Redeemed (Heroes of the Highlands) - By Kerrigan Byrne Page 0,28
though her body could take no more. Like the Fates had pulled her thread too tightly and their tools hovered to snip it into pieces, a wave of pure, unadulterated ecstasy crashed through her with indescribable force.
Her thighs clamped together and she was helpless to do aught but survive the blissful shocks jolting through her. She was dimly aware of the pulsing of her glow, the pitch of her cries. It was the pleasure Daroch had promised and more. It was experiment and atonement. Bliss and blasphemy. Sin and redemption. It was completion. The realization that no one could truly know themselves until they’d known themselves in such a way. Could never truly be a lover, until they’d thus loved.
But as her sense of self seemed to gather back from whence it had shattered, she felt as though something was missing. The kiss of cold spring air on her skin. The warmth of his breath hitting the flesh she bared to him. The satisfaction of something—mutual.
She peered up at Daroch’s intense, savagely handsome face and offered him a lazy smile. Everything seemed different in this moment. What once had been cold, black stone now felt close and cozy, much like a sanctuary. What had been a dark place where the very walls had mourned now was full of wicked secrets and echoes of delight. “Now you,” she murmured. “Don’t you need to find your own… pleasure?”
His jaw locked and he abruptly rolled away from her. “Nay.”
She sat up, clutching her robes in front of her. “Why not? I’ll be here with you. I want to learn what brings you satisfaction. I want to watch—”
“Doona say that!” he whirled on her, a wild spark of something cruel igniting in his eyes. “Never say that to me.”
Kylah blinked, disoriented by his abrupt change. “A-all right. Tell me why.”
“Why?” Daroch pinned her with his icy stare. “Why?” He began pacing like a caged animal, the strips of his tunic flaring about his powerful legs. “It’s perverse and repulsive, that’s why.” His lip curled and caused his tattoo to bunch into a demonic shape. “It’s unnatural, and—and debasing, beneath our human dignity.”
“But…” Kylah proceeded very carefully. “Isn’t it what you just did with me?”
For the first time since she’d laid eyes on him, his jaw went slack. He went perfectly still but for the breath lifting his chest. His unblinking eyes discomfited her, so she levitated to a standing position and tried to modestly rearrange her robes.
“Tell me what’s wrong,” she nudged gently. The warmth of her release drained from her limbs like the water of a bath, leaving her cold and trembling and searching for cover.
He plunged both hands into his bound hair, gripping it in frustration. The movement did fascinating things to the muscles in his arms, but Kylah ignored them, focusing on the unraveling man before her.
She floated toward him, reaching out, “Daroch, I’m sorry if I said something to ruin—”
“Don’t.” He held up his hand, a mask of chilly courtesy settling over his features. “You did nothing. I—have a lot of work to do.”
Her head snapped back as though he’d slapped her. “Work?” She gaped at him.
“Aye,” he turned from her and strode toward the hidden crevice. “I’ve already wasted enough time tonight.”
Dumbfounded, Kylah stared at the stone wall he just disappeared into. Wasted time? Anger smothered a bloom of hurt and confusion. Why would he entice her to do something so intensely intimate and then cruelly abjure it? Perverse? Repulsive? She wrapped her arms around her middle.
A deafening crash sounded from his lair. Then another.
Kylah prepared to plunge through the stone and see just what the bloody hell he was doing. And, while she was at it, she would give him the tongue lashing of his life. How dare he provoke such a lovely, intimate moment and then go and—
His angry roar preceded the unmistakable shattering of glass. Then wood. After that, a clatter of steel kept her feet planted, as it were, right where she was.
“Oh Daroch.” A tear slipped down her cheek. She suddenly understood what had just happened. This had nothing to do with her. And everything to do with his obsessive quest vengeance.
Chapter Eleven
She’d found him again. Daroch had known it was just a matter of time before her now-blue light chased away his shadow. He sat on the point of Cape Wrath in the moonless darkness, contemplating the stars through a breathtaking display of northern lights.
He’d been thinking of her. The dramatic blues and