Crystal Warrior: Through All Eternity (Atlantean Crystal Saga Book 1) (72 page)

‘
She certainly did not
,’ Torr grinned, tugging the towel free of her hands and reminding her how open their thoughts were to each other.

When he turned back to her after tossing her towel to join his, she knew he was thinking quite suddenly of apricots. Nothing had changed in all those millennia.

‘
Nothing,
’ he agreed, smiling into her bemused eyes. ‘
The children await. They are as impatient as I am, I think
!’

‘But I’m still taking the pill!’ she cried aloud.

Torr burst out laughing.

‘Well, that hasn’t changed either! Nor was Gynevra programmed fertile that first time!’

He held out his arms to her and Georgina went willingly into them and they fell together onto the bed.

‘Will you—stop taking the pill now?’

Georgina leant back and raised her eyebrows at him.

‘Unlike Taur who would have said, ’You
will
stop taking the pill now!’

Torr grinned.

‘I’m trying hard to stay in my own century.’

Georgina pressed a butterfly kiss to his lips.

‘Yes, I will stop taking the pill now.’

A rough growl rose up from his throat and he took her mouth with all the hunger he’d been so determinedly repressing. With lips, teeth and tongue he tortured a path down the sensitive skin of her neck to her breasts. Georgina’s hands grasped at the taut muscles of his back and arching helplessly into the maleness of him, she begged, ‘Oh Torr, take me, fill me. I need you. Now!’

‘Gently sweetheart. I want to be sure you’re ready for me. I want this first time to be perfect.’

‘I’m ready Torr, please! I’ve been ready from the moment I saw you on the monitor at Auckland airport back in August—and I didn’t know who you were then! Your breath on my skin is sensation enough that I’m going to explode any moment. I—want you—inside me—when that happens,’ she ended in a rough whisper.

With a guttural moan of capitulation, he rose up, spread her knees with his and made them one.

Georgina fought to keep her eyes open, to absorb every sensation from the moment; but the oneness, the joy, the sense of fulfillment was so overwhelming she was helpless against the tide of her body’s response. It was so out of this world she had no trouble believing she’d been waiting millennia for this moment.

As Torr felt Georgina’s incredible moist heat close around his manhood and absorbed the power of her unfurling about him, he knew the Universe shifted. The disparate parts of his psyche, his soul, jostled, converged, settled and for the first time in his twentieth century life he knew total acceptance, total peace, total joy.

Withdrawing, he thrust and thrust again, absorbing Georgina’s ecstasy into his being. Then, with her fingers grasping at the straining muscles of his buttocks, he thrust one more time, to shatter deep within her, filling her with an answering ecstasy that took them both to a place so far beyond the stars it could only be in their hearts.

Epilogue

The Dower House, Penreath, England, c.2011

‘Right kids,’ Georgina said, starting to clear the debris from the breakfast table, ‘brush teeth, check you’ve got lunches and homework in your bags—then you can go and say good morning to your father—in that order! He got home very late last night.’

Both faces lit up. Eight year old Ella squealed then they left the table and stormed up the stairs. Georgina watched with an indulgent smile and the familiar ‘happy pain’ around her heart. These children created of her love for Torr would grow into the characters that had been denied them in Atlantis. Solly, at eleven, would do as she’d suggested, because he’d already worked out that if he breezed through the necessaries he’d have more time with his dad. Ella would go straight to Torr, snuggle in beside him and wheedle and cajole until he told her all about his trip and produced the gifts she knew would be hidden in the bottom of his bag, which was still unpacked on the floor at the foot of the bed.

The pain in her heart became more poignant on those frequent occasions, as now, when a shadow figure, a lad with golden hair and emerald eyes, danced between and around them as if he would play, or trip them up. Sometimes either Solly or Ella would dance aside with gurgles of happy laughter, for they were often aware of his presence also. But today, focused as they were on getting to their father, the spirit of Ugo had to be content with following in their wake.

When Georgina and Taur sat in meditation and connected with the spirit of this only one of their three Atlantean children not to incarnate into their twenty-first century family, he would regard them with a loving and enigmatic smile and the gentle words, ‘It is well. I truly did have to follow a different path.’

It was thirteen years since Georgina had first laid eyes on Torr Montgomery; thirteen busy years in which she’d become a doting mother and a successful author. She’d set out to record the story of their Atlantean lifetime for their family and when he’d read it Torr had suggested she submit it for publication. No one had been more surprised than Georgina when ‘Born of the DragonBloods’ was accepted and published in 2004.

Ella came down the stairs yelling at her brother to hurry up or they’d be late.

‘Ella, settle down,’ Georgina said automatically as she placed the last of the plates in the dishwasher.

‘Dad’s got presents for us but we’re not allowed them till tonight!’ The mixture of excitement and disappointment in the child’s elfin face with its cap of dancing black curls, was comical.

Georgina gave her daughter a hug and fluffed her hair.

‘Something to look forward to, huh?—Right let’s go,’ she added as Solly bounded down the stairs with little thought for his neck should he slip.

Georgina didn’t envy their teachers today. Torr had been at a mining convention in the States for a week and had then gone on to a consulting job in Mexico for a further two weeks. The children had missed him dreadfully.

‘
Dreadfully
’ nowhere near described how she’d missed him.

‘I can’t find my homework!’ Ella’s wail cut through her thoughts.

‘You’re always losing your stuff,’ Solly complained, ‘and you haven’t even looked for it. It’s on the bench where you left it last night.’

Ella poked out her tongue.

‘Thank you, Solly,’ Georgina nudged the child.

Grudgingly Ella echoed her mother then grabbed up her book. Georgina hurried them out to the car. She loved her children with a fierceness bordering on obsession—but right now she just wanted to drop them at school and get back home to spend the day with Torr. It had been three weeks and he’d been so exhausted last night he’d been able to do no more than pull her fiercely into his arms, mutter that one day he’d really have to try apportating, before falling asleep with a very contented sigh.

When she got back he was in the pyramid pit they’d built off the side of the breakfast room, an exact replica of the one Case had designed for Georgina in her home in New Zealand. His hair was in need of a cut, its silky black curls with the sexy silver wings rumpled and begging for her fingers. Bare feet propped on the banquette, a short silk bath robe was belted at his waist and she knew there’d be nothing beneath it. An empty coffee mug rested on the back of the seat near his hand.

It was so good to see him there. So—right.

Dropping the keys on the table, she stepped into the pyramid, pausing for a second as she always did, to adjust to the subtle change in energy. Torr watched her from deceptively sleepy eyes, his lips curled in the special welcoming smile he kept for her alone.

She slid onto the seat beside him and their arms enclosed one another as naturally as water flowing around rock.

‘God, I’ve missed you, woman,’ he growled into her hair. His fingers followed his breath and in seconds he’d removed the barrette she’d hurriedly confined it with.

‘You’ve got clothes on!’ he complained as he began rootling about for the hem of her skivvy.

‘Couldn’t very well take the kids to school without them,’ Georgina mumbled as she pulled the skivvy over her head. His nimble fingers had released her bra before she’d got her head free.

‘You’ve become very slick at that, Mr. Montgomery!’

‘That’s ‘cos my woman is always damned impatient so I’ve had to hone my skills accordingly!’

His eyes, smoldering and laughing at the same time, were her undoing. As always.

Georgina scrambled unceremoniously out of her jeans. Her hands faltered at the waist of her panties, suddenly aware of the uncurtained windows of the pyramid. An avenue of elms and a small coppice was all that separated the Dower House from Penreath Castle where Torr’s brother lived with his wife.

‘We can’t. Not here! What if Pel or Carla came over?’

The smolder in Torr’s eyes darkened.

‘They wouldn’t dare. Besides, no one can see us down here,’ he laughed, clasping her in his arms and tumbling them both onto the sheepskin rug that filled the floor space inside the seats. The belt of his robe came undone and in seconds he’d disposed of Georgina’s panties. Rolling onto his back he drew her up onto his chest and Georgina couldn’t help thinking that nothing had changed in countless millennia. Only a disaster of the life-threatening kind could distract him when he wanted her—and after twelve years of marriage that knowledge was a deep joy in her heart.

‘It’s damned good to be home,’ he rasped, drawing her head down until their mouths fused with a power that never faded. ‘You know,’ he said after a minute, ‘we always seem to actually make love some place else when I take you here in the pyramid. Do you think we can
choose
where?’

Georgina felt delight fizz through her at the thought.

‘I’ve always wondered what it would be like to make love in the sarcophagus in the Great Pyramid. Could we try that?’

‘So long as you can guarantee we won’t actually materialize there. Might give a tourist a heart attack! Not to mention it could be embarrassing!’

Their eyes met in shared laughter, a treasure beyond price. Torr’s grip on her buttocks tightened and he groaned.

‘Just ride me, woman! Ride me to Khemu and back!’

Georgina leant forward and cupped his face in her hands.

‘I’d love to torture you and make you wait—and beg,’ she murmured, dropping teasing kisses onto his eyelids, nose, and the corners of his mouth. ‘But I’d only be torturing myself, so I guess you’re in luck today!’

‘You bet I am!’ he growled. Lifting her hips he brought her down on his throbbing erection.

It was sometime later that Torr complained of their cramped situation and his hunger.

‘Neither of which even entered your mind half an hour ago,’ Georgina teased.

‘Nor yours, my beautiful wife,’ he taunted straight back. ‘But it’s definitely time you became the
dutiful
wife and saw to your husband’s needs!’

‘I thought I just had,’ Georgina muttered, cocking an eyebrow at him.

Swatting her backside he pushed her up and together they scrambled upright, Georgina pulling on her top and knickers and Torr re-tying the belt of his robe.

‘What’s for brekky?’

‘Bacon and eggs?’

‘And waffles and golden syrup?’

‘Waffles and golden syrup!’

‘Mmm. We’re celebrating, I believe. We’ll have a bottle of champers as well.’

‘Champers for breakfast!’ Georgina laughed incredulously.

‘I’m serious. It’s not every day you get invited to the premiere of your wife’s movie!’

Suddenly she was in his arms and he was swinging her round and round and dancing her through the house singing, ‘Georgina Montgomery, author of the best-selling ‘Born of the DragonBloods’, which has been made into a block-busting movie! What would the world think if they knew it was a true story?’

Georgina shuddered and rolled her eyes.

‘There are very few people who would believe such a thing and I’d only be held up to ridicule if I claimed it. It’s not the point anyway.’

Torr let her feet touch the floor, held her close and smoothed her hair back from her face.

‘And what is?’ he asked quietly.

Sucking in air and chewing on her lip, Georgina twined her fingers in the soft curls on his chest.

‘Today legend says Atlantis was destroyed because her people had become lustful and greedy. I guess we both know that’s pretty much how it was. Temple ritual had lost its mysticism and true spiritual meaning and had simply become a showcase for the great DragonBlood studs. Beauty of form and figure and sexual virility were what defined a man, empowered him to hold high office, to rule. And the abuse of crystal power—’

Gina stopped speaking, strong emotion rising with the memories as it always did.

‘The abuse of crystal power equates almost exactly with the development of atomic power in our time. Fundamentally nothing has changed. The technology, religions and fashions are different but human nature has not progressed at all. It’s as if the world has come full circle and we’ve arrived back at that moment in time of—of—’

‘Critical mass,’ Georgina finished. ‘We’ve arrived back at the point in time when the Universal Energies can no longer sustain the old way and by some cataclysmic event will catapult mankind into a new understanding. A new Energy.’

‘Don’t you think that this time round there is enough awareness, enough enlightenment that the fundamental changes will take place on an energetic rather than a physical level? It’s what many are prophesying now.’

Georgina raised her eyes to Torr’s and their gazes meshed for a long moment, in total awareness of one another.

‘The only thing I’m really sure of is that love was the key in that lifetime and it still is. Love is the key to the Universe and when Mankind gets that, Mankind will finally have—evolved, I guess. And if ‘Born of the DragonBloods’ reminds only a few people of that then it’s all been worthwhile. It all had a purpose.’

‘Hmm,’ Torr breathed, leaning forward until their lips touched, whisper-soft as in a blessing. ‘Love is the key that unlocked our destiny.’

Back in the kitchen he finally brought them to a standstill and hugged her close, burying his face in her hair.

‘Have I told you how proud I am of you? God, Gina, I could never have imagined any of this that day I stepped off the plane with Fran back in ’98. I wonder what we would have done if we’d been able to foresee the future and choose to live it—or not?’

‘That’s easy,’ Georgina declared. Leaning back in his arms she looked deep into his eyes and smiled. ‘The old Georgina would have dropped her head and run—and she’d still be running. I’m so glad we had no choice.’

‘Me too,’ he whispered. ‘Me too.’

Working side by side, Torr cooked the bacon and eggs while Georgina made waffles and kept him talking of his trip and all that he’d seen, learnt and achieved. It wasn’t until they were sitting in front of empty plates, sipping the last of their wine that Torr brought the conversation back to the movie premiere.

‘I take it Ellen, Merryn, Case and the kids are coming over for the premiere?’ Torr said. ‘What about Fran and Gould?’

‘They’re coming!’ Georgina beamed.

‘They’re not!’ he answered incredulously.

The Barrington’s rarely left the beautiful islet they’d bought in the Bay of Islands north of Auckland. They now collaborated to write block-busting romantic adventures that were eagerly awaited by a huge worldwide readership, and deliberately fed their myth and mystique by being reclusive.

Fran had an extensive array of beautiful wigs and Gould’s plastic surgery had given him a face that was no longer horrifying to look at, but his voice would never be more than a harsh rasp in his throat. Crowds and publicity were anathema to him.

‘They are,’ Georgina averred. ‘Fran said she wouldn’t miss it for the world and ‘since it would never have been written if it hadn’t been for her and Gould going off to the Bahamas together’, she figures they should be there. She will love the publicity and Gould will hate it. But I guess, even after all this time, he’s still somewhat motivated by guilt. I’m glad he’s coming but I wish he’d get over it! We are—all four of us—happier as we are.’