Darien startled when the door opened.
Koori came in, carrying another tray. This time, there were two plates of steaming hot food. Head down, she walked to the small table, set the tray upon it, and then nervously turned toward him and lifted her gaze.
“Are you hungry?”
Standing, Darien nodded, then came toward her. She sat in one of the chairs and swept her hand toward the other gesturing for him to sit. He did.
“Are you okay? I thought maybe the guards had hurt you.”
She gave him a small smile. “I’m perfectly fine as you can see. Please do not worry. The guards would never harm me.” She poured the sake into small cups and handed one to him. Then she set a plate of noodles and vegetables in front of him. The scent of the hot food tickled his nose. His stomach growled reminding Darien that he hadn’t eaten in a while.
“Please eat,” she said.
Darien dug into the noodles with gusto. The second the spicy pasta hit his tongue he forgot that he had so many questions to ask her. Instead, he shoveled the food in, only taking long enough breaks to drink sake.
When he was finished, he set his fork down on the plate and leaned back in his chair, contented. He sighed and rubbed at his chin. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize how hungry I was.”
She shook her head. “No, I’m sorry. I should have brought food to you sooner.”
“It’s all right.”
He stared at her across the table. It was the strangest thing sitting in this room of ice, having something as mundane as dinner. An act so simple took on new meaning in this unusual environment. So many questions swirled in his head.
“Where does the food come from? Every time I left the room and came back there was a tray of something on the table.”
“All my physical needs are taken care of. I only have to ask for it and one of the servants brings it to me.”
“So if you wanted a bottle of beer, you would get it?”
She nodded. “Do you want a beer? I can get it for you.”
“No.” He shook his head. “I was just using that as an example. How does it work?”
“I don’t know exactly. It’s like magic, I suppose. The man that imprisoned me here was very powerful.”
“Like magic,” he murmured while he played his fingers through the scruff on his chin. “It’s funny. I was the last person ever to believe in it. But since arriving here—” he chuckled “—I might have to amend my beliefs.”
She looked down into her lap as she spoke. “Yes, but unfortunately it isn’t all for fun.”
“No, I suppose it isn’t.” He ran a hand over his chin again. “Have you ever tried to leave?”
She glanced at him and he saw a spark of something in her eyes. Anger maybe. “Many times. It is pointless. The only time there is a door to the outside is when I must go to the road. A few times I have tried to veer off the path only to be right back where I started.” Her face tightened as she spoke as if just telling the story made her angrier and angrier. “I have tried to break down these walls with everything I could think of, only to have it reform again.”
He could see a multitude of emotions cross her face—hope, loss, anger, regret and despair.
“There’s no hope that I can leave?”
“If you can find a way out, you may take it.”
“So, I’m stuck here then, like you.” He hadn’t meant for it to sound final, but the reality of his situation just hit him in full force like a sledgehammer to the face. He was never going home again.
“Yes, like me.” She stood, tossing her cloth napkin onto the table. “I’m truly sorry for that. But I could not…” Tears welled in her eyes. “I could not kill you like the rest.” She turned on her heel and marched for the door.
Darien was up out of his chair in her wake. He reached for her arm and spun her back around. The tears were now falling freely down her pale cheeks to dot her silk kimono.
She tried to pull from his grasp, but he held firm. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound angry or ungrateful. I guess in the back of my mind, I’m still holding on to the hope that this is all a dream and that I’ll wake up soon.”
“This is no dream, Darien.” Her voice quivered. “I know this because I have been trying to wake for over a thousand years.”
Darien pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. At first she resisted him, but he wouldn’t relinquish his tight hold on her. He wanted her to know how much he felt for her, how much her situation affected him. Finally, she stopped fighting him. Sighing, she fisted her hands in his shirt and laid her head against his chest.
He ran a hand down her back, and buried his face into her hair. He loved the smell of her. He inhaled deeply. She was so petite in his arms. He had a sudden urge to sweep her up and cradle her in his lap, to keep her safe from everything that would see her harm. She brought out the protector in him. No other woman had ever done that to him.
“I’ll find a way out, Koori. I’ll find a way for the both of us to leave.”
Pulling back, she looked up at him, brow furrowed. “You would want to help me escape?”
He smoothed a hand down her hair. “Yes. I want you to come with me. We can escape together.”
“Why? Why would you do this for me? When I have brought you to this place for an eternity?”
He kept her gaze, drowning in the pale pools of her eyes. “Because you don’t deserve to stay here any longer. You deserve to have a life outside of these walls. No matter what you did, I think you’ve paid for it a long time ago.”
Another tear rolled down her cheek and Darien caught it on his fingertip. As he brought his finger to his mouth, her lips parted on a gasp. He licked the salty liquid off his tip.
Cupping her cheek with his hand, he tilted her mouth up to meet his. He leaned down and brushed his lips against hers, once, twice until she gasped from it. Swallowing down her whimper, Darien covered her mouth with his and kissed her hard.
She moaned as he took her mouth, sweeping his tongue between her lips. This time she was flavored by spices and sake. Warm and inviting. And he couldn’t get enough of the taste of her.
Wrapping a hand behind her neck, Darien bent her back and deepened the kiss. Although he’d just eaten, he felt ravenous for her, as if he’d not eaten or drank in more days than he could count. She was his sustenance, his drink, and only kissing her, having her body next to his, could sate his hunger.
Nibbling on her bottom lip, Darien broke the kiss and proceeded to press his mouth to her chin and neck. Her skin was cool under his touch, but he could feel a slight rise in temperature with each stroke of his lips. Her flesh was warming from his eager touch. And that just incited him further.
Moving his hands down, he swept her into his arms. She gasped at his actions, but as he walked with her to the bed, she wrapped her arms around his neck and held on.
When they neared the bed, Koori reached up and slid the pins out that were holding her hair up. Her mass of ebony hair tumbled down around her, sweeping over her shoulders like a dark curtain of silk. She smiled at him as he set her down onto the bed.
He watched her face as he kneeled down beside her. In her eyes, he saw both trepidation and need. He understood both with equal measure. Being locked up in a prison without human contact for a thousand years had made her freeze up inside, but he hoped that he could help thaw her. He wanted to feel her flesh warm with every caress of his hands, with every touch of his lips.
“I want to look at you, Koori. You are so beautiful.”
Licking his lips, Darien untied her kimono and slowly pulled the two halves apart revealing her perfect pale flesh. He had to bite down on his lip to stop himself from pressing his mouth to her taut ni**les on her gorgeous br**sts. He’d never seen a woman with such flawless skin. He wondered if she’d feel like silk under his fingers.
He trailed his gaze over her, as if his eyes could touch and caress. From the tips of her br**sts to the light sprinkling of dark hair at the V of her legs, everything was exquisite.
Darien felt the shivers radiate over her body as he leaned down and trailed his tongue over her ni**les, sucking one between his lips. The moans he pulled from her with each suck of her br**sts made him quiver with pent-up desire. It was all he could do not to devour her in one greedy gulp.
He knew he had to go slowly, to show her with each touch, each kiss, just how desirable she was to him, but to do so would take every ounce of restraint he’d ever possessed.
Chapter 9
W ith each deliberate flick of his tongue, Koori thought she’d go mad with desire. Electrifying blows zigzagged down her torso and gathered deep within her sex. She’d not felt something so powerful, so pleasurable for so long the sensation nearly staggered her. It was as if she were a virgin all over again. But this time, her lover was a gentleman, not a barbarian.
She bowed her back as Darien trailed his tongue to the valley of her br**sts and down the line of her torso. He stopped at her navel and nipped playfully at her skin. The whiskers on his chin added a delicious contradiction to the soft press of his lips. She flinched at the tingling sensation between her legs. She knew if he touched her there, she’d be ready for him.
As he brushed his fingertips lightly across her inner thighs, she gasped. He was so close to her, so close she could feel his hot breath on her flesh. Jolts of bliss fired through her. She fisted her hands in the silk cover on the bed in preparation for the orgasm she could already feel building deep inside her. It was going to be hard and explosive.
“You are so damn beautiful, Koori.”
“But my skin…it is so cold. How can you stand to touch me?”
He smiled at her then, his eyes wide and dark with desire. “I can feel the heat inside.” With one finger, he traced the outline of her navel, and then dipped lower over her pubic mound. In one deft stroke, he separated her slick folds.
Gasping, she arched her back. She’d never been so near orgasm before in such a short time. It was because she’d gone too long without it, without pleasure and passion. During her first years imprisoned, she had only her memories of her past lover, Shiro, to keep her warm.