Page 144 of Insolence
Elodie
My climax washes over me while her eyebrows pinch together in helpless bliss.
She calls my name. Breathtaking beyond beauty, she’s more resplendent to me than the Mother of Destruction and Regeneration herself.
Her aura flares incandescent with the power of her orgasm. The groan dies in my lungs, my ability to move blunted. Mirror sigils glow on the backs of my hands, triggered by hers. By our soul-tie.
Time seems to slow. My life-force streams into her body like a song.
It’s a devastating rush. The sweetest suffering I’ve ever known. Then she’s bent over me. Her teeth are at my throat,clenching my flesh, vicious and vital. Bruising. Claiming. I am literally and figuratively paralyzed with awe.
“You are mine, Elodie,”her voice gentles inside my head.“You belong to me and me alone. The part of you that lives in this moment of pleasure will always be mine.” Her claim radiates like ripples spreading on water. “Nobody will ever wrest you from my possession again.”
Our climaxes wind down, and time resumes its normal flow. I know by the lust haze washing everything that I’m drowning in a sea of pheromones right about now.I’m yours, Tiss,I think, helplessly.Do with me whatever you wish.
But something’s wrong.
She gasps, posture going rigid on top of me. Abruptly and with no reason or explanation, reality splits.
Inside our shared connection, part of her grabs me and plunges. We tumble together, our essences still entwined, into a familiar… bittersweet… past.
El
Approximately 4.5 Years Ago
We lie together, our breath slowing. Passion cooling. My muscles unwind with a familiar, languid heaviness.
The nagging is back with force and urgency. It’s sorrow, I realize.Hersorrow. It stitches along our soul-tie, scraping at the chambers of my heart.
“Hey,” with some effort, my energy sapped, I run a hand down her back. “What did you want to talk about before? Because I know for a fact that you never wind up in this neighborhood by coincidence.”
She adjusts against me, twining her fingers in the short hair curling around my ears.
“You can just say it, love. Whatever it is, it can’t be that bad.”
She huffs and sits up, throwing her feet off the side of the bed. “Don’t people ever get angry when you pry?”
I heave myself over with all I’m worth. Roll onto my side, cheek propped on my hand. “Sweetheart, have I done something to make you angry?”
Her back is to me. Her posture sags. “No, I’m not angry. I suppose pretending to be makes it easier to say what I’m about to say.” When she glances over her shoulder, her eyes are red and brimming with tears.
Adrenaline floods me at the sudden distress gushing down our connection.
She’s already on her feet. “I’ve been married two years now.” Whirling around my bedroom, snatching her clothes from the floor. “My in-lawsneverstop asking about children.” Dragging layers of fine silk and lace over her body. “Every month I go without conceiving, their hounding gets worse.” She looks up, cramming her blouse into her skirt. “They’re relentless, Elodie.”
Nope.“El,” I say, clocking the shift back.
“El,” she echoes, sitting on the end of the bed to fuss with her garters and stockings. “They expected an heir by now. Every time my cycle starts, I am blamed.”
“Blamed for what? Not getting pregnant on their schedule?” Catching the shirt she tosses my way, I pull it over my head. “Do they want to watch or something? Make sure you’re doing it right?” Even I’m aware of the empty bravado dripping in my tone.
She rolls her eyes. My trousers land beside me, sending up a small cloud of ochre dust, followed by my crumpled undershorts. She’s through the bedroom door by the time I’ve got my pants pulled up.
“They know about us, El. They know aboutyou.” She spins on me.
Fuck.Cold dread stops me in my tracks.
We’ve tried to be discreet, but we both knew the risk of discovery was never marginal. It wouldn’t be such a problem if she were some lowborn commoner. Like me.
