Chapter 18
Portarius
“Okay, let me make sure I understand everything you're saying.”
She moves from my lap, turning to face me in the lukewarm bath water. I've gently washed her body as I explained all that bonding would entail, and what that would mean to her.
“You think we are bonded, like fated mates. That I'm your soul mate? And that everyone else can see this connection we have, which is why everyone kept talking about it yesterday.”
“Yes.”
“So if we bond, then the whole point is that we share everything, our souls share each other.
But that also means because you're a Gatekeeper and you already share yourself with the Gate, a.k.a the black lake outside your house that eats baddies, heals you, and spawns horses.” Her hands fly wildly by my head as I hold her steady, bath water flinging off the tips of her fingers.
“And because the Gate and you are connected, if we bond, then me, you, and the Gate will be connected, and then the Gate can heal me because I will then also become part Gatekeeper. Is that right?” Catching both her wrists, I bring them to my chest, soothing myself but also restraining them.
I am not fond of eye gouging, and she has come awfully close in the few minutes it's taken her to relay everything.
“I do not know what a baddie is? But otherwise yes. You will become a female Gatekeeper.”
I feel anxious that she knows everything now. I've talked for the last hour of bonding and what that would mean, but she still has not mentioned the one part that makes me uneasy. Eternity.
“How do you know there's not another female Gatekeeper out there looking for you? She would be pissed to find out you're already bonded?” She looks into the bath as she talks, dragging her hands through the water.
“There are only male Gatekeepers. A female is only created through bonding. They are a perfect match for each other. No one will ever capture their soul like their bonded will. My mother became a Gatekeeper after she bonded with my father. My siblings are all male. You will be the first female to enter our family in over one thousand years. If you choose to, that is?” I reach for her, lifting her chin to look at me, her gaze unveiling restless depths.
“There will never be another because I would have you.”
“And what if I say no?” She whispers, her eyes filling with unshed tears.
“Then I will live my life knowing these days with you were the best of my life.
That I found the other half of me on a warm summer's day, and she was fierce and determined. I will start each day with a smile knowing I was chosen to be yours and that we were blessed to spend your final days together … And at night I will think of how you allowed me to touch your body.” I pull her closer to me so her legs straddle my hips.
“The way your cunt would press against my cock. I will stroke myself to these thoughts and sleep peacefully knowing you chose the path that was right for you. This may be Hell, Emmie, but you are my Heaven, and every day with you has been a gift.”
Her arms wrap around mine, her breasts pressed against my chest. Her fragile form falling forward as I raise my knees so every part of her that can be touching me, is.
“What if I say yes?” she whispers into the crook of my neck.
“Then we return home, and under the moon flames we will bond until the red sun rises. Our souls will merge, and the piece that you feel is missing deep down in your core will be filled, and we will be complete.” I drag my fingers up and down her spine. Her body relaxing into mine. “We will be one.”
I almost cease breathing. Waiting for her answer to a question that will alter the trajectory of my existence.
“We should go home tomorrow. Will Equina be ready to travel?” A muffled snort and a loud neigh can be heard through the wall. My chest constricting at the dismissal as Emmie sits back, a wide eyed look on her face.
“How did she hear me?” She gasps. Swallowing back the lump residing in my throat, I force the words from my mouth.
“Equina is from the Gate. She is a part of us. Well, of me, but soon she will be a part of us. She knows everything just as the Gate does.” I explain. “We are all connected.”
“It's going to take me a second to connect all the dots here, but I think I'm starting to understand,” she says, smiling up at me.
“Would mouth kisses help?”
I have been thinking about them as we have talked, knowing she must still try on her new clothes, but also wondering if mouth kisses can be done anywhere or if they are limited to the bath or a bed.
Perhaps they will persuade her towards our eternity if they are as enjoyable for her as they are for me.
“You can just call them kisses. You don't need to say mouth.” She tries to hide her smile behind her hand, but her eyes show the laughter she is trying to stifle. “It would be weird if you kissed my hand and said hand kisses.”
Taking her hand, I kiss the back of it, then the palm, looking at her in earnest as she smiles at me.
“Have I made correct hand kisses?”
“You can kiss a hand, but you don't, well, not often. Most of the time, people just kiss on the mouth,” she says, puckering her lips, bringing my attention to their plumpness. “But we just say a kiss for one, or kisses for two, and then kissing for a long one.”
I bring the back of her hand to my mouth, giving a single kiss to it as she watches.
“Where are the other places I may kiss? I want to learn them all.”
I lift her whole body in the air, kissing her knee that is now level with my face.
“Knee kisses?” I question, glancing up at her as I hold her in the air. She shakes her head at me, yet her breaths have become uneven. Interesting that her body responds despite her denial.
“Thigh kisses?” I question, pulling back as she shakes her head again.
“We usually just kiss on the mouth.” She is concealing something from me, for what purpose I do not know. Do these other places not make her feel good? What is the reason behind her hesitancy?
Mouth kisses feel like a luxury. Her tongue pressing against mine as I run my hands over her damp skin.
My cock is hard, its head proudly sitting above the water.
I'm grateful my spina has not appeared yet.
I want to drag this feeling out as long as I can.
I'm not ready to lower her back into the water, even though it would be ecstasy to have her rub against me.
Her hand reaches out, grabbing onto the top of my braids to steady herself.
My eyes are forced to look at her forbidden centre, and I look up at her to see her heavy lidded gaze. Her pupils blown wide with desire.
“Cunt kisses?” I growl.
She whimpers as the words leave my mouth, and I begin a slow path of kisses up her thigh, bringing her apex closer and closer, until the tip of my nose presses against her.
A deep musk and honey smell envelopes me, my mouth watering at the notion of tasting her like this.
Her fingers grip harder into my hair as I rest her legs over my shoulders.
My hands dig into her plush ass. My thumbs reaching under to pull her cunt open, as I boldly press my nose into her, breathing her in while dragging my extended tongue through her lips.
My mouth and tongue explore her, feverishly licking and sucking on everything until I come across the place of no resistance.
I dig my tongue deeper inside her, needing to consume her as her cries echo around the room, her hips fervently rocking against my face.
I can feel my spina emerge from the tip of my cock, trying to find a womb to enter.
It will not find one today, not with my mouth on her cunt.
I push my tongue deeper inside her until I hit another entrance, flicking against it to open for me.
Instinct tells me this is where my spina will go to breed her.
Locking in place when it pushes into her womb.
Her grip on my hair tightens as my nose rubs against a small nub near the top of her cunt.
Her body shakes in my arms. Her legs tightening around my head as her cries of pleasure scream out as she peaks, and comes apart on my tongue.
My spina has bloomed, sending pulsing waves of seed over my stomach and chest as her body folds over my head.
Her breathing heavy, as her body collapses against mine.
Gently, I lower her until she's lying pressed against my chest. She looks exhausted. Perhaps I have pushed her too far? I need to remember to offer her some food and drink to replenish her when we engage in this activity, whatever this is.
“Emmie, what do you call this? Is this consummation? I am aware of the word and its nature, but I do not believe it applies to what we have done.”
She barks out a laugh, pushing off my chest, dragging a finger through my seed.
“That was not consummation, you're right.
That was foreplay. It's what you do before you have sex.” She peers at me through her lashes, her cheeks tinted in a soft pink.
“What you did just then is called going down on me, and I can go down on you, too.
We can explore each other's bodies to make us both feel good.” We both look down to see my spina disappear into the tip of my still hard cock.
“I can put my mouth on your cock. Run my tongue over you and see what you taste like.”
She brings the finger that is covered in my seed to her mouth, rubbing it against her bottom lip before sucking it clean, the carnal need to demand she go down on me almost overpowering, but I see the stab of pain flicker across her expression.
And as fast as I can move, I have her wrapped in a drying cloth, safe in my arms. Concentrating as each drop of the tincture falls into her parted lips.
Today we rest. Tomorrow we go home, and if fate allows, she will accept my bonding.