Nightshade

by Shea Godfrey

  Darry turned and met her eyes.

  She wore but brown trousers and a white tunic that was only half tucked in, her hair tied behind her neck in freshly washed curls. Her feet were bare and she had never looked more wild, her eyes alive with an abundance of color as they moved down Jessa’s body and claimed what was hers.

  Jessa could smell it, the Cha-diah blood. It assaulted her senses in a way she had no chance of stopping, a buzz of dizziness pushing up from the base of her neck and making her sway. She leaned more heavily against the door, grasping for the handle.

  “Shut it,” Darry ordered.

  Jessa stood completely still, uncertain if she should move, uncertain if she even could. The majik in the chamber was unbearably thick, Darry’s scent a living thing as it reached out to her. The musk moved against her skin, and when she took a breath, it poured down her throat like the brazen touch of Pentab Fire.

  Jessa tipped her head back and parted her lips as she exhaled in a push of breath. A quiver of arousal slid along her sex and everything tightened, aching with need.

  “Shut the door, Jess.”

  Jessa’s spirit flowed at the command and she was instantly wet. Her grip twisted on the handle of the door and she took a tentative step, then another, pulling the door around and then pushing against it until it swung shut. The click of the latch was like a mountain falling within her head.

  And then she waited, resting her forehead against the wood and closing her eyes, faint beneath her own heartbeat. She heard nothing, but when Darry’s scent intensified she knew she was close, and her blood knew it as well.

  The breath was hot beside her ear. Just that. Just a breath.

  Jessa’s majik rose up in self-defense. It faltered at first but then pumped with confidence through her veins. Essa tua Vhaelin, she prayed, and felt a profound swell of fear at the absolute force of it, at the raging in her ears. The Cha-diah scent wove itself within her own blood, lush and wild. Jessa let out a low moan of appreciation. Is this how you feel, Akasha? Bloody hell…

  Another breath. Just that. Just a breath.

  Jessa wanted to be touched, and she pushed back, her hips finding what she needed.

  Darry slid an arm about Jessa’s waist and stepped against her, thrusting her pelvis against Jessa’s backside and pinning her against the door. She pushed the dark hair aside and rubbed her face against Jessa’s neck. And then she tasted her with her tongue, and Jessa’s entire body jerked and her hips pushed back yet again.

  Strong hands were at her throat and the brooch that held Jessa’s cloak came free, both the garment and the pin tossed aside. Just the slightest brush of Darry’s fingers against her throat and Jessa thought she might spend.

  Darry took her by the shoulders and turned her about, their eyes meeting as her hand found Jessa’s stomach.

  “You won’t hurt me.” Jessa took a quick breath, seeing something other than desire in Darry’s gaze. Her breasts were aching and her legs heavy with need. Jessa was unable to feel anything but her want. She was more than willing to risk whatever she had to for satisfaction. Though looking into Darry’s eyes, she wondered if surrender might have consequences that her majik would not submit to. “You may do as you like.”

  Jessa let out a cry as Darry yanked her tunic open. Her body jerked forward. Darry’s open mouth was on hers and Jessa was trapped against the door beneath Darry’s strength, beneath a kiss meant to consume her.

  She pulled blindly at the tie in Darry’s hair and freed the curls and shoved her hands within them. She moaned at the stroking heat in her mouth and the fierceness of the full lips against her own. Darry reached between their bodies and ripped the stitching on Jessa’s skirt. Her right hand slid beneath the waist and undergarment, then her fingers moved through the soft hair between Jessa’s legs.

  Jessa pushed against the caress, tightening her hands in Darry’s hair and yanking her head back. She had never been so seduced by the aura of another power, not ever. No majik had ever enticed her so completely that she had no control over her own reaction to it.

  “I thought you were a panther,” she taunted her, then hissed at the fingers that squeezed her flesh, slick within her spirit. “Where are your claws, Akasha?” she asked, then smiled, her Vhaelin blood exploding with life. We shall see, my beautiful panther, yes? What we’re both made of.

  Jessa had never experienced its like before, though she had always felt it waiting within the distance of her soul. It was the majik she had never been able to summon no matter how hard she had been pushed, no matter how fervently she had prayed for its release. It screamed now through her body in answer to Darry’s need, rising to meet the Cha-diah majik that assailed the very heart of her being.

  Darry was silent as she pushed against the restrictions of Jessa’s clothes, her fingers insistent as Jessa’s passion fell beneath the raw darkness. She was slow as she entered her body, but Jessa moved hard against the touch, thrusting back as Darry’s fingers pushed deep and began to stroke.

  “More,” Jessa implored, and pulled Darry close. Her vision had turned deep and piercing, and Darry’s eyes were fairly glowing. Bloody hell, Akasha, what have you done? “I thought…the panther was fast, yes?” she said, and kissed Darry fiercely, biting Darry’s lips and her tongue as her world caught fire.

  Darry jerked at the sting and shoved against her, driving into her more quickly and taking what she needed, discarding all tenderness. The flesh about her hand was so swollen and wet that Darry’s own release rippled hard between her legs.

  Jessa’s mouth opened against Darry’s as she cried out. The door rattled in its frame as she was taken. She clawed at Darry’s neck and shoulders, shouting as her head fell back against the door. Her climax rose around the strokes of Darry’s fingers and burst like a storm beneath the fast press of Darry’s palm. Darry bit Jessa’s neck and sucked the skin.

  “Akasha!”

  Darry beat the heel of her palm against Jessa’s flesh and Jessa came with a broken cry. Darry held her up as she spent. Jessa’s hips strained as everything opened wide inside of her, freeing more than her spirit.

  “Yes!” Jessa cried out, and laughed, breathless. “Did you,” she swallowed and pushed the hair back from Darry’s face, “did you feel that?”

  Darry let out a growl of need and yanked free of the touch, lifting Jessa up and forcing her legs open. Jessa’s thighs tightened and she leaned away from the door, grabbing Darry’s face and coercing her mouth wide as Darry carried her across the room beneath the scorching kiss.

  Jessa bounced on the mattress and Darry slid on top of her. Jessa pulled at Darry’s tunic and the fabric ripped as the garment came open and Darry’s breasts moved against her own. They moaned in satisfaction as their bare flesh met. Darry moved against Jessa’s thigh and Jessa pulled at her, clawing at Darry’s trousers and then grabbing her hips.

  Jessa’s blood sang with her majik and she closed her eyes, letting it come, letting it flow into every part of her body. “Yes.” A burst of light flared within her head and seared through her skull. Jessa was transfixed. “Akasha, yes!”

  Darry’s thrusts were furious and Jessa urged her on, meeting her with equal strength as Darry’s strangled sob broke free and she spent her spirit, lifting onto her arms and then slamming into her release. Jessa watched in awe as Darry arched back with muscles straining, her violent shout of liberation filled with a passion that clawed at the darkest depths of Jessa’s power and pulled it free.

  Jessa caught her as she fell. Darry moaned as her hips jerked and she moved through the waning of her climax and fell to the side. Jessa closed her eyes and tried to breathe, unsure if she could control what raged inside her. Unsure if she even wanted to.

  “Did I…did I hurt you?”

  “No.” Jessa pushed her hair back with a trembling hand, witchlight bleeding from her fingertips and moving within her hair, weaving through her braids. “No.” The tightness of desire was still rising, wrenching at her as she smiled.
“Akasha?”

  Darry’s hand slid along Jessa’s belly and Jessa arched upward as the hand closed upon her breast. “I want more.” Darry spoke in a ragged breath. “I need more, Jess.”

  “Nessa abwello, so do I.” Jessa groaned in deliverance, rolling over and claiming Darry’s mouth. Her hand was rough as she yanked open Darry’s trousers and shoved within them. Darry thrust into the contact.

  “Can you?” Jessa gasped, her hand drenched in Darry’s spirit. “Shivahsa, Darry!”

  Darry pulled at Jessa’s skirt. “Get this…off…”

  “Wait.” Jessa laughed, breathless as she freed herself from her skirt and breeches and climbed on top of Darry. She wore but her boots and torn shirt, which fell from her shoulders.

  Darry let out a shout at the demanding touch between her legs and Jessa reveled at what she saw, Darry’s body coiled tightly, so much strength at her mercy. “In my hand, Akasha.” Jessa rose onto her knees and Darry’s hips thrust tightly between Jessa’s legs, clenching and straining upward as Jessa pushed her to the verge. “Let me feel you spend.”

  “Jess.”

  Jessa’s left hand landed firmly between Darry’s breasts. “You’re so hard.” She smiled, feeling altogether dark and lush. Darry’s scent was inside her, a living thing. The panther was inside of her and her majik had awoken at last to meet the challenge and throw back the invasion. “Can you feel me?” Jessa’s heart had never beat so fast. Darry’s head pushed back into the bed. Her throat was exposed completely and the sight of the offering filled Jessa with a rush of dominance as well as love. “Come for me.”

  “Jess!”

  “Come in my hand, do it now,” Jessa demanded, Darry’s flesh opening beneath her quick, forceful fingers. “Darry.”

  Darry grabbed Jessa’s thighs as her entire body seized and gave in.

  “Akasha.” The Cha-diah majik swarmed over Jessa in a sensual haze and she soaked it in, feeding on it.

  Darry’s body trembled and Jessa felt her power like never before as she settled on Darry’s thighs. She felt the power of the Vhaelin and the strength of her blood reaching back through the generations, of her majik released and claiming her at last. She felt the sway of her love and lust for the woman beneath her. The woman who had stirred into life so many things inside her, the least of which might have been her majik. Jessa brought her hand up and slowly tasted her fingers, smiling in absolute victory.

  Darry grabbed Jessa’s waist and Jessa looked down at her, dipping her hand between them once more and playing for a moment. She painted the hard muscles of Darry’s stomach with the evidence of their passion. Her heart gave a push as the flesh quivered beneath her touch, and she rubbed herself against Darry’s abdomen. “If you touch me but a little, my love, I will spend,” she said. “I want to come on you.”

  Darry licked her lips. “You…you do it.”

  Jessa obeyed, her right hand slipping between her legs.

  Darry watched as she stroked herself, her hand becoming a blur of motion. She had never known a woman so beautiful or so dangerous. Jessa threw her head back as she spent, half laughing and moaning her bliss.

  Something ancient trembled along Darry’s bones and she knew it was majik, though whether it was hers or Jessa’s she had no idea. All Darry knew was that they were both in trouble. She smiled at the joy of it and held Jessa close as her mouth tasted of the sweet flesh on the inside of Jessa’s left breast.

  Strong hands fisted in Darry’s hair and Jessa’s trembling voice filled her head. “Did you feel that?”

  “Yes.” Darry groaned. “Yes.”

  “I want your mouth next, Akasha.”

  Darry laughed helplessly.

  “Will you taste what I have for you?”

  “You’ll kill us.”

  Jessa laughed, the sound low and wanton. She took Darry’s earlobe in her teeth, rough for a heartbeat as her tongue savored and then her lips soothed at the mark. “Maybe,” Jessa whispered. “Maybe just you.”

  Darry’s body shook with startled laughter.

  “Did I not say I wanted your mouth?”

  Darry was at Jessa’s mercy and liked it. “You want me to fuck you with my tongue?”

  Jessa smiled at the deliberate words. Darry slipped her fingers inside her, slow but certain. “Is this how you talk, Princess?” Jessa took a heated kiss from her. “Is it?”

  “Sometimes.” Darry searched for more when Jessa pulled away.

  “I like it,” Jessa said. “Yes. I want you to fuck me with your tongue.”

  “If I start, I’ll not stop until you beg me.”

  “Fair enough.”

  “Until you can’t even scream. Until all you know is my tongue.”

  Jessa thought she might spend then and there, all her senses locked tight upon the slow touch within her body. “You really need to stop talking now.”

  Darry freed her hand and took Jessa with strength, throwing her onto the mattress as Jessa laughed in surprise. She propped herself onto her elbows and watched as Darry stood, stripped from her clothes, and dropped to her knees beside the bed. She grabbed Jessa’s booted ankles and pulled her toward the edge. Jessa smiled as her head bounced against the blankets and her braids scattered.

  Darry’s hands smoothed up her thighs and Jessa swallowed roughly, catching hard at her breath. Darry placed Jessa’s legs over her shoulders and began to taste her way along Jessa’s inner right thigh.

  “You’re right,” Jessa said within a gasp. Darry gave her exactly what she had asked for. Jessa grasped one of the spindles of the headboard and the wood creaked at her violent pull. “This might not…” She let out a glorious cry of pleasure that turned into a wild laugh. “Might not, Shivahsa!” Darry’s mouth was like a red hot flame. “Not…not end well.”

  Jessa let the panther have her way. She let Darry have her way until she had no idea how many times she cried out; she only remembered that she had not begged. She could not remember how many times they both came or even when Darry’s blood finally relented. The Vhaelin within her was sated and she hummed with approval that she had tamed the panther into submission. And with the taste of Darry’s spirit on her tongue Jessa let her sleep. Darry lay thoroughly defenseless and yet never more protected along Jessa’s body.

  Jessa held her with reverence, caressing the strong arm that was thrown lax across her stomach, unable to refrain from still touching her in some way. She sensed the slumbering force of Darry’s body and knew the softness and heat of her breath. Darry’s breasts pressed against her and the lean muscles of the leg draped between her own.

  Darry was more pure in her essence than Jessa could ever imagine being herself. Darry let her see everything, not only giving over her body, but her heart and soul as well. Jessa had seen it as they had made love, so furious and with such utter abandon. Jessa had seen it in Darry’s eyes.

  Jessa understood that she was inexperienced at such things, at love, but she was not innocent. From the first throat Jessa had seen torn out by Sylban’s dogs, she had not been innocent. She recognized the fragility and the wasteful, cruel nature of life. She had known no mystery since witnessing that first violent act, and she had no illusions as to what life could be. Without reserve and caution one’s chances of becoming a casualty were extremely high. Or so she had thought. Now she was not so certain.

  Radha had been wrong. What need do people have for dreams that don’t come true? Every need, old woman. Vhaelin essa, there is every need.

  And even the Waters of Truth had not shown her this, and there Radha had been right. The truth of her heart had been hers to discover.

  Darry stirred against her, and Jessa closed her eyes in quiet joy as Darry’s body shifted smoothly, skin against Jessa’s skin. Darry’s arm tightened about her waist and she opened her eyes and lifted her face. She was still caught within her sleep. Darry’s eyes were nearly black within the now-fading light from the lamp, her face serene yet filled with a fierce beauty.

  “Majik?
”

  “Yes, my love. My majik is more than yours,” Jessa said softly, shifting and kissing her.

  She studied Darry’s face and pushed a strand of her hair to the side. She placed the softest of kisses on Darry’s left cheek, knowing very well where the dimple hid in wait for Darry’s roguish grin.

  “Nessa-ahna allah sheetun, tua de Akasha…my love.” She held her face against the heat of Darry’s, breathing in her beguiling scent. You are the wish, Akasha. The wish that I never knew enough to make.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  The tantalizing smell of strong karrem filled Jessa’s nose and she woke slowly. She lay sprawled upon the sheets of her bed in only her torn shirt, her disheveled hair scattered across her face. She moved her head along the pillow and spied the cup of steaming karrem on the bedside table.

  “You look satisfied.” Radha’s voice was rough and she laughed, sitting in the chair beside the bed and studying Jessa with amused eyes.

  Jessa turned her face into the pillow, her laughter rising.

  “I suppose I should scold you for arriving so late last night, or should I say early this morn?”

  “Leave me be, old woman,” Jessa said as she shifted about and pulled up the sheet.

  “Perhaps I should ask what bit you?” Radha pointed out the bruise of a kiss on Jessa’s right breast and another near the base of her neck.

  Jessa pushed onto her right elbow and rested her head against her hand, her hair falling in a black tumble down her arm. “And if I were to say a cat did?”

  “I would ask what sort of cat?”

  “A golden mountain panther.”

  Radha laughed, the sound like someone scraping on stones. “You have no modesty,” she chided her. “Lying about half-naked in the middle of the morning.”

  Jessa considered her open shirt. “I feel very tired still.” She fell forward into the pillow, her voice muffled. “Vhaelin slova tu an hezza, Radha.”

  “Yes, and while you were off being eaten by your panther,” she smiled as Jessa laughed, “I was sitting here waiting, wondering where you were. I even went looking for you.”