by Eden Bradley
“I will come inside your beautiful body some day, Nitara,” he murmured.
“Yes, Akaash.”
Her hands were working her clit, his cock. They knelt almost hip to hip, on either side of the iron bars. If only the damn chains had a little more give, so that he could touch her, feel her body against his… But there was something about being bound in this way, the heavy weight of the chains holding him down, that was erotic to him. Knowing he couldn’t move, that he was helpless against her touch…
She tightened her fist, and he could imagine it was the tight clench of her cunt.
“Ah, Nitara…”
“Akaash!”
Her hips arched, her hands pumping on his cock, between her thighs. He saw her body tense, small sobs escaping her lovely pink lips as she came. And his cock swelled, driving into her hand as he climaxed, groaning.
She kept her hand on him for a long time as they both caught their breath. Her eyes were half-lidded, the green a glimmer from beneath her long lashes.
“I should go,” she whispered.
“I know.”
She picked up her discarded robe, slipped it on. “I will be back in the night.”
He nodded. “I’ll look forward to it.”
She smiled, then she was gone. He was alone in the half-dark once more, contemplating his future, his death, his feelings for Nitara. They were all entwined, somehow, and he had no idea what the end might be. But he had a chance. At life. A life with her. That would have to be enough to comfort him for now.
It had been twelve days since Nikkan had sent the message into the city. Nitara waited to hear the outcome. With hope. With fear. They could be discovered, betrayed, at any moment. The only thing that saved her from going mad was her time with Akaash.
They came together in the only way they could, and when they were worn from climax after climax, they talked. Akaash told her of the life of the Wanderers. It was a hard life, a challenging one. But they were free of the strictures of the Temple, of the city and the council. Free to live as they chose, to love as they chose.
She loved him.
Akaash.
She’d known for a while. Perhaps even since he had first spoken to her of love. He was her first thought when she woke. He was in her dreams each night. His scent, his voice, had become a part of her. She lived now between her visits to him only to be with him again.
Nitara sat on her bed, combing her hair, waiting for nightfall. Her body hummed with yearning, her heart, her mind, filled with nothing but him.
“Nitara.”
It was Nikkan. He came quickly into the room.
“I have heard from Hel, Xian’s Sun Guard. The message has been delivered.”
Her heart was a hammer in her chest. “We have only a few days before my Sacrifice.”
“It was delivered some days ago. I have just received confirmation.”
“Then there is nothing more we can do.”
“Little Sister, I’ll help in any way I can. I’ll be in the Temple that day to create a distraction as we discussed with Akaash.”
“It will take more than one person, Nikkan. What can you do alone?”
“I have already asked Leilin to come here.”
“We put her at risk.”
“She’ll take it willingly.”
“I will, Sister.” Leilin walked in, took Nitara in her arms.
Nitara’s eyes pooled with tears. “It is much to ask of you both.”
“There is nothing too great to ask of those you love. Are we not asked to give our bodies, our lives, to the Goddess because we love her? Should we not do as much for those people we love?”
“It feels right. But it seems counter to what we’re taught. Our service to the Goddess is supposed to come first. And if you believe in those tenets, how can you be willing to help me now?”
Leilin pulled back to look at her. “Because ever since our mother was taken from us, I’ve questioned the ways and the rituals. Little Sister, we are born under a curse,” she whispered harshly. “We cannot serve the Goddess, faith strong in our hearts, allowing us to do what we must without pain. We’re born doubting. Our mother prayed we’d be stronger than she was, that we wouldn’t share her same fate. She cursed herself for having brought this on her children. For leaving us. For Nikkan’s fate. I’ve spent my life fighting it. I bit back the tears at my Sacrifice, as I brought the knife down, into the chest of the man who lost his life in the name of the Goddess.
“I gave our people twelve children. I did it for the Goddess. But also because our mother asked that I watch over you. I would wish something more for you. This is your chance. If you can have a life, it will be worth whatever I have to give up in order for that to happen.”
“And for me, as well,” Nikkan said. “I have an idea… I’ll need Leilin’s help. If it works, it will get you and Akaash out of the temple.”
“I will never see either of you again.” The tears spilled, hot on her cheeks.
Leilin stroked her hair. “Live for us, Nitara. You’re the only one of us with any hope of that.”
She nodded, embraced Leilin. Nikkan’s hand was on her shoulder, firm and reassuring.
If only she could be sure that this would work. She had nothing to rely on but the efforts of a handful of idealistic humans against the Goddess herself.
It was sacrilege. It left her with no familiar ritual, no Goddess to pray to. Her altar was nothing now but a statue made with human hands, an empty bowl. Her religion, her very perception of who and what she was, was shattered. If she made it out of the Temple alive, she would have nothing to hang on to but Akaash.
But she loved him. And he would be enough.
The morning of Nitara’s Sacrifice began before dawn. Leilin came to wake her, accompanied by the Crone, Meidra, as well as several of her Breeder sisters—Seti, Tilan and Fareen. They took her, naked, from her bed, down into the bowels of the Temple.
Today is the day my fate is decided. And Akaash’s, as well.
Her pulse was racing. It was all she could do to draw a breath, and even then it was shallow, uneven.
She had never gone so deep before, until the smoothly polished hallways ended and turned into close tunnels of rough-hewn rock. It was cold, the air smelling of molding stone and water.
They followed the tunnel until it let them out into a large cavern lit by torches. In the center was a small, still pool. The damp scent was stronger, and when Meidra lit a bundle of dried sage, the smoke mixed with it, making Nitara dizzy. Or maybe it was the feelings of dread and hope, battling within her heart.
Akaash.
Today could mean freedom for them both. Or their deaths. And she could not even pray.
Meidra came to stand before her, a bowl of dark mud in her hands.
“Today you become a woman,” the Crone said, her voice rough with age. She dipped her fingers into the bowl and smeared the mud on Nitara’s forehead. “Today you begin your true service to the Goddess.” She dipped her fingers again, and pressed the cool mud to Nitara’s breasts. “Today you open your body to mankind, so that you may give back to the earth what was lost.”
Once more, Meidra smeared Nitara’s skin with mud, just below her navel, over her red tattoo. Meidra nodded to the Breeders, and the four surrounded Nitara. They were naked now, as she was. With their hands on her arms, they drew her into the pool, breaking the serene surface.
The water was so cold it made Nitara gasp. She forgot for a moment the prayers she’d been taught. Leilin gave her hand a small pinch, and Nitara spoke softly.
“Great Goddess, I purify myself for You. I offer You this vessel, my body, to do Your work on the earth. I pray that You find me worthy of Your love, that I am fertile and willing and pure.”
Four sets of hands came to rest on her head, pushing her beneath the surface. The cold was numbing, and she came up sputtering. Her sisters held her up while Meidra prayed over her. Her legs were cold, growing number by the moment, and in her head she prayed only that
this day would be over. That she might know what her future held. If she would have one.
Finally she was led, naked and freezing in the early air, up and up, until they reached the highest point of the Temple. They went through a high, arched doorway and onto the flat terrace that was open to the dawning sun, so that the Angry God may look down upon their offering and be soothed. Her sisters laid her out on the smooth ground. It was cool on her bare back, but the sun was beginning to heat already, drying her skin.
The Breeders placed spiraled lengths of copper wire on her naked belly and breasts, at the vee between her thighs, along with bits of sun-glass and dried flowers, all things precious, while Meidra continued her murmured prayers. She watched the sun rise overhead, the sky turning from black to orange, and finally, a hazy golden yellow.
Her sisters stroked her skin with their soft hands, but she wasn’t gentled by their touch as she should be. She was shivering, her muscles tense and aching, her mind whirling, unable to concentrate on the prayers being spoken above her. Unable to think of the Goddess she would betray today. She focused instead on Akaash, taken from his home, his people. She knew in her heart what she was doing was right. Her only option in light of her love for him, and in the stark clarity of the evil truth about what the Temple demanded.
Her sisters helped her to her feet, and took her down once more, into the chamber behind the Temple’s altar. Her hair, still damp, swung behind her, making her shiver in the cooler air of the subterranean Temple.
She was led to the small holding chamber at the foot of the nave, the long center aisle that ran the length of the Temple. Meidra followed, praying constantly, her whispered words like some foreign language to Nitara. She knew she must concentrate on playing her part. She must make her body respond in the way it should, or it would surely be noticed.
It was easier as her sisters began her preparation. They surrounded her, their gentle hands stroking her skin once more: her shoulders, her breasts, making her nipples hard and ready. Her belly, her thighs, and then between them. She closed her eyes, imagined it was Akaash’s hands on her.
Her body heated, her sex going damp.
Akaash.
Seti’s fingers slipped over her damp cleft, joined by Fareen’s, pressing onto her clitoris. And she let her body respond as it had been trained to. Pleasure rose, spiraled, and she grew dizzy with it. The heat was a steady drumbeat between her thighs, and when she was on that keen edge, they pulled away.
“It is time,” Meidra said, stepping forward and fastening around Nitara’s hips a narrow cord that held the sacred dagger in its sheath. “Go to the Goddess, and make your Sacrifice.”
Nitara nodded, her heart racing. She was dizzy with nerves and a sensual excitement she couldn’t help. This was the purpose she had been bred for, and her body seemed to have a mind of its own. Desire poured through her, even as her mind argued with it, tried to suppress her yearning.
Do what you must.
Her sisters slipped her cowled tunic over her head, pulling the cowl over her hair, then tied the blue sash around her waist.
Leilin leaned in and whispered to her, “I will love you always, Little Sister. No matter what happens today.”
Nitara didn’t dare to look at her. She knew Leilin would understand. She moved through the curtained doorway and into the Temple.
The air was warm, stifling, and acrid with the scent of too many bodies. A low rumble vibrated in the air as the men muttered among themselves, the citizens of the city of Kroy Wen. All of them come to the Temple to witness this: sacred sex, sacred death.
Her stomach churned.
She caught sight of Nikkan waiting in the north transept, next to one of the iron cauldrons that held a bundle of burning sage. He nodded, acknowledging her.
Leilin was on her right, holding her arm. When they reached the high stone altar and Nitara caught sight of Akaash, his naked body held down by the hemp ropes that were traditional in the Sacrifice ritual, she gasped.
“Shh, Nitara,” Leilin whispered. “Be brave. Be strong.”
Nitara blinked back the tears stinging her eyes, and focused only on Akaash.
He was beautiful, his long, lean muscles straining against the ropes. His cock was as golden as the rest of him, hard and proud between his strong thighs. He was watching her, that dark familiar gaze. There was hunger in his eyes.
She would know his body, finally. Would feel his cock between her thighs, driving deep inside her.
Her body heated, her sex clenching hard.
Meidra raised her voice in prayer. She was joined by the stronger voices of the priestesses. Nitara looked to the platform behind the altar and saw her beloved Xian there. Would she ever understand what Nitara would do today?
But she must not think about that. She must think only of Akaash.
She was several feet from the altar itself, and could see now the rich darkness of his long hair, the smooth texture of his skin, his tattoo in stark, black relief against his gold skin. Closer, and her Breeder sisters left her side as she moved up the stairs, until she stood on the stone slab itself, covered in furs and linens.
Akaash watched her, his eyes gleaming with meaning. With hope. With love.
She melted, going weak all over.
Need him…
She straddled his body and removed her blue sash, laid it over his stomach. The crowd surged, and the Priestess’s chanting grew louder. When she drew her tunic over her head, the crowd cheered. She cared nothing for their approval. All she knew was the desire in Akaash’s eyes, in the arching of his body toward hers.
Akaash.
She formed his name silently with her lips, and he did the same in return, whispering, “Nitara,” soundlessly.
She was wet, needy, desire pounding through her like a storm, fed by the importance of what lay ahead. Sharpened by the possible finality of this one act.
She held perfectly still, waiting, wanting this moment to last as long as possible, no matter her hunger for him. She smiled to Akaash, and it was as though he was drinking her in with his eyes. She could read so much emotion there, pouring out of him and into her heart.
The crowd was going wild. And still she did not move, but only stared into Akaash’s eyes.
She loved him.
He tried to lift his hand, to reach for her, but the ropes allowed him only a few inches of movement. But it was enough, that effort. To see his need.
He wanted her. And she was going to have him, inside her body. Now.
Her sex went tight and wet. She went down on her knees, her sex open to him. The tip of his erect cock grazed her opening, and she sighed. Tilting her hips, she ground down, impaling her body on his.
Chapter Five
Nitara moaned as Akaash began to pump, his hips thrusting, his cock driving into her. There was pleasure, then pain. But it was gone in moments, dimmed by the other sensations—his skin against hers, his body, which was hard and strong. And his scent, stronger now and mixing with hers, now that he was a part of her.
She was only vaguely aware of the chanting of the priestesses, the dim roar of the crowd. All she knew was Akaash, the pleasure surging through her body as she rocked against him.
His gaze was on hers, glittering in the light of the torches and candles. She saw his pleasure, an exquisite agony on his face. His cock was solid muscle, driving deep. She bowed over him, taking him deeper, her sex holding him inside her. And his hands…he had only enough slack in the ropes to raise them to her thighs, to grip her there. They were rough, the skin hardened, but impossibly warm. She wanted them everywhere: on her face, her breasts, pulling on her swollen nipples. And in her soaking wet cleft, pushing inside her, pinching her hard clitoris…
If they lived through this, she would feel his hands on her, his arms around her.
He whispered through gritted teeth, “No matter what, this is worth it, Nitara.”
She raised herself over him, came plunging down, trying to take him even deeper. Her cl
imax was like a swarm of pleasure, waiting, waiting. And as his body tensed beneath her, his cock seemed to swell, to pulse inside her, sending her over that keen edge. She came, shattering, pleasure a brilliant, blinding light. She moaned. He groaned, writhed. She felt his hot come shooting inside her. And when she opened her eyes, still trembling, his dark gaze was hard on hers, as always, as though he looked inside her very soul.
She pulled the dagger from its sheath, raised it over her head. The crowd roared for blood. And through that noise she whispered, desperation like a hot tide, threatening to drown her, “Akaash, know that I love you.”
“As I love you,” he said, his voice low. “Whether we live or die. Even if I must die by your hand.”
She was shaking all over. She whispered to the Goddess, but not for a child, as was the custom. But for mercy.
She glanced up at Nikkan, who nodded, and she watched as he spilled the brazier of burning sage onto the trail of oil he’d spread throughout the Temple earlier. Flames shot into the air, bursting from every side, from between the feet of the watching citizens, even as far as the altar itself. A priestess screamed. And Nitara brought the dagger down in one hard stroke.
Akaash rolled to the side as the blade cut his ropes. He grabbed the dagger from Nitara, pulling her into his arms as he leapt to his feet. He saw Nikkan pushing his way through the frantic crowd, saw the High Priestess Xian being pulled to safety behind the altar by her Sun Guard, Hel. Then Nikkan was at their side, grabbing Nitara’s arm and guiding them into the crowd of panicked men.
“Stay with me,” Nikkan yelled.
Nitara was trembling in his arms, but her feet were steady as they moved through the sea of flames and bodies pressing toward the doors at the back of the temple. It seemed to take forever, but finally they reached the north transept, where Nikkan had been stationed earlier. The two men lifted Nitara over the burning brazier, the flames hot, the air full of smoke. Behind it was a small doorway. Nikkan pulled them both through.
Standing in the dim light of a torch was a man, dressed in leather pants and vest, his dark skin beautiful, lustrous, his hazel eyes gleaming. He wore the mark of the Mutairi on his left forearm.