Crystal Fire (25 page)

"Curse you, Brace Ardane!" Marissa cried, stung by his bitter sarcasm.

He riveted the full force of his anger upon her. "Have no fear,
sweet
femina. I've been cursed since the first moment I met you, and most likely will to my dying breath. But take heart. Neither of us will have to suffer the other's presence much longer. Ferox will see to that!"

A harsh sob wracked her slender frame. "I don't want you to die! II love you!" "

Marissa's breath caught in her throat. What had she said? How could she reveal such emotions? But the words, now uttered, must be faced. And, as the secundae passed, the enormity of her admission failed to lessen, nor the searing truth behind it.

She did indeed love Brace, but when or how it had happened was yet a mystery. At this moment, it didn't matter anyway. Only one thing matteredconvincing him.

A soft, wondering smile curved her mouth. "I love you."

"And do you think I care?" he demanded cruelly. "I've seen how freely you give your 'love.' I don't want anything you've shared with Ferox!"

"I've given him nothing!"

"That kiss a short while ago told me differently."

Marissa sighed. "It wasn't what it seemed. He threatened to harm Candra if I didn't kiss him. And he did it solely to anger you.''

Brace remained silent, his gaze hard, his mouth stubborn.

"It worked, too, didn't it?"

He didn't answer.

She scooted closer until her knee pressed against his muscular thigh. The simple touch sent a tremor of awareness through Marissa. She inhaled a ragged breath.

"Ah, Brace, what can I say or do to prove I never meant to betray youor at least never after last nocte? Before, I admit that had been my plan. What choice did I have? He wanted you in exchange for Candra."

"And nothing matters more than your beloved sister. You needn't say more, Marissa. I understand completely."

"It's never been that simple, Brace," she replied softly. "It's always been more than just Candra. My life was in as much danger as hers."

His eyes narrowed. "Go on."

"From the moment of birth the tie between twins is powerful. By the time they reach puberty, however, an even more forceful bond, a life-link, has been forged. It binds one to the other so strongly that when one twin dies, so does the other. That's why my people always cast out the non-Traveler twin to perish before the onset of puberty. It's the only way to save the twin of value."

"And now it's too late?"

Marissa nodded. "It's been too late for cycles."

As the full implication of her words struck him, Brace's resolve to steel himself against Marissa wavered. If her words were true, she'd had good reason to keep so much from him. For Marissa, this quest was truly one of life and death. And could he blame her if she'd felt that the lives of her and her sister were of more value than his? What would he have done if the tables had been turned, and his and Teran's lives had been at stake?

Anger surged through him. It wouldn't have mattered. He'd have fought as strongly for Marissa as he would for his and his brother's life. He loved her too much to do any less.

That realization hurt most of all. No matter what she'd proclaimed earlier, Marissa didn't love him enough to do the same.

A fierce resolve filled him. He could forgive her betrayal because it had meant her life, and join again with her on the quest to save her sister, but he could never again trust her with his heart.

Once more, the look in Brace's eyes froze to brittle iciness. "You still could have confided in me. We could have worked out some plan to thwart Ferox and still preserve both your lives."

"Yes, perhaps so," Marissa admitted, "but there was so much at stake and I didn't trust you for a long while. You knew that. And by the time I did, it was too late." "I agree. It's far too late."

"Why?" she whispered, her hand moving to stroke his face, then lower to rest upon his chest. "Why does it have to be too late?"

"Because it is, Marissa!" he cried. "Now, get your deceitful little hands off me!"

She felt his heart quicken beneath her touch, a tremor wrack his powerful body. Felt it and knew a woman's secret satisfaction. Though his words and voice said one thing, his body said another. And, for once, Marissa followed her instincts with no consideration of the consequences.

"No, I think not," she murmured, her voice purring, silky.

Her hand slipped inside his tunic to glide across the bulging planes of his chest, her fingers tangling in the crisp furring of hair. "It's never too late where there's life and love. And I intend to spend the rest of this nocte, if necessary, proving that to you."

"It won't work, Marissa," Brace said without emotion, his voice cold and hard as stone. "I won't let myself want a woman who with one breath says she loves me and with the next betrays me."

Marissa began to unlace the front of his tunic. "Is it that simple for you, Brace? To be torn between between love and duty, and so easily choose one over the other?"

She spread open the two halves of his garment, baring his chest, and smiled, a slow, provocative smile. "Even now, I can barely remember what came between us. Even now, all I recall is how you touched me, loved me, felt inside me last nocte."

Her finger stroked a flat male nipple nestled in its dark, whorling sea of hair. Brace sucked in a breath. Marissa's eyes lifted to his.

"You're so very sensitive, my love," she murmured. "I wonder . . . how you'd respond . . . if I kissed you?"

He jerked his head aside as she lowered her mouth to his, but Marissa quickly captured it and held it in place. "There's nothing you can do, is there?" she asked, her lips a breath away from his. "I can do whatever I choose, and you can't stop me."

His hot, angry gaze slammed into hers. "You can't make me want you!"

"No, but I don't need to. You already want me. All I've got to do is make you admit it."

"And the Crystal Fires will freeze"

Her lips, settling softly over his, silenced his furious reply. Brace stiffened against her. His mouth clamped shut.

Amusement filled Marissa. How like a stubborn little maiden he was, fighting her.

But not for long. Somehow, some way, she'd convince him of her love this nocte. The morrow was a frightening, doom-shrouded sol, but they'd at least have this nocte. A nocte no one could ever take from them, a nocte that would last through all eternity.

Marissa leaned back and stroked the tumbled hair from his forehead. "Relax, love. I won't hurt you. I'll go slow, be gentle with you."

She was mocking him, repeating some of the words he'd used in his attempts to seduce her. Brace glared back at her.

"
I don't want you, Marissa!
"

"Really?"

Her mouth covered his again, taking his lips in a fierce, devouring kiss. She touched her tongue to his lips, circling the sensuous fullness, then lightly, teasingly licked him. His eyes clenched shut, and his mouth remained closed.

She moved to his ear, softly kissing, licking, and nibbling there. Brace shuddered, then once more stiffened, forcing his body into rigid unyieldingness. Marissa smiled as her lips trailed down his neck, lingering over the hot, throbbing pulse in his throat.

The heady, musky smell of him rose to her nostrils, and she inhaled deeply of his masculine scent. Marissa's heart began a wild, staccato rhythm, sending blood coursing through her body. She became acutely aware of every delicious aspect of the man beneath her. His warm breath, the sensuous feel of his smooth skin beneath his hairiness, the searing heat of his body. Ah, how she wanted him!

Her mouth followed her fingers as they trailed down his muscled torso until her lips captured a velvet nipple. She laved it lightly at first, then more aggressively until it puckered in arousal. Her own nipples tingled with a similar sensation. She took his now taut nipple into her mouth and sucked, long and hard.

Brace inhaled a ragged breath and moved beneath her, twisting futilely in the shackles that bound him. "Marissa," he rasped. "Stop . . . it! I don't . . . want . . . this!"

"Yes, you do, my love," she purred. "You want it as badly as I."

As her mouth continued to lave first one nipple, then the other, Marissa's hand moved to his breeches. He jerked away, but not before she felt the hard swelling, stiffly straining beneath the cloth. Her hand slipped down to capture him. Brace went still.

Marissa's head lifted, her gaze meeting his. His eyes burned, hot and tormented. Beneath the fingers still resting lightly upon his chest, she felt his muscles leap reflexively, then draw taut and hard. A sensual haze engulfed Marissa and, with it, a new, primitive urgency.

Slender fingers tightened around him and she began to stroke his long, thick length, kneading, squeezing, sliding up and down. His eyelids lowered and his head fell back. A groan, low and male, escaped him.

"Marissa . . ." he breathed.

Triumph surged through her. She had power over him, a power he was helpless to resist. It filled her with joy and an immense, gut-deep satisfaction. Yet, even as Brace yielded to her, she felt her own heart and body yielding as well. And there was no defeat for either of themonly the victory of an impending, exquisite pleasure.

The pace and rhythm of her stroking quickened. Brace moved more restlessly now, writhing, his hips betraying his rising excitement by spasmodic little arches. Marissa leaned over him once more, her mouth slanting hotly, hungrily over his. This time, he responded.

His lips parted, his tongue plunged into Marissa's mouth, then slowly retreated to plunge again and again. She gasped with startled pleasure, then ardently met him, joining in a deep, savage kiss. Her fingers grew impatient. She fumbled with the fastening of Brace's breeches, freeing him. The big tip of his aroused sex sprang out against her hand.

From some distant corner of Brace's mind a tiny voice screamed that he should fight her, that no matter what she did to his body he must never surrender. She'd betrayed him and would surely do so again. And that betrayal would only hurt the more if he mated with her, allowed her to win this nocte.

But his loins ached with a fierce, burgeoning fullness, a fullness that would become agony if he didn't soon find release. And in spite of everything, he wanted her, loved herforgave her. It was his ultimate shame, and yet, his greatest glory.

With a groan, Brace wrenched his mouth away. "Marissa," he whispered, "let me see you, kiss your body. I need it. Ah, Gods, how I need it!"

She leaned back from him and lifted her arms to slip out of her tunic. Brace had a brief glimpse of the soft mounds of her breasts straining against the tautly stretched cloth, then her upper torso was bared. His eyes narrowed to glittering slits as his gaze slid over her, hungrily taking in the smooth expanse of ivory flesh and pert, full breasts with their rose-colored, softly pouting nipples.

"Move closer, femina," he commanded. "Give me your breasts."

Marissa bent over until he could feel the heat emanating from her, smell her fragrant feminine scent. With a soft smile, she cupped a breast and lifted it to his mouth. His lips caught her nipple, tugging it, sucking it.

Marissa whimpered. The pace of her hand, sliding up and down his straining shaft, quickened. Brace arched, his hips joining the wildly frantic rhythm. He released her nipple to nuzzle his face in the soft valley between her breasts.

"Please," he gasped, "let me see all of you! I needI want you!"

She pulled back from Brace and slipped off her boots and breeches. Then Marissa moved to sit astride him, tugging down his breeches to below his knees. Brace's legs spread, granting her greater access. She cupped him gently there, fondling his hair-roughened sac and hardened shaft.

His breath came fast and harsh now, and a fine sheen of sweat matted his chest and torso. He groaned.

"Marissa!"

"Tell me you love me," she demanded, leaning over to rub her sensitive, swollen breasts against his face. "Tell me, even if it's a lie. I don't care. I need to hear it, to believe it, if only for just one nocte."

His tormented gaze met hers, and an aching tenderness filled his eyes. "I love you, femina. I've always loved you."

"Ah, you lie so beautifully," she whispered. "I almost believe you." Brace sadly shook his head. "Believe, Marissa. I may be a fool, but I've never been a liar."

"Then we're both the most glorious of fools, my love."

She moved then, her white thighs straddling Brace as she lowered herself atop him. His shaft brushed against her. Brace groaned again.

Marissa reached down and grasped him, lifting his big, wet tip to slide up and down her soft woman's flesh. He jerked against his shackles and growled, the sound animal, desperate with warning.

"Marissa!"

She trembled wildly and, inhaling a deep breath, thrust him up into her.

"Gods!"

Marissa's head bent and she shuddered with the wild sensations coursing through her. She could feel him, every bit of him, all his slickness and power. And it felt good, oh so very good! If she did nothing else in her life, she could stay here just like this, impaled by his thick, deliciously hard shaft.

"Marissa . . . ?"

She glanced down at him, into dark, tender eyes, eyes burning with a barely contained need. Burning with a tormented question. She smiled.

"Yes. Oh, yes!"

With a growl Brace thrust up into her then, his hips grinding into hers with a fierce, ever increasing tempo. She moaned and pumped her own body against his, wildly, frantically. His head lifted to capture a puckered nipple and he alternately suckled then nipped at it until Marissa thought she'd go mad from the exquisite torment.

She grasped at his straining shoulders, digging her nails into his sweat-dampened flesh. The fire between her legs built to an aching, unbearable tension. All reason fled. Marissa thrashed violently, her body grinding against his. No matter how rough or deeply he plunged, she couldn't seem to get enough. The swollen length of him, sliding smoothly in and out, only increased her wildly rising need. He felt . . . so . . . wonderful!