Aurora's Promise (29 page)

Placing his hands on her hips, he pulled back and then
thrust in once more slow and deep. He rotated his hips, shifting his cock
inside her and making sure she was well coated for the fucking to come.

Connyn groaned as her back channel wrapped around him with a
grip that teased his fantasies and compelled him to ride her hard. One last
time he paused, soaking in the sensations of being fully embedded in his mate’s
ass, feeling her body tense in need and anticipation for the ecstasy he was
going to bring it.

“God…Connyn.” She sunk her fingers into the ground and then
fisted them so tightly the dark green juice of the moss seeped between her
fingers.

He rocked forward just enough to ripple the water around her
pussy and his balls, his eyes narrowing with the sharp swell of pleasure the
motion granted. She countered by arching up a fraction more and clenching her
muscles making the edge of his vision waver with a sharp stab of ecstasy.

The preparation and teasing were done. With one hand he held
her hip to keep her steady and in place so he wouldn’t ram her into the side of
the pool. The other he slid around and over her pussy, pushing between her
labia with two fingers to stroke the sides of her clit.

“Oh, that’s good,” she said, wiggling her ass. “But damn it,
I need—
yes
!”

He knew what she needed. What they both needed. What she had
demanded and his body commanded. And he gave it to her.

Again and again he thrust hard into the tight hole, watched
it give around his cock, felt the smack of her ass cheeks and the slap of the
water merge with the resistance of her anus along the length of his cock every
time he plunged into her. He drove into her again. His desire relentless. His
need savage. He tugged on her clit as his body slammed against hers. Again, the
undulation of her inner muscles reacting to the dildo sent tiny pulsating
flutters rippling around his cock. That delicate throbbing danced around his
erection as he thrust roughly into her, his body beginning to yield to the
climax he’d been denying. He’d surrender with pleasure, but he’d take his mate
with him.

Pinching her clit between his fingers and then tugging it
away from her body, he watched his cock sink hard and fast into Aurora one
final time before the clawing streams of ecstasy rushed through his veins. Even
as his cum poured into her ass, she bucked and cried out, her muscles
tightening, her ass clenching around his cock as she hovered, cresting the edge
of her orgasm. Every tendon and ligament strained and taut as she threw her
head back, her long dark hair lashing across her back like so many strips of
wet silk.

Aurora screamed as her body flushed with the sudden heat of
her climax. Her pussy so hot in his hand, her ass rocking against him,
squeezing him.

His mate pulled him with her through the shattering streams
of ecstasy. The sensations were so violent, so primitive and raw, they left no
piece of his heart unclaimed, no part of his soul untouched. Unable, unwilling
to do anything less, he released himself to the consuming conflagration,
letting the explosion roll through him, its roar deafening, its conquest
absolute.

Aurora rolled over and watched the flowering ivy wave gently
in the breeze. Hanging down from one of the balcony windows, it swayed and a
golden petal drifted to the floor. A twinge of her well-used muscles made her
smile. She reached down between her legs and slid her fingers along her labia,
finding herself warm and moist.

After last night she wasn’t interested in making herself
come this morning. She didn’t know how she got back, other than assuming Connyn
carried her. The last thing she remembered was Connyn lifting her out of the
pool and wrapping her in the cloak she’d worn that day. At some point, she’d
make all appropriate public and private apologies, but after being fucked into
near oblivion, she’d have been mortified to face anyone last night.

She started to curl her knees up closer to her chest but
stopped when the movement caused a slight ache in her ass, a shadowy reminder
of how Connyn had invaded her body so damn…
amazingly.
Those portals held
more than a few surprises.

The sweet morning breeze brushed aside the ivy again,
allowing a capricious ray of sun to dart through the foliage. It danced across
the other side of the bed and caught her eye with a red flash. She turned her
head and found a large pendant had been carefully cushioned in the center of
Connyn’s pillow. The jewel was the size of a little child’s fist, deep red and
cut in such a way as to catch the light no matter which way it was turned. The
only flaw, if it could be called that, was that the stone had been perfectly
halved, probably severed to lie flat when worn.

The soft musical tinging that floated through the air
announced Cait’s entrance. Aurora had started to learn the tones that signaled
the different personnel who had clearance to come through the door to the suite
when it wasn’t locked.

“Come in,” she said, still turning the gem over in her hand.

A few moments later Cait appeared but stopped in the doorway
and stood with her hands clasped together, her eyes downcast. “I was told you
might want some help getting dressed for the presentation before the Council.”

Oh shit!
She’d actually forgotten. Mind-blowing
orgasms apparently did just that. They blew one’s mind. On the good side, she’d
gotten a wonderful night’s sleep, but now… “
Well shit.”

Cait glanced up nervously, her big brown eyes filled with
apprehension. Immediately she looked back down. “But I would understand if you’d
prefer another to assist you.”

“What?” Aurora stopped scooting out of the bed, the
bedspread wrapped around her. “I didn’t mean you. It’s just that…” She trailed
off as Cait seemed to shrink in on herself with every word. Gathering the
material at her breasts, she shuffled around the bed to stand in front of Cait.
“Why would I want someone else?”

The young woman started to say something, swallowed what
sounded suspiciously like a sob and then remained quiet. Aurora put her hand on
Cait’s arm. “Cait, talk to me. What’s wrong?”

“It was my fault you went through the portals—”

“No.” Aurora shook her head. “Why would you think that?”
When Cait didn’t answer, Aurora dropped her hand. “Cait, please talk to me. I
don’t understand why you’d say that.”

“If I hadn’t told you about them, you wouldn’t have run off.
You could have been hurt. You could have—”

“Wait wait wait. What I do,
whatever
I did, was never
and will never be your fault. You weren’t the only one to mention portals to me
and besides, I’m an adult. Well able to accept responsibility for my own
actions.”

“But the Royals—”

“Don’t blame you either. I won’t let them. You’ve done
nothing but help me since I got here and if you don’t stop feeling guilty, I’ll
be very upset. Besides, if Connyn had taken ten minutes to explain certain
realities around here, we wouldn’t have had this little problem in the first
place.”

Cait couldn’t have looked more bewildered if she had tried.
Aurora decided to go on the offensive. “And now I need help getting dressed for
what could possibly be the most important meeting of my life. So what do you
think? Should I wear my hair up or down? Is there anything I’m supposed to
wear, like an official, oh I don’t know, headdress or something?”

A surprised hiccup of a shy laugh cracked Cait’s solemnity
and she quickly covered her mouth with her hand.

Aurora’s eyes widened. “Oh god. There is a headdress, isn’t
there? Please tell me there aren’t feathers involved.”

* * * * *

Connyn stood in the Hall of Council waiting for Aurora’s
entrance. He’d left her undisturbed this morning to attend to certain matters
left over from yesterday. Or more accurately put, matters left undone because
of yesterday. But with the added efforts of his parents and his cousins all had
been resolved in time for him to attend the Council. When Wyc and Rordyc had
shown up to add their support, he’d been instantly wary, but the only thing
that had been said about yesterday’s events was Wyc’s rather wry comment
welcoming him to “matedom” before they left to finish the clean-up of Aurora’s
tear through the kingdom. He wasn’t completely comfortable with the new bond
they seemed to now share, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it.

He’d been admitted earlier to state his position and
petition. The Council had agreed to seal his and Aurora’s union with an
official blessing before the public presentation of the Heirs and mates later
in the month. Wyc and Rordyc hadn’t commented on his request, but the looks
that passed between them made it clear that they thought his actions were
overzealous and pretentious. Their opinions didn’t matter to Connyn. They both
had mates they’d been matched with from the beginning and their unions had
clearly been sealed by the stars and gods.

He’d given his vow to Aurora and she’d returned it. Days
ago. He should have that mental link with her that proved the bond. After the
years searching…

Tearing his mind from those spiraling thoughts, he glanced
around the large circular hall. For generations it had remained the same since
before the War of the Five. Large arched windows soared toward a ceiling
fashioned so far above the floor that during evening gatherings when the only
light was from the wall sconces and scattered light stands it seemed as if the
top of the hall ended only at infinity. The entire Council Building was carved
from gleaming white stone marbled with thin veins of gold and silver threads.
It was a rare stone but found in each of the five territories. Its use was
approved solely for buildings of United Purpose.

Here in the Hall of Council, the very center of Ilyria, the
walls, floor and ceiling had been embedded with myriad scatterings of the
stones representative of each of the Five Houses. He still vividly recalled
thinking he had stepped into a rainbow the first time he had entered this room
as a boy in the company of his parents, the result of ancient craftwork and a
child’s vivid imagination.

Initially there’d been five thrones encircling the great
seal centered on the floor, but they had been destroyed during the war and in
their place were two long curved tables of heavy stone on either side of the
seal. The nine Elders and the nine Prophets were seated behind them dressed in
the heavy robes of their offices, each holding an intricately carved rod entwined
with the same metals as the Matching Ritual rings. Every staff was topped with
a clear glass globe with five fragments of wood embedded in the center, one
each from the staves originally held by the Five Brothers.

His ancestor, along with those of his cousins, had stood in
the center seal of this great hall and brought their staves down together on
The
Kyltar
’s image in a unified declaration of war. Each staff had shattered,
the seal had cracked into five sections and the five stones in
The Kyltar
’s
collar had turned black. Legend claimed that if,
when
, the final
generation of the prophecy stood in unity once more around the seal, the cracks
would heal and the stones would glow with their original brilliance.

A single, low tolling of a bell from outside announced
Aurora’s entrance through the outer gates of the Hall. The muted murmurings
among the Elders and Prophets ceased and he took his place in front of the seal
between the Elders and Prophets, his stance and expression radiating power and
confidence.

Though normal Matching Rituals were attended by a privileged
list of men and women related to the two to be matched, this could not be
considered normal by any stretch of the imagination. Not only were they far
past his mate’s first birthday, but he’d not yet disclosed to anyone his mate’s
ability to manifest magic. A single, uneasy itch stung the back of his neck at
the thought. He ignored it.

A loud, echoing thud of heavy spears hitting the outer stone
floor announced his mate’s arrival. The large doors, black stone with an
intricate gold and silver inlay done in the same pattern of the Matching Ritual
rings opened with a slow somberness. Chairs scraped around the large hall as
the Elders and Prophets rose when his mate stepped over the threshold and then
paused, finding him with her eyes and waiting.

His breath stopped as his entire world distilled down to the
one woman standing before him. His entire world encapsulated in all she was.
His past, present and future, all he’d been, all he could be, destined from the
beginning to be for her. The insanity he had charged to his cousins’ actions
and feelings regarding their mates seemed trivial in comparison to the
unbridled tempest of emotions reeling through him.

His eyes devoured her, standing as regal and noble as any
Royal born and bred in the role. She looked less a mate chosen for a
present-day Royal and more the description befitting one of the maiden
goddesses who had ruled ancient Ilyria when the world was new and the years had
yet to begin. For a moment, he wondered if perhaps she wasn’t a true
goddess—that would explain her magic—before he discarded the thought. The Three
Maidens had lived only in Ilyria’s distant and mythological past. His mate was
most certainly real, present and
his.

From her hair to the tips of her jeweled shoes, she
shimmered elegantly in a gown of deep red embroidered with dozens of tiny
rythra
that veed up from her waist to sparkle over her breasts and flared down to the
floor-length hem. The dress was sleeveless, but her upper arms were decorated
with repeated thin, delicate twists of gold and silver inlaid with more
rythra.
Her hair, pulled back in the front, was intricately wound around a circlet of
yet more
rythra
that glowed like fire in the midnight mass of waves that
fell around her shoulders and down her back.

Undeniably breathtaking, she was far beyond the conveyance
of the simple word beautiful. He could not stop gazing at her. Her dark eyes
appeared endlessly deep and had been rimmed with a smudge of black. Her lips
had been stained a dark red that matched the very center color of the heritage
rythra
stone he’d left for her this morning. It hung around her neck on a thin ribbon
and lay softly just above her breasts. Like everything about the woman, it
shone with a brilliance that made the entire room, even the sun streaming in
from the high windows, pale in comparison.

With a slight tilt of her head, she nodded to him, an action
that seemed both deferential and arrogant, breaking the spell that had held him
frozen in a world that contained them alone. He raised his hand toward her,
palm up, gesturing her to him. Aurora stepped forward and took his offered
hand. Close up, he could see the veiled panic in her eyes. Lifting her fingers
to his lips, he brushed a kiss over them and with a gentle squeeze, smiled to
reassure her.

Turning toward the standing assemblage, he drew her even
with him. “My mate,” he announced, “Aurora Kilth.”

Aurora forced herself to breathe. The way Cait and her small
army of helpers had fussed over her this morning had prepared her in part for
this meeting with the Elders and Prophets, but she still had been hoping for a
short sprinkling of “blessed” water and an “off you go now, have a good life”
ceremony. Connyn hadn’t given her much of a clue as to what was going to
happen, had only said he wasn’t sure since the ritual blessing had only taken
place at Matching Rituals and never after the Mating Rite had been completed.
But after their blowup in the garden over it she’d not pressed the argument,
hoping that Ellen would show up and save the day.

Instead, she stood dressed up and on display as a princess
before the High Council in an alien world. At some point, reality truly had
become stranger than fiction.

Confidently wearing her best “runway” face as she was
escorted through the complex, Aurora nearly lost her composure when the massive
doors slowly swung open and the first person she saw was Connyn.

He stood, legs apart and arms crossed over his chest as if
he were the captain of the world and this hall the flagship of his fleet. As
usual, the two customary thin braids at his temples held his hair back and he
wore the Matching Ritual ring. In all other ways, at least compared to how she
had been outfitted, he was dressed exceedingly simply. The only relief to his
black tunic, pants and boots was the multifaceted medallion he wore suspended
from around his neck by a beautifully embroidered ribbon. Embedded in the
center of the medallion was the other half to the
rythra
he’d given her
to wear. Seeing it there and realizing what it was started her heart pounding
heavily in her chest with a confusing mixture of exhilarating joy and stinging
trepidation.

The man had carved his mark on her heart more permanently
than ever a branding iron could on her skin. And she had allowed it and even
found a reason to hope because of it. A hope that was nourished by the look in
his eyes when he had kissed her hand. Perhaps she might yet be accepted by him
even after all was brought to light.