If it was my mouth, my tongue, my rhythm that gave her pleasure, then who was I to decide it was time to change course?
“Apex.” She moaned my name like it was something more than just a word. A magic spell. A holy prayer. “Oh—fuck—Apex!”
Yes, I wanted to tell her. Yes! Give it to me, my darling, my love. My forever. My only! Give me your pleasure, so I can revel in the knowledge that it was I who bestowed it to you. Come for me! Come!
But my mouth was otherwise occupied, and my words were too flowery anyway. Atlanta did not love me, I knew—though, with every hour I spent with her, I knew my need for her only grew more and more.
When she finally let out her loudest, sharpest cry of all, I knew that I had accomplished what I had set out to do. Her clit throbbed for me, hard and intense in a whole new rhythm all her own. The tensing and releasing echoed beneath my lips in her channel. Clenching and relaxing, a pantomime of the way it might milk my cock of its cum if I was brave enough to undo my trousers and force myself inside her while she came.
But no—that would not do. I was hard enough, certainly, but tonight was not about my pleasure.
It was about hers.
When her orgasm finally subsided, she grew silent and still. For a moment, I feared that she regretted that she had allowed me to do such an intimate thing to her—but as I raised my lips from her cunt, I caught the glimmer of excitement in her pretty green eyes and the glimpse of a smile on her lips.
“And how was that, my mistress?” I placed my hands on her knees once more and shifted myself to my feet. My lips were slick with her honey, but I could not quite bring myself to wipe them clean.
Her breathing was heavy and ragged as she stared up at me, eyes wide and wild.
“It will do, Apex. It will do.” She sat up and grabbed me by the shirt, pulling me down and claiming a kiss on her mouth as well.
Our tongues danced against each other. Our lips radiated heat, bouncing it between my mouth and hers.
I reveled in her every kiss, her every touch.
Tonight, she was my mistress—and as little as I enjoyed following orders, I knew then more than ever before that whatever she asked of me from that point on, I would give her.
My mouth. My body. My protection.
Even, if she required it, my dying breath before my service to her was finally done.
13
Atlanta
Everything was changing, and quickly. Into what, though?
That was still hard to say.
“Spin,” Apex hissed at me as I lunged for him with his dagger. He caught my wrist and I let the dagger slip from my fingers into his.
Dutifully, I spun. It wasn’t hard, shifting from fighting one moment into dancing the next. The two weren’t all that different, really. They both required grace and poise, a control over your own body and the ability to expect the next move of your partner. I was taking to trying to stab Apex as quickly as I’d taken to salsa and ballet.
By the time I finished my first spin, Apex had slipped his dagger back into his sheath. For my second spin, he took my hand in his and helped guide my twirling—the same way he always did when he spotted someone watching us. Someone who probably didn’t need to know that I was spending as much of my time in the gardens practicing combat as I was practicing dance.
“Ah. Just one of the servants.” Apex let go of my hand and took a step back. He looked pleased—and relieved—as one of the tiny aliens who staffed Nightmoor palace set a tray down on the grass near the circle of grass we’d stamped flat while training over the last few days. “Are you ready for a break?”
“Apex, are you trying to get out of learning a few more dance moves? That’s not like you at all.” To make our little ruse look more believable, I’d taught Apex a few simple steps. It had been surprising at first to learn how much he already knew. Apparently, part of his training as a specter had involved more dancing than I would have guessed. Idria must have sent him undercover in places like Lieja’s palace often. Whether he was dancing with nobles or sparring with Gallix and Ronan, he had no problem fitting in either way.
“Of course not.” Apex placed his hands on my waist, and at his signal, I jumped up so he could lift me nice and high. He held me in the air and twirled slowly, then placed me back down once again. “But we have been practicing for hours now. If you are not tired, then perhaps you’ll rest for my sake.”
“Like you need a rest.” No matter how long the hours or how hard we worked, Apex never seemed tired after. I had a feeling he could have gone for days without rest if he needed to. Still, when I glanced at the pitcher of wine on the tray the servant had left, I had to admit it looked kind of nice. “You know, if I’d had a dance partner half as good as you back on Earth, I could have easily won every competition we entered in.”
“You had a dance partner though, did you not?” Apex sat down on the grass and poured out two goblets of wine, then offered one to me. “Your sister, correct?”
“Savannah, yeah.” I slumped down on the grass, nearly sloshing my wine right out of the glass in the process. I didn’t want to admit it, but Apex was right to make me take a break. My legs were tired, and after the orgasm he’d given me last night, I felt slightly delicate. I wasn’t sure my knees were ever
