Nightshade (40 page)

Darry made a sound in her throat and slipped her hand in Jessa’s hair, tipping her head back and then kissing her. Her tongue opened Jessa’s mouth and she took what she wanted.

“Hold this,” Darry said quietly, and Jessa took the taper.

They stood beneath the candle’s dim glow deep within the darkness of a secret corridor behind the upper stacks and shelves of the Queen’s Library. The stone walls were cold around them, but Jessa felt only heat. They had moved through back hallways and darkened corridors, and through them all they had been touching. Touching hands or thighs pressing close, Darry’s mouth upon hers, tongues tangled and arms holding tight. When Darry had taken hold of her from behind after they entered the secret passageway and pulled her close, Jessa had wanted to weep with want. Darry’s hand was upon her breast and caressed her through the material of her sari.

Her body had never felt as it did now. She stood within the candle’s light and watched the woman she loved scowl in frustration as she searched the door for the catch of the lock. Everything was gloriously on fire and aching with deep echoes of desire, surges of physical pleasure that would blossom in her unexpectedly and delve between her legs or deep into her thighs.

Darry laughed anxiously. “If he locked this I’m going to kill him. I’ll bloody well
kill
him.”

Jessa yanked at Darry’s jacket. “If you’ve brought me into this tomb and there is no
bed
at the end of it? I shall make you pay, I swear to the Vhaelin.”

Darry grabbed her and Jessa dropped the candle. The taper hissed out, casting them in darkness. “
Zaneesha
vash
!” Jessa cursed, then smiled as Darry laughed against her neck. “
Nahla tu en
gitta pitton
.” She found Darry’s mouth in the blackness and kissed her boldly. Darry moaned and fell back against the door.

The latch clicked with a loud snap and Darry dragged her mouth away. They listened to the silence for any other signs of life.

“That sounded wonderfully depraved, Jessa,” Darry whispered. “Tell me that you were cursing and I shall love you even more.”

“Open the bloody door, Darrius.” Jessa reached past her and pushed.

The hinges moved with a cracking at first and then swung smoothly. The door opened to reveal more shadows. Jessa could feel that it was a more open space, something decidedly different in its essence than the close corridor they stood within. Darry took her hand and led her within.

Jessa looked up and saw a second story. The circular room was lined with what appeared to be curved shelves, their contents inky and mysterious in the pale light from high overhead. “What is this place?” she asked softly.

“It’s a private study.” Darry stepped to the door and pushed it shut, locking the bolt. “Jacob and Wyatt found it when they were boys,” she said, and struck a flint. The chamber came to light, the golden glow of a lamp flooding out and repelling the darkness.

Several tables were covered with scrolls and books, stacked neatly and well-organized. Next to the tables was a desk and just beyond a wrought-iron staircase that spiraled to the second tier. A circular balcony was built round and gave access to another level of shelves filled with more books and overflowing with parchments, rising to the ceiling where a small chandelier hung within the gloom.

“It was used by my great-grandfather, or so we think.” Darry moved across the chamber as Jessa turned in a small circle, trying to find the ceiling. “The papers on the desk were his anyway. It’s Jacob’s room now.”

“Radha says he is a true scholar.” Jessa watched as Darry lit another lamp, this one on a small table beside an alcove carved into the stone. The gap was hollowed out in a high, deep oval of space that was opposite the entrance. “I think she likes him very much.”

Darry smiled at that. “He sleeps here much of the time, for he reads late into the night and is often gone for days, lost in his scrolls. He turns up in the kitchens eventually, like a ghost in the middle of the night.”

Jessa saw that the alcove was almost another room for its size and clean arch, and it contained a rather enormous bed, its mattress covered with a colorfully woven spread. There were pillows as well, and a tapestry was pinned to the wall above the spindle headboard, but it was the sight of Darry beside an empty bed that sent her heart into her throat.

“Alisha changes the sheets and blankets, and she cleans things for him because he forgets. I think they are lovers here, though I cannot say. Jacob is very proper and they’re not yet wed.”

Jessa pressed her hands against her thighs, hoping that would stop their trembling.
Lovers.
We will be lovers, Akasha, you and I.

Darry set the flint on the table and took a few steps, gazing at Jessa’s long hair as it caught the light in a lustrous manner. “We may do as we please here, Jessa, without fear of being found out or spied upon. That is, if it still…if such a thing would still please you, of course.”

Jessa let out a slow breath. “It pleases me very much, Darry. It’s just…”

Darry tried to think of what she should say, wanting to use the right words. She had thought for so long now that she was not, in fact, worthy of a moment such as this one. Aidan had told her as much, and those words had clung like barbs to her heart, never truly letting go. All of the words spoken that terrible night had marked her, and she realized only now how deeply they had affected her behavior.
But they were lies, Aidan, all the cruel things you said.

Jessa lowered her eyes to the floor.

“I love you, Jessa,” Darry said.
At least I hope she was lying,
Darry thought with a flash of doubt. “Please don’t be afraid…because I won’t hurt you, Jess. I will never do that.”

“I know, Darry. It’s just that I’ve never…” It was all well and good to be bold in the setting sun and flowers, but Jessa was in foreign territory now. She was suddenly very afraid that Darry would be disappointed. “I think you must show me what to do.”

Darry’s smile was filled with tenderness. “But that is easily solved, my love,” she replied in the softest of voices. “Because there is nothing we must do, only what we want.”

Jessa remembered Radha’s words.
If you don’t have the courage to find out for yourself, not even the Vhaelin will help you.
So she moved forward, her heart skipping beneath the heat of Darry’s eyes. Her touch hovered for an instant in the air between them, and then she took hold of Darry’s jacket.

“What do you want, Jessa?”

“What I have seen in my dreams.” Darry’s eyes darkened with an infinite amount of color. “May we get undressed now?”

Darry smiled straight away. “Yes, my love.”

Jessa slipped her hands beneath Darry’s coat and slid her palms along the softness of her tunic, lifting the garment. Darry shrugged and Jessa pulled the coat free and tossed it aside, giving a nervous smile.

Darry’s lips curled in her roguish grin, her dimple pressing deep. “Perhaps you might help me unfasten my garments? I don’t have the patience for that, as you may recall, and you’ve made a good start of it already.”

Jessa blushed as she remembered the gate of the hidden garden. She traced her fingers along the high collar of the white tunic and then slid downward, watching the play of fabric across Darry’s chest and the raised nipples under the silken weave. She felt a tremor move through Darry’s body and watched her eyes lift, green and blue so dark Jessa thought she might swoon. It was a terribly powerful expression, and the heat and the wetness pulsed hard between her legs.

Darry gathered her close, burying her face in her hair and breathing deeply. Jessa wove her arms around Darry’s shoulders and slid up her back, grasping and pulling the shirt free of Darry’s trousers. They were kissing, turning toward the bed in slow unison until Jessa felt the mattress bump against the back of her legs. Darry lifted the ties of Jessa’s sari, the question within her eyes.

Jessa seized Darry’s tunic and spun them about. Darry was forced to sit as Jessa balanced between her legs. Dark hair rained against Darry’s skin and she accepted the deep kiss and reached around, caressing the backs of Jessa’s thighs and moving upward.

“You really do taste wonderful.” Jessa’s breath seized as Darry’s touch moved up her buttocks. “I know this taste of yours,” she said, understanding yet another part of her visions. “I do.”

“There’s more,” Darry said.

“Do you really love me?” Jessa asked, though she knew the answer. She could see it in Darry’s eyes and she knew that her life would never be the same, never again.

“Yes.”

“Say it,
Akasha
.”

Darry had no idea what
Akasha
meant, but the name upon Jessa’s tongue made her insides flip over in a delicious manner. “I love you, Jessa.”

Jessa kissed her again and knelt between her legs. Jessa instantly missed the hands on her body but wanted something else even more. She sat back on her heels and took hold of Darry’s left leg, her hands certain on the heel of her boot. It came free with a long pull and she tossed it to the floor behind her.

Darry grabbed the edge of the mattress, mauling the covers as Jessa moved to her right boot. She turned her ankle and tried not to smile.

Jessa frowned when the leather refused to move, and she tugged harder. “
Zaneesha seta
-
allah,”
she mumbled, and Darry’s quiet laughter washed over her.

“Try again,” Darry said happily.

Jessa’s humor rose in her chest as the boot came free. She threw it behind her where it landed with a thud, then she loosed the sock as well. “I hope you’re enjoying yourself.” She was trying to scold and failed completely.

“Yes, very much, thank you.” Darry grinned, her dimple sexy and deep.

Jessa rose upon her knees, her eyes on the fastener of Darry’s tunic. She undid it slowly, took a breath, then moved downward, spreading the tunic open to reveal the skin down the center of Darry’s body.

The rise of Darry’s breasts drew her eyes and she touched the skin between them, trailing her fingers down its smoothness and wanting nothing more than to place her lips there.
There is only what we want.
She bent forward and kissed the skin, becoming lightheaded with the scent of flesh and the absolute softness beneath her mouth. She heard the moan from within Darry’s body and felt trembling hands in her hair.
There is only what we want. Only what we want.

As Jessa followed her desire she felt it, the quiver of pleasure in her sex as she traced the dark skin about the raised nipple of Darry’s right breast. Darry’s body flinched at the caress and her hands tightened within Jessa’s hair.

“
Jess
.”

The strain in Darry’s voice caused another shudder of pleasure and Jessa pushed hard between Darry’s legs, lifting the breast and savoring the tender weight within her hand. She took the nipple in her mouth and kissed it sweetly. Her tongue teased at the hardness of it, for it was what she wanted. “
Dennah nessa
enna
,
Akasha
.”

Darry let out a sharp sob, yanked the tunic free from her arms, and took hold of Jessa’s shoulders. She was kissing her then, her hips pushing to the edge of the bed as Jessa’s hands moved along her skin and cupped her breasts between their bodies, kneading them.

Darry dragged her lips away and held her face against Jessa’s, closing her eyes tight as Jessa’s hands continued to massage. “Jess.” Her release was quivering hard, just an instant away. “Jess, I’m sorry.” She pulled gently at Jessa’s arms until Jessa was forced to stop. “But we must…I’ll spend if you keep doing that.”

“It feels good? Like before?”

“Take off your pretty dress, my love,” Darry said gently, wanting this to be something that Jessa would remember. She wanted to give this to her as best she could; she wanted it for the both of them. “Let me show you.”

Jessa closed her eyes, remembering the pleasure in her visions, remembering their potency and how the Waters of Truth had teased her with the promise of this very thing. She felt it again, the hard pulse between her legs and the heavy, throbbing ache that was everywhere. She wanted Darry’s flesh against her own, wanted what she had waited so long to find. “I would like that very much, please.”

She got to her feet and stepped back to kick off her soft boots and pull at the ties of her dress. The sari slid and slipped as it unwrapped, its silk material opening with a whisper. Her blouse and undergarments quickly followed. Everything pooled to the floor at her feet and Darry stood as Jessa’s body was revealed.

Jessa’s nipples were hard and waiting to be touched, her skin dark and smooth as her hair fell onto her shoulders in a silken mass of midnight and jasmine. The smooth curve of her hips and her flat stomach led Darry’s eyes to the downy black curls nestled at the curve of her thighs.

Darry undid her trousers and pushed free of her clothes, revealing her body in kind. Her skin was clean and smooth, her firm breasts flushed in her want. Everything was sleek, lean muscle, announcing her strength and yet all so natural, so perfectly Darry. Even the bruises Jessa saw, though she felt a flash of worry at the sight of them, she could not consider them clearly. Her only want was to feel that magnificent body against her own.