Bound in Darkness (26 page)

He laved first one breast then the other, sucking at her harder the more she rode him. He took his free hand from her hip and searched at the apex of her thighs for the sensitive nub that would give her her greatest pleasure. And he wanted to give her her greatest pleasure. He wanted her to come apart in his hands. To scream out
his
name. To know that
he
owned her now. In every way a man could own an independent, fiery woman, he would own her.

His fingers swirled against her and she gasped. She let her head fall back and her eyes close and he immediately stopped. Her head snapped up and her eyes narrowed on him.

“That's right. Look at me. Look right into my eyes and make damn sure it's me you see. Me you feel,” he ground out to her. He started to pleasure her with his fingers again and she kept eye contact with him this time. It trebled the intensity of what they were feeling, to be so connected like that. And he wanted that intensity. Wanted it more than anything. Maybe even more than freedom from a curse he no longer deserved.

The thought shook him to his core. It was something he normally would not want to acknowledge, but it was impossible to escape in that instant. And it gave him more pleasure than he thought could be possible. The urge to climax struck him hard and it was all he could do to prevent it. It shocked him how powerful it felt and why it felt that powerful. He knew when he reached that apex it was going to strip him bare and raw…but he would not reach it alone. He would make her feel it too.

He began to thrust up to meet her, one hand coming to grip her hip and buttocks the other buried in the nest of curls toying with her. She began to moan, guttural erotic sounds that built in intensity until she began riding him harder. Her eyes never left his but he could tell she wanted to…wanted to shut her eyes and shut herself away from acknowledging the depth of what she was feeling. But neither was she a coward. Never a coward. So she was gazing deep in his eyes when she came for him for the first time. She shattered like glass, splintered and sharp and clear. It was so incredible to see and feel that he came hard and fast. He shouted out, a primitive sound that came from the bottom of his soul.

And all the while they looked hard into each other's eyes.

As they came down from the high of it, breathing hard and damp with perspiration, he felt her pulling back. Felt her closing herself off and away to somewhere safe. She looked away from him.

“Wow,” she said breathily, lightness in her tone. “Let's do that again real soon.”

“Just give me a few minutes and I'll be happy to oblige. But in the meantime…” He looked at her with a devilish glint in his eyes. Fine. She wanted to play? Wanted to keep it light as if the intensity of the past few minutes hadn't happened? He was game for that. He was no more eager to search his soul than she was.

“In the meantime?”

He stood up, lifting her as if she weighed no more than air…which to him she did…and turned to lay her out on the bed. Seeing her stretched out, naked and waiting, was everything he needed.

For the moment anyway.

He turned her over onto her stomach, though she resisted the whole time, looking over her shoulder at him.

“What are you doing?”

“I told myself when I got you naked I would kiss every inch of your body.”

“Oh?” she said breathlessly.

“Yes. And I'm starting with the back.”

She sighed, long and deep.

“Be careful,” she said. “I could get used to this.”

“That is entirely my plan.”

I
n the weeks that followed, as they traveled to Gorgun, Maxum made good on his promise to keep her in his bed every night. The only exception came when she had her woman's blood. But even then he slept with her and touched her, soothing her when she became uncomfortable, massaging her to release the knotted tension of the day in her shoulders and back. It was hard going, their journey, and it was incredibly cold. But they warmed each other every night and she'd even taken to sharing his saddle with him as they rode, conserving body heat between them.

Snow threatened to fly any day, but they hoped to make it to Gorgun before then. When possible they traveled from inn to inn, spending their hard-earned money on beds, none wishing to sleep on the cold ground.

There were other benefits to beds as well. But there were also drawbacks. It allowed for much more privacy, more intimacy, and Airi was feeling the danger all too keenly. She had felt it their first night together, when she had been trapped in his gaze the first time he had made her climax. She had known right then that she was in danger and she had fought with herself every second to keep from fleeing for her life, to keep her heart safe, intact, and untouched.

But then she had realized it was much too late for that. Maxum had wormed his way into her soul when she hadn't been looking and now she cared for him to a degree which she had never cared for anyone in her life. Not since her mother had died.

She lectured herself on her stupidity. The man had destined himself to battle a god and despite all of the trinkets he adorned himself with to help him with that, she knew the odds of him winning such a battle were very slim indeed. Sabo was a
god.
He commanded powers that mortals like them could barely comprehend. She was terrified she was losing her heart to a man who would simply throw it away, all in the name of his vengeance against a god.

Oh, he said it was about freedom from his curse, but she knew vengeance when she saw it. There was hatred inside this man and she didn't blame him for it for one second. She had never seen what his curse was like, but she didn't have to see it to imagine it. The crushing weight of all of that soil and rock, dirt filling your mouth and nose, suffocating…

She shuddered just to think of it.

She didn't know what to do. She should be putting distance between them, but instead they just became closer with every touch. And what amazed her was that he did not balk at the intimacy. She would have thought he would have hardened his heart against anything that might deter him from his goal, but he didn't appear to be doing that. Oh, he had made no great declarations of love and really, she wasn't expecting any. He was not a poet or a bard and would not be the sort to speak of love. He was a man of actions, so he showed her love. In every touch, in every coming together, he showed her love. And she showed him love in return. Damn her for being stupid, she showed it and felt it.

They arrived at Gorgun after a month of travel just as the first snow began to fly. They had ridden in the cold all day, hoping to make the city by sunset. They arrived mid-afternoon, with enough time to find an inn and begin to warm themselves from the cold that seemed to sink into their very bones.

They were in the common room but for some reason the inn was barely inhabited. There were two other patrons, the innkeeper who was a short, rotund sort of man, and an aging barmaid who wore a peasant blouse that showed off her shoulders and corseted cleavage as if she were a woman ten years younger. Still, Airi could see how she had once been an attractive woman, before the hard life of a barmaid had settled onto her.

Maxum wasted no time getting to the meat of their visit to Gorgun. He called the innkeeper over to their table.

“So what is this I hear of a demigod living in this city? Is it true that one touched by the gods lives among you?”

“It is true that there is one touched by the gods in this city,” the innkeeper said. “But I would not say he lives among us. Above us is more like. He has great wealth and power and he is the ruler of this city. His name is Xzonxzu and you would be wise to steer clear of him.”

“Where does this Xzonxzu live?”

“He lives in the heart of the city in the grand citadel there.”

“How would one go about meeting this Xzonxzu?” Maxum pressed.

“You are a foolish man if you think to meet Xzonxzu. He has little patience for us mortals and becomes bored with us quite quickly. Also”—he looked to Airi—“you would be wise to keep your woman away from him. Xzonxzu has a large appetite for women and devours them like a hungry child devours candies.”

“We will keep that in mind,” Maxum said, his arm tightening around Airi's waist. She had tried to sit beside him earlier, but he had possessively insisted she settle into his lap. She had become quite a favored ornament there in their travels this past month and she had learned not to argue with him when he desired her.

Maxum thanked the innkeeper for his information with a tip of gold. The innkeeper beamed at them and from that moment on hastened to make them as comfortable as possible. The barmaid, having seen they were of money, now became very attentive to them. She tried flirting with Doisy who, oddly enough, did not seem all that interested. It wasn't that she was too old…Doisy had proven himself to be unprejudiced to age, size, or anything else when it came to women, so Airi was left to wonder what the reason was. She put it down to fatigue. They had been traveling hard these past few days with no inns on the way. It would be nice to have a warm bed to sleep in.

Maxum placed a kiss on the side of her neck and she smiled and curled into him. Honestly, she amazed herself. She had never in her life gotten moon-eyed over a man before. Never under the blue sun had there been anyone likely to touch her. But now she was being touched by more than a man. A mythical man. He was larger than life and thus just the right size for her. Mainly because that was what it had taken to get her attention.

But now that he had her attention, what was he going to do with it? That was the question that had begun to haunt her. She didn't want to change him. She just wanted to change his mind. There had to be a better way to solve his curse. Given time maybe they could find it.

But time was almost at an end. Tomorrow or the next day he would have the cuff. Then he would go to Meru's temple and challenge a god.

And she'd be damned if he thought he was leaving her behind with nerves and a breaking heart to sustain her. She was going to be there with him until the bitter end. She could promise him that much at least.

Sunset came and went and when he came back to her she was waiting just as she had waited for him every night for over a month now. Tonight was different though. They were on the cusp of the end of their journey. Tomorrow it could be all over for them.

This was immediately reflected in their lovemaking. She attacked him the moment he walked into the room, throwing her body against his, driving her fingers into his wet hair and pulling him down for her kiss. Her feet came up off the floor and her legs wrapped around him like a desperate vise. He gripped hold of her, letting her attack him and holding her to him for every second of it. She was wearing the sheer nightdress he so loved seeing on her, naked beneath, her body hot and soft and strong as it clung to his.

She made no bother with preliminaries. She went straight for the drawstring of his breeches and whipped it free of its tie. She created the gaping in the front that she needed to get her hand on him, to draw him out, to bring him to the cusp of her body. A single thrust and he was inside her, making them both grunt with satisfaction.

Maxum had barely gotten the door closed before she had attacked him, and now he turned toward it, shoving her back up against it and thrusting hard and deep now that he had sufficient counterforce. He hit into her hard and fast, his passion heating with every driven thrust. She felt heat bursting across her every nerve ending and in her passionate desperation she came almost instantly. She cried out as her body convulsed around his, but he never once broke his stride. He continued to thrust hard and fast until she exploded in a second, blinding orgasm. Her fingernails dug into his shoulders, her teeth bit into his lip. He chuckled and thrust, fondled her breast and thrust, devoured her mouth and thrust. The pace was blinding and hot and she needed it more than anything. Her need overwhelmed her, swallowing her whole as she leapt into her next orgasm, this time taking him with her. He roared out his pleasure, pounding into her the entire time until finally…finally he could continue no longer. His knees folded under them and they slid down along the door to the floor.

Trying to catch her breath, she also tried to hold her tongue. She didn't want to ruin the intensity of the moment by starting what would probably end up in an argument.

But she failed miserably.

“There must be another way,” she said softly against his ear.

He tensed. She could feel it inside of her as they were still connected. But mostly she felt him go tight all around her as she sat nestled in his arms and lap.

“There is no other way and you know it,” he said quietly. He met her eyes and brushed her hair back from her face with a gentle hand. He tucked the strands behind her delicately pointed ears. “Do you think this is easy for me? Before I met you I had nothing to lose. I thought that would make me the best kind of opponent. But now…now I'm not so sure.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, fighting the urge to hold her breath.

“I mean…I feel things now I hadn't felt before. Not in this life and not in the life I had before the curse.” He trailed gentle fingers over the crest of her cheek. “Do you know how beautiful you are?” he asked her. “I can never convince myself that you really do want to be with me. Of all the men in the world, someone like you has chosen someone like me.”

“I can say the same of you,” she said with feeling. “I have never felt beautiful until you told me so. I've never wanted to feel that way. But now I find I am vain because I bask in your regard of me as though I were some fine lady with gently bred manners and social graces. And yet you never treat me like I am weak or docile or any of those other lady-mannered things. You relish my independence and my strength. You make me feel stronger than I am. Better than I am in all things.”

“You should feel strong and beautiful and independent and all of those things that make you
you.
You may be small of stature but to me you are larger than life. There is more of you than I could ever hope to manage.”

“Quite right,” she said primly. “I am a handful and then some. I will always keep you on your toes. I refuse to be tamed or predictable.”

“There is no danger of that,” he assured her with a chuckle. Then he sobered. “But I am in danger, for in this battle I will have a weakness. One I didn't have before. And yet…” He toyed with another strand of her hair. “And yet I feel I have a strength a thousand times stronger than this ring could ever have provided.”

The remark warmed her even as it troubled her. “I don't want to be a weakness for you. I want you to have every ounce of strength and power you can possibly have. We should travel the globe gathering more trinkets to assure that you are undefeatable and I…”

She stopped for he was shaking his head and she already knew it was too fanciful a notion. There was nothing more they could do.

“We will get the cuff tomorrow,” he said quietly, “and then I will spend one last night in your arms before going to Meru's temple. There I will pray for the beginning of the end of my curse or the end of my existence. I hope to carry the strength you give me with me but I cannot do that if you deny me it.”

“What do you want me to say? That I give you my blessing and support you with all of my heart?” She did not cry. She never cried. But tears edged into her voice and it quavered as she spoke. “I would never deny you anything. And you already have all of my heart.”