Chapter Twenty-Four
As we exited the cabin, the bitterly cold air stung my face. I burrowed deeper in the animal skin and closer to Dianus’s chest. He was naked aside from the blanket I’d crocheted for him that he was wearing as a cloak. He’d used the string with my IUD to fasten it. Underneath, the flash of his ornate torc glinted along his clavicle.
As he strolled to the forest, he lovingly stared down at me. His skin darkened to an acorn shade and a dark blue tattoo filled with spirals and intricate Celtic knots crept up his trap muscles, spreading over his shoulders and chest before cascading down his arms, covering his sinewed strength. The wind picked up, tossing his hair around before revealing even larger antlers emerging from his head. They grew to full size within a matter of seconds, branching wide and proud.
The snow crunched under his feet. A shudder traveled through my body as snowflakes landed on my face. Dianus lifted me even closer to nuzzle my nose with his before gently laying me down underneath his forever tree. Even under the snow, the roots tangled and weaved beneath me, like veins of the earth. Each bulge and burl was infused with my lover’s energy and strength. I reclined on the bumpy ground, basking in the gentle hum of magic.
Dianus went to work, unfurling the buckskin to reveal my naked form. As he knelt next to me, his hungry eyes drank me in while his hand grasped at the edge of my tummy before moving to a breast in pure admiration. Reluctantly ripping his attention away, he flicked his hand, causing dry branches from all over the forest to fly to him as he instantly clasped a bundle of eight sticks. When he blew on it, fire erupted at the end. Almost bored, he flung each lit stick into the ground like a dart.
Now surrounded by torches, the reality of literally being a human sacrifice set in. I tamped my panic by focusing on Dianus. He was a wild beast of a man. Well, no, not a man. He wasn’t a man at all. That was why I was in this situation to begin with. When I’d first met him, things had been so much simpler. He’d just been a hunky warden hanging out in the forest. A winter fling. A warm body to distract me on cold Yuletide nights. Now, he was so much more.
He was part of my destiny.
I knew he’d likely look the same in the Otherworld, but I wanted to remember him here, on Earth. His amber eyes and untamed hair. His wide, cheerful smile. His curious hands and his long, narrow feet that expertly traversed the forest floor in an all-out sprint.
“What are you thinking?” he asked, catching me in my ogling.
“Nothing,” I lied.
Pulling out a bone knife, he examined the edge before placing it next to me. “You are fearless, Shea. But that does not mean you have to be absent of any fear.”
“Yeah.”
Feeling like I was out of time, I took in as much of my surroundings as possible. The distinct smell of pine, the longest night of the year lit by the streams of snowflakes falling all around us. Earth was as beautiful as it was harrowing. Just like the decision I was about to make.
I’d never see Asteria again.
I’d never see my parents again, or my brother.
From what I’d heard from Dianus, the Otherworld was just like here but with fewer limitations. You could make things appear, run faster, and have less worry. I’d still have books, feasts, music, and nature. Most importantly, I’d have Dianus and a new family we’d create together.
“I’m going to cut here,” I whispered, tracing my fingertip along my femoral artery where my left leg creased to my groin. I knew I had to do it, not him. It wouldn’t be a sacrifice if he did. I had to deliver myself, my life, to the ritual in order for this to work.
Dianus’s brows pinched in his assessment of where I was going to cut. When my statement registered in his mind, he looked up at me, his honeyed gaze filled with warmth and concern. “I promise by the time the blood spills, you will be in a trance. You will not feel much.”
“What happens if you can’t find me? What if the ritual doesn’t work?”
His sensuous mouth twitched. “I am a god. I will be able to control the ritual. Bend it to my will. As long as you come of your own free will and your blood hits the roots, nothing can go wrong. I am sure of it, Shea. I would never jeopardize you.”
“What if I go to the wrong place? I mean—” I swallowed hard. “I don’t believe in hell, but what if I end up in some limbo realm where I never see you again?”
He squeezed my hand. “That will not happen, love.”
I stared at him, entranced by how the snowflakes were falling around us lazily like confetti. They clung to his dark hair like glitter, speckling his antlers.
Taking my silence as concern, he blinked slowly, covering my heart with his hand as he added, “I will find you. I will search every realm, every portal, every layer of existence. I will split the cosmos and ruin eternity if I have to.”
“I love you.” It was all I could say. I leaned up to kiss him. His lips met mine, and he tasted like rich maple syrup with a hint of pine. He brushed his thumb across the freckles on my cheek as he kissed me. The coolness of the snow beneath us was barely noticeable as his heated touch distracted me. I broke away to whisper, “I’m ready.”
In response, he kissed me more fervently, covering me with his strong body as I melted onto my back, cradled in the roots of his forever tree. Behind my closed eyes, the world brightened. Cracking an eyelid, I confirmed the torches surrounding us were blazing, sap dribbling down the wood to spatter the snow.
I squeezed my eyes shut again, focusing only on Dianus’s hands grasping my hips to move me underneath him, right where he wanted me. He slid into me, both of us groaning. He clutched my hips as he swayed in his delectable way. Perhaps it was the adrenaline, or him just not holding back his magic, but I instantly felt the familiar rush of heat fluttering between my legs.
“Oh, I love this.” I gasped, opening my eyes as a small orgasm racked my body. “This feels so good.”
Growling, he clutched my hips tighter and rutted into me, his eyes pinning me in place.
“I love you, Shea. My maiden. My everything.”
“I love you, Dianus. My god. You’re my everything.”
Glitter and gold edged in my periphery as another small orgasm trailed behind my initial climax. I could sense Dianus was almost at his as well. It was time. I grabbed the bone knife to my left and held it firmly with the handle.
“I will find you,” he murmured.
“I will look for you.”
With a loud groan that echoed around the forest, I watched as Dianus spurted into me, pulling out enough to ensure our mixed release seeped onto the earth. I held my breath, closed my eyes, and pushed the blade hard into my skin before I swiped my hand.
A loud hum rang in my head as I stared down at myself and Dianus. It was as if I were a bird flying overhead—clearly an out-of-body experience, but not death.
A dark pool of my blood seeped out onto the buckskin and the white snow beneath me, oozing from the femoral artery where my leg connected to my body. My eyes remained closed, my body still.
Dianus cupped his hands over my chest, his beard shaking as his mouth moved in a rapid chant. The trunk of his forever tree opened up like a pale, nebulous galaxy, swirling lazily in the winter storm. The trees in the forest whipped around like a hurricane as the vortex of energy hummed, picking up snow to swirl in a torrent around the clearing. As he continued, a sparkly mist of vibrant green and icy blue rose up from my heart. Dianus continued to cup and contain the glittery haze, his chant growing louder and louder, the pool of my blood seeping wider and wider.
Then, without notice, Dianus shoved the mist into the portal, and everything flashed white.