Page 63 of Straw and Gold
Waiting for a Goddess who did not come.
When morning broke, still, I waited.
I did not take rest because I could not lose her.
When she stirred, stretching and moaning in a contented sigh, I kissed her softly, needing more from her—reassuring myself that dawn had come and she was safe.
As I moved in her again, filling her with all of me, praising her in soft whispers, I felt the first prickle of hope enter the blood in my veins. As she cursed in the filthiest of words, begging for more, harder, faster, I gave it all.
I’d keep giving it all because it was over for me.
Whatever happened in six weeks, it was out of my hands and into hers.
I gave her everything she begged for, taking her hand and kissing the tips of her fingers.
My fate couldn’t have landed in the hands of a more perfect wife.
And in whatever time we had left together, I’d make sure she knew it.
“Willow to seed,
How does the earth sing,
When silver moon’s a changin’?
How does the sky,
Whisper so nigh,
When silver moon’s a changin’?”
My eyes driftedas my wife sang softly in the western tower, spinning her straw into gold. I jerked my head up, catching her warm smile as she continued her song. The wheel spun in a blur as thread wound over her third spool.
I wouldn’t wait for her at the bottom of the stairs any longer. Indeed, I had followed her around all morning, never letting her out of my sight. She allowed it, though I had the feeling she wouldn’t give into my fears for long.
Her humming continued and I closed my eyes just for a moment as I leaned against the door to the room. The world buzzed and my bones ached from a full day without rest.
I’d made love to my wife twice in that time and as memories of filling her roamed through my thoughts, I was able to stay awake, my blood heating again for what I’d deprived myself of for so long.
“Moh Dhóches.” The sound of her sweet voice brought me back to the present. She had silently found her way to me andstood on the tips of her toes, almost reaching my mouth with hers.
Like a moth to flame, I leaned in, taking her lips to mine, pulling her up to rid the distance between us.
Had I a future, this would be it. There, in a tower room, with morning winter sun pouring through the window in a dim haze while my wife pressed her body to mine, her hands wandering low down my chest.
She left my lips, sliding her mouth to my neck, leaving trails of kisses over the hollow of my throat. My chest rumbled with an unbidden sound and she snickered. “I’ve fulfilled my end of the bargain for the day, husband. What of yours?”
“You wish me to kiss you goodnight?”
Her hand found the band of my pants and her fingers slipped inside. “I wish you to kiss me until it is night and I can’t take anymore.”
I hissed in a breath as her hand found me, hard and aching for her again.
“Fuich mi,” I murmured, setting my head back against the door as she continued her strokes.
“Furich mi?” she asked. “What is that?”
“It’s your lesson for today, Goldling.” I pulled her closer, backing us into the door where I shifted us through, landing out of her oak dressing screen and straight onto her bed—to hell with walking across the room. We didn’t have time for it.
