by Unknown
This gave me a perfect view of the wall directly across from us. My pulse began to race... and not in a good way. I don't know how I'd failed to notice it before, I guess I'd been too distracted by everything else to see the open length of wall with gold manacles embedded into the stone. There were pairs of them set at floor level and much higher; high enough to draw someone's arms above their heads. The manacles gaped open at their hinges, like the mouths of predators waiting for new victims, and there was more than one set of them. Three sets of manacles all in a row. Three!
Bondage had kind of lost its appeal for me awhile back but manacles, especially gold ones, really upset me. They reminded me too much of Anubis and it was sort of ironic that I found them in Re's bedroom. I took a shaky breath and looked away; straight up into a mirror. There were multiple gold-framed mirrors, set at different angles around the ceiling, giving me all kinds of interesting perspectives of the erotic playground.
“God damn freaky Egyptians gods,” I whispered as I turned back to face the rest of the room.
I looked back toward the bed and realized that the gold hooks holding all the pretty silk around it, were thick and appeared capable of holding something much heavier than cloth. Another glance at the floor revealed small metal loops hidden within the rays of the sun and a crevice in the floor which circled the bed. Near the back, a suspicious gold post stood. There was a handle on top of it. What the hell was that for?
“Vervain?” Re stepped in front of me, blocking out the sight of the astonishing bed.
“You're a perv!” I accused him.
“A bit of one, yes,” he gave me an apprehensive smile. “This is what I wanted to show you. Do you think you can handle my tastes?”
“I don't know,” I slipped around him and stepped down from the terraced area. “Do I have to sign a contract before we have sex?”
“What?” He followed me.
“It's like Fifty Shades of Gold in here,” I waved a hand behind me at the particularly disconcerting area.
“Oh,” he chuckled as his expression cleared. “Uh, no, there's no contracts and I don't want to hurt you in any way. I just like pleasure... both giving and receiving.”
“Who doesn't like pleasure?” I looked back at him. “But this is a little extreme.”
“Says the polyamorous love goddess,” he gave me a cocky look.
“I know,” I held up a hand. “And I admit, I've been adventurous. But before anything happens between us... no chains, Re. I can't stand being chained.”
“I... ,” he swallowed hard and nodded. “I understand. Look, this isn't about dominance or submission for me. I'm neither a sadist nor a masochist. I don't need you tied up and helpless or begging me for mercy. It's just about finding ways to magnify the joys of the sexual experience and I hope I can show you what I mean by that.”
“I hope so too,” I whispered.
“Pleasure,” he took my hand. “A love goddess should be fine with exploring all forms of it.”
“I should be, yes,” I tried to breathe through the rising tide of lust that suddenly hit me. I wasn't sure if it was my Lust magic or my Lion. Maybe it was both. They could be ganging up on me, I wouldn't put it past them.
“But?” Re led me to a set of low couches off to the right side of the room.
It was a less lusty side; just a sitting area in front of another wide arch which led to the wrap-around balcony. There was a fireplace set into the wall, looking a little strange within the Egyptian architecture. Still, it was hardly the most startling addition to the room so I barely spared it a glance.
“But this feels like cheating,” I confessed as I took a seat. “I don't know why but all of these... extras just makes it feel more so.”
“Are you being unfaithful?” He asked earnestly. “Because we don't have to do this. We've yet to cross a line that can't be uncrossed.”
He had leaned forward to speak and now his face was too close and way too beautiful. I inhaled sharply as my control broke and my lioness took over. With one move, I pushed him back into the couch and his shocked eyes met mine briefly before I set my mouth to his. I felt him go hard between us in an instant, ready to take everything I gave him, and his arms circled me almost violently.
Tongues twirling, hands grasping, clothes tearing, he lifted me and carried me to that garish bed. We fell through the curtains and I landed on top of him. Half of my clothes were already gone and I yanked the rest away as I bit at his lips, growling low in my throat. Enough with the waiting, enough wanting. The hunt was over, it was time to claim my kill and feast.
I reached between us and tore his pants away. Yep, just like that. You'd be surprised what a lioness in heat can do. The pants shredded and I tossed the remnants aside as Re inhaled sharply. He stared up at me with wide eyes, hands lifting to slide over my stomach and then up to my chest. He was gentle for a bare second before his fingers clenched and kneaded at me deep. It was the perfect response to my predator and I cried out, lifting my head as the magic lifted inside me.
Lion blended with Lust and I fell on him wildly, reaching between us to grip him and direct him home. We both cried out in completion and I set my hands to his chest to start the tribal tempo that would truly complete us. Fingers digging in his golden skin, I pounded against him as the light of lust filled me. A blushing pulse, starting inside my chest but spreading with every touch, every heartbeat. It grew stronger and stronger, deeper in color and intensity, till it lifted up and hovered beneath my skin.
Everywhere I touched Re or was touched by him, my skin would light up in response. A crimson glow of magic seeking contact. It seeped into him, collecting until it burst up through him and rushed back into me through our joined lips. He groaned as Lust tingled through our kiss but I knew it wasn't stopping there. The magic surged back down into me and entered him again through my sex, sending ripples of pleasure down my thighs. Back up again it went, creating a circle of sensation that grew more powerful with each pass.
Re shouted in pleasure as the magic reached its apex and exploded out from us in the form of thousands of little stars. They hung suspended above us for a moment and then gently rained down on our skin, sending little jolts of pleasure singing through us wherever they landed. I inhaled sharply through the rush of power it gave me and when I opened my eyes, it was to see Re glowing with the same magical charge. My Lust magic was a very generous lover, it created a power surge from sex but it always shared. Yet even with that tantalizing energy filling me, I fell onto Re's chest, unable to hold myself up any longer. I was sated for the first time in months and that superseded any sexual high.
I breathed roughly against Re's skin, soaking in the relief he'd given me, and basked in the delicious lethargy that finally filled my limbs. My lioness purred in my belly, satisfied at last. This was what we needed, this with him.
Then my eyes flew open in shock as I felt him harden inside me. I pushed up enough that I could look into his face. He was flushed, his lips swollen from my violent kisses but still parting for more. A sheen of sweat covered his brow, collecting golden strands of hair, and as I watched, his eyes filled with heat. The gold warmed, then brightened, lightening to sunlight. Something inside me responded to it and began to shine back... and it wasn't my Lust. It was my Moon and he recognized it immediately.
“Rise again, Sweet Moon,” he whispered. “Rise for your lover, the Sun. Take my light and make it your own. Shine for me.”
He slid his hands around my hips and pulled me up his chest. My eyes widened when he settled me over his mouth. I clutched at the silk hanging before me and wrapped it around my fists to steady myself. As his tongue touched me, a heat seeped through it and into me. No, not heat; light. Sunlight filled me, surging up through that intimate connection to meet the moonlight inside me. They blended together and burst from body, setting my skin to glowing again.
All through the night, the Moon gleamed, but it was the Sun God who rose over and over, till I passed out in his arms.<
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Chapter Sixteen
I woke up before sunrise, just as the sky was starting to lighten, and opened my eyes to see Re's face on the pillow beside me. He looked almost normal in that half-light, with those metallic eyes shut and his striking features softened with sleep. But he wasn't normal, he wasn't human, and neither was I. Not entirely. If I had been, I wouldn't be lying there, pondering why I felt so guilty. I wouldn't be there at all. So why was I feeling guilty?
“Because one woman shouldn't have all this,” I whispered and turned away from Re. “What am I doing?” I hung my head in my hands and replayed the previous night in my head. “I don't even recognize myself. I don't want to do this,” I stood and blinked at the rising sun, streaming in through the arched balcony doors. Then I looked over to his collection of sex toys. “I don't want this,” I said to them, almost in accusation, even though we hadn't used any of them. “I don't want to be this woman.”
I picked up my clothes and pulled them on before I rushed from the room and down the wide staircase like Cinderella fleeing the Ball. As I passed a sitting room, I heard Bastet call out to me but I kept going, heading straight for the tracing room down the hall. It was a small room, as most tracing rooms are, its only purpose was to let people in and out of a territory... and I wanted out. Right now. Get me outta here! I rushed inside and called out the chant to take me home.
In seconds, the magic took hold of me, changing my solid form into mere thoughts, and I went hurtling through the uniting realm of the Aether. I emerged in the tracing room of Pride Palace, taking a huge gulp of air into my reformed lungs. I stood there a moment, panting in panic, though I wasn't sure why. It wasn't like Re was gonna chase me home and even if he did, he wouldn't try and drag me back with him to strap me to his love wall. I'm sure he'd respect any decision I made. And yet... my heart was pounding in fear, my hands shaking, and my legs trembling.
“Minn Elska?” Trevor's hands were suddenly on my arms and I was falling forward into his embrace.
I began to cry violently and he pulled me in closer, rubbing my back soothingly. He didn't even ask what was wrong, just picked me up and carried me back into the elevator he'd stepped out of.
The whole ride up to the top floor, I cried and he made gentle sounds of reassurance while nuzzling my face with his own. Wolf instincts. It was exactly what I needed. My own wolf huffed in satisfaction, rising to reconnect with Trevor as I breathed in his spicy musk. Slowly, I began to get control of myself and reason seeped back in.
I shouldn't have this luxury. I shouldn't get to break down on Trevor. He didn't deserve it and I didn't deserve him. Of all the people in our combined marriage, I was the one who had the least to complain about. How dare I cry because I slept with another man? It was stupid and immature. I sniffed and swiped at my face angrily as he stepped out of the elevator and carried me into our bedroom.
“I'm sorry, Honey-Eyes,” I whispered. “I'm okay now.”
“No, you're not,” he said resolutely and carried me past our bed and through the French doors which led into the Butterfly Garden. He knew how much it calmed me to be out among the sweet flowers and gliding butterflies. “I know this isn't what you wanted. I know you think it should just be you and me, that marriage is between two people only, but this isn't what we were handed. You hold a magic that comes with conditions and if I want to hold you, I have to deal with those conditions... and I do want to hold you.”
“I know,” I whispered. “And it's completely unfair of me to be upset by this. You guys have the short end of the stick.”
“I don't care what end of the stick I have,” he grinned down at me as he continued to carry me down the pebbled path towards the clearing in the middle of the garden, “as long as you're holding the other end.”
“Da, me too,” Kirill came up behind us. “It vill become easier, Tima. You know zis is hardest part.”
I sighed and laid my head on Trevor's shoulder, looking up at the sky revealed through the mesh covered latticework of the garden's roof. The sun was climbing higher and my precious butterflies were out, flitting from bloom to bloom, and adding their vibrant colors to the rest of the visual concert. Nick leaped out of the underbrush and I tapped Trevor to let me down as my gray tabby cat ran over to us.
“Hey, Baby,” I whispered as I sank onto the soft grass beside him.
I filled my fingers with his striped fur and he climbed into my lap and began to purr. The Butterfly Garden was calming but nothing eased my tensions better than a purring cat. Well then again. I smiled as my men settled down beside me and I was surrounded by love.
I leaned into them and with the scent of roses and jasmine heavy in the air, a rumbling cat in my lap, and their arms around me, I felt the peace of home settle over me. I wished that I could stay there with them and not have to wreck this happiness. Just lie back and watch the butterflies as I languished in love with them. What a life.
“If you don't vant Re, zen ve vill find someone else,” Kirill stroked his fingers through my hair and started rubbing my scalp. “It vill be okay.”
“You will not find someone else,” Re declared as he strode up the path. All three of us gaped at him as he set himself right before us and stared hard at me. Nick jumped up and ran off into the bushes as Re continued. “You and I shared something wondrous last night, something beyond sex. We touched more intimately than I've ever experienced. My sun melded with your moon, Vervain. That's not something you run away from.”
“I was consumed by my lioness,” I whispered. “It won't be like that again.”
“The hell it won't,” he huffed and went down on one knee before me, taking my hand. “That wasn't just your lioness and it wasn't just our magic. It was us; you and me together. No toys or tricks or anything but you and me. Do you know how rare that is for me? I want that again and I will have it, Vervain. I'm not going to let you hide from me because it scared you.”
“It didn't scare me,” I sat up straight, my hackles instantly rising in response to the challenge.
“Yes it did,” he smirked, knowing full well he was using playground tactics to get his way.
“I'm not scared of anything that happened last night,” I stood up and dropped Re's hand so I could glare down at him.
“I think you are,” he stood to face me and his smile settled into a determined line. “I know I am.”
“What?” I faltered.
“I'm scared, Vervain,” he admitted. “Because what we had was so incredible, just one night of it, that more of the same might make me an addict; a slave to the pleasure you alone can give me. That kind of weakness can destroy a man, even a god.”
“So why are you here?” I asked simply.
“Because it would be both cowardly and foolish to let go now,” Trevor answered for him, as he stood to slide an arm around my waist. Kirill got up as well, his arm sliding around me from the other side so that the three of us faced Re as one unit.
“She is vorth ze veakness,” Kirill added. “In ze end, she makes you stronger.”
“Yes, I think you're right,” Re said without taking his eyes off me. “Come back with me, Vervain. Let's see where this takes us.”
My husbands looked down at me, waiting for me to decide before they gave their support either way. It was their love that helped me reach out and take Re's hand. Before he pulled me forward, I angled myself up to kiss Trevor and then Kirill. Their arms slid away and their palms went to my back, gently easing me towards Re.
That kind of love was so hard for me to understand, even holding the magic of love inside me. I could never have encouraged one of them into the arms of another woman. But in that moment, I didn't feel guilty for having their devotion; I felt lucky. Really damn lucky.
As I walked out of the garden holding Re's hand, I knew it was true. It may make me a greedy bitch but I was grateful for their love and I was hoping to find more of the same.
Chapter Seventeen
“Where are we going?” I asked as Re l
ed me from his tracing room and then out of the palace.
“I thought we'd take a stroll around my territory,” he offered. “I don't show it off very often.”
“No time for sightseeing when you bring a lover home?” I teased.
“I generally don't allow them to stay very long after the screaming is over,” he said simply.
“After the screaming is over?” I laughed. “Who are you?”
“The Sun God, Re,” he stopped to pose with hands on his hips, looking off into the distance.
“Really? Cuz you kinda look like Peter Pan right now,” I rolled my eyes. “I don't know whether to laugh at your ego or smack you silly for it.”
“You can do either,” he shrugged. “Both suggestions make me happy.”
“You're obnoxious,” I said but smiled anyway.
“In-cure-ragible,” he nodded.
“Oh sheesh,” I huffed.
“Come here,” he pulled me down a gravel path. “I want to show you the watercourse.”
“The water horse?” I lifted a brow.
“The watercourse,” he laughed. “It's the river the souls travel down on their journey to paradise.”
“Oh, yay,” I said in a monotone.
“There are snakes,” he promised with lifted brows. “Big ones that breathe fire.”
“Fire-breathing snakes?” I was instantly interested. “Those are my peeps!”
“Yes,” he chuckled. “I guess they are. Come on,” he took my hand and I followed along like an excited toddler.
The sky started to darken the further down the path we went, until finally, it was like the middle of the night. The middle of the night in the middle of nowhere. But then I saw the glow of firelight, enough of it to brighten the darkness and lead our way to the shore. Re took me down to a sandy beach and we stood there, staring out across a wide river.
On our side of the river, there were boats; several flat-bottomed raft-like vessels carrying shadowy humanoid shapes, and one large craft done in an Egyptian style. On the other shore there were six men, staring across at us sternly. They each lifted a hand in salute and Re lifted his in return.
