Marked For Magic (24 page)

Clothed in apprehension, and the embroidered yellow robe Cassandra had provided, Nin entered the darkened room. Moonlight spilled through massive mullion windows. The polished wooden boards were cool beneath her bare feet.

A movement in the shadows revealed Thabit’s broad-shouldered silhouette and picked out the silver stitching on his elaborate robe.

“Gods keep you both. Good journey to you,” Cassandra whispered.

“I hope so.”

Cassandra gave Nin’s shoulder a squeeze before she moved across the room to join Cecile and Tab behind the screen. They would make the music and offer their prayers to assist the ceremony.

Nin swallowed down the fresh swell of trepidation as she took a step forward into the center of the room. Hungry to touch him, she reached out.

Thabit joined her and lifted her hand to his mouth. “Are you ready to begin?”

She looked into his eyes. Tonight, they glittered, emerald bright, full of the power she had rarely seen, but even so, she needed the peace his arms could give her. “Hold me, Thabit, I am afraid.”

He crushed her to him. “Are you fearful of me or the act? Is it the ceremony?”

Only when his arms relaxed could she draw breath enough to speak. “Never you, it’s the ritual. What happens if I do it wrong?” She buried her face against his shoulder and inhaled his familiar scent in an effort to calm herself. So often, she had longed to be in his arms with the liberty to anticipate their lovemaking, dreamed of it some nights, but she’d not imagined a reality such as this, nor expected the moment would be so significant to anyone but them. Tonight so much depended on them. “What if I make a mistake?”

He cupped her chin in his palm. “No, my love, there will be no mistakes. Relax, it is time to begin.”

His smile caressed her. The first notes of the flute echoed around them and she drew a deep breath. Thabit moved to the table and picked something up.

She recognized what it was as he opened the small bag and joined him. He stepped in front trailing a trickle of the earth down to the floor. She remembered the creation of the wide space needed for the ritual from their work in the summer and walked the boundary with him. His robe swishing with his paces, he created the wide pattern on the floor.

“Gods of the waters, gods of the stones, gods of the skies and gods of the flame, hear our voices.” Thabits voice echoed.

The last word reverberated in her chest, and she joined the call to power. “Hear our voices.” Her first real part in the ceremony came now, and she focused on the first of the four candles set at intervals. A burst of flame, and the candle burned bright. The following three, in their tall holders, lit one after another. Each glowed, offering light within the sacred space.

She glanced at him, afraid she’d given too much energy to the flames.

Thabit looked over his shoulder. “See what you can do, my firebird?”

A tiny smile was the only answer she could give. He moved away to fetch a thick, white cloth that he placed on the floor. He’d never done so before, and the understanding of what it meant, shook her concentration. She swallowed hard.

They both went to the table to fetch the incense. She lifted a large metal tray and concentrated until a whiff of fragrant smoke rose. As she moved, following the outline of the pattern on the floor, she inhaled the sweet scented smoke deeply before she paused by one tall candle scone. “Sanctify this space. Sanctify out task.”

She placed the tray on the floor and returned to fetch another.

“Sanctify this space. Sanctify our task.” Thabit’s voice rang out much firmer than her own as he placed incense across from her.

The room took on a hazy glow by the time she had placed her second tray. Her shoulders relaxed, and her steps became a little unsteady under the influence of the powerful vapor.

He took her hand in his, lifted her palm, and kissed it before drawing her to where the blanket lay in the center of the pools of light.

“In the peace of this blessed space we work to create unity,” he said.

“Accept our offering and strengthen our union.” Her voice carried and a steady beat from a tabor matched the life beat in her chest.

Thabit faced her and his silver-stitched, wide indigo sleeves shimmered in the glow of the candle when he reached to bring her closer.

Her breath came in tiny silent sips as he unraveled the knot at her waist. He lifted the fabric at her shoulders and moved it back so the yellow robe slid to the floor and pooled at her feet. She did nothing to hide from him as his gaze slowly moved up from her knees, and as he finally lifted his chin, she was glad for the glow of appreciation in his eyes.

“Not afraid?”

She shook her head, too lost to the depth of love emanating from him to do more.

He cradled her in his embrace for a brief perfect moment where she forgot all the anxiety about what must come, before he took hold and lifted her up at arm’s length above him. Her hair streamed behind her head as the offering began. She drew rapid, deep breaths and closed her eyes from the flicker of shadows above her.

“Combined let our strength become one.” He strode to each candle with her balanced above him. His voice reverberated through her chest each time he spoke.

“Let our unity receive your blessings.” Her words shook.

She sighed as he set her on her feet for she couldn’t feel the gods had accepted her or what she offered.

Thabit cupped her chin in his palms and kissed her. She moved her mouth with his and the stirrings of passion warmed in her body. Her nipples grew hard and she wanted his touch.

“Balm.”

His thought prompted, and her stomach flipped. She had forgotten where they stood, and why. He released her mouth and moved from her embrace, took a deep breath and reached for the tasseled cord at his waist that held the indigo robe closed. The elaborately decorated fabric with its esoteric designs slipped from him in a rush as he shrugged his shoulders. The precious robe lay in a puddle on the floor behind him.

Candlelight glimmered on his skin. The deep blue tattoo of the owl in the center of his chest stood out in stark relief. The bird moved when he breathed. She loved the way the inked shapes flexed with his arm muscles. Everything about him sparked her desire, from the flat planes of his stomach and loins, down to the dark curling hair from where the length of his erection sprang. His thighs were powerful, his legs long, and his pale flesh gleamed. A wave of pleasure rippled through her, for no matter the cost she must pay, she could enjoy his beauty.

The music continued, had almost become part of her breath, as she reached out to caress him to see that he was real. Her fingers met firm, smooth skin and a jolt raced from her fingertips to her nipples.

He glowed like the insides of the shells of her bracelet, and every part of him was perfection. Each breath she drew juddered as she stroked down from the tattoo marked on his breast to the dark hair at the base of his stomach.

He reached for her hair, a soft caress.
“We must continue. The offering is done. Anointing is next.”

She stepped back from him and went to fetch the precious paste from the table. The unfamiliar round jar sat heavy in her hand.

Thabit moved to stand beside the white cloth, and her glance on him she fumbled as she opened as she set the open jar down. He smiled and for a second they could have been back at the tower on one of the days she’d forgotten part of a ritual. Except then he’d not have been naked and awaiting her touch.

She dipped one hand into the thick, gleaming paste, lifted some, and began the slow palm-to-palm rubbing movements with both hands to charge and warm it. “Gods protect the wearer with your power.”

She knelt in front of him, continuing the soft chant as the paste warmed with her body heat. He gave a jerked reflex at her first touch on his foot.

“Shall I go on?”

“Yes. I’ll try to control the twitches.”

The ache to touch him, to discover him, throbbed in her like the beat of the tabor, but at present, the ritual forbade purely sensual exploration. Keeping her gaze on his knees, she anointed his feet and ankles.

Slowly, she rubbed the precious ointment over his feet and up his calves. His skin glistened gemstone bright where she had covered him. Her fears lessened as she lost herself in concentration. Her movements unhurried and deft, she rubbed the gleam onto his flesh, moving up above his knees. She sucked in a deep breath when the swollen length of his erection twitched.

“Words,” he croaked. Small tremors shook through him and increased when she moved further up his thighs.

“Consecrate this flesh,” she whispered and looked up. The muscles she stroked tensed rigid. He had closed his eyes, his parted lips beckoning her kiss, and his chest moved so swiftly the owl tattoo seemed ready to fly.

“Guide the seeker of truth to the right path.” She dipped in the jar for more balm, and once the mixture warmed, she rose and stepped around him to anoint his back.

His chest moved to the steady rhythm of the drum with his deep breaths. She smeared the soft paste over his shoulders, down to his waist, and over his ass. She took great care that the shine met at the top of his gleaming thighs.

He gave a low groan.

Worried she’d done something wrong, she stood and stepped around to face him. His face gleamed with a sheen of sweat. Working quickly, she rubbed the paste on his hands and up his arms, then smeared the balm over the contours of his face. “Gods, protect this vessel of your will.” She rubbed her hands over his chest, traced over his dark nipples with her fingertips and caressed the owl. Concentrating so she left no gaps in the magical armor, she spread more of the warm paste over his stomach.

Suddenly aware only one part of him remained to cover, she slowed until her hand hovered above his erection. She inched her fingers with tiny hesitant movements down to the part of him she so wanted to caress but hardly dared touch.

At the last moment, her courage failed, and she closed her eyes when the rigid length of his erection slipped between her oiled palms. Her mind reverberated with his groan, and she had to look when he grasped her hand.

“No more or it will be over before we have begun.”

The sound of the bells startled her. They joined the low thrum of the tabor and soft sounds from the flute. Sheer terror she had made a mistake in the ceremony, or in the way she touched him, snapped into her lulled senses.

“No, you are faultless.”

She stepped back to face him and gave a little gasp, for now he looked more godlike than she had ever seen him. The golden flecks glittered on his skin. He seemed to ripple, to be filled with light. She caught her lip in her teeth, for power surged from him.

“My turn.”

She offered him the jar. Hunger for him throbbed deep in her skin.

He set the jar down and knelt in front of her. She sucked in a great tremulous gasp at the first touch of the cool salve on her feet.

“Consecrate this flesh.” He rubbed along both her ankles and down to her toes.

All hope to concentrate on the ritual vanished. Her only awareness was Thabit’s hands as he stroked his palms upward over her feet and beyond her ankles. Soft and smooth, he caressed over her calves. Her nipples hardened like beads, her skin sensitized to his touch.

He moved behind her and with steady, deliberate, firmness, covered her legs, thighs, and hips. She pressed her lips together to stifle any sound, but she couldn’t help the small whimper that escaped at the delicious touch of his palms on her rear. Each caress over her buttocks and up her back created shivers she could not still. He brushed up her spine from her waist to her neck and spread a layer of the soft paste over her shoulders.

She closed her eyes as he slipped his hands around her and covered her breasts. Unable to stop, she pushed forward, needing the firm contact. She moaned when he rolled her nipples between finger and thumb and sighed when he let go to coat over her collarbones. He moved around to face her. His smile gleamed, and he spread a thin coat of the hand-warmed unguent on her face.

The light in his eyes pulled her forward, and she stepped closer. “Guide the seeker of truth to the right path.” His voice wavered for a moment before it took on the depth of power she recognized. He smeared the balm gently onto her nose. “Let no harm befall this body or spirit.”

The words were a dim connection to reality. He smothered the front of her body in the glistening paste, and then, while she dragged in a breath, put and arm around her waist to support her. She gasped when he parted her legs and slid his fingers between her thighs. He teased with feather light caresses, and she pressed herself against his hand. A steady pulse thudded between her thighs and increased in intensity. She needed him to continue, needed more. He tightened his grip on her.

“Thabit, please don’t stop,” she gasped and arched her back, thrusting her hips forward.

“Never, my love.”
He slid a finger inside her. “Gods, protect the vessel of your will.”

She clenched tight and sucked in a breath before seeking the comfort of his lips. Deep pulses thundered with her heartbeat as he rubbed and stroked.

They sank down onto the blanket. When the heat of his erection blazed on her stomach, she curled her fingers around his length. “Combined, let our strength be one,” she began, and he nudged her thighs wider with his knee.

“Combined, let our strength be one.” He continued with the words of the incantation, settling over her, angling the head of his erection against her entrance.

The pleasure renewed with his gentle nudges. Never had she thought he could do this to her. She fumbled the words of the incantation because wave after wave of excitement rolled over her.

“Yes, my love, go with it.”

She cried out and moaned with the sweet sensation.

His unsteady voice took over the incantation.

He clasped her tight and pushed his erection deeper. She muffled her cry of surprise on his shoulder. Ice and flame warred in her skin. He withdrew and entered again, his movements a forceful, rhythmic match for the now powerful beat of the tabor.