And even had she been willing to confess it to him, she couldn’t. She couldn’t form a word to save her life. His gaze moved freely over her barely clothed body, and she burned with wanting him as she had wanted him for most of her life.
She loved this man.
He came to her, standing while she knelt, and slowly stroked his hands over her hair. “So long, Nidaba. So long I have waited for this.”
She shut her eyes at his touch, wondered why if he wanted her so badly, he had not come for her, even though it would have spelled disaster for everyone else in Sumer.
But it didn’t matter. Suddenly none of that mattered. He was hers tonight, not Puabi’s. He was hers. And she was utterly his. She leaned forward, and pressed her lips to the hard bulge between his legs, with only the royal robes between his flesh and hers. “My king,” she whispered.
His fingers clenched in her hair, and he closed his eyes.
Nidaba rose slowly to her feet and stood before him. “The dance,” she said softly. “Was it pleasing to you?”
“You were pleasing to me. I saw no others.” His eyes opened, skimming her from head to toe. “This...” He lifted a hand, ran his fingers over her belly and the chain wrapped around her waist, with its dangling curtain of precious stones. “Is it heavy? Uncomfortable?”
“The metal is cold... or perhaps it is my flesh that is warm.”
He lifted his gaze to lock with hers. His hands, though, remained at her waist, and he fumbled with the clasp, found its release, opened it. Then he slowly took the girdle of stones away, letting it fall with a jangling sound into the nest of pillows on the floor. “Better?”
“Yes. Better.”
His eyes roamed down her body, all but naked to his hungry gaze. Everywhere he let that gaze linger, her skin seemed to heat, and tingle. “Yes,” he said. “Much better.” He reached out to the nunuz stones that dangled from the tips of her breasts, stroked them slowly, then set them to swinging with a flick of his fingers. “And these? Are they unpleasant?”
The tiny clamps bit into her nipples with minimal pressure... but the weight of the stones tugged with every swing, every touch. “They pinch only a little. And their weight pulls somewhat. Though it is not... unpleasant, exactly.”
“No. Not exactly.” His smile was slight. He reached up and gently removed the stones from her breasts, but he didn’t toss them aside as he had done with the girdle. Instead he tucked the clamps into some hidden place within his royal robes.
Sensation rushed into her nipples, where before the flow of blood had been pinched off. They throbbed and burned. He kept his eyes focused on her there, and she saw the blatant desire in them. Lifting his hands again, he cupped her breasts, running his calloused thumbs over her nipples repeatedly. The flicking motion over those sensitized peaks made her bite her lip to keep from crying out loud.
Frowning, Eannatum took his hands away. “You feel... sticky.”
“It was part of the preparation,” she said. “I was painted with honeyed wine for you.”
His gaze snapped to hers, widening, blazing. “Well, now...”
Hands closing on her waist he lifted her, setting her on the edge of the table, knocking bowls of fruit aside. Flower petals were her cushion. Standing back, examining her at his leisure, Eannatum lowered his head, and she knew what he would do even before his tongue snaked out to taste her breast. “Mmm,” he said, and then licked again. He caught the peak in his lips and suckled her. He took her nipple into his mouth and drew hard on it, flicking his tongue over the very tip as he sucked hungrily at her. He licked her breast clean, and continued even then, nipping with his teeth and pulling at her as if he would devour her whole.
Nidaba felt sensations she had never felt before. A sharp pleasure such as she had never imagined tingled through her. It bordered on pain and intensified unbearably when he bit down. Then he moved to the other breast, and devoured it even more frantically. And while he fed at it, he caught the other in his hand, drew his fingers together at the tip and pinched her deliciously. She braced her hands on the table behind her, let her head fall backward as her body clenched and tightened and liquified low in her belly. She arched her back and whimpered and he responded by exerting still more pressure with his fingers and his teeth.
Eannatum drew his head away then, looking into her eyes. He leaned down, kissed her long and deeply, thrusting his tongue into her mouth and lapping it as if it tasted as sweet to him as her honeyed nipples had done. She could taste the honey and wine on his tongue.
Then he straightened away and his hands crept up to her breasts again. She sucked in a breath of surprise when she felt the bite of the clamps closing once more on her nipples. The teeth felt sharper than before, their grip tighter now that those tender crests were stiff and throbbing. A cry was wrung from her.
And Eannatum whispered, “Trust me, Nidaba.” Then he knelt, his hands pressing to her thighs, shoving them wide, and exposing her very center to his probing eyes. With his fingers, he parted her folds. Then he touched her, fondled her there in her most private places. He even thrust his long finger inside her, then drew it slowly out again. He brought it to his lips, tasted it. “Mmm, just as I thought. More honey.”
Before she could know what he intended, he pressed her thighs wider, and buried his face between her legs. His lips, then his tongue, swept over her, flicking, licking, stroking. He licked up inside her, seeking every drop of the honeyed wine with which she’d been coated. And he laved her in places where the eunuch’s brush had never dared touch.
Nidaba fell backward on the table, tipping fruit bowls over and sending their contents helter-skelter. She twisted and writhed while he fed at her. And then he found the tiny kernel of her most frenzied need and sucked at it, stabbed at it with his tongue, bit at it with his teeth. And she felt as if her body would shake itself to pieces. His hands came up then, caught the nunuz stones, and as his mouth worked her even more hungrily, he tugged on them. The clamps pulled painfully at her nipples, stretching them, biting deeply, and his teeth closed on that pulsing nub at her center. And her body shattered in screaming, trembling release. She cried his name, shuddered uncontrollably, and finally pushed him away from her, panting and sweating.
Natum gathered her into his arms, though, and carried her to the cushions on the floor. He lowered her into them and again took the stones from her breasts, tossing them aside this time. As she lay there, shaking, breathless, shattered, he removed his robes.
And she saw him, looking more God than man, and more king then he had in his crown and royal vestments. “Eannatum,” she whispered, “what is this magic between us?”
“This is what is meant to be,” he told her. “What will be, from now on. I’ll not let you leave me again, Nidaba. Not ever. Not now.” He knelt over her, cupping her face in his hands. “I love you.”
“I am a High Priestess,” she whispered.
“And I am a king. But I love you, Nidaba.” He lowered himself atop her, and she opened to him in an instinct born of nature. When he nudged himself inside her, he did so slowly, gently, kissing her face, and her neck and shoulders, whispering love words to her the entire time. She felt stretched as her body accepted his, then pain flared through her when he pressed past her maiden’s barrier. She bit her lip, but it was brief, that stab of pain. And then he was moving gently, slowly, in a rhythm that made her body respond. That made her hips begin to move in answer to his call. That made the fire in her belly flare up anew. And soon she was clutching him to her while he fed at her mouth. She moved to a faster pace, and he followed. His hands slid beneath her then, closing on her buttocks and holding her to him as he thrust deeper inside her than before. And finally, his powerful movements sent her again into spasms of ecstasy. Only this time, she did not go alone. This time she felt the answering tremors racking his muscled frame. She heard that pained pleasure in his low moaning of her name. He filled her... and she embraced him. And then he relaxed bit by bit, slowly rolling
to the side and folding her into his strong arms.
He held her for a long time, and finally, his voice still hoarse, he asked her, “Nidaba, why did you leave me in the dead of night the way you did?”
She frowned, lifting her head from his chest, and staring into his black, moist eyes. “Why does it matter? It was what was necessary. We both came to realize it, didn’t we?”
He didn’t reply to that. Perhaps he’d changed his mind, then? Hope flared in her breast, but she went on. “They told me you wished to marry Puabi, and do your duty as king. They told me you regretted your promise to me, but were too noble to break your vow. That you would wed me, only because you could not hurt me by refusing to do so, but that it was not what you wanted. And they made it clear I had no choice but to leave Lagash, to give you a way out. They even implied that Lia would pay the price should I disobey.”
As she spoke he sat up, staring down at her in horror. “Who told you these things?”
She lowered her eyes. Your father, Eannatum. The king told me. And Lathor. And even Lia.” She felt her heart break again, and tears surged into her eyes. “I’d have doubted the others, but Lia—I knew she would not lie to me—or not unless her very life depended on it.”
“By the eyes of the Gods,” he said softly. “They did lie to you, Nidaba. And to me as well. I knew nothing of any of it. I told my father I would wed you and none other. And the next day you were gone, and I had only a stone tablet, its markings in your hand, telling me you had decided to serve your Goddess rather than your heart.”
She blinked up at him. “You mean... you didn’t want me to go?”
“I wanted you to be my queen.” He pulled her to him, cradled her in his powerful arms as if he would never let her go. “And by the time I found you, you’d already taken your initiation as a priestess. Sworn to remain unwed. To break such a vow...”
“It would be death, Eannatum,” she told him. “I would be stoned for such an offense.” She kissed his strong neck, and wrapped her arms around his waist. “But it doesn’t matter. We did what we did for the good of Sumer. Even if we were tricked into it, at first, we soon saw that it was the only way. And now, you... you are about to wed another. You have your queen.”
“A woman I barely know!” he snapped.
“Oh, come now, Eannatum. You journeyed to Ur, you met the woman. The arrangements have been made. I have heard of the passionate Princess Puabi. Do not tell me her embrace left you cold.”
“Her embrace only left me wishing for yours,” he told her fiercely, his voice coarse with passion.
“Tomorrow,” Nidaba whispered, “your queen will arrive at her new home. You will speak your vows to her. It will be her bed you share. Her face you see in the morning.... There is no place for me in your life now, Eannatum.”
“I won’t let you go,” he said. “Nidaba, please, please don’t do this. Don’t leave me again. I cannot live if you do.”
Sitting back from him, she searched his face. “What would you have me do?”
“Stay. I’ll make you High Priestess of the temple here. And send Lia to take your place in the temple at Mari.”
Shaking her head sadly, she sighed. “I would have to see you with your new bride every day if I stayed here, Natum. It would surely kill me.”
“No. No, it will not kill you, Nidaba, because you are strong and fierce. And you will know it’s you I love, not Puabi. You will know that every moment I spend with her, I wish for you. And you will know that every night, under the cover of darkness, I will come to your arms, not hers. In our secret places, we will be together. I know it is not enough. I know you deserve a great deal more. But it is all we have.”
She closed her eyes. “And what of Puabi? Would her heart not be wounded by this?”
“Puabi knows I’ll never love her. Our marriage is a treaty. A pact between city-states and every bit as cold as one.”
Nidaba said, “You’ll need to produce an heir with her.”
“Perhaps. In time.” He caught her face between his palms. “The king of Sumer may have any woman he desires. By law and divine right! It has always been so. Puabi knows this, and she knows too that I love another. She agreed to this arrangement with the truth presented to her. Fidelity was not a part of our agreement. And you know full well it is not forbidden for a priestess to love, only to marry. Nidaba, I thought I could live without you for the good of Sumer. I’ve found that I cannot. It’s not possible. Please, stay with me.
She bit her lip, searching his eyes. “I may not be as strong as you think I am, Eannatum. But I do love you. More than my own heart, or my own soul.”
“Then... then you’ll stay?”
“I will try. That’s all I can promise. To try. And we must be discreet. Legal or not, acceptable or not, nature is nature, Natum. I’ll not be the cause of another woman’s pain.”
He pulled her securely against him, kissed her gently. “We’ll find our happiness, Nidaba. I promise you we will.”
But she knew even then that she would find only misery in being his mistress. His concubine. Only misery.
She couldn’t have guessed, though, just how much.
* * * *
It took no less than an hour before Sheila talked herself out, took another pill, and fell back into a troubled, restless sleep. After tucking her in, Nathan finally dragged himself back to the master suite, walked into his bedroom, and saw the door to the adjoining room closed tightly. He knew before he even tried the knob that the door would be locked. And he was right. Sighing, he rested his forehead on the cool wooden door. Dammit, he needed to talk to Nidaba, to get all of this out in the open once and for all.
She was lashing out at him. Hurting him, or trying to, because of the way she had been hurt by him. He didn’t understand fully just why, but he knew one thing. She did not believe he had killed his own son. Nidaba knew him far better than that.
Or at least... he hoped she did.
Without bothering to turn on the light, he tugged at the buttons of his shirt and moved toward the bed, feet dragging. There was no denying it, he was exhausted. Unused to so much excitement and intrigue, he was wearing himself down emotionally, mentally... perhaps even spiritually. Dammit, he’d just dumped a body into the sea. How much lower would he have to sink before all of this played itself out?
Maybe this was just the price he had to pay for all these years of solitude and relative contentment. Living like an ordinary mortal man when he was anything but. He was a pretender. And now the world was extracting payment for his make believe existence.
He peeled the shirt from his body, dropped it onto the floor, heeled off his shoes and kicked them aside. His hands went to the snap and button of his jeans, freeing them, sliding the zipper down. Finally, naked, he crawled into his bed and sank almost at once into blessed sleep.
He didn’t know how long he slumbered. A breath on the nape of his neck woke him, though, from the very depths of sleep.
He rolled over, groggy and puzzled, blinking in the darkness.
Nidaba lay in his bed, naked except for the sheet that came up only to the narrowest part of her waist. Her breasts swelled full and inviting, round silhouettes in the darkness.
“Nidaba,” he murmured, “what are you...”
“Ssssssh.” She held a finger to her lips and, reaching out, caught his head and tugged him forward. He started with surprise when she kissed him voraciously. And he responded at once, kissing her back. He felt himself growing hard with arousal, hungry with need... and yet something tickled up his nape and coiled in his belly.
“We need to talk, Nidaba,” he said, breaking off the kiss, but it came out gruff. She dragged her nails over his nipples, and he lost the ability to speak at all. Then she leaned down, and replaced her nails with her lips, and her tongue. Her hand stroked a sensuous path down his abdomen. “God, Nidaba,” he moaned, thoughts of discussion fleeing.
The bedroom door burst open, and Nidaba stood there, wide-eyed, staring at him
and at the woman feeding on him like some succubus.
Like a dash of cold water, it hit him all at once.
He shoved the impostor away from him, and she landed on the floor. Her face rippled for a moment as the glamour she’d cast faltered, but she rolled and lunged out of the bedroom almost on all fours.
“Stand and fight if you want me, bitch!” Nidaba surged after her, and Nathan saw the glint of the dagger in her fist. He shot to his feet, tripping on his jeans, and pausing to tug them on again. Then he ran into the hall behind her, terrified that she’d be killed.
But in the hallway he saw no one other than Nidaba. Nothing. Still, she charged from room to room, flinging open doors. “Where are you? You damnable coward, face me if you dare!”
“Nidaba, stop!” He caught her from behind, closed his hands on her shoulders. “It’s no use. Dammit, she could be anywhere. She could be anyone, for that matter.”
Nidaba lowered her head, her shoulders shaking. “Oh, she’s not anyone, Natum. Don’t you know who she is? Don’t you?”
He frowned, shaking his head. “I—no, I—”
“How could you?” she asked, her voice laced with bitterness. “How could you do it to me yet again, Natum?”
“Nidaba, I thought it was you.”
Chin lifting, her eyes locked with his. “You thought it was me? Did you not recognize her? Her voice? The feel of her lips on you? Her scent, Natum? Because I did. I did. I saw through her glamourie when it faltered for just an instant, even if you were too blinded by lust to see anything. She was your precious bride, the one you chose over me so long ago. Your queen. The bitch was Puabi.”
The truth hit him like a mallet between the eyes. “Puabi,” he whispered. “She lives!”
“You must have known she was immortal!” Nidaba accused.
Nathan lowered his head and, sighing, took Nidaba’s arm and led her along the hall to George’s room. Peering inside, seeing George sound asleep, and no one else except the dog in sight, he turned the lock from the inside and pulled the door closed. He did the same at Sheila’s room, to be certain they would both be safe for the night. Then finally he led Nidaba back down the hall toward his room. “She was no immortal when I knew her,” he told her. “But...”
Eternal Love: The Immortal Witch Series Page 86