Embers of Passion

by Genna Love

  “I’ve stolen a lot of things in my lifetime,” Taariq said, “but I’ve never stolen from Monks before. Sounds fun.”

  “Stealing anything shouldn’t be fun, but if you’re right and it’s crucial to Zarah’s future, then it must be done.” Eli shook his head with a grimace. “My ship will be leaving tomorrow morning with or without us.”

  “Which means we have to get the jewel today.” Kailas chest tightened. That didn’t give them a lot of time to come up with a plan.

  All three of the men looked at Zarah.

  “Your first vision led you to me. I think it unwise to ignore this one,” she said.

  “So, Kailas and I go there, steal it, then return in time to head to the ship.” Taariq pushed his plate away from him. “Simple and quick.”

  “How in the Divine’s name is stealing a gemstone from a statue twice as tall as you in a Monastery full of Monks easy?” Eli shook his head. “Kailas and I will go. We’re much more level-headed than you.”

  Taariq huffed. “Yes, let’s send the two virtuous fuckers who will probably take one step into the building and decide thievery is wrong and maybe if you just ask nicely they’ll give it to you.”

  “So, we’ll all go.”

  “You need to stay here with Zarah. If we get caught, then at least you can get her out of here safely.” Taariq swallowed as his gaze locked on Zarah’s.

  “He’s right. As much as the thought of any of you getting caught terrifies me, the thought of losing all three of you at once is unbearable,” she said. “Kailas and Taariq will go and return safely.”

  “Very well,” Kailas said.

  His vision gave him hope that they could get in and get the jewel, but his visions didn’t always come true, and it was still possible that they would fail.

  Zarah

  Zarah had oscillated between numbness and anger whenever she thought of her family until the shifting in emotion became too much to take. Then, she’d turned it all off and focused her attention in the present moment.

  Taariq and Kailas had come up with a plan to sneak back into the Monastery together and take the sapphire from the statue, then hurry back to Eli’s so they could all get on the boat. No matter how solid the plan sounded, Zarah couldn’t swallow the fear that somehow, it would all go wrong.

  Soon, the two men were both in Monk robes and ready to leave.

  “We’ll be back with that stone soon, Princess.” Taariq smiled, but she could see the worry in his eyes. He leaned in and kissed her forehead then stepped toward the door.

  Kailas approached her next. “I’ve considered it all deeply, and I’ve decided it’s the Divine’s will that I leave Lyria with you. If you’ll have me, that is.”

  She’d barely known him a day, but there was no doubt in her mind that he was to be a crucial part of her future. “I would be honored.” She bowed.

  He returned the gesture before turning and walking away.

  After they had left the house, Eli wrapped his arm around her. “I might not agree with thievery, but Taariq clearly knows what he’s doing. They’ll be back before we know it.”

  “You’re saying something good about Taariq? I didn’t think things could get any crazier.” She’d meant it to be funny, but she had no energy to laugh.

  “The two of us might not be the best of friends, but I don’t doubt for a second he’d do anything for you.”

  Zarah leaned into him as she nodded silently. A lump of anxiety filled her throat. She’d lost so much already. If they didn’t make it back in time, she wasn’t sure she could get on the boat and leave them behind.

  “I’ll make us some tea to calm our nerves.” Eli retreated to the kitchen then returned with two glasses of steaming tea.

  They sat together on the couch, their bodies tilted toward each other, knees barely touching.

  Her once mellow life had turned to be the complete opposite. Was this some karmic twist for her complaining so much about how boring her existence was?

  Boring didn’t sound so awful anymore. She’d take back all the wishes of a more exciting path to have her family back. But that wasn’t how life worked.

  When Zarah finished her drink, she set it on the table in front of them.

  “Would you like another?” Eli asked.

  “No, thank you.” She nervously tapped her fingers on her thigh. It would be at least a couple of hours before they returned, and that was if everything went smoothly. But Eli was right. Taariq had never been caught before. She prayed today was no different.

  And if everything went smoothly, soon he and Kailas would return with the gemstone and they would all be on the ship, sailing away.

  Eli set his cup next to hers and placed his hand over hers. His touch calmed her.

  She scooted closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder. “My emotions don’t know where to settle anymore.”

  He rubbed his index finger in a figure eight on her skin. “You’ve been through a lot. It’s normal to be unsettled.”

  She hated the feeling, though. Any time her thoughts wandered to her family and the events of the day before, she feared she might explode. And now, as she worried for Taariq and Kailas, her whole body tensed.

  What she wanted more than anything right then was to shut her mind off, if only temporarily. Less thinking might give her a chance to settle down so she could better face everything the lie ahead.

  Zarah reached her hand up and cupped Eli’s face. She tilted her head and, allowing her instincts to guide her, directed his mouth to hers.

  Like their moment in the garden, their kiss was soft. She pushed her mouth into his and, at first, he reacted by kissing her harder. Her body tingled at his unexpected aggression.

  But then he pulled away. “You’re upset right now.”

  “And I want you to distract me.” She didn’t want to feel pain or worry or fear. Right then, all she wanted was to be present in the moment. “You aren’t forcing me into anything. You are simply following my wishes, and I wish more than anything for you to have me.”

  He stared at her for a moment but then he crashed his mouth into hers again.

  Their kisses were slow, and she lost herself in the warmth of his lips. She wrapped her hand around the base of his head as his hand found her upper thigh. A tranquil wave washed over her. The longer they kissed, the more passionately their mouths moved. She nibbled on his lower lip, stirring a groan from his chest.

  Soon, she pulled her lips from him and nibbled a path to this neck. His hand found her cleavage, dipping underneath the thin fabric of her dress. He gently squeezed her breast and tipped his head back as she kissed a trail to his shoulder.

  His finger grazed the skin around her nipple. She shuddered as desperation filled her. As he inched closer to the peak of her breast, she tugged his tunic from his pants and ran her hands down his firm abdomen.

  The tan color of his torso meant he must have spent time shirtless aboard his ship. It was a sight she hoped to soon see.

  He pulled her hair to one side as he brushed his lips just above her collar bone.

  Fervor pulsed through her, urging her hand underneath his pants and onto his manhood.

  She gripped his hard member and smiled, excited by his arousal. The link between them tightened as her hand slid up and down him. She inhaled his desire as their gazes met and the lust she felt was reflected in his eyes.

  Warmth spread between her thighs as his hand neared her center. His movements were slow, and for every two inches closer to her apex he got, he pulled back an inch and lingered.

  A grin consumed his face. “Why the rush, Zarah?”

  Her name on her lips intoxicated her. Two could play that game. She loosened her grasp on his cock and lifted his shirt over his head.

  Slowly, she kissed a detoured path from his chest to the hemline of his pants before pulling them down over his bulge. Now free, his erection was on full display. She admired its shape, teasing him with one finger around its head as she dropped to
her knees.

  Hunger drove her mouth to his cock as he leaned back on the couch. She’d never tasted a man like this before, and the thrill of it sent heat to her womanhood. She started slow, first licking up his shaft then swirling her tongue around the tip. Her gaze met his, pleasure narrowing his eyes.

  Her heart raced as she took the tip into her mouth, its taste salty on her tongue. Slowly, she went deeper and deeper until she could go no further. She brought her hand to the shaft, and focused her lips on the head.

  His groans encouraged her, as her sucking intensified. Soon, he pulled out of her mouth and exploded on the ground beside her.

  “My turn,” Eli said, as he pulled her legs around him and stood. He guided her to the couch and gently lifted her dress and parted her legs, revealing her slit to him. With desire in his stare, he leaned in and flicked his tongue on her clit. Pleasure stronger than she’d ever felt trickled over her as he licked faster and faster. Her yearning crescendoed as she rose higher and higher toward completion. Her back arched and her breath hitched as she hit the peak of her ecstasy. Her climax exploded through her, tingling every inch of her body.

  Eli leaned back, satisfaction spreading across his face. “When we make love, I want it to be more than a distraction to you.”

  Zarah took deep breaths as her body recovered from the pleasure it just experienced. As desperately as she wanted to feel him inside her, he was right. Someday, they would join together as one, and she knew it would be even more than she imagined.

  Taariq

  Taariq promised Zarah that they would return with the stone, and he was damn well determined to follow through on that promise. She’d lost enough already. He couldn’t bear the thought of her losing her faith in him.

  Stealing was his specialty, and he’d never been caught. But this item was unlike anything he’d ever stolen before. Not only was time of the essence, but he’d had no chance to properly scout the jewel. He hadn’t even noticed it yesterday when he was in the Monastery, but from what the Monk had said, it was somehow attached to the forehead of a stone statue. How it was attached was anyone’s guess.

  And the worst part of all was, in order to get in and get the stone, Taariq had to rely on someone he just met and didn’t much like. People that religious bothered him, wasting all those hours worshiping some divine being that clearly didn’t give two shits about the little people. Maybe at one time he bought into the whole prayer thing, but seeing his mother slaughtered in front of him killed any faith he had. If the Divine did exist, it didn’t care much for him.

  Still, the Monk had saved them from the city guards at that disaster of a wedding. And from what Taariq had gathered, he planned to leave Lyria with them to help Zarah achieve whatever was in her destiny. He imagined that would be a difficult choice for someone so devout.

  Taariq didn’t much believe in prophecies, but Kailas’s dreams had helped the Monk find Zarah, which meant there was a real possibility that his dream with the sapphire in it was another real prediction.

  “How often are your dreams wrong?” Taariq kept his hands folded in front of his chest like the Monk had instructed. Although he assumed that the robes were supposed to be worn without clothing underneath, he hadn’t been able to bring himself to leave his pants off, and with the sun high in the sky beating down on them, he was fucking hot.

  “Life is always changing, so it’s rare that a dream happens exactly as I foresee.”

  “But are they usually close?”

  The Monk hesitated. “Sometimes they’re close, yes. Sometimes life turns out nothing like I foresee.”

  “Great. So for all you know, we are going to get caught and have our heads chopped off?” This is why Taariq never trusted other people.

  “My premonition to find Zarah in the crowd unfolded almost exactly as my vision had been. There was something different about it. Usually, my dreams of the future are cloudy in some way. That one was not. And the dream I had with the stone was just as clear.”

  For being a mage, Taariq had an unusual distrust of magic when it came to any psychic ability. He could feel the power flowing through his veins, and not once had the fire failed to come when he’d called it, but visions of the future—especially ones that weren’t reliable—were hard for him to put any faith in.

  The streets were strangely deserted for this time of day.

  Not that he could blame people for staying in. They’d just watched their King, Queen, and Crown Prince murdered the day before. It was hard to believe the events of the wedding. To so publicly murder royalty in a ploy to take over a kingdom was bold. If they’d done such a horrific thing in front of the Lyrian people, Taariq could only imagine what they’d done behind closed doors, how many others they’d killed that would have remained loyal to the deceased rulers.

  But there was little room for shock. After watching his innocent village attacked as a child, he’d never been the same. His father had turned the loss into rage, and as far as Taariq knew, went off and got himself killed, too. Taariq vowed never to let his emotion get the best of him, but that day changed him. There was no way it couldn’t have. Instead of rage, his distrust grew. And he’d learned the Cardasians deserved the most distrust of all.

  As he and Kailas rounded a corner, a group of five guards approached them from down the street.

  “Let me do the talking,” Kailas said quietly out of the side of his mouth.

  Taariq clamped his mouth shut and gave himself explicit instructions not to say anything. He had a tendency to talk first and think later, and right now, that was the stupidest thing he could do.

  The two men stopped as the guards neared.

  “What are you two doing away from the Monastery?” one for the guards asked. A metal emblem of the Cardasian crest—the letter C sitting in front of two crossed swords—was painted on the front of his torso armor.

  Kailas bowed and met the guard’s stare without any change in facial expression. “My brother and I are in the middle of a day-long prayer for the new King and Queen. He has devoted the day to silence.” Well, that was one way to keep him quiet. Taariq resisted a grin at the clever idea. “We have committed to a three-hour walk in honor of yesterday’s wedding, as is customary with the Monks.”

  The guard glanced at the others, who all shrugged. “It doesn’t seem you’re causing any trouble. You best keep it that way.”

  “Of course.” The Monk bowed again, tilting his head and giving Taariq a look.

  Catching the hint, he bowed too.

  The guards continued in the opposite direction, and when they were out of sight, Taariq said, “Whew. That had me nervous for a minute.”

  Soon, they arrived at the Monastery, and his hands grew clammy. Everything about this theft was different than he was used to. He’d had little time to prepare, there was a short timeline, and he was in a completely foreign setting. Except for the half-day they’d spent locked in the underground room, he’d never been in the Monastery before, which meant he had to trust Kailas to get them in and out without being caught.

  “Stay close to me.” The Monk’s fingers fidgeted as he stared ahead. “The brothers should all be in the dining area right now, which means if we’re quick, we can get in and get the jewel without being noticed.”

  “And if someone is in our way?”

  “We’ll figure it out as we go.”

  Figuring it out as you go was one of the worst strategies when it came to stealing anything. Sure, Taariq had to improvise now and again, but he always had a plan and some backup ideas should things go south. Today, he had none.

  “If someone sees us, don’t speak. Let me handle any talking.”

  “Works for me.” Taariq clasped his hands and put on his best Monk face. Pretending to be so holy was laughable. He was surprised he hadn’t blown up in flames the first time he stepped into the Monastery.

  But as before, when he entered the building, no supernatural bursts of fire or strikes of lightning occurred. Perhaps steali
ng the gem would tip him over the edge.

  The two men walked slowly as they stepped into the large worship area. Just as before, it was empty. Taariq might not be a religious man, but as an artist, he appreciated the beauty of the space. The stained-glass windows were impeccable, and the sunlight shining through them added an ethereal glow to the room.

  Silently, they continued straight for the statue at the end of the long rug that cut the room in half. There were no chairs on each side of the walkway. Instead, pillows were evenly spread across the floor.

  The statue was larger than Taariq remembered. In the rush to get out of sight, he hadn’t paid it any attention before. But now, he absorbed all the fine details etched into the stone. Such a project would have taken years to complete. The clothes of the woman and child were simple, but the lines of their faces were exquisite.

  None of that mattered, though. He pulled his attention from the admirable craftsmanship to the bright blue stone in the woman’s forehead. The statue was twice as tall as him, though, which meant the jewel was completely out of his reach.

  “It’s too high up,” he whispered. “Is there a chair or something to stand on.” Even then, he wasn’t sure it would be enough.

  As Kailas shook his head, three other Monks entered the room. One of them was Taban. Taariq wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

  “Kneel down and pray,” Kailas said then stepped away from him toward his brothers.

  “Welcome back,” one said.

  “Thank you,” Kailas replied.

  “The Friars were surprised by your sudden disappearance.”

  “Yes, I needed to check on my family. I found my cousin distraught after the events of yesterday, and brought him back for some deep prayer to clear the worry from his soul.”

  “Without asking Abbot Wes?”

  “C’mon everyone. Let’s give them some silence,” Taban cut in. “Worry about yourselves.”