The Wings of Ashtaroth

Chapter 18: Saviours: Section II: Bree

Bree: Tarefsa Tithmeseti: Qemassen

If ever there had been a place in Qemassen where Vivaen felt hidden, it was inside the garden maze on the island of Tarefsa Tithmeseti. The small boat she and Aurelius had boarded to reach the shore had been well worth the privacy. Birds made for better company than Semassenqa, and Aurelius had abandoned their only guards at the labyrinth's entrance.

Bree leaned in and kissed the side of Aurelius's cheek from atop his lap. "Who did you have to bribe to find time for us here?"

If one thing could be said about Massenqa robes, it was that they allowed for a certain amount of inappropriateness without getting fully undressed. Aurelius was sitting on a stone bench, Bree straddling him, her skirts flowing freely in the wind, exposing her nakedness as she enjoyed his. She kissed him lightly, teasingly, hoping she could convince him to stay awhile longer. Twice in so many days was too seldom. She needed him to be Aurelius for a time, not a king. She needed him to make her forget about Qanmi.

Aurelius grinned at her as he stroked his hands up and down her sides, his fingers tiny pinpricks tickling her skin. "I give orders now, not bribes."

Bree raised an eyebrow. "You make it sound like you're in charge. You're not, you know. It's you who gets all prettied up for the Ashenqa and parades through the streets pretending to be pious. The power's in their hands. The moment you forget that you're in danger."

Aurelius's laugh rippled down the labyrinth of trees. "The only one I'm in danger of is you."

Here it was—Aurelius's unkillable humour. Bree couldn't be serious for a moment without it rearing its face.

"How so?" She twisted one of his curls round her finger then let it spring back into place.

Aurelius's eyes were aglow. "I'm your courtesan, remember? I'm at your mercy. Aurelius eq-Eshmunen, tamed at last!"

Teasing was good. It was safe. It made the ghost of Qanmi's fondling fade from her flesh like water drying on sun kissed skin. "A tame courtesan isn't much fun."

She'd missed this for longer than the length of the war. Ever since they'd been crowned, it seemed as though they'd lost themselves to their titles. Sitting here, skin against skin, his hardness warm between her damp thighs, they could pretend to be those people again: the simple man and the mostly ordinary woman who'd seduced each other in Atlin all that time ago.

Home.

Bree parted her lips, words unspoken brimming at her edges. But then she stared into Aurelius's eyes, beautifully afraid of them, and swallowed her confession. Burying it behind her lust and her longing and her hardness was like submerging in the safety of a warm bath.

"I wish I could take you away," she said instead.

The lightness of Aurelius's smile made it obvious he enjoyed her coward's words as much as if she'd dared to be brave. "That was nearly lovesick of you. Are you sure you're well? Perhaps I should send for Qirani, so he can examine you thoroughly."

Bree drew up against him, her breasts grazing his chest. "I thought you might like to do that yourself."

He didn't raise to her bait, keeping his hands around her waist. "Might I? I thought I'd done my duty today."

"That's your duty I feel between my legs, is it?"

Aurelius's smile broadened. "Don't be stupid. That's my cock."

A flurry of wings bursting from the trees broke the quiet. Something besides the two of them must be hunting in the labyrinth.

"Then you do love me." Bree closed her eyes. She scratched her nails slowly over his thigh.