by Eden Bradley
“Ah, it’s morning, then.” He waited, his brows raised, but she could not answer. “Never mind. It’s not important. I’m glad to see you.”
“Are you?”
Her pulse sped, heated.
He nodded, his watchful gaze on her.
“I shouldn’t be. I shouldn’t care.”
“Neither should I,” she said, her voice a low whisper. She moved closer, laid her palms on the rough iron bars. “I should not be talking with you. I should not know you. I should only desire you, and make you desire me, so that on the day of my Sacrifice we are brought together in irresistible need. But I do know you, or at least part of you.”
“And?”
Her chest went tight, as though a heavy weight rested there, pressing her down into the hard, cool earth. “And I don’t know how I will do this. Sacrifice you to the Goddess.”
He remained silent, but his chest rose and fell with ragged breath.
“Akaash…” Her eyes filled with tears. “I don’t know how I will fulfill my duty to the Goddess. Yet not to do so would mean my death, as well as yours.”
He said quietly, “I don’t want you to die for me.”
“How can you say that? How can you care for me at all, after what has been done to you by the Temple?”
“Because you understand this is wrong.”
She nodded, the tears pouring down her cheeks.
“What will you do, Nitara?”
“What can I do but obey the laws of the Temple, handed down by the Goddess herself, to ensure the continuation of the human race? My responsibilities are…enormous. But I don’t want them.” She wiped her tears with an angry hand. “I’ve always had doubts. Ever since my mother was taken from me there have been questions in my mind. And recently, it seems as if the Goddess herself is sending messages to me…but it is sacrilege to even think so.”
“I’d comfort you if I could, Nitara.”
His face was soft with sympathy.
“Akaash,” she said, his name coming out on a sob. “I would not see you dead. Tell me what to do.”
He leaned toward her, as much as his chains would allow. “Tell me, is there anyone within the temple you can trust utterly?”
“My sister, Leilin. And my twin brother, Nikkan.”
“Twin?”
“He is the guard who brought me to you the first time.”
“The guards have more freedom than the breeder girls, I would think.”
“Yes, although he is a eunuch, so he remains always in the temple, unlike the Sun Guards, who accompany the priestesses into the city. Why?”
“Can he get a message to anyone outside of the temple?”
“I don’t know. But I’ll find out. Tell me what I will do if he can?”
“I must try to get a message to Dhatri. To the people of my clan. Even shamed as I am, they may help me to escape.”
“None have ever escaped, that I know of.”
“I must try. Will you help me, Nitara?”
“Yes.”
She was damned in even considering this. She didn’t know how the Goddess, or worse, the angry God of the Sun, might punish her. But she had to try.
“Akaash, if you cannot escape, you will die at my hand. There is no other way. Unless I refuse…”
“And then your people will kill you before they take my life.”
She nodded. The tears were burning in her eyes once more.
“Nitara, if I must die, let it be at your hand. Let me touch you first.”
His own eyes were bright with emotion. She reached through the bars, her finger stroking his cheek, and he held perfectly still. Then he turned his head and laid a soft kiss on her fingertips.
A jolt of need, desire and emotion rocked her body, her mind. Her heart.
“I will try my best, Akaash.”
He nodded.
“Do something for me now, Nitara.”
“I will do whatever you ask.”
“Give me your pleasure.”
She smiled, light filling her heart. He wanted from her the one thing she was able to give.
She stripped her robe off and stood close to the iron bars. His gaze was hungry as she stroked her palms over her belly, her thighs, her breasts.
“Yes, draw out your nipples as I would with my tongue, could I reach you. Ah, beautiful. I’ve never seen anyone so beautiful, Nitara.”
She shivered, holding the hardening flesh of her nipples between her fingers, stroking, pulling on them. Pleasure suffused her. Her clitoris grew hard, needy. The anticipation of awaiting his instruction was strange and thrilling.
“Tell me what you want, Akaash.”
“Part your thighs for me so that I can see your lovely cunt. So pink…I can see how wet you are. I need to taste you again, Nitara.”
She slipped her fingers into her slick juices. She was shaking with need as she held a trembling hand between the bars that separated them, held her damp fingers to his lips, as she had done before. He leaned forward, took her fingers between his lush lips, and sucked.
“Ah, Akaash…”
Pleasure was like the sun, burning into her skin, arcing through her body.
He let her fingers go, but she couldn’t pull away. Instead, she explored the contours of his face, tracing over his mouth, his beard-stubbled chin, finding a long scar on his cheek. It only made him more beautiful, somehow, that he had survived hardship.
He turned his face and kissed her fingers as he had done before, lingering kisses, his lips soft on her skin. She turned her hand over, and he pressed his mouth to her palm. Her heart fluttered in her chest.
She felt stunned by his touch. Immobilized.
“Nitara,” he whispered, his breath warm on her palm. “Come for me.”
It was only then, at his instruction, that she was able to pull away from him, but only far enough that he could watch her.
She spread her legs and slipped one hand between them, her fingers feathering over her hard clit. She was hot all over, sweat dampening her skin. His gaze on her was purely erotic, as was the cool air on her skin, her own long hair brushing her spine. She began to rub, circling her clitoris with her fingertips.
“Beautiful, Nitara. Show me what brings you pleasure. Show me exactly how to please you.”
She raised her free hand to her breast and caressed the full flesh, pinching the nipple lightly.
“A little pain mixes well with pleasure. The contrast of hard and soft. I know it well.” His voice was ragged with desire. He was up on his knees now, his hips arching into the air. His engorged cock was clearly outlined beneath the thin layer of fabric. “I would touch you the same way. And I would have you touch me. I would have you touch me now…”
“It is forbidden,” she said, watching him, still stroking her swollen cleft.
“Yes…” His dark gaze was burning. “Do it, anyway.”
She pressed against the bars, one hand still working between her thighs. And with the other she reached through and touched her fingertips to his loincloth.
“Ah, Nitara…”
His eyes closed momentarily. Then they were on her again, burning hotter than ever.
She traced the outline of his cock through the fabric, and he moaned. She wet her lips with her tongue as she moved it aside and looked at his solid shaft, the head swollen and purple, making her mouth water.
“I’ve never seen this before. I have seen drawings from the sacred texts, the clay phallus used to train me. But never did I imagine it to be so…beautiful.”
He smiled. “I’m glad you find it so.”
“I want to touch it…”
“Yes.”
She wrapped her fingers around his cock, and it was hard as the iron bars that stood between them. But the flesh was soft, softer than her own. She began to stroke, pausing to cup his balls, then stroking again.
“Nitara…” His voice was a hard gasp. “I can’t take this for long. Not after you’ve tortured me with your body all these days.
But I want you to come with me.”
“Yes, Akaash.”
She worked her clit with her fingers, pressing, pinching, pleasure a strong, steady rhythm in her blood. One she kept time with in stroking his cock. He grew even harder, his hips pumping. Her own were thrusting in time, into her hand. Her legs grew weak, and she rested her weight against the bars, the cold iron a strange and lovely contrast against her aching breasts, the flesh of her belly.
They were moaning together, panting. She had never imagined the power of sex between a man and a woman, so different from her training with Xian. Akaash was more primal, more purely sexual—his body, his scent.
Finally it was too much for her. Her body clenched, pleasure pouring through her in a hot tide, heavy and thick. She shook with the force of her climax, her mind going blank of everything but her pleasure, and his, as he arched into her fisted hand.
“Ah, Nitara…”
He pumped hard, and she felt the heat and the wet of his come flow into her palm. She was still shivering with her own climax as he came. She felt as if they were oddly connected. One orgasm. One overpowering sensation.
“Akaash…”
She fell against the bars, her hand slipping from his softening cock.
She was weak all over. And afraid.
What had she done? Surely the Goddess would punish them both. But at this moment, it seemed worth any punishment.
“Nitara.” He had settled back on his knees. His face was so beautiful, she could barely stand to look at him. But she couldn’t draw her gaze away. “Stay with me. How long can you stay?”
“Another hour or more. I don’t want to go.”
She reached for him again, taking his hand. He squeezed her fingers in his. His skin was rough. Warm.
“I cannot bear to leave you,” she told him. “I cannot bear that you will die.”
“We must find a way for me to escape. And you must come with me.”
“What? Leave the Temple?”
Her heart thumped, fear rising, threatening to choke her. But just as frightening was the idea of never seeing him again.
“Will you do it? Come with me, if we can find a way? Will you stay with me, Nitara? Live with me in the Wasteland?”
His gaze was steady on hers, his hand gripping until it hurt.
She knew she could not let him go without her.
“Yes,” she whispered, knowing she was damned either way. She would lose everything that was familiar to her. Or she would lose him. Perhaps both. And perhaps even her life in the process. But she would do it. “Yes,” she said again, her voice stronger this time. “If we can find a way, I will come with you.”
Chapter Four
Akaash watched the doorway for a long time after Nitara left. His body was still humming with pleasure, his mind whirling with possibilities.
Would escape truly be an option? He knew Nitara would do whatever she could. He felt in his gut that she would be true to her word. If he did manage to get out of this alive, she would go with him.
He couldn’t think any further than that. He understood too much depended on her siblings’ willingness to help. And that if either of them were more loyal to the temple than to their sister, it could mean death for both him and Nitara.
The idea of his own death didn’t scare him. Death was part of the cycle of human existence, something a warrior and hunter faced every day. But he couldn’t bear to think of anything happening to her.
His body yearned for her, his cock hard again already. But his heart yearned just as much.
This girl had touched him deeply. Her innocence. Her sweetness. Her sincerity. His feelings for her were different than what he felt for Dhatri, his partner of ten years. His love for Dhatri was deep and abiding, strong with history. What he felt for Nitara was a sort of tenderness he’d never felt with a man. More tenuous, being new. But powerful.
Maybe something in him responded to her femininity. The female Wanderers were different from the women of the temple. They were as fierce as the men, with none of Nitara’s softness. She was like some ethereal creature. And her blatant sexuality combined with her innate sweetness was devastating.
His cock rose, hardened even more. He was certain that even without the drugs he wouldn’t be able to get enough of her.
Footsteps in the outer hall had him on the alert, and he sat up, but relaxed as he saw Nitara enter. A guard was with her, and he had one tense moment, wondering if they had been overheard earlier. But he saw immediately that it was her twin brother.
“Akaash, this is Nikkan.”
He could see the resemblance in their pale green eyes, curving cheekbones and fair skin. Nikkan’s hair was a shade darker, but they had the same mouth, the same solemn expression.
Nikkan’s voice was soft, youthful. “My sister has told me of your plans. I want to help.”
Akaash bowed his head in gratitude. “I know this puts you at great risk, Nikkan.”
He shrugged, the casual motion at odds with his serious expression. “My life is nothing but service to the Temple, and will never be more. To give my sister the opportunity to have some choice in her path will be worth the risk. We’ll also speak to our older sister, Leilin. She will be willing to help in any way she can. Tell me what I must do.”
Akaash leaned forward, keeping his voice low. “Can you get a message into the city?”
Nikkan nodded. “One of the Sun Guards, Hel, is a loyal friend. He goes there regularly.”
“A note must be delivered to a trader I know there. He’ll get a message to my clan, and to my bonded partner, Dhatri. This is how you’ll find him.”
They spent the next hour making plans, then Nikkan left Akaash alone with Nitara. Her face was tense with strain, her hands wringing.
“Is this too much for you, Nitara? It’s a lot to ask, I know.”
“It’s frightening. I understand what the cost may be, if we’re unsuccessful. To us both, and to Nikkan and Leilin, if their involvement is discovered. I feel selfish, asking them to do this for me. Except that it is for you, regardless of what happens to me. I cannot accept your life being taken, even in service to the Goddess. It seems…cruel. Unnecessary.”
“The citizens thirst for blood as much as they do for sex. The rituals of your temple give them these things. It helps to keep them under control.”
“I’d never thought of it that way before.”
“You’ve been taught to exist on blind faith.”
“Yes. I’ve always thought there was something lacking in me that I questioned our ways. But do the people of the Wanderer clans live without questioning their god and goddess?”
“We’re an independent people.” He grinned. “And we love nothing more than a good argument.”
She smiled, and some of the tension he’d been holding in his neck and shoulders eased.
“You’re beautiful, Nitara.”
She knelt before the iron bars, reaching for him and grasping his hand. “So are you.”
That made him smile. “I’ve never thought of what I look like. Dhatri seems pleased enough with me. So have the other lovers we’ve taken, separately and together.”
“I hadn’t thought to ask…but Akaash, if we manage to leave this place, to go into the Wasteland, back to your lover, what will happen?”
“I can’t say for certain. You’ll be unusual to our people. Rare. Desirable. Dhatri will find you beautiful. Among the Wanderers, we take lovers as we choose. Dhatri and I are bonded, which means we live together, sleep together. But we take other lovers, male and female.”
“You said separately and together...”
“It does nothing to change our bond.”
“So…” Nitara bit her lip. “Does that mean that I would be with you, and with him?”
“That will be up to you. And to him.”
Her green eyes were enormous, pleading. “But I will not be separated from you?”
His fingers tightened around hers. “Not unless you wish it. Ther
e may be another of my clan you find more attractive.”
“Never!”
He laughed. “You haven’t seen them yet.”
“And I may never.”
“That’s true. How long do we have, Nitara? I have no sense of time in this place.”
“You’ve been here for sixteen days. There are two weeks remaining until my Taming Moon is over, and it is time for my Sacrifice.”
“Why is it called the Taming Moon?” Akaash asked.
“Our Goddess is the Loving Moon, our God the Angry Sun. The female spirit can tame the wildness, the hunger and anger of the male, through seduction. It is only through Her love that the God’s anger can be tamed, allowing human life to flourish on the earth once more. This month, the period of one moon, is to be used to tame the Sacrifice, so they will be calm and accepting for the ritual.”
He stroked the back of her hand with his fingers. Her skin was warm. His cock was hard again. It had been since the moment she’d walked into the room, and nearly every moment she’d been absent. But it was pulsing with need now.
“Tame me once more, Nitara.”
She smiled, let his hand go and stood to let her robe slip from her shoulders and flutter to the floor. She stood before him, all lush breasts and full hips, her skin flushed and glowing in the amber light of the torch.
“Akaash, I cannot wait to feel your hands on my body. On my breasts. On my thighs. And between them.”
Her hand lowered, caressed her naked sex.
“Ah, you torture me, Nitara.”
“Do you want me to stop?”
“No. Never.”
She kept her gaze on his and rubbed the swollen nub of her clitoris. Soon her hips were arching, her breath coming in gasping pants. His cock was a hammering pulse, heavy with desire.
“Nitara…make yourself come. For me.”
“Yes, for you, Akaash.”
She rubbed her fingers over the lips of her sex, the moisture glistening in the dim light. He was dying to touch her, to taste her skin.
“I wish it were my hand there, Nitara. My mouth. My cock. I need you…”
She dropped to her knees, reached through the bars and took his cock in her small hand once more. Pleasure arrowed deep into his belly.
