Chapter 25 #2
They were really here, together.
“Us,” Lorelei panted as his lips left hers and drew a hot trail down her throat.
“Us,” he growled back and sucked her skin between his teeth until she let out a moan of helpless pleasure. “Only us, Lorelei, from now on. Swear it.”
At any other time, she might have teased him—or challenged him to make it worth her while. Now, she was too shaken to give him anything but honesty.
“Forever,” she murmured, and it was the truth. How could she ever settle for a lesser man once she’d known this joy with him?
She tipped her head back against the floor, arching against him, and the glorious scent of summer filled the room.
Soft rose petals showered over them in the darkness, scattering across Gerard’s broad back and kissing against her own cheeks and hair in celebration.
Her lover paused in his explorations for a startled instant to capture and inspect a handful of falling blossoms—and then he let out a laugh of pure wonder.
“Of course.” He shook his head ruefully down at her. “What else could I have expected?”
“Oh, my darling…” Lorelei’s lips curved with delighted anticipation. “You’ve seen nothing yet.”
Those blossoms had arisen from sheer emotion, unguided by thought.
At a wave of her hand, a whole green bower sprang into place around them, rustling with life and vivid beauty.
Tall, cherry-red tulips and purple irises nodded down at them from the exuberant living bouquet that surrounded them.
Every stem, leaf, and blossom was lit by the warm golden sunshine that shone down from above, while a thick, berry-studded circular hedge shut away the rest of the world.
Humming sounds signaled smaller creatures busily at work among the plants, while the steady, soothing ripple of moving water signaled a stream nearby.
Propping himself on one elbow, Gerard turned to take in every sumptuous detail, his eyebrows rising. “Illusion or real?”
“A bit of both, but mostly illusion this time.” Lorelei shrugged with entirely false modesty, savoring every instant of his focused attention on her work. “What do you think of it?”
“I think,” he said slowly, “that whoever wins the Tournament of Leaves this year should thank you every day for surrendering that chance. You are remarkably gifted, and you know it. But that’s not all.”
“Oh, no?” Stretching like a cat under the stroke of his praise, she purred the question. “What else?”
As he turned back to her, Gerard’s lips curled into a shockingly mischievous smirk. “I think I still haven’t seen you fully unclothed!”
With a lightning-fast move, he yanked down her bodice like a scoundrel.
“Why, General. How very forward of you!” Laughing with giddy delight, Lorelei shimmied in place to help him work her puffed sleeves down, too, and then kicked herself free of all the rest until she lay, bare skinned and glowing with happiness, before him.
She hadn’t laid herself so open to any lover in years—which had nothing to do with nudity and everything to do with the way she lay back now and let her busy mind pause, for once, to luxuriate in his slow, worshipful exploration.
Heat and light spread with every brush of his warm, calloused hands against her skin, shaping every inch of her into something new and bright beneath him.
No—with endless patience, he was tracing the shape of herself, the Lorelei she’d truly been all along, beneath every illusion and shield, finally exposed in full for him …
And oh, the look on his face as he did it! She met his gaze—amber eyes gleaming with an irresistible mix of hunger and amazement—just as he slipped a second big finger inside her, inexorably testing the pressure he’d already wound within her to breaking point …
And Lorelei detonated against him. Gold sparkles filled the air as she ripped at his uniform, pulling off that last obstacle between them and letting his buttons fly.
She couldn’t stand any distance for even a second longer.
She needed him—not the Empire’s famous Golden Beacon but Gerard, her beautiful, ethical, stubborn lover—now, his skin bare and hot against hers, burning her up as she pulled him to her.
She tipped her head back to meet his gaze as she yanked him that final distance—and as he surged inside her, she wrapped her legs tightly around him to seal him in place.
Birdsong sounded, high and joyful, like the pealing of bells. Somewhere in the distance, Lorelei could have sworn that she felt the whole house shudder, as if even its longstanding magical shields had felt the impact of their union …
But she could only focus now on Gerard’s wild eyes, his pupils dilating more and more as she tightened around him, until all she could see was a thin rim of amber circling that desperate black.
Lorelei couldn’t look away—could barely even breathe—as he shifted his hips to move inside her with a steady, powerful rhythm that carried the resonance of holy ritual.
His hands reached for hers—and she reached up to wrap her fingers around his without breaking his gaze for an instant.
Sylvana, I beg You to forgive me. I’m no longer only Yours.
Her fingers tightened around Gerard’s as she cast up the prayer … and then all words were lost.
A long time later, she came back to herself, her body filled with golden light.
Still shuddering with pleasure, she clung to him with her arms and legs, holding him close.
His softly furred chest worked like a bellows against her cheek as he panted for air, his warm weight pressing her down to deliciously prolong the moment.
No worries or distant dangers could intrude in their illusory green bower …
Until the sudden rap of a fist against wood sounded much too close nearby. Lorelei startled, Gerard stiffened into a defensive crouch above her—and although Lorelei couldn’t see her bedroom door, Katrin’s voice sounded clearly through it, sharp and urgent.
“Lorelei! Your shields are down, and we have visitors approaching.”