Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
Augustine had finished dinner and stepped into the front yard before getting ready for bed. The night was bracing; the fragrance of jasmine filled the air, and the full moon illuminated her garden with its silver light.
Seated on a bench, she wandered in thought about eternity, about A’aru in its sunless days, and about her own destiny, bound by a Silver Thread.
Without warning or notice, she knew: the Shadows were there.
Her Thread was still silver, so there was no immediate threat, yet there was a presence of which she was acutely aware.
“What is it you want?” she asked, struggling to maintain her composure. She didn’t expect an answer, but she got one.
A distorted voice, or perhaps hundreds of voices in unison, answered, “We want you to acknowledge us.”
“You tried to kill me, why do you haunt me like this? Is it because I can see the A’aruin? Does that threaten you?”
“We do not kill… we do not haunt. Give us your permission… to follow you…”
Augustine grew afraid. She remembered those old movies where the protagonist invited the vampire into her house without knowing she had signed her own death warrant.
“Go back to your dimension immediately. I want nothing to do with you,” she said firmly.
Surprisingly, the Shadows retreated at her command and vanished. Augustine’s mouth was dry and her pulse was racing. What had just happened? She tried to organize her ideas, but no matter how much she thought about it, it made no sense.
Busy or not, she needed Alderian by her side. Three tugs on the Silver Thread were enough to make him come to her.
“Augustine?” he asked, surprised.
She was even more startled to find him wearing only his pants, completely soaked and shirtless. Alderian realized his state and offered a hurried apology. “I was stepping out of the river when you called me. I didn’t have time to dress, since I came immediately…”
Augustine didn’t seem to notice too much and hurried to tell him what had happened. Alderian sat by her side, but immediately stood up, restless.
“You say they spoke to you? You heard their voices?”
Augustine nodded, following his movements as he paced the garden.
“That is impossible… but nothing seems impossible at this point, not with your anomaly turning the world upside down,” he said. “I’d never heard that it was even possible to have coherent communication with the Shadows.”
“Why would they follow me? Although they didn’t seem threatening this time—in fact, as you can see, my Thread didn’t change color.”
“Clearly there is something in you piquing their interest. I guess that when someone opens their senses to other dimensions, they don’t do it only to the most luminous one, like A’aru…
You also attract the darkness. We must take extreme precautions.
If something like this happens again, call me immediately. Don’t handle it alone.”
“Fine, although Alderian… they obey me. I felt it before, when they took me with them… and I felt it again today. Those Shadows are subjugated to me… don’t you think I should try to experiment with that? And see what I might be capable of?”
“Absolutely not. Darkness is untamable. It’s like playing with fire: you don’t know what might happen, or how its ferocity can turn against you. No, Augustine, promise me that in this you won’t be the stubborn person you always are.”
Augustine accepted, knowing Alderian was right, but a place inside her still felt the call of the Shadows—their request claiming sovereignty—and that feeling wouldn’t leave her easily. Alderian moved away to enter the house when he suddenly pivoted back.
“By the way, there’s something that bothers me—”
“What?” Augustine seemed lost in her thoughts and barely looked at him.
“Tell me, are you so used to seeing semi-naked men that you don’t even blink when I’m like this?”
Standing before her, he gestured with open arms, showing his toned, bare torso with a defiant look and a seductive smile. His wet hair fell over his forehead; his pants, usually loose, clung to his muscular legs.
“You tell me something,” Augustine said, standing up and circling him without breaking eye contact. “Is it usual for you to walk around semi-naked in A’aru? Is it some kind of fashion?”
“Maybe it is… you’d be surprised to know how alluring I’m considered there,” Alderian replied, a smirk playing on his lips as he crossed his arms over his chest. Augustine noticed that his athletic forearms had clearly defined muscles, and she felt an irresistible desire to stroke them.
“Take me to my dreams. We need to talk,” Augustine said, sitting back down on the bench, crossing her legs, and looking at him with total seriousness.
Alderian, with a mix of curiosity and apprehension, leaned in and placed his index finger on her forehead. Immediately, they were out of the human plane.
Augustine grasped Alderian’s chin with her fingers, scrutinizing his attractive face with feline attention. They were inches apart, and she drew him toward her decisively.
“So you are alluring in A’aru?” Augustine said in a hushed voice. “I shall teach you basic manners so you don’t forget who you belong to.”
Augustine didn’t wait for a response and pulled his face toward hers. Without haste, she inhaled his breath, her lips grazing his. Alderian smiled; he wanted to play that game.
He stroked her lips with his mouth temptingly, parting them gently to make his way in. Augustine’s breathing sped up imperceptibly, and he firmly introduced his tongue.
Damn! He kisses so well, Augustine thought, her head growing cloudy.
Alderian didn’t give an inch. His kiss was demanding, and she could barely breathe.
He took the hand still cupping his face and, without interrupting the kiss, guided it toward his pectorals, forcing her to touch him.
She was startled, though she masked it well.
Her fingers traced the firmness of his body, the smoothness and heat of his still-damp skin.
Without letting go of her hand, Alderian directed the caress toward his abdominals.
She yearned to venture lower, to explore Alderian’s body beneath his wet pants. Augustine wondered if Alderian’s anatomy was the same as a human man’s.
“I like it when you teach me manners,” Alderian said in a raspy voice, his gray eyes looking at her with anticipation. “I have a lot to learn, as you can see...”
His seductive smile suggested quite the opposite.
“Take me somewhere more private. Being in the yard of my house, even if it’s a dream, feels weird,” Augustine said.
“I would be glad to, but you know? This is your dream. You choose the setting, not me. Take me wherever you wish. I’ll follow you.”
Augustine smiled and, in a second, they were in a different place.
They stood in a vast chamber with a majestic and ancient air.
A wide window let in a silver light, while outside a liquid sky was visible, as if there were an aurora borealis.
A delicate, white vanity with a large mirror reflected the image of both.
Alderian looked around, visibly shaken. “Is this where you want us to be?” he asked, his voice sounding strangely shocked.
“Do you like the setting I created for us?”
Alderian approached abruptly, silent. The kiss he started differed from before: feral, aggressive, urgent. All her muscles tensed with excitement, knowing that Alderian was finally losing his self-control.
His black wings unfurled. She’d only had the chance to look at them a few times, and she didn’t expect to see them appear, but he didn’t seem to notice.
Augustine pulled back slightly from the kiss to admire him, holding her breath: his perfect face, his white hair, and those wings that gave him a disturbingly dangerous look.
Alderian, however, was impatient to resume the embrace.
He pulled her firmly against him, pressing his pelvis to hers, and stroking her back with his large hands while he buried his face in her hair, inhaling deeply and filling himself with her scent.
A shiver raced down her spine as Alderian kissed her neck.
She arched her head back, unable to hold back a soft groan of pleasure that made Alderian shudder.
Augustine felt a firm pressure against her pelvis, a potent erection beneath Alderian’s thin pants that stimulated her with a rhythmic friction.
Alderian moved his hands to her buttocks, squeezing them firmly and pressing his pelvis even closer.
Augustine tangled her fingers in his still-damp hair, intoxicated by the fresh scent emanating from his skin.
“Forgive me, Augustine… This time I won’t be able to hold back,” Alderian said in a raspy voice loaded with desire, while he slowly lowered the straps of her dress. “If you want me to stop, say it now.”
Augustine shed the thin dress in response, and Alderian stared at her with almost animal desire.
“You are so beautiful…”
He sat on the edge of the bed and drew her toward him, delighting in the sight of her.
His hands roamed softly over her body—first her waist, her thighs, then her breasts, tugging at her nipples with firmness.
Augustine panted slightly, holding back a groan amidst satisfied sighs.
Alderian’s hands were insatiable, roaming over her entire body.
The contact of his mouth on her skin made her groan while he licked and sucked her breast with greed.
Her wetness spread between her thighs, her body pulsing with the urgent desire to feel him inside her.
She knew what she craved; she needed to satisfy both her curiosity and her hunger for him. She knelt in front of Alderian and invited him to take off his pants, the only garment he was still wearing. Augustine was thrilled when she finally faced his nakedness.
“Were you worried?” Alderian looked at her with a glint of amusement in his gaze.
Augustine didn’t answer. She simply opened her mouth and took his member inside, moaning with satisfaction. Alderian closed his eyes and arched with pleasure, his wings bristling slightly. She felt voracious, finding a guilty pleasure in seeing how she could bend Alderian’s firm will.
Augustine began to lick and devour the rest of his body: his thighs, his abdomen, his unfathomable beauty, and his ancient scars. She was ecstatic with the taste and aroma of this creature who, by luck or destiny, turned out to be tethered only to her.
“You are mine,” Augustine said, looking him in the eyes.
Alderian hauled her toward him abruptly, sucking her breasts with exacting demand while he held her firmly by the waist. The suction was so voracious it almost caused her pain.
“You are mine,” he said, looking at her dangerously. To Augustine, that idea also seemed irresistible.
Alderian forced her legs apart and pulled her onto him, penetrating her with a slow, deliberate heave while enveloping her with his wings.
Her whole body was full of him, sending jolts of electric pleasure through every inch of her.
Alderian began to move rhythmically, and Augustine lost her sense of self with each thrust as waves of pleasure rose through her entire body.
Yes, I can belong to him, Augustine thought as they surrendered to the climax with a profound moan. It excited her even more to witness him savoring the pleasure—pleasure because of her, desire for her.
Yes, she wanted to belong to him and be the only one who made him feel that way for all eternity.
“Look at me,” Alderian said after a moment. Augustine opened her eyes. “Come with me.”
He stood up and took her by the hand. Augustine followed him, confused, still flushed from the orgasm she had had seconds ago.
However, Alderian was serious and determined.
He placed her in front of the vanity mirror, where she could see the reflection of her naked body.
She felt modest, but also fascinated by Alderian’s captivating gaze through the mirror behind her.
Alderian kissed her shoulders and stroked her arms, his eyes fixed on her. Augustine contemplated her reflection and recognized a woman who was distinct, yet similar to herself. She was an A’aruin.
Augustine touched her own face, incredulous. “Why do I look like this?”
“It makes little sense, yet here you are, Aldana. You gave yourself to me as Augustine, but when I opened my wings, it was you in my arms,” Alderian said, looking at her with burning fervor. “Don’t you recognize where we are?”
Augustine scanned their surroundings. “We are in my room.”
“Yes, but it is your chamber in A’aru—in the palace we have shared for centuries, even if we never lived together.”
Alderian embraced her with desperate longing, a stifled sob escaping him. His sudden vulnerability took her by surprise.
“Do you want to continue?” Alderian asked, his voice strained. His whisper against her ear made her shudder. “Do you want to be mine in this form? We can stop if you feel—”
Augustine cut him off, kissing him tenderly before he could even finish his sentence.