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The shifting tides threatened to drown out his quiet voice. “He made you forget. He did that, too.”
She raised her eyebrows. “How do you know?”
He looked down, shuffling his feet in the yellow sand. “Tirani told me,” he mumbled.
“What?”
His gaze wouldn’t meet hers. “Not everything. Only what she knew.”
The second shock to her system was almost as agonizing as the first. “What she knew? You mean this whole time I’ve been blathering on to her like a fool about wanting to find out what happened to me, and she never said anything? She’s supposed to be my friend!”
“It’s not like that. Don’t be angry with her.” He waded into the water and reached a hand out toward her, beckoning her back. “She didn’t want to distress you, or unwittingly inspire you to do anything reckless. She cares about you and she worries about you. Please, you have to believe she thought she was doing the right thing.”
Liora crouched down, squeezing herself into a tiny ball and resting her head on her knees as the waves lapped up against her. Raw emptiness ached inside her, a hole dug deeper and deeper by the grief and anger tearing at her soul. Looking up, she saw the sky had grown darker, the rosy pastels replaced by duller shades.
Stephen stood several feet away from her, appearing ill at ease and unsure of how to react to her. “We’ve been fooling around long enough,” she said. “We need a plan. We’re going to get out of Marindal. I don’t care what it takes.”
He grimaced. “How? If I could help you, I would have done so long ago. I’m no fighter, no magician, no great strategist. I don’t even know how I managed to get to you.”
She dragged herself to her feet, her sodden clothes plastered against her shaking frame. “Thirvar must have weaknesses. We’re going to find them.” Her voice was as cold as the wind sweeping across the dunes. “And he’s going to regret what he did to me.” Clouds of black smoke appeared overhead as the rage pulsed through her bloodstream, thoughts of revenge chipping away at her focus on their dream.
“Liora, wait!” He moved toward her. “Let’s not worry about it right now. Let’s focus on us. Please.” He put a hand on her arm. “I don’t want to lose you to tomorrow yet.”
She forced herself to take several deep breaths. His eyes were brimming with his usual tenderness, and the consistency helped soothe her frenzied nerves. In addition to his aura of reassurance, he was the proof of all she could achieve. She had succeeded in bringing him to her, and her original strategy was unchanged. He would be the key to their freedom.
The ominous haze dissipated. She flung herself at him, pressing her lips against his with all her strength. He was the sole thing she could count on in her blur of uncertainty, and she needed something to cling to, physically and emotionally. She balled the collar of his shirt in her fists and thrust her tongue into his mouth, wanting the familiar taste to comfort her.
A forceful wave collided with the backs of her knees and she almost lost her balance. Unwilling to let him go, she broke the kiss. She led him toward the shore, fighting against the strong currents and the weight of her drenched clothing. Another wave crested against her and she stumbled, dragging him down with her.
Though she hit the dampened sand with an abrupt jolt, the pain dulled when Stephen landed beside her. Immediately, she was upon him again, drawn like a magnet to his delicious lips. Her hands returned to his shirt, covered in grainy dark smears, and she set out to eliminate the hindrance. Since arriving in the rainforest, she hadn’t been paying attention to what they were wearing. It didn’t matter. The sopping wet clothes only stood in her way.
“Are you sure about this?” he asked as she attacked his remaining garments. “You’ve kind of had a difficult day…”
Liora lay down beside him, the coarse wet sand rubbing against her skin. As soon as she flung her clothes to the side, she continued her attempts at tearing his shirt away. Her body hungered to be filled by him as she remembered her past experiences of increasing stamina every time she had been thrown from the sphere in the throes of an exhilarating climax. Her orgasms were a double-edged sword—when she relinquished control to the ecstasy he elicited, she no longer had power over the illusion, but upon awakening, she was revitalized and ready to accomplish the loftiest of her goals.
“Do you love me?” she asked breathlessly.
He looked at her with half-lidded eyes. “Yes. Of course.”
She shifted closer to him, gliding over the sand until she flattened against him. His erection blossomed to life against her heated sex. “Make me stronger,” she whispered, skimming her lips over his neck and shoulder. She felt him stir between their adjacent forms, and she nibbled a trail back up to his ear, remembering how much he enjoyed attention focused on that particular spot. “I need you. I can’t do it without you.”
Her persuasive argument was accentuated by the application of her teeth to his earlobe. He groaned, and his cock twitched in response to her manipulations. She rolled back as he sat up to finish disrobing. Once his pants were gone, she grabbed him and pulled him on top of her. The weight of him driving her into the malleable sand added to her desire. She arched against him, begging for him to dominate her.
He plunged into her with impetus, pinning her down and rendering her unable to escape the pleasure she coveted. She squirmed underneath him, writhing against him as she raked her nails down his back. Near-incomprehensible murmurings escaped into the air. Pleas such as “harder” and “faster” urged him onward. He had always been gentle with her, but she strove to unleash the inferno she knew burned somewhere within him.
She buried her head in his shoulder, his tantalizing flesh tempting her. Succumbing to impulse, she bit down and he yelped, slamming into her with a surprising burst of momentum. He was immersed deep inside her, almost threatening to split her in half. She wanted more. The rolling waves slipped up beneath them, the chilly water against her blazing hot skin elevating the keen reactions of her every nerve. She dug her fingers into the firm muscles of his ass, pulling him in to the hilt again, and moaned as his pulsating cock stretched her further.
Liora loved him, she was sure of it. The poignancy of their bond was tempered with their act of defiance, and she didn’t know which she enjoyed more at the moment. He rammed into her in a rhythm of pure energy and lust, compelling her to submit to his undeniable masculinity. Determined to ensure this scene could be repeated countless times in the future, she gave in to the whims of her body to start on that path.
As she panted for air, the impending mists of black-tinged rapture whittled away at her control of the situation. The warmth of his sweaty skin, the impassioned breaths matching her own, everything attached to his physical form would soon be gone. Their fervid intimacy would be worth it.
Her muscles convulsed around him, drawing him deeper inside. She tested the boundaries of her immobilization and thrashed beneath his jerking hips. The bubbling surf did nothing to cool the fire surging through her core, and she felt him join in her climax as he emptied his seed into her spasming pussy.
Her knees buckled, and she crashed to the cellar floor. The sphere glimmered above her, casting an irritatingly calm glow over her quivering body. Once she regained her composure, she was back on her feet, bolting up the stairs and out the door of the cottage. She splashed across the stream and skidded across the carpet of fallen pine needles as she entered the forest.
Liora came to a halt at the edge of a cluster of trees which looked far too familiar to her. There were no apparent changes in the air in front of her, but she knew she was at the boundary of her assigned land. She reached out and touched the invisible barrier Thirvar had constructed to keep her inside, its surface as impenetrable as a wall of solid steel.
She pounded on it, kicked it, threw rocks at it, and did everything imaginable to burst through to the other side. It remained unchanged and there would be no escape. Even if she could pass through the magical blockade, she would be unable to stray too far from the sphere. Already, something tugged at her left wrist. An unseen hand pulled her home, though she had run a short distance.
