HeartoftheOracle (3 page)

"This is fun." She was smiling, having collected another experience that she was missing to check off her mental checklist.

"It is. I can hardly wait for the wedding ball when we return home." He swung her off balance and held her in a backbend that caused blood to rush to her head.

"The wedding ball?"

"It's a Sisithan tradition to introduce a new member of the royal family with a ball."

"You are getting married?"

He grinned. "Yes, I am and so are you before we leave this ship." His eyes were intense, the bright green staring into her soul. "Do you understand what I am saying?"

He righted her and held her tightly against him. His arousal once again clearly in evidence against her abdomen.

She swallowed, "I think so. According to the traditions of my world, you need to be down on one or both knees."

He grinned. "I promise to kneel before you before the night is over. Now, what else did you look up today?"

This close to him, she couldn't dodge the question. "Sex."

"What did you find out?"

"It can be fun or disastrous, a bonding or separating experience, and can be done in a number of positions."

"That covers quite a bit."

He was going to continue talking, but she lunged up on her toes and kissed him. She tasted the dessert that they had shared and the essence that was Enders himself.

She felt his arms come around her and they were moving, but she wasn't keeping track of where he was going. She concentrated on the kiss and nothing else.

His hands stroked her spine and cupped her hips, pulling her tight against him, wrapping her legs around his hips. The pressure of his palms moved her hips until they were rocking against the ridge in his trousers and a tight shivering caught her by surprise.

She cried out into his mouth as spasms spiralled from the point of connection throughout her limbs in a surge of heat that went far beyond friction. He kept working her hips against him until her shuddering stopped.

The moment she calmed, slumping against him in boneless relief, he lowered her to a soft surface. He quickly removed his clothing and when she started to remove her gown, he stopped her by gripping her hands. "Allow me."

Enders pulled her hands away and pressed them to the bedding. "Now, for your second dance lesson, keep your hands on the bed. There will be a penalty if you don't, so please, adhere to the rules."

She bit her lip and watched as he opened the side tie of her gown. Lara expected him to part the cloth immediately, but instead, he lowered his head to the deep vee of her cleavage and he placed kisses along the edge of her neckline. With slow, controlled movements, he shifted the fabric from her inch by inch, kissing every bit of skin he exposed.

Lara's eyes widened in surprise as certain portions of her skin were far more sensitive than others. Her nipples had an electric connection to the small nub between her thighs and she felt a liquid slickness emerging from her as he licked and tugged at them in turn.

She had a thousand questions as to what he was going to do next, but nothing came out of her throat other than tiny squeaks as he ran his tongue down her torso to flick her navel. When his hands parted the gown below her waist, she shivered and tried to block him with her hands.

"I told you, Lara, hands on the bed."

Blushing furiously, she placed her hands to either side of her hips and gripped the bedding in desperation. He spread her thighs and without preamble, used his mouth to part the lips of her sex before he dove in and licked and sucked at her furiously.

The tension that she had felt earlier was building again, but this time, she got to the edge of it and he pulled away. The noise that she made was a heartfelt whine, but he sat her up, removed the rest of her dress and slipped off her shoes before flipping a white cloth across the bedding and laying her down on top of it.

She wanted to explore him, to touch that pale gold skin and wrap her hand around the pulsing cock that kept her attention, but he kept her hands next to her hips with a stern admonition for her to keep them there.

Enders parted her thighs and settled between them, the blunt head of his erection nudging against her for entrance.

Lara watched him go from stiffly suspending himself above her, to lowering his body along hers, the heat from his skin bled into hers and she arched to increase the contact that sent all of her nerves rioting.

Enders kissed her, a long, deep kiss that almost succeeded in distracting her from the slow entry that he was making into her core. She felt stretched, sore, but she ached for more of that elusive tension that had faded the moment he stopped touching her earlier.

He moved his mouth from hers and began to kiss his way down to her earlobe, stopping to lick at her left lobe an instant before he bit down sharply. There was pain in her ear and flash of pain inside her and as her ear slowly throbbed, so did her channel.

"You distracted me."

He kissed the wound he had left on her ear, but his body was shaking with tension. Sweat was forming on his shoulders and between them.

"I know. I am sorry for the pain. May I continue?"

She smiled and raised her hips to him. "Do you need to ask?"

He smiled, kissed her deeply and started a slow retreat and withdrawal that sent her senses from irritation to pleasure. Pain and pleasure blended for several strokes until the pleasure won out and she was rocking with him, rising with every thrust.

The rule to keep her hands on the bed was forgotten as she ran her hands over his slick back and held him tightly to her. As the tension built again, she moved with him and he responded by sliding into her harder, their bodies slapping together with every thrust.

The release of the winding tension snapped suddenly, sending her into a shuddering, gasping moan that locked her body around his as it pulsed and twisted against him. He groaned and jerked against her, his body shaking in a parody of hers.

Enders rested his forehead on hers as their bodies returned to a resting state. Lara smelled the coppery tang of blood, but she wasn't worried. This part of her research had been quite clear. First time, she would bleed. The hymen was destroyed and as soon as the tissue had recovered and retracted, she would be able to have sex again without the pain that he had helped to minimize.

Softly she whispered, "Thanks for that."

He lifted his head, "Out of all the women I have had intimate relations with that is the first time a woman has thanked me while I was still inside her."

She wasn't a fan of the idea of him with other women, but she explained, "For helping with the pain of the first time. I knew about it, but you handled it well."

His expression was surprised. "Um, you are welcome."

She smiled and ran her hands through his hair.

He sighed. "We are going to have to do something about you keeping your hands where I put them."

"I will work on it." She placed her hands on his shoulders and placed small kisses along his chin.

He groaned and rolled away from her. "We can't. Not until the physicians heal you and they are off duty until tomorrow."

She sighed, suddenly bereft and cold when he left her. She sat up and looked down, gasping as she saw the smears and streaks of blood on the fabric under her. "Oh, dear."

He cursed and quickly left the room while she jumped off the bed and tried to figure out what to do next.

He returned with a bowl and wet clothes, "Hold still."

"You are forever telling me to hold still. I was asleep over a century. I am tired of holding still. What are you doing?"

"Cleaning away the evidence of my crime." He knelt in front of her and wiped the blood and traces of semen from her skin.

She was intensely embarrassed, but she held still until he was done and then she grabbed for her gown.

"Where are you going?"

She swallowed and fought her way into the gown once again. "Back to my rooms. There isn't any bed for me here."

"You will share my bed. By the laws of the Sisithan, you are now my wife." He stood in front of the door and blocked her exit.

"What? I don't understand." She had heard him mention wedding before but had never imagined he was serious.

He carefully folded the white cloth with the large bloodstain and set it to one side. "Come to bed, Lara. I will explain everything."

He did, he explained everything. He explained how the Sisithan royal family had been friends with his parents and when they were murdered, he was taken in and made a prince. His Edinar blood had been hidden and the secret had remained until a Sisithan Oracle had told him that his true mate would remain waiting for him until he would rescue her.

His true mate was an Edinar and she had been waiting for him for a very long time.

With their heads close together in the darkness, they huddled together and shared their tales of their vastly different childhoods.

When he whispered his full name into her ear, she smiled as a natural sleep took her over. Saber. She had her Saber and she was able to let her frozen life become a distant memory.

The Miska would try and reclaim her, but now that she was wed to a member of the Sisithan royal family, they would be facing a large and powerful clan with far-reaching resources.

Her talent for the future remained hers, but as it was only showing her all the differing ways that Saber was planning to take her, she would keep all future predictions to herself.

Tomorrow, she would wake up and begin to plan for a new life, but thanks to her Prince Saber waking up was no longer just a dream.

About the Author

Viola Grace was born in Manitoba, Canada where she still resides today. She really likes it there. She has no pets and can barely keep sea monkeys alive for a reasonable amount of time. Her line of day job tends to be analytical which leaves her mind hopping to weave stories. No co-worker is safe from her character analysis. In keeping with busy hands are happy hands, her hobbies have included cross-stitch, needlepoint, quilting, costuming, cake decorating, baking, cooking, metal work, beading, sculpting, painting, doll making, henna tattoos, chain mail, and a few others that have been forgotten. It is quite often that these hobbies make their way into her tales.

Viola's fetishes include boots and corsetry, and her greatest weakness is her uncontrollable blush. Her writing actively pursues the Happily Ever After that so rarely occurs in nature. It is an admirable thing and something that we should all strive for. To find one that we truly like, as well as love.