Bound in Darkness (31 page)

He took the opportunity to stroke over her skin under the water, touching her fading tan along her shoulders and the tops of her buoyant breasts. He skipped touching her nipples, although he could see they were hard and eager for it, and stroked his touch around to her back. He caressed her over every last bump and ridge of her spine, then curved a hand around her backside. He tried to pull her into a better, more accessible position, but was thwarted by the tub.

“Damned thing,” he growled as he suddenly came to his feet, pulling her to him as well. He reached for the rinsing bucket and poured the warm water over them both. Then he scooped her up into his arms and stepped out of the tub. He was tossing her down onto the bed seconds later.

His haste was amusing, but she did not laugh. She was too drawn in by the intensity in his eyes. He spread her out wide on the coverlet, arms perpendicular to her sides, legs parted, hair streaming back in a platinum waterfall.

“Do not move. Don't even touch me,” he warned her.

“But—”

“Not one touch. You touch me and I stop touching you. Not until I say it's okay, understood?”

She eventually nodded, but he could tell she didn't like the idea. This was like asking her to give up control, not something she did lightly…not even for him. But tonight was different. Tonight there was no room for egos to get in the way.

He stroked his fingers over her throat and felt her swallow. His touch drifted to her collarbone, shaping and outlining the prominent bone. He moved on to her breastbone and then embraced one full breast with his hand.

Airi felt the touch all the way to her toes. Something had heightened all of her senses it seemed. Maybe it was the desperation that was shadowing them, maybe it was just because he wasn't allowing her the freedom to touch him back. She couldn't tell. She had to clutch at the bedspread with both fists to keep herself from driving her fingers into his hair, especially when he bent his blond head and touched his tongue to her nipple. He danced it against her in light flickers, then laved her hard and sucked her into his mouth.

Airi moaned low and deep, her body going tight with tension and wet with arousal. Her legs shifted restlessly. She wanted to wrap her legs around him, but she was pretty sure that would constitute touching. It was so hard for her to obey his directive, especially when he started kissing and licking his way down her flat belly to her dark blond curls. She lifted her hips into him as his mouth brushed through those curls. His hands appeared on her thighs and he parted them, spreading her wide open, exposing her to the heat of his breath against her most intimate flesh. Then he went straight to the source of her pleasure. He burrowed for the little bud of nerves with a hard, pointed tongue. She moaned and gripped the bedding tighter. There was something about not touching him that made the act so much more erotic. It had such incredible power and it was humbling how it made her want him more than anything. More than independence, more than wealth, more than life. She would give it all just to have him safe with her when this was all said and done.

Tears filled her eyes as his mouth worked powerful magic against her. She cried out as a blinding orgasm ripped through her. She gripped his hair in her fingers, holding his head to her body, refusing to let him move. It was only as she was coming down from her peak that she realized she had grabbed hold of him when she wasn't supposed to have. But he did not seem angry about that. In fact he had a well-satisfied smile on his lips, as if he had been the one to climax.

“Let's try that again, shall we?” he said, taking her hand out of his hair, pressing it down into the bed. He did the same with the other. The message was clear…she wasn't to touch him. Again.

“No, please…I need to touch you. More than I need breath, I need to touch you,” she begged him.

The expression that washed over his features was not one of ego or arrogance, not one of a self-satisfied man who could make a woman beg, it was the face of a lover loving to hear how much he is wanted. How much he is loved.

“Then you shall touch me all you like, my pretty elf. Touch me anywhere and everywhere. All that I am is yours to experience. But I expect the same in return. Free access to you anywhere and everywhere.”

“All that I am is yours to experience,” she echoed breathlessly.

The response satisfied him and he surged up the length of her body until his sex was nestled tightly up against hers. He undulated his hips, rubbing his hot, engorged flesh along the valley she provided.

“Good,” he said on a whisper. “Because I've been wanting to try something for this past month…”

“What?” she asked, excited and full of trepidation at the same time.

“This.” He lifted her hair, pulled it aside and exposed her pointed ear. “Is it true what they say about elves? That the tip of the ear is like a clitoris?” His tongue shot out to touch the point of her ear and she gasped. “That, if an elven woman tucks her hair behind her ear it is considered a blatant invitation to sex? That it's akin to masturbating in public?”

“Maxum!” she gasped, suddenly breathless and unable to draw enough oxygen as he toyed with the second most sensitive erogenous zone on her body.

“I love the sound of my name on your lips,” he said, his lips and breath hot against her sensitive ear. “I'd love to hear you scream it tonight. The sound will carry into my dreams…into my memory. It will be a sound I will never forget, no matter what comes.”

“Please…don't speak of it.” Not while she was this open and exposed. She would fall apart and never be able to put herself back together again.

He seemed to understand and hushed her soothingly and then licked the tip of her ear. He used his tongue to draw it into his mouth and she went weak and wet as he sucked on her gently and provocatively.

He attended to her slowly, his mouth on the point of her ear, his fingers seeking between her thighs. It wasn't long before she shattered like stained glass, colorful and beautiful and sharp.

She was rolling in repletion when he kissed her mouth. She smiled beneath his lips. And the moment she thought she had never been so happy was the moment she felt her saddest. Try as she might she couldn't forget what was coming.

But he didn't give her time to fall apart. He moved his leg between hers, drew her thigh up to his hip and ran his hard length along the center of her body, wetting himself in her juices. Then he looked down into her eyes, connecting with her so that she knew his soul was touching hers, and thrust hard inside her.

She gasped in a loud breath, her heart pounding in her chest in a mixture of pain and pleasure. Pain for what was to come, pleasure for what was. He made love to her as he had the first time, looking into her eyes the entire time, stripping himself just as bare as she was. When she came this time her cries mingled with his, only after it was done hers turned to soft sobs almost immediately.

“Shh,” he hushed her softly. “Have some faith,” he said. “Have faith I will win the day tomorrow. Do you believe in me?”

“I believe in fact. He is a god, you are a mortal.”

“I am immortal. I am strong. I am protected.” He touched the talisman.

“He is a god,” she repeated.

“What does that mean?” he asked her. “Do we even know what it means to be a god? Do we even know what limitations they have? What true strengths? Do we know anything about them? I know they cannot hear all of us at all times. I know they could not take my immortality away from me when I stole it for myself. They have limitations. I will find out his weaknesses and I will win. I have to win,” he said softly, kissing her cheek. “I have every reason in the world to win.”

She gave him a wan smile and nodded. “You are right. There is a good chance you will be victorious. Meru would not have sent you for the cuff and the ring if she didn't believe that. But she is using you to help sway the war between the gods into the favor of Weysa's faction. She doesn't care if you live or die.”

“I think she does. Anyway, we will see. But that is tomorrow…and your night is only beginning.”

She lifted her chin, setting her jaw stubbornly. “You are right,” she said then, more strongly. “You are strong enough to beat him. I believe in you. And I will not waste the time we have together crying like a woman.”

She pushed him off her, hearing him chuckle as she rolled him to his back. She slung her leg over him so she was straddling his thighs and he saw a devilish gleam in her eyes.

“Now I believe it is time to make
you
cry.” She took his hands and spread them out to his sides. “Don't touch,” she warned him.

He chuckled. “Turning the tables on me?”

“Yes.” Her gaze held a world of passionate promise. Maxum closed his eyes for a moment to try and gird himself against the prospect of Airi on a mission to seduce him. He was already seduced, didn't she know that? Everything else was just a bonus.

He opened his eyes and watched her do her worst.

M
axum walked into the temple of Meru with a heavy heart. Airi was standing by his side, supporting him to the last, and doing it without any tears. Those tears the night before had been her last, and he knew she wasn't even fighting to hide them. She believed in him. She would believe in him to the end. She feared for him, but she believed.

Maxum went to the temple's offering stone, whereupon a variety of objects was laid, given as offerings to the goddess from those supplicants that were trying to win her assistance in their lives. Most often it was women who longed to bear children for their husbands, or pregnant women who wanted a specific sex for the child or for the child to come out healthy. She was the goddess of all things fertile, so even farmers came and made offerings to her in hopes that their fields would grow ripe and healthy that season. Those took shape as sacks of grain or freshly butchered animals. At the end of the day Meru's mems would take the offering and use them to feed themselves or clothe themselves, so that nothing went to waste. By supplying the well-being of Meru's mems, the supplicants were doing Meru a great favor. In this way their prayers could be answered.

Or so it was believed. Maxum didn't really know how often such requests were answered. He imagined that if Meru had to answer every single prayer that went up to her every single day all over the world, she would quite exhaust herself. But it was a known fact that many prayers went unanswered. When they went unanswered the supplicant could only assume it was against a god's wishes. Or perhaps they had not prayed hard enough. Or that they had in some way done something to displease the gods. There was a lot left open to interpretation. A lot an average mortal did not have an answer for. All they could do was guess and listen to the Songs of the Gods as guidance to what the gods truly wanted from them all.

But as he stood before the altar Maxum was forced to wonder if it was more than a matter of a god's wishes or temperament. That perhaps it wasn't in their power at all to do the things the supplicants asked of them. He hoped this was the case because it meant there was weakness to be found. That they were not all-knowing and all-seeing. They were not all-powerful. He had already proved the all-seeing part to himself…and the all-knowing. Now he wanted to prove they were not all-powerful.

He looked to the left and right, checking to see if the room was cleared, then he lowered himself to a knee and began to pray.

“Meru, I have come to do what I promised to do. Come to me and we will begin and end this thing. I beg you to hear me and to adhere to your part of this bargain.”

There was no response, so he tried again.

For the better part of an hour he prayed to a goddess who had apparently turned a deaf ear to him. But he had come too far to give up now, so he persisted. A mem entered the altar room and came to ask them if there was some guidance she could offer. Airi politely declined the invitation. The mem looked perplexed, but she left them to their prayers and went about her business.

It was just turning into the noon hour when Meru suddenly appeared, her rich wheat-colored hair arranged wildly about her shoulders, her body dressed in a dress of flowing white fabric.

“I have heard your prayers,” she said, moving quickly to him, “and we have coordinated our attack. Weysa's faction will keep the other gods from interfering in your battle, but the rest is up to you.”

“I am ready,” Maxum said.

“Are you?” she asked. “I do not think you fully understand the ramifications of what you are going to be doing. The responsibility to the world should you win.”

“I know the world would be better off without pain and suffering.”

“There you are wrong. For we must have pain and suffering in order to appreciate what goodness is. In order to appreciate what pleasure is. A world cannot function without pain and suffering.” Meru turned to Airi. “You should know that most of all. For I think you will feel great pain and suffer great loss if he leaves you.”

“I will,” she said, but her voice was strong. “But he will not leave me…and I will not leave him. I wish to watch the battle.”

“A war between gods is no place for a mortal. You would most certainly be killed.”

“Airi, no!” Maxum cried at the same time.

“I will not be able to sit here never knowing what has become of him! I must see this for myself. I beg of you, please!”

“Perhaps,” Meru said after a brief moment, “there is a way. I will turn you into a tree on the edge of the field and you will witness the entire battle, but no one will know you are there. But be warned, if I should fall or die or be taken captive, I will not be able to turn you back again. And also, as a tree you will be vulnerable as any tree might be to being bent or crushed. If the battle should be taken near you you could be severely harmed or damaged…or even killed. But otherwise, you will have full view of the entire field and the entire battle.”

“Yes!”

“No! Airi, no! I cannot battle knowing you are that close by!” Maxum said, his upset clear in his tone. His anger a tangible thing. “I won't have it!”

He knew it was the wrong thing to say even as the words were leaving his mouth. Airi's entire being bristled with anger and stubbornness.

“I will not just sit by waiting like some warrior's wife who has sent her husband off to the wars and might wait months to learn what has become of him. I am not made that way! I will be by your side through this thing.”

“But as a tree that cannot move or defend itself? Think, Airi!” he implored her.

When he put it like that she bit her lip anxiously. “Then what do you suggest? For I will not allow you to go off without me!”

“There is another way,” Meru said. “The ring of invisibility. You can give it to her so she may watch and remain out of sight, yet be able to move quickly and defend herself if necessary. However, you will be giving up an advantage by giving it to her rather than wearing it for yourself.”

“No! Maxum, you need the ring for yourself!”

“Airi…it is the only way I will allow you to be there,” Maxum said grimly.

Airi was torn. Was it so important that she be there that she would be willing to take away this crucial advantage?

“If it helps you to choose,” Meru said, “the ring will only be good enough to use once against Sabo. The moment you betray yourself he will be able to strip away your invisibility.”

“That once could mean the difference between winning and losing,” Airi said.

“No. The fight will last much longer than a single blow. It will be a very small advantage,” Meru said.

“Then it is settled. You will wear the ring, Airi.” Maxum reached to pull her close to his body and pressed a fierce kiss to her lips. “You are right. You should be there. I will take great strength from knowing you are there with me. But only if you are invisible to detection, otherwise Sabo could use you against me. You must promise me that you will not betray your location for any reason. You will remain silent no matter what happens.”

“Maxum…I will not allow myself to become a weapon to be used against you. I will be your strength. I will be there for you, should you need me.”

“It is done then. Give her the ring. The other gods of Weysa's faction have gathered and we are to meet on the field of battle with the other gods immediately.”

Maxum handed her the ring and she slid it onto her thumb and instantly disappeared from sight. She reached out and took his arm so that he would know where she was. He bent to kiss her lips blindly, and she met his mouth with desperate hunger. Then, in the blink of an eye, the temple melted from around them and they appeared in a golden field full of wildflowers and lined with large oak trees. Here it was not winter, but instead felt as though it were a warm, sunny day.

Maxum gave her a little shove toward the edge of the field and she quickly followed his suggestion. She hid between two of the massive oaks, using them as protection against what was about to come.

There, in the field before her, stood six magnificent beings. Beautiful people who seemed larger than life. These were the gods of Weysa's faction, she realized. The warrioress dressed in full armor must be the goddess of conflict, Weysa. The rest of the gods were also dressed in armor, including Meru whose armor appeared magically before Airi's eyes.

She could guess at the identities of the other gods. Hella, the goddess of fate and fortune, was deemed to be a little on the mad side, something about being able to see all those pasts and presents at once having made her a little unbalanced. She appeared to be talking to herself, even though she was holding the hand of another male god. She assumed this was the god Mordu, her husband. For what went better with fate and fortune than love? The god of love held his wife's hand and patted it gently in comfort. Airi swallowed. What good would a madwoman do in a war of the gods?

That left Lothas, the god of day and night, and Framun, the god of peace and tranquility unidentified. But it was almost too easy to identify Lothas because his hair was half the gold of daylight sun and half the black of night. One of the males was decidedly taller than the other, although both were extraordinarily tall. Framun, it appeared, was the taller of the two.

That was when the opposite side of the field began to fill with gods, each winking into existence in the blink of an eye. She recognized Xaxis, the god of the eight hells, right off as their leader. He was a stocky god, with black hair and eyes the color of burning embers. By his side, her hand held tightly in his, was a statuesque blond goddess who reeked of power and strength. She immediately assumed this was the goddess Kitari, the queen of all of the gods. Maxum had told her that it was believed that Kitari was, in fact, a prisoner of Xaxis's…that she fought against Weysa's faction against her will. And yet he had brought her to be by his side in this battle. He must at least have some confidence in her.

The only other god she could identify was Diathus, the goddess of lands and oceans, because other than Kitari she was the only female on Xaxis's side. She thought the god with the hard, angry eyes might be Jikaro, the god of anger and deception, but she couldn't be certain. That left Grimu, the god of the eight heavens, and Sabo.

“So, Weysa,” Xaxis boomed across the field, “at last you have decided to stop cowering from us and finish this battle once and for all!”

So this was why it had been easy for them to arrange this battle. Xaxis had thrown down the gauntlet himself some time ago. As far as he knew she was merely taking him up on the offer.

“This battle will end,” Weysa said, “and when we are victorious you and yours will come to heel and behave yourselves from now on!”

“What is this little man doing here?” Diathus cried pointing to Maxum. “We had a deal, little man! You were not to raise your sword in Weysa's name!”

“And so I am not,” Maxum said. Oh gods, he looked so small compared to all these stately creatures! “I want no part of your war. I want Sabo.”

The god she assumed was Sabo released a little chuckle, almost as though he were shocked the mortal had dared single him out. As if it might just be a fine joke. Then he leaned forward to peer at him.

“You!” he cried out, a sudden rage singing through him. “Who let you out?”

Diathus cringed a little. “I'm afraid that was me. I didn't know he was going to be such a bother.”

So Maxum was right. They were not all-knowing. Otherwise Sabo would have known he was free all this time.

“I will put you back under the ground where you belong!” Sabo growled. Then he was launching himself across the field at Maxum. With battle cries, the other gods surged forward across the field and clashed in the resounding sound of god-made weapons. Airi ignored all of the others and fixated solely on Maxum.

Sabo plowed into Maxum at full bore, and Maxum hit the ground. They skidded to a stop, churning up a furrow of dirt in the tall grasses. Sabo stepped back away from Maxum, seemingly surprised that he had not been injured by the attack.