by Aldrea Alien
The door creaked open. Herald sat up, slightly apprehensive. What new horror came for him? He watched the wooden panel swing open, instinctively groping his hand across the bedding for his sword. No waiting steel met his palm. Only more blanket.
Acarna, clothed in a gown made of the pale blue silk so favoured by his elder sisters, walked into the room as if she belonged here. She paused at the foot of the bed, regarding him with a small smile that warmed his gut. Then, as if she'd completely forgotten he sat before her, she began to undress. She drifted down the far side of the bed. The laces of her bodice came undone, revealing the white shift beneath.
What fresh torture was this? He could not stay here whilst she continued to disrobe before him. His heart pounding ruthlessly, he clambered out from under the covers to put the bed between them.
The action caught her attention. Acarna looked him over, bright eyes twinkling with delight. Her gaze lowered from his face and the delicate pink lips twisted into a smile that was anything but angelic.
Herald suddenly became aware of how cold the room seemed. As if he wore not a stitch of clothing. Oh no. He dared not look down, but he'd a feeling that was so. He stood naked before her. His face burned hotter than it'd ever had. He groped for the bed sheets, clutching the soft linen to him. He tugged on the sheet. If he could just secure this one bit of cloth, he could be out the door before she—
Acarna laughed—actually laughed, in a gorgeously musical way—and continued to undress, completely unconcerned with his discomfort of the situation. Her shift fell from her shoulders.
Unseemly as it was, he couldn't look away. Candlelight—when had there been candles?—played across her skin and shimmered through her hair. Unbidden, his gaze ran over her curves, from the subtle nip of her waist to the twin mounds of her bosom. Not as generous as the figures of his siblings, but perfect nonetheless. And lower still... the delicate tuft of golden hair. A warm flutter stirred in his gut, setting a dull fire in his loins.
It had been centuries since desire had touched him. After so long, he'd forgotten what it felt like. Had thought he'd lost the ability. A ridiculous notion, now he considered it, for it seemed something deep inside him still recalled well enough. He gulped, struggling to tamp down the sensation. She's an angel. How many sins would he be committing if he actually were to lie with her? He jerked backward. Lie with her? He couldn't be contemplating such an act. Could he?
On the other side of the bed, Acarna slipped beneath the sheets. She patted the mattress where he'd lain, her eyes silently inviting him to join her. He frowned. Was that a hint of amusement trying to hide behind the smoky visage? She found this funny?
Herald shuffled on the spot. He could not just idly share the bed with an angel. Yet he also couldn't think of a suitable reason to refuse her offer. I should go. The top blanket would be adequate coverage. The decent thing would be to walk out and seek another bed. A simple solution. All he had to do was move.
That did not prove as easy as he'd hoped. His feet felt rooted to the carpeted floor. In truth, leaving the bedside seemed unfeasible. The longer he stared into those blue-grey eyes, the less certain he became in whether he wanted to leave at all.
Finally, Herald sank back onto the bed, taking care to keep the sheets tight to his waist.
She reached out with a finger and caressed his arm, slowly drawing patterns on his skin as she moved up towards his shoulder. He shivered at the pleasant tingling her touch caused. The warmth of her body settled deep within his chest, quickly spreading outwards. Fuelling the fire.
As delicately as he could, Herald removed her hand from his skin. He couldn't give in to this. Could not allow himself to succumb to the sweet lure of her creamy skin. The fire within him raged. You could, it screamed. Easily.
Acarna shuffled closer, resting a cheek on his shoulder. "Relax," she purred, the heat of her breath dancing across his neck. One hand slid down to where he still clutched the sheets. Her slim fingers gently worked on uncurling his grasp. "I'm not going to hurt you." Beneath the bedding, her leg slid over to rest atop his. The heat of her thigh throbbed against his hip.
Herald gasped, his breath hissing between his teeth. His grip on the sheets loosened involuntarily. Her hand slid up his chest, eliciting a groan from his throat. She caressed his cheek, her thumb brushing across his lower lip. Heart racing, breath heavy, he mimicked the action.
Her lips curved beneath the digit. She kissed his thumb and gently slipped the tip into her mouth. The hot, wet caress of her tongue ran over his skin. All the while, those blue-grey eyes stared up at him.
Pulling his hand free, he bent to kiss her. Her lips were soft against his. Yielding. The fire within him flared into an inferno. His hands dropped to rest on her waist, fumbling blindly in their search of how to move her closer still. There had to be some way he could bring this sweet beauty nearer without hurting her.
Acarna responded to his inept actions by straddling his waist.
His lips traversed her body. Cupping her breasts, he rolled his tongue around the delicate pink buds until they stood taut. His fingers slid over the smooth skin his mouth could not reach. Would his calloused hands prove uncomfortable? The thought lazily drifted to the surface, fast dispelling as she made no move to escape his grasp. If anything, she encouraged him. He lifted his head from her breasts. Their lips met again. And again.
She became his world. A spark lighting the darkness of beyond. Here, there was no air but their ragged breaths. The flutter of a kiss was the sea rolling. The brush of a finger shook down the mountains and broke open the plains.
Trembling, Herald slipped inside her. All that had been before was obliterated in a raging torrent of heat. It burned its imprint into his blood, running through every vein, leaving a delightful warmth in its wake. The need for her grew, demanding to be sated.
He obeyed, eager to lose himself to her. She clung to him, her face buried in his shoulder, her slender fingers entwined in his hair. In the distance, muffled by his own flesh, he heard Acarna's soft whimper.
Much closer came the spikes of pleasure as she rocked on top of him. He grabbed hold of her hips, aiding the movement. Through the thick musk of their lovemaking, he could smell her warmth. Her blood. His lips caressed her neck, cherishing the pulse he found there, throbbing in time to his heart.
That moment, that spark of crystal-clear splendour, was too brief. Without warning, Acarna shuddered under his touch. His breath hitched as she drew him deeper, crushing him in the onslaught. She collapsed against him, his name brushing her lips in a breathy sigh.
Herald groaned as deep pleasure pierced him with a jolt. His hands trembled as he held her, keeping her pressed tight against him. The room spun, his senses overflowing with glorious, hot ecstasy. He tipped his head back and rested it on the headboard.
Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, it vanished in a blazing rush. Soft warmth lingered in his veins, pulsing with their hearts.
Wriggling upon his lap in a most satisfying manner, Acarna snuggled against him. She nuzzled his neck, his name the only word she spoke.
He closed his eyes, delighting in the tantalizing brush of her soft lips, faintly aware of his body still occasionally twitching inside her. His senses were aglow with a richness he'd never felt before. This was sex? This was the thing he'd forsaken for so many centuries? How had he gone so long without knowing this ecstasy?
Turning his head, Herald caught up her mouth in a kiss. He pulled her closer. Already the fire stirred in him again. Desire called out for her, his angel. He yearned to feel such rapture once more, to lose himself in her delicate form over and over until he was no longer able to summon the strength.
She pushed herself back with a sigh. "I'm sorry, Herald. I truly am." She cradled his head in her hands and kissed him. "I cannot afford to wait anymore." There was sadness in her eyes, grey dominating the blue. "You have to wake up."
The walls wavered at her words, stone shimmering as if they were no more subst
antial than mist.
Wake? Herald shook his head. "No." That couldn't be true. He wasn't dreaming, he couldn't be. Why would she say that? He never dreamt like this. "This is not a dream!"
Bracing herself with a hand on his chest, Acarna leant close to him, so much so that he could easily feel her breath. Feel it. A dream would not seem this real. "Then tell me: when did I leave the crystal? Furthermore, why do I still live after sunset?"
"I—" His vision blurred with tears of frustration upon realising that, try as he might, he'd no memory of ever seeing her outside of the crystal before tonight. "I don't know." His chest ached. No. His first memory of making love couldn't be a dream. "I do not care how you're able to walk around during the night." Some part of him knew she was right. Her being here was impossible. "That doesn't make this a dream." He didn't want it to be true. It felt too real. Even now, he could sense the warmth of her hand against his skin. As real as the blood in his veins. No dream had the right to feel this genuine.
"Herald..." The exasperated note in her voice surprised him, just as it did to see irritation flashing in her eyes. He thought such emotion beyond an angel, however briefly it may have been there. "Truly, you test my patience." Acarna clambered her way off the bed, dragging the sheets with her as she went. "If you won't wake on your own." She spun to face him. The candlelight glistened upon her skin. "Then you force me to make you."
Everything shimmered. The room, the bed, the soft candlelight... all of it dissolved into the blinding haze of sunlight and sand.
His heart near stopped before the rhythm returned twice as fast. Herald scrambled to his feet. He scanned the area for a place to hide and found... nothing. He stood in the middle of a desert, surrounded by sun-bleached nothingness. And not even a stitch of cloth to shield him.
You'll kill me! he screamed at the sand. He could feel himself growing warmer with each second. The sun... the heat... the light. It was only a matter of time before he turned to dust, just like Harbinger. Just like his brother...
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About the Author
Mother. Animal Lover. Vampire. Fangirl.
Aldrea Alien is a New Zealand author of romantic speculative fiction of varying heat levels.
She grew up on a small farm out the back blocks of a place known as Wainuiomata alongside a menagerie of animals, who are all convinced they're just as human as the next person (especially the cats). She spent a great deal of her childhood riding horses, whilst the rest of her time was consumed with reading every fantasy book she could get her hands on and concocting ideas about a little planet known as Thardrandia. This would prove to be the start of The Rogue King Saga as, come her twelfth year, she discovered there was a book inside her.
Aldrea now lives in Upper Hutt, on yet another small farm with a less hectic, but still egotistical, group of animals (cats will be cats). She self-published the first of The Rogue King Saga in 2014. One thing she hasn't yet found is an off switch to give her an ounce of peace from the characters plaguing her mind, a list that grows bigger every year with all of them clamouring for her to tell their story first. It's a lot of people for one head.
Read more at Aldrea Alien’s site.