Chapter 166: Taking Charge
A trip through the city that took more than ten minutes by carriage took less than one for Nyrielle, enveloped by darkness and moving with the speed of mist on a breeze.
In Ashlynn’s opulent room, gossamer curtains fluttered with the speed of Nyrielle’s arrival as she laid Ashlynn down gently on the soft feather bed. Silks whispered against skin as Ashlynn pulled Nyrielle down on top of her, her lips hungrily working their way up the vampire’s alabaster neck until their lips met.
It wasn’t until Nyrielle’s hands slid toward the laces of Ashlynn’s dress that the younger woman pulled back, breaking the kiss and looking deeply into Nyrielle’s hungry gaze. The sight of her lover’s hunger stirred a warmth deep within Ashlynn. She’d seen Nyrielle feed last night, on three people less.
The deep desire she saw on the other woman’s face had nothing to do with vampiric bloodlust and was entirely the result of the fires of passion that grew between them.
"Not yet," Ashlynn whispered, sliding over the silk sheets to pull Nyrielle from the bed.
Wrapped in her short skirt and sleeveless tunic, Nyrielle resembled a gladiator goddess fallen to the earth. Her pale skin glowed in the soft lamp light of the room like a marble statue wrapped in lace. It made her look so achingly beautiful that she could only ever be worshiped. Other nights, Ashlynn might have let herself be carried away into the fantasy of this warrior goddess coming to her rescue yet again, but tonight, she wanted to rescue herself.
"Don’t move," Ashlynn whispered into Nyrielle’s ear, her lips brushing ever so lightly across the back of her lover’s neck as she began to move. Slowly, Ashlynn’s nimble fingers moved to the clasps of Nyrielle’s jewelry, tracing her way down her strong, slender arms to remove the bracer like nets of silver and ruby that lent her aura a dangerous, martial air.
Next, she knelt at Nyrielle’s feet, her fingers following the double spiral of leather laces that wrapped around her slender legs like spiral stairs ascending the heavens. Her deft fingers slid beneath the hem of the short skirt, tracing her nails along alabaster skin until she found the knots at the top of Nyrielle’s thighs.
One after the other, Ashlynn unlaced the shoes, gently stripping them away before her hands rose higher, bypassing the loosely fluttering silk skirt to dive beneath the silk and lace of her lover’s tunic.