With a thrust of his arm, his fingers push even deeper into me, and he moves his other hand from where it was holding the back of my neck and places his palm flat against my abdomen. The static is instant both inside and outside my body, sparking on every millimetre of my clit, while inside my walls start to clench, tightening in on his fingers.
The entire room is lost to me. Everything is lost to me. All I can feel are the places where our skin touches. My hand on his cock. His fingers in me. Our mouths and tongues in uncontrollable chaos.
‘I’m close,’ I whisper, desperate for him to fill me before I come. ‘I want you inside of me. I’m so close, Kyor.’ His name comes out as a breathy moan.
‘Not yet. Come for me again. Let go for me. I’ve got you.’
A scream threatens to leave my lungs, but though we each enjoy hearing the other moan, I’m aware enough to know that we can’t risk getting caught.
Any second now I’m going to break. I’m going to let loose and unravel, shattering into a million pieces, and I doubt I’ll ever be put back the same. I try to focus on him, desperately trying to keep a consistent rhythm up and down his length, in the hope of hearing that guttural groan rise from his throat again. But I can barely focus.
My head rolls back and the waves rush through my body, one, then another, and another. I bite down on the inside of my cheek. Next time I’ll scream for him. Next time. Because this can’t be it. It can’t be. My legs quake and all their strength evaporates as he holds up my entire body. Finally, when the last tremor subsides, I look at him.
He’s looking at me in wonder. Tenderly. ‘I don’t know how I thought I could ever fight this.’ His eyes are locked on me as he brushes a strand of my hair from where it’s fallen over my forehead. ‘That was incredible.’
‘Was?’ I raise my eyebrow. ‘Oh, we’re not done. Not by half. It’s your turn now.’
I go to kneel, but he holds me up and shakes his head.
‘Not like that. Not on your knees for me. Not ever.’
Instead, he sits back with his legs over the edge of the ottoman. It’s the first time I’ve seen the full length of his cock exposed like this, and the urge to drop down on my knees and take it in my mouth is overwhelming. But if that’s not the way he wants it, then I’m going to have to get creative. Fighting the desire to just slide his length all the way into me, I place myhand on his chest and push him down so that he’s lying on his back. Yet as my fingers reach for his cock, I stop.
‘Did you hear that?’ I ask, frowning.
A line of confusion forms on his forehead. He sits up. ‘Is someone coming? Because I already told you?—’
‘No, it sounded like a?—’
This time it’s clear. A scream rips through the doors. And not the kind I just spent the last thirty minutes suppressing.
The memories of another bloody ball arise in both of our heads, and soundlessly we hastily stand and start tucking ourselves away.
Another scream tears through the quiet, and I freeze as I recognise the voice.
‘Llinos! The Gods help us! Llinos!’
Chapter 55
I’m still pulling up the sides of my dress as I race out of the room and back into the ballroom, where the music has stopped and people are edging close to the walls, as if it’s another rebel attack. Only there’s no flame-throwing and no screaming other than from a small cluster of people gathered on the edge of the dance floor. My people. Benny, Jonas, and Caroline.
‘Help me!’ Caz’s voice resonates around the cavernous space. ‘Please! Someone help me!’
‘What’s happening?’ I cast my question into the air, not caring who answers as long as someone does.
Benny is on the ground with Llin. Her skin is a sallow yellow tone, with bile-green foam bubbling at her lips as she struggles to speak through her coughs.
‘What’s happening?’ I ask again.
‘I don’t know. I don’t know!’ Benny clutches his head. ‘They were dancing. They were just dancing! Then Caz was yelling and … I don’t know. What’s happening to her?’
‘She just started coughing. She couldn’t stop. We need a healer. We need a healer. Where is a fucking healer?’ As Caroline screams her demand, a woman in a sapphire gown pushes past me to place her hands above Llin’s chest. A healer.
‘Give her some space,’ Jonas says, but none of us move. I can’t take my eyes off Llin as she struggles to speak. The part of her lips that’s visiblebeneath the foam seems to have taken on a bluish hue, as if there’s no air reaching her lungs. Fear writhes through me.
I kneel next to her. ‘It’s okay, Llinos. It’s okay.’ My voice quivers and tears begin to fall down my cheeks. ‘Just breathe, okay? You don’t need to speak. Just breathe, honey.’
‘Can’t,’ Llin says, a cough wracking her. ‘Can’t breathe.’
