I don’t want to hurt you. Please believe me…
“Then wait no more,” Dari murmured. She walked up the steps to his colossal raised bed. Deciding to put from her mind the choice she would soon have to make—leastways for this one eve—she turned on her heel and faced Gio. “I’m sorry I cannot offer you my channel for seven more years, but mayhap you will still enjoy this moon-rising together.”
“I will cherish it always.”
His words affected her mightily for she felt tears gather at the backs of her eyes. Blinking them away, she smiled sweetly at the warrior who was making her come to love him whether he realized as much or not.
Gio Z’an Tar. Had someone told her afore she was removed to Arak that one day she would stand afore him feeling love in her hearts, she would have believed them to be daft. Yet here she was, doing that very thing, and feeling so much love as to burst with it.
Dari gasped as her clothes fell to the floor. The breathy sound was not one of shock, but arousal. Having grown up in Trystonni culture, she knew already that a warrior could mentally summon inanimate objects from his true Sacred Mate’s body. He was the only male in all of the galaxies and dimensions of time and space who could… and she was the only female in all of the worlds such would work upon.
Gio’s lavender gaze shown bright as he slowly walked up the steps that led to where she stood. He mentally summoned off his own clothes, giving Dari her first pause. Oh my…
‘Twas enormous, his man-root. Leastways, so was the rest of him. Gigantic or no, he was beautiful. So incredibly, masculinely perfect. Standing well over sevenYeti-feetin height, he towered over her much smaller frame. Heavily muscled with nary an inch of excess fat about him, she knew he could easily cause her injury—even death did he wish it—yet she also realized such were things he would never do. Her hearts thumped at the mere sight of his handsome face, those lavender eyes of his nigh unto making her swoon.
She loved him. There was no sense in denying that truth. Whether or not she kept her vow amongst cousins, whether or not she absconded from Arak… none of it changed the love she felt for him. Fully acknowledging the depth and breadth of that love for the first time, her eyes once again misted up with unshed tears. Yet again, and however unwanted, confusion stole over her.
Swallowing past the knot of emotion in her throat, Dari felt the sudden need to flee Gio’s presence. As if sensing her desire to bolt, he pulled her comparatively tiny frame in closer to him and wrapped her in his embrace.
Dari couldn’t help herself. She cried.
When Gio did naught but hold her tighter, Dari’s cries turned into full body sobs. She realized he like as not believed her to be frightened of the impending gentling, though in truth she was not afraid of the act itself. ‘Twas all the competing emotions such an intimacy would likely conjure up that terrified her.
“’Tis sorry I am,” she gasped against his chest. Oh how she hated lying to him! “I am j-just a wee bit scared,” she hedged. ‘Twas the truth, aye, just not the whole of it. “Please forgive—”
“Shhh,” Gio gently interrupted. He picked her up that he might place his head atop hers. “We will go as slowly as you need to.”
How can I run from you when you show me such kindness? How can I even think to hurt you with deceptiveness?
“I-I give you my thanks,” Dari said simply.
They stood there together for what felt at once an eternity and aNuba-second. Gio continued to hold her tightly, making her feel secure in his steady embrace. He held her as she cried, as her body-racking sobs lowered into sniffles, until they were no more. ‘Twas time to think about the morrow on the morrow and live this eve to its fullest.
Feeling the fullness of his erection against her belly, the princess reached between them and took his man-root into her grasp. Gio hissed in reaction, clearly having not expected as much.
“Dari,” he said hoarsely. “This eve is about you. Not about me.”
She slowly lifted her head until their gazes met. “Can it not be about us both?”
He kissed her in response, pulling her impossibly closer to him as he walked them toward his raised bed. Gio held onto her like the most precious of treasures as he laid her down atop it. Standing up, his lavender gaze raked over her entire nude body before narrowing in desire. He stared at her woman’s channel o’erly long, knowing he would only get to see it in the eves.
“You are the most beautiful female in all of the galaxies,” he rasped. “And I am the luckiest of warriors.”
She didn’t need to be gentled to his touch. Leastways, she craved it. His words increased her desire a thousandfold.
The raised bed dipped as Gio climbed atop it. Dari spread her legs wide, her virgin channel on full display for his viewing pleasure. He took his time staring at it, which only further heightened the sexual tension between them. Her breathing growing as heavy as his, Dari’s dark nipples jutted up, stabbing the air and snagging his attention.
He hadn’t even touched her yet and already she wanted to couple. Gio had the right of it: did she not run ‘twould be a painfully long seven years until they could mate.
“Touch me,” Dari whispered. Her breasts heaved up and down in time with her breathing. “Please.”
Gio settled his battle-scarred body between her welcoming thighs. He was careful to keep his man-part away from her channel, making her ache for him all the more. His hands reached out for her breasts and cupped them. Her once small globes had developed o’er the years into a full, lush bosom—an event his eyes seemed to appreciate.
His thumbs ran over her erect nipples, eliciting a low moan from the princess. She instinctively arched her back, wanting him to suck on them.
“You are mine, Dari Q’ana Tal,” Gio said softly. He waited for her languid gaze to find his. “I cannot be without you,ty’ka.”
She was given no time to respond. His tongue darted out and snaked around one jutting nipple before drawing it into the heat of his mouth. Dari whimpered in response, the feeling unlike any pleasure she’d ever before known. He teased and toyed with it, rolling it around his tongue afore suckling from it.
