into her folds.
Miniature explosions of erotic joy rocked her. Yes! her body cried. This is how it’s meant to be.
She cradled his head between her thighs, clenching the silken sheets as he brought her to the edge of release.
“Jilian,” he whispered against her. “I want to be inside you.”
“Yes…” Oh please.
He kissed her intimately. “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.”
Protect me? Puzzled, she watched him pull a pouch from under the pallet, and unwrap…well, it certainly resembled a condom.
Good grief, I’ve lost all control—I didn’t even consider that! She eyed him. “You do think ahead, don’t you?”
“Silk sheets, candles—I was hoping.” He grinned like a wicked Greek god.
While he rolled it on, she leaned up to lick his neck. Alvarr sighed and tilted his chin to give her better access; the heady power of her touch spiraled through her veins. She kissed her way down to his nipple, ran her tongue over it, then nipped it between her teeth. He threw his head back, groaning, and intoxicated her to the marrow.
His mouth sought hers and his arms wrapped around her, hauling her close. He guided her down to the pallet and lay upon her, his strong body covering hers from lips to toes. Sheer pleasure from the male weight of him lit her body on fire from within.
He slid his fingers through her hair. “Jilian,” he said, in a quiet, hungry voice.
“Alvarr,” she whispered. She opened her thighs and raised herself to him.
He entered her swiftly, as if finally released to fly. They wrapped their arms around each other to become one, and the erotic hum in their bodies harmonized.
Over and over he rocked into her, harder, deeper. Her fingernails dug into his back as her body urged him further, faster, please, oh…
Then with his deep, final thrust, she reached bliss. She cried out, her voice echoing against the walls… His ragged shout joined hers, and together they exploded into joy.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Alvarr woke beside a heavenly creature. She spooned with him, her curved backside snug against his hips, head nestled on his arm, dark hair a silken veil as she slept.
Ten days… He’d known Jilian for just ten days. And in that time she’d turned his world upside down.
Her breath caressed the arm he’d curled around her. He wished she would always sleep this way—untroubled, nakedly tangled with him…and sated. He smiled. She’d sated him, too. Oh, had she.
It fit that their lovemaking was so explosive. When he’d first touched her hand to awaken her powers, her body had answered his, kyrra to kyrra—a recognition. But more than that—body to body. Heart to heart.
The truth washed through him and set his soul alight.
I love her.
A desperate plan, the wrong woman…and ten days. Ten days and he’d fallen madly in love with a woman born and raised in another world.
She was still tied to that world by someone who had once belonged in his own. What would have happened if Sara had stayed in Teganne? Would he and Jilian have met and fallen in love under easier circumstances?
They could have known each other, perhaps even grown up together. They might have loved each other for years already…
Sighing, he tucked a wayward strand of her hair behind her ear. Likely Sara would have been assassinated along with the other Sources. Even if she hadn’t, she’d never have met Jilian’s otherworld father. Jilian wouldn’t have been conceived.
He settled back, stared up into the shadows and reverently thanked the man who helped give life to the lady at his side.
Jilian sighed in her sleep and curled a hand over his arm. He watched her settle deeper into dreams, then closed his own eyes. Even if all his hopes failed from this day on, he’d be forever grateful for this moment.
An hour later, Jilian woke languidly from her nap. She felt Alvarr’s chest move with his breath, a rhythm deep and steady against her back; he was still asleep. His hand spanned her waist and his warmth curled around her.
She hadn’t awakened in the arms of a man since Matt. It was utterly delicious.
Out of the cynical depths of her mind rose the dark misgivings. They jumped up and down, screaming and ranting. You can’t trust men! He’ll dump you as soon as he’s tired of you. Somewhere deep down, he’s a snake—you’ll see!
Ruthlessly, she squashed the Misgivings under an imaginary giant boot. Surely it was time for new beginnings and shaking off old fears.
She sat up carefully so as not to disturb Alvarr. His eyelashes rested darkly against his skin, his mouth slightly open; with all his cares and duties eased by sleep, his expression reminded her of a little boy. But oh, how the rest of him didn’t.
His broad, world-bearing shoulders brought a sensual sigh to her lips. The few candles still burning set the lines of his chest in glorious relief. The rippled muscles of his abdomen moved in and out as he breathed, warming her wickedly. And below that… Oh, yes, he knew how to use his body. She stretched and smiled, catlike.
Her gaze returned to his sleeping face. Looks were all well and good—but if a man didn’t have courage, a kind heart, and integrity, he had nothing worthwhile. Alvarr had those in spades.
She held her hair back with one hand and leaned over to kiss him.
At the contact, his eyes opened, and his lips smiled beneath hers. “You’re as soft as petals.”
“Then,” she said with a light nip on his lower lip, “you should taste me again.”
So he did. Thoroughly.
“Mmmmm.” Jilian slumped and rested her head on his chest, drunk on his kisses.
Alvarr laughed, rolled to his side and trapped her with one muscled thigh. “I’m a long way from finished,” he growled. “But you can wake me like that anytime.”
Before she could reply, a hideous roar and an explosion of flame shot down the tunnel from the cave opening. Jilian screamed and Alvarr covered her with his body, shouting a ward spell. The flames licked close and heat coiled around them, but couldn’t penetrate the ward.
Alvarr cursed. “The stubborn goroth wants its meal. I need your help.” He kissed her roughly and took her hand, then whispered, “Send me kyrra.”
Another blast filled the air with heat and choking smoke. Coughing, Jilian closed her eyes and poured her energy into him, heating herself in unusual places as she did. I’m turned on and yet scared to death—what a combination.
Alvarr bellowed toward the entrance. “Relgin ninlath luvoss!”
A fiery detonation answered him, deflected only by the ward. Claws tore at the stone of the cave mouth, splintering the rock.
He swore under his breath. “The kill hex bounced off the beast like cork off a wall. But if we work this in pieces…”
Fire shot toward them again, and he rolled to his knees and shoved his free palm out. “Passur ist!”
The flames froze in mid-air, crackled into shards of ice and plunged to the floor where they shattered. A scaly hiss gusted in and twisted into a roar. The goroth’s claws redoubled their efforts, cracking the stone like English toffee.
“Piece One: I’ve taken its fire.” Alvarr unsheathed his sword; the ring of it echoed through the cave. He squeezed Jilian’s trembling hand. “Come.”
He sounded so sure of himself that somehow she forced herself to follow, despite the shrieking certainty of every nerve she possessed that she should bolt the other way.
They walked slowly, nakedly, toward the
entrance. Jilian clenched her free hand, fighting the ridiculous urge to cover herself. It was unlikely the monster, which was fiercely ripping out more chunks of rock to widen the hole of its prey, gave a damn that she was starkers.
“Depart, goroth,” snarled Alvarr. “Crawl away to your den, or here you die!”
Four red eyes gleamed before one head flicked out of view on a long neckstalk. The remaining head stared unblinkingly at them both and its serpent-green tongue licked glistening fangs.
The beast’s arm, claws extended like a scorpion’s pincers, hurtled into the passage, raking blindly. They both jumped, but it didn’t have the reach. An outraged screech resembling a twelve-car interstate collision rattled Jilian’s eardrums and shook the cavern. Before she’d recovered from that blast, its slimy green tongue shot toward them.
The prince’s sword flashed. Jilian jumped as three feet of glowing green detached tongue smacked the cave floor beside them.
The goroth jerked back its head and severed organ, howling all the way. The relief was short-lived; the other head sped toward them through the enlarged opening, jaws wide.
Jilian surged her power into their joined hands. As if listening to an echo, she felt Alvarr draw her kyrra through his soul into a spell. “Relgin selith oss!”
The goroth’s head grew ashen and ricocheted out as if it had hit an invisible wall. When the sunlight struck it, she saw it had turned to stone. The other head whirled in the air, seething, its severed tongue flailing.
“Begone!” Alvarr shouted.
Two eyes blazed at them, the sun’s rays forming an eerie nimbus around the remaining head. The goroth’s forked tail shot into the entrance, straight at Alvarr’s heart.
His blade sliced. Armored with spiral scales, the tail didn’t sever from the blow—but sheer force bent it, forcing drops from the dual tips. “Ware, Jilian!”
Chartreuse globules splattered the cave walls. Two hit her free arm. She shook them off, but they scalded like acid.
The tail whipped back up the tunnel. She bit her lip to clamp down on a moan of pain. Alvarr pulled her toward the cave mouth and hurled another kyrra-laden spell.
“Relgin morveth oss!”
The second head with its severed tongue froze in place. The beast stilled for a moment, and all noise seemed to stop. Two heartbeats thudded in Jilian’s chest. Had they won?
The goroth heaved its stony heads behind it and sped its massive body toward the entrance. Alvarr released Jilian’s hand—no!—and rushed to meet it.
As the beast crashed against the rock, Alvarr vaulted through the air and plunged his sword into the beast’s chest.
It pulled backwards, legs scrambling on the earth, yanking Alvarr from the cave.
Jilian charged forward, holding her wounded arm. Alvarr landed nimbly on his feet, still gripping the sword thrust deep into the goroth’s chest. Its stone heads twisted on their frozen neckstalks, then stood stark upright.
The beast sank to the ground, heads crumbling like ancient ruins from their stalks.
Alvarr corkscrewed toward the cave. “Jilian! Are you all right?”
She took a breath, in shock. Death, and nakedness…and pain…
“Jilian?”
“The tail…” She held out her forearm, and was horrified to see the skin disintegrating. The red muscle beneath glistened.
He bolted toward her and took her hand. “Don’t look at it. Link with me!”
Light-headed, she closed her eyes. As she tried to imagine the pipe, the edges of her mind darkened and the shadows grew.
“Jilian, stay with me! Concentrate.”
She licked her dry lips. Surely she’d float away if he weren’t holding her. Gazing down, she spied her ravaged arm again and her knees gave way. She slumped to the passage floor, cradled in Alvarr’s arms.
He grasped her chin and yanked her head, which had somehow loosened upon its axis, to face him. “Look at me!”
“Hurts.” Have to focus. Can’t think…
“My love, stay with me. Send your kyrra. I’ll heal you!”
Send kyrra, he said, the kyrra…
My love?
Pain shrouded her entire body, ripping her mind to shreds. She fought it, tried to push through to the surface. He called me his love…
He loves me.
She lolled against him, muscles weakening. The poison slowed her lungs and she gasped each breath. Agonized, she slid the fingers of her good hand around his neck. “Alvarr,” she whispered, “I love you, too.”
Closing his eyes, lids trembling, he leaned into her touch and kissed her palm. “Then stay. Send me kyrra so I can help you.”
The power…send…why do I hurt like this?
“Jilian, please, Love!”
Should go to sleep. Then I won’t feel it. Sleep.
“Concentrate. Give me energy. Fill the barrel!”
She groaned and pushed ineffectually at him. Why couldn’t he just let her sleep?
Fill the barrel…
A pipe. Need a pipe. Send lights into it. She furrowed her brow.
“That’s it, love. More, Jilian, please, more…”
Trickles of energy floated through her body, a gentle flow like the ripple of water at the edge of a lake… He held her scorched arm tightly, but the pain was already a dark chasm, too deep for rescue. She fell into it willingly, aching for the relief of death.
As if shouted from the top of a ravine a great height above, she heard incomprehensible words rushing toward her. They surrounded her, cocooned her, tugged her from the dive. The obsidian floor of the gorge fell away, but still she floated between the cliffs, caught between the worlds.
“Send your power.”
She heard his desperate words through the shroud and followed them like a trail through Hell. Warm trickles of energy called her. She touched them, shaped them into a stream and pushed it into him.
Pain spiked through her chest and arm as the toxin fought magic’s force, but slowly, inexorably, it receded. The shroud peeled away as Alvarr chanted, rocking her. Her nerves cooled until all that was left was an abiding ache, a remnant of death.
He pressed his lips upon hers, his breathing labored. “Jilian, Jilian. Stay.” He kissed her chin, her forehead, both closed eyelids.
She opened her eyes to see his own above her, wide and worried.
“I love you, Jilian na Sara,” he murmured. “Why Fate did this I don’t know, but I love you. And now that I’ve found you, I cannot lose you!”
“I’m here.” She smiled, exhausted, almost boneless, yet whole. “I’m here. With you.”
And as she gazed into his silver eyes, she knew she could never abandon him.
At the moment our paths crossed, everything changed. She touched his cheek and felt the warm pendant of her oath shift against her skin.
I love him. My God, do I.
I’ll do all I can to help him, even if it means my death. He’s done no less for me.
After I take the starlace to my mother, I’ll return to Teganne. My life is his now, whatever comes.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
When Alvarr and Jilian returned to their camp, they found their gear scattered by the goroth’s passage but mostly intact. However, their fydds were long gone. Jilian’s heart sank at the thought of how many days it would take them to walk to Ysanne.
Alvarr proved himself a fine tracker, though, and had the mounts located and coaxed back into their bridles within an hour. Jilian and Alvarr finished tacking up and headed home.
As each day dawned, she felt a growing urgency about her mother’s health, but there was little she could do except return to the portal in Ysanne with the starlace. With the herb safe in the bag at Alvarr’s belt, she told herself it would all work out, that it must, and buried her growing disquiet under his company and caresses.
Fortunately, he knew a very effective way of distracting her. Well, far more than one, she thought with a smug smile as she laid her cheek on his moonlit chest. Actually, h
e was pretty inventive.
“This,” Jilian said, “is much better than sleeping alone.” She flicked her tongue playfully at his nipple.
“Mmmm.” He wrapped his arms around her, rolled and captured her beneath him. His sensual smile promised more loving. “Not done yet?”
She slid her hand behind his neck and pulled him down to her. “How can I be?” she whispered into his ear. “All I have to do is look at you or touch you, and I want you again.”
Alvarr responded just as a wise man should.
At last Jilian, who had made it back on top, slumped happily against him. “Okay, maybe that will do for a while. I think you’ll wear out my parts.”
“Me?” he chuckled. “I may have to get my Image to stand in for me. You’re insatiable.” One hand rubbed her lower back as he kissed her forehead.
She sighed in contentment. “It’s funny how everything’s changed between us. I wonder if everyone else in Ysanne will be surprised, too.”
His chest went rigid beneath her cheek.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, glancing up.
“Nothing, really. I just don’t think we should tell others yet.”
“Why?” She sat up in confusion.
“Some people…wouldn’t look too kindly on our relationship.” He shook his head. “The issue is a little complicated, that’s all,” he said, and reached to pull her back.
“Really?” Frowning, she leaned away from his hand. “Maybe you should uncomplicate it for me. Right now.”
He reclined on his forearms. “The Old Letters stress that a mage and a Source shouldn’t be lovers, so it may be best not to…divulge our relationship. Others might not understand.”
“Why would these Old Letters of yours have a problem with this?”
He shrugged. “They don’t specify. They’re woefully concise at times, really.” He turned his gaze to the sky, musing. “Perhaps it seemed that their power could become unbalanced.”
She raised a brow, but he was still staring up and didn’t see. “In what way?”
