Chapter Six
That evening, Nadia pulled off her robe and slipped between the cool sheets of her bed, exhausted. Lord Cyrene flashed across her mind, one corner of his mouth lifted in a knowing smile. Her a’mi stirred. She squeezed her eyes closed and recited the ancient A’misrian alphabet until her thoughts grew heavy. With a sigh, she drifted to sleep.
She blinked awake to see a cloudless blue sky above her. Warm sea water caressed her skin, its salty smell familiar. An island, the protruding top of a dormant volcano’s crater, curved around her providing a protected cove, its steep ridges spotted with low-lying brush that thickened around a narrow strip of sandy beach. Palm trees stood along the beach’s edge like sentinels guarding the array of wildlife which called the cove home. A cottage hid among the thicker foliage behind the palm trees, its thatched roof and stucco walls providing a natural camouflage.
She smiled and used her Mer tail, its green and black scales sparkling in the sunlight, to propel herself through the waters of her favorite sanctuary. A black-footed albatross flew over her and called to its mate while a family of monk seals splashed near the island’s white sand shore, barking for her to come play. A solid male chest slid up behind her, his muscled arms sliding under her breasts.
She rested her head back onto his chest. “I’ve been floating here alone for a while, waiting for you. It seems that even in my dreams, males make me wait.”
Warm laughter rumbled under her cheek. “A dream, love?” He leaned down and grazed her neck with his lips. “Let me show you how very much awake you are.”
Nadia glanced up, not surprised to see her dream Mer wearing Lord Cyrene’s face. She turned in his arms, smoothing her hands over his chest, and smiled. “I suppose it isn’t sane to argue with one’s own dream creation, but why not?” She ran her gaze down his body to the scales that started low on his hips and covered a powerful fish’s tail. “If this isn’t a dream, why do you have a Mer tail?”
Gregor’s gaze clouded. “I’ve had a fascination with the Mer since I was a child.” He blinked and looked down at her, his brow wrinkled, then shook his head, his expression clearing as he ran a palm up her side. “This all feels very real to me.”
A knot formed in her stomach. If only this were real life. She pushed the heavy thought aside and caressed his face. His chin was too strong in a face that screamed arrogance. He had a high forehead. She suppressed a smirk. No doubt he’d go bald with old age. She rolled her eyes mentally at herself as she focused on his mouth. His lips were full and looked soft. She wanted to taste them. As if reading her mind, he leaned forward.
His lips hovered a hairbreadth from hers. “What’s going on behind those beautiful eyes?”
Nadia smirked. “Wishing you could read my mind?”
“Since the moment I met you.” He sighed.
Nadia laughed, liking this dream version of the infuriating Lord Gregor Cyrene. Feeling playful, she splashed him in the face and twisted out of his arms. “Maybe I just need incentive. Catch me and I’ll give you that kiss I was just imagining.”
She dove into the wonder of Paraiso Canyon, its coral covered volcanic ledges and murky blue water creating a secret city in the depths beneath the waves. Parrotfish, unicornfish, and ulua scattered around her as she sped through the water, dodging in and out of formations of coral reef. She darted a look over her shoulder to see Gregor on her tail, teeth bared in a predatory smile.
She pushed her voice into his mind in the way of the Mer. “Watch out for the darker caves. You never know when octopi may reach out and grab you,” she teased.
He glanced toward the cave she’d purposely swam past, veering off to give it a wide berth. Taking advantage of his distraction, she swam behind a ledge of the reef and put on a burst of speed toward the island. The sea’s bottom rose beneath her, until the water was shallow enough for her to stand. With just a thought, her tail became legs and she ran across the sandy bottom toward the beach and the lush vegetation beyond. She’d gone only a couple of steps when a hand closed around her ankle and her feet were pulled from under her.
Gregor’s head broke the surface of the water, his arms wrapping around her as she fell. “You’ll not get away from me that easy,” he said, standing on his own legs and carrying her out of the water up onto the soft, white sand of the beach.
Nadia laughed. “I almost made it.”
Gregor looked down at her and stopped, his smile fading as he dropped her legs and pulled her against his chest. “I want my kiss.”
She wound her arms around his neck, pressing sensitive skin against the light smattering of hair on his chest, and tunneled her fingers into his hair. “Your wish is my command,” she whispered.
She trailed kisses from his chin to his mouth, teasing him, before finally pressing her mouth to his. With a groan, he took control, licking her bottom lip until she opened to the invasion of his tongue. He broke the kiss and moved down the column of her neck, nipping and sucking at the sensitive skin.
She ran her hand down his arm, threading her fingers through his, then broke the kiss and pulled him up the beach. “Come, I’ll show you my cottage.”
“It’s yours?”
“I inherited it when my mother died. It’s my sanctuary. The place I used to go when I needed to be alone.”
She pulled him onto the wide, covered porch, its wood planks creaking under her feet and making her smile. She pushed the door open and stepped into a large room with a kitchen and dining table at one end and a sitting room on the other that looked exactly as she’d left it the day before her exile. Her favorite blanket lay tossed across a blue chaise. The book she’d been reading lay on the blanket, the curved edge of a flat, white, sea biscuit marking her page. Shelves stuffed with books lined an entire wall, while more stacks of books filled the seat of an overstuffed chair and the square table between the chair and chaise as well as the dining table.
Gregor stepped in behind her, and she resisted the urge to straighten up. Reaching for one of the robes hanging on hooks by the door, she pulled it on, then handed the biggest one to Gregor.
His gaze jumped to hers, but she turned away. Though he was only a figment of her imagination, of her dream, having him in her favorite of private spaces, which she’d only ever allowed her sisters to visit, unnerved her. She watched him from the corner of her eye as he pulled the robe on and move to the wall of books.
He ran a finger along one of the spines. “You read.”
She lifted one brow. “Is it so unbelievable?”
She smiled as his face pinkened, but he just shook his head. “I’ve never met a woman who enjoyed knowledge as much as I do.”
Nadia shrugged. “Don’t give me too much credit. I read for pleasure more than knowledge.”
“Don’t we all?” Gregor said, turning to study the titles on her shelves. “You enjoy reading histories written of battles.” He pulled a book from the shelf. “Obscure battles…and those of the A’mi.”
“Yes.” Her forehead wrinkled. “You recognize written A’misrian?”
“I collect and study anything of the A’mi I can get my hands on, especially anything to do with their language.”
“You don’t fear the Order and their promise to punish those who don’t revere Asha above all the gods?”
He smiled, then turned back to the shelf and replaced the book. “We in the North hold to the old ways. None of the five gods are any higher than the other. We worship them all.”
A hard lump formed in her throat. She wished again that this were more than a dream. She shook her head and moved into the kitchen as he continued browsing through her books. When she glanced up again, he stood beside a small square chess table sitting before the fireplace, two chairs to either side of it.
He picked up one of the carved pieces. “They’re A’mi creatures.”
Nadia pulled a bottle of wine from the rack on the counter. “Yes.” She pulled the cork from the bottle.
“They’re exquisite.”
“My sister, Kardia, will appreciate the praise. She used the project to master her control of earth and fire.” Nadia pulled two lumpy wine glasses, a result of Kardia’s first attempts to master the two elements, from the shelf above the sink and filled them with wine. “Do you play?”
One side of his mouth lifted in a smile as if he were keeping a secret. “Some.”
“Sit, then.” She moved toward the table and handed him a glass of wine. “Let’s see how good you are.”
Gregor’s amber eyes glinted, his smile becoming predatory. “Indeed.”
They sat. She lifted her wine to her lips and stared at him over the rim. Lowering the glass, she set it aside and slowly ran her tongue along her bottom lip. His gaze heated. She reached out and moved a sea horse shaped pawn into the center of the board, its long mane seeming to float around its head as if her sister had captured the image floating in water. She glanced back up and lifted a brow in challenge. He narrowed his eyes and looked down at the board. Challenge accepted. She smirked.
He moved his own pawn and looked up. “How many sisters do you have?”
“There are five of us.”
“And you’re all Mer?”
She moved her knight, carved into the shape of a griffin, and looked up. “No, only I and my youngest sister have Mer mothers. The other three have mothers from different A’mi races.”
“Your father was able to cross through Diomere’s gate?”
“No.” His gaze jumped from the game board to her face, and Nadia looked away. “They were Chosen who’d decided to stay in Diomere rather than cross over into Mondami.”
His brow wrinkled. “Your father…”
“Took advantage of young women barely out of pig tails, yes.” Gregor studied her in silence as she drained her wine glass and stood to refill it. She leaned against the counter, their game forgotten. “My father is not a good man.”
Gregor crossed to stand in front of her. He took the wineglass from her hand and set it on the counter, then traced the edge of her face with his finger.
“And my mother is an evil woman. But we aren’t them.”
Nadia let him pull her into his arms. “I wish you were real.”
“Am I not?” he asked, a smile curling the corners of his mouth.
“No. You’re a dream,” she said, her smile sad. “A very nice dream.”
His finger trailed from her face, down her neck, and along the edge of the cleavage revealed by her robe. She shivered. His hand dropped to the robe’s belt and pulled it loose. The robe opened, revealing her body. When she didn’t stop him, he leaned in to follow his finger’s path with his lips. He nibbled the edge of her jaw, down the curve of her neck, and along her breast. He sucked one tight bud into his mouth. An arc of desire arrowed to the pleasure pulsing between her legs. She arched into him, the evidence of his own arousal pressing into her lower stomach.
“How is it that you keep trying to take over my dream?” she asked, pushing his head away from her breasts. “I want to taste you.”
He chuckled. “I’d never deny a beautiful woman her wish.”
Nadia loosened his robe, then bent and closed her teeth around one hard nipple while raking her nails lightly down his back. He groaned. She bathed the sting with her tongue, then sucked the hard nub into her mouth. He arrowed his fingers into her hair as she did the same to the other nipple. She smoothed her palms over his backside and squeezed the firm globes, then smoothed a hand over his hip until her fingers wrapped around the silk covered hardness of his erection. He shuddered, his hips jerking forward. She pumped her hand over the smooth steel of him once, twice, until a bead of moisture appeared at the tip. She licked her lips and dropped to her knees.
His fists clenched in her hair. “If this is your dream, shouldn’t I be pleasuring you?”
Nadia gave him a sultry look from heavy-lidded eyes. “As you said, it’s my dream, and I want a taste.”
She leaned forward and licked the glistening bead from his tip, closing her eyes to savor the salty drop. He jerked in her grasp, a low groan making her smile. When she opened her eyes again, she lay on her side in her bed, her fist clutching the hard spine of the book she’d been reading, and her unfulfilled desire throbbing between her legs. She threw the book to the floor and squeezed her knees together with a frustrated groan.