44. Chapter 44

It took five days before Aecor reached Fall Mountain Island. There were some dramatic moments, when one of the divers discovered a leaking airbladder and another a crack in one of the tubes, but thankfully we were able to repair both.

There was another very tense few hours, when Aecor fully reached its destination and the airbladders were slowly emptied of their contents. I had never seen my brother more nervous and animated as when he directed the divers of when and where and how much air to release.

He nearly collapsed when Aecor settled once again on the bottom of the ocean. This time, hopefully for good. I didn’t think Nathan’s heart or sanity could take another move.

Myles pounded him on the shoulder, bringing my poor brother to his knees. “Well done, Nathan, well done!”

“Thank you, Vissigroth.” Nathan beamed up at him and I detected a trace of worshipfulness in him. It wouldn’t be a bad thing if he continued wanting to impress Myles .

Hesitantly at first, Aecor’s citizens reclaimed their homes, inspecting every nook and cranny and reporting any kind of damage, no matter how minuscule.

Within a few more days, everything returned to normal and Myles took me on an outing he had promised me for a long time. We were going to dive down into the city of Attourna. He promised me a full week of just him and me and exploring.

First though, he wanted to make one more stop.

It was a small island he took me to, overgrown with bushes and trees. I estimated it would probably take about half an hour to walk around it.

Myles didn’t take me for a walk though, he led me to an overgrown path that looked like it hadn’t been used in over a hundred years or more. With his sword, he hacked at overhanging branches and cut bushes back so my skirts wouldn’t get snared.

After exploring Fall Mountain Island and its cavernous maze underneath, I would never look at an island the same, realizing that all of them must have been large mountains at one point or another. Mountains of which now only the very tips were visible. My adventurous mind was already working hard on figuring out how to explore each one of these islands, to see if there were any more hidden treasures within them.

None of my musings had prepared me for where Myles took me. We reached the center of the island, and stunned, I stopped dead in my tracks. The holiness of this place was palpable. It was enveloped in shadows from large trees, whole foliage nearly blocked the sun out, only allowing a few beams in, highlighting the statue of a woman and man.

“When my ancestors came here, they built this shrine for Fraysa and Grandyr. There were no legends about our gods for this planet like they are for the other planets. Oceanus had been deemed inhospitable for so long that even the gods hadn’t wanted to create anything special here.”

His words saddened my heart.

“They built this shrine to our gods to change this, to have them come and welcome Oceanus like they did the others.” He took a deep breath, and looked so troubled, my heart went out to him. “Unfortunately, it has never been used. No seffy has ever stayed long enough on Oceanus to complete the binding of the souls ceremony here.”

His eyes sought mine. “We will be the first.”

My heartbeat picked up a notch. The first! Him and me! I liked that idea.

“If you want to renew our soulbond that is.” At that, a small hint of insecurity rushed over his hard warrior face, and nearly melted me. I shouldn’t have known this, but deep in my heart I did. The soulbond was when a couple gave each other over to one another for eternity. It was the promise that we would seek and find each other again in our next lives, like we had done so many times before.

“Always.” My voice was barely a whisper. “I’m yours.”

“And I am yours.” He stepped forward, folded me into his arms and kissed me so deeply, my knees weakened.

From the pack he had been carrying, he pulled out a candle. “Usually, it’s lit by both of us by one that is already burning,” he explained. “But since ours will be the first…” He broke off as both he and I stared at a multitude of tiny, flickering lights that had appeared out of nowhere.

Neither one of us moved or dared to breathe, as the lights—so fragile and blinding—danced through the air, settling on a spot where the statues of Fraysa and Grandyr were holding their hands up, their palms tipped upward. Fraysa’s was laid in Grandyr’s, creating a perfect spot to place and light a candle.

The lights flickered over the bowl created by the palms, settled in, and a small fire began to burn.

“Fraysa,” Myles whispered mesmerized.

“The eternal flame,” I said, but it wasn’t me. It felt as if someone else was speaking through me. “As long as love will exist on Oceanus, this flame will burn for couples to bind each other for eternity.”

Myles stared at me with large eyes. “Niara?”

I shook my head, as if waking from a trance. I smiled at him and held out my hand for the candle he was still holding.

Our hands linked, Myles and I held up the candle with the wick toward the flames, igniting it instantly.

“From here to eternity,” I solemnly vowed.

“From here to eternity,” Myles repeated, gazing into my eyes lovingly.

Together, we placed the lit candle at the gods’ feet.

“Mine,” Myles’s hand reached for my waist .

“Yours,” I swore, allowing myself to be pulled against him.

From his pack, he brought out a thick blanket and arranged it on the ground. With trembling fingers, I opened the buttons of my dress, snaked my arms from the sleeves, and let it fall to the ground.

When Myles turned, I stood waiting for him, naked from head to toe. His eyes darkened as he drank me in.

“Niara,” he rasped.

He held out his hand and I followed him to the blanket, laying down on it, staring up at him. “I’m yours.”

He sank to his knees. Buried one hand into my hair and placed the other against the small of my back to support me.

“I love you,” he said before his lips found mine.

I love you too , my mind cried. Unable to speak, I put all my feelings for this man into his devouring kiss.

His fingers at the small of my back moved backward and forward, creating goosebumps and heating my core.

My hands moved around his thick neck to press myself even closer against him.

His hand, buried in my hair, let go and trailed down around my neck, in between my breasts, leaving hot, burning flesh in its wake. My breathing increased even before he cupped one of my breasts to knead it and to roll my already erect nipple between his fingers.

“So perfect,” he mumbled as his mouth followed the path of his fingers, first down my neck, the hollow under my throat, over my breasts.

He latched onto the other nipple, driving me nearly insane with how good it felt. My hands roved around his thick neck and into hair, moved to his biceps, making me tremble at their hardness. My nails raked his shoulders as I tried to find something to hold on to.

His hand stopped kneading my breast, moved lower. His palm was spread flat, almost entirely encompassing my stomach, before he gripped my hips. In response, moaning, I clawed into his hard flesh.

Then his hand was on the inside of my thigh, nearly encircling it. Moving it up and down on my sensitive skin, I panted out his name.

His lips left my nipple, trailed down my stomach, where they hesitated for a moment to lick into my belly button, while his hand moved to my pussy, finding it slick already with need for him. My legs spread of their own accord as he moved lower, burying his head in between them. I felt his hot breath on my pussy, my clit, eliciting a keening sound from me I had never heard before.

“You are so snygging beautiful, Niara,” he rasped right before his tongue found my sensitive little nub and three of his fingers entered me simultaneously. My entire body jerked from the bolt of heat that spread through me.

He sucked my clit into his mouth, swirled his tongue around it and I nearly came. His fingers moved in and out of me deliciously, but I needed more. I needed him.

“Myles,” I panted. “Please.”

“What do you need, querilly? Tell me what you need and it’s yours. ”

“I need you to fuck me,” I managed, moving my hips up and down in rhythm with his fingers.

“Ah, but you taste so good,” he said, looking up and licking his lips. Gods, he looked so incredible I nearly exploded.

“Myles,” I begged.

He moved up on me, his hand reached for his cock, moving it to my entrance. Greedily, I opened my legs wider, lifted my hips to meet him while my hands searched for his biceps again to ground me, to have something to hold on to. My upper body moved up and I buried my face in the hollow between his shoulder and neck. Breathing hard, I inhaled his sharp scent.

He lowered his head until our foreheads met, his cock pushed into me slowly, as my walls guided him deeper.

“You feel so incredibly good,” Myles moaned hoarsely.

I tried to reply, but my throat was choked up as heat built in my core, ready to melt the knot my muscles had become. He fully entered me, held for a second or two, before he pulled partially out, only to thrust back in, which was my undoing. I cried out his name as shudder after shudder of my climax pulsated through my body.

“Niara,” he gasped, his muscles tensed as he thrust harder and faster into me, extending my climax.

“Niara!” he cried out again, and turned ridged as his seed entered my womb.

He nearly crushed me when he collapsed on top of me, but I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way, I loved how his heavy weight on me made me feel protected, safe, and so incredibly loved.

He took my face into both of his hands, while he used his elbows to adjust his weight. “I love you.”

I leaned up and kissed his mouth. “I love you too.”

By the statues, the eternal flame flickered as if hit by a breeze, but the air didn’t stir. The candle underneath burned undeterred, making me smile.

“I think the gods are happy with us,” I remarked.

“They love and adore you almost as much as I,” Myles said, kissing me all over my face. “Forever.”

“Forever,” I sighed, knowing how true it was for both of us.

THE END of book 5 in the Vissigroths of Leandar series

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