and
knelt at his feet. “Allow me this. Please.”
Unzipping first one boot, then the other, as he balanced a
hand against the wall, she pulled them from his feet and tossed them aside.
Then she removed his suit and tossed it aside.
She rose, stepped away from him, and smiled. “You’re as
magnificent in your physical body as in our thoughtwalk. What I’ve been missing
all this time. I know that your people revere the melding through the mind
higher than the physical. But, Jarek, we shall know both. And the colors we
create—there will be none like them anywhere.”
He reached for her, but again Kierra stepped away. “We will
go slowly. I want you to know every moment of pleasure. And to know it is
through us—you and I—that you know it. I’m going to give you such memories, they
will usurp all previous ones. I promise you a new sanctuary.”
“Sanctuary?” He had a vague sense of it, but most of that
memory had been destroyed. Fragments. All fragments littered his mind.
She touched his jaw. “You once shared your sanctuary with me.
It was a beautiful place filled with colors, your colors, that seduced and
pleasured me more than I thought possible. It was a place of no Befores or
Beyonds. Right now you fear me in your mind, but I’ll bring you to a place
where you will know I could never judge you for anything you’ve ever done.”
“How could you not?” His body tingled with awareness of her
in ways he’d never known. He wanted to open his mind to her—wanted her words to
be true.
“Do you judge me for what happened in our years of bondage? When
my body was taken time and time again?”
“How can you ask that?”
“Then do you think me weak? That my love is such a poor
thing it can’t be trusted not to judge? None of the Before matters. Not to me
and not to you.”
“I don’t know how to let go of it. I have no certainty that
anything I remember is real.”
“What about the thread that connects us? Do you think that
is fashioned by Odon?”
“No—I—” The thread linking him to Kierra was different. He
was sure of it. There was some inner sense that denied it was part of anything
that Odon had created or altered. “It is real.”
She linked her hand with his. “Then come with me. Trust me.
Let us share some of the bliss that is waiting for us.”
“Where are we going? Hopefully not too far since we’re both
naked.”
He heard her throaty laugh, and his khout hardened even
more.
“We’re about to begin a journey. A cleansing that is long
overdue.”
CHAPTER
ELEVEN
She’d been fearful he would reject her out of hand. That she
had left it too long. Eluria attempted to impart the knowledge she’d learned as
a Twilight Companion, skills and arts an ordinary female would not know. But in
the end, Eluria had told Kierra to go with her instincts and they would guide
her.
What instincts? The only thing she’d ever known of physical
joining was what the Enforcers had taught Kierra through pain and drugs. Jarek
had offered her the sensual mind bonding, but she’d shied away from physical
contact. Now, when she was finally ready, he’d been so damaged, he’d pulled
away from her. Did she have what it would take to heal him?
She led him into the shower enclosure. The automatic motion
indicator engaged and a warm rain of water fell over them. Kierra reached for a
bottle of fragrant liquid body cleanser and poured some into her hand.
Turning back to him, she spread the liquid into the thick
bed of dark hair on his chest. She worked the foamy liquid along his shoulders
and down across his ribs.
Moving closer, she brought her body flush with his and
rubbed her sensitive breasts against his chest, enjoying the feel of rough hair
as she moved her hands to his back and down over the curve of his muscled
buttocks to skim the back of his upper thighs.
The heat of his body penetrated the cool water that streamed
down their bodies. Without touching his khout she progressed
knelt at his feet. “Allow me this. Please.”
Unzipping first one boot, then the other, as he balanced a
hand against the wall, she pulled them from his feet and tossed them aside.
Then she removed his suit and tossed it aside.
She rose, stepped away from him, and smiled. “You’re as
magnificent in your physical body as in our thoughtwalk. What I’ve been missing
all this time. I know that your people revere the melding through the mind
higher than the physical. But, Jarek, we shall know both. And the colors we
create—there will be none like them anywhere.”
He reached for her, but again Kierra stepped away. “We will
go slowly. I want you to know every moment of pleasure. And to know it is
through us—you and I—that you know it. I’m going to give you such memories, they
will usurp all previous ones. I promise you a new sanctuary.”
“Sanctuary?” He had a vague sense of it, but most of that
memory had been destroyed. Fragments. All fragments littered his mind.
She touched his jaw. “You once shared your sanctuary with me.
It was a beautiful place filled with colors, your colors, that seduced and
pleasured me more than I thought possible. It was a place of no Befores or
Beyonds. Right now you fear me in your mind, but I’ll bring you to a place
where you will know I could never judge you for anything you’ve ever done.”
“How could you not?” His body tingled with awareness of her
in ways he’d never known. He wanted to open his mind to her—wanted her words to
be true.
“Do you judge me for what happened in our years of bondage? When
my body was taken time and time again?”
“How can you ask that?”
“Then do you think me weak? That my love is such a poor
thing it can’t be trusted not to judge? None of the Before matters. Not to me
and not to you.”
“I don’t know how to let go of it. I have no certainty that
anything I remember is real.”
“What about the thread that connects us? Do you think that
is fashioned by Odon?”
“No—I—” The thread linking him to Kierra was different. He
was sure of it. There was some inner sense that denied it was part of anything
that Odon had created or altered. “It is real.”
She linked her hand with his. “Then come with me. Trust me.
Let us share some of the bliss that is waiting for us.”
“Where are we going? Hopefully not too far since we’re both
naked.”
He heard her throaty laugh, and his khout hardened even
more.
“We’re about to begin a journey. A cleansing that is long
overdue.”
CHAPTER
ELEVEN
She’d been fearful he would reject her out of hand. That she
had left it too long. Eluria attempted to impart the knowledge she’d learned as
a Twilight Companion, skills and arts an ordinary female would not know. But in
the end, Eluria had told Kierra to go with her instincts and they would guide
her.
What instincts? The only thing she’d ever known of physical
joining was what the Enforcers had taught Kierra through pain and drugs. Jarek
had offered her the sensual mind bonding, but she’d shied away from physical
contact. Now, when she was finally ready, he’d been so damaged, he’d pulled
away from her. Did she have what it would take to heal him?
She led him into the shower enclosure. The automatic motion
indicator engaged and a warm rain of water fell over them. Kierra reached for a
bottle of fragrant liquid body cleanser and poured some into her hand.
Turning back to him, she spread the liquid into the thick
bed of dark hair on his chest. She worked the foamy liquid along his shoulders
and down across his ribs.
Moving closer, she brought her body flush with his and
rubbed her sensitive breasts against his chest, enjoying the feel of rough hair
as she moved her hands to his back and down over the curve of his muscled
buttocks to skim the back of his upper thighs.
The heat of his body penetrated the cool water that streamed
down their bodies. Without touching his khout she progressed
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