I had forced myself to forget how good it felt, forced myself to forget how her fingers worked me, how my body reacted to her touch, how she read it, how expertly she played me. She began drawing her fingers out, pleasantly coaxing a whimper of protest from my mouth. She withdrew, and at the absence of her touch, I nearly wept. The fear that she was going to pul away made my throat tight.
Instead, she touched my thigh.
"Spread your legs."
The look in her eyes was enough.
I opened to her as she moved down my body. Her mouth sought me and she kissed me lightly, brushing her lips across the flesh between my legs. A shiver of pleasure curled my toes. Her lips parted, catching on my skin as she raised her eyes to gaze up the line of my body. I clutched the sheets.
"Harder."
She obliged, sucking me into her mouth until I could feel the dents of her fangs digging into my skin. Her fingers found me, and I moaned, hips rising and fal ing against her mouth and hand. The pleasure tightened my body, and at its resistance, her pace quickened. The thrust of her fingers became something hard and fierce, a sharp blow dealt to the core of my being. Her tongue circled my c.l.i.t and she sucked harder, faster, until she brought me to climax writhing and crying her name.
I fel back against the pil ows. Renata moved, bringing my attention to her. A look of sorrow and regret etched her features. Somewhere in the beautiful contours of her face was pa.s.sion and l.u.s.t, but there too was love.
Renata loved me. No matter what she said, in that moment, I knew it. That knowledge crept over my skin and burrowed into my heart.
I woke gasping the first ragged breath of life. As always, it took a few moments to gain my bearings. I didn"t move until the pain subsided, and then slowly, ever so slowly began to sit up in the bed.
An arm flung out across my chest.
"Not yet," she said in a purring voice that held the edge of amus.e.m.e.nt and command.
I sensed Cuinn"s ears perk, but did not sense him stir further.
"He"s awake," I whispered.
Her lips spread in a lazy smile, as if she had just woken from a very pleasant dream. "I care, because?"
"I haven"t fed."
She grinned, nestling her leg between mine underneath the silken sheet. "I have."
I blinked. "How?"
She traced my brow with a lazy finger. "I have always risen earlier than you. Do you not remember?"
Once I thought about it, I did. "Yes." I lowered my gaze to the pulse beating against the side of her neck.
She laughed, her hand moving to the back of my head. "Come here."
I thought she was pul ing me toward her for a kiss, but she didn"t. She offered her neck to me, drawing me close enough that I was able to bury my face in the bend of it. The smel of her skin was sweetly al uring, but the smel of warm blood pumping beneath it was far more intriguing in that moment.
I kissed the skin over that tiny drum and felt a shudder go through her.
"You"re offering blood?" I said.
"Suffice it to say, you did very wel last night."
I licked my lips as a fierce pang of hunger hit, writhing in my gut.
"No catch?" I panted, uncertain if I was going to be able to pul myself away even if there was one.
"None," she said, playing with the hair at the nape of my neck.
I caught her skin between my teeth and bit down, feeling my fangs pierce her skin. She cried out, but not in pain. The borrowed blood in her body hit my tongue like fire and ice, at once hot and cold, burning and melting in my mouth like molten chocolate. I locked my mouth around her skin, swal owing quick enough that none of the blood went to waste. Her heart beat, pushing the blood into my mouth. My body grew languid with life and warmth. She whispered my name and I knew what she wanted. Her arms encircled my body, lifting me while I fed at her neck. I wrapped my legs around her waist, feeling her b.r.e.a.s.t.s brush mine. Her nipples hardened against my skin, causing an echo reaction within my own body. I moaned over her pulse.
It was one thing Renata and I had always had in common. We liked blood. We liked blood a lot, especial y in the bedroom. s.e.x and blood mingled wel for us. Then again, being what we were, how not?
I snaked my arm between our bodies, found the little tuft of hair between her thighs, and touched her with the tips of my fingers.
"Piph," she murmured, grabbing a fistful of my hair and holding me prisoner against her body.
I parted her lips and found her c.l.i.t, slick and swol en with desire.
She jerked my head back and I had to open my mouth wide so I wouldn"t tear her skin. I swal owed quickly, trying not to lose the mouthful of blood, and only managing to swal ow half of it. Blood spil ed down my bottom lip.
Renata caught my face in her hands, holding me stil , licking the blood from my chin like a cat. She licked my bottom lip, sucking, grazing me with her teeth and then kissed me, this time deeper, taking in the taste of blood and desire. I kissed her back, tongue matching the rhythm my fingers had taken between her legs.
I broke the kiss, climbing down her body. I kissed her shoulder, her col arbone. I caught her nipple between my teeth lightly, drawing her breast into my mouth and sucking. She moaned, her grip tightening in my hair, pul ing hard enough I winced in pleasure and pain.
Renata"s hand twined in my hair to the point where it bordered on nothing but pain. She fel back on the bed, pul ing me down with her before her body went rigid and she cried out.
"Are you satiated?" she asked.
"Yes, are you?"
She smiled like a contented cat. "What do you think?"
I rested my head on her breast, kissing the soft and delicate skin there. "I think you are."
She laughed and kissed me. "Then you would be correct," she said. "Though I shal never in a mil ion years think that I could ever get enough of you."
My heart gave an expectant leap. I touched her face. "It"s hard to believe this is how it once was. Hard to believe we ever lost this."
"I know," she said and I felt the pang of sorrow and regret inside her. The look she gave me was somber. "Yet, it feels as if nothing has changed at al , except for you."
"And you," I said.
"I have changed?"
"A little."
"How?"
I tried to pinpoint what exactly was different but couldn"t. "I don"t know," I said at some length. "It just feels...different. It"s a better different, but it feels different."
"Perhaps it is only different because of your growing powers and not some change in me. My feelings for you never wavered."
I remembered her mouth between my legs. I had felt her love then, felt her love and l.u.s.t that was so much like my own, but at the same time so very different. It hadn"t been my body or the s.e.x she wanted to possess.
It was me, and in her own way, that was love.
I knew without doubt.
Everyone loves differently, Cuinn mused. Methinks your Queen is right. Ye did not see her love because ye did not know that in her own way she loved ye.
Cuinn...
Aye?
I don"t need relationship advice from a fox.
He seemed to think that was amusing, because he gave a startling bark of laughter that rang in my skul , making me flinch.
"What is it?" Renata asked.
"Cuinn," I said.
Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What did the little volpe say?"
I shook my head. "Nothing," I murmured, "he"s agreeing with you, is al . Volpe?"
The corner of her mouth twitched. "Fox in Italian. And I may very wel like him after al ."
"I would like him much better if he weren"t in my head."
"Wel "-Renata nestled back against the pil ows-"you are the one that picked the sword."
She"s r- Cuinn, I warned.
I don"t need to say it.
No, I thought, you don"t.
Chapter Ten.
As strange as it may sound, I was loathe to wash the scent of our lovemaking from my skin. The idea of walking before the entire court and smel ing of her claim upon me sent a little thril through me. In the end, I was reluctant to be so brash and baiting. I wore a wine-colored dress that cinched at the waist.
The sleeves were long and wide, but not so much that they would get in the way. It was something comfortable that I could move freely in.
There was a knock on the door and I stood from my perch in front of the vanity table.
Epiphany.
I sighed and took the fox blade from the dresser, since Cuinn made it clear I had to.
It"s only Vasco.
I was close enough to the door that I could smel the crisp scent of his cologne.
Caution before folly.
I rol ed my eyes, opening the door.
Vasco strode into the room and I closed the door behind him, laying the fox blade back on the dresser.
When I turned around, I got an eyeful of his attire. He looked like a white and silver wrapped present.
"d.a.m.n." I stared at him for several moments. "Is it Christmas already?"
The pants he wore were very tight. The only darkness was his hair and the black leather boots that hit just below his knees. There was a slight heel to the boots, making his legs look longer. The silver thread was stil twined in his hair, but the braids had been pul ed back, held captive in a low clasp.
Vasco grinned at me.
"Don"t even start," I said and motioned with a hand at his outfit. "That was worth a stare or two."
He laughed one of his low, rumbling laughs. "Even from a woman that loves women?"
"If those pants were any tighter, Vasco, you"d be a woman."
He gave me a serious look. "S." He wiggled his hips. "They are a little tight."
I crossed my arms over my chest and caught my bottom lip between my teeth. I shook my head at him.
He gave a quick grin and returned to seriousness. "We do not have very long to talk. I am to escort you before the Elders."
I nodded, already guessing as much. "Are you going to tel me about the upcoming chal enge?"
He spread his arms out. "That is why I am here."
I went back to the vanity table, watching his reflection in the mirror. He sat on my bed.
His nostrils flared and he turned toward the pil ows like a hound on a scent trail.
"Vasco," I said before he could pick the sheet up and hold it to his face.
His hand hovered. "Who did you sleep with last night, colombina?"
"That"s none of your concern."