Page 56 of Insolence (Eisha’s Hidden Codices #1)

Itissa

I nstead of following everyone outside, something makes me linger in the atrium.

Finally alone with my thoughts, I circle the fountain with my hand trailing in the water. The humid air is perfumed with flowers and adorned with cozy lantern glow and birdsong.

Soft fingers graze my forearm, sliding down to catch my wrist. I give a strangled squeak, even as cedar and amber crowd my senses. Fingers dripping, I spin to meet Elodie’s hooded gaze, her lovely face now maskless.

“Still want me to guide you through setting your wards?”

“Please.” Swallowing my nerves, I trail her down the hallway toward the handmaidens’ quarters. She leads me to the window seat in the alcove, pulling me gently down next to her on the cushion. The building seems otherwise deserted.

“We can’t be long, or we’ll be missed. But we should be able to practice a little while at least.” Her voice is low and rich.

“The breathing exercise we practiced before is the foundation upon which you’ll build your wards.

Close your eyes, and let’s try connecting to each other.

” She holds her hands out, and I squeeze her fingers in mine.

Like last time, I focus on her breath, her heat. It takes a moment to silence the never-ending barrage of thoughts in my head, but as I open myself to the glowing connection between us, everything else gradually falls away.

When I’m able to find the quiet, dark place inside of me, our shared bond comes into focus, glowing with preternatural radiance. There’s more to it now, or perhaps I’m simply perceiving more.

Two spheres of golden energy materialize. Surrounding both of us, they’re feeding the glowing tether stretching between us. Our auras. They must be.

That’s when a great chasm opens in front of me.

Within its depths lie feelings I’m too scared to name and too ignorant to run from.

Holding my breath, I will myself to cross it, to give myself over to this confounding woman who actually sees me, who seems to know me in far more intimate ways than I know myself.

My eyes might be closed at the moment, but things couldn’t be more clear.

She is my lighthouse, my safe haven in the swirling storm of insanity that seeks to swallow me whole from time to time. Somehow, I’m positive that no matter what happens, she’ll save me from my own delirium so long as I can let her in.

Our auras mingle and coalesce. In an instant, I feel so utterly connected to her, I tremble with the intensity of it.

My muscles loosen, my shoulders drop, and my jaw unclenches. I feel truly relaxed for the first time since before I can remember. When my eyes open again, she’s gazing back at me with what can only be called adoration brimming in her gaze.

“That was perfect, Tiss,” she murmurs, reaching behind my head to untie the ribbon holding my mask in place. “It was different this time, wasn’t it?”

“Easier, yes,” I say, my heart close to bursting.

“Practice and trust tend to have that effect.” She hands me the loose mask. “When we’re both calm and feeling connected to each other, our auras have the ability to interweave.”

“I think that’s what I felt just now. Or something close to it.”

“The very fabric of our essences must be entwined in order for you to build strong enough wards to contain that monster of yours.” She shifts, placing warm fingers beneath my chin and lifting until our lips nearly touch.

“I see how hard you’ve been working. Dedicating yourself to your studies.

Managing your emotions. You’ve been practicing your breathing, haven’t you? ”

Unexpected tears prick my eyes when I nod.

“You deserve so much praise, Tiss. So much pleasure.”

Her outpouring of approval takes me aback. “Thank you,” I say, my voice cracking. “I’ve been trying.”

Without thinking, I eliminate the scant distance between us, pulling her to me with all the greediness I’ve been keeping in check and letting my mask slip to the floor.

She wraps one arm around my waist, her other hand cradling the back of my head while she kisses me back with abandon, as if she’s been wanting and waiting to kiss me all of her life. She kisses me until I’m sagging against her, mush in her arms. Ready to melt.

Gently, she pries herself away to stand. Brushing soft lips against my knuckles, her steady gaze is making me weak. “Goddess, Tiss, I want to taste your sweet cunt so much; it’s the only thing I’ve thought about all night.”

Lust bowls through me, turning to fire in my veins. I let her pull me to my feet.

Her draw is as inescapable as gravity while she leads me back the way we came. “In here,” she whispers, pulling me into a linen closet. “I can’t wait a minute longer.”

She’s barely got the door closed before I wind my arms around her waist.

Still facing away from me, she braces against the door. My mouth finds her nape in the darkness. Her moan is low and long as I press my lips to her hot flesh, working my way to the angle where her neck and shoulder meet.

Overwrought with need, I sink my teeth into the tender juncture.

“Ah!” She cries out and spins, snatching my wrists. “Trust me, you do not want to mark me right now, my darling brat.”

“I’m pretty sure I do,” I smile, tugging against her hold.

She adjusts her grip. “And you really don’t want to test my restraint tonight.”

“Oh?” I toss my head. “Think you can handle me?”

Through the shadows, something fierce glints in her eyes. “I think I’m the only one who can handle you the way that you need.”

“And what, exactly, do I need, priestess?”

Reacting with speed and force, she whirls me around so deftly, we may as well be dancing. My body is pinned to the door, my wrists clamped above my head, before I know what’s happened.

“Everything I’ve been holding back from doing since the first moment I saw you,” she says, voice gravelly.

Excitement combusts in my lower abdomen, and I hear myself moan.

“Goddess. Pheromones are pouring off of you,” she breathes, her free hand caressing my breast, skimming my waist, dropping to the swell of my hip. The edges of her nose quiver as she bends her head to trail her lips along my neck and jaw.

I shudder, utterly enthralled as her fingers travel slowly down, skimming my gown’s full skirts and pausing over my throbbing sex.

The honesty in her next words sets my nerves aflame. “You frighten me, Tiss.”

“If it’s any consolation, I frighten myself sometimes.”

“I mean, it frightens me that I will lose myself in you if I’m not very, very careful.”

Heat lances between my legs, as jarring as a lightning strike, at the ragged way she says it. “I’m already lost, priestess.” Adrift. Unmoored. And yet, she is my anchor in this uncertain place.

One hand still pinning my wrists, the other lightly tracing and teasing through layers of silk chiffon, she whispers, “It’s not going to take much tonight, is it?”

“Mm-mm.” I shake my head, her intoxicating fragrance surrounding me. I’m drowning in her, sinking to the depths of raw desperation in her.

The light, barely-there pressure from her supple lips at my neck and her fingertips circling, grazing, stroking between my legs has me frantic.

“Elodie,” I whine, squirming and bucking my hips for more pressure, firmer contact.

Set on tormenting me, she pulls away at my every attempt to press closer. All the while, she laughs softly in that arrogant, ironic way of hers. Finally, her mouth drifts to my ear. “I want to take your cunt in my mouth. I want to taste your sweetness more than I could possibly describe.”

My eyes slide shut. “Oh, gods, yes.”

“Where are your manners? Say ‘please,’ Tiss.”

“ Please ,” I practically sob. “I want it so much.”

“That’s my good girl. That’s what I like to hear.” Her lush lips capture mine.

My knees buckle. I want to drop as her fingers press into me, pushing through layers of fabric to nudge between my folds. My resulting cry is smothered by her hungry mouth.

“Quietly,” she instructs when she pulls away.

As if in answer, the familiar, preternatural hunger rattles against the confines of my body with a force so wild it petrifies me. I give a strangled cry, wanting to squeeze my turquoise ring again.

“Relax and breathe,” she murmurs. “This is only practice, and I’ll be the one in control.”

Drawing in a deep breath, I nod. She releases my wrists to kneel in front of me. Hands shaky and cheeks hot, I gather up my full skirts. My eyes drift shut again as she drags my underwear down, dipping her head between my thighs.

We both moan at the first taste. Oh, mother of everything holy .

I bite my lip to keep from crying out, then remember I’m supposed to be breathing. I try to focus on the dark calm and the radiance of our overlapping auras, but it’s almost impossible to stay centered with her hot mouth teasing, her silken tongue gliding up one side of my clit and down the other.

She gives me soft, slow licks at first. When she hits that ridiculously sensitive spot, my muscles jerk, my fingers snarling in her hair. I inhale through my nose and exhale through my mouth, letting loose a quiet curse.

She stays on my spot, grabbing my hips to still me and flicking lightly until I gasp. My pleasure is climbing, spiraling exquisitely. Just as I’m coming to a breathtaking peak, she moves down to my opening and draws her tongue back up slowly.

Not yet ready to let me climax, she reverts to soft, teasing strokes.

I whine in frustration, my breasts straining against the stiff bodice of my gown.

Heedless to my fussing, she continues at her languid pace until I want to scream.

Until the sheer fabric overlaying my chest and throat feels like it’s strangling me.

Thoroughly savoring keeping me on the verge of insanity, she keeps my climax building and plateauing but never quite gives me enough to crest.

She moves down to my opening again, plunging her tongue inside, and moans. Fingers buried in the fleshiest parts of my thighs, she slides my leg over her shoulder, holding me fast against the wall to get a deeper angle.

Overtaken by a frenzy of her own, she feasts on me like a woman who’s been denied her favorite fruit or dessert for a thousand years. She drinks of me as if the world will end if she doesn’t. As if she might never have the opportunity again.

Her command over me is absolute. I’m as much her captive as I am to the gnawing, ravenous hunger barely held at bay. Tears form in my eyes, and I wonder if I’ll lose what’s left of my shredded mind when she miraculously moves up again, lavishing attention on my clit.

The next time she hits my spot, I grab her head, holding her in place and begging for release with all I’m worth. “ Please, Elodie. Please. Please. Please. ”

Finally, she wraps her lips around my clit, sucking and flicking as liquid fire gushes through my veins. After so much buildup and teasing, my body has no choice but to succumb.

Sharp contractions tear through me, and I clap a hand over my mouth to contain my broken cry. She doesn’t stop. My climax soars to an unimaginable zenith, and I fear my brain will break all over again.

When I come crashing back down, I’m a heaving, weak-kneed, teary-eyed mess. I pry myself away with a groan. She kisses my inner thigh, shrugs my leg off, and leans back to take me in.

“I did warn you not to test me tonight.” Still kneeling on the floor in front of me, her lips are swollen and glistening with my release. “Now you know what happens to pretty, mouthy brats.”