Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 55964 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 280(@200wpm)___ 224(@250wpm)___ 187(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55964 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 280(@200wpm)___ 224(@250wpm)___ 187(@300wpm)
I giggle at that. “I should be mad that you’re sneaking into my thoughts.”
“But you are not.”
I am not, no. I’m starting to expect it. And in a way, it’s not a bad thing. They can sense my mood and my anger without me having to speak it. We will never be false with each other again. The Spidae will know if they’re not pleasuring me in bed and how I feel about such things…and now they know me well enough to care.
“And are you here to make me come?” I ask lightly, tracing a finger around Ossev’s nipple through his filmy robes. “To let me ride your face?”
“Yes,” he rasps, his gaze full of intensity. “I would like that very much.”
A new idea strikes me and I continue to tease his nipple. “Want to have sex?”
“I just said I did.”
“No, Ossev. Read my thoughts. I want you inside me. Like we were before. But this time, we both want it.”
To my surprise, he flinches and the look in his eyes changes.
Oh. I’ve hurt him. I don’t need to be a mind-reading god to know that. “Ossev, I didn’t mean that—”
“You did,” he says, shaking his head. He takes my hand in his and turns it over, pressing a kiss to my palm. “But I understand now what you mean when you say that. I did not before. I did not care. But now that I know you, I know what the difference is between a Yulenna that endures my touch, and a Yulenna that embraces it.” His mouth moves against my skin in soft, feathery kisses as he lavishes attention on my palm, and then moves to kiss the tip of each finger, his gaze on me. “Now that we know the difference, I wish we could go back and fix the past and how we were to you before. I have looked into it, but we are to guide the threads for others, not ourselves. I have no power over that.”
I’m touched that he even tried. That he cares enough to want to change the experiences in the past. They were not bad experiences, just emotionless ones. I’ve certainly had worse.
“Just because you have had worse does not make them right,” Ossev murmurs, kissing the tip of my thumb. “One greater wrong does not excuse lesser wrongs.”
“You are a god,” I tell him, flustered. “You do not need to apologize to anyone.”
“Not even to you?”
My heart squeezes. “I…we’re still figuring each other out, Ossev. All four of us. I am here to bring you in touch with your humanity, yes? To remind you what it is to be human so you can better serve those you look after. I wouldn’t be here if you did not need such reminders. You wouldn’t need me. If we get things wrong at first, that is the most human of problems.”
I chuckle, but he doesn’t join me, and my heart squeezes all over again because he looks miserable. Of the three, Ossev might be the most sensitive, the most in touch with his feelings. He will be my best friend of the three, I realize, and it makes me care for him all the more.
Reaching up, I caress his cool cheek and smile at him. “You listened to my complaints when I protested, and even though you could have bent me to your will and twisted me as easily as you twist the strands, you did not. You listened, and you made efforts to please me. That is all anyone could ever ask for, Ossev. There’s no need to rewrite history when we can learn from it.”
He gazes down at me, his blue eyes bright and aching. “We could ask for kisses. You said we could not ask for more, but I will always ask for kisses.”
I laugh. “Every time you ask, I will be happy to give.”
“Then I am asking right now.”
Still chuckling, I put my other hand on his cheek and tilt my face up, moving in to kiss him. Our lips meet and he wraps his arms around me, his embrace achingly sweet. He holds me as if I’m the most precious thing in the world to him, his lips on mine. We kiss for a long time, nipping and caressing and teasing with tongues, until I’m aching with the need for more. I continue to kiss him, my tongue gliding deeper into his mouth in a suggestive manner. “Come to the bed.”
Ossev groans, nodding. To my surprise, though, he doesn’t push me down on the mattress or take the lead. He just gazes at me, those blue eyes bright with heat, and waits. He’s letting me lead.
So I take his hand and guide him over to the bed. I sit him on the edge of it and undress him with careful touches, skimming my fingers over his pale, perfect flesh. When he’s naked, we kiss again, and then he helps me undress, his expertise with threads obvious as he unties the laces on my corset with speed. My dress falls to the floor and I step out of it, settling onto his lap. His arms go around me, and he gazes up at my face, waiting.