Part 5 (1/2)
The glade was filled with snow, the thicket covered with mounds of white. Only by the th.o.r.n.y branches of bracken protruding from the drift could she tell where it was. Forging her way to it threatened to sap the last of her strength but, once there, she found the wherewithal to shake the snow from the brush.
”Oh, Ryllio.” Tears p.r.i.c.kled behind her eyes as she looked at the statue. There was no sign of life, any spark or sensation to indicate his presence, and Myrina knew she was too late.
But although her mind said so, her heart would not be deterred. Without thought she pushed through the underbrush, hardly feeling the thorns tearing at her clothing and skin, until she stood before the statue and could touch it. With gentle care she brushed away the snow clinging to his hair and face and shoulders, traced the handsome lines of cheek and brow, nose and mouth. The tears she could no longer contain slid down her cheeks at the feel of the cold marble.
”Ryllio,” she whispered, ”I would do anything to help you be free. Don't give up, please. Give me more time.”
There was no response except from the wind, sobbing and sighing through the trees. Stepping nearer yet, Myrina straddled his snow-covered legs, opened her cloak and bent to envelop Ryllio in the sodden wool. The need to be close to him, even though nothing but frigid stone awaited her, was too strong to resist. Arms around his shoulders for balance, she lowered herself to his lap, ignoring the s.h.i.+vers racing through her blood as she came in full contact with his icy form.
Pressing her cheek to his, hands compulsively exploring his back, his nape, she fit her lips to the hollow beneath his ear and began to speak.
”Don't leave me, Ryllio, for I will never give up trying to set you free. If I have to find a portal into the world of the Fey, seek out Mab herself and beg for your release, I will do it.”
Still all she heard was the evil wind shaking and creaking in the old forest-all she felt was the numbing cold surrounding her-but she would not be deterred, would not cease until she knew he listened.
”Kestor wished me peace in my dream tonight, but I will not know true peace or even seek it until the spell binding you here is broken. Hold on to that hope, my darling, until I come back to you again.”
She was s.h.i.+vering, almost turning to stone with him. Soon she would have to leave, find shelter and warmth, or forfeit to death her quest to find the key to unlock his prison. There was one more thing she had to tell him before the unrelenting cold forced her back to the village. Settling even closer, she cradled his cheeks in her hands and looked into his unseeing eyes.
”When you told me not to come back, when you sent me away, I should never have listened. Come back to me, Ryllio, as I have come back to you. I love you too much to let you go now, or ever.”
Leaning forward, she pressed her lips to his in one final, desperate gesture.
Pulling away, she gave him a last lingering look, committing every plane and curve of his face to memory before placing her hands on his shoulders and trying to rise.
And found she could not move.
Chapter Nine
A rush of warm, herb-scented air gusted through the hollow as dawn burst upon them, gilding Ryllio's face with a golden, ruddy glow. Captivated by the suddenly life-like look of his skin, Myrina stilled, lifting one hand to touch her fingers to his cheek. When he blinked and Myrina found herself looking into the beautiful green eyes of her dreams, a little scream of mingled fear and happiness burst from her throat.
It was his arms wrapped tight around her, she now realised, stemming her ability to rise. And as she felt the supple heat of his skin beneath her hand, the s.h.i.+ft of hard muscles under her legs, the rapid rise and fall of his chest as he breathed, tears overcame her to flow freely down her cheeks.
There was no need for words. Ryllio lowered his head just as she raised her mouth to his and, as their lips touched, clung, parted, only to come together again, Myrina thought her heart would explode with joy.
Over and over they kissed, unable to get enough of each other. Where before she s.h.i.+vered with cold, now it was the fire of their pa.s.sion warming her from within. Ryllio's trembling hands swept beneath her cloak, stroking and exploring her back and arms and legs, fingers tangling into her hair, touching her cheeks. Myrina could only hold him close, closer, leaning into his broad, strong chest, wanting never to let him go.
Their kisses grew more frantic. Myrina opened her lips, welcoming the wicked sweep of his tongue, tangling hers with it, demanding even more intimacy. As he pulled back, she followed, catching his lower lip between her teeth, caressing it with gentle licks that drew him, sighing, back to her mouth.
Ryllio insinuated his hands between them, cupping her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, thumbs unerringly finding the straining tips through wool and linen. Suddenly unable to catch her breath, Myrina gasped, arched into the loving, sensuous touch.
His c.o.c.k was hard against her stomach, and she slid her arms down his sides, across his rippling stomach, until she cupped the pulsating length of it in her palms. With a moan, Ryllio broke free from her mouth, pressing his lips to her eyes and cheeks, trailing a string of kisses to her ear, down to her neck. Between each touch of his mouth he whispered her name and confessed his love, in a chanted spell of binding and protection.
Ryllio was free, alive, in her arms.
The knowledge broke over Myrina with the force of a gale, heightening the already overwhelming need to merge herself with him in every way. Racked with pa.s.sion, she pulled at her skirts, lifting them from around her legs. Ryllio gripped her hands, stopping her, and when she looked up into his intensely gleaming eyes, Myrina felt her heart lurch.
”Wait, love.” He was trembling, his voice rough with longing, but he held her still with gentle strength. ”There is no need to rush. Let me make sure you are ready.”
Myrina felt a smile curve her lips and a sweet tender place open in her heart. Holding his gaze, she replied, ”I've been waiting for you, Ryllio, wanting you since the first time I heard your voice.”
Braced against his hands, she rose onto her toes, and Ryllio shuddered with her as the tip of his erection slipped between the lips of her quim. Tilting her hips so as to position them perfectly, Myrina felt her thighs tremble, the inexorable pull of ecstasy making her pulse deep inside. Ryllio's face tightened, his eyes becoming feverish, the breath rasping from his throat, but he held completely still beneath her slow and unrelenting seduction. Myrina leaned forward, touching her lips to his as she whispered, ”Will you make me wait longer, my love?”
”No,” he sighed. ”No.”
But still he didn't move, ceding the choice to her, letting her know his paramount desire was for her-her need, her pleasure. The beauty of it, the glorious sense of control, filled her to overflowing, made her love for him deepen even more.
Slowly she pressed down, her body flowering open to receive his c.o.c.k, feeling him stretch and fill her until they clung together, so intrinsically joined she knew she would never again be whole without him.
Instinctively she began to move, rock, undulate. Ryllio released her hands to cup her cheeks, kissing her over and over, his tongue keeping pace with the motion of their hips. The sensations swirled, built, climbed inside, demanding she move faster, harder, against him.
Ryllio responded to her unspoken need, thrusting up to meet each downward plunge, giving her all she wanted and more. Until, battered by a surfeit of pleasure, Myrina felt ecstasy explode within and, crying out his name, surrendered to the sweet unstoppable joy.
Still reeling from the force of her release, she felt Ryllio's arms s.h.i.+ft as he rose, lifting her unresisting body, still intimately joined with his. Wrapping her legs as securely as she could around his waist, Myrina let her cheek fall to his shoulder and forced her eyes open as he walked out of the bracken.
What she saw as he carried her into the glade should not really have been surprising, but nonetheless it was. The snow had disappeared, and the hollow was once more green with gra.s.s and ferns, paved with flowers of every type and hue.
Kneeling once more, Ryllio laid her gently down amongst the blooms and unclasped her cloak from around her neck. As his fingers found the first b.u.t.ton of her overdress, he hesitated, bending closer to whisper, ”I want to see you, touch you, kiss you everywhere, but we have company.”
Myrina turned her head to where he gestured, saw the red buck and white doe in the shadow of the trees, silently watching. And she knew where they were, most likely so would Kestor be, always waiting for a chance to spy upon them.
Looking up at Ryllio, feeling the still-urgent pulse of his flesh inside her, she felt a flush of renewed desire burn through her veins. There was no hint of fear or shame when she imagined the king and queen of the faeries, or Kestor, watching Ryllio and her together. In fact it made the moment sweeter, hotter-even more magical than it already was.
Brus.h.i.+ng his hands aside, she unb.u.t.toned her bodice herself and, shrugging it off, murmured, ”It seems only fair, considering you spied upon them. Besides, I care not if the entire world of Faery wants to watch. All I need right now is you.”
Ryllio made a sound, half-laugh, half-groan. ”What happened to the shy maid I once saw blus.h.i.+ng as she touched herself before me?”
Myrina looked deep into his twinkling eyes and, smiling, replied, ”You awoke her pa.s.sion and changed her blushes of embarra.s.sment to those of desire. Is that not a good thing?”
”A very, very good thing indeed,” he replied, kissing her lips and setting himself back to the task of undressing her.
There in the light of dawn, surrounded by the scent of flowers, she lay supine beneath Ryllio's tender, thorough exploration of her body, absorbing each breath and sigh and sound of pleasure into her overly sensitive skin. Although she could no longer hear him in her mind, the connection between them was as strong and sure as ever before. s.h.i.+fting, flowing beneath his hands and lips, Myrina knew instinctively his yearning to simply touch and kiss her, to bring her pleasure over and over again.
Fantasy became reality, and Myrina closed her eyes against the almost painful glory of his lips against her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and belly, the swirl of his tongue around her navel, sliding down, parting her quim. His groan of bliss rushed across and into her flesh, and she looked along her body, meeting his fever-bright gaze. The look in his eyes, the love and pa.s.sion, unravelled the last of her control, and she reached for him, threading her fingers into the dark, silken hair, lifting her hips as she pulled him closer.
Open-mouthed, he kissed her slick flesh, the flicking and las.h.i.+ng of his tongue making her cry out his name as she strained and arched and quaked. Wider she spread herself for him, and wider yet, inviting, demanding, drowning in the fervent intimacy.
When she could no longer bear not to touch him a moment more, he came to her, surrendering his body even though the desperation of his desire sent tiny s.h.i.+vers of need through his muscles to ripple across his skin.