Pure Requiem - Aja James Page 0,18
and asked if I would b-brush his h-hair.”
She has been so brave thus far, making this all-important first interaction into something casual and commonplace. But the stuttering that ended on a breathless gasp bespoke of her wounded but healing heart.
I felt her sorrow, regret, joy and hope all at once, even before I heard these emotions in her voice.
On pure instinct, simply needing to comfort my Mate, a mother who has lost both of her children for thousands of years, who’s never held them in her arms, I enclose her within my own. Chest to chest, her face fitting perfectly in the hollow of my throat.
“He is so beautiful, my love,” she whispers, the salt from her hot tears blending with the light sprinkle of water from the showerhead as it all trickles down my skin, leaving me raw.
“Benji described him accurately—eyes like yours, hair like mine, tall and much too thin. But you wouldn’t believe how his beauty eclipses the gods of old unless you beheld it for yourself.”
I clench my fist against the small of her back and hug her tighter.
I cannot see my son. I do not know if I ever shall. At least I have the memory of Inanna to sustain me. At least I had my daughter for two decades before we were separated. But I have never seen Erebu. My blind eyes throb with visceral pain at the loss.
“I will tell you all about it,” Ishtar adds softly, as if sensing my torment. “Our son truly cannot be described as anything but beautiful. He is all male, but there is a feline, delicate grace about him. I do not think it’s because of his thinness. It’s his inherent gentleness and playfulness. He might display his prickly, irreverent wit to the world, but he’s terribly sensitive inside. And gravely hurt.”
She sniffs, and I take a deep breath, both of us gathering ourselves out of sorrow, focusing on joy.
And hope. Always hope.
“Often, he makes scornful, self-deprecating comments,” she continues in that soothing, low voice, “partly to fend off harsher words from others that he seems to expect as his due, and partly because he truly believes them himself. He has so much light within him that it shines through whenever he looks upon Benji. Yet, so much darkness as well, focused inward. And because of this, not in spite of it, he is exquisitely, painfully beautiful. Endlessly fascinating, multi-faceted like the kaleidoscopic fragments of light filtered through the most perfect diamond.”
Even though Ishtar has not described any specific features apart from reiterating the summary sketch Benji already made, I can picture our son more clearly in my mind’s eye. I can envision the colors of his soul. Those vibrant, ever-changing colors that I saw from our first encounter. Sometimes frozen, sometimes blazing hot. But always, I knew it was him.
When I look at him, I see so many colors, infinite shades and gradients of light, unlike anyone else.
“He is beautiful, and he is good. I know he is, my heart,” Ishtar murmurs, the soft petals of her lips brushing butterfly kisses against my neck.
“Just like you,” she whispers as she slowly tilts her face up, nuzzling her nose along my throat and jaw.
I feel it then, the conflagration of heat that bursts through her skin. I smell her arousal effervescing in the air, permeating the warm water that rains upon both of us.
But my body doesn’t tense and withdraw as it usually does, making me fight myself to give her what she needs. Because I also feel the desperate desires and vulnerability of her heart and soul. She needs the love of her Mate; I need her just as much. I feel close to dying if I’m not inside her, all around her. My blood, my sex. I need her inside me too. The soothing balm of her joyful soul.
Wordlessly, my mouth finds hers in an open kiss, my tongue plunging inside to devour her sweetness.
She tightens her arms around my back and squeezes her chest against mine, going up on tiptoe in an impatient attempt to align her slick, silky notch to my already weeping cockhead. Eagerly, she sucks on my tongue, letting me plunder without returning the aggression.
Take me, Tal. I need you so much. Please, please, please. Take me hard and deep. I love you I love you I love you…
I answer her mindless plea by lifting her up. Immediately, she wraps her strong legs around my hips, securing her position despite the