Blazing Earth Read online

  “Then we should do as she says,” he agreed.

  Before he was ready to leave this place, the place where they had spoken the words that joined their lives and hearts to each other, he needed and wanted to consummate those vows.

  She walked into his arms and lifted her face to him as she always did. He touched his mouth to hers, slanting his head and slipping his tongue inside hers when she opened. He felt her hands slide around him, caressing his back and pressing her body and its curves against him.

  “Husband,” she whispered against his mouth as she met his gaze. Her eyes shone like sunlight, and her body warmed in his embrace. Leaning back, she smiled. “I never thought to use that word again in my lifetime, Tolan.”

  “I am gladdened that you chose me for it.” He kissed her once more, wanting to be inside her now. Unfortunately, they did not have time for this.

  “A few minutes, husband, is all we need.” Had she heard his thoughts? Or was his desire so obvious?

  “More like an hour’s time.” He challenged her assertion that he would be spent in only minutes. Though given the right circumstances, he would only last through several deep thrusts into her before spilling his seed. She did that to him.

  “Half that, at the most,” she murmured, moving her mouth down to his neck and then along his jaw, kissing a path along the edge of it.

  He did not remember actually agreeing, but all it took was a thought before the trees began to rearrange their branches around them, forming an enclosed bower and shutting them away from any possible prying eyes. The grass grew thick on the ground, filling it in and making a soft place upon which they could lie.

  “A handy skill,” Thea said, stepping back from him. “My contribution seems small in comparison.”

  The air around them warmed until the chill of the outside was gone. ’Twas a comfortable place in which to spend their short time together.

  “A valuable one, though,” he acknowledged.

  Then Tolan held out his hand to her, offering himself once more, and he waited for her reaction.

  CHAPTER 18

  Married.

  Married to a man she loved.

  Married to a man who held within him great powers of unimagined consequences.

  All things that would never have been even considered possible just a few weeks ago. When Thea thought about all the other changes, she simply could not take it all in. So, for now, she looked at the man standing before her and then took his hand.

  In spite of everything she did not know—the coming hours and days, the fight against evil, their futures—she knew that she loved him and he had given her back the piece of her heart and soul she thought were gone forever. And for that, she would do whatever she had to in order to keep him from harm.

  A shiver raced through her then, one not of passion but of fear and foreshadowing.

  He frowned then. “Is aught wrong?”

  “Nay,” she said with a shake of her head. “All is quite well.”

  She untied her cloak and he took it from her, tossing it on the now-mosslike grass within their bower. Thea waited for a moment to see if he wished to undress her. When he stared at her with those eyes, she felt her own power surge and fill her body and soul.

  Thea unlaced the ties on her gown and took it off. His gaze did not move from hers. Her shift was next and then she stood before him in her stockings and shoes. Her body felt the touch of his gaze then, and when it moved to her breasts they tingled. Lower, the place between her thighs ached when he stared there.

  And grew moist.

  She lost her thoughts as he undressed then. She wanted to touch him, and follow the lines of muscles down from his chest, down over his belly to touch the flesh that now stood. Thea licked her lips and swallowed to ease the dryness in her mouth as she imagined that hardness in her mouth and between her legs. Her body trembled then and he smiled as he tossed the last of his garments aside and stood naked before her.

  A tension built between them, their breathing the only sound within this privacy. Her body grew hotter and hotter still and the glow of it surrounded both of them now.

  “Taste me,” he said gruffly. “Have me, Elethea.” She met his passion-filled gaze and smiled as all sorts of pleasurable things came to mind. “Then it will be my turn to have you.”

  Her body understood the promise of his words, for her breasts tightened and ached, as did the flesh between her legs. She wanted his mouth on her, tasting and kissing and licking and biting all the places that now throbbed for him. But first, she would give him pleasure.

  Closing the space between them, she reached out and touched his chest, her fingers teasing his male nipples as she wanted hers teased soon. Thea leaned closer and kissed her way over the strong muscles of his chest. She nipped over his belly and slid her hands between his thighs and cupped his flesh.

  His indrawn breath spoke of her success. Then his hands in her hair, stroking and loosening it from its braid, told her what he wanted. She knelt before him, kissed the lines of muscles that ran down from each hip to his engorged flesh. Then she tilted her head and took him in, inch by inch, hearing his groans and feeling his hips thrust with each suckle. When she had him fully in her mouth, she slid away, pursing her lips tightly. The moans that escape his clenched jaws gave her satisfaction.

  He hardened more, his hips thrusting as they would when he entered her, pushing his flesh deeper into her throat. His sack tightened and she knew he would spill his seed. Just as she grasped his cock with both hands and suckled him harder to bring him to satisfaction, he lifted her up by her arms and kissed her mouth.

  His hands slid under her, holding her higher and tighter against him. Thea felt him open her cleft and she rubbed against the ridge of hard muscle, wanting him inside her. Wanting him to thrust in deep and hard and fast and hard.

  “Ah, you do not like to play it fairly, do you, love?” he whispered against her mouth.

  He knelt with her in his arms and then laid her down on the mossy ground. Tugging her hands from around him, he spread them out above her, making her back arch and her breasts thrust up. He kissed her openmouthed, thrusting his tongue into hers until she suckled it as she had his cock. Leaning back on his knees, he met her gaze, his becoming a deeper yet brighter green now, and said one word to her.

  “Stay.”

  Before she could nod, vines grew from the surrounding trees and branches and entangled themselves around her arms, holding her as he’d placed her. He smiled wickedly and nodded. A moment of sheer and complete panic filled her as memories of other times and of another man flooded in. The vines disappeared in an instant.

  “Look at me, Elethea,” he commanded in a voice that was more than just his own. “I am not him. You are not the one he preyed upon any longer. You are more.”

  Her body filled with power and she allowed it free. The light filled the bower and beyond, bursting into her veins. She nodded and allowed him his way. Slowly this time, almost as though he was caressing her skin, the vines approached and slid over her arms, wrapping around them and entwining until she was once more in his possession. Never too tight, the vines seemed to move with her as he touched every inch of her body, inside and out, with tongue and lips and hands. Then he lay at her side, kissing her mouth and thrusting his hand between her legs.

  “I think I have prepared you well, my love,” he boasted now. His hand opened the folds of her heated flesh, and his fingers entered. She lifted her hips to take him inside. “Ah. Quite well.” His thumb stroked hard against the sensitive bud of her flesh and she screamed.

  “Nay, Tolan! I want you inside me,” she said, panting and trying to resist the wave of pleasure that threatened with his every move. “Inside,” she heard herself beg him. His hard cock rubbed against her hip and she ached more.

  “I like bringing you to pleasure with my hand,” he taunted. “I can d
o this”—he touched something and she moaned—“and watch the flushing rise in your breasts.”

  Thea tried to slow her breathing, to slow the onslaught that was rising in her body, but he destroyed her best efforts with nothing more than a movement of his fingers and a few words. She grabbed hold of the vines around her hands and fought to slow down.

  “Or this,” he said, sliding three fingers into her woman’s channel and stroking her deeply as that damn blessed thumb of his pressed once more.

  Her body broke free of any control she thought she’d been exerting, and pleasure poured through her in an instant. Everything that had tightened within her burst and her body shuddered and shook as he pushed her on into bliss. Tolan continued to urge her on and on with whispered words and slowing touches until her body was spent. She lay there, unable to move, as that languorous feeling of satiation permeated every inch of her.

  Only when her arms moved did she open her eyes to see him kneeling once more over her. The vines were there, but now her arms were at her sides. When she shifted them, the vines loosened to allow the movement and then gripped her as she lay back.

  “Interesting,” she said, meeting his gaze.

  “They keep you where I want you,” he said with a hint of male exultation in his voice now.

  “And what about where I want you?” she asked before realizing her error. It simply spurred him on and he moved his fingers to remind her that he still touched her intimately.

  “Here?” he asked, sliding his finger along the throbbing flesh until they glided softly but slowly over that engorged part of her. She arched against it, marveling that her body could even move or respond.

  “Or here?” He kissed her mound and then moved lower, using his knees to open her legs widely. Thea watched his face as hunger and arousal filled it. When he licked his lips and lowered his head, she lost herself.

  Blood and heat rushed from between her legs and through her, into every part of her as he loved her with his mouth. Thea arched her hips to open herself to him and he laughed against the throbbing flesh. The feel of it echoed through every muscle in her body.

  She did not think he could arouse her any more, but then his thumb slipped into her other opening and she screamed out in pleasure. The pressure of it as he thrust into her with his tongue brought on a wild and screaming release. Then, when she was certain she could take no more, he climbed between her thighs and slid his own flesh into her.

  It hurt from the overwhelming arousal and his attentions. It ached from too much pleasure so quickly. And yet when he filled that place deep within her, she could not imagine him not being there.

  She watched the intensity in his face as he seated himself as deeply as he could inside her. He did not breathe. The muscles of his arms and legs coiled in tight control as he waited for her.

  Thea let out a breath and he moved deeper. She gasped as he slid almost completely out of her and then back in. Each one’s flesh sliding against the other’s in a glorious friction. Instead of hurting now, her channel clenched his cock, trying to keep it in deep. Each slow movement of his brought out a louder and louder gasp that became a moan as she found herself once more on the precipice of release.

  “I love you, Elethea,” he whispered against her mouth as he kissed her then. His tongue sought hers and touched. “Now you are mine,” he swore just as he thrust that final time.

  Her body answered and held his flesh as he spilled his seed within her. With a few soft grunts, he found satisfaction as she did once more. Tolan collapsed on her then, tucking his head under hers and resting on her breast. When the vines had disappeared, she knew not, but she caressed his hair and his back as their hearts and bodies calmed.

  “As you are mine,” she whispered.

  * * *

  How long it had taken, she did not know. Glancing up at the sun and its place in the sky, she guessed more than a few minutes and less than an hour. That made her smile. No matter the passage of time, it was her stomach’s loud growling that roused Tolan.

  “Do you never eat?” he asked, pushing his hair from his face and glancing at her belly. When it rumbled again in answer, he laughed. “Come, I have food in our bags.”

  He rolled from her side and she felt the absence immediately. Thea watched him dress, not moving from her place on the ground until he finished and held out a hand to help her to her feet. If she wobbled a bit, she would blame it on him and his wonderful attentions to her.

  He helped her dress and then the bower disappeared, the vines and branches withdrawing back into the trees within seconds, and they were standing by the road as their horses grazed nearby. As though none of it had happened.

  “Thea?” Tolan said, tugging her to face him.

  When she looked at him she realized that the golden light that had filled and warmed their private bower was not gone. Now her vision was framed in it.

  “Your eyes glow now,” he said, pulling her closer and searching her gaze. “Sunblood. My sunblood.”

  She could feel it in her blood now. She was called to this just as he was. And now she saw everything in the light of the sun.

  There was no going back now.

  “Aye, Earthblood,” she said, feeling the presence of another within her. “My earthblood.” Their joining had strengthened her in some way that she did not understand.

  It took little time for them to eat and be on their way—north to whatever the Fates, and the gods, had in mind for them.

  * * *

  It had taken several hours, but Geoffrey’s men and his own had found the boy hiding in one of the many barns on the extensive farms that Geoffrey owned there. Another man, one the boy called his cousin, was with him and Hugh recognized him as one they’d passed on the road the other morning. When he’d sensed no power, Hugh had ignored him, but now—now he might serve a purpose.

  Studying the boy, a young man almost of age, from where he sat on the dais with his own cousin, Hugh noticed the resemblance to his father immediately. He had not yet attained his full height or girth, though he was a strong and able lad from the looks of him.

  He was curious, for he continued to snatch quick glimpses of Hugh as he’d been brought into the hall. Hugh’s cousin, trained well to his humble status, never lifted his head.

  “This is him, my lord,” the soldier called out, pushing the boy forward. Hugh stood and the guard backed away when the boy did not. Courage, too?

  “What are you called?” Hugh asked, walking down the steps.

  “His name—” Geoffrey began to speak, but Hugh cut him off with a wave of his hand.

  He wanted to hear how this one presented himself. Did he know of his father’s abilities? Their bloodlines? Or if he carried it?

  “I am called Kirwyn,” the boy said. “Son of Tolan.”

  “I have met your father,” Hugh said as he walked closer. “How many years do you have?”

  He studied the boy, trying to assess his age . . . and whether or not there was power within him. There was no way to know until the boy came of age, and it certainly did not always travel from father to son or mother to daughter. Over the generations, it had become less certain a thing, as Hugh had discovered.

  His own father had sought out and planned marriages and breeding within their family in order to produce those who would carry the power of the fire bloodline. Sometimes, as with himself, it had worked splendidly, but for his twin and his half brothers, not so well. And his own efforts to breed a son or daughter to carry down his power had failed through the usual method of marriage and yet succeeded in the bastard daughter he’d produced outside marriage.

  Brienne would be the first one he would destroy when he freed Chaela and claimed full power from her.

  Some betrayals could not be forgiven.

  Turning his attention back to the boy, Hugh noticed he did not squirm or shuffle under scrutiny. Inter
esting. But he had also not answered his question. With a bit of force, he asked once again, more to learn how the boy would react, for Hugh knew his age already. “I asked, how many years have you?”

  The boy grimaced then from the pain Hugh was sending into him for not responding to his question. Kirwyn surprised Hugh by blinking and shaking off the pain before lifting his head to meet Hugh’s gaze.

  Very interesting.

  “You, boy,” Geoffrey called out, motioning to one of the guards. “Show respect to my cousin and do not raise your eyes to your betters.”

  Before Hugh could intervene, the nearest guard lifted his hand and struck the boy across the face. The blow, with the strength of the guard and the weight of the gauntlet he wore, forced the boy to his knees. Hugh watched as Tolan’s son wiped the blood from his cheek and pushed up to his feet, daring a peek at Hugh as he did.

  Bold. Not so stupid as to look directly at him . . . not yet . . . but not willing to play the fool as his cousin did next to him.

  What he would not have given for a son like this one! Neither of his own brothers, the one with whom he had shared a womb for nine months or the one who now commanded his army, had the mettle of this one. Hugh walked over and stood directly in front of Kirwyn now, opening his own senses up to search for any sign of power.

  “Look at me, Kirwyn.”

  The boy met his gaze and Hugh searched him as he had his own daughter. Not forceful enough to hurt him unnecessarily, but using his own to find a glimmer of the earthblood there in his human body.

  “How many years have you, Kirwyn?” he asked again, this time softly. He heard his cousin’s gasp of surprise. It was true that Hugh did not ask twice, let alone a third time. However, this one was different somehow.

  “Ten and almost five, my lord,” the boy replied, already holding his gaze longer than most could.

  Ah. The time of power rising.

  Hugh looked deeper and found it there. A small kernel waiting to burst into being. Green, like his father. Potential for a great being lay there in his core. Hugh pulled back and met the boy’s gaze then.