Page 47 of The Garnet Daughter (The Viridian Priestess #3)

Chapter

Thirty-Two

I change into clean clothing, taking my time to detangle my curls and oil the ends. When I finally emerge out of my room, I promise myself to stay focused on staying present and not dwelling on things I cannot change like I normally do.

August is already there to greet me, freshly showered, his striking grin making the vows I focused upon a little easier to keep.

“You get something to eat?” he asks, plopping down in the pilot chair and swiveling it toward me.

I nod and sit in the one just behind it. “Do you think . . .”

His brows lift in inquiry. “You’re worried about Ferren?”

“Of course.”

“There is nothing more we can do. 99 will take care of her.”

“I know.” I smile, thinking of how he was the first to jump into action.

“You said this is the only time First Son has found all three daughters? So, he has clearly failed every conjunction. I like those odds. Ferren will be ok. I know it. I’m more worried about you.”

I smile flatly at his sweet words. “I don’t even know how to feel about any of it. I wanted to go to Omnesis to keep Ferren safe, and it had no intention of hurting her. It was pointless.”

“But if you didn’t insist on going to the birthlands, we would have no idea that First Son was looking for three women or even how large his army is now. You may have saved the city with your stubbornness.”

I squint at him, which earns me a little laugh in return.

We chat back and forth about nothing at all, slowly melting away the tension in my shoulders, and it strikes me suddenly that’s exactly what he intended.

Being alone with him when we are not frantically trying to find our way back to the others or in immediate danger feels so good, like it used to when Ferren and 99 would sneak off and it was just the two of us.

When I would let myself flirt with him a little, thinking it was one-sided and that he was just overly friendly.

I know him so much better now. He is not the goofy man I thought he was.

I adore that part of him, but also the complicated layers he only shares on occasion, as deeply.

A transmission chimes on the command station, jolting us both from the pleasant haze we have found ourselves in. He spins in his chair and scans the message that presents. “We have clearance to move the ship to the same bay as Ferren and 99’s.”

I cross to the station, curious how the message appears on the screen.

He glances up at me with a half smile. “It will be nice to see something other than inside of this hangar.”

“Hm, I agree. I wasn’t paying attention when you landed us here. Does it open from the top?”

He quickly types a return message, his fingers pressing so quickly, it’s as if he doesn’t want me to see the words. “No, that would be too easy. This bay is very old. The doors are ahead. We will have to skim the ground and turn before we can lift off.”

I lean forward, searching the screen for an answer to my suspicion, but his gentle grin distracts me. “When do I learn how to do that?”

“After many lessons. It is tricky.”

“Can we have one now then?”

“A lesson?” He smiles like I’ve baited him but he approves. “Well, first, we run through protocols.”

“The boring part.” I scoot in a little closer with no true intention of retaining his rundown of how the ship will be moved. I do want another lesson, but right now, I simply want to listen to him speak, among other things.

“Yes, the boring part and the most important.” His smile turns a little shy and it makes my stomach flip.

“From there, we would engage the engine, but controlled. We only want to drive across the surface. More of a steering than a liftoff. I’d use this.” He quickly points to a vertical bar with a black ball on top.

“This one?” I lean so far forward, my hip brushes against his side, and when I glance back, his eyes are not focusing on where I have my fingertips and instead are fixed on my backside. “August?”

“Yes, that one. Wait, which one did you point to? I . . . didn’t see.”

“This one?”

He nods.

“How would you reach it from there?” Even with his longer arms, it seems like a stretch to use and keep an entire ship steady. I hear a button click and then his palm is on my hip, steering me toward his lap.

“Sit,” he says.

The backs of my thighs press against his knees until bending is my only option, sitting comfortably on one of his strong legs as his chair glides forward. I can’t help but laugh at the slow slide towards the command station.

“Viathans have a solution for every inconvenience.” He huffs.

“I noticed.” I settle in, shuffling closer to his torso.

“See, perfectly in reach now. Clearance, flight protocols, engines engaged.”

“We can’t see anything.” I gesture at the opaque film on the windows.

“Those will be open,” he says flatly, then places a gently gripping hand on top of my thigh. “In the morning, when we move.”

“Morning? I thought we got clearance.”

“I sent a message back to reschedule.” His voice is lower, going from flirty and carefree to a core-clenching baritone. “We aren’t moving the ship tonight.”

I should have known what he was up to while hiding the screen from me.

“What about my flight lesson?” I tease and wiggle around to face him better.

He slides my hair over my shoulder, likely able to see the rapidly increasing pulse in my neck. “I think next time, we may have to find a different way to conduct lessons.” He practically groans at the friction of my shifting body and his grip on my thigh tightens.

“What’s wrong, pilot . . . distracted?” I say so close to his mouth that his breath hushes across my lips.

Then he closes the space between us where our air swirls together in anticipation and gently kisses me.

It’s sweet and chaste, but I know he is holding back.

He’s trembling, fighting himself to stay in control.

Not in the same enthusiastic way as before, but in a way that makes me think he is waiting to see if I want the same thing.

And I do. I want to lose myself with him, to set myself free from being consumed with what is happening around us.

I kiss him back deeper, sliding my hand up his strong jaw and pulling him in close, letting him know I want him as much as he wants me.

That ignites the entire space. The tension between us since we both realized we’re alone and safe overflows. I cling to him, wanting to feel his chest pressed up against me, to rub my nipples against his skin like before.

His hand travels up my thigh to the line of my trousers and hesitates, waiting to pass over another threshold.

I nip at his lower lip and widen my legs for him. It’s approval enough because he glides his palm down the front of my clothing, seeking out the wetness at my core.

“I thought of doing this the last time you sat here,” he whispers as his lips travel down my neck in tingling explosions across my skin.

I gasp as the pad of his finger finds my clit, and then again when he circles back after dipping lower to feel how slick I truly am.

He groans at the undignified squelching sound his ministrations elicit.

My head falls back, the steady rhythm of his fingertip driving me to madness, but no kiss or embrace is deep enough.

“Inside me, I need?—”

The thought of his thick fingers sliding farther down and into my core creates a tightness in my walls I cannot stop.

“No, Callia. The first time I am inside of you, it won’t be with my fingers,” he whispers into my ear, doubling his efforts on the bundle of nerves he is setting ablaze.

I cry out as ecstasy overtakes me, the waves running over me again and again as he holds me against his chest, kissing my neck and keeping an unrelenting pace with his fingertip until I’m spent and panting.

But after a few heaving breaths, I remember the words he whispered to me and it reignites my desire all over again.

Without warning, I turn in his lap and slam into him with a frenzied kiss, pulling at his tunic, needing to touch his bare skin. The pleasure he gave me only made my need for him more frantic, transforming into a frenzy as we rip off each other’s clothes and pant between kisses.

We haven’t even fully undressed when he picks me up, hand digging into the soft flesh of my ass.

His pants are barely off, but as he stands, they fall to his boots, the buckle clinking as he sets me down on the cold command station.

I whimper when his cock rubs against me, the scorching heat of his skin melting me into a panting, begging mess.

He guides the head of his member through my slit, wetting it and watching my reaction.

I gasp as he glides it across my clit, his pelvic muscles thrusting as if involuntary.

“You have no idea how many times I have thought of fucking you in this cockpit.” His pupils are completely blown out, his expression transformed by desire.

I slide my hand down and wrap my palm around his shaft in a firm grip, eliciting a hiss through his teeth.

He is prolonging this, drawing it out and savoring each sensation, but the ache in my core is almost painful now.

“August, please don’t make me wait like I made you wait.”

The muscles in his shoulders tense under my touch as he leans forward, pressing his forehead to mine as he slowly enters me.

He feeds himself deeper and deeper into my channel, each unhurried, torturous thrust sending a rippling shock wave through me.

“By the three worlds, Callia.” He pants out a breath, sheathing himself to the base. “You have ruined me.”

I cling to him, pulling him closer with each deliberate pump. “Don’t stop,” I beg when he pauses to kiss me, breathing hard into my mouth when my core clasps him.

I moan as my walls spasm when he begins again, placing his palms flat on the control panel and beginning steady thrusts into me.

But as our pace joins in a perfect, frenzied rhythm, an alerting bell chimes behind me.

“Fuck!” He leans to the side, cock still deeply seated within me, to cancel the command that was made by mistake, the angle change stealing some of the air from my lungs.

“Did something break?” I pant.

His laugh comes out in breathy huffs that I can feel all the way down to my pussy.

“No, but we should move.” He holds my chin as he smacks a kiss to my swollen lips then lifts me off the command station, withdrawing himself from my warmth and setting me on my wobbly legs.

“I have an idea.” I smile and reach up to put my arms around his neck.

I fold us into my room, needing to fill the aching void between my thighs.

His eyes dart around like he’s desperate to orientate himself to the sudden location change. The moment he does, he picks me up with a throaty growl so deep the vibration rumbles in my own chest and shuffles us to my bed.

I gasp as he throws me back onto the mattress, then removes his boots and the pants we were too impatient to earlier, all while keeping his darkened gaze locked onto me.

I pull the hem of my blouse, removing it over my head, the chill of the room sending icy tingles across the peaks of my breasts.

August exhales deeply, tilting his head to the side and devouring the sight of me waiting for him. Without warning and at the same time he climbs onto the mattress, he pulls me by the ankles until I am so far down, my backside touches his knees.

“Hold on, Callia. I have some more proving to do.” He enters me in one powerful thrust, holding my legs up against his chest.

The sensation of him this way has me gasping and crying out with another electric entry.

His pelvis smacks into me with each drive forward, the obscene sound echoing off the metal walls and encouraging him, his eyes growing wild and hooded.

I fist the blankets next to me as he raises my hips farther up, positioning himself to enter me deeper than I imagined possible.

Then he fucks me with newfound purpose, using my moans as fuel to his relentless pounding. He watches me, groaning and hissing through his teeth, but I am somewhere else, as far as the space between, floating in bliss that doesn’t seem to end.

I gasp his name as he opens my thighs, dropping his weight in between them. His lips are like fire against my pulse, moving up my neck, his hand palming my breast as he bucks into me.

My channel clamps down on him, his cock pumping with more resistance as my body prepares to crest the pleasure he is bringing me.

My muscles tighten, every nerve firing in swinging succession, stealing breath and any sound from my lungs, hinging my mouth open and gaping as we ascend higher and higher together.

“That’s it, Callia. Let me make you come,” he hisses with clenched teeth.

Finally, I surrender to another overpowering rush of sensation, a long, continuous, keening moan coming forth, humming in my throat and matching his breathy grunts as the steady movement of his hips becomes shaky and more shallow, as if he is waiting until I’ve fully crested my climax before letting himself lose control.

Sweat beads on his brow while he reaffirms his brutal pace, chasing his own pleasure as the last of mine runs it’s coarse, leaving me breathless and languid.

And with a final shuddering grip around his cock, he fills me with hot liquid on his next thrust, coating my insides in quenching warmth. The fluttery aftershocks of my core withdraws every bit of his cum, making him groan deeply with each spasm.

His huffing breaths tickle my ear as the final waves run through him. He nips and kisses at the lobe, and a surge of affection surrounds me that I was not expecting.

I wrap my arms around him, dreading the moment he withdraws from me and the weight of his body on top of my own fades.

It’s as if the thought is not mine alone because he shifts and kisses me, slow and intense, the lazy slide of his tongue rolling my eyes within their sockets.

And then he props himself up on one forearm to look at me, the other stealing to my jaw, his thumb reaching so high it pets my cheek in soothing motions.

He doesn’t say anything, his chest heaving in steady, deep breaths as he watches me, his pupils dancing around my face and taking in my expression.

I smile and caress his cheek with the same tenderness, yet still he says nothing, only melts into the touch, lids closing for a moment before meeting my gaze again.

And to my surprise, he doesn’t gloat about his performance or say a cheeky remark that I’ve been bracing for.

He sighs with such contentment, as if his world has been utterly changed.

I mirror the same sigh unconsciously and realize my world might be changing as well.