Warm moist air, and a strong man in her arms while his cock took her to wonders she’d never imagined.

  In the end, she had to surrender to the passion. She closed her eyes and let their merged bodies become her only reality.

  He moved faster now, and harder. Penetrating so deeply she could feel him at her core. His breathing grew rapid, as did hers. She wrapped her legs around him and met his thrusts, her hips rising to guide him into her. Soon they were straining against each other, so tangled together she could hardly tell where she ended and he began.

  In the end, there was no he and she. No Elsbeth and Raelen. Only the one being they’d become as they rushed toward the inevitable. It hit her first, as the climax built deep inside her, stealing her breath, her sanity, her very identity. It burst over her and she screamed as the spasms coursed along her sex, grasping at his hardness.

  He went right after that. A few massive thrusts as his voice joined hers. Slam-ming into her one more time, he emptied his sperm inside her. They clung to each other for long moments before they finished and then fell together, slick with exer-tion and struggling for breath.

  He lay on top of her for a while—heavy and yet a beloved burden—before roll-ing off and pulling her into his arms. She ran an arm around his ribs and buried her nose under his chin.

  “Raelen,” she whispered. “I never imagined.”

  “Neither did I,” he answered.

  Her heart nearly stopped beating. “But you’ve done this many times.”

  “Not like that.”

  What could he mean? Did he love her? Could she have penetrated through his gruff exterior and touched his heart the way he’d laid claim to hers?

  “Roll over,” he said.

  She did, and he pulled her against him, her buttocks snuggled against his pelvis.

  His fingers traced lazy circles over her ribs while his heat warmed her back.

  “What do you see?” he asked.

  She looked toward the window. “The rose.”

  Where there had been one bloom, the bush had sprouted six or more. They shim-

  mered in the candlelight as if giving off their own glow.

  “Did you do that?” she said.

  “We did.”

  “It’s magical. Everything here—the castle and the whole island—it’s the way I imagined Shandikar.”

  “It’s similar.”

  “But you haven’t been there for many years.”

  “Shandikar doesn’t change,” he said.

  “Tell me about it.”

  He didn’t answer for a moment. Had he closed himself off from her again? Then he pulled her closer and rested his chin on her shoulder.

  “Wise men and women founded Shandikar on the three basic principles of peace, justice, and enlightenment.”

  His lips were so close to her ear, he only needed to whisper. In that one sentence, he’d spoken more words than in anything else he’d said since she arrived. She’d take each syllable to her heart and treasure it.

  ”Each of us has a purpose in life,” he went on. “Some are artists, others scien-tists, still others create by nurturing the children.”

  “I would have been a teacher,” she said.

  He kissed her earlobe. “The greatest gift of all.”

  “You became a mage.”

  “I made a study of the weather. The gods wanted someone to tame this sea so your people could flourish and reach for their own enlightenment.”

  “So, you gave up everything to help them,” she said.

  “Just as you did.”

  “But they’re my people. You did it for strangers,” she said. Such generosity of spirit. What sort of culture could produce that in its citizens? “You gave up any hope of family to live here alone for years at a time.”

  “I want that.” He sighed. “Or I did at the time.”

  “Has what you want changed?” She hardly dared breathe while she waited for his answer. No one could mistake what she’d really asked—whether he wanted her more than his mortality.

  He lay in silence for a while, his fingers no longer moving over her ribs. “What I want doesn’t matter.”

  “Maybe it does. Maybe if we try hard enough, we can find a way to change things so that we can live a normal life together.”

  Stupid, selfish wish. She’d been willing to go to her death for her people, and

  now she’d undo all that because she’d fallen in love. At least now she understood why her father had wanted to take her home with him. Love could blind you to everything else, it seemed.

  “If we find a solution, we can go to Shandikar together,” she said.

  “You’ll go to Shandikar.”

  “What?” She rolled over and looked into his face. “You’ll take me there?”

  He stared back at her, his expression unreadable. “Not I. Just you.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense. Why would I go without you?”

  He didn’t answer that but just lay there, giving her that look that said nothing except that he wouldn’t give her any answer.

  “Raelen, talk to me,” she said. “Why are you telling me I’m going somewhere without you?”

  “Shandikar is your reward.”

  “Reward? Reward for what?”

  “For what I’ve taken from you,” He tried not to give his feelings away, but he couldn’t hide the pain in his golden eyes. He thought he was being noble, was he?

  Giving her a reward she didn’t want. Life in Shandikar would fill all her dreams, but only with him by her side.

  “No,” she said. “I won’t go.”

  “You don’t have a choice.”

  “I chose to come here. I’ll choose to stay.”

  “You don’t understand,” He sat up and lowered his legs over the side of the bed, turning his back on her. His hands made fists against the coverlet, and his muscles at his shoulders went tight.

  “Then explain to me,” she said. “And not in three word answers.”

  “All the innocents I use—”

  “You didn’t use me!”

  He sat there rigid for a moment. He thought he was angry? She’d slap his face if he said anything so vulgar to her again. Use, indeed.

  “All the innocents who come here go to live in Shandikar when I’ve—”

  “So help me, if you say ‘finished with them,’ I’ll box your ears.”

  He turned and glared at her. “After I’ve been restored to youth.”

  “Go on.”

  “I take them away from their normal lives and ruin their chances at marriage. In Shandikar, they’re revered for their sacrifice. Shandikar is their reward.”

  “Did the other women go willingly?” Saints, how could she bear to think of other women being with him? “Did they try to stay with you?”

  “They were glad to go. There were no emotional bonds.”

  Thank the gods for that. “This is different, Raelen. I love you.”

  “Don’t, Elsbeth.”

  “And you love me too. That love gives us power.”

  “This is pointless,” he said. “Nothing will change no matter what we do.”

  But he didn’t tell her he didn’t love her. He could have if it were true. If he wanted her to leave him, that’s all he had to say.

  “I don’t need Shandikar,” she said. “All I need in this world is you.”

  “You’ll be happy in your new life. You can teach. Any man will take you for wife, if you want.”

  “Is that what you want?”

  He got up from the bed and stood for a moment, his head tipped up and his jaw clenched. Finally, he took a breath.

  “You won’t have to face a lonely life here with a man who can’t give you children, who can’t share your mortality.”

  “I can face anything. You know that.”

  “Damn it, Elsbeth,” he said. “It’s not your bravery. It’s mine.”

  “My bravery?”

  He looked down at her and his eyes caught the candlelight. They held such pain.

  “When you go, I’ll picture you happy and alive. Even after I know you must be dead, you’ll still be alive in my memories. I can’t watch you grow old and die. I can’t.”

  Well, what did she say to that? He was asking her to go so that he wouldn’t watch her wither. He assumed she’d be happy in Shandikar, and perhaps she would after a long while. At least, she wouldn’t live long enough to think of another young woman coming to him.

  “When would I have to leave?” Normal people lost their loved ones eventually.

  How long had her parents been married? Thirty years? Might she have thirty years with him?

  “The ship will be here tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow? No.” He couldn’t send her away tomorrow. “I must have some time with you.”

  “I’ll be completely revived,” He bent and picked up his clothes. “You’ll leave then.”

  “At least admit you love me. You owe me that.”

  He stared down at the clothing in his hands. “Gods help me, I do.”

  Then he turned and left the room.

  Master of the Elements: Chapter 4

  That night, the storm worsened into a full tempest. Awakened by thunder, Elsbeth huddled under the blankets and searched her memory for fragments of her dream. She’d carried Raelen’s child inside her body, the new life growing just beneath her heart. What joy, and now she had to return to the cruel reality that she’d have to leave the next day, empty. With only her memories of him to keep her company for the rest of her life.

  She would not cry. Enough tears. They accomplished nothing.

  The candles had blown out but the lightning seemed to linger in the clouds, giving off an eerie glow. She could see, all right. Only what would she find if she looked outside.

  Raelen had caused this, of course. To frighten her? Scare her away? Or did this chaos come out of his own inner turmoil? It reflected hers well enough. In a few hours, she’d leave this place, but her heart would stay behind.

  Elsbeth. His voice came to her on the wind as it had on her first night here. No, not on the wind, but in it. His words were the wind. Calling out to her, full of an-guish.

  So he was calling her, was he? She’d go to him, all right. If he wouldn’t give her himself, he’d give her his baby. That might be impossible, but at least he’d try. If they only had hours left together, they needed to spend them in each others’ arms.

  Even that stubborn male had to see that.

  She threw back the covers and sat up. After rubbing the dried tears from her eyes, she rose, found the lace sleeping gown he’d given her and put it on. She’d seduce him and make love with him once more. If that didn’t give her his child, it would give her more of him to cherish.

  Once at the window, she glanced out toward his workroom. No light from there.

  A flash of lightning showed him on the terrace that looked out over the sea. He wore breeches and a shirt, the latter stuck to his torso while the tails flapped in the wind.

  She’d look much the same once she’d gone outside, but she couldn’t let the storm ruin her new robe and underdress, and her own dress wouldn’t work for a seduction. Let the gown cling to her body. Let the moisture make it transparent. All the better for her purposes.

  After slipping from the room, she took the stairs downward as fast as she could safely go. Her palm against the stones guided her, as did the lightning that flashed more and more often now. Finally she reached the main entrance. The door stood open, so she went outside and to the terrace.

  Raelen stood a few yards away, and he turned as she approached even though he couldn’t have heard her come.

  “Go back to bed,” he ordered.

  “I don’t have to obey you any longer.”

  “You’ll catch your death.”

  “I’m young and healthy,” she said. “A little rain won’t kill me.”

  “A little,” He looked up into the clouds. His hair hung in wet clumps, dripping water onto his shoulders to run in rivulets down his chest.

  “I want you to give me a child,” she said.

  “I told you, I can’t do that.”

  “I want you to try.”

  His eyes got wide. “Why are you asking this?”

  “I gave up everything to come to you. I risked my own death. You will try. Come inside and make love to me.”

  His jaw clenched. “It’s over.”

  “No, it’s not. We have some time yet.”

  “I’m restored.”

  He was, indeed, younger than he had been a few hours earlier. Not a line marred his face, and he seemed to have grown taller, his shoulders broader. Surely no more beautiful male had ever lived.

  “I want you,” she said. “I made you what you are. Now make love to me.”

  “You’ll break my heart.”

  She pounded on his chest. “Curse you, I don’t care.”

  He’d already broken hers. Let him share her misery. Let him wallow in it for the next hundred years. Let his cock get hard thinking of her. Then he’d wish he hadn’t sent her away.

  Wait. his cock. He’d made a promise the day he’d bathed her, and he hadn’t fulfilled it.

  “I want to take you into my mouth,” she said.

  “What?”

  “I want to pleasure you with my mouth.”

  “No.”

  He moved to push her away, but she held onto his arms. “You said I could that first morning, but you never let me.”

  His eyes grew wide. “Too much.”

  “Did you let the others do that?” she demanded.

  “Some, if they wanted.”

  “Then you’ll let me do it.”

  He grasped her face and lifted her upward toward him until her feet almost left the ground. “I’ll lose control.”

  “I don’t care.”

  “I’ll take you roughly.”

  “Take me any way you want,” she said.

  “No. It’s too much.”

  “I’m done obeying you. I’m done bowing to your wishes. I want this, and by the saints, I’ll have it.”

  Before he could forbid her once more, she loosened his hands from her face, dropped to her knees and reached for the buttons of his breeches. When he tried to stop her fingers, she batted his hands away.

  Though the sodden fabric made her work difficult, she soon had the front of his pants open. Already hardening, his cock fell out into her hands. It seemed to create its own heat, and as she stroked it, it reached full hardness and length. Even bigger than before, though that hardly seemed possible. Now that she’d made it ready, she sucked it deep into her mouth and worked her lips firmly over the shaft.

  A ragged cry escaped from his chest, but he didn’t try again to stop her. He was much too big for her to take him all, so she stroked the base of his cock while letting her mouth worked the rest. She even managed to free his sac and stroke the underside with her other hand.

  As the rain pounded down on them and the wind whipped at their clothing, she continued with her lips and tongue, even grazing the head of his cock with her teeth.

  With a loud groan, he began moving his hips, thrusting into her mouth with such force that she had to grip him tightly to control the penetration. He’d given in to his need. At least she’d won that small victory. She held the power now, and she’d burn this moment into his memory for all time. No matter how many other women he had, he’d always think of her at the supreme moment.

  His moans came in rhythm with his thrusts now, growing louder with each moment. His body stiffened as it prepared to climax.

  Then, in an instant, he took the upper hand. He grabbed her under the arms, hauled her to her feet, and pressed her against the stones of the castle wall. Almost tearing the cloth, he pulled her gown up to her waist, and his fingers plunged between her legs and into her sex. He probed deeply, spearing her until she gasped and writhed with the pleasure of it. Her whole body went up in flames, and surely the raindrops would sizzle and turn to steam against her skin.

  Before she could beg him for more, he removed his fingers, placed himself between her legs, and drove his cock up and into her. She did leave her feet as her back went against the wall behind her. Wrapping her legs around him, she hung on as he impaled her on his hardness.

  His hands went to her hips and held them while he pounded into her. Fast, hard and deep. Oh, how deep. He’d split her in two, and yet she couldn’t get enough of him.

  The storm picked up his intensity. Lightning bright enough to blind her followed in an instant by thunder that seemed to shake the stones of the castle. And at the center of it all was Raelen. His love, his cock, his soul. It touched hers as the ultimate moment arrived. Just as a huge flash of light streaked up into the clouds, he shuddered, roared and emptied himself inside her. Her climax took her, and her sex convulsed around his. The following thunder had his voice in it. Only this time her own cries sounded in it, too. She’d become one with the elements and with this man. Neither of them would ever be alone again.

  While the storm still raged, he pulled out of her and lowered her to her feet.

  Leaning back against the stones, she took his head and guided it against her face.

  He clutched her to him, his shoulders shaking. Hot moisture ran down her cheeks.

  His tears.

  * * *

  On the dock, Elsbeth stood so close to Raelen that if she leaned in his direction, she would touch him. And yet he might have been miles away. Since the night before, he’d only spoken one word to her. “Come.” Then he’d lifted her trunk and carried it here so they could wait for the ship from Shandikar approach. All her things sat at her feet now, a bouquet of her nightroses resting on top.

  With its tall sails and arching prow carved in the shape of a sea serpent, the ves-sel appeared as tall as the castle itself. Panels of gold on the hull reflected the sun-light into her eyes, making them water.

  Not tears. She would not cry. She wouldn’t disgrace the dignity of the robe she wore by breaking down like a spoiled child. Once on board, she’d turn away from this island and not look back until she knew she couldn’t see Raelen watch her leave. Or worse, simply go back into his castle as if nothing of import had happened. She’d have a lifetime to mourn the loss of him, and she’d do it in private.