Page 6 of Six Burning Candles

“—Is that you are both too valuable to any perceivable enemy of our Order and priceless to us. You cannot continue to actlike you are not in danger or within harms reach. You are! You are too important to keep flirting with disaster and other such foolish activities.”

She tugged me instead and I stumbled into her chest. My hooves scuffed along the roots of the tree. Keida grabbed my chin before it could hit her collar and forced my head up in quick succession. I stared up into her piercing eyes, my thighs clenching and knees knocking together.

“Other such foolish activities?” The words fell out of my mouth like she’d squeezed them out of my lungs.

Her eyes softened, studying my face from top to bottom. I was warm, pliable dough in her hands. When her blue orbs landed on my lips and lingered, I moved. Sinking into her touch, my hands took hold of that rough frock of hers and pulled her flesh up against me. Her cloak fell off my shoulders, the clasp giving up with a tinyclickin my ear. Cold air rushed up and under my skirt and bit into my goosebump riddled flesh as the heavy wool dropped to the ground beneath us. Our lips met, and I tasted magic.

Lightning shot through my veins. A dreamy mewl echoed in my throat as her lips tangled with mine. It was so tender and innocent, I thought maybe I’d caught her cheek. Then that hand on my chin snaked into my hair and collected it in a fist. Keida tugged lightly and my body arched into hers more. A hand was at my waist for only a moment until it slid into place within the small of my back. Our kiss grew intense. Her teeth scraped my bottom lip and stars exploded behind my eyelids.

That hand at the small of my back slithered further down, cupping my backside. Shegrabbedme and dragged me against her ferociously. I moaned into her mouth, letting her tongue in.And, goddess bless it, did her tongue want to tango with mine.She explored my mouth while I desperately tried to keep up.The fingers in my hair left me shivering, nipples once again hard as diamonds. I grabbed onto her hips and that’s when she tensed up.

Keida ripped her mouth from mine, her back hitting the tree with a heavy thump. She sucked in a ragged breath, “We shouldn’t.”

“Shouldn’t what?” I croaked, feeling my heart shivering in fear.

Keida opened her mouth to speak but a shriek of delight filled the air, cutting her off. The sound was followed by a gaggle of ladies chasing after two small kittens with croissants in their mouths. The entire cacophony rushed past us. One of the women, Daphne Oliphante, my best friend, squealed as she grabbed me by the arm. “Melrose! Quick! Help us! Save the babies!”

I never did hear what we shouldn’t be doing.

Chapter four:

~Keida~

Iamafool.And this is punishment from the goddess.

I sat on a carpet with my feet stretched out before me, toes currently strung up like prisoners in some sort of contraption while Lady Daphne Oliphante painted them. Melrose sat in a chair behind me in the Oliphante family’s study, braiding my hair with manyaccessories.The crackling fire made my thick, wool cleric’s robes itchy.Or maybe it’s being touched.

I am a fool. A desperate horny fool who kissed the Hierophant’s daughter and this is my punishment.

I kissed her. That was a thing that happened.No, I didn’t just kiss her—I felt her up!I put my hands on her body with no intention of stopping. Her dress was delightfully soft, and I felt it shift as her tiny tail wagged fervently behind her. Lips like clouds, skin so warm it burned, and the sound of her moan—OH! I was definitely going to oblivion.I am in so much trouble.Avaris forgive me.

Had I notjustsworn to keep my hands off her? And there I went, shoving my tongue in her mouth and considering where else my tongue could go that would get those dulcetsounds to fill the air. Melrose St. Augustine was inches from being twisted, pressed into that tree, then eaten like the festival dessert she was…and I am a fool!

I sat still and allowed my torture to continue without a single vocal otherwise. So, while the lacquer was drying on my toes, Lady Daphne took my hands and painted them too. “Why don’t clerics paint their nails?”

“Some do…I suppose.” I furrowed my brows.What do I know what others do with their fingers and toes? I hardly notice if anyone is wearing anything other than Melrose—don’t say that.

“But you do not?” Lady Daphne cocked her head, her gaze focusing on my palm against the pillow in her lap.

“I haveotherduties that require my full focus,” I confessed with as stern of a tone as I could manage.

“Mmm, like dusting rafters and carving candles?” Lady Daphne teased with a bemused smile crawling up on her lips.

“They are important tasks,” I countered.

“And boring. Any of your clergy men could do that, or better yet, the little ones who scurry around the grounds with nothing better to do. Why not enlist one of them to dust the rafters or carve the candles?” As Lady Daphne continued, I simply rolled my eyes and let her. Those who did not know the inner workings of the church, much less the order, could blather on all they liked. It didn’t bother me in the slightest. Especially given that Melrose chimed in to bicker with her friend for me. It allowed me the chance to sit back and let them decorate my body. My shoulders fell between Melrose’s soft thighs, and I did my best not to notice how satiny her fur was. Only for me to see that on the inside of her right knee was a heart shaped spot. I twisted an inch just to see it more and I heard her sweet giggle behind me.

“Yes?”

“Your spot,” I blurted out, nodding at it.

“Oh, yeah, I forgot they’re there. Mom used to call them my freckles, they’re all the way up my leg.” She shifted her dress more to show off the trail of spots up her leg. My gaze, lecherous and untamed, traveled up the seam of her thigh. Where, normally, I would see small cotton clothes covering her from the tops of her thighs to her hips. My heart fluttered at the idea of seeing whatever cutesy silk she used to cover herself…only, I found no such fabric.She’s not wearing underwear.It made my blood pressure spike within my veins, and I twisted right back forward.She’s not wearing small clothes!My stomach filled with traitorous butterflies. As Lady Daphne fanned my fingernails rapidly and Melrose finished with my hair, I continuously returned to the salacious image.

What if I just…I reimagined out kiss at the tree but without her dress. Having my bare palms against her skin, her hoof hiked up on a root, her warmth pressed against my thigh. My fantasy made my clothes extra hot and itchy.

A soft mewl broke my panicked machinations. Lady Daphne gasped, climbing to her feet. “They must need food. I’ll be back.”

I followed the Lady Oliphante out of the room with my eyes before finally landing my gaze on the object of my desires. Melrose’ gaze was lingering on the doorway, a bemused smile on her lips.Lips I kissed.