Page 56 of Joy Guardian
Magic bathed us in its golden glow. Ciana’s braids spread between the cells, some dipped inside them, looking like tendrils soaking in the Joy. Only to me, it looked like she wasn’t taking but giving it. It felt like the pleasure radiating through her was refilling the cells—not polluting it but rejuvenating it by giving it new life.
Rolling her head over the transparent crystals of the cells, she moaned my name like a benediction. I pressed my lips to her lower belly over her womb inside. Pumping my fingers harder, I rubbed her with my thumb on the outside, finally releasing her pleasure.
It showered on us with a waterfall of bliss. Her fingers flexed in my hair as her hips spasmed with waves of an orgasm that rocked us both.
My knees gave in, and I slid to the floor, cradling her in my arms. A shudder of pleasure rushed through her as she pressed her legs together.
“Oh, it’s always so good with you, Kurai,” she moaned softly, hiding her face in my shoulder. “So, so good…”
I pressed my lips to the crown of her head. “It’s all you, sweetheart. The pleasure is all yours. I’m just incredibly grateful to you for sharing it with me.”
She shifted in a more comfortable position on my lap as I sat on the floor with my back against the Source. Her pleasure still coursed through my muscles in a soft, receding glow. It relaxed both my mind and my body, making the whole world feel like a better place.
“You know…” she said hesitantly, tracing my pectoral muscles with the tip of her finger. “I never came with a man before.”
I opened my mouth in shock, too lost for words to reply.
“At the beginning, I would just sneak into the bathroom after he’d fall asleep and…um, finish on my own. Later in our marriage, sex got so quick that it didn’t even matter. I stopped getting excited during it at all.”
I’d known some stupid men in my lifetime, but having a true treasure for a wife and failing to recognize it and to appreciate her was beyond stupidity on her ex-husband’s part.
“He wasn’t worthy of your affection,” I said tersely, mindful not to criticize her life choices too harshly.
Ciana was a smart but vulnerable woman who worked through her past experiences and tried to make sense of what they’d taught her. I knew she blamed herself enough already without an added judgment from me.
She looked up at me. The glow from the Source lit her eyes, turning them into golden stars.
“It’s different with you, Kurai. You know exactly where and how I want to be touched, and you don’t stop until I come. You make sex entirely about me. But I guess it should be expected, since my orgasm is also yours.”
We shouldn’t be having this conversation inside the sacred enclave. If the Master Guardian returned and found us here, I’d face a severe punishment for using the place of worship so casually. But nothing about being with Ciana felt casual or trivial. As far as I was concerned, she had every right to be wherever she damned pleased.
She straightened in my arms, searching my eyes. “What does all this mean to you, Kurai? Sex? Joy? What am I to you?”
I couldn’t separate her from the joy she created. Neither could I envision separating myself from her. We’d been so close for so long, I could hardly tell when she ended and where I began.
I kissed her temple, then her cheek, and finally her lips, savoring every touch.
“For better or for worse, Ciana, you and I are one. One life force, one sorrow, and one joy.”
Fifteen
CIANA
Warm and cozy in his arms, I relaxed easily. My head dropped to his chest, and I found it hard to keep my eyes open.
Kurai got up, taking me with him.
“I’ve been selfish with you, my darling,” he said. “It’s bad enough that I failed to find any food for you, now I’m also keeping you from getting the rest you need.”
“With you, I probably could live on sex alone. You make it the sweetest thing ever,” I mumbled into his chest, my mind slowly sinking into a sleepy fog.
Carrying me in his arms, Kurai left the enclosure with the Source of Joy. It was a bizarre contraption of glowing hexagonal glass vials arranged into a twisted column that was surrounded by a fence of golden filigree.
We descended the stairs to the floor with the pool. After the grand hall upstairs, the underground level felt almost cozy, and Kurai’s bed looked exceptionally inviting. Putting me in his bed, he tucked the thick, homespun blanket around me.
“Rest, sweetheart,” he whispered, kissing me gently.
“How about you?” I murmured, rolling to my side and hugging the pillow.
