Prince of Magic (18 page)

"I assumed as much," he said as he began to hastily disrobe.

"You could smile for me," she teased.

"Or I could not." This was, after all, a moment purely physical. He need not seduce her with smiles or sweet words. He need not pretend that the true love she had waited for had arrived. She was special, and he would not lie to her.

Not about this.

He joined her on the bed, and she uncapped the vial. Sitting before him, she poured a few grains of the powder onto her hand. "Smell," she whispered, moving her hand close to his nose.

He began to inhale deeply but she stopped him, moving her hand quickly away and laughing lightly. "You are not to take this up your nose, just enjoy the aroma."

Sian did not feel the need to enjoy the aroma of anything but Ariana's skin, but to appease her he sniffed at the concoction. It did smell nice. Perfumy, but not too sweet or flowery. Musky, but not too much so.

She laid her finger on the bridge of his nose and traced the length.

"I have a tremendous nose," he said. "Does it repulse you?"

"It's a fine, noble nose," she responded, "long and straight, perfectly shaped and impossible to ignore. And please be assured that nothing about you repulses me."

Ariana took the palm full of contraceptive powder and lowered it slowly. Her hand came to rest low on his belly, the backs of her fingers barely touching the erection that had driven him to this bed. She made small circles with her hand, rubbing the mixture into his skin and arousing him even further.

The scent grew stronger, and it, too, was arousing. Her hands grew warmer, and so did his skin.

"Are you certain this creation of yours will work?"

"Yes."

She sounded confident, which was good, since he no longer cared if her concoction would be effective or not. He no longer cared about anything but being inside this woman who was his in a way he had never expected. He was her teacher. He was the bearer of the foretelling of her death.

Tonight he was the man who had come to show her that there was much more than she'd ever imagined between a woman and a man.

He would not take as much time preparing her as he had on his first night in this bed, but he would not jump upon her like the animal he felt himself to be. Remembering the sweet taste of her breasts, he kissed her there and suckled on her nipples. Her reaction was strong, and she arched her back to bring herself closer to him, to urge him on.

His skin seemed to slide against hers. She was smooth and overly warm. He was rough and burning. They were very different, and yet they were the same. In strength, in need, in surrender, they were much the same. While he caressed her breasts, her hands wandered, tracing hills and valleys, teasing and tweaking and stimulating. The woman had lightning in her fingertips.

Ariana brought his mouth to hers, demanding a kiss. Taking what she wanted from him because he had lost all will to fight her. Had he ever thought her weak? Had he ever believed her to be powerless? Her tongue teased his, sweet and unbearably arousing. Her lips moved over his, and her hands… her hands continued to study.

She draped one leg across his hip, while they were still lying on their sides, and took the tip of his erection into her body. Just the tip, nothing more. She swayed there, teasing him and herself, telling him with little moans and catches of her breath that she liked what she felt, that she wanted more… but not yet.

Sian wanted to see more clearly the woman who was wrapped around him, so he cast a small circle of wizard's light over the bed. In this dim light her skin looked even paler than before, as flawless as ever but ghostly. Luminous. She had asked for no magic on his first night here, but tonight she did not seem to mind the light. Eyes opened, she watched him as she continued to move. While their eyes were locked, she took him an iota deeper, and the sensation was beyond any he had ever experienced.

He wondered if Diella would attempt to make an appearance. If she did, would he be able to stop? He saw only Ariana in the eyes that were locked to his. Diella could never fake the emotion he saw there. The warmth. The love that a woman like her gave when a man touched her in this way.

Not her true love, perhaps, but love just the same.

Unable to wait any longer, Sian rolled Ariana onto her back. He did not need to force her thighs apart in order to push inside her. She opened herself for him. She lifted her hips off the bed and swayed into him with a primal force that matched his own.

Their release was quick, powerful, and in harmony. Ariana's muscles milked him as the spasms of her release squeezed and fluttered along his length, and he climaxed while buried deep inside her. She did not scream, but instead whispered his name again and again, in a husky voice.

Movements slowed, breath came unevenly, and Sian became aware that the light he'd created for them had died. He had completely lost his focus. All of his power had been flowing into Ariana.

Perhaps he could not change her destiny, and he could not change the single-mindedness of her days. But the nights to come could be pleasurable. He could share with her the beauty she had been promised. As a woman. As a Fyne witch.

"How long is your potion effective?"

"Three days," she whispered. "Perhaps four, but three is safe. You can come back to me tomorrow night and—"

"Come back?" Already he was growing hard again, which was a surprise. Perhaps there was more to her concoction than preventing the creation of a child.

He did not have need of light to see her reaction. She was hurt. "You're not coming back tomorrow?"

"Coming back implies that at some point I will be leaving." He moved inside her, and she felt his growing length. "I'm not going anywhere, Ariana, unless you send me away. Unless you ask it of me, I won't leave you alone."

Ariana draped her body across Sian's, sated and happy. Happy, when the world was threatened and her life was not her own. Happy, when her future was more uncertain than it had ever been. Neither of them slept, but they were silent in an easy and companionable way, and had been for a while. Now and then Sian's hand would caress her in an almost absent manner, palm raking across her hip or her thigh. More than once she had brushed her fingers across his chest, or down his side.

Dawn was coming when Sian said, "I have an idea."

Ariana rose up and smiled down at him. "Another one?"

"Yes, another one." He sat up and left the bed, heading for her chest of drawers.

Ariana watched this beautiful naked man who seemed so at home in her room. She admired the shape of his body and the way he moved with such masculine grace and confidence. For now he was hers, and he did belong here, in this room, with her. And when she left? Well, she chose not to think about that any more than she had to.

He opened her top drawer and rummaged there.

"What are you looking for?" she asked.

"Rope, ribbon… a length of something sturdy."

Ariana slipped from the bed, as naked as Sian and as unconcerned by her state of undress as he seemed to be. She went to the opposite corner of the room, where her sewing kit was stored, and grabbed her basket of supplies. She was quite an accomplished seamstress, and passed many hours on one project or another. She placed the basket on the bed, and Sian joined her as she delved inside.

"I have ribbon." She snagged lengths of red and white ribbon from the basket, and placed them on the bed in a jumble. "Did you say rope?" Beneath a few decorative pieces, she had a tangled length of a rough twine.

Sian studied the ribbon and the twine, but when she pulled the last offering from the basket, he smiled.

He took the leather cord from her hand and hefted it. "This is perfect. Sturdy and soft." He shook out the cord, which was a good length.

Ariana took a step away from him. "You're not going to tie me up again, are you?"

"Not unless you ask me to," he responded, a hint of teasing in his usually serious voice.

"Then why do you need that leather cord?"

Sian ran the length of the cord through his hands, making sure there were no tangles. No knots. When that was done, he took the two ends in his hand and tossed the cord over her head, circling her waist and pulling her gently toward him.

"What are you doing?" she asked. "Oh, when you said you had an idea, I should've inquired as to what sort of idea you spoke of."

His expression was entirely serious now. "Your strength has grown, Ariana, but you are still stronger when I touch you."

"I know," she whispered.

"And yet I cannot be with you all the time."

His words stole a portion of her happiness. "I know that, too."

Sian lifted the cord so that it was caught behind her neck, trapping her hair. He then wrapped the cord around his neck, binding them together. Ariana grabbed one end and reached around his back, and he did the same. It wasn't long before they were closely and completely bound together by the thin leather cord.

"We have been one in body," he said, "and with a few spoken words we can be one in spirit as well. We can meld our energies, Ariana. You can invite a piece of me into you, through this simple cord and a few words, and in that way I will always be with you. Do you consent?"

"Yes." There was no hesitation in her voice, or in her heart.

As the sun rose, Sian spoke words she did not entirely understand. She caught a few familiar words, but she was not proficient in the language of the wizards. He spoke, and she felt the words as if they had a life of their own. She saw the energies his spell created, and they were beautiful… unlike anything she had ever seen before. Blue and pink and lavender, the energies swirled around them, separating them from the rest of the world and making them both stronger. Then the energies were not only around them, they were inside. Inside Sian and inside her, linking them together.

What they shared was as intimate as the moment he had entered her body, as precious and powerful as the release they had enjoyed. She closed her eyes and felt Sian join with her in an entirely new and different way. They shared one space, one heart, one soul.

He held out one hand and snapped another word, and the dagger he had left on her dresser flew across the room. The handle smacked neatly into his palm. With precision, he cut the cord that bound them together. Ariana wanted to stop him, because she was immediately and unexpectedly bereft at losing the connection.

When the cord had been cut, Sian tossed the dagger to the bed and began to gather the ends together. He wrapped the cord loosely around her neck three times, and tied the ends in a secure knot. When that was done, he directed Viet to do me same to me cord which was draped around his neck. They stood there in a shaft of warmth from the rising sun, naked but for the bits of leather cord around their throats.

Ariana touched the three strands of cord at her throat. "I don't feel you the way I did, when you said the words."

"No, but that doesn't mean I'm not there."

With this connection, perhaps she could become more proficient at the magic which had once required the touch of his hand and which was now sporadic at best.

"This doesn't mean I don't need you," she said briskly.

"You don't
need
me, Ariana. You never did."

He sounded and looked serious, but she knew without doubt that he was wrong. She needed Sian, and while she took comfort in the bit of cord that was wrapped around her throat, it was a poor substitute for the man she had come to love.