Quest for the Sun Orb (47 page)

“Would you like more wine?” Tomas asked.

“No, thank you,” she replied.

Suddenly she felt herself lifted into Tomas’s arms.  The sensation of her bare skin against his was shocking, but in a very good way.  When he laid her down on the bed and released her she felt a sense of loss again, but it was short lived as she felt him climb onto the bed beside her. 

“You are so beautiful,” he said as he lay down beside her.  “I barely know where to begin.”

Tiari smiled, then reached up with one hand until she found his shoulder.  She placed her hand against it, then ran it lightly up to the side of his neck, reveling in the feel of hard muscle beneath smooth, warm skin.  She slid her fingers to the back of his neck and tugged him toward her.  “Kiss me, please,” she whispered.

Tomas immediately complied with his wife’s request, a thrill racing through him when her lips eagerly parted for him, her tongue meeting his stroke for stroke in equal passion.  This was his Tiari.  Sweet and innocent, yet hot and passionate at the same time.  It was a combination that set his blood on fire.

He began thrusting his tongue in and out of her mouth while at the same time he cupped one breast in the palm of his hand.  He brushed his thumb over the nipple, unsurprised to find it hard and tight.  He tore his mouth from hers, suddenly desperate to taste more of her.  He kissed his way down her jaw, across her throat, paused for a moment to trace her delicate collar bones with his tongue, and then, finally, he reached the hard, dark pink nipple that was just a few shades lighter than the red of her lips.  The moment he sucked it into his mouth Tiari gasped and arched her back with pleasure and he hummed in approval as he wrapped his tongue around the turgid flesh. 

After a few moments he moved to the other breast, already knowing that this would be one of his favorite activities from that moment on.  He moved back to the first nipple, smiling to himself when Tiari’s hands buried themselves in his hair and began tugging at him in a silent bid for more.

He ran his hand down her side, exploring her ribcage, her tiny waist, her flat, silky stomach, and then the soft triangle of curls.  He stroked the seam between her thighs lightly with his fingers, coaxing her gently.  She froze for a moment, as though considering, then she relaxed beneath him and parted her legs.  The scent of her moist arousal sent a rush of desire and need through him that was so strong he nearly lost control of himself.   He lifted his mouth from her breast and clenched his entire body for long moments.

“Is something wrong?” Tiari asked uncertainly.

“Not at all,” he replied.  “I’m just forcing myself to wait and as much as I want you, that is not an easy thing to do.”

“Then don’t,” she whispered. 

Another wave of heat poured through him.  He clenched his teeth together and forced it back.  “I must,” he said.  “I have to be sure you are ready.”

“I’m not sure what you mean by that,” she said.  “I do know that I...want...something.  Very much.  Right now.  Is that what you mean?”

Tomas groaned, then shook his head, denying himself the image her words conjured up.  He shifted himself further down the bed and moved so that he was lying between her legs, which he held open wide with his hands.  “You are so beautiful, Tiari mine,” he said as he gazed down at the moist pink petals surrounded by dark curls.  Then he lowered his head and licked her lovingly, his body shuddering uncontrollably at the sweet, hot taste of her.  Her high, gasping moans of pleasure spurred him on and he continued to lick the delicate flesh, exploring each fold and crevice, urging her higher and higher.  He inserted one finger into her feminine channel, shuddering at the velvety heat that surrounded him.  He added another finger, then carefully began to scissor his fingers, stretching her slowly.  Before long she began arching her hips in a silent bid for more, so he added a third finger and began thrusting them gently in and out of her, deeper and deeper.  When he felt her body tighten he sucked the tiny, hard nub of her clit into his mouth and flicked it with his tongue.

The taste of her orgasm was more erotic than anything he’d ever experienced in his life, and he knew he would never forget it.  He continued to caress her with his tongue as her orgasm eased, then he crawled up her body, pausing to kiss her nipples which were now the same luscious red of her lips. 

“Tomas, please,” she gasped, “I need...please.” 

“Yes, Tiari mine, I need too,” he said, knowing that neither of them could stand another moment of waiting.  He reached down between them and placed the tip of his cock against the center of her heat, then began pressing slowly into her.  The hot, tight grip of her most sensitive flesh surrounding his was so intensely pleasurable that for a moment his vision darkened around the edges and he had to remind himself to breathe.  He held himself still, his arms trembling while he gasped for air.  When his vision cleared, he pressed in another inch and stopped again.

Tiari’s face was drawn with passion, her eyes closed, her hands gripping his shoulders tightly, her white skin flushed pink with her arousal.  “How are you doing?” he asked.

“More,” she gasped, “please, more.”

He hesitated a moment, worried that he was going too fast, then realized that her need and desire was as strong as his own.  He pressed in another inch and she whimpered, her head going from side to side.  Another inch and he felt the thin barrier of her innocence.

“Please, Tomas,” she begged, nearly sobbing with need.

“This is the part that will hurt, Tiari-mena,” he said, his entire body so stiff with the tension required to hold himself back that he found it difficult to talk.

“Good, hurry,” she said, her hips arching up toward him.

Tomas pulled back, then gritted his teeth and plunged forward, tearing through her hymen and burying himself deep inside of her at long last.  His body shuddered with the effort to hold himself still and wait until she was ready to go on. 

“Are you all right?” he asked, vaguely remembering her soft gasp of pain beneath the harsh groan of his own pleasure.

“Yes, I’m fine,” she said, and he smiled at the impatience in her voice as she arched against him.  Realizing suddenly that the moment of pain was now past, Tomas relaxed and let his body take over.  He pulled back, then plunged into her depths again, groaning with pleasure as she arched upward to meet him stroke for stroke.  Before long he was pounding into her, harder and deeper with each stroke, the pleasure rising so fast, and so high that he worried for one horrifying moment that he would climax before Tiari.  Then he felt her slender legs wrap themselves around his waist and squeeze as she opened her mouth and screamed her pleasure.  At the same time her tight walls clamped around his cock, and his own orgasm ripped through him, the pleasure so intense that his mind couldn’t quite encompass the reality of it.

And then, in the depths of his intense pleasure, he felt his soul touch hers, felt them meld together, joining as their bodies were joined, for one brief, timeless moment.  This was what he’d hoped for, dreamed of, waited twelve long years for.  It was real.  Not just story or legend. 
Real
.  Their souls had touched, and neither of them would ever be alone again.

When he was able to think again he rolled to his side carefully, taking her with him, unwilling to leave her body just yet.  He wrapped his arms around her and she rested her cheek against his chest, their hearts pounding in time with each other as they allowed their bodies to calm.  Then he felt something hot and wet on his chest and his heart stuttered in fear.

“Tiari-
mena
,” he said, “are you crying?  Did I hurt you?”

“No, you didn’t hurt me,” she said, then sniffled delicately.  “I am crying with happiness, Tomas.  When I’m done, can we do that again?”

Tomas laughed, then rolled over again so he could lean down and kiss her.  “Yes, Tiari mine,” he said.  “I think we can do that again.  And again.  And again.  We have the rest of our lives to love each other.”

“It’s a start,” she said, then grinned.  “I love you, Tomas.”

“As I love you, Tiari mine,” he said.  “So very much.”

Chapter Twenty Four

“Lady Techu, awaken please,”
Nikura called.

Karma’s eyes snapped open and she sat up while still trying to process what had awakened her.

“Lady Techu,”
Nikura called again.

“Nikura?” she asked, confused.  Nikura had never awakened her before.  “What’s wrong?”

“
We have a visitor,”
Nikura said. 
“I apologize, but she insists that I wake you.”

“We’ll be right there, Nikura,” Zakiel said, surprising Karma.  She looked down to see him watching her with a hint of worry in his eyes. 

“I keep forgetting you can do that,” she said, smiling.  “Do you know who the visitor is?”

“No, but I know that Nikura would not wake us for just anyone,” Zakiel said as he sat up and reached for her robe.  Karma took the robe and slipped her arms into it while Zakiel pulled his pants on.  When they were both dressed, after a fashion, Zakiel went to the door and opened it, gesturing at Karma to stay where she was, seated on the edge of the bed.

Nikura entered with an apologetic expression in his eyes.  Right behind him floated the misty figure of an old woman, her figure bent, her hair as white as the remaining snow on the Hidden Sister.  “Greetings, Cadusar Zabeth,” Karma said in surprise.  She glanced at Zakiel who nodded slightly, indicating that he saw her as well.

“Greetings, Cadusar Zabeth,” Zakiel said, moving to stand beside Karma as Nikura sat on the floor at her other side.

“Greetings, Prince and Princess of Isiben,” Zabeth replied.  “I apologize for awaking you, but there is no time in the Beyond, and events must take place at the time they are intended.  My visit to you is intended to take place now.”

“We understand,” Karma said, her stomach clenching at the sadness she saw in Zabeth’s misty eyes.  “What message do you have for us?”

“I bring troubling news,” Zabeth said.  “Zamon Worrow of the Sirelina no longer walks the land of the living.”

Karma and Zakiel both gasped softly in surprise, then bowed their heads in sadness.  “Worrow was a good man, and a wise one,” Karma said. 

“He will be greatly missed,” Zakiel added.

“His spirit is rare and pure,” Zabeth said.  “Only spirits such as his may become Spirit Guides, and only if torn before time from the land of the living.”

“Worrow was murdered?” Karma asked.

Zabeth nodded solemnly.  “He will not be able to advise you for some time yet, but has asked, and been granted, the right to send you a message.  I am the messenger.  The message is this;
I, Worrow of the Sirelina, was murdered by the flesh of Bredon, yet not by his spirit.  My friends, know that Bredon is fudaso, an unknowing sacrifice, and conduit of necessity to an enemy you must treat with, else Rathira will fall to the Djinn.  Without him at your side, Rathira will be lost to the enemy.”
 

Karma frowned at the last line, wondering why he’d said the same thing twice, then set the question aside for later. 

“Cadusar Zabeth, I do not know this word,
fudaso
,” Zakiel said.  “Can you tell us what it means?”

“When one chooses the path of darkness in a world of light, an anchor is required to bind them, otherwise they will, by nature’s law, be drawn to the darkness they chose to become part of,” Zabeth explained.  “The anchor must be one who belongs in the light, though he, or she, need not be aware of it.”

“A
fudaso
is the anchor,” Zakiel guessed.  Zabeth nodded.

“How is such a thing done without the...anchor...being aware of it?” Karma asked.

“There is one act which two people can engage in that combines their bodies into one and, at one critical point, opens their souls to one another,” Zabeth said. 

“That is a perversion of something that is meant to be done in love and trust,” Karma said with a grimace of disgust.

“True,” Zabeth agreed.  “Did you never wonder why it is advised to engage in the act of joining only with someone you love and trust?”

“Of course,” Karma replied.  “I just never realized there was such an evil reason for it, or that it left one’s soul vulnerable.”

“Any time you are unguarded, you are vulnerable,” Zakiel said.  “What leaves you more unguarded than ecstasy?”

Karma nodded reluctantly.  She wished she didn’t have to know what she had just learned.  Her heart ached for Kapia. 

“
Cadusar Zabeth,”
Nikura said after a moment of silence. 
“Are we to trust Sir Bredon?  Or is he now a minion of Marene’s?”

“He is not a minion,” Zabeth said.  “As to trust, that is not mine to say.  Now, I have but a bit of time left to me and more to say, so please attend.”  She turned her eyes on Zakiel and frowned sternly.  “Your current plans to leave the Hidden Sister in two days must be changed, Highness.  She who is Maiden of the Heart is traveling toward you now as quickly as she can, but it will be several days yet before she arrives.  You must await her coming.”

“Of course, Cadusar Zabeth,” Zakiel agreed with a deep nod.  “Be assured that your advice will be followed.”

“Very good,” Zabeth said, satisfied.  Then she smiled.  “Before I leave, I must tell you how pleased I am to see that the two people I last joined in marriage are soon to be blessed.  I congratulate you both.”

“Thank you, Cadusar Zabeth,” Karma said.  “We just learned today that it is to be twins.”

“Do you wish to know more?” Zabeth asked with a teasing smile.

“Yes,” Karma said at once, before Zakiel had worked out what the question meant.

“It will be as you desire, Lady Techu,” Zabeth said with a wink.  Karma laughed with delight. 

“Thank you, Cadusar Zabeth,” she said.  “As always, we are grateful for all of your help and advice.”

Zabeth nodded regally, then quickly faded away.

“What was all that about?” Zakiel asked.  “That last part, I mean?”

“If you will excuse me,”
Nikura said, standing up and stretching before walking toward the door. 
“I believe we can safely save a discussion of the deeper meanings of Zabeth’s message for morning.”