Star Chasers
Page 26
Suleah flung off her robe. His eyes widened.
“This is beauty!” he said. “The word had no meaning for me until this moment.” He stroked her skin.
She pressed against him. “Harder, Gilland. You won’t hurt me. I want you to touch me!”
“Like this?”
She moaned. He drew away, and she brought his hands back to her breasts.
“I hurt you,” he said. “You cried out.”
Suleah laughed. “Mind-touch me, Gilland. I’ve got a lot to teach you. Pleasure and pain is just a matter of degree.”
“I do not understand.”
“You will, I promise you.” Suleah smiled.
His thoughts caressed her, an intimate touch that made her gasp and writhe. She drew off his robe and caressed his skin, the taut nipples. He gasped. Suddenly she felt the novice, unsure where to start her teaching of this man...
We must both begin anew. I will find what pleases you, and I will discover what pleases me. I did not understand the meaning of pleasure before.
This is only the beginning, Gil.
There is more?
Oh, yes.
You called me Gil, not Gilland. I am Gil for you?
Gil, yes, you are Gil. Never Gilland. You are my everything.
A rainbow of light, his spirit, swept into her body, warming, soothing, teasing. His spirit-loving drove her to the brink.
Their first flesh-joining was fast, furious. Their later couplings were taken at leisure, amid explorations and tentative forays into the pleasure of the other.
The warm breeze fanned Suleah’s skin, and she startled awake. The scent of honan permeated her senses. With a cry she sat upright, cushions falling away. Igor, on the grass nearby, flew skyward with a beep of alarm.
“So you are awake at last, mon amour. You have slept the day away.”
“Gil?” Had she dreamed it all? Doubt coursed through her.
I am here. He told her his name: a shifting of colours and sounds within her mind. So utterly alien, so terrifyingly beautiful.
At his mental caress, the tears of fear stinging her eyes became tears of joy.
Suleah touched his hand. “I was afraid it was a dream. You... a dream.”
He smiled, his eyes and face alive. Beautiful again, whole again, her alien-Gilland.
“Dreams do come true. In the Retreat,” he said.
“I understand that now.”
He dropped to the cushions, sitting cross-legged. The folds of his robe parted, and Suleah gazed upon his flesh.
“I like your appetite for me.” He smiled crookedly and reached for the bottle of Moet. “When I touched your body with my tongue and mouth, I understood, finally, what ‘taste’ means.”
Suleah writhed beneath his smouldering look. What Gilland lacked in experience, he compensated with curiosity and inventiveness. He loved her fully, totally. More than Gil had ever done because while Gilland pleasured her body, his mind caressed. They shared sensations, and at the pinnacle of passion, back and forth, spirit to spirit, flesh to flesh, sharing, equals, taker and taken.
“We begin again, today, mon amour, with this liquid you hold in such high esteem. I saw you drink it that day, long ago. This time, and ever after, you will not drink alone.”
Two glasses appeared at his side: two crystal flutes edged with gold. He poured the honey-coloured champagne into the glasses and handed her one.
“What did you drink to, that day I saw you?” he asked.
“To Empire Day. The day Gil died.”
“But you said you only drink champagne to celebrate. Empire Day would not be a celebration for you.”
“No. He left that bottle with me, to open on his return. He never did, of course. I think that day you watched me, I realized that memories were no longer enough for me. I had to live, to move on. It just took me a while to understand.”
Gilland winced. “It was a difficult time for you.”
“And for you, Gilland. I am sorry.”
“Love means never having to say sorry.”
“That’s not true. When you love someone, you should never hurt them so that it’s necessary to say sorry.”
He smiled. “Then sorry is banned from our vocabulary. I promise I will not use it when we play scrabble.”
“Even if it’s a triple word?”
He inclined his head, laughing. “Even so.” He studied her.
“There is something I need for you to consider, you and the others of your kind.” She waved her hand skyward. “If they’re listening?”
“Xanadu is now our private domain. I have forbidden them entrance.”
She smiled. “That’s probably just as well, given what we er... say and do. In and out of bed.”
Gilland blushed. “And what is it you wish to tell them?”
“Polarium has the ability to heal. Our science has never been able to explain why. I suspect it’s the crystals and the unique spectrum...” She shrugged. “If your kind could travel to Polarium maybe they can be healed without the need of the elaborate induction process?”
“I explained before, that because of what we did to our world, the destruction, and the Change, we are forever altered.”
“Maybe our scientists could help? Perhaps if you could make contact with them?”
“Perhaps so. Humans are an ingenious, complex, infuriating species. That is why we favour them as our chosen above many others.”
“Infuriating? Me?”
“Oh, yes.” He smiled. “I will tell them about Polarium. But not today. Today... I understand it is customary we make a toast.”
She touched her glass to his. “That day long ago I toasted to death. Today, we toast to life and love, to Gil’s memory. To us. To a new beginning for both of us. No more memories, no more Empire Days. Let’s toast to Xanadu, the palace of dreams.”
About Astrid Cooper
Combining the best of 2 fiction genres, Astrid has been writing science fiction romance since she could hold a pencil. Sometimes her romances are steamy, but always with a happy ever after ending.
Astrid’s best-selling books regularly win awards. When not writing, she loves gardening, rescues cats, and restores her old home and antique furniture.