AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 22 - Light
Metheus
I saw emotions flicker on her face. Hurt was obviously there, but so was confusion. Luella had placed herself in a vulnerable position, seated on the rug, looking up at me. It must have been difficult. After all, she had never had to beg for anything in her life. Her desire to have children might have been strong.
Twenty-seven summers. I understood her. Young peasant girls were married off at twelve. Even princesses were promised at such an age, though I had no wish to force such cruelty on my sister. Sixteen seemed to be their prime, as they were introduced to society at about that age.
If she had been married off the year before she burned her lover, her future might have been drastically different. Perhaps she would have been imprisoned for burning a prince or another royal, because, more likely, she would have been married off to someone near her equal. Or, perhaps, she would not have gathered any passion for someone forced on her that she would have lived her life unhappily ever after. In that scenario, she would at least have been alive, with children.
What if we were destined to be together?
Before I could contemplate the expression on her beautiful face further, she had already risen. She was furious, hurt, and confused. Her chin held high and her arms crossed in front of her, she seemed imperious even in her bedclothes.
“What do you mean by that?” she demanded.
“I’ve asked this of you before, I believe,” I began.
“Yes, I remember. You insinuated that I was experienced. Are you now accusing me of being promiscuous?”
Her eyes flashed at me, her hair wild at her back. She was not done with me.
“I will not condemn a woman with many lovers, Metheus, if she had wanted it. You are right. You may be right,” she repeated. “I would probably have been promiscuous if I were not so dangerous. It was stupid what I did. I had destroyed – killed a man, all because of a kiss and some careless fumbling!”
Was she telling me what I thought she was telling me? She was a virgin just like I was. It should not have mattered to me. Now, shame washed over me.
“I am so sorry, Luella. If you do not want to see me right now, I understand,” I rose from the ottoman, ready to dress to leave.
“Stay. You need to listen. You men cannot expect to be with as many women as you like and then wish your women to be completely innocent. I may be a virgin, but I am not innocent. I know what happens, although I have not tried it myself. I have an older brother who talks to his friends about their conquests. I listened. Instead of shying away from it, I was titillated. Perhaps you have a right to be disgusted with me.”
I admired how she kept herself from crying. No tears were falling on her cheeks. She was dry, parched inside, and longing for something. She was also dangerously red. So, I swiftly went to her side and embraced her tightly. So tight I could feel her every curve. She did not have to be a walking flame for me to feel hot then.
I took in her heat. I absorbed it as much as I could, for both our safety. Then, I readied myself to confess. Only Razuku knew about my secret. He teased, but he was not a tattletale. He would rather die than humiliate me.
“Luella, what I was trying to say, and trying to say it very badly, was that I, too, am a virgin.”
I felt more than heard her gasp as she started calming in my embrace. Then, soon, I felt her hands on my back. It was almost like she was the one comforting me, draining me of my shame and pain.
I did not know how long we were like that, standing, like in a dance with no steps. Finally, I let go of her. She looked up at me, her eyes shining.
“Thank you, Metheus, for sharing your secret. It is now ours to keep. Nobody will ever know, not anymore, especially after our children are born,” she said.
That made heat shoot up through me, even as the ones I took from her warmed me even more.
“Are you still willing to take me as a lover, Luella? I would not know what to do. Not really. I had been to a brothel and saw what it was like, but I had never felt desire for a woman.”
“Never?” she asked.
“Never,” I confirmed, except it was no longer valid at that point. I remembered toiling in the fields the morning after our supposed wedding night, the vision and feeling of her body still fresh in my mind. The memory stamped on my own body until I worked myself ragged for the day.
There was no room for pride if we wanted to make it work, even if love had to wait to bloom.
“Except with you,” I whispered, my breathing shallow, as I noticed more things about my wife. Her eyes were darker green than mine, and her lips were soft and pink. Her hair fell in wild curls, though my dark golden ones were more wiry and curlier, coiled further in their braids.
‘Then, what are you waiting for? Kiss me,” she purred as she wrapped her arms around me again. Her hands were on my bare back, tracing the tense muscles there. She was only making it worse as my body flexed in anticipation.
“That I at least know,” I murmured as I bent towards her to kiss her lips. I should stop worrying about what happened next. They all said it should happen naturally. This time, I was just glad that I finally knew the first stirrings of desire.
She licked the seam of my lips, more insistent and aggressive. Her tongue slipped into my mouth, seeking mine. She moaned. The sound wreaked havoc in my body as I felt not just the muscles of my body harden. Something else had become unbearably hard. Why was it so easy with her?
