Page 59 of Rise of the Gods: Vardor's Destiny
Light like feathers, the tips of his fingers danced over my exposed breasts, eliciting a sharp intake of breath from me as my skin pebbled and my nipples stiffened.
"So beautiful," he said.
His fingers kept dancing over my skin, up and down my arms, my stomach, my hips. My... my... buttocks. Oh dear, more liquid pooled between my legs, accompanied by a sensation of warmth and pleasure. What was this?
"Come." Gently, he moved me backward until my legs hit the bed. "Sit," he commanded.
He stood between my legs as I sank down on the bed. He dropped to the floor and placed both hands on my knees. The skin underneath his palms heated and sang. Then his hands, his full hands, moved up my inner thighs, softly pressing them apart until parts of me were exposed that nobody, not even me, had ever laid eyes on. Still, I didn't feel the slightest trace of embarrassment or humiliation. None.
"Ah," he breathed in loudly, "you smell delicious."
Before I knew what he was about to do, his fingers parted my folds. Having his handsthereshot more heat through me, making my insides quiver. But that was nothing compared to the moment his tongue thrust out and brushed over me, right on the center of the spot that had been pulsing. Abbie once gave me a small book that made me blush in embarrassment. In it, the spot Vardor was now kissing was calledVenus' Knot.I hadn't understood why, but now I did. As Vardor kept licking, my entire being knotted and tensed, but in a good way. Never would I have thought my body capable of this rush of bliss it was sending to my brain. Flames danced through me; every nerve and muscle inside me quivered. My body kept screaming for more, but how could there be more of this intense pleasure? It didn't seem possible. Yet a deep yearning ache moved up inside me, creating more of the juices Vardor so obviously was enjoying.
Tiny sounds escaped me simply because I couldn't keep them bottled up. They were a release, just as was sucking in my breathsharply when I felt a finger enter me. Oh God, that felt good. So good.
There it was—the sensation my body had been craving—but it still wasn’t enough. Greedy and insatiable, it demanded more. With every wicked thing Vardor did, that hunger only grew, refusing to be satisfied. Were my insides weeping with joy? Was that what this pooling of liquid was?
I didn't know. I was incapable of coherent thoughts and, soon, not even incoherent ones besidesmore, yes,andplease! Then my entire body tensed, and the most pleasant sensation took over. It rushed through my veins and arteries, made my nerves tingle and my muscles relax. Stars exploded in front of my eyes, and I cried out his name.
Ever so slowly, my heart rate dropped from the high it had been on, though my breathing was still hard, my vision fuzzy.
"Ah, the sweetest nectar," Vardor rose from between my legs. He was a sight to behold. The grin on his face dripped with pride. He licked his lips, sending another wave of heat through me. To my utter disbelief, my body still cried for more.
Softly, he lifted me and placed me fully on the bed. "I'll try to be gentle," he promised, raising my hips and aligning himself between my legs.
Pain, pain, pain, my mind primed itself. No matter what Abbie had said, this was what all the women had always warned of.Pain! That's why you need to be a virgin, so only your husband can lessen your pain. But it's still going to be bad, Helen warned me the morning of my wedding.
Bravely I nodded, biting my lip and balling the sheet between my fists. "I'm ready."
Something big teased my entrance, and I closed my eyes, tensing. Hiscock, breached inside me. Higher and higher it glid, parting walls. I held my breath, sure the pain would come now. He stopped. "I'm sorry."
And there it was. Just not as bad as I had anticipated. Not at all. A quick, sharp pain, but that was it. Followed by more pleasure as he moved up and up inside me, filling me. Inside, he was inside me!
My fists let go of the sheet, my arms rose in tandem with my hips. I grabbed his biceps with both hands, holding on to him as he began retreating, before he pushed back in. My eyes rolled back, no pain. Just pleasure. The most intense pleasure one could possibly imagine, and more. So much more.
His hands guided my hips until I picked up the rhythm, until we moved in beautiful sync together. His features in front of me contorted, changed, yet stayed the same. As if his face was overlaid over and over with his own image. Black eyes were riveted on me, so large, I saw my own reflection, but it looked different. I wore a strange collar, gold and heavy. He looked different, too, and yet the same.
Find me, a voice screamed in my head.
And then I was back, right here, right before the knots that had been building into one big, central knot, ripped apart. I screamed his name. The bliss was so overpowering, I needed to scream, otherwise I think I might have lost my mind. How was it possible to have never felt any of this before? A trembling, aching sweetness took over every part of me: my body, my mind, my soul. I felt like laughing and crying at the same time. It was a complete overload of bliss, incomparable to anything.
"Roweena!" Vardor roared, releasing his seed into me. He threw his head back, and the same unadulterated pleasure that overtook me reflected on his features.
Languidly, my body relaxed underneath him. My muscles let go, leaving me so content, so undone, I never wanted to come back from it.
No battle victory, no triumphal march, no conquest of land or power could ever compare to this—to having her back in my arms, trembling and radiant, her breath mingling with mine. In this moment, she was not just mine, but I was hers, bound together in a way no victory or glory could ever rival.
Never would I ever let her go again. I yearned for nothing more than to spend the rest of the journey with Roweena and me locked inside this cabin, but her growling stomach reminded me of her mortality and her need for sustenance.
I hadn't realized how thin the walls of the ship were until we went to the galley for food and men stared at me enviously. Women gave Roweena a wide berth, wagging their tongues when they thought we couldn't hear them. A murderous rage overcame me, but Roweena only smiled sweetly at me and shook her head.
"They don't matter," she explained, and the gleam in her eyes proved the truth of her words. With every passing day, Vaelora shone through her more. Her demeanor turned haughtier as she regarded the women with disdain, shoulders squared.
Days turned into weeks, and then one morning at breakfast, when Roweena excused herself for a few moments, Cassandra pounced on me, taking Roweena's vacated chair without asking.
"There you are." Cassandra smiled widely, her eyelashes fluttering enticingly. Her gaze kept drifting to the entrance as ifshe expected Roweena to reappear at any moment. She seemed nervous but eager and rushed through her words.
I leaned back in my chair, watching Cassandra with the same detachment I afforded a predator who had misjudged its prey. She was all gleaming smiles and fluttering lashes, but there was something brittle beneath it—a desperate kind of energy, as though she knew she was running out of time.
