Her own body, her thigh pressed to his, seemed to float into a dreamscape. She could have expanded into a thousand galaxies. Every plane, every slope of her skin sparked with life. She felt that, if she asked, the world would crumple inward for her at a word. If she asked, the stars would come to greet her in the darkness. The mountains would march for her, the sea would boil.
She burned with the sensation. Her mind was tinged with fire, just like the night before, only this time it wasn’t a flame of rage or desire or frustration. It was pure, clean, and easy.
Fen’s body, too, seemed to radiate heat, and she wondered what would happen if she asked him right now for everything.Everything. His body in hers, their souls melded, no longer two individual people, but something more.
Fen’s grip on her hand tightened, and as it did he inhaled sharply.
“Ru,” he murmured. “Open your eyes.”
She did and was met by a spectacular sight.
The artifact was glowing.
Not a hovering darkness, like it had exuded in the dig site, but a thick golden glow, as if it had been dipped in honey and lit by a thousand lamps. The light flowed around it like oil, white-gold, and writhing, achingly beautiful. And bursting out from the artifact were two ropes of the same white-gold light, thick and bright, curving and rippling from the black stone, connecting to Ru and Fen.
Ru looked down at their clasped hands, at Fen’s body and at hers, and saw that they, too, were glowing, arcs of light curving around them, until they were wreathed in that fluid, gold-burning light. He turned to her, and for a long moment, they gazed at one another with a wonder that overwhelmed all other feeling.
Fen had never looked more perfect to Ru, and she knew he saw the same in her.
Fen’s jacket fell from his grip and slumped to the floor.
The sound of it startled Ru, and with the distraction, a seed of fear pried its way in.
The artifact wasn’t supposed to do this. It had never done this. Whatever this was, it had to be wrong. Dangerous. It felt too good, too perfect, too safe. And the way it made her want to press herself bodily to Fen, the flame burning hotter and hotter in her belly…
She wrenched her hand from his, standing and pushing herself away until they were no longer touching.
Instantly, like a flame being doused, the flares of golden light disappeared. The blackness of the room enveloped them, the silence overwhelming.
But the heat in her burned on.
“Ru,” said Fen. His voice was rough. Her vision began to adjust, and she saw him reaching for her in the darkness. “Sit down.”
“I can’t,” she said, and found that her own voice was hoarse, as though she had been running for miles. Her heart was hammering in her chest; she felt like it might explode, might burn up, if she didn’t take a step closer to him. She set her jaw stubbornly. “What if— what if it happens again?”
He stood then, breathless, his eyes wide. “Do you know what that was?”
Ru shook her head. By now her eyes had adjusted to the dim light, but spots of white and gold burst in her vision.
“You did something.” Fen was clearly trying to keep his voice low, but as he spoke, he moved toward Ru. Slowly, as if unaware he was doing it.
She took a step back.
“Don’t,” Fen said, but he stopped trying to move toward her. “Ru, whatever you did… myheart, it’s… I can’t stand here and—”
He would have been able to say more, but in that instant Ru closed the distance between them in a rush, pulling him to her as if he belonged to her, and claimed his mouth with hers. She had been kissed before, in all manner of ways. But none were like this.
None were remotely like this.
The kiss was slow at first, a plunge into pure desire. Fen responded eagerly to Ru, taking her head in his hands, and holding her close as he kissed her. His mouth moved hungrily against hers, needy, like he had been crawling through a desert and was finally allowed to drink.
She couldn’t get enough of him, couldn’t kiss him deeply enough. Fen’s mouth, his body, moved with hers with increasing hunger. She burned so brightly she felt consumed by him, wanting him more completely than she could comprehend.
She pulled at his shirt, his waistcoat, his hair, trying to bring him closer. She thought he might rebel, try to move away, try to get her to relent. Instead, he only encouraged her, groaning when she bit at his lip, tilting his head to allow her to kiss his ear more easily, his hands moving slowly down her body as she did.
“Ru,” he said, so breathless it was almost a plea, and the agonizing heat in her flared, almost scorching her.
She fumbled at the buttons on his waistcoat, and in a breathless moment, it was on the floor. Pushing against Fen, pressing herself into him as he responded, his hands finding her own jacket buttons, his teeth grazing her neck, she lost herself in him.
