10-05-2016, 02:47 PM
Decoded? His choice of word filed itself away for later; she was too distracted to contemplate it now, but it added an immediate dimension to her perspective of him; shifted it to a picture that made sudden sense, layering reason where before there had been blank spots in place of motive. It framed his paranoia. A man taught to seek conspiracies in the shadows and make meanings of them; but in the written form, not necessarily in the unpredictable duplicity of people. Otherwise he would have seen through Imaad.
For now, she seemed content to be buffeted by the waves as they crashed against her shoulders and sprayed over her head. The night might have made it frightening, like being lost in a crowd of faceless bodies jostling and bumping and pulling her out further from shore. But she found it easy to let go when the thrill of it quickened her pulse, made her unapologetically mirthful. Her playfulness sparked from his expression, from his words. His jesting protests only earned a shrug, if he could even see the slender rise and fall of shining white shoulders amidst the dark waters.
She watched him shed the black, an appreciative glimmer to her eye. Apparently she had met her match in this game of bluff and tease; the line of restraint was getting distant, and her inclination to respect it even more so. Her gaze followed every item of dropped clothing before returning to the revealed contours of his body. She smirked, and considered how far removed he was from the man who had touched hand from hilt to heart for a loose tongue only that morning. Malkieri sword or no, if she had any notion of him being northern in more than ancestry that impression dissolved to dust.
She watched too as the sea flooded to meet him, unabashedly absorbing every piece of him before he fell beneath the Aryth’s caress. She was laughing as she hadn’t laughed in a long time, like the duty of five years had taken flight from the recklessness of youth. The respite was welcome, her accomplice even more so. He made short work of closing the distance, and turned her with a hand against her shoulder, trailing playfully down her arm to pull her onwards.
Nythadri pushed unafraid through the breaking waves until they calmed wide and rolling, pausing as her feet found purchase to wipe the water from her face. Salt tanged sharp on her lips. When she looked at Jai his grin was errant, like he fizzed with the kind of life he had that morning denied was his due. The tease was on her lips, but he escaped beneath the surface before she could speak. Though not as promiscuous as her reputation suggested, neither was she prudish. He won no blushes as he chucked his smallclothes back to shore, only a laugh at his brazen mischievousness. Water flattened his hair, ran rivulets down his shoulders and chest. His laugh was infectious. So easy to forget that there should be two pins shining at his neck in place of glittering drops of water.
When he came closer, her hands moved behind her back. If she hadn’t trusted her desire to touch him before, she certainly didn’t now. All Tower children knew control. In the Arches, a novice faced her fears; but more than that, and worse, the test required a woman to walk away from the things she loved and desired most. Nythadri missed the physical company of a man almost as much as she missed the freedom of music, but there was no glowing arch in the horizon behind his head, just the memory of rules she had already seriously circumvented. Tempting wasn’t the word.
“Is a very long time,”
she agreed, voice breathy from the intimacy of his touch against her skin. Somewhere distant, Imaad’s warnings rang like bells. She ignored them. If she sank into Jai now, she did not think she’d find him unwilling. Her heart beat fiercely, the rise and fall of her chest pronounced amidst the lapping waters. Tingling skin urged her to submit to the visceral, imagining the heat of his kiss, the eagerness of his touch. His look promised a passion that threatened to tip the scales of reason, and she was not resistant to the seduction.
Only the ring prevented her acting on the fantasies that stole breath from her lungs.
He had little to lose in this game, while she might lose everything. If caught. No-one would see them from the cliff or even the beach in this pitch darkness, but their abandoned clothes marked a scandalous path to the water. Accepted didn’t get sent to the Farm twice, and the ephemeral attentions of an Asha’man would be little solace if it saw her expelled from her home. Warning beat heavy with her heartbeat, but the fact it was forbidden only drew her closer, moth to flame. Her fingers trailed a path down his ribs, the delicate touch of one accustom to the nuance of pressure. She was mindful of the bruising, and used knowledge of it to subdue the ache of desire into something she could tenuously control. Pale eyes never left his, and she might have wavered in that moment. But the caress returned upwards before it strayed too far, with a gently ticklish speed that suggested she was trying to make him shudder.
“Wicked man. You know I can’t.”
Only even as she’d whispered the words she'd gotten closer. Ever a creature of defiance, she couldn’t bring herself to be the one to pull away. Her hands had stilled from wandering, though they still rested on the taut flesh of his chest. She could feel his own heart beat within, human as she. Rimmed by sinful dark lashes, the gaze she sent upwards contained no small measure of challenge; she dared him to action, no mistaking the sly curve of her smirk. Something of that look doubted his nerve, but inwardly it was bluff. Either way, she won.
For now, she seemed content to be buffeted by the waves as they crashed against her shoulders and sprayed over her head. The night might have made it frightening, like being lost in a crowd of faceless bodies jostling and bumping and pulling her out further from shore. But she found it easy to let go when the thrill of it quickened her pulse, made her unapologetically mirthful. Her playfulness sparked from his expression, from his words. His jesting protests only earned a shrug, if he could even see the slender rise and fall of shining white shoulders amidst the dark waters.
She watched him shed the black, an appreciative glimmer to her eye. Apparently she had met her match in this game of bluff and tease; the line of restraint was getting distant, and her inclination to respect it even more so. Her gaze followed every item of dropped clothing before returning to the revealed contours of his body. She smirked, and considered how far removed he was from the man who had touched hand from hilt to heart for a loose tongue only that morning. Malkieri sword or no, if she had any notion of him being northern in more than ancestry that impression dissolved to dust.
She watched too as the sea flooded to meet him, unabashedly absorbing every piece of him before he fell beneath the Aryth’s caress. She was laughing as she hadn’t laughed in a long time, like the duty of five years had taken flight from the recklessness of youth. The respite was welcome, her accomplice even more so. He made short work of closing the distance, and turned her with a hand against her shoulder, trailing playfully down her arm to pull her onwards.
Nythadri pushed unafraid through the breaking waves until they calmed wide and rolling, pausing as her feet found purchase to wipe the water from her face. Salt tanged sharp on her lips. When she looked at Jai his grin was errant, like he fizzed with the kind of life he had that morning denied was his due. The tease was on her lips, but he escaped beneath the surface before she could speak. Though not as promiscuous as her reputation suggested, neither was she prudish. He won no blushes as he chucked his smallclothes back to shore, only a laugh at his brazen mischievousness. Water flattened his hair, ran rivulets down his shoulders and chest. His laugh was infectious. So easy to forget that there should be two pins shining at his neck in place of glittering drops of water.
When he came closer, her hands moved behind her back. If she hadn’t trusted her desire to touch him before, she certainly didn’t now. All Tower children knew control. In the Arches, a novice faced her fears; but more than that, and worse, the test required a woman to walk away from the things she loved and desired most. Nythadri missed the physical company of a man almost as much as she missed the freedom of music, but there was no glowing arch in the horizon behind his head, just the memory of rules she had already seriously circumvented. Tempting wasn’t the word.
“Is a very long time,”
she agreed, voice breathy from the intimacy of his touch against her skin. Somewhere distant, Imaad’s warnings rang like bells. She ignored them. If she sank into Jai now, she did not think she’d find him unwilling. Her heart beat fiercely, the rise and fall of her chest pronounced amidst the lapping waters. Tingling skin urged her to submit to the visceral, imagining the heat of his kiss, the eagerness of his touch. His look promised a passion that threatened to tip the scales of reason, and she was not resistant to the seduction.
Only the ring prevented her acting on the fantasies that stole breath from her lungs.
He had little to lose in this game, while she might lose everything. If caught. No-one would see them from the cliff or even the beach in this pitch darkness, but their abandoned clothes marked a scandalous path to the water. Accepted didn’t get sent to the Farm twice, and the ephemeral attentions of an Asha’man would be little solace if it saw her expelled from her home. Warning beat heavy with her heartbeat, but the fact it was forbidden only drew her closer, moth to flame. Her fingers trailed a path down his ribs, the delicate touch of one accustom to the nuance of pressure. She was mindful of the bruising, and used knowledge of it to subdue the ache of desire into something she could tenuously control. Pale eyes never left his, and she might have wavered in that moment. But the caress returned upwards before it strayed too far, with a gently ticklish speed that suggested she was trying to make him shudder.
“Wicked man. You know I can’t.”
Only even as she’d whispered the words she'd gotten closer. Ever a creature of defiance, she couldn’t bring herself to be the one to pull away. Her hands had stilled from wandering, though they still rested on the taut flesh of his chest. She could feel his own heart beat within, human as she. Rimmed by sinful dark lashes, the gaze she sent upwards contained no small measure of challenge; she dared him to action, no mistaking the sly curve of her smirk. Something of that look doubted his nerve, but inwardly it was bluff. Either way, she won.