Page 94 of The Garnet Daughter
Stars explode behind my eyes, my head falling back against the bark as I ride his mouth, unable to speak a single coherent sentence.
The hand that holds my hip so tightly soothes against my skin, his thumb running back and forth across my flesh, letting me know he is satisfied.
The last of the shuddering pleasure he has elicited runs its course through my body. I try to catch my breath as he kisses my inner thigh one last time before hiking up my undergarment and standing to his full height.
He seems much more pleased with himself now that I am the one out of breath and dizzy. I kiss him softly, leaning my weight into him as he wraps his arms around me in an embrace. It feels warm and safe, and I never want to leave this oasis.
He kisses the top of my head, holding me and waiting until I gain my composure.
“No other predators in sight then? We got lucky.” He sighs.
I panic and pull away from him. “I forgot to keep watch.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” He grins so warmly my heart flutters.
The muscles in my legs have been transformed into mush. What would normally be a somewhat challenging climb is now an impossible feat.
We did not wait long enough to recover before we dressed and found the path the animals took up the face of the steep rocks. It’s thin and barely the width of a single person, but the wall beside it has pockets cut into the surface, like grooved holes for a climber to place their hands. At first, we believed them to be naturally occurring, but they are smooth and too patterned. I can’t see inside them, but I can feel the indents for each human finger. Placing my hands into rock so worn down by time, likely since the beginning, fills me with a sense of dread I cannot explain, as if my body knows something my mind doesn’t, a deep sense of time I can’t even fathom.
The air this high is cool and windy when we break through the misty cloud layer, the sound of the waterfall below eerily far from us now.
“Hand on this one. The one lower is too shallow.” August juts his chin to his hand placement. It grips the small ledge tightly, the tendons flexing as he moves to the next spot ahead of me.
I glance over the opposite side. It’s not a sharp drop, instead rocky and steeply inclined, which is worse. If either of us falls to our death, I would rather it be quick and not bouncing my way to the bottom, breaking all the bones in my body.
“We must be close. The ward is thicker.” I strain my way over to the too tall hand placement. “It’s testing our intentions.”
“Do you think the old god knows we are coming?” August says with huffing breath.
“We should assume . . . it does,” I spit out, my finger gripping the handhold so tightly my knuckles burn.
The next one at this height is too far, so I balance myself and go back to the grooves carved in lower, but the moment I lean to take another step, bending to reach my next safe spot,the ground beneath me moves, crumbly rocks shift, and I slide farther than I intend too.
I gasp and cling to the wall, splayed against the surface with nowhere to place my hands but flat against it.
August shouts something, but all I can hear is my pulse bouncing off the side of the ancient cliff face and back into my ear canal.
“I can’t move,” I whimper.
“You can . . . slowly.” August’s voice is stern. “Press into the wall and slowly straighten your knees.”
“Alright.” Air shoots in and out of me faster than it should. I can’t stop picturing the sharp rocks below, waiting for me to breathe too deeply, to expand my lungs just enough against the wall to lose balance again.
“Calliape, stay with me. That’s it, steady.” August’s voice is gentler now that he hears how close I am to hyperventilating.
My cheek drags against the rough texture as I straighten my knees, pressing into the cliff face, hugging it with widespread arms.
“Good girl, now your right hand, move it toward mine nice and slow.”
My heart beats so hard, I’m dizzy. Closing my eyes makes it worse, so I focus on August’s hand and slowly reach for it.
He waits patiently, keeping his arm extended and flat against the rock with mine. When I feel his warm skin, I exhale in relief and sink closer to the immoveable wall.
“Perfect. Can you find the one on your left? I can’t see to help you with that one.”
I test my grip and determine it solid enough to lean my weight in that direction and trail my fingertips up to the same height until the groove of a handhold is present.
“Got it,” I tell him and finally take a satisfying breath.
