Heph: Modern Descendants 3, page 16
“Me, too.” My hand rubbed over my head. I didn’t know where to go next. Her head swung to the table.
“It looks beautiful.” Breaking from my spell, I pulled out the chair for her and motioned for her to sit. I took my seat and poured some wine for each of us. Raising the glass to my lips, she said, “We should toast something.”
I blinked again. I was messing this up.
“What should we toast?”
Her head looked upward at the star-filled sky.
“A beautiful night.”
“A beautiful girl,” I replied and brought the glass to my lips. She smiled slowly, and I downed the glass, thirsty, frightened, and nervous. She set her glass on the table, untouched.
“We should talk,” she said, and I set my empty glass on the table near hers. Silence filled the space.
“I…” We both spoke at the same time. We laughed together.
“You go…” We started again collectively, and laughter filled with tension continued.
“Ladies first,” I said, dipping my head. She nodded back and began.
“I’ve never felt like you make me feel.” Those weren’t the words I expected her to say. “I don’t have expectations of anyone in life, Heph. But I expected more from you. I still don’t understand why you left without telling me.”
I sighed. “I told you on the beach. My father.”
She stared at me, and I knew it wasn’t enough.
“He can make me feel guilty for his generosity. Even though he’s the parent, and he should have wanted me, he reminds me of his ‘kindness’ too often. As if I’m not grateful.”
She watched me, waiting for more.
“My mother didn’t want me. I reminded her of Zeke, whom she loved, and he betrayed her. He isn’t a faithful man, and he has so many children, even I’ve lost count of my siblings. Solis is my best friend of the lot. Zeke just likes to reinforce my allegiance to him by manipulating me.”
“Why did you return, then?”
“I didn’t want to lose you.”
She sighed, and her shoulders fell. “I thought I frightened you.”
I laughed bitterly. “A fire doesn’t scare me, Little Spark. I’ve seen much bigger flames.”
“Is that what happened to you?” Her eyes drifted to my leg. We hadn’t ever discussed it.
“I was mountain climbing, making my way across the country. I felt desperate for space and answers. I wanted to know why...why my mother didn’t want me. After finding her, and being rejected a second time, I took risks to prove to myself I was stronger than they all gave me credit for. I’d been beat-up, stabbed, chased, and abused.” I circled my face with my finger. “And then, I fell.” Visions flashed through my eyes of tumbling down the rock, and then the world going dark. I woke under a blazing sun. I’d been out for days. “My leg was trapped, broken and swollen. The only way to move was to break the leg again. I slipped out, prepared to die, when Zeke found me, taking me in a second time.”
Her hand reached for mine, and I curled her tiny fingers into my palm. How I longed to hold all of her against me. Holding her hand was a huge step. The flames within could burn, but for now, the heat of her hand calmed me.
“When he brought me home, he smacked me around. Hitting me to reinforce his love, he said. He wanted it hammered into my thick skull that home was where he lived and nowhere else. He alone loved me, and I would only find love on his estate. The rest of the world would not understand me. Understand us.” Modern descendants of gods would be hard to explain to the new world.
Her hand squeezed tighter in mine.
“But I still don’t understand; you walked away from him, if you came here. You’re stronger than you think.” Her smile brightened to reassure me, and I wanted a taste of those magenta-rosebud lips.
“Well, Solis told me to get my ass back to Hestia’s.”
Her brow pinched, and her hand slipped from my grasp, but I chased her fingers and tightened my hold.
“So Solis made you return?”
“Actually Veva. She scared me more than him.” I chuckled at the scolding Veva gave me. Filled with love and good intentions, she ripped me up one side and down the other, telling me how much she admired me and adored me, but running away proved I was thick-headed. Then she laughed, knowing she’d done the same thing.
We’re more alike than I thought, big brother. Her words filled me with joy.
“So Veva sent you here.”
Not understanding her meaning, I smiled larger.
“Actually, Hestia told me where to find you.”
“Hestia?”
“I’d gone back to her home. It’s really more my home, happy and comforting, than my father’s estate.”
She shook her head. “I see,” but something told me she didn’t.
“What about Lovie?”
The question surprised me. I was here for her; didn’t she see that?
“What about her?” I snapped. Phyre’s eyes shot up to mine, and her hand tugged to release my grasp. Questioning ocean-colored eyes peered into mine.
“I’m not going back to her. We had our time. It’s over.”
Her hand relaxed in mine.
“Phyre, I want to begin again with you. A new story.”
“I want that, too.”
I slipped from my seat and fell to a knee. Cupping her face, I leaned up to kiss her. My lips twitched with excitement: a child eager for the sugary, sweet taste of a treat. The connection was tender, hesitant, and new. She returned the kiss like she’d never kissed me before, and I felt the separation.
Tell me I’m not too late, I had asked. Was I? I wondered. I deepened the kiss, asking her without words to accept me. Her hand cupped my cheek as only our lips touched. Pulling back from me, she stared with smoky blue eyes, questioning where we stood.
“It’s only you.” It seemed futile to keep talking when she needed my action instead. Sitting back in my seat, dinner arrived, and we ate intermittently between speaking of our pasts, avoiding things too heavy like her travels to the Pacific Northwest and my adventures through the United States.
She laughed her fire-crackling laughter, and my heart warmed as she smiled at me. I’d never been on a date before, and if I was human, I imagine this night was what romantics wrote about in books. The starry night, the chilly air, the fire nearby. Good dinner, great wine, and better company. But the night came too quickly to an end, when she said she thought she should go, and I didn’t want her to leave.
My hand reached for her, respecting her wishes, and I walked her back to her room. We stood outside the door, hands caressing over fingers and wrists, tracing palms and intertwining digits.
“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.” Her eyes on her hands, rubbing over mine. I wanted her to sense the irony. She wasn’t burning me. We touched without fire, but the blaze was in my veins. I wanted her.
I leaned forward and kissed her lips softly before drawing back.
“Good night,” I said, and with strength I didn’t know I possessed, I stepped back as she entered her room and closed the door.
phyre
I stood outside Heph’s door, my hand rising to knock and then lowering. My forehead came forward to rest on the wood as my heart raced. It was after midnight, hours after he sweetly walked me to my room.
Could I do this?
Should I do this?
Ember questioned me the second I returned.
“I didn’t expect to see you.” Her eyes hesitantly roamed over me, before her mouth spread into a wide smile.
“What happened?” Her laughter didn’t pull me away from the door, my back still pressed to it, holding the knob.
“It was…heavenly,” I sighed. The night had been perfect. It was everything and more than I expected from a date. Slowly my head rose, and I stared at Ember. “And he walked me back here.”
Tender eyes watched me. “Did you not want to go with him to his room?”
“He didn’t ask me.”
She nodded slowly, and then her head popped up. “Did you want him to?”
Before I could think, I breathed: “Yes.” We stared at one another, my back still on the door.
“You know, I love you, right? And I want what is best for you.” She paused. “Heph is good for you, Phyre. Trust him.”
Could I do this? I questioned again as my forehead pressed against the door.
Should I do this? I answered my own question by taking a deep breath and raising my fist. The thought of losing him in my life made me want to take charge of my own. I wouldn’t waste another moment separated from what I wanted. I rapped quickly on the wood. The door opened almost instantly to a bare, broad-chested Heph in jeans.
“Phyre,” he breathed, and my name on his lips assured me I need only strike the match, and the flame would ignite. He stepped back, allowing me entrance to his room. The space was larger than ours, more like a master suite, complete with a fireplace where a small fire warmed the chilly night. The door to his balcony remained open.
“What’s this? Why are there so many candles?” I questioned, taking in the hundreds of wax pillars, unlit and gothic, but statuary, around the room, standing guard over the bed.
“It was wishful thinking.” He shrugged one shoulder and crossed the room to stand in front of the fireplace. I followed slowly, taking in the display.
“Wishful thinking for what?” My voice lowered, the sound sultry and uncertain.
He shook his head at first, taking a small crystal glass from the mantel and sipping the amber-colored liquid.
“Tell me. Please.”
His eyes came to mine.
“I made a wish. For you. Tonight.”
I stared at him. Should I curse at him for assuming I would sleep with him so soon? I couldn’t. I’d wanted that, too. In fact, from all that happened with Adara, I selfishly decided I needed to take what I wanted before I lost the chance. That’s why I stood here.
“What are you doing here?” His tone was sharp, cutting a little as he stared into the fire.
“I…” I swallowed, knowing this was the moment. Set free the risk. “I was afraid, if I didn’t take tonight, I’d never get another chance. And I’m afraid I’ll never feel again how I feel about you. And I wanted…” I didn’t get the chance to finish before his lips covered mine, drinking in my words, reassuring me tonight would not be a mistake. After our lips melted together, dripping with desire and sparking the flame of passion, he drew back, breathless.
“We need to take it slower.” My words weren’t a warning. They spoke the truth. I didn’t want to lose control. I needed to prove I could do this, and I wanted it to be Heph. I wanted Heph because I loved him. Without words, I wanted to show him I loved him.
“Why are there so many candles?” I looked around again at the white display.
“I thought if we lit the candles, the flames would calm you, and it would hold at bay the one within you.” His eyes questioned mine, hoping he hadn’t hurt my feelings. Biting at his lip, I smiled and tipped up to kiss over the tender skin.
“That was very thoughtful of you. And romantic.”
His brows shot up.
“I’ll light them.” Stepping away from him, I pressed the pad of my thumb with the tip of my index finger and the wick sparked. I looked at him over my shoulder, my lips curling with anticipation as I lit another pillar. Heph followed opposite me, lighting the candles on the other side of the room. It took several moments for all the flames to dance, and the room filled with romance. A midnight opera. A gothic hall. The room whispered of sensuality. I met Heph at the end of the bed, but he pulled an armless chair to stand before the fire.
I watched as he slowly unbuttoned his jeans, revealing Christmas red boxer briefs beneath. A nervous giggle escaped me.
“I replaced the pair I was missing.” His clarification came through in a gruff voice, raspy and warm, a raised eyebrow teasing me. He watched me as I stared at his bare skin, and I drank in the hard display: thick thighs and broad chest, with heavy arms that bore a new design on the inside of his wrist.
“Why do you have a plum and a pear on your arm?”
“They remind me of you. You’re a fall flavor, and I want to taste you.” Dropping to his knees before me, he lifted my dress, slipped down my underwear, and kissed the mound at the apex of my thighs.
“I’ve never…” I wanted to tell him I’d never done this before, but his mouth on my center sucked out my breath. My hands covered his head as his tongue entered me. My legs trembled, but I ignored the shaking. The spread of his tongue, warm and wet, sparked the pressure inside. Like slow rolling magma in the earth, the heat rose and the temperature soared as Heph tasted my core. The heaviness built, and my insides rumbled as the eruption drew to the peak. Bursting forth, I tipped back my head and cried out Heph’s name, the sound of it steamy and seductive as my orgasm ripped through me and slipped over the edge, pouring down the mountain like a slow-rolling tide. Unsteady after the release, Heph stood to support me.
“You have on too much clothing.”
He spun me to undo the two dozen tiny buttons on the back of my dress. His thick fingers fumbled at first, and then worked faster as more skin was exposed. I held my breath, knowing he was about to see the full exposure of me, a hidden truth of who I was. His breath didn’t hitch as others had, but trembling fingers traced over deep scars and puckered skin, not afraid to touch.
“When the fire roared in my home as a child, I didn’t even feel the pain. Pressed into the wall, I never noticed the flames at my back. I didn’t know how to heal myself then, so the scars remained.”
Lips hit my back, sucking and kissing over heavily damaged skin. I’d seen it in the mirror. The skin raw and etched like a poor design of scratches and scrapes. As his mouth covered the patchy puckers, my dress slipped from one shoulder and then the other, cascading down my pale arms before sliding off my wrists. Falling to the floor, I stood naked as he spun me to face him.
“You take my breath away.” His words washed away the devastating memories and his mouth on me cleared any negative thoughts. Scrubbing off the dirt of the past, Heph continued to kiss my jaw, my neck and my chest. His mouth travelled downward, and he took one full breast into his mouth. I nearly jumped out of my skin at the pleasure, as his tongue swirled over a peaked nipple and he sucked the heavy globe. A fiery current triggered my lower belly to flicker again.
“Heph.” I swallowed his name as he moved to my other breast, paying homage to tender skin and another tight bud. He stood and returned to my lips, kissing me like he needed my oxygen to breath. Our mouths molded together, melting into one another again and again, like the glass beads heated by flame. Pulling back from me, breathless once again, he stepped back and removed his loose jeans, taking his red boxer briefs with them. His hands came to his hips, daring me to take him in, teasing me with what I’d miss if I didn’t. My eyes travelled to the intricate design of his leg, a mastery of metal artwork.
“You’re sure about this?” he questioned, a hint of fear I’d reject him.
“Are you sure about this?” A brief flash of our past crossed my mind.
“Trust yourself not to hurt me.”
There wasn’t a question in my mind. My eyes leapt to his metal leg again and back to his scarred face.
“There is nothing I’d prevent more than hurting you. I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life. I want to be with you, Heph.” My words were heavy, hoping to assure him I wholly accepted him. “Everything about you I find miraculous and beautiful.”
He stepped back, nearing the chair by the fire.
“We’re going to let you control this, and use the chair for stability.”
I nodded slowly, noting he’d thought out how to make this work for us. He sat, and I walked toward him.
“You are the sexiest creature I’ve ever seen.” His eyes watched my movement, caressing over my hips, and crawling down my thighs. He bit his lip, the one that tasted me, the one that kissed me like I was on fire, and I loved him.
I stood before him, and he tugged at my waist.
“Straddle me.” Opening my thighs, I spread over his.
“My feet don’t touch the floor,” I giggled nervously.
“You’re going to float anyway.”
He dragged me to meet the length of him and we both groaned at the connection of skin on skin. My hand came between us and curled around his velvety skin, rippled and tight, accentuating his excitement. His head tipped back as I stroked him several times. A low groan rolled from his throat.
“Press up on your toes.” His hands, gripping my waist, lifted me effortlessly, and balanced my center on the tip of him. His eyes didn’t leave mine as he lowered me, slowly filling me.
“So deep,” he sighed, his eyes rolling shut.
“So full,” I whispered.
His hands at my hips moved me, developing a rhythm like a slow dance or a blowing flame. I hissed with excitement as I swiveled over him. Thick hands slipped to my backside and pressed against me.
“Bull’s eye,” he whispered, as the length of him completed me, dragging slowly inside of me.
“Home,” I answered, as my channel clenched over him.
An arrow to a bow, he shot straight at my heart, and our connection hit the target. Branded forever, Heph’s name tattooed on the vessel keeping me alive. Every flame in the future would whisper his name, because no moment would top the warm sensation of him buried inside me. Heph was my home.
Slowly, the heat grew again, surprising me how quickly I could reignite. Smoldering embers are not a dead fire, and Heph was a match, sparking a second blaze. My hips no longer needed his guidance as I rocked over him, rolling rhythmically like the beat of our goddess ritual. The music of our union filled my ears and a new ritual took place. Heph matched the drumming and called out to me as I burst forth a second time, encouraging him to follow. Warmth seeped inside me as he stilled, forcing my thighs to crush his. I took a peek at where he joined me, knowing no union would ever be the same.
My head fell forward, resting on his as we caught our breaths. Sweat rolled down his temple, and a trickle curled down my back. The flickering flames of the candles danced around us, celebrating our union, witnesses to the glory. Heph’s mouth reached for mine, and we kissed with lingering lips, our hearts settling and our breath catching. He slipped me off of him and placed me on the bed. Returning to help me clean, he curled me into him afterward, hands on his chest and head over his heart. He stroked my hair until his arm fell heavy and slipped from my back. Sensing his sleep, I whispered over his calm heart, lips affixed to his skin.
