Page 15

15

White Diamond Plains

RIV

R iv woke first and, still lost to somnolence, nuzzled her closer.

élisa’s firm behind nestled against his loins, and he hardened.

He opened his eyes, not daring to believe she was lying beside him, alongside his real self.

His eyes fell on her silver sheath of hair. He sighed, inhaling her skin’s sweet, warm scent.

She lay curled in his arms, his more prominent, power-packed form curved to shield her.

Still half asleep, he put his hand under her shift, on her hip, and stroked upward.

Damn, how smooth and soft she was.

He slipped his hand around to her belly and gave her a light massage. She muttered a little in her sleep as she shifted her buttocks to a more snug position against the ridge of his shaft.

Moaning, she turned to face him, her lips heat-seeking.

He leaned in and gave her what she desired, his firm mouth teasing, nibbling. She opened her lips and let him in. His tongue brushed hers, and their mouths moved in unison.

He nibbled her lips as he slipped inside her jumpsuit.

His breath caught as his heart hammered in his chest. She whimpered, enraptured as he cupped her breasts and flicked her nipples. They both jolted from the electric shock of the touch, and their breathing grew heavier.

Her touch flew to his chest and kneaded, searching for skin.

‘Riv.’

‘ Naam .’

‘Make love to me.’

‘With pleasure.’

He’d been waiting so long for this moment. He’d dreamed about it for years, and his hands trembled in anticipation.

He kissed her again as she ran her hands over his smooth back and shoulders.

He pulled away from her to take off his clothes.

She worked off her gear in between their melded, heated kissing, her hands gliding, touching him.

That’s when he noted the dainty necklace lying on her bosom. It’d lain hidden all this time under her clothing.

His eyes narrowed on the pendant hanging from it, peering closer. ‘It’s not any locket, is it, my angel?’ he said, his voice rough.

Her gaze fell, her face flushed with color. ‘I always kept your ring, my love.’

He slid a finger on her chest to lift the chain away from her skin. His eyes misted as he studied the simple, tiny diamond he’d purchased many years ago.

He leaned over to kiss her. ‘That you kept it warms my spirit. Here and now, I promise to adore you for the rest of our lives, just like you’ve cherished my token of love to you next to your heart.’

He placed a hand next to her temple, where her eye patch sat, and gave her a gentle look. ‘I want to see all of you, élisa.’

She swallowed, then nodded, lifting a hand to lift the chrome patch away.

Underneath, her milky blind globe shifted under a beguiling eyelid.

She gave him a sad smile that widened to sheer beauty when he whispered, ‘Still so beautiful, malaíka .’

éLISA

‘Still so magnificent, my silver prince.’

élisa’s hand sank into Riv’s burnished locks. She stroked his majestic head, turning her attention to his face, strong brow, chiseled cheeks and jaw, and beard down to his back.

As she did, she lost herself in the wonder of how his body had altered over the years, how thicker and more muscular its contours were, how his skin felt against hers, the hair of his brawny limbs rubbing against her smoothness.

This was no youthful lad flush with first love.

From his firm shoulders to bulging arms, hard chest, well-defined abs, and robust shanks, he was more man than any woman desired or deserved.

Her mouth panted, and her eyes widened as his torso flexed and bunched before her.

She was imbued with aching need and yearning she had to share. ‘Riv Sable, you are very fokkin ’ desirable and worth the wait. I couldn’t stomach being with anyone else, not even Ribau.’

He pulled back with a half smile, the one she’d never forgotten, which made his silver eyes light up and the cleft on his chin deepen. ‘For that, too, I am grateful. I waited, too, élisa. I never strayed, not once. My heart was and still is promised to you.’

As her eyes teared up, he kissed her again, and they rolled over as the bedclothes were tossed aside.

She lay on her back and gazed at him, looming over her.

He began to stroke her naked, lithe body, her legs, her thighs, and her belly. ‘Hell, woman, I missed you.’

‘I yearned for you too, my love.’ élisa breathed, reaching to clutch him by his muscled back as their lips met again.

He twisted onto his back and took her with him, his arms running up and down her litheness.

‘My turn.’ Straddling him, she climbed on top of him and kissed his chest, his nipples, his neck.

She moved her head lower to his belly, his erection growing as her tongue licked his jutting, throbbing length.

He jerked his hips and groaned as she sucked, licked and venerated his steel-hard cock, which thickened even more.

When he couldn’t take any more and was twitching in her mouth, he pulled her away. ‘Woman, I’m about to blow if you keep going this way.’

‘What are you going to do about it?’ she teased.

His eyes smoldered and narrowed at the challenge. With a quick move, he knifed up and flipped her over.

He moved to the pebbled nubs of her nipples, sucking at them with abandon. At the same time, running his fingers over and inside of her slit until she could take no more.

Delirious with need, she hardly took note when he slid low so that her knees were on either side of his head.

With a smile, she shut her eyes and widened her thighs with a sigh, letting him in.

‘Riv!’ Her moan was like fuel to him as his wet tongue probed and worked her moist pussy.

Writhing, she drove her hips up, seeking more pleasure, chasing the high only he could give her.

Her passion grew with every thrust of his wet tip, and with a cry, she screamed as she spasmed against his mouth.

He lapped and licked until she came again, her nerves tingling, exploding, and hyper-sensitive.

Riv had always been a giver, and this reminder made her heart feel like it’d explode into tiny slivers of pure delight.

élisa turned the tables, retaking him in her mouth, sucking his hard, proud cock. Her tongue flicked over his head just the way she used to years ago, just the way he liked it.

He half sat up, his irised eyes glittering as she gave him pleasure. His hands threaded in her hair, moving up and down her back, his fingers caressing her satiny skin.

Riv gasped, ‘élisa, oh fokkin ’ sweet Eden!’

She held him between her lips, sucking him, her cunning length flicking around his hardness.

He trembled, gasping as her mouth devastated him.

His body tensed as he rose higher until he came with a roar, flinging his silver crown back at the unrelenting stroking of her lips. She swallowed his essence, mewling as his passion inflamed her own.

Rock hard still, he rolled her over and entered her in one smooth stroke, and they both groaned in unrestrained wonder.

She kissed him as he thrust into her, and she wrapped her legs around his back and pulled him into her.

She closed her eyes as he slid deep into her, and she gasped with pleasure.

He moved his hands down to her buttocks and squeezed them, and she began to move her hips in unison with his.

She was flying and free, and the sensation soared through her, engulfing her and drowning her in a sea of feelings.

He reached his hand down between them, and his fingers found her swollen nub, stroking in time to his thrusts.

It was too much; her heart hitched, and she couldn’t breathe or think.

Her body exploded as she screamed and convulsed.

Riv held her tight while she came, his hot breath on her shoulder, he too convulsing inside her as tears bathed his eyes.

The waves of pleasure didn’t stop. Over and over, they crashed against her walls of loneliness, sadness, and grief, washing away all the years of sorrow until she was left spent, purified by their love.

They lay entwined for a long time, their bodies still joined.

‘You’re so beautiful,’ he whispered.

‘Not so bad yourself.’

‘ Nada , my heart, you’re even more than that,’ he rasped.

‘You are the lime of the forest, the honey among the rocks,

The lemon of the cloister, the grape in the sands.

A hip to be enclosed by one hand,

A thigh round like a piston

Your back, a manuscript to read poems from.

You are the mistress of my body

The fruit of the valley, the water of paradise,

The Flower of the Sky, wrought by divine craftsmen.’

‘You are my all,’ he ended, ‘and I will never let you out of my sight again.’

She pressed her lips to his. ‘Neither shall I. That was a beautiful verse, by the way.’

He bent over her, giving her small nips along her nape and neck until he reached her feathers. Her koya .

‘May we please talk about this now?’

She sighed. ‘Do we have to?’

Riv tugged her hair with a gentle pull. ‘I need to know. For my peace of mind.’

She brushed her lips on the edge of his mouth. ‘Alright. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.’

‘I think I can manage it,’ he rasped.

Her lips turned up at the ends as she knifed up in bed. ‘The five koya sāb?rs signify that I am born a daughter of the Katánian king of the K?str?l order. However, my existence as a Kinti in a realm of the worst kind of raiders and marauders became too much of a burden to bear. I was ashamed to be a hawkling of the Katánē.’

élisa sat up and wrapped her arms around her drawn-up knees, her eyes far away and lost in distant memories.

‘My mother never cared for the wars my father waged year after year, and watching her and other K?str?l wives suffer made me see it was for naught. Worse, I was expected to inherit the throne and lead my people into more endless marauding. After my mother died, I was so alone in Katánopolis, in the bleakness of the Winter Palace. I found out through my maid-in-waiting that my father had plans to marry me to a Kubai elder. He wanted me to get pregnant and give birth. So he could steal my hawkstone, which loosens in delivery before it affixes itself to whomever it deems as its rightful beneficiary. He was desperate to disrupt the process and claim it back for himself, which had never been done.’

He shot a narrowed look. ‘So you ran away?’

élisa stood up straight. ‘I did. Fearing for my life, I took my jewels and exchanged my wardrobe for my maid’s. I stole one of the smaller Raptor pinnaces from our spaceport. I headed for the Sarisian jump gate. I sold the craft for schills at the adjacent outpost and bought passage to Rhesia, hopping onto a cruiser to Eden II. '

‘Where we met.’

She gave him a half smile, her lilac eyes flicking to meet his. ‘Where my life changed forever.’

Her face fell into a reflective look mired in worry at the reckoning she sensed was coming.

‘Riv, it was wrong to hide my true nature from you. But I had no choice. I was certain my father would hunt me down to the ends of Pegasi and tear apart anyone who had harbored me. I couldn’t reveal who I was to anyone. So, I lost myself in the tunnels of Eden II, where I could help those in need. Many of those were refugees fleeing the same planet and cities my father’s armies had torn down. If I hadn’t rendered aid, I’d have been as guilty and complicit as he was. I had to assist them.’

He stroked her back, pressing his lips to her shoulder. ‘You came to my aid, too, élisa. You were my salvation.’

Her eyes flashed with emotion. ‘You were your own redemption. I only supported your recovery.’

Riv’s voice deepened with sadness. ‘But you fell pregnant and didn’t tell me.’

She twisted to face him, her face softening with regret. ‘I’ve tossed and turned many sleepless nights for that reason. It was my fault for leading you on. But you were my first true love, the only touch of joy and affection I’d had in all my life apart from my mother. It was only when I sighted the khōra scouts and Noab Hakim on Eden II a few days before we wed that I knew I had to leave. I saw no other way, my love. While I trusted you, I didn’t trust my father. I did it to protect us. To safeguard you.’

Unable to handle the roiling churn, Riv lowered his head into his hands. ‘It almost fokkin ’ killed me.’

The hoarse cry tore from him, taking with it all restraint. The agony of the years apart ripped through him with an unexpected rush.

The storm surge he’d been holding back broke through the channels of his control. Cold, wet tears seeped from his eyes as the outpouring of emotion hit like a tsunami, ripping through his soul.

He fell with a groan to the bed and curled into himself, chest, body, heart, heaving as the pain and suffering of the last twenty-odd years gushed from deep within.

His invincible joker and stoic mask fell away to reveal the real emotion and destructiveness of his lone decades-long quest.

élisa threw herself over him, she too weeping as the storm roared through them, stroking his hair, head, and skin, murmuring heartfelt apologies.

While outside, the mist-slicked skies of Devansi wept in sympathy, too.