Page 21 of Dark Shaman: Eternal Hope (The Children Of The Gods #100)
TAMIRA
E luheed slept the way men at peace with their world slept—deep and unguarded.
Chin propped on her hand, Tamira watched him, committing to memory the way the corners of his mouth curled up in almost a smile, the way his lashes cast shadows on his cheeks, the proud line of his nose, and the burn mark on his right pectoral that looked almost like a symbol of something.
He still refused to tell her about it, saying that it had been part of a shamanic ceremony and that he had vowed not to reveal it.
She traced it with her fingertips, feeling him tense beneath her touch, but he didn't wake up.
Somehow, she knew that the burn mark had something to do with his immortality, which was also connected to his secretive shamanic tradition.
Eluheed kept so many secrets from her, secrets that had been burned into his mind with vows as strong as the fire or acid that had marked his flesh. He would never be able to reveal them to her because his vows didn't come with an expiration date.
It was frustrating, especially to someone like her who thrived on solving mysteries, but if that was the only obstacle in their lives together, she would count herself lucky.
They needed to find a way to escape the island before Navuh realized that Eluheed wasn't aging, or he would torture his secrets out of him.
Perhaps her wish to take her sisters with her was selfish.
Eluheed had to be her priority, and if the submarine could only take the two of them, so be it. It would break her heart to leave the others behind, but life was full of compromises, and no one ever got everything they wanted.
Not even Navuh.
The sudden sputtering of the air conditioning as the power went out again proved that the master of this island didn't have everything under control.
When the power returned and with it the cool air, Tamira thought of Areana's lie and the ache that had dulled from a knife wound to a bruise and stayed there, a reminder that love and disappointment often came wrapped together.
Would that be how her sisters felt when they realized she'd escaped with Eluheed and left them behind?
Tamira slid from the bed without waking him and crossed to the balcony doors, drawing the curtain just wide enough to look out at the indoor garden.
The artificial lighting had been programmed to follow the cycle of the sun, but since it was still nighttime, the lighting was subdued, mimicking what the moon was doing aboveground.
Behind her, the sheets rustled. "Tamira," Eluheed said in a sleep-rough voice that made heat lick low in her belly, and then he reached for her blindly, eyes still closed, hand finding air where her hip should have been.
"I'm here." She walked back to the bed, amused by the very apparent immediacy of his need. She slid under the sheet and lay on her side facing him.
He blinked, focusing his blurry eyes on her, and smiled in that quiet, devastatingly handsome way that seemed designed to make her melt.
"I was afraid you left." He kissed her forehead in the precise spot he always did.
"Where would I go?"
"Breakfast?"
She chuckled. "It's still night."
"Then why are we awake?" He pulled her closer to him.
"I can't sleep," she admitted. "I want to speak to Areana today, and I need to devise a strategy."
She wasn't ready to tell him what she'd decided only moments ago. It was a difficult decision, and it hadn't settled in her heart yet. She might still change her mind about leaving her sisters behind.
"Did you come up with any ideas?"
Tamira twisted a curl around her finger and studied its give.
"I can employ two tactics," she whispered next to his ear.
"One is to pretend that I'm still fearful and ask about security measures and alarms and whether I could find sanctuary in her quarters in the case of an attack.
I can then flat-out ask her if there are alarms anywhere.
Even if she deflects and says that there are none, I will know by her body language if she's hiding something.
Eluheed canted his head. "Are you sure you know Lady Areana that well? Living with Navuh and navigating his moods and his bouts of madness, she must have become an exceptional actress. She probably lets you see what she wants you to see."
She regarded him with somber eyes. "Is that what you do?"
"Not with you, but with others, I have no choice. My survival depends on it."
For a long moment, she just looked into his eyes. "I bet you couldn't hide anything from me even if you tried. I wouldn't know what you're hiding, but I would know that you're doing so."
He nodded. "That's because you see me so clearly."
"I see her just as well," Tamira said with more confidence than she commanded.
Eluheed was right about Areana having to become exceptional at manipulating Navuh, and since he was probably the most difficult person on Earth to manipulate, Areana could do that to anyone.
He reached up and touched the curl she had been playing with, winding it around his finger, loosening it, and winding it again. "Do you want me hovering nearby when you talk with her? I can be your silent encourager."
"I appreciate the offer, but no. She might not open up to me when others are present. But I can tell you one thing. Tonight, I want you to be exactly where you are now."
"Where else would I be?" The words arced between them like an electrical current.
He drew her in, rolled her beneath him, and kissed her slow and deep.
His weight was welcome, the length of him settling between her thighs with a thrilling familiarity.
She loved that he did not rush, even when her body offered him a dozen reasons to.
He moved his mouth slowly down her throat, over the curve of her breasts, and then lower, spreading her with patient hands, kissing her with a focus that made her thoughts unravel.
There was no point in arguing that she was ready, that he didn't need to devote so much care and attention to her pleasure, or that not every encounter needed to be a five-course meal, and that sometimes a quick snack was all that was needed.
Eluheed didn't do anything halfheartedly.
Instead, Tamira sighed, lacing her fingers into his hair and letting her legs fall wider in an unabashed welcome.
He teased first, light strokes of his tongue that woke every nerve, and then settled into the pressure and rhythm that took her apart. She lifted, seeking more, and he gave it, eagerly, as if her pleasure was what he lived for.
"So good," she breathed, and felt his answer in the increased insistence of his mouth.
He slipped his fingers inside her, curling just right, and she tipped into sensation with a sound she swallowed in the curve of her arm.
The release shook her, rolling through in waves that eased and then surged again when he didn't let up.
She rode his mouth until the edge softened, and she let out a long, shaky exhale.
When he came up smiling, mouth slick and eyes bright, she tugged him up by the hair and kissed him long.
"I want you inside of me," she commanded.
"Yes, my lady." He slid into her in one smooth stroke that made both of them groan. He filled her completely, and she wrapped her legs around his waist, holding him there and loving his weight on top of her.
He started slow and deep, and she met him easily, rolling her hips to keep the angle, to drive him into that sensitive spot inside her sheath that made her see stars.
"Look at me," she whispered, because seeing his eyes when he was inside her was a privilege she never wanted to squander.
He lifted his head at once, his breath catching and his gaze locking with hers, and then he pushed deeper, and her body clenched around him in welcome.
Tamira climbed again, faster than she had expected.
The lingering sensitivity from his mouth and tongue, layered with the thick, steady friction, gathered heat quickly.
She pressed her heels into his solid buttocks, slid her hands down to grip his hips, and urged him harder.
He answered, still in control but close to losing the battle with his need to climax.
The strain in his neck, the way his breath shortened and turned ragged, spoke of the unbearable pressure that was about to erupt.
She timed her movements to meet him in a series of quick thrusts that tumbled them into a shared inferno.
She came first, biting back a cry. He followed with a rough groan against her neck, his hips stuttering, and the hot rush inside her made her shiver with a second, smaller after-climax that left her boneless.
He stayed inside her, breathing hard.
She smoothed his hair back and kissed his cheek, the tender act an instinct she didn't examine. He nuzzled her palm and turned his head to kiss it.
When he slipped out, she made a small sound of protest and then laughed at herself. He laughed with her, the kind of hushed, delighted sound that felt like sunlight through leaves.
Eluheed fetched a cloth from the bathroom and returned to clean her with infinite care. She drew him down and did the same for him, trailing the cloth lazily over warm skin until the lazy became intent and he caught her wrist, playful warning in his eyes.
"We need to sleep sometimes," he murmured.
"Sleep is highly overrated," she teased, feeling way too energized to just surrender to slumber. "Besides, it's almost time for breakfast, and I'm hungry."
"Of course you are." He got out of bed and returned with a tray of cheese and grapes that they'd brought from the dining room. "We can't have you starving for a whole hour until breakfast."
They nibbled on the cheese and popped the succulent grapes into their mouths, and as juice ran down his wrist, she licked it clean. He went still, pupils widening, and she grinned, pleased by how easy it was to undo him.
"Tell me," he said quietly as he offered her another succulent grape. "If Areana names security features you've never heard of, what will you do?"
"I'll admit that I'm clueless and ask her to show me," she whispered back without missing a beat. "That would be perfect because I'll get to see how to disarm it."
He shook his head. "You are dangerous."
"Not really, but I'm learning to be." She put the tray on the nightstand and turned to pull him into her arms. "We should wash up, get dressed, and head out to the dining room."