Lady of Light and Shadows (17 page)

It felt good to stand in the sun and laugh with his truemate as though neither of them had a care in the world. Too good, almost. The gods were rarely so kind for long.

He jumped to his feet and held out a hand. "Come swim with me.”

She hung back. "If I get in the water in this outfit, the cloth will turn completely transparent.”

"I know, and I'm looking forward to it more than you can imagine.”

Her cheeks turned a pink so bright it put the pella tree's blooms to shame.

He laughed and swept her up into his arms, twirling her around in circles several times. "You bring me such joy." He kissed her until they were both breathless, then tugged her once more towards the waves. "Come. Swim with me.”

"You're serious.”

"You've never seen the ocean as a Fey sees it. I'd like to share the experience with you." That was part of what he had been doing during their courtship bells, sharing with her the joys of being Fey. Showing her in every way he could that for all the difficulties and danger that came with being his mate, there were great rewards, too.

She hesitated for a moment, then put her hand in his and let him lead her into the surf.

Yet another little act of courage. There'd been so many in the last few days. She was still so innocent-she likely always would be in some ways-but beneath that innocence was a spirit of adventure. For years, Ellysetta had suppressed every hint of it, wanting desperately to be the modest, obedient daughter she thought her parents expected, but now, like a tairen kitling driven by an instinctive yearning for the sky, she was learning to spread her wings and fly. He encouraged her, true, but the effort, the desire, was all hers.

He tossed his robe to the sand, leaving only the thin trousers covering him from waist to ankle. She stared at him for several long moments, a look he could only describe as hunger on her face, and then, with a slow deliberation that nearly drove him mad, she shrugged off the outer robe he'd woven for her, leaving only the simple shift, held up by two narrow straps. The tops of her breasts rose above the bodice, alluring curves that drew attention to the small points of her nipples thrusting against the thin fabric. The bodice flowed down into fuller skirts that swept across her ankles and trailed behind in a short train.

It was Rain's turn to stare, and his look wasn't merely hungry-it was ravenous.

She lifted a brow, cast a siren's look over her shoulder, and dove into the waves.

"Spit and scorch me." Shaking himself free of his dazed paralysis, he closed his mouth and dove after her.

A simple weave of Air and Water let them both breathe under the water and see with as much clarity as they did on the surface, and together they explored the secrets of the world hidden beneath the waves. Sunlit reefs not far off the sandy shores gave way to deeper waters with mysterious caves and undulating fields of shimmering kelp alive with darting fish and other sea creatures.

In the glittering aqua depths, Ellysetta's hair shone like waving fans of coral. Her sheer gown was molded to her and the skirts fluttered languidly in the current, teasing him with flashes of smooth, pearly skin-a thigh, a calf, the delectable curve of her buttock, and the soft, rounded fullness of her breasts tipped with the darker circles of small, puckered nipples. He swam slightly behind her to torment himself with the view As he watched, she knifed downward through the water, her hand reaching out towards a school of rainbow-colored fish swimming near the kelp beds. They scattered quickly when her questing fingers came too close. Bubbles of air billowed around her as she laughed and chased after them again.

Even with the long-and very pleasingly transparent-skirts of her gown trailing behind her, she swam as if she'd been born to it like the Sea Folk who inhabited the warm waters of the western ocean. He would take her to meet them too. As delighted as she was by this small bay, he knew she would adore the Sea Folk, with their glittering tails and long, flowing hair that came in all the shades of the sea.

«Look!»
Ellysetta called.

She reached down to the sandy ocean floor and lifted a large shell the size of both his hands. It was oval-shaped with long spikes curling back from the mouth, and it had a wide, broad lip colored a deep opalescent blue, with streaks of green and purple. The snail that had once occupied the shell was long gone.

«Isn't it beautiful?
»

He looked at her smiling face and shining eyes. «You
are beautiful.»

Her smile faded as he swam closer. He reached for her hand and pulled her up from the ocean floor until her body was pressed lightly against his and they were floating, weightless, beneath the surface of the sunlit waters. He kissed her, offering her all his joy and devotion.

Rain summoned Earth, and the tantalizing, translucent fabric of her gown parted beneath his hand, falling away to bare the perfection of silky skin and gentle curves. She
was
beautiful. Her long, bright hair, like flame on the water, floated about her, as lovely as any Sea Maid's, her limbs long and slender. Her small, round breasts fit perfectly in the palms of his hands. He bent his head to draw the soft bud of one nipple into his mouth, and the dark skeins of his hair floated in the current, teasing her other breast with feathery brushes.

Her fingers curled in his hair, gripping his head and holding it to her. The tingling laps of his tongue, the teasing brush of his hair ...
mercy!
She was weightless, floating in warmth and sensation. Nibbling kisses trailed down her belly and lower. Her eyes flashed open.
«Rain?
»

He smiled and lifted his head from her breast but did not release the Spirit weave that pressed tantalizing kisses all around the soft, flame-colored curls between her legs.
«Las, shei’tani. Let me give you this. I promise you will like it.»
The Spirit weave moved lower, directly into those curls. Her eyes widened, but she didn't ask him to stop. Taking that as encouragement, he ducked his head to capture her lips. His tongue dove into the sweet, soft cavern of her mouth just as his weave dove into the softer, more secret cavern between her thighs.

Good, sweet Lord of Light.
Ellysetta's eyes closed as wave after wave of unimaginable pleasure bombarded her senses. Heat and pressure built, every stroke of his tongue matched by an even more devastating stroke of his weave. Her hands gripped his shoulders, fingers digging into the lean muscle. He hadn't been bragging about his mastery of Spirit. Even though she knew which touch was him and which was his weave, both felt equally, devastatingly real. The muscles in her legs and belly drew tight.
«Rain .. . Rain, please ... »
His Spirit flicked with warm, insistent pressure over a spot that seemed to control every trembling nerve in her body. She cried out and her senses shattered.

Holding her trembling body to his, Rain spun a powerful jet of Water, propelling them towards the surface of the ocean, and they burst through the cresting waves like dolphins leaping from the depths. The momentum carried them forward onto the beach, where a rapid weave of Air cushioned their descent. He landed lightly on the sand, Ellysetta in his arms, a scant two steps from the blanket he'd spread out beneath the pella tree.

He knelt on the blanket and lowered her gently beside him. Water streamed from his hair, dripping salty wetness. With a wave of his hand, he dried them both.

She stared up at him with a look of dazed wonder. "That was ... was ...”

He smiled. "I am glad you liked it." His eyes were glowing, burning. He'd given her release but taken none for himself. Need still pounded inside him.

Ellysetta's breath caught in her throat, and a new spiral of desire wound tight in her womb. He was so beautiful, so fierce, and yet so achingly gentle with her, always making sure the choice was hers and freely made. He had a power so vast he could have bent her to his will with scarcely a thought, but he used none of it to persuade her.

She sat up and laid a hand on his bare chest, marveling at the silky smoothness of his luminous skin, the power contained in so much beauty. He froze, kneeling beside her as her hand trailed down his side, over his ribs and the rippling, defined muscles of his abdomen. The front of his trousers shifted as the hard length of flesh still hidden beneath them pulsed against the fabric, as if reaching for her.

Her own brazenness amazed her. She was kneeling beside him, utterly naked and not the least bit embarrassed by it. Instead, she wanted him naked too. "Take these off." She trailed her fingers across the waistband of his trousers. "I want to see you “

He waved, and the thin cloth dissolved into wisps of insubstantial mist.

Ellysetta caught her breath. She wasn't completely unfamiliar with the male form. Between the paintings of the old masters in the museum, her giggling discussions with Selianne after she'd wed, and Rain's own Spirit weaves, she knew the basics of what to expect. Even so, nothing had prepared her for the reality of Rain or the rush of fierce desire that filled her at the sight of him.

He was beautiful. Everywhere. Especially there, where his sex rose up from a nest of dark curls, a thick, silken column of alabaster flesh topped with a broad, slightly rosy, rounded crown. She reached out, needing to touch him, to feel that part of his body so different from her own. Her fingers closed around his shaft, and her thumb brushed across the velvety head. His skin here was so soft ... and so hot, burning like a flame in her hand. His sex pulsed in her palm, and with her fingers still curved around him, she stroked down the silken length, then back up. Tingling bursts of energy shot up her arm, leaping from his body to hers.

He lunged, catching her by surprise and bearing her back upon the cushion of fine sand. His body, the entire full, deliciously naked length of him, pressed against hers. Skin to skin, hot and heavy, a seductive weight that made her legs part and curve up around his thighs in instinctive invitation. His body gave one great, trembling quake, then froze, every muscle locked solid, hard as steel.

"Merciful gods,
shei’tani."
His eyes closed and he pressed his face into her neck. "Don't do that again.”

"But I want you, Rain. I want this." She reached for him again, but he caught her hand in an iron grip.

"Ellysetta ..."
His voice was a rough scrape of sound, ragged with need. "I want you too,
shei’tani.
And I need to mate with you now.
Teska,
let me spin the weave." He groaned as the tairen surged against its bonds, reaching for her, roaring against its confinement.

A shocking wave of hunger crashed over Ellysetta-fiery, voracious, overwhelming. She shuddered in its grip, feeling the hunger invade every cell, twisting want to clawing need. It rose up, fierce and demanding. She needed him. Now, inside her. Completing her in truth the way he'd completed her so often now in Spirit.

"No weave," she commanded, her voice low, bordering on a growl. “Just you and me, as we were meant to be”

Dear gods. Every muscle in his body clenched in agony. "There's nothing I want more,
shei’tani. I
crave it so fiercely, it would frighten you to know." He dragged in a deep breath. The gods could not have devised a more insidious torment than this: Ellysetta, wholly untouched by any sensory enhancement, not just urging him to take what every instinct of his Fey and tairen souls was screaming for him to claim, but commanding him to.
"Teska.
I swore an oath to your father. I cannot break it.”

Now he could scarcely believe he'd been so stupid as to make such a vow. No mortal had a right to govern what was shared between a shei’tan and his mate. When Sol Baristani had pressed Rain for his oath that there would be no mating before marriage, Rain should have refused. But he'd wanted the guarantee of time alone with Ellysetta each day, to court her slowly and win her trust so the bond between them could form.

"I didn't swear that oath," she protested. "When you wager with tairen ..." She squirmed against him, her hips wriggling until his heart nearly exploded in his chest.

She was going to kill him. Without a blade, without a spell, she was going to be the ruin of him. Within, the tairen roared and lunged against its bonds, raging, furious, driven mad by the need to claim its mate.

"I swore it," he rasped. "I've already bent my oath as far as I can. This would break it.”

Her eyes flashed. For a moment he feared she would demand what he had no more strength to resist, but instead she said, "Then spin your weave,
shei'tan.
Now”

Spirit rushed from his hands in twin rivers of magic so dense and shining, the whole world took on a glowing lavender tinge until the weave settled to illusory perfection. He spared only the smallest fraction of his concentration to spin his leather breeches back into place in the desperate hope of keeping his honor intact. His hands and mouth he gave free rein, falling upon Ellysetta's sweet body with ravening hunger just as the Spirit Rain caught the Spirit Ellysetta in a fierce, hungry embrace.

She reached for him with greedy hands and growled in frustration when they found the warm barrier of his leathers rather than the heated naked flesh she wanted. Her fingers dug into the waistband and tugged. "Take these back off," she insisted, then cried out as his mouth closed around the sensitive peak of one breast, setting her blood on fire.

Hands, mouth, teeth, tongue, both real and magic, worked their way down her body, finding every sensitive spot, tormenting every nerve ending until every fiber of her body came alive with hot, electric sensation. The muscles in her thighs began to tremble, then to quake as in both body and mind her passion exploded in a breathtaking rush. But even before the first shudders ceased, he began working his magic again, driving her to a second, more powerful climax, then a third.