The End of Eden

XIX

Eden is alive with excitement over the next three days. Vessel announces that night at dinner that there will be a special ritual, despite it not being the full moon, but he does not go into any details. Everyone speculates what it may be during dinner, except for Serra and I, who share a table close to where the kitchens are.

She shares a knowing smile with me, and I can't help but return it.

"We will be making a rosewater cake, with raspberries," she says, as she slices into the roasted chicken we made, and stabs green beans onto her fork before taking a bite. I nod, because for one thing, I can't bake, and another, I don't have much choice in the matter. The things that brides normally pick have already been chosen for me, but I don't mind one bit.

The next day, we start on the cake, and I'm tasked with going to the rose garden to gather handfuls of rose petals to make rosewater. Serra hands me a small basket and sends me on my way. Since it is morning time, I don't expect to see any vessels in their garden, but Two is there already.

He is under the trellised archway, and I stop short when I see him.

"Good morning," I say, as he watches me with his dark blue eyes.

"The morning is good now," he replies as I set down the basket next to my feet and pull out a knife. I start sawing on one of the rose stems, letting it fall head first into my hand before setting it gently into the basket. "Rosewater?"

I pause on cutting into the next stem. "How did you know?"

"It is a favorite among the vessels."

I smile, a blush creeping up my cheeks. The vessels favor roses. The vessels favor me. I restart on the stem, and I feel him move around me, his body pressing into my back, his arms wrapping around me. He breathes in a deep breath, inhaling the heady scent of roses around us, and me.

"You smell good enough to eat," he whispers in my ear, and I almost drop the cut rose from my hand, but instead I let it slide from my fingertips to the ground. it lands in a soft thunk.

"Why don't you?" I reply. I hear a rumble of a chuckle in his chest, as I start on the next rose, selecting a pretty deep red one. I smile at my sly remark, but it is also an invitation that Two does not shy away from. I can feel his mask slide up from his face, revealing just his mouth like they always do with me now, and I can feel his hot breath on my neck.

In a sultry motion, he licks me from collarbone to jaw, right over my racing pulse that I know he can feel on his tongue. My eyes close, my hand squeezing the handle of the knife, the red rose falling from my hand this time. He presses in flower to me, pushing my body against the trellis of roses, his hand sliding between my cheek and the rose thorns, surely smearing the black paint along my skin.

He breathes in my neck, and then I feel it; his mouth connects with my skin, and he sucks the delicate flesh into his mouth and bites down, eliciting a moan from me from the pain. His mouth detaches with a pop and he licks up my neck again.

"Sweetling, I've developed a taste for you," he growls. My knees go weak. It's probably the hottest thing anyone has ever said to me.

I can feel his hand on my waist shift, bunching up the dress I have on up as he gathers the fabric. The knife drops from my hand as he smooths his hand over the skin of my stomach, and then down into my panties. I wrap my fingers around the holes of the trellis, the rose thorns digging into my skin, pin pricks of pain in my palms as pleasure rolls through me as Two's finger slides over my clit, and slides between my wet lips.

His mouth finds mine, and his kiss is hot, fevered as his tongue lashes against mine, his fingers sliding inside me. It's broad daylight, and though most of the family within Eden is working, we do risk being seen by anyone who passes by.