Chapter 10 #2
“Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves,” Phaedrus said. “Before we start interpreting the text, I should verify it against what’s in the book.”
“Of course,” I said.
“You should go back to the Citadel,” Phaedrus suggested. “After I verify the text is correct, I want to check some other sources to see if I can give the poem…uh, the song, some context. I’ll report to you and Bressen as soon as I have something.”
I hesitated, not wanting to leave now that we’d made these discoveries, but I also realized Phaedrus likely couldn’t do his work as effectively with me hovering over him.
“Very well,” I said. “I’ll go back, but let us know the minute you have something solid.”
Cyra
It took every ounce of my willpower not to bother Bressen with what Phaedrus and I had learned until later that night.
He’d spent all day either in meetings with his advisors or in his study working, and I reminded myself how grateful I was that I had very few responsibilities as his consort.
I attended public and political functions with him, and I gave him advice when he asked for it, but I was happy to leave the paperwork and decision-making to him. I wasn’t cut out to be a ruler.
I practically attacked Bressen when he finally returned later that evening, though, as I excitedly explained my trip to the Priory’s library and what Phaedrus and I had learned.
I knew he was tired, but I’d been holding the news in all day, and I followed him into the closet to relay my story while he undressed for his bath.
I was just getting to our interpretation of the last stanza when Bressen grabbed me to his now-naked body and kissed me deeply.
“I’m eager to hear the rest of this,” he said when he lifted his mouth from mine, “but first I need to fuck you.”
All I could do was nod before he swept me up and laid me down on the large cushioned bench in the middle of the closet.
I didn’t protest as he pulled my undergarment off, settled himself between my legs, and pushed inside me with a deep groan.
Any thoughts of the song flew out of my head for the next several minutes as Bressen moved inside me.
I climaxed quickly, apparently still wound up from my excursion into the erotic literature room, and Bressen came a minute or so later with a shuddering growl as he wrapped himself tightly around me.
We lay entangled in each other’s arms for several minutes until Bressen pulled out of me and got up.
“You were saying?” he prompted as he held out a hand and pulled me up from the bench when I took it. “Tell me the rest while I bathe.”
It took me a few fits and starts to remember where I’d left off before Bressen had interrupted me with closet sex, but I eventually found my place and told him the rest of the story while I helped him with his bath.
“Did Phaedrus say when he expected to have more news?” Bressen asked as he stepped out of the bathtub to towel himself off minutes later.
My mouth opened, but I was struck mute at the sight of his body glistening with water.
It trailed down his skin in rivulets, and I watched the muscles in his arms flex as he moved the towel over himself.
My eyes lingered on the small, dark trail of hair that ran down under his navel to his groin before they fixed on the hard muscles of his thighs.
I’d never considered how beautiful a set of legs could be on a man until I’d seen Bressen’s, Samhail’s, and Axenus’s legs, and now I couldn’t seem to get enough of them.
I was so fixated, I didn’t even realize Bressen had walked over to me until he hooked a finger under my chin and tipped my head back to meet his eyes. I blinked his face into focus to see he wore the hint of a smile.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?” I asked.
“Is something wrong?” he asked, amused. “You seem distracted.”
“I…” My mouth was suddenly dry. “I was just wondering what was wrong with your legs. They’re so lumpy.”
Bressen nearly choked. “Lumpy?”
I closed my hand on the top of his thigh above his knee and ran my hand slowly up his leg, letting my fingers roll over the swells of muscle. His skin was warm and still slightly damp from his bath.
I moved my hand up until I got to where his leg met his hip, then let my fingers graze over the muscle that made part of the V near his groin.
Bressen released a long, low groan as my fingers followed that ridge of muscle down toward the patch of night black hair between his legs.
“Is bumpy a more accurate word?” I asked as I let my fingers tease the curls of the coarse hair.
“You’re playing with fire, woman,” he said in a voice thick with gravel.
I hadn’t looked down yet, but I already knew what I’d find, and I wrapped my hand around his swollen cock. He closed his eyes and leaned into me as I gave his shaft a long, hard stroke.
“Gods, Cyra,” he ground out, “you have no idea what I’m about to do to you.”
I remembered my other find at the library then, and I let go of him to head into the bedroom. He grunted in protest as I released his cock.
“Cyra?” he asked in confusion.
“Actually, I have some ideas about what you can do to me,” I called back over my shoulder as I left the bathing chamber and strode across the room to retrieve the book Phaedrus had given me.
I grabbed Teachings on Desire off the table near the fireplace and turned to go back into the bathing chamber. Bressen had already come out and was standing naked in the middle of the room. I walked over and handed him the book.
He read the title and raised a brow.
“Just look,” I said. “Phaedrus let me borrow it.”
He opened the book, and his brow shot higher.
“It’s illustrated,” he observed.
“That was my first thought too. Look at chapter 55.”
He flipped forward in the book and looked where I indicated. His brows pinched together, and he angled his head. Then he turned the book sideways as his furrow deepened.
“Oh, I see,” he said finally. “Well, that’s certainly an interesting position. I’m not sure I’m that flexible, though.”
I pressed up next to him to look at the illustration and frowned. “That would be my leg, not yours,” I said, pointing at the drawing.
He looked again. “Ah, of course.” A pause. “Are you that flexible?”
I looked up at him and smiled wickedly. “Do you want to find out?”
Heat filled his gaze as he pulled me over to the bed, the book still open in his hand. “Gods yes.”
Tandem Read: Go to Clash of Stone and Steel (Bk 3), Chapters 18-21