Nightshade Ch. 04

"Greetings Princess Rosemund of Faerie... It is good to see you cousin..." The formal ties were reminded. Ties that promised neither side would attempt to slay the other. Reminders that were common in faerie and rare outside. No doubt Dama felt odd uttering such formal words before a woman she had met once only as a young child. Unchanging was the fickle fae's features. To have such beauty, Dama was almost envious. She knew the price Rose paid for such and it tempered her. She was contented at being a beauty beyond the mortal pale.

"I fear my brother is absent this eve... He will, as is promised, meet with you at Samhain... There the compact will be renewed between our families..." Dama spoke hurriedly, ignoring Dante's questioning look. That Rosemund merely dipped her head in acceptance spoke volumes. She was not eager to see the compact finalized and Vane had edged closer as if to remind her about her temper and glamour.

"I have healed your woman, Bella..." Rose watched Dante for clues if she had returned. A shifting of body, or flare in his eyes. Yes, there were some new developments. Rosemund did not speak up nor smile, still inwardly she noted it. "The wound was odd... One designed to harm the Laroux and not the human nor the fae... It was not one intended for you" She motioned towards Dante "Though no doubt this one has assured you that much..."

***

With the deep kiss, both of them found themselves on the bed again. Ciro had brought them both safely from the labyrinth of Nightmares to the soft sheets of the bed they sat on. Ciro gently pressed against her, drawing her as close as he could. His hands locked across her lower back, pulling her tightly to him. He could feel her warm legs pressing tightly against his silk dress pants as he pulled her close. It was warmth that he desperately longed to feel. The beautiful energy, her strength and courage, Ciro wanted them, he wanted her so much that he ached inside.

Bella had reawakened him, pushed back the darkness that shrouded his mind with her light. Once again, Ciro felt human. Something he had feared he had lost a long time ago. The deep silver in his eyes did not fade though. He would forever be from the Land of Dreams, the Land of Darkness. But so long as he had Bella to guide him with her light, he didn't care. He was no longer lost, living as a shadow. He was no longer just another of the Righteous Sword's puppets.

As he pulled back slightly, he found himself lost in her eyes. His breath was short and pained as his body reminded him that he had yet to eat anything, but he didn't want to let go of her. He was hers... he knew this. Despite anything he would say about duty or debt, he was hers...

"Thank you..." Ciro spoke softly as he held her. Tears blurred his vision slightly as he sat, looking into her eyes. He was free for now, but only in her arms. It would only be a matter of time before the Nightmares would try to take him, before the Righteous Sword would try to reclaim him, but he didn't care. If anyone could save him now, it was the beautiful woman who held him, capturing his heart.

Bella held Ciro's face in her hands, kissing him deeply and opening her mouth against his, her body arching against his till she felt the evidence of his need through his slacks beneath her. Her lips parted in a sigh as her knees spread slightly and she rocked her lower half over him, her breasts pushing against his chest till he fell back among the pillows. Her hands slid into his blond hair, her tongue sliding over and between his lips as her hair fell like a curtain around them. Her body ached and throbbed, yearning to feel skin against skin, her mind mad with the desire for him to just take and take and take.

"This isn't them." She murmured as his lips trailed over her neck. "This is yours, mine, this is ours." Her breach caught as his lips trailed over her collar bone and down the neck of her halter top to nuzzle her breasts with soft slow kisses. She'd had her taste of men over the years, some good lovers and some bad, but always there was the lash of lust. Not this. No, not this slow slide into passion that burned bright as the Louisiana sun.

"For god's sake, touch me." She hissed out darkly, as his hands pulled her hips closer against her. She rocked against him, her knees thighs pressing against his as they rolled over and over the bed, ending with him on top and his hips cradled between hers. She wrapped one leg over his, her back arching as his hands trailed over her body, his lips finally, thank the gods, finally returned to hers. She wrapped her arms around his chest and up his back, clutching him close so that his chest pushed against hers, his body pushing hers into the pillows and twisted blankets of the bed.

She knew what was happening. She barely knew him. The only thing she did know is that she was drawn to him like no other. Every moment spent with him she could feel tiny threads somehow weaving them together. Whether it was the mist and shadows they each controlled, the Majik that surrounded Nightshade and its people, or ties that went back far into the centuries of the past. She knew there would be trouble. She knew there would be pain, and war, and death and obstacles. But she was willing to fight if he was. Bella was as she always had been. Once she set her heart on something, she never gave it up till death or destruction took it away.

She knew he could hear her thoughts, as now, for some odd reason, she could hear his. So he knew what she spoke of was the truth. As was the next gift she gave him. Those who knew the truth, those of Nightshade, knew De Los Muertos were not the dictatorial dominion others made them out to be. They stood for peace, for light, for the hope of the future that all races may one day live together in if not harmony, then in at least a temporary truce of peace. All dominions agreed on one thing . . . they would not go down without a fight. Bella looked into his silver eyes, drowning in their molten mercury depths, her voice a husky passionate conviction in his mind.

~Nor will I, mi moreno salvador. Should we have to fight for this, whatever it is between us, I too will not give up without a fight. ~

~Then I will be your dream, ma belle ángel, and we will fight this darkness together. ~

Ciro's lips burned with passion as he pressed down against Bella's in a passionate kiss. His desire easily drove the pain of hunger away as he lost himself in her arms. He could feel her full breasts push lustfully against him as her crimson hair pooled below them. He could feel passion and desire burning through her as well as his lips traced down her neck, along her collar, to her soft breasts.

Oh... her breasts... her perfect, full breasts. He had felt them press against him when she had helped him walk, and again when she lay with him. But now, he was able to enjoy them fully. His lips move slowly and longingly over her breasts as he pulled her top down enough to taste them. Just enough to trail lusty kisses along the top of her perfect chest, His lips lingered along the top of her hem, not moving further down as he took her soft flesh between his lips. Nothing more than a gentle taste at first as he pressed lightly against her. But he pulled in more and more with each kiss.

Feeling her warmth around him, he pressed against her. His arousal was now impossible to hide under his dress slacks as he strains against them almost painfully. The rough pull of soft silk presses firmly against her bare thighs as he pressed himself against her. Shadows wisp around him as his shirt falls away beside him, pulled free by the darkness he commands. His hands press up against her sides, gliding up under her top making it bunch up below her chest. Her exposed stomach pressed lightly to his as he leaned into her. Ciro's toned muscles glisten in the early morning light as he rests above her. His deep silver eyes lost in her beautiful eyes of green. This was betrayal... and it was too late to turn back.

Bella arched beneath Ciro's hands, her hips shifting and feeling the bulge of his need against her aching core. She gasped as his shirt seemed to melt away, her pulse skyrocketing at the sight of his bare chest and shoulders. She released a sigh of satisfaction as his skin met hers, her arms wrapping immediately around his neck to pull him into another deep soul stealing kiss. Pressing upward with her leg she rolled them back over, straddling him once again as she lifted her dark shirt and tossed it aside, her long copper colored hair falling over her shoulders like Lady Gadiva.

She scooted back slightly, wearing nothing but waist length curls and black silk boy shorts, her hands reaching for his waistband even as her eyes locked on his. Bending down, her hair trailed like warm sable over his chest as she pressed little kisses along the same path he had followed on her, her lips skimming in butterfly kisses over his chest and abs till they caught up with her hands. She trailed her nails over his skin just above his slacks, grinning each time his stomach sucked in as she neared the zipper. Instead of unfastening them, she slowly dragged her fingernails up and around his belly button before sliding down over and beyond the fabric, across the bulge in his pants and up her own thighs to lift her hair high above her head, the movement lifting her breasts for his inspection.

She rocked once, twice, three times, pushing slightly with her knees so that her heat barely caressed him through the fabric. Her hands lowered to trail over her body, giving him a brief erotic show before reaching and unfastening his pants. Her hand slid deftly inside and caressed his solid length, feeling him twitch in her palm when her fingers flexed slightly. She licked her lips at the thought of tasting him, and reached her free hand down to cup his sac softly in her hands, her thumb rubbing rhythmically over the skin as her eyes gleamed with passion.

TO BE CONTINUED . . . .