Rhuul's Flame (15 page)

“Then we understand each other.”
Embral’s palm grew hotter, burning the skin beneath it.
“I am placing a mark upon you. Any elemental who sees it will treat you as an equal. The fires of my family will aid you when needed.”

He wouldn’t flinch while his flesh was seared. He took the pain, and when Embral removed his hand, a raised, glowing scar was left behind. There was a pattern to the burns, with multiple swirls and whirls over his shoulder.

Lea pulled away from her mother and wrapped her arms around her father. Embral stroked her hair and held her close, the flames of his body gentle and calm. If an elemental could show love as an outward expression, that would be it.

“We were just about to start dinner. Come on, tell us about your journey while we prepare it.” Renna reached out and grabbed his wrist.

“Mother, I’d rather take a bath and relax a little if it’s all the same to you. We’ve been going nonstop. We can join you later for the meal, or we can take care of it.” Lea stepped away from her father and returned to Rhuul’s side.

“Well … All right. I’ll send Ghena when the food is ready.” Renna took Embral’s hand and headed toward the house.

Lea pulled on his arm, and he followed. She led him to her parents’ home, but continued around the back of the house, heading down a short path to another building. “This is your house?”

“Yes.” Flowers bloomed as she passed by, as if they wanted to greet her after the journey.

Her building was like the others, but her mosaic of plants was more complex. Flowers in varying shades of green along with twisting vines converged to create rippling effects. The overall picture was a stem with flaming petals. It was an accurate representation of who she was. Life and fire all in one.

When they walked inside, his gaze roamed over the spacious living and dining areas. The decorations were simple. The furnishings appeared comfortable, and the scent of fragrant blossoms hung in the air. There were plants everywhere, in pots, growing in the walls, hanging from the ceilings. They were purposefully placed and gave the rooms an exotic feel.

“I know it’s not the palace you grew up in, but this is home for me.”

If he had to classify the look on her face, he’d call it hopeful. Her brows were slightly raised and crinkled, her eyes were wider than usual, and she worried her bottom lip.

“Well, don’t just stand there. What do you think?” She turned in a circle on the spot with an outstretched arm.

“It’s … acceptable.”

“Acceptable? Oh … okay…” She frowned and walked toward another doorway.

“Was that the wrong answer?” He followed her, wondering why she left him behind.

“It was your honest answer.” She didn’t look back and disappeared into another room down the hall, the staccato of her footfalls in sharp contrast to her usual gait.

He stepped in the doorway and watched her pull the rope to fill the tub. “Is there a problem?”

“Acceptable? Why don’t you just say you hate it?” She turned around and looked him up and down with a gaze cold enough to freeze him solid.

“I said it was acceptable because it is. If I hated it, I’d say so. What’s the big deal? It meets your needs, so it’s fine. I see no point in analyzing a building I don’t plan to stay in the rest of my life.”

“This is my home, Rhuul. I created it myself. Our structures are a form of expression, and you are standing in the middle of my creation, reducing it to nothing more than a pile of dirt.”

He didn’t like the disappointment in her features.
What the hell was I supposed to say?
To him, it
was
just a building, but to her it meant something he didn’t quite know how to relate to.

She must have read his confusion. She moved to stand in front of him and placed her hand over her left breast. “Remember when you gave me this?”

He nodded, a smile spreading his lips. The mere mention of placing the gold hoop in her skin made his body heat up.

“What if I told you it was just okay?”

“Okay?” The idea that the most important symbol he could fashion was viewed as mediocre created a sick feeling deep in his belly. “Is that why you altered it? You didn’t really like it?”

“Stings, doesn’t it? That feeling of doubt about something you made?”

Her meaning hit him like a blow to the chest, and he closed the short distance between them. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize.” He cupped her face, placing tiny kisses along the bridge of her nose. “You do like it, don’t you?” The words of apology slipped from his lips with ease. In truth, he’d never apologized to anyone before, but with Lea, it seemed natural to want to make amends. It was more than just the apology. He didn’t like the feeling her words created in him, and he sure as hell hadn’t intended to make her feel that way.

“I love it, Rhuul. I just wanted you to understand where I was coming from.”

There was an odd sense of relief in having her acceptance, and he brought their lips together in a tender kiss. The contact was light, and in his mind, an extension of his words. In his head, he wanted to show her his sincerity, but his body had other ideas on what it wanted to display. A quick flick of her tongue and he was hard in an instant. He broke the kiss, and traced her collarbones with his thumbs. “Are we bathing together again?”

Her smile was small, her cheeks tinged red. “If you want.”

“Are you keeping your dress on?”

She took two steps back and stared at him. There was a look in her eyes he couldn’t interpret. If he had to name it, he’d say it was mischievous. She bent at the waist, gripped the hem of the garment, and lifted it slowly. Inch by inch her legs were revealed, but each time he met her gaze, he felt exposed, as if she were seeing into him in a way no one ever had before.

Her movements were deliberate, showing the tops of her knees, thighs, rounded hips, and belly. His pulse skyrocketed at the sight of her curved waist. The view of her bottom ribs made the muscles of his arms contract. He wanted to hold her close, but he wouldn’t dare stop the decadent display.

Another few inches, the bottoms of her full breasts came into view. They sat on her chest like succulent fruit, enticing him, begging for his touch. Light danced over the hoop and charm in her left breast, almost ending him as his erection throbbed and jerked against the cloth pants. Precum oozed down his shaft, as if his cock wept at his refusal to take her.

She pulled the dress over her head and tossed to the floor, still smiling at him. She hooked her thumbs into the sides of her underwear, and slid them down, stepping out of them, leaving her bare before him.

He’d seen what she could do with her flames and with the plants of the earth, but in that moment, she never looked more powerful or more glorious. She was like a flaming, brown-skinned goddess, and she was his
dranaiya
.

“Fuck…” Never had he felt a pull so strong, nor a desire so blinding. There had never been a time when he thought he’d lose all coherent thought if he didn’t claim a woman’s body. He wanted her so badly it hurt, the muscles of his groin twitching, his oozing cockhead aching. He stood there, watching her, trying to remember how to breathe.

She appeared to move in slow motion as she got into the tub and slipped below the surface of the water. The leaves grew when she was inside, changing to a large vessel to accommodate his wings.

He walked over with quick strides, tearing his pants off as he went. When he peered inside, Lea was heating the water with her flames. He climbed in, passed through her outstretched arms, and lifted her so they were eye to eye. He held her there, staring into the flickering green fires of her irises, trying to decide how he wanted her.

They didn’t spend time exploring during their first encounter. He’d rectify that. He lifted her higher and sat her on the curled edges of the leaves. He wrapped his arms around her waist, and when she leaned forward, he kissed her, thrusting his tongue into her mouth. She returned his touches with passion, her movements urgent and needy.

He wanted to pull her down onto him, wanted to bury himself inside her until her eyes rolled back and her breaths failed. But there was more that he wanted, and he broke the kiss, smiling at the sound of her panted breaths.

He kissed a path down the side of her neck, laving the skin as he went. She was tangy, like an unripe melon, and just as firm. He lowered himself into the water, kissing and nibbling a jagged line down her abdomen, teasing her belly, feeling her muscles tense beneath his lips.

When he placed a kiss on her bare mound, she hissed out a breath. Gods, did he want her; he almost shook under the weight of his need, but he held it together, determined to have his prize.

He moved to her inner thigh, kissing and biting the warm taut skin as he drew ever closer to her delta. Inches of smooth flesh was on display with not a single hair to be found. She held her legs open for him, and he leaned forward and breathed her in, his dick jerking like an angry snake.

He spread her lower lips with his fingers, watching her nectar leave shimmering trails over the lower areas of her labia. “Gods, Lea. You’re beautiful.” He licked a line up her slit, from rosebud to clit, looking up in time to see her head fall back. Another long swipe, and her thighs closed in, locking him in place. He sucked on her lips, feeling the slight swell of the flesh in his mouth, reveling in her loud vocalizations, enjoying the ever-increasing heat of her body.

She gave herself over to him with abandon, rocking her hips against his mouth and tongue, pulling his face closer to her body, as she edged closer and closer to her climax. “
Ha leethin’ai kan’na.
”

He didn’t care what the words meant. Her movements became more frenzied. Her nails pressed into the skin of his skull, and he latched onto her clitoris and sucked hard, groaning into her body.

Her thighs relaxed, and she started drifting backward off the edge. He wouldn’t let her slip away, not even in the throes of passion. He pulled her down into the water and sat on the raised area she’d created, positioning her over his lap. She hadn’t come all the way down from her high, and that suited him just fine. His muscles trembled when he guided her down onto him, feeling her heat surround him all at once.

He gritted his teeth. It was all he could do with his body in sensory overload. He was about to explode and he hadn’t even moved. He wanted to slow his heart, needed to acclimate himself to the pleasure encasing him, planned to take her slow and deep. There was one factor missing in his equation. Lea’s ideas.

She lifted up, almost dislodging him, and sank down hard, moving her hips in circles at his base.

“Gods!” He wasn’t ready for this. There was no way to prepare for it. She repeated her thrusts, her hard nipples brushing his face on every rise and fall, her inner muscles squeezing and releasing with her rhythm. “Lea…”
I’m not going to make it.

She’d turned the tables, and by the gods did he love what she was doing to him. All he could do was hold onto the soft roundness of her hips and let her have her way with him. He could no more hold back his orgasm than he could stop the suns from rising. But he could do one thing. He extended his tongue, flicking her left nipple when it passed his lips.

Lea’s body quaked, and she paused long enough for him to suck the swollen nub into his mouth and toy with her charm. Her keening cry was loud and short as her voice left her. She bounced on his lap, sending water sloshing over the sides of the tub.

He’d had climaxes in his life, but he’d never known anything like this. It was as if she was in the process of pulling his very soul from his body. He released her breast and held her as tight as he dared. He burrowed into her with uneven strokes as he felt his seed surge forward. “Gods!” He pulled out at the last possible second, his entire body humming. His semen shot forth in strong bursts, like prisoners rushing out into freedom.

Lea’s breaths were deep as she rested her head on his shoulder. He’d never felt so connected to anyone before. He was both invigorated and unsettled by the feeling. He snaked his arms around her and held her close, feeling her heart thump against his chest.

“Why did you stop?” Her voice was still shaky and low, stroking his ego.

“We have to be careful. I can’t take any chances of getting you pregnant.” He wanted to run his fingers up her spine, but he was disabused of that notion when Lea stood and glared at him.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” She’d gone from sex goddess to furious witch in a heartbeat.

“You are my
kan’na
. I’m supposed to bear your children.”

“Gods, Lea!” He stood to face her, and closed his eyes. “Do we have to do everything at once?” He took a breath, wanting to find the best way to explain what he felt was obvious. “I’m planning to take over my own realm, and you’ve agreed to join me. I don’t know where we’re going to sleep when we leave here, let alone where we’re going to go next. Is that the best situation to raise a child in?”

She pursed her lips and sucked her teeth. “Damned Eidon logic.”

And just like that, she was normal again. “Damned Omala life lover.” He laughed and pulled her close, the heat from her body sinking into his. “There are many things I’d like to have with you, but let’s try to plan some of it out. When I…” A sudden realization washed over him, and he’d have to change not only his words, but his way of thinking from now on. “When
we
are in our own realm, I will give you as many children as you want. Baby steps, Lea. No actual babies just yet.”

He stroked her cheek, feeling her smile against his fingers. “What does
Ha leethin’ai kan’na
mean?”

She pulled back and stared at him with her hypnotic green gaze. “It means bring me to life,
kan’na
. We say it because during those brief moments right before you come, your heart beats as if it’s not sure if you’re going to die or touch the essence of every living thing. As my
kan’na
, your job is to ensure I experience the latter. I touch life through you in that moment.”