Chapter 38
THIRTY-EIGHT
The shock at seeing him cut himself with my blade is slow to fade. I’m staring at him wide-eyed, not knowing what he’s going to do next.
I have the power to stop him—to coerce him to stop hurting himself. But even knowing that, I cannot seem to move.
Shame eats at me as I realize that deep down, I want to see his heart weep for me. I want him to show me how deep his love for me runs, no matter how crazy that demonstration might be.
He meets my gaze with his determined one. His fingers plunge deeper inside the incision he made, pulling harder at the skin. It slips off the ribcage with ease, but even more surprising is the way he looks at me unflinchingly.
The pain must be unbearable, especially for a human. Yet he does not back down.
Digging his fingers inside his own chest, he presses hard against the bones until they snap, the sound a loud echo in the small enclosure.
He just…broke his own bones, his own rib cage? For what? To prove what?
Yet more importantly I ask myself: why am I not stopping him?
He bangs against his sternum, each time harder than before until that bone breaks into a myriad pieces that fall onto his lap.
“You…” I whisper. Surely this is too far. Surely I should stop him now.
His breathing is harsh but even. He doesn’t look down at the bloody residue of bone falling from his chest or the rivulets of scarlet liquid dripping onto his lap.
He’s only looking at me.
His fingers dig deeper and deeper until his entire rib cage has been broken. I may not be an expert in human anatomy, but if it’s anything like a god’s, then it would take enormous strength to break those bones.
But he did it with such ease. Without flinching. Without a grimace of pain.
He slowly peels away flaps of skin and bone until he reveals the top part of his heart. It thuds against what’s left of his ribcage, the sound almost deafening.
“Do you see it, Minnie?” he murmurs as he brings one bloody hand to my cheek. “Do you see how this poor heart of mine beats only for you?”
“What have you done?” I whisper in awe. “How could you even think to do this?” My eyes move from his earnest expression to the painful image of his wide-open chest. It’s a complete dichotomy; one I cannot even begin to understand, not as a deity and certainly not from the perspective of a human.
Mortals, defined by their finite lifespans, are driven by a certain self-preservation even more so than deities are. They avoid pain and hurt and any type of injury that might pose a danger to their lives.
So as I look into Mine’s eyes, I cannot understand how he is able to do this, go against his very nature to prove something to me.
The more I think about it, the more I realize that not even a deity would have ever willingly done something like that. Though immortal, some injuries can prove fatal even for the strongest of us. No one would risk the danger such a weakened state would pose since an enemy could attack at any moment.
He isn’t just enduring immense pain to show me his love and loyalty. He is also leaving himself completely vulnerable and at my mercy. I could strike him down, but he knows I would never. I could refuse to heal him, but he knows I would never.
By trying to assuage my mistrust, he showed me how fully he trusts me. And that realization floors me more than anything in my life.
Tears prick at my eyes as a wave of emotion builds inside of me, threatening to spill over. I’ve never been the demonstrative type, always keeping my emotions in check because outbursts were frowned upon.
But if Mine can go against his biology and self-preservation to prove something to me, then I can only repay him by shedding my inhibitions and showing him the real me, too.
The tears fall, this time unbidden.
The blade materializes in my hand and bringing it against my throat, I cut a straight line down my chest. The material of my dress falls to the sides to reveal my naked breasts. I dig the blade deeper, emulating Mine’s cuts.
He stops me. Pushing my hand away, he leans in and licks the blood trickling down my skin. He makes his way from my navel to the valley of my breasts and up my neck, not letting even one drop go to waste. He cups my breasts as he continues to suck on my flesh even as my wounds heal.
I let out a ragged breath. From the corner of my eye, I see his chest is healing, too. His bones are regenerating while his skin is slowly mending together until the only trace of his madness are the smudges of blood painting his skin red.
Grabbing my blade, he cuts through the remaining material of my dress before roughly pulling it with his hands and throwing it to the side.
I’m almost bare except for a scrap of material covering my privates.
Leaning forward with deliberate slowness, he presses a torturous kiss to one breast before lavishing the same attention on its twin. His lips trail a path of electric sensation down the valley between my breasts until they reach the curve of my stomach. With delicate care, he places a tender kiss just below my belly button before pressing his cheek against my stomach.
The heat radiating from his body warms me from within as he wraps his hands around my hips and holds me close.
“You have no idea how long I’ve been dreaming about this,” he whispers in a low voice, his breath hot against my skin.
“How long?” I ask, unable to hide the excitement in my voice.
He smiles against me, his lips grazing over my flesh.
“An eternity? Maybe more?”
A shiver runs down my spine at his words, sending sparks of anticipation through my body.
“I want to see more.” He raises his head slightly so he can look into my eyes. “Can I?” His fingers trace over the side of my hip, hooking onto the material of my underwear.
My mind is reeling, but I manage to nod in consent.
All the reasons why he shouldn’t do this flash in my mind, but with each passing moment, they seem less important than the desire coursing through my veins.
“I suppose it’s only fair since I’ve seen all of you too,” I murmur, trying to sound nonchalant despite the fluttering in my stomach.
“And you’re all about equality, aren’t you?” He raises a playful brow.
I nod again, feeling a surge of confidence and vulnerability all at once.
“Uh-huh.”
“Good girl,” he praises in a husky voice that makes me blush from head to toe.
With a swift motion, he slices the sides of my underwear with a sharp blade. I gasp in surprise and irritation. “That was the only pair I had,” I protest, trying to cover myself.
He clicks his tongue disapprovingly. “I’ll buy you as many pairs as you’d like when we get to Paris,” he offers nonchalantly.
My fingers thread through his unruly hair as I try to process his words. “Paris? Is that where we’re going?” I ask, intrigued.
He nods, a proud smile on his face. “My parents live in France, and I have a beautiful house just outside of Paris. Remember when I said I would take you to my sanctuary someday?”
A feeling of anticipation builds in my chest. “Is that where your sanctuary is?” I inquire, unable to hide my curiosity.
He grins mischievously. “Yes, and I can’t wait to see your reaction when we arrive.”
“Why? What’s so special about it?” I press.
“Let’s just say that I built it with my future wife in mind,” he explains, his gaze lingering on me.
I raise an eyebrow in response. “Future wife? You’re getting ahead of yourself.”
He chuckles and gazes at me with affection. “I have no doubt that you will become my wife, my female, my everything…”
“I might be persuaded…” I tease, though a smile tugs at the corners of my lips.
“Then let me start persuading you,” he says with determination.
With a swift, fluid motion, he tosses aside the flimsy scraps of fabric, exposing every inch of my bare skin to his intense gaze.
It suddenly hits me like a wave crashing against the shore.
I am completely and utterly naked.
In front of a man.
But instead of feeling vulnerable or embarrassed, I find myself unable to look away as he hungrily takes in my body.
My arms fall back behind me as I lean on my elbows, my legs parted slightly to give him an unobstructed view. He looms over me, his touch no longer present but his eyes blazing with desire.
His piercing blue gaze meets mine for a moment before slowly trailing down my neck and over my breasts. My stomach tightens at the raw intensity in his gaze. Slowly, it travels lower, skimming over my curves until it reaches the apex of my thighs.
A low hum builds inside of me, and I fight the urge to squirm under his unwavering stare. But I remain still, unable to tear my eyes away from him.
He swallows audibly, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down as his focus becomes fixated on that intimate place between my legs. A surge of moisture floods through me, pooling between my thighs and trickling down my inner leg.
I gasp in shock at the sudden sensation.
“Mine, I…” I start, about to find an excuse for it.
“Shh,” he murmurs, pressing a finger to my lips. I hold my breath as his hand hovers over my most intimate area. “May I?”
I give a sharp nod, my eyes on his.
His touch is both hesitant and reverent as he traces the seam of my sex with one finger. A shudder runs through my entire body, reacting to the contrasting sensations of heat and cold.
“So beautiful. Your pussy is just like the rest of you. Perfection.”
“P-pussy?” I repeat, the word unfamiliar.
“This pretty little thing that’s mine and only mine—that will ever be mine,” he rasps.
“Yes,” I agree, my voice throatier than ever before. “Only yours.”
He’s raptly staring between my legs, intently studying that secret place that’s now weeping for him.
“Have you ever touched yourself here?” he asks, his voice low and husky.
I shake my head, feeling embarrassed at the question. “Only when I…wash myself,” I admit in a whisper.
He smiles knowingly, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “I bet even then you aren’t as wet,” he says as he coats his finger with my moisture.
My cheeks flush with heat as he continues to explore, his movements firm yet gentle. “You’re so damn wet,” he remarks, his voice filled with both surprise and satisfaction. “Soaking my entire hand.”
But just when I think things couldn’t get any more scandalous, he shocks me further by lifting his finger to his lips and sucking it into his mouth. My jaw drops open in disbelief. Did he just…
His eyes snap closed as he releases a low moan, savoring every drop of moisture from his finger with such indulgence that his chest vibrates with pleasure.
My breath catches in my throat, completely scandalized by his bold actions. “W-what?” I stammer, my words barely audible.
But instead of answering, he gives me a devilish grin and leans in closer, his eyes sparkling with mischief. My heart pounds in my chest as his hand slides between my thighs, teasingly tracing the outline of my folds.
“I knew you’d be delicious, tiny darling,” he murmurs, his hot breath tickling my ear. “But I never realized it would be this good.” He swipes his finger between my folds again, bringing that wetness to his mouth. “Fuck…” His voice is low and husky as he smacks his lips together, savoring the taste of me.
A flush rises to my cheeks as I watch him with a mix of shock and desire. The memory of his own taste, sweet and intoxicating, reminds me that this is not entirely out of the ordinary. Perhaps it’s because we love each other and find each other irresistibly attractive that naturally we are drawn to one another’s flavors. It’s just biology, right?
But as he continues to touch me, his fingers dancing lightly over my skin, I find myself squirming and yearning for more. His touch ignites a fire within me, a burning need that intensifies with each passing second.
“Stay still,” he commands suddenly, and before I know it, my body obeys him without question. “I’ll give you everything you want, tiny darling. And everything you never knew you needed.”
My heart races at the promise in his words, and an urgent electricity courses through me. Despite staying perfectly still on the outside, my insides are pulsing with anticipation for what he has in store for me.
“You’ve never had an orgasm, have you?” His tone is both teasing and knowing.
“An orgasm?” I echo, my frown deepening. “What do you mean?”
“Pleasure,” he murmurs, his finger tapping against a small spot between my legs. I gasp in surprise, unsure of how to react.
He continues, his voice low and seductive, “If I touch you here, do you feel pleasure?”
My body betrays me, instinctively arching toward his touch. “I…I don’t know,” I admit, biting my lip.
“That’s because you’ve never experienced it before.” His lips curl into a wicked grin. “But don’t worry, this is just the beginning.”
Without warning, his hand is between my legs again and he resumes his ministrations. Every touch feels like fire on my skin, driving me mad with desire. He circles around that sensitive spot for what feels like an eternity before moving lower and coating his fingers in my wetness.
I can barely think straight anymore as he expertly manipulates me, sending jolts of pleasure through my body. But just as I feel myself getting lost in the sensations, a fleeting thought crosses my mind—one that reminds me that this is all new to me and begs the question: what exactly am I getting myself into?
“H-how do you know that?” I blurt out. “How do you know where to touch me?” The venom in my voice is evident. Perhaps I should just shut up and let him continue to do his thing since he already does it so well. But I cannot stop my brain from wondering how he knows this and where he learned it.
He tilts his head to the side, his gaze heavy with desire as he watches me. His expression is languid, but there’s a fiery intensity in his eyes that sends shivers down my spine.
“I prepared. For you,” he says in a deep, seductive tone.
My heart races at his words, anticipation building within me.
“And how exactly did you prepare?” I ask, breathless.
“I read a lot,” he murmurs, sliding his hands under my naked buttocks and lifting my hips closer to his face. My skin tingles at his touch, and I can feel myself growing wet with need.
He presses his face against my sex, inhaling my scent deeply. “I read all the ways I could pleasure you. With my fingers, with my tongue…” And to prove his words, he leans forward and swipes his tongue over my sensitive flesh.
The sensation is so unexpected, so overwhelming that I let out a loud cry of pleasure.
He chuckles, the warm breath from his mouth causing me to shiver with delight.
“But that was just the theoretical side. Let’s see how I do in practice.”
With that, he wraps his lips around my pleasure bud, sucking it into his mouth. The combination of pressure and suction sends waves of pleasure through me, rendering me completely lost in the moment. My mind goes blank as I give in to the intense sensations brought on by his touch.
“Exquisite,” he purrs against me. “You taste so damn good, I could spend an eternity feasting on you.”
I gasp and dig my heels into the ground as I grab onto his hair, pulling hard. Yes, an eternity sounds rather good so long as he keeps doing that to me.
He doesn’t seem to mind when I tug too hard onto his hair. In fact, my reaction only spurs him further as he swirls his tongue around my bud before sucking on it again, this time putting more pressure on it.
His fingers dig in the flesh of my buttocks as he holds on to me tightly.
Using his teeth, he nibbles on my bud, scraping it lightly at first before biting so hard on it I jump up and release a high-pitched scream.
His chuckle reverberates against me as he slowly licks me again to make up for that brief moment of pain. Yet as much as it surprised me when it happened, the bite of pain only served to intensify the pleasure as he teases me with his tongue.
But just as some type of pressure builds inside of me, he stops. He gazes up at me, a mischievous smile on his face.
“How am I doing so far?” He has the gall to ask me when I’m so close to the precipice I can almost feel it. I may not logically recognize this feeling I’m seeking, but on a primal level my body seems to know.
And it wants more.
“Don’t you dare stop!” I cry out and tighten my hold on his hair.
He rewards me with a small bite against my inner thigh before slowly—far too slow for my liking—going back up between my legs.
“May I take your blood?” he murmurs, his mouth so close to where I want him.
“Yes, yes. Just…” Do something!
He waits a second before he swipes the flat of his tongue all over my sex, from the bottom up. As he reaches my pubic bone, he stops. His teeth scrape the sensitive skin at the top of my sex before moving slightly lower right atop my bud.
Sharp teeth penetrate my flesh. The sensation is unlike any other. Both pain and pleasure shoot through me in competing waves, and as blood drips out of the puncture wounds and into his waiting mouth, a strange euphoria claims my limbs.
I’m barely aware as my arms become slack by my side, my chest rising and falling as I labor to breathe.
He drinks deeply, and as the wounds heal, his attention returns to my bud, now drenched in a mix of blood, moisture, and his saliva.
Oddly enough, the thought of it makes me even wetter, but I suppose I’ll have time to question that later.
Still holding on to me, he moves one hand to my hip. His other hand joins his mouth between my legs as he trails his fingers through my wetness while his tongue continues to lap at me.
Then suddenly, one finger is there. At my entrance. He circles it around the small hole before pushing it slightly inside.
It’s a tight fit as he barely squeezes it halfway in. But the feel of him inside me sends a wave of shock through me.
I let out a small moan, followed by some incoherent sounds that might have been something along the lines of, “harder.”
“You’re so tight, tiny darling. So damn tight…” he groans. “I can’t wait to fuck you properly, to feel you strangle my cock.”
Any other time, his words would have scandalized me. Now they just whet my desire even more.
At first, he slowly thrusts his finger inside and withdraws it, and it dawns on me that he’s simulating the act of mating.
The faster he moves, the easier it is for his finger to slip in and out of me.
The friction is delicious, and combined with that wicked mouth of his…
By the Source! Now I know why females aren’t allowed to be alone with males. If they knew about this, there would not be a chaste deity in Aperion!
If just one finger of his can drive me so crazy, I cannot imagine how it will be when he uses his other thing on me, that much, much bigger thing.
Oh my! He will truly break me. But the prospect of it only makes me giddier and strangely…wetter.
“Fuck, Minnie. You’re doing so well, tiny darling.”
“Something is happening,” I say in between moans. “There is something. I don’t…” I grab onto his hair again and press his face closer to me, needing more pressure.
“Use me. Use my mouth to get what you need.”
Hooking my legs over his shoulders, I undulate my hips up and down, then side to side, creating a rhythm to the way his mouth touches that pleasure spot.
He flicks his tongue in and out, keeping up with my speed. And as the pressure builds and builds, I can only go faster, cling to him harder.
My back suddenly arches and my muscles become stiff as a loud sound slips past my lips.
My eyes are wide open, my head thrown back. Everything is so much clearer around me. I can feel and hear every little pulsation in the environment.
But that spot. Right where he’s now kissing me. It’s pulsing with heat and something else, something that…
I writhe again as another wave crashes into me, this time ten times stronger, so much so that an icy wind sweeps through the small enclosure, freezing everything around us.
I cannot move or control my abilities as I watch ice covering every single thing around.
My body is hot, but all around me it’s icy cold.
Seconds after, or perhaps an eternity, I finally manage to regulate my breathing.
So that was what he meant by pleasure. And here I thought kissing was the best thing ever, followed closely by chocolate donuts. But this? No donut can trump this.
Perhaps instead of daily donuts, I should ask him to give me one of these orgasms. Yes, that sounds perfect.
I sigh happily as I stretch my arms, feeling more invigorated than ever.
My energy points are all wide open, allowing all my spiritual energy to flow with more ease than ever before. Raw power travels through my veins, and for the first time in my life, I feel rather…invincible.
“That was…” I can’t even express into words what that did to me, both as a female and as a goddess. It’s almost as if I’ve been asleep all my life until now, and that pleasure he gave me opened a secret door inside of me, letting out some type of mystical power.
“I think you passed your practical exam with floating colors, Mine. I only have one question. When can we do this again?”
Please say now , I think to myself.
I don’t even know if it’s possible to experience that again so soon, but I’m willing to try. The build-up to the explosion itself was quite yummy too, and since he also finds me yummy, well, isn’t that a win-win?
I frown. Why is he not answering me?
I gaze down at him.
Damn it! I can only see a thick sheet of ice.
“Mine?” I cry out, pulling him from between my legs.
Oh no! He’s frozen, too.