“And that’s not going to change,” Molly said solemnly. “I can’t put into words how sure I am of us. I’m not worried about this.” Molly rose up on her knees, kissing her softly and deeply. Onyx whimpered, running her hands through Molly’s short red hair.
Molly took the towel off Onyx’s shoulders and held it behind her. She pushed Onyx backward to lay her out on the floor beneath them. There was only wet concrete under the towel, but all the candles had made the room warm and they often enjoyed less than comfortable spots.
“I’m glad you had a good time,” Molly said. “I’m glad you may have made a new friend. I’m even a little jealous now.”
“I don’t want you to be jealous,” Onyx said in a soft voice. “I’ll stop if it makes you jealous. I don’t want anything to ever come between us.”
“I didn’t say I was jealous over you,” Molly winked. She crept downward over Onyx’s vulnerable body. Molly trailed soft kisses across her collarbones. As her mouth moved lower and lower against Onyx, Molly’s hands trailed behind, her arms stretched out as she drug her fingernails lightly down Onyx’s flesh.
“Ooooh,” Onyx breathed, “you’re really doing this now?” She fumbled for the pile of her clothes in the corner. It was a rhetorical question, after all. Onyx would need a makeshift pillow, which she prepared while the rest of her body was offered up to her partner. She could no more turn away from this emotional reassurance than she could deny that she still felt sexually revved up by her afternoon.
“I totally am,” Molly said wickedly. “I think we both need a very physical affirmation of our love right now.”
“You’re not even undressed,” Onyx observed softly. She inhaled sharply, trembling as Molly’s kisses drifted between her legs.
“I know. This’ll be pretty one-sided. See how devoted I am?” Molly winked. “Onyx. I love you more than anything else in the world. Now shut up and let me be kinky.”
Onyx’s eyes crossed and fluttered closed. For all the potential worries and dangers of this new supernatural wrinkle in their lives, they still had this. They would stay here until Onyx had climaxed at least once, and then move to the bed or the shower or both for more. It would obviously be another one of those weekends.
There would be another cleansing ritual later that night, out where the water met the land. There would also be a heartfelt ritual of thanks for all that the universe had given Onyx in this accepting, nurturing, devastatingly sexy redhead.
* * *
“I can’t believe how lucky I am,” Alex said. His hand brushed through Lorelei’s hair as he stared into her eyes. They lay intertwined on his bed. The scent of Onyx’s hair conditioner still lingered on the pillows. The room dimmed as the sun began to set.
“You have gone to great lengths to earn this ‘luck,’” Lorelei replied, but Alex shook his head.
“Not like this. People go their whole lives doing good deeds and risking their lives and they get nothing for it. Bad things happen to good people all the time.”
“Bad things have already happened to you, Alex.” She traced the scar on his chest. “Worse may yet happen. I would note, however, that you have a habit of paying forward for your fortunes.”
He rolled his eyes. “I’ve been in danger a little bit this week. I got shot but immediately healed. I faced what was apparently a tiny demon and I only came out on top because my friends bailed me out.”
“Alex. You do not understand the magnitude of all that you have done. Another person may have done the same, yes, but that isn’t for you to worry about. I guarantee you that most people would turn away and choose easier paths than you do when faced with such decisions.” She let that sink in and then asked, “Do you regret your fortune?”
“No. Of course not. I’m just…I don’t know what I’m saying. Maybe I shouldn’t be taking advantage of all this just because I can. Maybe it’s wrong?”
“Should a rich man feel guilty for his success? Should celebrities regret their fame? So your fortune takes a different form. You’ve harmed no one. What’s wrong with it?” He frowned thoughtfully, searching for words, but Lorelei put a finger over his lips. “Did you ever for a moment disregard the wants or needs of your partner? Feel less than grateful for your time with one of them? With me?
“I know what I am to the eyes of men. Men and women have abandoned everything they have, even their lives and honor and souls to slake their lusts and possess me. Here I am, completely within your power. I have no recourse should you take a firm hand with me, yet what has dominated your thoughts?” Her eyes seemed to sparkle. “‘How can I make this up to her? How can I make her happy?’ Those are not the thoughts of a petty or selfish person, Alex.”
“How do I make you happy?”
“You see?” Lorelei chuckled, and then kissed him lightly. “You already do.”
“Yeah, I know, you’ve said,” he nodded softly. “But still. I’m asking.”
“Keep treating me as you have,” Lorelei answered.
“Don’t you want to be free? Even if I can’t give you real freedom, wouldn’t you want as much as you could have?”
“That’s complicated. I wanted my freedom when we first bonded, yes. I have always wanted my freedom. But I was created to respond sexually to my master as a way to keep me under control. It was used to punish and humiliate me by beings so awful…” she shook her head.
“I’m a hedonist. I do what brings pleasure. Submission to my masters felt good, but at the cost of self-loathing. Even Hell’s pleasures are usually cruel and humiliating. You’re nothing like them. The more you embrace me and what I am, the better we both feel. You have tested the waters and found them welcoming. Why do you not dive in?”
“I don’t know if I can accept that,” Alex said. “Now more than ever.”
“Why not?”
“Because when we first met I felt like…well, it was wrong. I’d still say slavery is wrong. But now I just don’t know if I can even play at it.”
“It’s different now. You know this. This may have been forced upon us, but one can hardly call it slavery when you have my consent. We both know that being the master arouses you. We need only take that as far as we are both comfortable, and we will still be friends and more.
“I’m not asking you to push me around or abuse me. You’ve been good to me since we met, and we have only become closer and more comfortable together. So what else has changed?”
“I love you, Lorelei.”
It hung there, in the few inches between their eyes. He had changed her entire world again.
“You don’t have to say anything you don’t feel,” Alex said. “I don’t want you to. I need you not to. But I just need you to know. I’ve fallen in love with you, Lorelei.”
“I felt this, tied into your desires,” she murmured, plainly awestruck. “But I did not dare give it that name. I didn’t know if that’s what it was.”
“That’s what it is. I love you.”
He moved one hand to wipe away the tear that formed in her eye. He wasn’t sure what else to say. The room got darker and darker as the last rays of the sun fell away.
“I love you, Alex,” Lorelei whispered.
“That isn’t the bond talking?” He didn’t want to belittle her feelings, but he had to be honest. He needed it from her as well. “Could you feel that because of…because you’re supposed to?”
“No.” Her voice wavered. He had never seen her look genuinely vulnerable. “The spell and its caster knew nothing of love. He wanted to dominate and humiliate in the ugliest of ways, hardly different from my last master,” she added. “I have been afraid to use the word. I didn’t know that one such as I could feel it, but I am sure now. I love you, Alex.”
They held one another tightly. Though his voice held steady, she wasn’t the only vulnerable one. The room had grown dark.
“That’s what’s different,” he explained. “You can’t have friendship or love without respect. Without equality. Not for real. I want to do everything I can to make you happy, but…I don’t want to turn into a monster on you. I’m afraid of what might happen if we go down that road. That’s why I don’t think we can be master and slave.”