Lotus PetalsParanormal Romance/Lesbian/F-/F
Aijyn, human slave to a
ruthless vampire Lord, would never dare do anything to incur his wrath. Then,
she fell in love... with his bride.
Excerpt:
"Rhiannon-sama,"
she began again, well aware she might be broaching a subject Rhiannon would
easily wish to avoid, even to the point of sending her attendant violently
away.
"Hm?"
the vampire murmured.
"Your
bodyguard...she likes to see you in pain."
Rhiannon
waited a long time before she answered.
"Perhaps
I like pain, mortal."
Aijyn did not
argue...but she had seen the expression on Rhiannon’s face when Sölva had
tormented her.
"You
must hide the scars from the daimyo," she chided gently. "And you
cannot allow her to leave any more marks on you, if you do not wish to anger
him."
"And if
I do wish to anger him?"
"Do not
be petulant," Aijyn scolded.
"Does he
believe his bride will be untouched? That his kin-born bastard bride will not have experienced acts of the flesh?
I am over half a century a living birth-child. Does he realize how most
kin-born are meant to earn their keep in demon houses?"
"He
expects you will be untouched for him," Aijyn said. "Whatever has
gone before, now you are his. And Gohachiro is not a man to share his
treasures."
"Doesn’t
he like to use pain?" Rhiannon asked. She rolled over under Aijyn’s hands,
lying on her side and reaching out to touch the scar she herself had left on
the courtesan’s wrist. At the light caress of her finger, a delicious tingle of
pleasure ignited under the skin, making Aijyn shiver as the vampire had a
moment ago.
Rhiannon
pulled Aijyn closer, and lowered herself over the wound to kiss it a second
time. The warm arousal intensified, and Aijyn caught her breath as her body
awoke to the sensation, nipples stiffening under the soft silk of her kimono.
"Here,"
Rhiannon whispered, reaching up to brush the dark strands of hair from Aijyn’s
shoulder, revealing the tiny, neat scars of bites past. Scars that would never
heal the way the vampire’s did, white little lines and half-moons, memories of
Gohachiro’s affections.
"Doesn’t
he give you pain…" Rhiannon said, following their contours with light but
deliberate pressure.
"…so he
may turn it into pleasure?"
"Rhiannon-sama…"
Aijyn murmured vaguely. One hand had dropped into her lap; the other rested on
the vampire’s warm, lean arm. Strange awareness filled her: the touch stirred
up the first bloom of eagerness in her loins and the pit of her belly.
"Pain is
what we are, courtesan. Pain, hunger, pleasure, death. We are the undead. I am
just over half a century old, more than twice your age, and I have been Sölva’s
for longer than you have been alive. There are scars you will never see, all over
my body: the marks of her fangs, of her whip, the cut of her blade, the pierce
of steel needles. And every one of them sings
when she touches me, screams when
she hurts me...and it is ecstasy."
"Rhiannon-sama…"
Aijyn
realized with some dread she had made a mistake. The vampire’s touch brushed
against her, terribly light, terribly fleeting, but her voice...soft,
beautiful, rich, like strong liquor.
Rhiannon’s
hand came to rest on the back of Aijyn’s neck. She gently pulled the courtesan
closer, resting forehead-to-forehead and searching deep into Aijyn’s wide, dark
eyes.
"You do
this for him, too?" she whispered. "You...perform anma for him? You
touch his body with such delicate affection?"
"Yes,"
Aijyn whispered.
"And
does it make him want to fuck?"
Before she
could think better of it, Aijyn lifted up a hand and slapped her.
The strike
was not a hard one. At least, to Rhiannon it would not have been hard. Aijyn’s
palm stung as though she had struck it against solid rock, and she quickly
pressed it in her other hand, hissing with pain.
Rhiannon did
not strike back. She remained perfectly still, her expression unchanging. After
a moment, once Aijyn had collected herself, the vampire leaned closer and
pressed her mouth against Aijyn’s own.
"It
makes me want to fuck," she
said. Then she stood, one smooth, languid motion, and retreated to her coffin
to at last submit to her daytime sleep.
