Page 61 of Keeper of the Flame: Orrick

Kicking the door shut with his foot, he made his way over to the bed and deposited her atop it. After removing his weapon belt and boots, he ripped off his tunic and threw it to the floor.

“You look like a queen spread out across my bed,” he told her, drinking in her beauty.

“I feel like a queen in this elaborate bed.” She laughed and rolled around atop the bed that was big enough for two.

“I don’t usually let a lady lie on my bed with her shoes on, not to mention wet hose.”

“Then take them off for me,” she said, challenging him with a lusty smile.

“I think I will.” He removed each shoe and then reached under her gown, slowly sliding his hands up her legs. He rounded her thighs and untied the string at her waist, peeling back her wet hose, taking her braies with him at the same time. He purposely let his fingers graze over her womanly mound, rubbing against her silken curls along the way.

“You are taunting me, Orrick,” she whispered, her breathing becoming heavy. He felt a slickness between her thighs.

“I do this so seldom, that I don’t want to rush it,” he explained. “I want to enjoy every minute of it.” He tossed her undergarments to the floor and let his hands slide up her bare legs now.

“Oooh, I like that,” she said, spreading her legs for him as he got closer to the juncture of her thighs. With his hand cupping her most intimate spot, he leaned over her and kissed her neck, letting the kisses trail down to her cleavage.

“You smell like wildflowers,” he told her, sniffing her lightly and letting his tongue flick out to taste her skin. Ever so slowly, he untied the laces at her bodice and let his hand slip inside. “Does this please you, my lady?” he asked, rubbing his thumb over one nipple, making it go erect.

“My body speaks for itself,” she said, throwing back her head, but leaning back on her elbows.

Hope felt him flick his tongue across her taut nipple at the same time he slipped one finger between her womanly folds, being guided by her own liquid passion. It was intense in a good sort of way. She felt as if she were in ecstasy and he had yet to enter her with anything but his finger.

She cried out in passion when he used his fingers to arouse her in just the right way. “For not having done this in so long, it doesn’t seem as if you have forgotten how to please a lady,” she told him in a husky whisper.

“Well, it is the second time now in the last hundred years,” he said, pulling back, only to remove his trews and settling himself between her legs. He replaced his finger with his manhood and, before she knew it, they were making love again. But this time was different. Now they were in the comfort of his chamber atop a soft bed with the fire burning brightly in the hearth.

She felt evil when they finished and it wasn’t because she had acted like a harlot. It was the guilt of not telling him beforehand that she was the thief that stole his flame.

“That was unbelievable, Hope,” he said, laying next to her and kissing her once again. “I want you to know that without being tied to that blasted flame, I am starting to think I like it. Perhaps when I collect the flame from the boy, I can find another sorcerer who would be willing to take it. Or mayhap I can use my gazing crystal to find out the name of the person who is supposed to be Keeper right now. If I do, and if I can give away the flame, I want to marry you and have a family with you, Hope.”

“What?” she asked, sitting up on the bed, thinking she had heard him wrong. “You want to marry me?”

“I know you are betrothed to someone else, but I’m going to talk to your father and tell him how I feel about you. Perhaps he’ll let me marry you instead of giving you to Lord Irwin.”

“I – I would like that,” she admitted, feeing a warmth growing in her chest. “I want more than anything to be your wife and bear you many children.” But then her happiness was suddenly doused by a blanket of dread when she realized it wasn’t going to happen. “Orrick, I’m afraid I can’t.”

“You . . . can’t?” Orrick sat upright on the bed as well. “You mean you don’t want to?”

“Oh, nay, that’s not it at all. I do want it. Honest, I do.”

“Then why can’t you marry me and raise a family with me? Is it because you are afraid I won’t be able to give away the flame and that I’ll be immortal and you won’t? I’ll understand if it is, Hope. And I don’t expect you to agree to this crazy idea until I know for sure I can find the next Keeper of the Flame. But I cannot leave the flame in the hands of the boy. I won’t let him be hurt by the flame. He will not be able to handle the power and it will destroy him.”

Hope slid off the side of the bed, standing up and straightening her gown. Orrick got off the bed and donned his trews as they spoke.

“I understand that, Orrick, and I don’t disagree with you at all. Noah shouldn’t have the flame. I’ve read the book and I understand that no one under the age of ten should ever possess it.”

“You what? How can you have read the book?” he asked.

“I admit, I got it from Noah. He wanted me to read it to him and I started to, but we never had the chance to finish.”

“How can you have read the book?” he asked again. “I had a spell on it. Only one with magic who reads the title aloud can break the spell so the words make sense. Hope, are you telling me that you have magic?”

“I – I don’t think so,” she said, knowing that as long as she was Keeper of the Flame, she had more magic than anyone. “Orrick, I want to be able to have babies with you.”

“Are you telling me you are barren?”

“Nay. Not that I know of. I’m just saying . . . I don’t want anything to stop me from having children.”