Page 132 of The Daughters of Avalon
Let him go… in the end, the Goddess’s will must be done… even in regard tohim.
Rosalynde had been half asleep,dozing fitfully, her eyes swollen with tears, but she awoke with a start.
Bound by destiny, to destiny bound,
Another to one, and one to another...
Those were precisely the words she’d heard the glade, and her sister betimes knew things. As a child Rosalynde had learned to trust Rhiannon, even when Elspeth had constrained them.
Inhaling a breath for courage, she shoved the blanket off her head to find the night was late and the moon was high, silver light washing into the room.
For all that he mustn’t be comfortable, Giles was nevertheless sleeping, because she heard his smooth, even breathing. She did not let that dissuade her, rising from the bed, her feet instinctively taking her where she needed to go… without having sensed she’d moved them.
Bind him to you. You know how.
Aye, she did know, because she was a woman, and it was a knowledge all women carried in their heart of hearts.
The goblet lay empty in his hand. The flagon, she sensed, was empty as well. Perhaps emboldened by the elixir herself, she stared at the man her heart was coming to know and love…
She wanted more than simply to do her duty to the Goddess. She wanted to give him babes. She wanted to feel them quicken in her womb and know she’d conceived them in love.
And yet, for the longest time, she could not move, only stare…
In slumber his swarthy face was no less beautiful. In the shadows, his blond hair was dark about the jaw, but the firelight made it glisten… like stars.
If he awoke now, would he see her lithe body illumined by the fire, even through her gown? Would he note her nipples straining against thechainse, only longing for lips to suckle? Would he tremble over the desire he would spy in her eyes?
Before she could stop herself, she lifted the delicatechainsehe’d bought, and pulled it gently over her head, tossing it on the floor, next to his sword and scabbard. One by one, she shed her inhibitions even as she shed her garments, allowing herself to be vulnerable and exposed. And, then, when she was ready, she bent with trembling hands to pry the goblet from his fingers. He opened his eyes as she placed it on the table, and the sound it made was like the clink of a coin…
Giles blinked away the sleep from his eyes, afraid he must be dreaming… But, nay… there she was, naked and unashamed, standing before him with nary a stitch of clothes—and God help him, he was only a man, a man with no will left at all.
“If, in truth, I must lose you to my sister,” she said softly, tears shining in her eyes. “I will have you once, to keep the memory in my heart.” He watched a tear slip from her eye and roll down her cheek, off her chin, onto her hardened nipple, glistening like molten silver. The sight of it nearly unmanned him where he sat, and despite thevin, his cock hardened, aching for the touch of her hand.
She was a siren, leading him to his doom, and he did not care right now. Every nerve in his body lit, and his gaze fixed on the eight small wounds she’d received in the glade, revealed now by the light of the moon… His heart twisted, and his lips longed to ease them… But, alas, he could not blame it on thevinwhen helifted his hands to her waist, holding her fast, pulling himself forward to lay his burning mouth upon her scars, kissing them each in turn, lapping them one by one with his tongue, as though he might somehow erase the burdens from her flesh.
She shivered, but not with fear, he realized, as he peered up into her beautiful violet eyes. The desire he saw there was his undoing and he shuddered as he felt his own wetness, a small bead of his seed soak into the cloth of his breeches.
“Rosalynde,” he said thickly. “You cannot know what it is you are asking.”
She nodded but once, firmly, and said, “I do, my lord.”
And still, though he ached with desire, he slid a hand to her belly, soft as silk, pushing her back. “You need not thank me for my services, Rosalynde. And yet… if you test me, I am sure to disappoint you.”
She reached down, putting a trembling hand over his, both their hands now quaking—only hers with trepidation. Only his with desire, and all his body shook with it, even as the blood rushed to his cock, filling it so thickly that it throbbed.
“Rosalynde,” he said again, one last protest, and she answered by guiding his hand lower, into the velvety mons between her thighs.
It was all Giles could do not to spill his seed where he sat. Swallowing with difficulty, he rose from the chair, undressing, never taking his eyes off Rosalynde, letting her know… if she didn’t want him—want this—she’d best say so now. But she said naught, and off came hissherte, then his breeches. He hurled them both aside with a ferocity that startled even him, and then he stood before her as naked and unashamed as she… fully revealed by the light of a full moon.
When still she said nothing, only gasped very softly, he smiled darkly and slid an arm about her waist, pulling her close,letting her feel the unyielding hardness of his body, and all his pent-up desire.
Rosalynde’s breath caught at the feel of him—his manhood, thick and insistent against her thighs, teasing her, even of its own accord. And, for the longest moment, he stood, allowing her to feel him, as though willing her to deny him. But, she would not…
Bound by destiny, to destiny bound,
Another to one, and one to another...
And still… she didn’t know what to do. She was a virgin still. Only when she thought her heart would rend in two, he bent to press a kiss upon the bridge her nose… then another on her mouth, opening his mouth as though he meant to devour her, and then sliding out his tongue to brush against her trembling mouth. She opened her lips to him—like a flower opening to the warmth of the sun—and moaned softly as his tongue slipped inside, tasting her so intimately that she thought she might die. She pushed him away, if only to say, “I shall never take another lover.”
