by Bianca D'Arc
She heard the pounding of hooves just behind her and realized that her sister followed on a powerful mare, keeping pace, there for Jana if she should need her, much as their papa had done when they were little. It made her feel warm and protected in a way she hadn’t felt since the Wizards had ripped her from her home.
Tears streamed down her face and into the wind, but it was a cleansing feeling that claimed her when Darkest Hour finally came to a stop at her urging. She would have liked to ride all day and all night, but her legs were just too weak. She was trembling from head to toe when the horse walked back to the waiting men. Darak’s eyes were filled with pride, and his smile spoke of the care she had only just realized lay between them. When the stallion stopped beside him, she tumbled down into his arms, allowing him to guide her and support her weak body with absolute trust.
He carried her back to her room where she promptly fell into a deep, healing sleep. She didn’t awaken until just before dinner when Shill, the maid, came to help her prepare.
* * *
The days went on in much the same way for a few weeks. Each morning, she would meet with Master Toombs, and little by little, she was putting her past behind her. Darak continued to be a nearly constant presence, though he didn’t push her any further than he had that first day at the estate. She rode the horses and formed a deep bond with the magnificent stallion who remained nearby, seemingly waiting for her whenever she set foot outdoors. She was regaining her strength quickly, surrounded by the love and acceptance of her sister, but she knew others still harbored doubts about her.
“I won’t be here for the next few days. I have to go up to the Circe and oversee the refit.” Darak’s voice cut through the dinnertime chatter, startling her.
“How is it coming along?” Micah wanted to know, lifting his goblet and failing to not look too interested in the fate of his old ship.
“The repairs were completed this morning, and the new bits are going to be installed starting tomorrow. Which is why I want to be there.”
Micah nodded. “Understandable. When do they want you to go back out?”
“You mean you don’t know?” Darak grinned at his powerful cousin. “I thought it was you that had put me on hold.”
“Hold?” Jeri entered the conversation. “We didn’t know, Dar. I swear. I wonder why they’d hold the Circe back?”
“I don’t know,” Micah’s eyes turned speculative, “but it could have something to do with the comm I received just before dinner. I was going to wait until we were finished eating, but you might as well know now. The Council wants to question Jana next week. They say they’ve waited long enough.”
“Micah! You’ve got to do something.”
“No, Jeri.” Jana finally spoke up. “I expected to be interrogated sooner or later. I’d just as soon get it over with.”
“But you’re not strong enough, yet.”
Jana held up her hand, calming her volatile sister. “I’m as good as I’m going to get, for now. I need to talk to them and tell them what little I know.” She sighed. “I just want to put it behind me as soon as possible and get on with my life.”
Darak surprised her by taking her hand and squeezing, catching her eyes with his concerned expression. “I’ll go with you, Jana. You don’t have to face them alone.”
“And they’ll treat you with respect,” Micah assured her. “If they get out of line, they know they’ll have Jeri and me on their case.”
Jana smiled. “You are all too good to me. With such allies, what do I have to fear?” She took a sip of her wine, taking her hand back from Darak. She wouldn’t let them see just how frightened she was at the prospect of the interrogation to come.
The days Darak was away from the estate dragged. Jana didn’t realize until he left just how used to his hulking presence she’d become. It was like a piece of her was missing when he wasn’t around.
But he came home—she’d come to think of the place as home in even such a short time—just before she was due to leave for the Council compound. She was rising when a perfunctory knock sounded on her bedchamber door. Before she could answer, the door swung inward, and Darak was there.
He was a sight for sore eyes, though she would never let him know it.
“Isn’t it customary to wait to be invited in?”
“If I waited for an invitation, sweetheart, I’d grow old before my time.”
“You got that right,” she muttered as she tied the sash on her robe a bit tighter. “I could have been dressing.”
“One can only wish.” His devilish smile softened her stance a bit. The rogue had a charm about him that was hard to resist. “You’re looking better all the time, Jana. How do you feel?”
“Stronger. More fit.” She moved to the window to look out over the western fields where the horses roamed free. “Riding again has helped a lot. My legs are stronger each day.”
“And what of the crystals?” He’d come up behind her without making a sound, but now, his voice drifted down over her like a caress, so close did he stand behind her. “Do they still burn?” His fingers grazed the crystals in her cheek, tendrils of his gentle healing energy zapping into her with an exciting caress.
“I’m getting used to them, and they to me, it seems. My body is starting to be able to regulate their power flow a bit—or so the med techs tell me.”
“That’s good.” His hand slid down over her right side, caressing and sending healing energy to the myriad shards nestled into her skin under the soft fabric of her robe.
“You don’t have to spend your energy on me, Dar. It really doesn’t hurt that much, anymore.”
He pulled her lightly back against his chest, enveloping her in his warmth. “Any pain is too much, Jana, when I can do something about it. I don’t like to see you hurting.”
She remained silent as he sent even more energy into her skin, soothing hurts she hadn’t even realized were there. She let him do it, knowing somehow that he derived a deep satisfaction from using his healing powers. She wouldn’t let him drain himself, however, but he stopped long before his massive reserves of energy were even tapped.
He moved back, releasing her, much to her surprise. She turned and found him nearby, holding a length of soft, pale blue fabric in his rough hands.
“What is that?”
“A gift.” He held it out and the material slithered between his fingers. It looked expensive.
“Not more clothes. Darak, you’ve already been way too generous. I will never be able to repay you at this rate.”
“I expect no repayment. The clothes were gifts. But this…” he held up the odd creation as if presenting a masterpiece, “…is something special. I had it designed just for today.”
“I meet with the Council today.” She swallowed nervously.
He nodded, his eyes as serious as she’d ever seen them. “They will want to see the crystals.”
“I thought as much.” She blushed at the thought of so many eyes on her bare body.
Darak moved a step closer, holding the strange garment before him. “I know you were raised to be modest. I had this made so you could keep some of your modesty and still allow easy viewing of the crystals in your skin. Won’t you at least try it on?”
“You did that for me?”
She was touched beyond words. She’d thought he least of all would worry over her discomfort with showing her naked body to strangers. They were so free on this planet, as she’d learned the hard way, having walked in upon multiple couplings in the past days between all sorts of people who lived on the large estate. She wouldn’t have thought he would worry over her foreign sensibilities, but apparently, he did. Wonder of wonders. He had actually thought ahead to what the interrogation by the Council would mean to her. The idea left her momentarily speechless.
He moved closer. “Try it on. Please?”
Tears in her eyes, she took the slinky garment from his fingers. She held it between them for a long moment, questions in her eyes that h
e seemingly didn’t want to answer.
Without speaking, he turned her by the shoulders and patted her butt to get her moving toward the bathroom. She went, as if in a daze. She closed the door and spent more than a few minutes trying to figure out how the odd garment was supposed to be put on. She got it eventually, after a few false starts, and what she saw in the mirror floored her.
The gown was modestly cut, except for the huge swaths cut out all along her right side, where the majority of the crystals sparkled in her skin. The clever drape of shimmersilk covered the strategic points of her nipples and the apex of her thighs, but each and every crystal shard was clearly visible, exposed to the air and the hungry gaze of the man standing behind her in the bathroom.
This time, he hadn’t even knocked on the door before invading her space.
“It shows them all.” She said the first thing that popped into her mind.
“To great advantage.” His eyes sparkled, and the focus of his gaze on her body turned her insides to mush. “You’ll probably start a whole new fashion trend once a few people see you in this.”
“It’s so formfitting, though…”
She was uncomfortable showing this much skin. Darak moved closer, and his warm hands skimmed her midriff, just below her breasts. She didn’t object as he pulled her back against his hard chest. Her eyes were glued to their reflections in the large mirror.
“It’s either this or expose your lovely nipples to every member of the Council. Which would you rather do?” His hand lingered under the exposed curve of her right breast, rubbing over the stones permanently set in her soft flesh. He traced the fine web of shimmersilk that held the dress in place over her hardening nipple.
“Darak.” Her voice was nothing more than a shocked whisper as he let his fingers roam under the gossamer fabric, stroking and touching, pinching and teasing.
“You’re beautiful, Jana. Just let me touch you. That’s all I want. Just to touch you.” His voice was ragged as he turned her in his arms. His tortured gaze said even more than his words. “I dream of that day in your room when you came apart in my arms. I lie in bed at night and stroke myself, thinking of how you looked, how you sounded, how you tasted. I want to taste you again.”
His lips moved toward hers slowly, with great deliberation. She knew he meant to kiss her, but she didn’t turn away. She wanted it, too. She dreamed of him in the dark of night and, sometimes, even during the day. She dreamed of the pleasure he had shown her, knowing she had never felt such fierce passion before and never would again, if not with him.
Darak was the only man she could imagine letting this close to her. She worked daily with Master Toombs, but even that revered gentleman was unsure if she’d be able to have a normal sex life after what she’d been through.
Still, she wanted to try. With Darak. Only with him.
But she was scared.
His kiss started gently but soon escalated. His body bracketed hers, moving her toward the marble vanity table along one wall. She went willingly. So far, he hadn’t done anything she didn’t like. She had to warn him, though. Just in case.
“Darak,” she whispered. “I’m not sure I can—”
He silenced her with his mouth, kissing her deeply enough that she forgot what she was going to say. So deeply, she forgot her own name.
“This is for you, sweet Jana.” His raspy whisper was spoken against her lips as he let go for just a moment, only to hoist her upward to sit on the edge of the vanity. His hard body insinuated itself between her splayed legs, the shimmersilk of the gown flexing and stretching to give him all the room he wanted.
The part along the right side of the gown extended to her waist, allowing easy access. She hadn’t been able to wear anything under the gown, and she gasped as she realized she was naked to his gaze when he dropped to his knees in front of her.
Strong hands pushed the expensive fabric upward and to her left, letting it pool on the vanity at her side. He guided her right leg upward so that her knee bent, making even more room for him. She could feel the heat a blush forming all over her body. There was an underlying heat, as well. A heat generated by Darak’s touch, by his gaze as he examined her folds, by his tongue when he licked his lips.
“I’m going to eat you up, milady. And you’re going to love it. I promise.”
He didn’t give her a chance to respond. His fingers stroked up her bare thighs and combed through the light curls over her mound. Then, they spread her wide, tracing the hidden contours of her pussy, touching places that had never been touched so carefully by a man before. He took exquisite care of her, never grabbing, never being too rough. Nothing about his behavior to this point reminded her of anything that had come before with men.
She could barely think as his finger found a little button of pleasure at the top of her thighs. It was something she’d heard about, but never experienced before Darak. He had a way of pulling responses out of her abused body that made her heart sing and her female parts shudder with pleasure. She felt moisture releasing from that lonely part of her and tried to shut her thighs in embarrassment, but Darak soothed her.
“That’s what I was waiting for.” His voice was rough, his attention focused on her most private place. “You cream so beautifully for me, Jana. I want to taste your heat, your passion. I want to give you more pleasure than you can handle and feel you come apart in my arms.” His gaze sought hers, and she read the truth of his words in his eyes. He wanted to give to her, asking nothing in return. He…cared?...for her on some level that she didn’t understand. Just as she felt something inside her shielded heart for him. Something she didn’t dare examine or name.
He held her gaze as one finger pressed into her core. Slowly…so slowly it made her squirm to get closer. She wanted more of his invasion. More of his possession. Though she’d never wanted any man inside her body before. Not even in this small way.
Darak pressed forward, his finger impaling her with its hard, flexible heat, bringing her a feeling she couldn’t describe.
Then, he crooked his finger.
An explosion went off inside her as he touched some previously unknown hidden nerve endings that lit her up like a skyrocket. She jumped, and his lips widened into the most devilish grin he’d yet given her.
“You like that, don’t you?” He did it again, and she nearly whimpered. “Oh, yes. I can see that you do.” He teased her, beginning to stroke his long finger in and out of her channel, the way made easier by the moisture that continued to flow in small increments. Every third or fourth stroke, he’d add that little rub of his fingertip over the spot that made her squirm.
“Darak!” She was growing increasingly desperate for the release she’d only ever known in his arms. She reached for him, clutching his strong shoulders in silent entreaty.
“Do you want me to kiss you, dama?” His use of the honorific drew her gaze back to his. He stilled, waiting for an answer.
What was the question? It took her a moment to focus her scattered wits.
“I want…” What were the words to explain what she wanted more than life at this moment?
“Yes, dama? Your wish is my command.” He had the audacity to wink at her.
How could he tease at a time like this? He had his finger up her cunt, her body writhing to his every movement, and the rogue had the nerve to take the time to tease her.
“I want to come, Darak. Please, make me come.”
He withdrew his finger and sat back. She wanted to cry.
“All in good time.”
He stroked her right foot, positioned on the edge of the vanity. How she’d ended up in such an indecorous position, she really had no idea. She tried to move, but he wouldn’t let her.
He rose on his knees to kiss her foot, sucking each toe into his mouth. At first, it seemed a strange thing to do, but the way he held her gaze as he laved the sensitive skin between her toes made her realize there were erogenous places even there, where she least expected them.
; Darak kissed his way up her calf to the bend of her knee and then down the other side, over the inside of her thigh. He nibbled and licked, nipped and even bit her gently a time or two, leaving no outward mark. Inwardly, she was on fire.
When he reached the place where her thigh met the rest of her body, he sat back to look again. His fingers returned to her folds, spreading them and rubbing over her clit with slow, steady, repetitive pressure until she was nearing the peak once more.
“Some people call these the nether lips,” Darak mused, shocking her.
His contemplation of her body at such a critical time was maddening. Why did he talk so much? Why didn’t he just let her come already? He really was the worst possible tease. He got her all hot and bothered—a state she had only ever achieved with him—then made her wait.
“I don’t care what it’s called,” she muttered, contemplating ways to murder him in his sleep. He had the nerve to chuckle, which didn’t help her mood.
“Oh, but you should, dama.” He moved closer, inhaling her scent. He seemed pleasantly enthralled by his study of her, so she didn’t feel too self-conscious.
“Why?” she felt compelled to ask.
“Because, wherever you have lips, I will always want to kiss them.” So saying, his mouth lowered to her, delivering a kind of kiss she had never imagined. His tongue swirled through her folds, exciting the already engorged nub. He paused there to suck it into his mouth and tease her with his teeth and tongue. Then, he moved lower. His talented tongue delved inside her sheath, stroking as his finger had done, only thicker, hotter and wetter. The combination was enough to make her backside lift from the vanity as her body strained toward him.
His arms went around her, steadying her on her precarious perch. His mouth rode her as her pleasure peaked, riding her body in waves. She cried out as ecstasy hit her. It could have been his name she called, but she wasn’t sure. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was the man between her thighs and the pleasure only he had ever given her.