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I thrust from below, doing everything I can to prevent her from controlling the entire situation. Still, it's a battle for dominance between us.
And I wouldn't have it any other way.
Viola grinds her clit on my body as I thrust from below, and she falls apart. Watching her body come apart, the pure ecstasy on her face helps me find my own release, and I stutter out two more drives into her wet heat and then collapse backward, pulling her chest to rest on my own.
We lay connected, panting, covered in sweat and our own fluids, and fuck, I have missed this woman so much. Hearing her heartbeat, feeling the tickle of her breath against me, looking into the eyes that are so cold for everyone but those she loves. I missed all of it.
"Hey, Mace," she says softly, drawing circles on my chest with her finger.
"My numen."
"Do you ever miss the lightning?"
I wrinkle my nose. "What do you mean?"
"The lightning that would strike when we were together."
Laughing, I shake my head. "Not really. Do you?"
She shrugs, tilting her head up to look into my eyes as best as she can from the angle. "Sometimes. It was something that was ours. Before I would even admit that you were mine and I wanted," she inhales sharply, "no, needed you, your magic wastrying to make me see it."
As I stroke her hair, I set my intentions, and in the far-off distance, a crack of lightning and a roll of thunder sound.
Chapter 18
Viola
It's incredible what two weeks of near isolation will do for you. I'm a little ashamed at how much more I appreciate my companions' presence now than I did before.
And it's not just Mace. It's not just finally chipping through that ice that had grown around my soul that leaves me feeling this way.
As we walk, I sneak glances at my friends. Plume, in gauzy pink pants that she traded medicinal herbs for here in Feria, with a brown wrap top and her hair piled high on her head, walks beside Zeph. Plume sent messages throughout the Lowlands to gain believers and devotion for me even after I snuck away in the night.
Zeph, wearing his standard green tunic and linen pants, laughs as they catch up. My high priest, the man I thought I never wanted to see again. Just being near him makes me feel more powerful. He risked so much to get me out of Ytopie. His motivations and methods were not great in the beginning, but the man turned it around and did the right thing. And now here he is, with a group of people who are not entirely fond of him,supporting me.
Tulip and Morrow walk side by side, their arms brushing against one another as they move. Morrow has his braids wrapped in a burnt orange wrap and wears a deep blue tunic and brown trousers. When Tulip isn't looking, he stares at her profile, his eyes full of care and devotion. Tulip regularly turns around and throws smiles my way. We had a nice catch-up this morning, during which I shared with her more about what happened in Ytopie, and she told me about their travels.
"Mace was strange, Lola," she had said to me, whispering conspiratorially over a mug of steaming coffee. "If he spoke, it was to bark orders, and he spent most of the time just throwing magic around."
"Fuck," I whispered, guilt churning in my gut.
"I know why you did it conceptually, but damn, Lola, you nearly broke us." She took a long sip of her drink, eyes locked with mine over the mug. The bitterness of the coffee is barely a match for the sharpness of remorse. "Even Morrow lost it a couple of times. He swore for the longest time that you purposefully chose to abandon us."
"You didn't believe that, did you?" Patrons were starting to file into the tavern for breakfast, and I could hear Quade and Huck shouting something at each other. I slipped out of my chair across from Tulip and sat next to her. "You know I'd never leave you behind," I said.
"You did, though," she reminded me. You left me behind. You didn't tell me. I knew you'd come back, but that didn't lessen the sting."
We sat side by side, drinking our hot coffee and both staring out the decorative window by our table. "You're my family, Tulip," I said quietly.
"You're mine too, Lola."
"Then you know that I am going to fuck up and do stupid things but that I will always be in your corner, and I will always return to you."
She turned her head to look at me directly, her blue eyes clear and crinkled at the corner. Her youthful smile, with a small gap between her front teeth and skin slightly freckled from the sun, stretched wide across her face.
For the rest of my long life, that is how I would always see Tulip. With the rays of the morning sun backlighting her and her straw blonde hair wild, she looks free and lighter than I've seen her since I met her. She is beautiful, her soul gentle and caring, her mind sharp and fierce, her heart huge and welcoming. And I am so better for having met her.
I cleared my throat from the emotion blooming in my chest and changed the subject. Tulip, blessedly, let me. "What is going on with you and Morrow, by the way?"
