Lilac had no trouble interpreting; Nickolai was implying that if she wanted him she was going to have to take all he had to give. This time she nodded her head rather shakily against him.

"You must promise me that when I start the tale, you will let me finish it and you will listen to what the story is about." He caught her earlobe in his white teeth. "Do you promise?"

"Yes, Nickolai; I promise."

"Fine. I will begin. A long time ago, there was a little girl and her name was ... Prunella." Lilac nipped his neck; Rejar smiled against her hair.

Carrying her, he walked over to the bed, positioning her in the middle of the mattress. He sat down beside the curve of her hip, placing a palm on either side of her waist.

He bent over her, his glossy hair sweeping forward with the motion. "One day Prunella looked into a pool of water and what do you think she saw?"

"Fish?"

"No, souk-souk." His nimble fingers began to unb.u.t.ton her dress. "She saw, much to her surprise, countless bursts of light."

"In the water?"

Rejar peeled off her sodden dress. "Yes. She did not know what the lights were..." her pantalettes slid down her legs. "... so she stooped down for a closer look and realized she was seeing millions of tiny stars in the pool."

"How pretty!"

"Very." Rejar was not responding to her comment so much as the lovely form now exposed to his view. He shed his robe, coming over her.

"Prunella continued to watch the miraculous picture before her, seeing that many of the tiny stars had even smaller specks circling around them, like so-" His tongue swirled a pattern around the curve of her aureola.

Lilac thought him a most inspiring storyteller. Her voice caught as she reacted to his apt demonstration. "Wh-what were the specks?"

Rejar smiled to himself, licking the side of her neck with a slow sweep of his tongue. By Aiyah, she was listening.

He murmured against the skin of her throat. "It suddenly occurred to Prunella that these specks were ... worlds."

Lilac gasped. "Worlds?"

"Think of it, Lilac; a pool filled with stars, and around these stars-worlds..."

He let her mull that over for a while as his mouth took hers in a devastating invasion. Lilac's fingers threaded through his hair, caressing the sides of his head as he sought to deepen his kiss.

He needed her so. There was no one that felt like this for him; no one who tasted like this.

A low sound of gratification rolled in his throat.

Lilac kissed him back, opening her mouth for him, letting her tongue tenderly slide along his.

"Lilac ..." he whispered against her gentle lips.

She pressed her mouth against his closed eyes, those spiky lashes that so beguiled her; over his strong cheekbones, the bridge of that perfectly straight nose, along the sensual curve of his upper lip. Cinnamon and bayberry and that extra special something surrounded her, calling to her on the deepest level.

She wanted him inside her.

Feeling much the way she did, Rejar whispered, "I cannot wait. Lilac; forgive me." And he entered her in a long, endless thrust.

They both cried out.

{I love to become a part of you.} His emotional thought only added to her desire for him. "I want you inside me, Nickolai... always," she murmured against his mouth.

Her responsive words made Rejar throb within her. "My heart, my heart..."

He took her strong and slow.

With every stroke, with every loving movement, he continued to tell her his story. "Prunella saw that these tiny specks were-ah, yes, souk-souk right there-worlds, and she soon discovered a curious thing: if she watched very closely her view seemed to magnify and she could see that on each world there were people."

"Nickolai, Nickolai, please ..." Lilac wrapped her thighs tightly around his lean hips.

"Shh, listen ..." He kissed her. "Not all of these people were alike; in fact, some of them were very different than what she was used to."

Exasperated with his slow torture. Lilac wiggled about, causing her husband to close his eyes in ecstasy.

Through a gargantuan effort, he regained his sensibility. There was much at stake here. "Remember your promise."

Lilac reluctantly stilled her fidgeting.

Rejar continued his slow, deep movements along with his story. "It seemed these people who lived on the worlds inside this particular pool lived their lives surrounded by the presence of magic."

"Magic?" This got her interest.

"Yes. Prunella soon discovered that magic was quite common on these worlds; however, not everyone had the ability to do magic and those who did often had different abilities from others." The palms of his hands slid over and down her backside, cupping her derriere to bring her up to him as he plunged wholly into her.

"Oh!" Lilac took a shuddering breath, trying to concentrate on what he was saying. "How did they live with this magic, Nickolai? Did it not upset their lives?"

"No, for it was natural to them, simply the way they were."

A tiny line creased her brow as she mulled this over. Rejar could not help but press his lips against the spot.

"Prunella soon found her most favorite people on one of the hidden worlds there. This was a very special place," he whispered enticingly. "These people were rare and different from all the others. Because of this, they were protected by a powerful race of magicians; for their abilities and the beauty of their spirit were highly sought after."

"They sound lovely. What were they like?"

"They were much like you or me except for one difference."

Caught up in the story, among other things. Lilac looked up at him. "What was that?"

"They could change their shape at will-into a catlike form."

Lilac froze in his arms. "Nickolai ..."

"You promised, Lilac."

She said nothing for a tension-fraught moment, "Very well, go on with the story."

He embraced her waist, kissing the corners of her mouth. "When they changed form it allowed them to see and experience things others could not. Prunella knew this was nothing to be afraid of because she saw that this ability was a natural trait of these people, who, in their natural form, looked much as she did."

"What did these people call themselves?"

"Familiars."

Lilac stared at his chest, not speaking.

Rejar stopped moving, remaining deeply embedded in her. "One day, in order to help his brother, one of the Familiars entered a ... whirlpool in the water around them. The currents swirled him around and around; he had no control of his life or what happened to him as he spun about the vortex. Without warning, he was flung out of the churning spout in the water pool and he found himself-"

Lilac put her hand over his mouth. "Don't say it."

He removed her hand from his lips, kissing the palm. "He found himself falling into the air. To protect himself, he changed into his cat-form. With a burst of lightning he broke through the barrier of the universes and crashed down next to his Prunella."

Lilac threaded her fingers through the glossy hair on the sides of his head. "You can't expect me to-"

"She was riding in a coach," he continued on inexorably, "next to her aunt, who was extremely frightened of the cat. But Prunella wasn't. She was very kind to him and took him home with her."

Lilac blinked several times, clearly distressed by what she had heard. It had the disturbing ring of truth to it. "I-"

He placed his tapered finger against her mouth. "Shh. It is all right. Lilac. I only ask that you think on it."

She didn't want to think right now. She only wanted her husband to hold her and make love to her. The amazing story made him seem that much further removed from her; she did not want Nickolai removed from her. The strange reality of it panicked her. "Nickolai, please don't stop now!" she cried out.

Seeing how upset she was, Rejar immediately obliged her, gliding his tongue into her mouth, imitating his languid ebb and pulse below. It was time to show her that he was the same man, that she need not fear him.

His tender actions provided the reinforcement she needed; Lilac instantly relaxed under his accustomed touch. {There is a flow to us together, souk-souk, like the water I spoke of. Do you feel it?} Lilac ran her palms down the plane of his back, letting the tips of her fingers feel every contour of rippling muscle as he advanced and retreated within her. "I do feel it, Nickolai."

{Waves ... there is much about waves I will teach you, Lilac-waves on water, waves in moonlight, waves we create together...} He took her breast in his mouth, lovingly suckling on her.

"Yes ... oh, yes ..."

They moved together in a dance as old as time. Mimicking the resonance of life itself. They flowed into each other.

It was a marvel that spanned galaxies, planets, and, yes, even pools of star-filled water.

This time Rejar did not hold back; he joined his wife in completion.

Both of them surging, swelling, breaking.

Releasing, exchanging, and clinging ... together.

Chapter Eighteen.

"Mmmm . .." Rejar rubbed his chin against Lilac's shoulder.

The soft nap of her cotton chemise, not the velvet skin he antic.i.p.ated, brushed his jaw. He frowned. "Why are you wearing this?"

Lilac yawned sleepily, tucking her derriere closer to the warm of the male body behind her. "I'm chilly."

"With me keeping you so close?" He tease-kissed the nape of her neck, drawing her tighter into the circle of his arms.

Lilac smiled. "I suppose it was all that dampness yesterday; I feel a bit achy as well."

Concerned, Rejar raised up on one elbow. "Was I too rigorous for you?"

Lilac gazed at him over her shoulder. "No, Nickolai; not at all-you were very gentle." She patted the hand still curved around her waist.

Rejar was not convinced. He cupped her chin, examining her closely in the morning light. "You look pale, souk-souk. Are you sure I have not worn you out?"

Lilac giggled. She couldn't help it. Imagine a man being concerned he had been too satisfying! "Well, if you did, I can't think of a better way to wear oneself out, can you?"

Chagrinned, Rejar smiled softly in agreement.

She sat up in bed, stretching. "I feel deliciously weary. In fact, I think I shall go out to the garden in this glorious sunshine"-she gazed at him coyly from beneath her lashes-"unless you have something better for me to do?"

Rejar laughed. How pretty she looks, he thought, with her hair tumbling over her shoulders and those forest green, Aviaran eyes twinkling at me . . .

"Best you go out in the garden; I must be careful how 'delicious' I make you feel." He planted a smacking kiss on her shoulder, grazing her with the edge of his teeth.

"If you insist." She threw the covers back, trying not to wince as she made her way to the dressing room.

"Lilac?"

"Yes?" She paused in the doorway.

"Think about the story I told you last eve."

Her back stiffened slightly. Without responding to him, she closed the door softly behind her.

She couldn't think about anything right now; she was terribly achy. She hadn't been this sore since the morning after her wedding night. Although ... Nickolai had been very gentle with her last evening.

Come to think of it, she wasn't at all sore down there. Shrugging, she decided a morning outdoors in the sunshine could only help.

It did not help.

In fact, by the afternoon. Lilac had a distinct sore throat to go along with her sore muscles.

By evening she had taken to bed with a fever.

"What is wrong with her?" Rejar stood over the bed, a worried expression marring his sultry face.