Naamah's Blessing - Jacqueline Carey [86]
After tomorrow, it would be a long, long time before I saw dry land again.
Inside, we confirmed that all was in readiness for our departure, our trunks packed with attire suitable for travel. I strung my faithful yew-wood bow that my uncle Mabon had made for me and tested its draw, finding it as resilient as ever, and then unstrung it and wrapped it in oilcloth for the journey.
At my request, our steward Guillaume Norbert assembled the entire household staff. Bao and I thanked them for their gracious service, presenting each one with a small purse as a token of gratitude.
Each and every one of them tried to refuse it, but I insisted. “You’ve all been very kind,” I said. “And I know ours is hardly the sort of household in which any of you dreamed of serving.”
For the first time since we’d met, Guillaume laughed. “No,” he admitted. “It isn’t. In the long history of House Shahrizai, the door to the seraglio has never been closed for so long. Nonetheless, it’s been a privilege, my lady.” He bowed. “It is a valiant quest you undertake. We will pray, all of us, for your success and your safe return.”
I was grateful to hear the words spoken with sincerity. “My thanks.”
He bowed again. “Of course. I’ll see that you and Messire Bao are awoken in a timely manner, my lady.”
With that done, Bao and I retired to our bedchamber. He eyed me in a speculative manner. “I suppose we ought to sleep, huh? Big day tomorrow.”
“No.” I slid one hand around the back of his neck, tugging his head down for a kiss, feeling the familiar intimacy of our shared diadh-anam intertwining. “Unlike your Ch’in greatships, there will be precious little room for privacy aboard this one. I suppose we ought to thank Naamah for blessing our union, and celebrate it by offering up many hours of lovemaking as a prayer.”
Bao smiled, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me against him. “Oh, good. I like your idea better.”
Ah, gods! We’d come such a long way together; and we had such a long way yet to go. There was another ocean awaiting us, and beyond it, untold dangers. But for tonight, one night, it was enough to simply be together.
Piece by piece, we undressed each other, until there were no barriers left and we were naked before one another.
We kissed, long and luxuriantly.
We explored every part of each other as though it were new. I reveled in sheer sensation, in the rasping glide of Bao’s palms over my skin, in the tug of his mouth on my nipples, his clever fingers teasing the cleft between my thighs, eliciting the moisture of desire. Kissing his throat, I inhaled the hot-forge scent of his skin. Working my way lower, I bit his nipples and smiled to see the ridged muscles of his belly contract beneath the caress of my trailing hair, his straining phallus bent upward like a bow.
I took him into my mouth and performed the languisement with all my hard-won skill, making him spend.
Pushing my thighs apart, Bao settled himself between them, gazing at me with half-lidded eyes, and returned the favor until I was breathless with pleasure.
Hard once more, he slid up my body and propped himself on his forearms, thrusting into me.
It was good; so good.
The bright lady smiled with brilliant approval.
There was a magic to lovemaking that never faded, an alchemy of the flesh that never failed to evoke wonder. We were two, and we were one. Joined by the spark of the Maghuin Dhonn Herself, an intimacy I’d never known with anyone else, nor ever would. Joined by flesh—his flesh in me, hot and throbbing, mine encompassing his, wet and eager. Bao’s hips rocked, and mine rose to meet them, enjoying the sensation of fullness advancing and retreating. Sweetly, tenderly, he kissed my lips, thrusting deep inside me all