Insolence a dark ff roma.., p.34
Insolence: A Dark FF+ Romantasy, page 34
“Mm-hmm,” I nod. Tears in my eyes, I’m throbbing with unfulfilled need and howling hunger.
Her free hand rises to dry the tears from my cheeks. “You’ve taken your punishment like such a good girl.” Her rich, low hum of approval surges to my core. Her mouth closes the inches between us, her lips tangling with mine. This kiss is as possessive as it is passionate, her hands kneading and roaming my body. Her voice is black velvet when she pulls away: “You need to come on my fingers so hard I’ll have to carry you back down, don’t you?”
“Please,” I plead, trembling unbearably while she reaches between my thighs. She hisses when she feels the extent of my excitement.
Swearing softly, she drags her fingers through my slick arousal. “Now that’s a very, very good girl, getting so wet and ready.”
Heat shoots down my spine at her mind-splitting praise. Her lips skimming my neck, she finds my opening, pushing slowly inside.
Fuck. My breath strangles in my throat, my head falling back. The temperature difference alone is nearly enough to push me over the edge. Two long fingers sink to the last knuckle, her flesh irresistibly pliant and warm after the uncompromising quartz.
Whimpering and shameless, I grind into her hand. With how aroused I already am, a wave of spasms comes on almost immediately, and I clench, preparing to tumble over the edge.
She grabs my hip with her free hand, pinning my legs with her knees. “Uh-uh.” She slowly shakes her head. “Ask to come, Tiss. Use your manners.”
Body quaking, I’m instantly beside myself. “Elodie,” I wet my lips and tremble, preparing to recite the magical phrase that will save or condemn me—I don’t know which, and I don’t care. “May I please come for you?”
“You’ve waited so long for this, haven’t you?”
“Yes.” I cling to her, tormented and shaking.
She crooks her fingers, massaging the knot of spongy tissue directly behind my clit. My moan is anguished as I teeter on the precipice of a massive internal orgasm.
“That’s right.” She kneads faster, harder, her free hand gripping my hair again. “Come for me now like the good, sweet girl that you are.”
When she starts pounding, my nervous system ignites. The conflagration rises, my climax exploding so hard it steals my breath away.
I contract around her fingers until she’s swearing and groaning, but she doesn’t stop. Curling her hand, she cups my pussy, fucking me and grinding her palm into my clit. A second shock wave hits, hitting me harder than the first as she works me mercilessly. The pleasure is shattering with every thrust, building on itself. When the third wave follows, a high-pitched keen fills the room; at first I don’t recognize it as my own.
“God… dess,” she hisses, her motions slowing just when I’m grappling to maintain consciousness.
I take her face in my hands, giddy and debauched with ecstasy.
Jerking her chin to one side, her eyes slide closed. The muscles in her throat contract rhythmically, and her mouth crashes into mine. Fingers still inside of me, she moans her own climax against my tongue.
The shock of it stills me entirely. “Did… did you just come from touching me?”
“You drive me out of my damned mind, Tiss.” Breathing raggedly, she dips her head, nipping at my jaw and trailing her lips and teeth down my neck. “Do you know how gorgeous you look coming for me so many times? Do you have any idea how good your sweet cunt feels wrapped around my fingers? I couldn’t help it. Couldn’t stop myself.”
Languid contentment unwinds my muscles, and the world around us ceases to exist. Nothing matters beyond our soul-tie glowing between us and her bone-melting indulgences.
I don’t care if she does hold me in her thrall. I’ll willingly be her plaything, her captive. I could get lost in her forever and always crave more.
I lose track of how long we slump together, dazed and wrapped in one another’s arms. Gradually, my satisfaction is displaced by the same bottomless, carnal hunger. An endless appetite that grabs me by the throat, making me gasp.
“What is it?”
“Monster,” I husk, struggling to swallow. It’s rising inside of me. I’m not capable of keeping it at bay.
“Breathe. Close your eyes and regulate yourself.” She places our hands over each other’s hearts, resting her forehead against mine.
I try my hardest to shut out the rapacious beast snarling and pacing. Focus on breathing in tune with her, in phase. Before I know it, I’m tumbling once more into the serene abyss where our soul-tie exists.
Our auras come into focus, shimmering and overlapping. The brush of hers against mine is unbelievably intimate, and I shudder as our two auras interweave before my eyes.
Our connection is spellbinding. It warms me to the very bottom of my soul.
Elodie is my safety, my anchor, my lifeline. She’s my calm harbor in the swirling storm of insanity trying to tear me apart.
Without warning, the tether between us transforms into a rod of light that shoots up, slicing through the boundless night, cleaving me from my monster.
The light wraps around the beast, encircling it like a bubble. Separating both of us from its frenzied hunger.
“There you are,” she whispers, prompting my eyes open. “How did you come back to yourself?”
“Our soul-tie. I used it to lock the monster away in a bubble… a cage.”
“The walls of that cage are your wards. Do your best to keep them in place, but understand it’s merely a measure of self-control. It isn’t perfect. It’ll take practice before you can keep it in place long-term. Even then, there aren’t guarantees.”
“How do you know all of this?”
“Like I said, I know a thing or two.” She drops a sweet peck on my mouth. “And I will tell you the rest of it eventually, sweetheart. When it’s safe. I swear I will.”
Eventually. Always eventually with her. But gods help me, I trust her to do what she says.
“I want you to take control,” she murmurs. “Please, I can’t wait any longer.” Fingers around my chin, she guides my face to hers, her mouth embracing mine.
Moments later we’re on the floor together, and I’m not entirely sure how we got here. She’s on her back with me straddling her hips. Prowling and possessive, my fingers work her buttons free, shove her chemise aside, and unfasten her brassiere.
Bronze skin singes my lips as they brush her neck and collarbone, then skim a dark nipple. Her hands tangle in my hair as I kiss and tease, pulling one and then the other into my mouth. She folds when I roll my tongue against the hard peak, her knees coming up, torso jerking.
With a self-satisfied grin, I scoot back on her thighs and bunch her skirt over her hips.
My breath hitches when I register her bare flesh. Other than her garters and thick knit stockings, she isn’t wearing underwear.
Her large clit is so swollen, it peeks from between her folds. She’s sopping wet with the aftermath of our intimacy so far, and I lick my lips, greedily eyeing her glistening arousal.
My monster howls. Voracious and impatient, it slinks behind the warded confines of its cage. For once, its power doesn’t leave me terrified.
I can do this without losing myself, I think, and lift my own skirts.
She can’t keep her hands off of me, her thumb sliding over my pulsing clit. I squirm beneath her expert touch while she traces circles, smearing my slickness. The pad of her thumb catches my sensitive spot, pulling a wail from my throat.
“Please, Tiss.” She spreads her legs beneath me, staring as I pull my hips back. “I need to feel you.” She watches as I nestle myself between her plush thighs, parting my outer folds and pulling up on my mound.
I do the same to her, both of our clits standing at attention. We both groan when I push forward, nudging her thick nub with mine.
“Shit,” I breathe. Eyes fluttering closed, I press into her, savoring the sensation. Gods help me, she’s firm and soft together at once. Slick and silken and hot against me. “I can tell how swollen you are. I can feel you throbbing.”
Our eyes widen when I jerk my hips. “Fuck!” she cries, and I give another little pump that sends her hands groping over my hips and waist.
I set the tempo and control the pressure, reveling in the long moans that tear from her throat with every pass. Grabbing her hands, I force them in front of me and brace myself, lacing our fingers together. My hips rock. Slow and deliberate, I draw out our bliss until she’s writhing beneath me.
“Goddess, Tiss,” she chokes, captive and helpless to the measured torture. Her head rolls back, her throat flashing.
Heat churns low in my abdomen. Her torso jerking again, I can tell she’s getting close, so very close, and I’m not far behind. A few more thrusts, her stiff clit gliding against mine, and she’s there.
She gives a hoarse shriek when her climax hits. That’s all it takes to send me plummeting.
Lightning crackles up my spine. Something inside of me lurches. Somewhere seemingly far off, the crazed beast is howling, ramming against my wards.
Cracks are forming along the boundaries of its cage. My pinnacle builds and swells, threatening to subsume me entirely. I am a container, an empty basin, an ampoule waiting to be filled.
“Elodie,” I cry, and the bond between us ignites.
She gives an abbreviated groan before going limp. I realize I’ve lost sight of our soul-link, but I no longer care to keep a muzzle on my monster. I’m not making the decisions anymore, no longer the one in control.
When I glance down, the backs of my hands are embossed with glowing sigils—
And so are hers!
I blink in shock. Is her magic the same as mine? Or is this because of our bond?
There’s no time to consider it before my teeth are at her throat, my hands tangled in her hair.
Mine, I think. Clamping down on the tender flesh between her neck and shoulder, I roll my spasming pussy into hers. All mine.
The world pitches sideways. The next instant the Observatory is consumed in the same fathomless chasm I saw within my predator's mouth when she was spanking me. It’s an abyss. A swirling maelstrom that will devour everything until nothing remains.
And time is no longer a straight line.
Instead, it eddies and spirals, and I am slipping… plunging… careening down and backward.
The other Itissa rises from the hollows of my bones, latching onto Elodie’s aura. She takes her with us as we collapse together, sucked into a past I thought had been sundered and locked away forever.
Forcing us back into the lives we forgot.
Chapter 43
Elodie
My climax washes over me while her eyebrows pinch together in helpless bliss.
She calls my name. Breathtaking beyond beauty, she’s more resplendent to me than the Mother of Destruction and Regeneration herself.
Her aura flares incandescent with the power of her orgasm. The groan dies in my lungs, my ability to move blunted. Mirror sigils glow on the backs of my hands, triggered by hers. By our soul-tie.
Time seems to slow. My life-force streams into her body like a song.
It’s a devastating rush. The sweetest suffering I’ve ever known. Then she’s bent over me. Her teeth are at my throat, clenching my flesh, vicious and vital. Bruising. Claiming. I am literally and figuratively paralyzed with awe.
“You are mine, Elodie,” her voice gentles inside my head. “You belong to me and me alone. The part of you that lives in this moment of pleasure will always be mine.” Her claim radiates like ripples spreading on water. “Nobody will ever wrest you from my possession again.”
Our climaxes wind down, and time resumes its normal flow. I know by the lust haze washing everything that I’m drowning in a sea of pheromones right about now. I’m yours, Tiss, I think, helplessly. Do with me whatever you wish.
But something’s wrong.
She gasps, posture going rigid on top of me. Abruptly and with no reason or explanation, reality splits.
Inside our shared connection, part of her grabs me and plunges. We tumble together, our essences still entwined, into a familiar… bittersweet… past.
El
Approximately 4.5 Years Ago
We lie together, our breath slowing. Passion cooling. My muscles unwind with a familiar, languid heaviness.
The nagging is back with force and urgency. It’s sorrow, I realize. Her sorrow. It stitches along our soul-tie, scraping at the chambers of my heart.
“Hey,” with some effort, my energy sapped, I run a hand down her back. “What did you want to talk about before? Because I know for a fact that you never wind up in this neighborhood by coincidence.”
She adjusts against me, twining her fingers in the short hair curling around my ears.
“You can just say it, love. Whatever it is, it can’t be that bad.”
She huffs and sits up, throwing her feet off the side of the bed. “Don’t people ever get angry when you pry?”
I heave myself over with all I’m worth. Roll onto my side, cheek propped on my hand. “Sweetheart, have I done something to make you angry?”
Her back is to me. Her posture sags. “No, I’m not angry. I suppose pretending to be makes it easier to say what I’m about to say.” When she glances over her shoulder, her eyes are red and brimming with tears.
Adrenaline floods me at the sudden distress gushing down our connection.
She’s already on her feet. “I’ve been married two years now.” Whirling around my bedroom, snatching her clothes from the floor. “My in-laws never stop asking about children.” Dragging layers of fine silk and lace over her body. “Every month I go without conceiving, their hounding gets worse.” She looks up, cramming her blouse into her skirt. “They’re relentless, Elodie.”
Nope. “El,” I say, clocking the shift back.
“El,” she echoes, sitting on the end of the bed to fuss with her garters and stockings. “They expected an heir by now. Every time my cycle starts, I am blamed.”
“Blamed for what? Not getting pregnant on their schedule?” Catching the shirt she tosses my way, I pull it over my head. “Do they want to watch or something? Make sure you’re doing it right?” Even I’m aware of the empty bravado dripping in my tone.
She rolls her eyes. My trousers land beside me, sending up a small cloud of ochre dust, followed by my crumpled undershorts. She’s through the bedroom door by the time I’ve got my pants pulled up.
“They know about us, El. They know about you.” She spins on me.
Fuck. Cold dread stops me in my tracks.
We’ve tried to be discreet, but we both knew the risk of discovery was never marginal. It wouldn’t be such a problem if she were some lowborn commoner. Like me.
So long as we didn’t cause trouble. Make a scene. A slag like me needs to remember my place, after all.
But for a woman of her status to be married and carrying on with anyone, much less someone of her same sex, it’s beyond inappropriate. For her to be childless and dallying with me—bold as I am to strut about the city wearing men’s trousers and cropped hair? An insult of the highest order. To her husband’s family, as well as her father’s.
And they are very, very powerful families.
The poor peregrine and her lost mate come to mind. A gradually realized horror threatens to splinter me, but I don’t yet know to what end. “Tiss, please. We talked about this.”
“No, you talked about it. But it’s not realistic! And this isn’t working anymore.” She motions between us.
“Oh, come on.” I follow her into the kitchen. “If they’ve caught on, then we’ll leave. Just the two of us.” Catching up, I take her arm. Cup her face in my hand. “Go somewhere we can be together.”
“You keep coming back to that, but where could we possibly go? There’s nowhere in this realm or outside of it that would evade Orum’s reach forever—or my father’s—and you know it.”
“There’s Ariter.”
She gives me a pitying look. “Which is far too close to Aronya Dar for my liking.”
“All the easier to get there from here, right?” My hands drop when she says nothing. “Can’t we discuss it for once? We could find Ma’s clan. Lay low for a while. Plan our next move. You always wanted to see the Boglands, right?”
“Sweetheart,” she sighs, ignoring my attempt at humor, “the decision’s already been made.”
“Wait. What decision?”
“I found out yesterday morning. I came as soon as I could get away.”
“What decision, Tiss?” The room spins and my knees buckle. Blood pressure plummeting, I slam my hands onto the kitchen table with a grunt.
Fuck. I did too much after what she took from me. Combined with the unbearable possibility of what she’s saying, I’m suddenly fighting for air. “Please,” I choke. “Please don’t do this. Don’t end it.”
She moves closer. Smooths a hand down my spine. “Illiam and I will be traveling for a long while.”
Tears roll down my face, landing on the table in fat drops. “What does that mean? Traveling where?”
“To his family in Cantana, then to Nehel for a time. On to Black City from there. Afterward I’m not sure.”
“That’s the whole damn realm.” I tally the math, figuring she’ll be gone for six months at least, with a trek like that and time at court in Cantana to boot. Gods. Possibly a year.
Hands bracing me, I watch my own tears spatter the rough-hewn wood. “When are you leaving?” Plat-plat-plat.
“I have no idea. You know I’ve fallen out of favor with Madoc and Jedrek, both. I’m barely in the loop as it is. But I’d hazard to say quite soon, with the hullabaloo of packing going on at my house.”
A spark of hope kindles. I wipe my cheeks and straighten. “You’ll be passing back through on your way to Nehel. We could meet in secret. Give me a chance to put a plan in place. By the time you get back, I’ll have sent word to Ma’s people—”
