by Hazel Hunter
The luscious mouth she knew so well had never tasted sweeter. With everything that had gone on, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been with Mina. As always, Galia found herself responding with a thirst that never seemed quenched. She drank in the feel of Mina’s lithe body pressed close, the warm cling of her lips, and the way she moved her firm thigh between her own. Galia widened her stance, and Mina deepened the kiss. Galia had nearly lost herself in the sensual embrace, when gentle fingers moved her long hair aside and warm lips kissed the back of her neck. Galia moaned into Mina’s mouth.
As though she’d been given a signal, Mina began to undress her. While she unfastened the clasps at her shoulders, Strayke undid the chain belt. In minutes, Galia stood naked between them. As Mina watched, Strayke’s big hands reached from behind and cupped her breasts.
“No,” Mina whispered hoarsely. “Like this.”
With a deft touch born of practice, she lightly grasped the nipple rings and twisted.
“Oh gods,” Galia gasped.
Strayke’s hand smoothed down her belly and his fingers slid over her mound. Even as Mina slid her thigh there, his fingers found her clit.
“Oh–”
Mina smothered her mouth in a kiss.
“You two are so lovely,” Strayke murmured behind her ear. “I’ve waited so long.”
At that, Mina released the nipple rings with a little tug, and undressed. Strayke took a nipple ring, and twisted it as he’d seen Mina do. Galia moaned at the pleasure mounting in the tip of her breast and leaned back against his chest. To her shock, it was bare, and that realization only stoked the heat rising in her core. His fingers massaged her clit, and her hips pulsed forward seeking more.
“Yes,” he hissed in her ear.
Then Mina was back, stroking her thigh between Galia’s legs, and nibbling her other ear.
“Too bad you can’t pleasure us both,” she whispered to Strayke.
“What makes you think I can’t?” he said, dipping his fingers into Galia’s wet folds, making her whimper. “I can. And I will.” He tweaked one of the nipple rings, making Galia gasp. “Didn’t I say I’ve been dreaming of this for years?”
He led them both to the bed and lay on his back. His erection was enormous, and just the sight of it made Galia squirm. He took Mina by the hand, and guided her over his chest until she straddled his face. As Galia watched, his tongue flicked into her slit, and Mina softly moaned. Strayke palmed her small, sensitive breasts, and in moments Mina was shuddering with pleasure. Though Galia could have watched them forever, touching herself when Mina moaned, she also remembered what it was like when Strayke had filled her. She carefully climbed on the bed, and mounted Strayke, just behind Mina.
As she had done in the Goddess’s shrine, she positioned herself over him and took his cock in her hand. His moan of pleasure at just being touched was immediate, and Mina hissed. Though Galia had thought that she might tease him and herself, her own need couldn’t wait. Without warning, she sank down on him.
His shaft was like iron, piercing her to the core. She groaned with the pressure of it, grinding herself on his hard abs. As Strayke flexed beneath them, Mina leaned back, and Galia held her against her chest. Mina was breathing hard now as Strayke’s mouth worked her. Galia could see his fingers dig into Mina’s hips, even as he plunged upward into Galia. From behind, Galia squeezed Mina’s breasts, and pinched her sensitive nipples. Mina wound her hands behind Galia’s neck, holding on as though for dear life.
They rode Strayke together, the pleasure spiraling higher. Mina was close to coming, her taut body quivering. Tension built in Galia’s belly as Strayke thrust higher and higher. A high-pitched whine escaped Mina’s throat. Galia groaned as her clit was squeezed against Strayke. And he growled as she began to clench. The ecstasy built between them, each one feeding the other, until it seemed that they would explode.
Mina climaxed first, crying out as her body quivered in Galia’s hands. Then Strayke erupted inside Galia, his erection swelling and jerking inside her. His hot seed pushed Galia over the edge, as she gripped Mina and clamped hard on Strayke. Waves of pleasure washed over them, as they each gave into the other. In all of Galia’s life, nothing had ever felt so right. The sound of her lovers rang in her ears. The feel of their bodies melded with hers. Nothing separated her from them, or them from each other. Only now did she realize that she had waited years for this, like Strayke. With a final paroxysm of pleasure, they each took a last bit of satisfaction, and collapsed. Mina landed on her side next to Strayke, and Galia behind her. For minutes, only their heaving breaths filled the air. A warm, languid heat suffused Galia’s body, a relaxation unlike any she’d ever known. She could feel Mina melting as well, and heard Strayke sigh with contentment. As though a spell had been cast, none of them moved. But finally Galia draped her arm across Mina’s side and onto Strayke’s chest, sandwiching Mina between them.
“I didn’t know what it was to be happy before this,” Galia whispered.
Though neither of them answered, Mina moved her hand on top of Galia’s and squeezed. Then Strayke covered both their hands with his, and did the same. As slumber claimed them, Galia smiled and let her eyelids fall closed.
Chapter 13
In the morning, after Mina and Strayke had made their pre-dawn departures, Galia dressed quickly and went looking for her mentor. The woman had withdrawn. Now she spent most of her time in her solarium, seeing no one but her wolf and Rhea. More and more of her duties had fallen to Galia.
I must talk with her, Galia thought, unable to escape the nagging feeling Galia had betrayed her.
Only a few paces from the Oracle’s solarium, the door flew open and Rhea came running out. To her shock, Rhea’s eyes were red with tears, and there was a fresh hand print on her face. Galia grasped her at the shoulders.
“Rhea, has she struck you?”
Rhea neither nodded nor shook her head, but the evidence was clear.
“She’s in such a state!” Rhea whispered, before wrenching free and hurrying away.
Fury filled Galia, and she strode into the room without knocking. But what she saw made her stop and stare. The Oracle had always been a cold woman, but now Galia could see what happened when the ice broke. Her blue silk gown was only half-fastened, leaving her shoulder and part of her breast bare. Her dark hair fell in disarray, and her eyes were rimmed with dark circles, as if she hadn’t slept in days. Perhaps she hadn’t.
“What has happened to you?” Galia whispered.
“I have failed,” the Oracle said, matter-of-factly. By her leg, the white wolf whimpered.
“What are you talking about? What failure is there?”
The Oracle’s laugh was like the caw of a crow.
“We are forsaken, little Galia, and damn my eyes, we bear this cost together.”
The Goddess within her laughed. Galia felt every hair on her head stand. “We have done nothing wrong.”
The Oracle shook her head. “It is the end. This city is doomed, because I have failed.” For some reason Galia couldn’t fathom, she felt ill. “By the Goddess herself, I swear I tried.”
The Oracle brought up her hand. Galia flinched away, expecting a slap, but her mentor only caressed her cheek.
“My little Galia. I have been so hard on you, but I wasn’t hard enough. I am so sorry for that.”
Galia started to protest, but the Oracle pushed her away. For a moment, her mentor straightened her clothes and tucked her hair into place. Galia relaxed.
“If it is written in the book of fate,” her mentor said, “that we should meet again, next time I will guide you better.”
Galia was briefly stricken with a vision of another woman in another land, a city larger than Tenebris, an enormous white wolf trailing at her heels. The vision so distracted her that she was unable to move fast enough.
With quiet deliberation, her mentor stepped to the window and unlatched it. Without a backwards or forward glance, she leaned over the
edge.
“No,” Galia screamed, rushing forward and grabbing for her. But it was too late.
There was a billow of blue silk as the wind caught her, but it was far too little to halt her fall. The Oracle fell like a stone and without a sound. Galia recoiled from the thud as she hit the ground, not able to look. People below were already shouting, and the wolf began to howl.
As Galia sank to her knees, she pressed her hands down hard over her ears. But nothing stopped the sound of the Goddess laughing inside.
* * *
• • • • •
* * *
Galia passed through the next days in a haze. The first night the Oracle’s funeral pyre had been spontaneous, an anguished outpouring of the people. The flames seemed almost to rise to the balcony, accompanied by their piteous cries. Galia knew how they felt. She had looked on her mentor as something eternal. There was nothing the woman could not do, and to have her simply be gone was unthinkable. Sometimes, when she was busy with palace duties, she could pretend that her mentor was still there, watching her. But when she turned, she realized that, no, it was only her.
She knew that Mina and Strayke spoke about her behind her back. She knew that they worried about her. Both of them spent time in the troubled city, though there would always be one or the other close to her at night. One evening, as she lay in Mina’s arms, she couldn’t stop the words from spilling out.
“I have done something terrible,” she said softly. “I have broken something.”
“You have done what you had to,” Mina said, not contradicting her.
“I couldn’t kill him,” Galia whispered. She hadn’t spoken of the time underground. She wondered if Strayke had.
“You? Never. And any Goddess who would force your hand is not worth the city we live in.”
She gave herself up to Mina’s embrace and fell into a fitful sleep.
Each day, she played her part, becoming the powerful Oracle. But each night, she huddled in Mina or Strayke’s embrace. She was terrified out of her wits that something would happen to them. She wanted them kept close, but in that, they would not be ruled. But finally one evening they both came to her.
“We need to get out of here,” Mina said. “There’s something going on in the city, and it’s got murder in its teeth.”
Galia stared. “Murder? What are you talking about?”
“They are angry, Galia,” Strayke said. “They can’t decide if you had a hand in the Oracle’s death or are innocent, if the Goddess is punishing you or being abused by you. Murder is the right word.”
“The bread that you gave out, it’s killed people.” Galia gasped and covered her mouth. “People died with their stomachs swollen and black. It struck the very old and the very young, and people are afraid––of you.”
The people were afraid of her? But she had only tried to help. She hadn’t killed the Oracle. She’d tried to save her. She thought back to that day. They must have seen her at the window. She took her hands from her mouth and looked at them. Even if she hadn’t pushed her, had she been the cause?
“We must go,” Strayke said.
Galia dropped her hands and looked at them both. “You two have to go without me,” she said, though it broke her heart. “My face is too well known.” If it was her the people wanted, let them have her as long as Strayke and Mina survived.
Mina snorted.
“Not likely. We go together, and that is not something that you can change. We may have begun as slaves, but we will not end as them. We have a plan.”
Both of them nodded. For the first time in what felt like years, Galia felt something like hope.
“What are you talking about?”
“At midnight, you will read for the city for the Firefly Festival. Once you have done that, the revelry begins in earnest. That will be our chance. We have made preparations on the other side.”
“Preparations?”
Strayke smiled.
“Horses. Swift ones. After that, a ship waiting for us at the coast. After that, anything we want.”
It was like an echo of the past. They’d met on a ship that had docked at that very coast, on the other side of the gate. She was still for a long moment. The Goddess controlled the gate. But now the Goddess was within her. The power was within her. The plan would work.
Galia gazed between her two lovers.
“We will go,” she said, reaching out for them. As one, they stumbled back to the bed.
There was no center to their lovemaking, the way there sometimes was. Instead, it was only a sweet riot of flesh and love, of mouths and tongues and beauty. Kisses passed between them easily. For a moment, Galia was whimpering as Mina kissed her, and Strayke suckled at her pierced nipples. The next moment, both she and Mina were pinning Strayke to the bed and running their tongues along the length of his body. Just a little after that, Strayke had lifted Mina to straddle his body while Galia wrapped her arms around the slimmer woman from behind, playing with her small breasts.
The sensuality of the night carried Galia away. There was another place out there where they could be together, where they could be who they needed to be to each other. There would be no oracles, no guards, and no need for either.
With Strayke buried deep inside Mina, and Galia ravaging her mouth, she writhed sensuously with her climax, carrying Strayke with her. They had barely stopped shaking before turning to Galia, pressing her to the bed, and bringing her to the height of pleasure with their mouths.
Though Galia hung on to them as long as she could, she knew they had to leave. She consoled herself with the knowledge they would not be apart long. Soon, they would have a new life, and Tenebris would drift away like a dream.
Chapter 14
The day and evening of the Firefly Festival had been subdued. Galia was dressing for the midnight reading, when Rhea and her lemur appeared. Galia felt sorry for the woman. She had never been the same after the Oracle’s death. And for some reason, Galia did not think she would ever truly recover. Rhea helped her fasten the gold chain belt around the waist of Galia’s white and gold gown. When it was done, Rhea reached down and took a satin box that her familiar had been carrying.
“This is for you,” Rhea said, handing it to her.
Galia stared at it. A gift? “But Rhea, we’ve never exchanged presents.”
“It’s just for the night,” Rhea said with a smile.
Curious, Galia opened the box.
“Rhea! It’s gorgeous.”
It was a crown of sparks, viridescent and lovely. Rhea reached into the box and carefully removed it. It was so like the fireflies that drifted through the city. She placed it gingerly on Galia’s head.
“You look every bit the Oracle,” Rhea murmured. She stood back, admiring it. “But it only lasts the night. Still, that’s enough time, isn’t it? You look beautiful, Galia.”
Galia smiled and gave her friend a hug. Of everyone in Tenebris, Rhea was the only person she would miss. Rhea quickly hugged her back.
“I’ve got to get back to the kitchen,” she said. “Sooner or later the revelers will show up there.”
For a moment Galia thought to say goodbye, but thankfully Rhea was quick, and the door closed.
For a few minutes Galia paced. Then she tried to read. But she couldn’t stop thinking about the packed satchel hidden at the back of her closet. Her mind buzzed like a hive of bees. She was almost ready to make her way to the shrine early when the timbre of the cries outside changed. Before they had been light and merry. Now there was an ugly edge to them.
Though she knew she shouldn’t, Galia raced back to the balcony. She tried to hide at the far edge, but it was pointless.
“She is at the window, let her see!”
“Let her see what we are doing for her!”
“He would kidnap her, but no longer!”
“Let the blood be shed!”
They pushed a man to the front. Someone grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled it back. His face was
bloodied, his one eye wild. The other eye was missing. But she knew him and, in that moment, she knew her life was over. She saw the faces in the crowed. She saw his. She saw his one blue eye look up to where she stood on the balcony, and they stared at each other.
“Strayke,” she gasped.
The crowd rolled over him like a tide. Galia saw the knives come down, and felt them as if it was her they stabbed.
Inside her, the Goddess laughed.
Galia stumbled back from the balcony.
One foot in front of the other, she lurched to the door. In the hallway, an acolyte was telling her that she needed to depart for the ceremony. Galia ran by her. Though onlookers stared, Galia did not stop. Instead, she dashed to the center of the palace, to the gate.
Strayke is dead!
She should have been felled by her grief, been driven insane. But as she ran, she realized she had indeed gone mad. A crowd trailed behind her, shouting and screaming. She staggered past the guards of the portal, its high stone wall still visible in the growing darkness. Above it the star-pocked sky suddenly clouded. She whirled back to the people who were swarming toward her. Some faces were expectant, others furious, and still others were filled with the bloodlust she’d just witnessed.
This is my fault!
Inside her the Goddess chuckled.
Grief, loss, and anger well up inside, the tide so fierce that Galia staggered. Power flooded through her, sweeping upward until she couldn’t contain it. She stood next to the portal and raised her hands.
No! the Goddess shrieked. No!
Galia reached deep into her own energy.
No! My city! No!
Galia spread her arms and cast her pain into the sky.
Purple streaks of pure power lanced upward. It boomed like thunder and rattled the very ground. The shouts of the people turned into screams. But Galia did not look at them. Instead she saw the city. Tenebris blossomed in her mind, as did destruction. The power spun out from her, unstoppable. It shattered buildings and bodies in every direction, like a maelstrom of pure energy. When a guard tried to grab her, he pulled away with a shriek and the smell of burning flesh.