Page 55 of Joy Guardian
“Give me your hand.” I turned it with her palm up and dropped a little balm on it. “Now you can touch the crystal cells.”
She rubbed her hands together, spreading the balm on her palms, then tilted her head to take in the entire height of the Source.
“I love this light.” She squinted in the magical glow. “It’s warm and gentle. Comforting.”
“It has brought me comfort for many years,” I agreed.
I’d never been in the enclosure without connecting to the Source. To do it now, however, I’d have to break my connection with Ciana, which would harm her. For once, I entered the enclosure while connected to a human instead of the Source, and I didn’t regret it, fully experiencing Ciana’s curiosity and wonder with her.
Lifting her hand, she brushed the transparent wall of the closest cell.
“It feels warm, but I’m afraid I don’t feel its magic. I feel nothing at all.” She dropped her hand.
“One has to be connected to the Source through their tendrils to experience its Joy. But you don’t need it. You are a source of your very own joy, Ciana.”
Bringing my hands to her face, I spread the sacred balm over her cheeks and forehead, then took more from the vial to treat her shoulders and arms.
The golden glow of the Joy cast a shimmer on her warm-brown skin, making it appear magical, as if she rightfully belonged to this sacred enclave, to be revered and worshipped to as a goddess.
I massaged the fragrant balm in the tender skin of her neck, then leaned over to kiss it.
“One thing the royal court failed to understand…” I murmured between my kisses, “is that humans aren’t just JoyVessels.They are thecreatorsof it.” I spread the balm along her delicate collarbones and over her chest above the band that concealed her breasts. “And if the Joy is divine in its nature, thenyou, my dear Ciana, are a deity too.” I sank to my knees at her feet, spreading the balm over her belly. “I thought my affection for you was a sin, but I should’ve always been free to love you without guilt. Because you are a goddess at whose feet I worship.”
I kissed the skin above her navel. The muscles of her abdomen quivered with her trembling breath. The most exquisite kind of pleasure teased me through the tendrils. The tantalizing need rose in her, and this time, I knew exactly what to do about it.
Sitting back on my haunches, I slid my oiled hands under her skirt, then up the sides of her legs all the way to her hips.
She inhaled deeply, leaning into me as I kneaded her buttocks. With my forehead pressed into her lower belly, I breathed in her scent mixed with the fragrance of the sacred balm. Need and longing filled me. I no longer knew whether it was hers or mine. Our emotions had been mingling for so long, it was hard to untangle them now, and I didn’t know if I ever wanted to separate anything of mine from everything of hers.
I hiked up her skirt, exposing the place between her thighs that gave us both such exquisite pleasure when I’d touched it before. Ciana sucked in a sharp breath as I nuzzled it. Weak on her legs, she leaned back against the column of the source, splaying her hands on the clear facets of the cells.
Was it sacrilege for her to lean on it like that, with her skirt up, and my face buried in the tight dark curls between her legs?
Maybe.
But I didn’t care.
Bathed in the golden glow, filled with both expectation and vulnerability, she looked like a true goddess, and I wished to worship her and only her.
I massaged the healing balm into the tender skin of her thighs. Lifting her leg over my shoulder, I spread her open and found the epicenter of her pleasure.
“Come to me,” I murmured, bringing her closer, then swirled my tongue around the bud above her opening.
Need pulsed in her with new urgency. She whimpered,pressing herself into my mouth. I sucked and licked, chasing the pleasure that teased us both.
Her slim fingers flexed in my hair as she rode my tongue with needy moans.
More…
She needed more.
I slipped a finger inside her, delighted at how wet her arousal had made her. Sensing her pleasure at being filled, I added another finger, then another.
She gasped at the intrusion, but I felt her satisfaction at being stretched like that as I pumped my hand, fucking her in earnest.
“Harder…” she moaned.
I hardly noticed how I rose to my feet, lifting her on my shoulders, her back sliding up the column of the Source, and my face pressed to the sweet spot between her spread legs.
