Chapter 216: Parting Kiss
"I’m sorry," Ashlynn said, once she was far enough away from the mighty waterfall that she no longer felt swept away by it. "Thank you," she added, standing on her tiptoes to give Nyrielle a gentle kiss.
While Ashlynn had meant for it to be a simple, brief kiss, Nyrielle seized the opportunity, plundering from Ashlynn’s lush lips like a woman dying of thirst. Her fangs briefly pricked Ashlynn’s tongue, adding a now familiar coppery flavor to a sensual kiss that Ashlynn could feel all the way to her toes.
Nyrielle’s hands roamed along Ashlynn’s supple curves as their tongues danced, paying no attention to the gazes of anyone in the small camp. At the moment, blood thundered in her ears, blending with the rushing sound of the waterfall and drowning out all considerations of the world beyond the woman in her arms.
Ashlynn clung to her lover’s slender shoulders as she felt her face flush and her knees go weak. They had only been together for a short few months, just a fraction of the time she’d been betrothed to Owain, yet already her world had changed so much that she struggled to imagine life without Nyrielle by her side.
Now, they would be apart for as long as they had been together, perhaps even longer. No distance, however, could stop her from feeling an echo of Nyrielle’s heartbeat within her own chest. Their bond went beyond shared moments, stolen kisses, and the words they said beneath the Ancient Oak. It was a pact formed of blood that bound them together for the rest of Nyrielle’s life.
"Better now?" Nyrielle asked gently when she pulled back from the kiss. "I would hate to think that I would lose out to a waterfall, no matter how beautiful it is under the stars."
"The stars I see in your eyes will always be the most beautiful," Ashlynn said, her face heating in embarrassment at how entranced she’d become by the flow of energy that swirled through the air around the waterfall. "Can we..." she started, glancing at Nyrielle’s luxurious carriage and motioning with her head.
"My darling is still so shy," Nyrielle said, taking Ashlynn’s delicate hands in hers and guiding her into the softly lit interior of the carriage. In the light of the single lantern, deep, inky shadows danced across the vampire’s features, reminding Ashlynn of the night they met when Thane helped her into this very carriage and her life changed forever.
"I’m going to miss you," Ashlynn whispered once the door to the carriage clicked closed behind her. Her hand reached out, tracing her fingers across Nyrielle’s brow, brushing a strand of dark hair out of the way so she could gaze into the vampire’s mesmerizing midnight blue eyes. "I’ll work hard so we can reunite soon."