Godsgrave (The Nevernight Chronicle #2)

“Please, Mia…”

She pursed her lips, blew softly on her mark as Ashlinn shivered. She’d been tasted before, but never done the tasting, anticipation curling in her belly and making her tremble. She wanted to take her time, to savor every second, the thrill of it all, but Ash snarled her fingers in Mia’s hair, and with a shivering gasp, dragged her in.

Silken softness, drenched with lust, parting under the press of her kiss. Mia moved slow, running her tongue through Ashlinn’s folds, flickering in and out. Ashlinn mewled and sighed, hips grinding in time, the hands in Mia’s hair pulling her in tighter. Mia found herself consumed by it, thirsty, starving; the taste of her, the flood of warm nectar across her tongue. Delighting in Ashlinn’s moans as she pinched her swollen nipples, ran her hands down the girl’s breasts, clawed her arse.

Ashlinn lost herself as Mia went to work in earnest, eyes rolling back in her head, half-hanging off the bed as she urged Mia on, don’t stop, don’t stop. Mia had never felt so much power; her every movement, every flick of her tongue or touch of her lips eliciting a groan, a whispered plea, a tremor running the length of Ashlinn’s entire body.

Time lost all meaning, each second a year, each year a heartbeat, the heat building between them, dragging Ash ever higher, hotter, brighter, her moans growing louder, longer, until she went tense as a bowstring, spine arching, thighs clamped either side of Mia’s head, every muscle taut and straining as she pointed her toes skyward and screamed as if the world were ending.

Ash’s whole body went limp in the breathless aftermath, Mia tracing light circles, still savoring her taste, the power of her little triumph. She grinned as she sank her tongue deeper into Ash’s petals, making her groan, “Enough, Goddess, enough,” relenting as the girl gently pulled her up. Ash enfolded Mia in her arms, their bodies melding into one, slender legs wrapped around Mia’s waist as they sank into another long, hungry kiss. Ash’s taste mingled upon their tongues, and Mia found herself drowning in it, eyelashes fluttering against her cheeks, so right and sweet and heaped in bliss she never wanted it to end.

But then she gasped, Ashlinn smacking her arse, biting her lips, almost hard enough to draw blood.

“Ow,” Mia flinched. “What was that for?”

“Making me beg,” Ashlinn scowled.

“O?” Mia smiled, lips brushing Ashlinn’s own. “I heard no complaints at the time.”

“Don’t get a big head on me now, Corvere. That was beginner’s luck.”

“O, really?”

Soft laughter turned to warm shivers as Ash nuzzled her neck.

“Really,” the girl breathed, teeth brushing her skin.

“Then … perhaps the dona would give the novice a demonstration?”

“Say please.”

“I—ah!”

Mia gasped as Ashlinn dragged her head back by her hair, landed another firm smack on her backside. The girl’s lips drifted along Mia’s throat, teeth grazing her jugular, fingernails tracing lines of fire and ice up her soaking thighs.

“Say,” Ash whispered, nipping Mia’s throat, “please.”

In her heart, Mia had never bowed to anyone. Not in the Church, not in the arena, not in the bedchamber. And though she’d delighted in the control of a moment ago, her every touch, her every move setting the girl in her arms aflame, Mia wondered if there might be a deeper joy found in some small moment of surrender.

Ash’s fingers danced over her, light as the breeze. Mia’s belly tightened as the girl sank lower, her tongue drawing a tightening spiral around her heaving breast.

“Say it,” the girl whispered, flicking Mia’s nipple with her tongue.

Smoky light filtered through the curtain, and Mia closed her eyes as Ashlinn descended, not wanting to see or hear or speak, but only to feel. A waterfall of kisses, cascading down her body, Ash’s hands seemingly everywhere at once. Mia found her legs parting of their own volition, the ache between them a sweet agony, her breath growing ragged, heart pounding with anticipation. A feeling like nothing she’d ever known was budding inside her—not with Tric, not with Aalea, not with Aurelius and that golden beauty, desire swelling to a burning pitch as she felt Ashlinn kneel between her legs, hot breath against her swollen lips.

“Say…”

A brush of the girl’s tongue, impossibly light, making Mia buck and shiver.

“… please.”

Mia lifted her head, looking down the length of her body to Ashlinn, poised to devour her. Heart hammering, not enough breath in her lungs, dizzy. And eyes fluttering closed once more, she let her head fall back and the tension flee from her bones as she gave herself over to it utterly.

“Please,” Mia breathed.

A long, low moan escaped her lips as Ashlinn went to work, lips and tongue dancing in the dark. She’d no idea where the girl had learned her skills; Aalea, some new lover, some old flame. But Goddess, it was blinding. Ash was a maestro, the tune between them, older than time. The heat in her pulsed hotter with every brush of the girl’s tongue, Mia barely able to breathe, bedsheet twisted in her tightening fists. She almost lost her mind when she felt Ashlinn slip a finger inside her, curling, coaxing, stoking that smoldering heat, arkemical current crackling to the tips of her toes.

“O, Goddess…”

Helpless before it, caught up and swept away, a hurricane of lust and longing, the heat inside her almost impossible to bear. Ashlinn was merciless, the rhythm of her tongue matched by her touch, Mia’s back arching, lifting her hips high off the bed, mouth in a perfect O, fingers snarled in the red river of Ashlinn’s hair and dragging her deeper, harder, more, more. She was shaking so hard she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t speak save to wordlessly beg an ending to it all. And as she felt Ashlinn’s hand move, a second finger joining the first, Mia’s hips bucked uncontrollably, black stars blooming behind her eyes, the heat inside her bursting into ravenous flame and she lost herself, screaming soundlessly, blinded by the fire of a thousand suns.

She felt soft lips on her own, wet and darkly sweet. Mia opened her eyes and saw a girl above her, beautiful, smiling.

A girl she shouldn’t trust.

A lover she shouldn’t love.

She tried to find her breath, heart hammering against her ribs.

“That was … impressive…”

“That was overdue,” Ashlinn grinned.

Mia dragged her in for a kiss, their lips crushed together, the ripples of her climax still tingling in her bones. Breaking apart after a long, sweet forever, Ashlinn flopped back on the mattress, breathing a contented sigh.

Mia climbed out of the bed, legs still shaking. Atop the drawers, she found her silver cigarillo case, lighting one with her flintbox before slipping back between the sheets. Ashlinn threw her arms around her, took her hand and kissed her wounded knuckles before snuggling closer, nuzzling her neck. Mia took a drag of the cigarillo, inhaling deep and feeling the sweet, heavy gray fill her lungs.