CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
GISELLA
Minette waited at the doorway where we arrived at the house, her eyes following Dolion’s loping gait as he disappeared into the garden as she addressed us.
“Madame, I can draw you a bath?—”
That was as far as she got before Sebastian waved her away.
“I’ll take care of Gisella myself, Minette.” He fixed her with a steady eye when she looked like she might object. “Take the night off. Charleton, see that she takes some time to herself. You behaved admirably today.” A flush crept up my maid’s cheeks, no doubt remembering her outburst toward him.
“Please, can you send up some food?” I called as Sebastian grasped my hand, towing me up the stairs and along the hall.
I didn’t get to hear Charleton’s reply before Sebastian led me into a room and closed the door behind us. The door closed with the soft thunk of a dual lock. I took two steps inside before I halted.
Blacks and grays decorated most of the surfaces, enhanced with deep blues that formed geometric frames around each fresco. A mountain scene occupied an entire wall. Small ferns and twisted, stunted trees framed the painting where it overlooked a great dip into a valley, the opposing peaks far distant. The vista was so large I felt as though I might step into it and fall off a mountain ledge to disappear into the mist below.
Where is this?”
“Japan.”
“Oh. But…this isn’t my room.”
It isn’t your room, either.
At least, not the one we woke in together.
“No, it isn’t. Not in the sense you mean.” His lips grazed my nape. Every hair there stood on end at the simple, teasing gesture. He laughed softly. “But it’s what you wanted.”
“Yes,” I whispered, turning in a half-circle.
A dark-wood four-poster bed sat against one wall, netting caught up on all sides. Gold and silver circular patterns decorated a silky cover. I returned to focus on him, watching as he unbuttoned his shirt.
Sebastian let it hang open, raking a hand through his hair. Pale, ridged flesh and hard muscle displayed in the shadows beneath the ends of his shirt.
“You need a bath.” He looked down, but at me, not himself. “And you’re flaking all over my carpet.”
“I’m so sorry,” I blurted.
His gaze followed me as I attempted to retreat to the hall we’d come from. Yes, I had craved him, but this– this room, this place seemed far more intimate and imposing, as though he had thrown off the lordly mantle and given me a true glimpse of who he was beneath.
I was nowhere near ready for this.
“Gella—” He reached for me.
I backed away, finding the door with both hands at my back. “I can clean up in my own room?—”
“No.” He caught my wrist, drawing me back across the room to a flat section of mahogany paneled wall next to the bed. Kicking his boot into the side unceremoniously, Sebastian paused. A crease appeared, a vertical line separating the roof and floor.
He tugged it open and led me down into a lowered, tiled area with a sunken small pool that took up most of the room. The walls looked rough, as though they were hewn from solid rock. I realized with a start that we were below the castle, inside the rock strata.
Wide paving framed the water, the edges curling gently. Steaming water poured from a twisted face in the wall, not so different from Dolion's grotesque day mask. I half expected the bodiless figure to talk to me, but it remained still. Wall sconces, not as decorative as the ones in the plush halls of his home, flickered a golden light over the pool’s bluish-green surface.
“It’s an underground water system.” Sebastian grabbed a bag of something scented like berries and threw a handful of crystals into the water. “Dolion, Charleton and I made the most of it when we built the place. My gargoyle brought rock from the ground itself, a magical experience to watch. The rest, Charleton and I carted across the continent from one end to the other to create something that looked like home.” His mouth twisted. “The place of respite seemed apt in the event we needed to hide away from the world,” he mused, lost in his own head and not in mine for once.
“I can understand that need,” I whispered.
Even on the continent, there were horrible stories of burnings and witch hunts that traveled from Salem across oceans. The new world of the Americas had a horrific history in their fledgling years. Both my monsters were right to prepare, even be afraid.
Crimsons and blues swirled around the pouring water from the herbs he had thrown in. Sebestian pulled a handful of what looked like sand from a different pocket in the bag and tossed that in too. The water bubbled for a moment, then settled.
“What is it?” I asked, surprised to see the pool filling at a surprising rate.
“Salts. The naturally heated water has some medicinal benefits. You’ll need its properties after what she—and I—have taken from you.” He dipped his head in apology, and I smiled, the muscles tight with lack of use. “Do you have a headache?”
I nodded and instantly regretted it. “Yes. But I thought it was from…everything that had happened.”
“Perhaps. And you haven't eaten anything.” He paused, eyeing me. “The swamp shots don’t count.”
“No.” I twitched my nose, one hand pressed to my stomach. More mud flaked over my fingers to decorate the clean tiles. I winced.
“I am…sorry, Gella.”
I held his dark gaze, losing myself in them for a moment, for eternity.
I would forgive you anything.
The corner of his mouth quirked. “Would you.” It wasn’t quite a statement, but it wasn’t a question, either.
He offered me his promise.
A shiver rioted over my skin, setting every never-ending trembling in anticipation. Pushing the feeling aside, I turned to him, clenching the material of my skirts in my hands.
“I thought you couldn't hear me. In my head,” I added in the event I was being obtuse. “I thought…after she took Amy’s effects away, I would be…alone.”
You have never been alone, Gella.
“I hear you.” His lips moved at the same time as he spoke within my mind, and I lost myself in those eyes again.
The pool filled at an alarming rate. Or maybe I’d stared at him for that long. Either way, my lapse wasn’t socially acceptable.
There’s only us here, Gella.
Sebastian pressed the top of the spout. The stone face shuddered as a section of stone closed over its mouth, cutting off the flow of water. He crossed back to me, hands on my shoulders, flicking under the collar of my dress.
“Turn around, Gella.” A glint in his eye told me not to argue with him.
I pivoted on my heel, telling myself I obeyed him because I wanted to be clean.
Such pretty lies you tell yourself.
He worked deft fingers on the tiny buttons that lined the back of my dress. Minette had fastened me into the garment an hour before the sun had risen. His breath hit the back of my neck. I clutched the material to my chest as he peeled the dress from my shoulders, hands sliding along my waist and tugging until I relinquished my hold and was left bare before him.
“Get in,” he growled against my ear.
Gripping his hand, I stepped out of my mud-puddled dress, ignoring the flakes that detached from my legs, and slid into the water.
Warmth soaked into me as I sank into the water up to my neck. The level rose when Sebastian slipped into the pool behind me. He stood without touching me for a moment, the warmth of the waters sinking bone deep. I sighed and tilted my head back, relishing the tension that soaked in whatever he had added to the bath. His fingers ran through my hair, removing pins with the same deft attention as he’d used to remove my dress.
I shivered at the thought of him so near me as my hair tumbled to my shoulders, curling in ringlets as they touched the water’s surface. One arm slipped around my waist, his feet tapping mine in an effort to make me raise my legs. Gripping his forearm tight, I gave my balance and security over to him as he drew my head back into the water.
Warmth suffused my scalp as I floated, trusting him with my safety. He rubbed his fingers in small circles, releasing stresses I hadn't known I was carrying. Was this place where he came to hide from the daylight, to sleep? Without him, it was naught but a watery, stone tomb.
I paused, his lonely existence so clear. He had traveled with a select few to remove himself from Amy, and yet, here she was, haunting us both. His companions—a servant and a friend by nature of their shared horrors, I suspected—moving with him away from all they knew.
Like me, they were orphans in an unknown land. They’d only been here a while longer.
I reached back to place a hand against his cold cheek, an ache seeping into my skin. “Just because you think you are dead does not mean you may forget to live.” I smiled, rare in these days. “We will hold the ball here.”
“We will?” His eyes surveyed me with amusement, a flickering storm brewing behind them.
“We will,” I said firmly, “and you will see there is nothing to be feared from whom you draw apart from.”
We will see about that, Gella.
He slipped around me tiny eddies, announcing his presence in the flickering light, pulling my languid body flush against him. Breath left my lips at having him so close, overloading my senses in a broken fashion. While my body knew I was pressed against him, my eyes sought the lie of the void that was his presence, cool even in the heat of the waters.
Sebastian dipped his head, his lips pressing against mine, his tongue seeking entrance. Every touch was lined with a sense of urgent need.
I could have lost you forever. To her, to my brutish lack of civility when you ran scared.
His hand cupped my head, deepening the kiss as I let him in, removing my ability to answer him, even inside my own mind. Our bodies tangled together, slick and easy, fitting one to the other as though opposing puzzle pieces. His tongue swirled against mine, bringing forth a vivid, obscene vision of his head between my legs slamming into me.
I moaned into his mouth, gushing hot against where his hard length nudged between my legs in my sensitive places.
Do you want me to do that?
Sebastian’s voice echoed mockingly in my head. He tugged my hair, drawing my chin back, his teeth grazing the place he’d taken from me before earning him a shiver of appreciation. He laughed against my throat, seeking to tease every inch of my flesh above the waterline.
Sebastian’s head disappeared beneath the surface, his mouth trailing kisses along my ribs and stomach. As his hands parted my knees, I gasped, the kisses turning to licks along my inner thighs. My mind caught up with his intent, a momentary war ensuing between my practical mind and my desire.
I gripped his arms, not caring if my nails bit into his skin, urging him up. He broke the surface, a quizzical look on his face.
“You can’t do that,” I spluttered, my face heating in a way that had nothing to do with the temperature of the water. His fingers stroked the places his mouth had been while I tried for a slice of logic that evaded me. “You’ll drown!”
His smile was sinful and sad at the same time. “I don’t need to breathe, Gella.”
“Oh.” My suspicion I hadn’t had time to ask about confirmed, I released my death grip that wasn’t stopping him anyway.
He slid along my body again, the water closing over his slicked hair.
This time his kisses were tiny nips, playful and light, sending a shimmer of sensation over me. When he reached my stomach, his tongue made a path downward, finding the tender flesh between my thighs.
Close your eyes. Feel everything.
My head tilted back, I let him hold me up, floating in an abyss of pleasure. Water swirled against the quick movement of his tongue and lips, entering my intimate places. Broad hands curled around the backs of my legs, holding me in place against his clever mouth. My moans echoed around the chamber, my own voice coming back to mock me, indecently wanton.
His teeth grazed my flesh, a sharp sting that drew a yelp from my lips, every nerve ending screaming, then his tongue pressed against the spot, numbing. A thin trickle of pink swirled around me, the flow cut off as his mouth fixed around the bite. His lips drawing from me brought a wave of pleasure crashing over me, until I could see and hear nothing, but feel what he did to my body like a distant observer.
He broke the surface, grasping me in relentless hands as he hauled me into his chest. His mouth found mine too fast, his kisses violent and bruising, his tongue dominating. I couldn't keep up with the speed of his movements, lost in a knot of motion as he roamed over me, around me. His hands slid over my rump, drawing me back, the tip of his cock pressing against my folds.
I grasped at the rough stone lip of the pool, the hardness beneath my hands mirroring the overwhelming strength of him as he slid inside me. I clung to the edge, willing myself to stay with him but when I stared into the void of his eyes I sank, and his arms kept me from drowning.
His fathomless gaze held me captive as he impaled me on his steel length. When he smiled, a harsh, twisted thing that left me moaning around him, sharp points extended past his garnet- stained lips. His thrusts inside me matched his earlier kisses, deep and ruining. I arched in his grasp, my screams slamming back at me until all I could hear was the pleasure that tore through me at his touch.
One hand wound around my body, sliding along my spine to caress the curve of my buttocks. His fingers slipped lower after a moment, and he stilled within me.
I opened my eyes, confused until he pressed his thick fingertip to my back entrance, pushing and testing. My breath caught, and I shook my head. “No?—”
Shhh, Gella. Let me explore you.
I swallowed back a sob as he pushed his finger inside me, the tip stretching my hole. Pleasure and pain swamped my awareness as he retreated and pushed, retreated and pushed, working his way in a little deeper with every press forward. I could barely breathe as he filled me in both ways. My body trembled between his cock and his finger where he played with me. I gripped his shoulders as he pressed his knuckles to my cheeks and stilled, letting me get used to the dual sensation.
Then he thrust up into me with both finger and cock.
I screamed, my body clamping down as I took pleasure from his invasion without the assistance of his bite.
His eyes lit with dark triumph, Sebastian held me still a moment longer then took over. His hips jerked into me, hand and cock working faster, claiming every part of my body.
By every sin you feel too good, Gella.
Sebastian ripped at me, his body pounding against my flesh as the water boiled around us. His roar filled the cavern as he took his own pleasure and emptied himself inside me. I clung to him, sobbing his name until the waters ceased roiling, and my heart slowed. Then he cupped my head in his hand, tilting me so I could stare up at him.
Nothing was said between us as he lowered his mouth to my throat.
When I opened my eyes, the stilled waters around us reflected pink beneath the flickering wall sconces.
Sebastian drew my head from the water with care. I sighed my protest, but he returned with a bottle of oil he rubbed into my hair, massaging his fingers deep into my scalp. I rested back against him, my shoulders sinking beneath the water once more. His eyes glowed with dark flame as they did each time he took from me. He offered sweet kisses against my tender lips as he worked, maintaining contact between us, always.
I allowed myself to enjoy the sensations that washed over me, letting him help me to forget for a time. Thick arms circled my waist, my head resting on his shoulder with no fear of dropping beneath the surface if I slept. I floated back against him, closing my eyes as I settled into his stolen warmth and let myself forget the stresses of our unusual day.
Once we left the sunken chamber, I would have a ball to plan and how to murder a sorceress. For now, I took the refuge my husband offered and cherished every moment before our world turned to hell.