Nightshade (42 page)

Jessa could hear the underlying rage in Darry’s voice. She slid her hand along Darry’s shoulder and down her arm, seeking to calm her.

“Were he anyone but who he is, Owen Durand would’ve been laid low for what he’s done, and Malcolm as well. I’m shocked they’ve let me
near
you, so great their fear seems to be of who I am. I didn’t understand that before, but I certainly know it now.”

“What did you mean within the grove?”

“When?”

“When you said that everything was as it was meant to be.”

Darry smiled. “That was about you.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I love you, Jessa.” Darry’s thumb caressed lightly across the surface of Jessa’s lips. “When I looked into your eyes in the grove that night, I understood why Aidan left. Beneath everything that was done, all the lies and the deceit, beneath the injustice, it was very clear to me.”

Jessa waited, her heart hard within her throat as Darry took her hand.

“I loved Aidan very much, as she loved me. The way in which they broke us apart was filled with disgrace and cruelty, especially for Aidan. But in the grove, I understood something with a clarity I’ve never felt before. Aidan left because
you
were coming, Jess. She would’ve always left, no matter the circumstances that brought it about.”

Jessa was surprised by her words.

“It could’ve been no other way.”

“You speak of
Senesh Akoata
,” Jessa said.

“I don’t know what that is, my love, but I know what I felt. Whether you would have ever loved me or not, whether you walked a straight life or turned backwards, it didn’t matter. It was as it was meant to be. My heart was meant for you. It was always so, I think, from the moment I was born, perhaps. I felt that in the grove, and it was not just my desire for you or some girlish romantic notion. It was something beyond that, something old and bottomless and so true I could feel it in my bones.”

“This is a very deep teaching of the Vhaelin,” Jessa said. “
Senesh Akoata
is the spirit woven on the Great Loom, and the soul travels along its threads even when the body is gone from this world.”

“You mean fate?”

“This word of yours, it is not full enough for what I mean,” she said, crossing her legs as she sat up fully. “When you…” Jessa stopped as she realized what Darry had said.

“And if I had walked a straight life?” Jessa asked, her thoughts disrupted by the full weight of Darry’s words.

“It would not have mattered.”

“If I had married your brother?”

“Does that mean you’ll come with me?”

“Answer my question,
Akasha
. If I had married your brother?”

“I could not have stayed to watch that,” Darry said. “But I would’ve always been close, somehow. And if you had need of me, I would’ve come.”

“But you could’ve loved another.” Jessa’s blood turned fierce at the thought of another woman touching what was hers.

“No, Jess. I could not have done such a thing. I’ve been waiting for you, or at least that’s how it feels. Waiting for you to find me. Now that you’re here my heart is no longer mine to give. There would be dishonor in taking someone else’s love and giving nothing in return.”

“They will hunt us down and kill us. If not your family then Joaquin will find a way. Joaquin and his
Shivahsa
dog, Serabee.”

“Does that mean you’ll come with me?” Darry asked again.

Jessa smiled at the utter beauty of her expression, feeling a touch arrogant that she had managed to capture such a glorious woman. “Of course I’ll come with you,
Akasha
. I’ve been yours since you danced the Mohn-Drom. But did you not hear what I said?”

“
Really
?”

“Really what?”

“Since I danced the Mohn-Drom?”

Jessa laughed. “Yes, since then.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“Arkady Winnows almost lost his life that night.”

Darry’s brow went up.

“He kissed you and whispered in your ear,” Jessa said.

“But you knew I was backwards.”

“He kissed you and whispered in your ear.”

“It was only a dance.”

“He
kissed
you,” Jessa repeated pointedly. “And he whispered in your ear. And the Mohn-Drom,
Akasha
, is not
only
a dance.”

“Will you always be like this?”

“Like
what
?” Jessa said.

“This.” Darry leaned back from her. “All possessive and scary Vhaelin Priestess. Because if you become upset every time someone kisses me and whispers obscene suggestions in my ear, I’m not sure that we should share the fun of being hunted down and slaughtered together.”

Jessa grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her onto the bed. Darry laughed happily as Jessa climbed astride her body. “You are shameless,
Akasha
,” Jessa said, unable to keep the love from her voice. She reached down and opened Darry’s pants. “Were his words obscene?”

“No,” Darry answered, hearing the threat within Jessa’s voice. Her jealousy sent a pleasant thrill along Darry’s spine. “They were merely off-color.”

Jessa tugged on her trousers and Darry gasped as the seam pressed  against her swollen flesh. “What did he say?”

Darry moved her hips slightly. “Oh, well…that’s not really an incentive to making me talk, my sweet.” She gave a hiss as Jessa pulled again. “A bit to the left, my lo-
oh
…yes, right there.”

“What did he say?”

“Tell me what
Akasha
means and I will answer.”

Jessa laughed. “Never!”

Darry cupped a breast in each hand and toyed with Jessa’s already-rigid nipples as Jessa dissolved into the touch. “Tell me,
Akasha
,” she said in a seductive breath.

“He said that my breasts were—”

Jessa pushed Darry’s hands away and her right palm landed flat between Darry’s breasts, stilling her words. Slowly, she trailed her touch downward. “What did he say to you?”

Darry thought her bones would melt. “He said that he had never danced the Mohn-Drom with a more beautiful partner.”

“At least he’s not a liar.” Jessa gave a sensual smile. “I will let him live.”

Jessa rose on her knees and yanked at the waistband of Darry’s trousers. She lifted her hips and Jessa shifted to the side and pulled the pants free as Darry bent her knees. They were thrown to the floor as Jessa sat on Darry’s right thigh.

Darry dropped her head to the mattress, smiling and catching her breath at the fingers that slid between her legs.

“You’re very wet,” Jessa purred with wonder and lust. “And I think it’s time…” She moved her fingers in the heat and her own passion flared with a need that made her hips push against Darry’s muscled thigh. “That I start learning what pleases you, yes?”

“If you say.”

Jessa smiled at the sudden need in Darry’s voice and tightened her fingers along the tissues beneath her touch. She felt the hardness and the pulse of Darry’s want and saw her eyes go dark. Darry’s breathing quickened and her breasts were flushed as she pushed against the caress, her nipples stiff and raised.

Jessa moved smoothly, lying along Darry’s body and lifting her right thigh. Her breath caught at the spirit against her skin. Darry welcomed the touch and Jessa pressed high and hard against her sex as she took a ripe nipple in her mouth. Darry arched into her, her hands in Jessa’s hair, and pulled her closer. Jessa obeyed the silent plea and sucked harder. She brushed her teeth against the taut flesh, quite certain that she had never tasted anything so splendid. She brought her right hand up and took the other breast with moist fingers, rolling the nipple between them as she feasted.

“Jess?”

“Yes, love?”

“That…pleases me.”

The muscles of Darry’s throat tightened when Jessa pinched the raised flesh between her thumb and forefinger. Darry’s hips jerked against her thigh. “That pleases me as well.”

Darry closed her eyes and let out a breathless laugh as Jessa’s right hand slid down her stomach. “Blessed
Gamar
.”

Jessa’s fingers caressed and Darry’s hips answered their call. “What do you want,
Akasha
? Tell me. Tell me now.”

“Right
there.” Darry’s voice broke as Jessa’s touch worked the swollen tip of her arousal.

Everything became hard and Jessa explored, sliding along the stiff length of tender flesh
and squeezing, dipping in the hot spirit and drenching Darry’s flesh with it. She increased the pressure and returned to the place Darry had named, then smiled when Darry shuddered and jerked. Jessa found it hard to breathe as Darry rose toward release. She could feel it in Darry’s flesh, in the way her legs tightened, and in the way Darry pushed into her hand. “More?”

“Put…put your fingers…inside.”

“Please?”

“
Please
.”

Jessa obeyed, letting Darry move against her hand. Her own spirit flowed in response and she felt her need in a wash of heat. She was aching fiercely and wanted to come. She had never seen anyone so completely beautiful before and it sent her reeling. She began to stroke with her fingers, wanting to make her come. She wanted to
make
Darry spend, not just allow it. She wanted Darry to feel her and to know that it was her.
That you are mine now, Akasha, and only mine.
Jessa thrust her hand with more authority, unable to curb her need for complete possession.

The scent of Darry’s spirit flooded Jessa’s senses and she leaned closer. The sound of her fingers stroking sent her own need beyond her ability to call it back. “Are you…are you going to come?” She pressed her thumb hard and circled as she lifted her fingers, and Darry’s entire body reacted. “Please, Darry, give me your spirit.” Jessa moved and then moaned at the press of Darry’s thigh between her own. “Only for me.”

“Kiss me,” Darry pleaded, and was given her wish.

Jessa had never thought it possible to feel so much for one person, to be so captured by another soul that all of her former life drifted as but a shadow and faded in the brightness of love. And as Darry moved beneath her, their bodies together, their flesh married in the intimate dance of need and desire, she understood at last what she had never been able to comprehend before. As she came against Darry’s leg, unable to stop her own excitement as Darry stiffened and cried out beneath her, she understood what the Vhaelin had promised her.

Jessa understood freedom.

Jessa stood in the sun of the solar dressed for riding and waiting on the Queen. The request had come just after dawn, and though Jessa felt a great affection for her, she understood the positions they were both trapped in. And beyond that, she knew what Cecelia had done to her daughter. Though perhaps more than Darry could ever comprehend, Jessa was now in a unique position to understand why Cecelia had done it. Jessa knew she would do anything in order to keep what she now had.

She closed her eyes and lifted her face to the light, remembering the night before and how she had parted from Darry. She remembered the tender words and the strong hands that had touched her face.

“I would awake with you in my arms,” Darry whispered. “For the rest of my days I would know the sweetness of your body against mine as I open my eyes to the world. And with the strength that such a gift would bring me, I would ride out upon your magnificent horse and conquer that world.”

Jessa’s heart skipped. “And what would you and my horse do with that world?”

“We would lay it at your feet, where you could choose what things pleased you and which did not.” Darry kissed her, tender and slow. “And then we would sit in the sun and watch you with your treasures, wondering what next great feat we might accomplish in order to prove our love to you.”

“You needn’t prove anything to me, Akasha.”

“Perhaps not.” Darry smiled in agreement. “You said you loved me.”

“I do, I love you, Darry.”

Darry kissed her lips. “And that makes me want to, I don’t know. I want to sail into the deepest waters and find you pearls. I want to knock down mountains and bring you gold and jewels, then pick you flowers on my way home after such a long day.”

Jessa laughed softly, looking into a gaze that held its colors despite the shadows they stood within. “No one has ever made me laugh so much before. I had no idea how such a thing would please me.”

“The sound of your laugh makes my spine ache and I become desperate to kiss you. There’s no great mystery why I seek to provoke it.”

Jessa pressed her face to Darry’s and put her arms around Darry’s neck, holding tight. Darry pulled her close and her desire, still so near to the surface, heated Jessa’s blood anew. “I’m not sure I can look at you without everyone knowing how I feel. Without them knowing what I want.”

“But we’re friends, are we not?” Darry asked beside her ear. Her lips pulled gently on Jessa’s earlobe. “And so we shall continue to be. We must go with great care is all, until our plans are made and the tournament is over.”