Chapter 18 #3
I push the flight suit open and slide my hands beneath his undershirt, easing it up over the flat plane of his stomach. His skin is warm and taut, and I feel the muscles tense beneath my palms, then relax as I lower my mouth to the skin just above his navel.
I kiss my way down. Slowly. I have all the time in the world, and I intend to use it. Below his navel, the skin is pale and soft. I follow the groove of muscle that cuts over his hip, pressing my lips along the line of it, and his hips shift beneath me.
I am grateful, in this moment, that I never had my fangs restored. I get to know what it felt like to use my mouth for pleasure instead of defense. To press my lips against someone's skin without the risk of harm.
When I get to his member, I take a moment to admire it in the moonlight. I run my nose up his length, inhaling his scent. I breathe him in. His scent is concentrated here, salt and musk and warm skin, and I let it fill my lungs. My Cody.
When I take him into my mouth, the sound he makes is low and broken and entirely mine.
His thighs tense beneath my hands. His hips lift once, involuntarily, before he catches himself and drops back to the bedroll with a muttered apology that I ignore.
I explore him with slow, deliberate attention, learning the weight and texture of him against my tongue, finding the rhythm that makes his breathing fracture.
When I take him deeper, his hand finds my hair, not guiding, just holding on, and his fingers tremble against my scalp.
"A'Va— A'Vanti," Cody chokes out my name. As I reach the tip, I look up at Cody, wanting to see the look on his face. I am not disappointed.
A spiral of heat and pleasure tightens my belly as I begin suck, bobbing my head slowly up and down his cock. Feeling more confident, I try to take him deeper
"Oh my g— A'Vanti," Cody gasps. "Wait. Wait… I'm going to…"
I do not want to stop. I hiss my displeasure against him, and the vibration makes his whole body jolt.
"I want us together," he manages, and the desperation in his voice is the only argument that could persuade me.
He reaches for me, hands sliding beneath my arms, and pulls me up his body until we are face to face.
His eyes are dark and dazed, his chest heaving, and I have never seen anything more satisfying than the expression on his face.
"My turn," he says, and rolls us so that I am beneath him.
He does not waste time. He strips the remaining clothing from my body with efficient, steady hands, pressing his mouth to each new expanse of skin as it's revealed.
He kisses my stomach, the curve of my waist, the crease of my hip.
Then he settles between my thighs and lowers his head, and the first press of his tongue draws a sound from me that I could not have contained if I wanted to.
He is patient. Thorough. He reads my body the way I have watched him read instruments in the cockpit, all quiet focus and precise adjustments, responding to every shift and shudder.
His mouth is warm and his hands are steady on my hips, and when he finds the place that unravels me, he stays there until my thighs are trembling and my fingers are twisted in his hair and I cannot think.
Now I am the one gasping for him to wait. Tugging on his hair until he looks up at me, I plead. "Wait, Cody. Together. Together."
I'm not making sense, but Cody must understand what I'm begging for. He slides up my body and settles between my spread thighs.
When he enters me, it is slow enough that I feel every part of it. I hold his gaze and let him see what he does to me. He breathes my name against my mouth, and I feel it travel through me. The sound of my name in his voice, spoken with that much tenderness, rewrites something inside me.
We move together beneath the stars. Just the slow, steady rhythm of two people choosing each other in the dark. His hands on my hips. My fingers threaded through his hair. The press of his forehead against mine, our breath mingling, our eyes open.
When the wave breaks, it is quiet. No cry, no sharp release. Just a deep, shuddering exhale from both of us, as though we have been holding our breath for a very long time and have finally, finally remembered how to let go.
Afterward, we lie tangled together beneath the enormous Cerastean sky, and I feel something settle inside me that has been restless for a very long time. Not peace, exactly. But close. A sensation that might grow into peace, given time and tending.
This is my life now, I think, as I curve into the warmth of him and feel his heartbeat slow against my chest. This is who I am. Cody's fa'ren. I press closer, and a smile forms against his skin. This is not a life I could have imagined. It is better than anything I would have known to wish for.
I turn my head and let my gaze drift upward. The sky above us is vast and dark and heavy with stars. They burn with the cold, patient light of things that have existed long before us and will continue long after.
"I think this is the first time I have truly stopped to look upon the stars since I was taken," I say into the quiet.
Cody’s arms tighten around me.
"They’re beautiful," he says.
We lie in comfortable silence for a while longer, watching the stars trace their ancient paths. I am nearly asleep, drowsy and heavy-limbed and more content than I have any right to be after the day we have had, when Cody’s comm chirps.
He reaches for it with a groan. "Johnson here."
D'Rett's voice crackles, sounding tinny through the small speaker.
"Cody, sorry to wake you. I figured A'Vanti was with you and wanted her to hear this before everyone else.
We've received a priority transmission from Osti.
" A pause. "Queen Ameela's ship has departed.
She is coming to Ceraste to address the mining situation personally. "
I sit up so fast that I nearly knock Cody off the bedroll.
"She's bringing a full diplomatic delegation," D'Rett continues. "And her chief scientific advisor." His voice drops. "A'Vanti, the advisor is Premier Sator."
The stars blur above me.
The new queen and Sator are coming here. To Ceraste.
"How long?" I hear myself ask, and my voice sounds very far away.
"Eight days. We'll go over the details in the morning."
The comm clicks off, and the silence of the rooftop rushes back in around us. I press my hand against my chest, where my heart is hammering so hard I am certain Cody can hear it.