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I was moved by his tenderness. He was so big and frightening looking, but he cradled me against him as though I was a hurt child—and at that moment, reliving the memory of what my nurse had done to me, that was what I felt like.
“Can you see why I don’t want to touch myself, though?” I asked, daring to look up at him. “It’s so scary—I mean, I still feel so ashamed.”
“I understand.” He pressed a gentle kiss to my forehead. “It’s something you’re going to have to get over though—if you ever want to access your power on your own. But maybe we can try something else.”
“Something else?” I felt my stomach do a flip. “Are…are you going to cut me after all? Or ask me to cut myself to try and bring up my power?” The way he was always slicing and pricking himself with his moonstone dagger was fine for him—he seemed inured to the pain and he could heal himself almost instantly. But I didn’t like the idea of doing that to myself at all.
Liath shook his head.
“No, little bird,” he rumbled. “I told you—your magic is almost certainly pleasure-based and pleasure is what we need to reach it and bring it out. So I’m going to help you with that—help you learn to touch yourself.”
“But…how can you do that?” I whispered uncertainly.
“You’ll see.” Liath stroked my cheek. “Do you trust me?”
Strangely, I did. We hadn’t been married that long—he ought to still be a stranger to me. But…he didn’t feel like one. The way we talked so freely and the way I felt so calm when I was around him made it feel as though we had known each other forever. So far he hadn’t hurt me as I had feared he would before we married—he had only healed and comforted me. He looked absolutely terrifying with his curling horns and burning bronze eyes…but he treated me as though I was his most precious treasure.
“I trust you, Liath,” I told him, looking into his eyes. “And…I like you.”
He rumbled with laughter.
“You sound surprised about that.”
“I am,” I said candidly. “Asfaloth and Calista…they told me you’d hurt me. They said you’d…you know, tear me apart on our wedding night.”
His face darkened.
“Don’t speak their names in our marriage bed, little bird. You know by now that the two of them are poison—they have nothing to do with what we have together.”
“You’re right.” I nodded. “They were lying—I see that now. But I never expected you to be…well, so gentle with me.”
His eyes softened.
“How else could I be with such an innocent maiden?” he murmured. “Such a sweet little bird?”
I felt myself blushing at the way he was looking at me—I saw a mixture of tenderness and lust in his bronze eyes and it made me feel hot and cold all over. It also made me want to kiss him.
Reaching up, I grasped one of his curling horns and tugged at him, wanting him to bring his face down so I could reach him. Liath obliged, his eyes holding mine the whole time.
“What do you want, Alira?” he rumbled softly.
“I want…I want to kiss you. The way you kissed me last night,” I confessed.
One corner of his sensuous mouth went up.
“Do it, then. I’ll not stop you.”
I took him at his word—as I took his lips in a kiss. He tasted spicy and wild and I thought I could still taste a bit of the sweet syrup we’d had at breakfast.
Liath let me kiss him for a while and then he kissed me back, parting his lips for me to deepen the kiss.
Feeling bold, I slipped my tongue into his mouth, tasting him more fully. I liked how hot and sweet his mouth was—and liked it even better that he let me explore him as long as I liked. He growled softly and ran his big hands up and down my back and sides and I had the feeling he was holding himself back in some way, but I trusted him enough to know he wouldn’t lose control and hurt me.
At last, I felt like I wanted more. My heart was pounding as I pulled away from him, looking into his eyes.
“I want to do this—I want to find my magic, if I have any,” I told him. “But I still don’t know how you’re going to, uh, teach me to touch myself.”
“I’ll show you,” Liath rumbled. “But first we need to rearrange things a bit…”
15
The rearranging involved moving things around. First Liath brought the tall standing mirror in its marble stand around to the end of the bed so we could see ourselves in it. Then he moved the nightstand with the dead rose right beside it, so I could see that as well.
Finally, he came back to the bed and arranged some pillows against the headboard. He leaned back against them and patted the space between his legs.
