CHAPTER EIGHTEEN #2
“It’s not wrong to believe in people. Someday someone will come along who will deserve your trust, who will earn it,” I replied in a serious voice. “Don’t let the Francescas and the Rodericks of the galaxy take that possibility away from you. Because that’s when they truly win.”
Asterin gave me a smile, but the thin, wan expression didn’t reach her eyes, and hurt rippled off her and twinged my telempathy. She turned and stared back out over the garden again. I didn’t say anything else. I just stood there with her until the moon finally disappeared behind some clouds.
Eventually, Asterin muttered that she was tired and going inside, but she made no move to actually leave the walkway. I bade her good night and left my friend to her brooding.
Words were all well and good, but it would take Asterin a while to recover from Roderick’s betrayal.
Not just his plan to kill us tonight but all the other ways and times he had betrayed her over the years without her even realizing it.
Asterin would probably examine everything Roderick had ever said and done in a new light, just as I had when I’d realized Francesca was drugging me.
I stepped into the guest wing and made my way to the luxurious suite I was sharing with Vesper.
She was standing by a table, swiping through the files Jeffrey had given Siya and Rigel.
A couple of gossipcast feeds also flickered over the table, showing footage of Roderick’s transport burning at the bottom of the chasm.
“How is Asterin?” Vesper asked.
I shrugged. “I hope I left her a little better than before, but it’s hard to tell. Asterin doesn’t wear her heart on her sleeve.”
Vesper arched an eyebrow. “Sounds like someone else I know.”
I snorted and then wished I hadn’t, since the motion made my entire body ache. As much as I wanted to fall face-first on the floor and lie there for a week, I was a dirty, sweaty mess, so I headed into the bathroom to take a shower. Vesper followed me.
Despite being healed, I was still moving gingerly. So was Vesper, and together we helped each other out of our ruined clothes. I stuffed the garments into a recycler in the corner, and then Vesper held out her hand and drew me into the shower.
Like everything else at the Collier estate, the shower was the epitome of luxury, with jets that spewed water in all directions.
I turned on the water and let it beat down on my back in a hard, warm spray.
I quickly soaped up my hair and body, then let the soothing streams of water rinse away the dirt, grime, and blood of the maze. Vesper did the same thing.
When we were finished, we donned plush green robes and went into the bedroom. I lay down on the bed, and Vesper curled up beside me, resting her head on my chest. I wrapped my arm around her, and we lay there for a long time, just soaking up the quiet solace of each other’s presence.
“I knew you were injured,” Vesper said in a low voice. “I felt it through the bond. But I had no idea about the lava until I opened your door in my mindscape and astrally projected myself into the maze. Blasted lava.” She snarled the last few words like they were a vile curse.
“Yes, we do have a rather bad and alarming habit of being around lava,” I quipped. “We definitely need to work on that part of our bond.”
Vesper laughed, then shivered against my body. “I came so close to losing you tonight, Kyr.”
“You will never lose me,” I vowed, tightening my grip on her.
Vesper snuggled closer and buried her face in my neck. Her warm breath tickled my skin, and my body responded to her the way it always did. Wanting, aching, yearning for more.
I smoothed my hand down her hair, which was still damp from the shower.
Vesper raised her head, and we stared at each other.
The silver flecks in her dark blue eyes were brighter and more luminous than stars in a midnight sky, and I could have happily spent the rest of my life studying how they flickered, flashed, and flared with her moods and emotions.
I dipped my head and brushed my lips against hers. Vesper hummed with pleasure, cupped my face in her hands, and deepened the kiss.
The first touch of her tongue against mine was like a match igniting everything inside me, and my inner monster roared with hunger. I growled, embraced that hunger, and pulled Vesper even closer so that she was straddling me. Fire boiled up in my veins, and I was already hard and aching for her.
Vesper rocked against me, both of us wearing only our robes. Her slick heat brushed up against my dick, which stiffened that much more.
I groaned. “If you keep that up, this isn’t going to last very long.”
Vesper sat back and tugged the belt loose on my robe. She tossed one half of the garment aside, then the other, then let out a low whistle of appreciation. My dick stood at attention, and the heat of her gaze scorched me just as much as her touch did.
“Oh, I think I can make it last a good long while,” Vesper purred.
She gave me a mischievous smile, then wiggled down and put her mouth on me.
I sucked in a breath, every muscle in my body clenching. My hips bucked up off the bed, and my hands fisted in the blankets.
Vesper worked me with her lips, tongue, and fingers. Fast, then slow. Soft, then hard. Each lick, suck, and caress made arrows of pleasure zing through my body, like I was a machine and every single part of me was being jolted back to life.
Nothing had ever felt so bloody good.
Those electric arrows merged together, coalescing into white-hot heat that was more intense than anything I’d experienced in the Magma biodome. My toes curled, stars flashed in my eyes, and I jerked against her hand, finding my release.
Vesper kept stroking me the whole time, and the velvety ribbon of her in my mind hummed with pleasure, matching the zing of electricity still sparking and crackling through my own body.