Sharon Green - Blending 01, page 46
“Yes, I’d like that,” I said,hesitating only a heartbeat before taking his arm and joining him in walking toward the dining room. The beauty of the garden was usually ruined for me by awful memories, so perhaps it was time to reclaim it with some pleasant ones. That word, pleasant, so close to its other form, pleasure. Everyone said that was what was supposed to come from a man and a woman being together, not pain but pleasure. For the first time I found myself believing it might be true and real, as true and real as the strong, solid arm my hand rested on.
Maybe … later… I’d find out… .
thirty-six
Jowi enjoyed Rion’s attentiveness during lunch, but she couldn’t help noticing that Lorand hadn’t gotten back yet. Valiant Ro sat in his place next to Tamrissa, speaking to her in a low voice that occasionally rose a bit in shared laughter. Tamma’s cheeks seemed to have turned a permanent pink, but she obviously enjoyed the attention Valiant paid her. Jowi was happy for her, but—
But Lorand’s absence was becoming more upsetting. Pagin Holter sat to Jowi’s left, polite but so tightly withdrawn that she couldn’t even consider trying to reach through to him. He had no intentions of sharing his disturbance with anyone at all, and he ate quickly before leaving with no more than a nod. Rion, on the other hand, was in a light and expansive mood, reveling in the memory of having come to the res-cue of two women. His offer to her had been sincere and interesting as well as flattering, but not difficult to deflect. Rion was definitely becoming a very charming man, but he still lacked the experience to make refusing him difficult.
And none of that was able to distract her from the fact of Lorand’s continued absence. Was he having trouble qualifying for the competitions? Well, that was a sillythought, ofcoursehe was having trouble.
Jowi helped herself to a cherry tart and took a bite of it, but couldn’t keep her mind from asking the much more pointed question she’d been trying to avoid: he was certainly having trouble, but would he be able to overcome it?
The answer to that lay out of reach, invisible along the path of the unsolidified future. Jowi finished the tart and then her tea, spoke lightly to Rion for another minute or two, then excused herself. She needed to be alone for a while, to balance the worry that threatened to ruin her entire equilibrium. And it was so silly! It wasn’t as if she and Lorand were going to build a life together or anything. So why did the worry over him even distract her from the near disaster of Allestine’s visit?
Jowi didn’t know, but as she climbed the stairs to her room she thought again of how close she’d come to being right back under Allestine’s hand. And with Tamrissa to keep her company! She wouldn’t have minded having Tamma in her own residence here in Gan Garee, but wouldn’t have wished even Beldara Lant the burden of having to work for Allestine. As long as you were obedient and popular with the clients, Allestine was all sweetness and smiles. But just try to balk her on something… .
As Jowi entered her room, she wondered if Eldra really had run away from the residence. She wouldn’t put it past Allestine to use the story as an excuse to let her come to Gan Garee herself, most especially if she’d noticed that Jowi had taken most of her favorite outfits. That was probably the silliest thing she’d done, but there was no helping it now. Allestine was here and would be back, just as soon as she got over her fright, but—
But where was Lorand? Jowi discovered that she now stood with her hand on the door after closing it behind her, only two steps into the room. Obviously she was very badly in need of restoring her balance and equilibrium, when she wasn’t even sitting down to worry. She had to find a comfortable place quickly and do what was necessary, so she started for the bed—
—and nearly tripped over something invisible halfway there! Running into whatever-it-was hadn’t been painful, but ithadalmost sent her sprawling. Jowi spent a moment trying to see what it was, then gave up using her eyes and instead used her hands. Bending down and groping found her the invisible obstruction, and she ran her fingers over it.
“Neither warm nor cold, and soft but not really yielding,” she muttered, at the same time distantly wondering where it could have come from. It hadn’t been here this morning, when she’d gone down for breakfast before leaving for the session. It was rounded and about mid-thigh height on her, and stood directly in her path to or from her bed and the door. It also had no odor, and was very smooth to the touch.
Moving around the thing to the left brought Jowi’s hands into contact with an opening, which turned out to be a hole in the circular object. As soon as she realized that the hole was large enough for her to climb into, Jowi went from mystified todelighted . As a child she’d had a favorite hiding place where she’d gone for refuge anytime life began to be too much for her, an old, discarded barrel that no one had ever claimed for a more practical use. Now here was almost the same exact shape, and just when she needed it so badly. But who could have done this for her, and how had they known?
And then it came to her what the invisible barrel must be made of, which told her who had produced it.
It could hardly be anything but solidified air, and that meant the gift was from Rion. But how had he known she needed a refuge, and how had he found out about her childhood one? Those two questions didn’t have answers at all, but Jowi was still grateful for the gift. Without wasting another moment, she bent and crawled inside.
By the time she came out again, her equilibrium was as restored as it was going to get. Possibly it was the fact that she could see out of her refuge through its invisible walls that had kept it from being wholly effective, or maybe she’d just been trying too hard. Jowi wasn’t sure, but at least the time she’d spent curled up had donesomegood. She no longer felt like being cooped up in that room, which was always a step in the right direction.
Taking a book to keep her company, Jowi went downstairs and out the back door with the intention of sitting in the garden and reading. She’d gone no more than three steps up the path, though, when she saw Tamma andValiant strolling through the garden. Tamma held to the big man’s arm with more confidence than she’d shown yet, and the blush seemed to have finally faded from her cheeks. The two seemed delightfully involved with each other, and Jowi didn’t have the heart to intrude and ruin the time for them.
So she turned back to the house with a sigh, resigned to finding an indoors place to read. Maybe the library, she mused as she retraced her steps to the front hall, with the door open enough so that new arrivals could be heard— Jowi stopped short in both her thinking and her walking, since the sound she now heardwasthe front door opening. Telling herself it could be anyone—like the other missing members of the residence—let Jowi walk rather than run the rest of the way, but it wasn’t just anyone. It was Lorand who had just come in, and his face looked tired but not in the least defeated.
“You qualified, didn’t you,” Jowi said, bringing his immediate attention to where she stood. “It wasn’t easy, but you did it.”
“I certainly did,” he answered, matching her smile as he took three steps in her direction. “I just threw caution to the winds, and it was no harder than jumping blind off the top of a cliff. I’ll be glad to tell you all about it—as soon as I pay a visit to the bath house. If I come any closer to you before then, I’ll probably knock you over.”
He’d stopped aftercoming only those three steps nearer, and Jowi couldn’t help laughing gently.
“I’m not quite as delicate as all that, but visiting the bath house is a good idea. Just be careful not to disturb Tamrissa and Valiant, who are currently walking in the garden. Try to get to the bath house without them seeing you, and put the ‘occupied’ sign on the door.”
“I’ll do just that, and I’ll also be back before you know it,” he promised, already edging toward the stairs.
“Just don’t disappear anywhere, because I want to talk to you. You don’t mind not disappearing, do you?”
The afterthought was very sweet, and Jowi shook her head as she drifted toward the stairs herself. Once he had his answer, Lorand grinned, waved a silly little wave, then turned and went up the stairs two at a time. Jowi waited only until he was completely out of sight, then she raised her skirts and went up the stairs at her own best pace. There was no real reason to wait for Lorand-—when she could join him in the bath house.
Jowi broke records getting out of her clothes and into a wrap, and didn’t even really notice that the invisible barrel was gone. She hurried downstairs and out to the back at top speed, then crept along the path to keep Tamma and Valiant from noticing her. Personally she didn’t carewhosaw her, but Lorand was still sensitive about things like this. She’d have to work on him—aftershe showed him exactly what he was missing.
The “occupied” sign was on the door the way it was supposed to be, so she opened the door slowly and quietly and slipped inside. The warmth of the air quickly surrounded her, and she saw that she didn’t have to worry about Lorand noticing her at once. He was already in the bath and scrubbing his long dark-blond hair with soap, and obviously hadn’t heard her entering. She smiled at that as she moved to where he’d left his clothes,then slipped out of her wrap and slippers. He’d know she was there soon enough, and in the right way.
Moving down the steps into the bath had to be done slowly, and Jowi kept her eyes on Lorand as the water lapped higher and higher against her body. His broad, muscular form glistened with the same water, suds from his hair marking him here and there with sliding foam. As he finished scrubbing and began to rinse the soap away, Jowi paused in her approach. For some reason she suddenly felt very shy, as if she’d never shared a bath with a man before. She had, of course, many times, but only once before withthisman and he hadn’t enjoyed the experience. Would the same thing happen again? Or worse, would he be angry? Had she made a terrible mistake doing this?
And that’s the way Lorand first saw her when he wiped his eyes, standing and staring at him wide-eyed, too terrified to approach any nearer. She couldn’t bear the thought that he would turn his back and walk away from her, determined never to associate with her again. He was just an attractive man she happened to like, no one of any real importance in her life, but if he decided he never wanted to speak to her again… .
“Jowi, what’s wrong?” he asked at once, deep disturbance in his eyes as he began to move toward her.
“Are you here because something terrible has happened? Tell me what it is.”
“No, nothing has happened,” she reassured him at once,then couldn’t hold back the truth. “I … simply decided to surprise you by joining you in here, then suddenly realized you might be … offended. I’m sorry, Lorand, and I really didn’t intend to embarrass you. I’ll leave at once… .”
She turned to do just that, unable to look at him any longer. If the anger and outrage came she didn’t want to see it, not when simply knowing about it would be bad enough. She managed to take two small, slow steps through the water, and then his hand was on her arm, turning her back to him.
“I’m not offended and I’m not embarrassed,” he said slowly and clearly, looking down at her with his beautiful brown eyes. “Surprised and delighted would be a more accurate description of how I feel, especially since I’ve already washed. Now there’s no danger of knocking you over.”
His grin tried to coax a smile from her, and what it brought out was a rather silly specimen of one. Jowi knew her smile was foolish, but the relief she felt was out of all proportion to the incident. She felt as if her life had just been saved, as if she’d been given water on the verge of dying of thirst, as though she’d been pulled back from the edge of a precipice. And then his arms reached out and pulled her even closer, making it all a thousand times better.
“Why … why don’t you try to knock me over in a different way?” she suggested hesitantly in a whisper.
“It’s the oddest thing, but I feel as if I’ve … never done anything like this before.”
“That’s because you haven’t,” he murmured in answer, his dark eyes bright with desire as his big hand stroked her hair. “Not with me, atleast, and that’s going to make all the difference.”
That sounded nothing at all like the Lorand she thought she knew, but then his lips came to hers and all coherent thinking was immediately beyond her.The surge of power passing between them almost did knock her over, and she had to circle his body with her arms in order to stay on her feet. Not that she minded touching him like that, with her entire body as well as her arms. Without knowing it she’d ached to be held by him like that, and now, at last, it was happening.
But that wasn’t the only thing happening. Jowi had once had a Middle practitioner in Water magic as a patron, and being in the man’s arms had been more pleasurable than being with an ordinary patron. That time, though, was nothing compared to sharing Lorand’s kiss and feeling their bodies touch. The power flowed back and forth between them as though they stood in an electrical storm, lightning flaring through their flesh without burning them to nothing.
Although shewasbeing burned, and Jowi moaned with the feel of something so intense that it almost reached the threshold of pain. Lorand’s lips were consuming hers, his hands now moving over her back and bottom with long, deeply felt caresses, her own hands moving over his body in the same way. But as incredible as the feelings were they also seemed to be building toward something, a something that would take a horribly long time to reach.
And then Jowi felt herself lifted off her feet and put down gently on something soft, which had to be one of the lounging pads on the bath’s wooden verge. She hadn’t realized they’d left the bath, but didn’t really care. Lorand was all she cared about, that and his kiss and caresses. He now knelt above her where she lay, his lips still hungrily clinging to hers. One of his hands now stroked her breast, the other exploring the full length and area of her thigh.
But then she became aware of something else, something impossible. She knew exactly where Lorand kissed and touched her, but all at once she was also being kissed and caressedinsideher body! That was the only way to describe the searing touches of indescribable ecstasy, as though she were being kissed all over beneath her skin. She writhed beneath Lorand and tried to escape his kiss in order to ask what was happening, but he refused to release her. His own moaning joined hers, but his lips continued to hold hers captive.
And an eternity of time passed like that. Jowi was frantic after the first few minutes, clawing at the bands of steel that were Lorand’s arms, writhing against the warm, soft stone that was his body, whimpering as the tide of flames lapped higher and higher until she was all but drowned. She’d never felt that way before without attaining immediate release, but this time there was no relief. On and on it went, building and growing without end—
—until suddenly, exquisitely, Lorand was beginning to enter her.She raised her body to meet and welcome him, feeling as though she’d been waiting for nothing else. So large and hard he was, the most perfect of men, and as he fit himself within her she felt her talent reach to him without her conscious effort.
Balance was the ruling aspect of her life, but where it was possible to bring balance to raging emotions, so was it possible to remove the balance in the most desirable way. Lorand groaned as he felt a rush of wild perfection turned just far enough to be out of his reach, but not so far that he couldn’t eventually make contact. All he had to do was begin the most natural act between men and women, the most wonderful ever conceived of.
And that was exactly what he did. His stroking was so deep and hard that Jowi thought she would die of the pleasure. Her body worked to match his movement completely on its own, as her mind was too busy reveling in ecstasy to direct it. On and on it went, the perfect blending of man and woman, and when release came itwas long moments in the ending. Jowi shuddered in incredible delight and clung to Lorand, and he held her so tightly that she never wanted to be released again.
When it was finally and completely ended, Lorand pulled over another lounging pad and lay down beside her. They were both breathing heavily and covered in the fine sweat of their lovemaking, and when she managed to turn to him he leaned close and kissed her nose.
“Somehow I knew it would be like that,” he said, reaching out with one hand to brush her hair back. “It’s now perfectly clear why you were the most popular courtesan in Rincammon. There can’t be another woman like you in the entire empire.”
“And there can’t be another man likeyou,”she said with another of those smiles she considered so foolish, reaching out herself to touch his chest. “I’ve never experienced anything like that, and I wish you would tell me what you did. I know it sounds silly, but it was almost as if you were inside me in more ways than one.”
“I was,” he answered with a grin, putting his own hand over hers on his chest. “I’ve never even thought of using my talent in that way before, but Ineededto be inside you in as many ways as possible. Physicians and surgeons are practitioners of Earth magic, you know, so you shouldn’t be surprised. How do you think surgeons operate?By cutting people open?”
“Of course not, silly,” she responded with a laugh. “Any surgeon who had to cut people open would have very few patients. And you’reright, Ishouldhave realized that that was what you were doing. I suppose I got sidetracked into thinking that Earth magic just covered soil and growing things and metal and animals.Probably because you mentioned weaving strands of earth during your session. I wonder why they didn’t use something else.”
“Probably because facility with one part of the aspect can be translated into facility with the others,” he suggested with a shrug. “But with the testing authority involved, there’s no way of knowing for certain.
Those people are—a waste of time to talk about, especially when there are more important things to discuss.”
