Page 141 of A Dance of Water

Luella lay curled on the ground, amid charred earth and charged air. Her cloak was askew, soaked, just like her white hair, so wet it appeared almost dark grey. The white blindfold on her face was pure and untouched; her skin was pale, and her mouth was slightly parted. Destruction all around her.

A tree split in half, bark sagging as leaves fell in ashy swaths to the muddy ground of the forest.

Her skin crackled with electricity, lightning rushing under her veins like she was the very force of nature that breathed out and made the sky roar with thunder; breathed in, and made bolts of lightning crash to the ground.

Even in stillness, power radiated from her.

Bastian extricated himself from her mind as quietly as he had entered it.

"That’s how you are," he said reverently. "Powerful, even if you cannot quite grasp it yet."

Her body reacted viscerally to the vision of the electricity on her skin, the well of power inside her growing and growing. She ached from fullness, but something was still missing.

"You know what’s missing," he muttered. "Your power needs me—needs us—to feel full. Let me help you… Let me help you play with Tharen. Just a bit."

He was using sensual skill on someone untrained like her. It wasn’t fair.

Her resolve cracked like the split tree in her mind, and she found herself nodding slowly. "Only to taunt Tharen." She shakily smoothed her palms over his chest. "Nothing more."

"Of course," he purred.

And as if the currents that ran under her skin jumped to his, he grew restless above her.

Bastian wasted no time in taking her mouth. He pressed his lips to hers urgently, and she found herself arching up to him.

The thin strap of her gown slipped off her shoulder. She was indecent and naive, and a part of her feared being so vulnerable with him. Surely, he must have seen countless male and female bodies, alike. How could she compare?

Trepidation forced her into a stunned, waiting stillness.

Hands gripped her thighs and waist, fingers indenting in her soft skin. His mouth was so hot compared to the rest of him. He kissed every bit of her face, even pressing soft pecks to the blindfold.

"You don’t know what the sight of you wrapped in silk does to me," he murmured.

He went lower, grazing his fangs over her jaw, down to her jugular. She gulped at the predator at her throat. She felt him smile against her skin, and he playfully took her neck between her teeth, his jaw slack, but she knew all it would take was a mere instant, and her blood would soak the sheets and fill his mouth.

He pulled away, her skin wet from his saliva. "Don’t tempt me."

Bastian went lower still, and the power inside her welled and welled. The threads cried out as if desperate for the males who were absent, missing from this moment.

Her thighs fell open without her permission, and she shuddered as he fit himself between them, perfectly locking into place over her like they were two pieces of a puzzle.

The throbbing feeling increased, and she shifted, restive. "I feelso…"

Restless, he once more shifted, and she felt his cold, lithe fingers against the neckline of her gown.I cleaned and changed you, by the way, he whispered into her mind as his tongue lightly traced over the beginning swell of her chest.Azgorath helped. He was the one to suggest the lace.

Remind me to get him back, then.Even in her mind, her voice was breathless.

Hot breaths puffed over her silk-clad breasts, and her nipples hardened into firm, eager peaks.

With pleasure,he crooned.

And Bastian’s mouth fell upon her silk-covered breast, sucking her nipple into his mouth. She arched her back, a pleased whimper escaping her.

She had never felt anything like this before. Confused by her body’s reaction, she didn’t know if she should push him away or pull him closer.

"What are you… You cannot do that, can you?" Her voice shook.

He laughed against her breast, and she felt vibrations running through her from the sound. "I can." He licked against the silk of her gown. "And I am."

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