His voice grew soft and enticing. Within it was a compulsion to follow him. He was deep within her thoughts now, whispering his temptation.
“Chaela is unlike anything you can imagine, Ran. And she will give you more powers when she is freed from the place she was imprisoned by the traitors who turned on her. She is the strongest of the Old Ones, the only one still in existence. Help me open the circle and she will grant you your every desire.”
Ran tried to fight it, but there was something stopping her. She could not move now. Could not speak. Could not turn to water. Had he done this to Soren? How had Soren escaped?
“Come with me,” he said without speaking. “Once he helps us open the gateway, you will have him for eternity. And I will show you ways to punish him for his betrayal. Torment to last an eternity, Ran. For his faithlessness. For fucking your brother’s woman and then pushing her from the cliff.”
She gasped, horrified by the words. Were they the truth? How would he know such things? Her gaze alone moved, looking across at her father. Had her father revealed such things to this evil man?
The sibilant temptation began again and Ran wanted to accept it. She wanted to give him what he wanted. All of it. To pay Soren back for his actions. To make him suffer, not for two years, as she had, but forever.
She would take the life from him bit by bit, sucking the water from his bones and marrow and muscle. She could do that. She could take the water from him. Make him feel the painful loss of each drop until he was nothing.
Nothing but dust beneath her feet.
“Ran.”
Ran opened her eyes. She had taken hold of one of the sailors without even knowing it and had . . . had . . .
She had taken every bit of water from his body.
The man’s desiccated body now crumbled under her touch.
Silence reigned; not a sound was made. Only the sound of one man moving toward her.
“This is only one of your powers. You control the water in this world. Take your place of honor and we will rid ourselves of those who opposed us.”
The voice was real now. The temptation more so.
“Soren will rue the day he betrayed you. He will regret not accepting his place with me. Soren will . . .”
She heard nothing but his name now and her heart pounded at the sound of it. Soren did not deserve such a fate. No one did. But as de Gifford now touched her, she saw the destruction and the ultimate chaos of all she loved.
That would be the result of freeing this Chaela.
“Soren!” she screamed out.
The sea around them bucked, the ship tilted and de Gifford lost his hold on her. She joined with the sea and escaped the ship, tearing through the water and screaming. The seas boiled as de Gifford sent his terrible fire into it, but after rising in steam, the water always returned to its home.
In confusion, she went with the water, in circles, deep and then shallow, moving, always moving, until the last whispers of his temptation left her. But the fact that she’d murdered a man with her touch did not. Tormented by what she’d done, she could not go back to the others and face them. Instead of protecting, she had destroyed.
Ran swam away from Orkney, out into the larger ocean to the west where no ships sailed, racing through the cold water, away from her homeland, and screaming out her rage and horror and guilt. Forcing herself up into the air, she released the wave and crashed back into the sea, trying to punish herself for the heinous act. Crying and sobbing, she whipped the water into currents and whirlpools.
When she was finally exhausted, she turned herself over to the sea, hoping it would let her die there. Better that than to live to kill again. Especially if she killed Soren.
For in spite of his betrayal, in spite of her anger and hurt, she loved him. She’d never stopped loving him and she knew that now. And she knew she would die first before harming him.
She loved him.
The sea gentled around her, warming and caressing her. It carried her for hours and she cared not where. Night or day mattered not.
Only when the sea placed her on a beach did she rouse, pushing back her hair and rising to kneel. The place looked familiar to her. Standing, she knew it at once.
The Brough of Birsay, a tidal isle on the northern edge of the Mainland. For now, separated from the rest by the swiftly moving channel, but at low tide, the land bridge would be open. It was morning, for the sun was just creeping over the horizon and sending shards of light across the land. It was peaceful here. If she did not think too much, she could imagine herself here in earlier days, exploring the empty buildings of the abandoned monastery.
Centuries before, this place had been sacred ground for the Church. And before that, the ancient Picts claimed it as theirs. She’d not visited here for years. Had the sea brought her here because it remained a sanctuary, untouched by evil?
During her last visit, she’d gotten trapped on the island for the better part of a day, waiting for the tide to go out and reveal the causeway. Now, that would not keep her from leaving.
But, where should she go?
The evil one needed her to open the gate to the place where she was imprisoned.
The others wanted her to help find that same gateway, in a hidden circle of stones, and seal it.
Her father wanted to be rescued.
She wanted . . .
Ran sat back down on the ground and watched the sun rise higher in the sky. Piercing through gray clouds that floated low and thick on that horizon, she could think of only one thing she wanted.
Soren.
As though she’d conjured him out of nothing but his name, the winds swirled before her and became him.
“Ran,” he said, running to her. He fell to his knees before her and searched her face. “I have been searching for you. I asked the winds to find you and they could not. Not until now. Are you injured? Did he harm you?”
“I cannot think about him, Soren.”
“We were terrified when you did not return,” he said. “I know how convincing he can be; he tried his deception with me. And with your father his prisoner, I feared he had drawn you in.” He dragged his hands through his hair and shook his head. “When you did not return in two days’ time, I feared you were dead.”
“Two days?” Time mattered not when she was in the sea. “I did not know. I did not know where to go.”
“What happened?” He moved closer and touched her cheek.
In that moment, she knew how she’d escaped. It was thoughts of Soren that broke the evil one’s hold on her soul and her heart. Because . . .
“You gave me the strength in that terrible moment, Soren. When he’d torn my heart open and tried to burn his way in, you were there, standing in his way.” She reached out and stroked his face. “I have been lying to myself and to everyone around me. I did not stop loving you. Not then, not now. When I realized that, I had the strength to break his hold and get away.”
“Ran,” he began, but she placed her hand over his mouth to stop him from making any promises.
“I have seen what Chaela plans to do when she is free and I cannot allow it. But I am empty, Soren. Emptied by what I . . .” She could not finish the words. She could not admit that dark sin to him. “I need you, Soren. I need your strength. I need your love.”
“I need to tell you the truth of it, Ran,” he said, tugging her hand free.
She knew then that the truth did not matter. She’d seen too many truths in the way evil worked. Right now she wanted only him.
“Nay. Nothing but love in this holy place. Love me, Soren.”
And he did.
Not only because she’d asked, but also because he always had and it was what he’d wanted to do for more than two years. If loving her would help her in some way, he would. And he would answer to the rest later.
Soren leaned
over and began with a simple kiss, an innocent one compared to many others they’d share. Gently rubbing his mouth against hers, he moved closer and pulled her to him so that their bodies touched.
He sensed her weakened spirit and emptiness. There had been some injury to her soul and she had emptied herself of everything to deal with it. Though he could have asked the winds to show him what had happened, he did not. She did not want him to know, but he could imagine the feeling of violation her soul suffered.
“Aw, Ran,” he said, cupping her face in his hands. When she met his gaze tears filled her green eyes. “Nay, no tears.”
“I love you, Soren,” she said.
The simple declaration almost unmanned him. He would not use the words or bind her to himself when he knew she still doubted him. But he could give her his love without the words.
He kissed her eyes, tasting the saltiness of those tears. And he touched their mouths once more and felt her arch against him. “I want to touch you, Ran. Let me?”
She nodded then and, after tossing his cloak behind her, he guided her back to lie on the ground. With a wish for warm winds, he untied the laces of her gown and loosened it. Soren moved slowly, undressing her bit by bit and kissing every inch of her skin as he did so.
It took no time at all for him to arouse her; he felt the heat moving through her body. Each touch brought a sigh. Each kiss or touch of his mouth and she arched against him. Ran dug her fingers into the ground as though trying to keep from touching him.
Finally, she lay naked before him, clad only in her stockings, and he drank in the sight of her body. He’d missed the way the nipples of her breasts puckered when he blew against them. And the inclination of her belly down to the curls between her legs. He rolled her to her belly and began a new path down her back, over the globes of her arse and onto her thighs. The place behind her knees still made her laugh.
He paused only long enough to remove his tunic and breeches. Then he moved behind her, sliding his arm around to cup her breast as he slipped his cock between her legs. He drew out each caress, each taste, each kiss, trying to be gentle. She arched back against him, their bodies spooned together as he kissed and bit and licked the place on her neck that was sensitive.
“Soren,” she whispered. “I need your strength now. Take me.” She turned in his embrace and met his gaze. The turquoise aura pulsed brightly around her and her eyes changed to that color. “Fill me with your love, Soren. I am empty.”
She reached between their bodies and took his cock in her hands, tearing away any control he had. Their joinings had never been quiet and easy. They joined like a storm, full of thunder and shattering release. He pulled her to him, sliding one leg between hers and lifting hers over his hip, opening her to his touch.
She held him with two hands, sliding one under his bollocks and the other moved up and down his shaft. Soren rubbed the inside of her thigh, watching as her mouth opened and she breathed in shallow, quick breaths as he moved ever closer to the place where he wanted to be. When he turned his hand and slid it along the cleft of her flesh, she moaned, clutching his erection even harder.
He wanted to make her scream. He needed to feel her scream. He needed to taste her release against his mouth.
Soren pulled himself free and pushed her onto her back, climbing over her and pushing his legs between her knees. She opened to him, to his gaze, to his touch, closing her eyes and arching before he even did as he’d planned.
“Do not move,” he growled.
He kissed and suckled the tips of her breasts, rubbing his face against her as he did. Soren took the puckered buds between his teeth, one then the other, and tugged on them, loving the sounds of her pleasure when he did. He hungrily kissed and sucked his way up and down her body until she lay trembling with need beneath him. If she arched up against him, he pressed her down with his palm over her mons. Using but one finger, he teased her flesh, making her shake and quiver for more.
Then, even though his own flesh could bear no more, he moved between her legs, his mouth on the sensitive skin on the inside of her thighs. Ever closer to the heated core of her, he slowed if she moved against him. She’d liked these games of time and pleasure and her body response and wetness told him she remembered them well.
Knowing she was past ready, he lay between her thighs, opened her wider with his shoulders against her knees and kissed her intimately. His tongue outlined her glistening cleft and he slid his finger deep within her. Smiling against her flesh, he licked her hard, using his tongue to find the tight nub at the top of it.
When he drew that between his teeth and began rubbing it with the end of his tongue, her body began to open in response. With his mouth there, he pushed his tongue deep inside her, mimicking what his prick would do, rubbing the sensitive flesh until he felt her body begin to release against his mouth. Sucking the now-erect bud, he tasted her arousal and her release, the sound of it made it only sweeter. Her hands slid into his hair now, pushing him against her as she arched and pressed against his mouth.
Soren sucked and licked and bit until she screamed and writhed, her body pouring out its release. As he felt the shudders lessen, he moved, climbing up onto his knees and lifting her hips.
“Fill me.”
She did not have to ask him for that; he thrust into her in one deep push, filling her with his hardened flesh. His cock lengthened and widened, as the tightness gripped him.
“Again.”
It was an order and so he laughed. She knew what she wanted and told him. And he plowed her more deeply.
“More,” she whispered, her voice filled with arousal. “Deeper.”
He drew back until he was almost out of her body and then, using the muscles of his thighs and his arse, he thrust back in so hard that he moved them along the ground. If he worried that he’d been too rough, her body and her words told him otherwise.
“Ahhhh.” She let out a long sigh and tilted her hips under him. “Now, Soren Stormblood,” she whispered, meeting his gaze. “Take me.”
And he was lost. His body responded to her call, thrusting deep and hard, over and over. She wrapped her legs around his waist and met every thrust, drawing him in and clenching around his flesh to make his withdrawal more difficult. The feel of it, the way her deep muscles tightened on him, brought his own release ever closer.
But not until she did.
Leaning down, he took her mouth, thrusting his tongue inside, deep, and shared the taste of her own essence with her. She grew tighter and tighter around his flesh until she arched and screamed out her release. He did not relent, he did not stop, plunging completely into her and feeling the ripples of her peak. Only when she was done, when her flesh inside relaxed, did he allow his release. His body tensed and his seed sprayed against her womb in wave after wave of heated wetness.
He stayed within her, listening to her breathing until it grew slow-paced and even. Then, rolling onto his side, he took her with him, keeping his cock within her for every possible last moment. She tucked her head under his chin and against his chest and he felt her every breath on his skin.
If God or the gods were merciful, this would not be the last time they shared this physical bond. If they had any mercy, Soren would be able to claim her as his own and keep her for all their lives.
But, as with other gods—the Greeks or Romans—the gods liked to play . . . god with humans. And he feared that this would end badly.
Chapter 15
She wanted him back inside her as soon as he’d withdrawn.
Ran’s body ached, with need, from use, from pleasure, and yet, she wanted him to do that again and again. She could never get enough of his strong body within her. If truth be told, it was like an unending craving in her for him—a need that was never satisfied, always grew and never stopped. So, having him once would only make it worse. Her body begged her for more.
Lying
here in his arms, she could almost imagine that all was right in the world. That they were once again together. That they would be. Easing her arm from under him, she gathered her hair and tried to pull it from his grasp. With his eyes closed and his breathing deep and even, she thought him asleep.
She reached over and moved his hair from his eyes. Those eyes opened and met her gaze.
Ran was not ready for this to be over, so she leaned up on one elbow, her hand holding her head, and traced his mouth with a finger. That little caress began their next joining, as different from the first as it could be.
Gentle and quiet.
Slow-paced.
Marked with sighs and caresses and releases that both fulfilled their need and created it anew.
Only later when she realized the sun had reached its midday point in the sky above them did she know they had to leave. She released the sea from keeping the island separate and he released the warm winds with the same reluctance. They took time dressing, helping each other with laces and ties and boots.
Ran watched the waters swirling around the circular island’s edge and something bothered her. Everything important in Orkney’s ancient history involved circles. The standing stones were in circles. This island would be a perfect circle except that part of it had been cut away by the water’s currents over time. Even the old church near her home in Orphir was circular, the only one she’d ever seen in that shape.
And the first circle that Einar had mentioned was the broch.
“Soren,” she began, finishing tying off her braid. “What have the others been doing while I have been . . . away?”
“They have been searching for the hidden circle. And keeping watch for Hugh,” he said. “They discovered that de Gifford can sense those with power easier than he can humans. So their soldiers keep watch and follow his moves.”
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