Threads of Destiny

Chapter Fifteen

Marc lay on his side, his elbow bent and his face propped on his palm. Kathryn slept beside him, her lips slightly parted. Every now and then she would emit a slight snore. He smiled at the soft sound.

The covers were tucked under her arms as she lay on her side facing him, her legs curled slightly. There were dark circles beneath her eyes but they would disappear once she started sleeping and eating on a regular basis. He planned to take very good care of Kathryn, coddling her until he felt she was back to peak health. These past days and weeks before he’d met her had obviously taken their toll.

He hadn’t slept much last night, had been almost too afraid to shut his eyes, fearing that it all had been a dream. Instead, he’d been content to hold Kathryn in his arms through the dark hours of the night until the dawn.

The entire castle had been in an uproar last evening. Once they’d realized that Kathryn had stayed, a spontaneous celebration had broken out below in the great hall.

The people were thrilled that another tapestry bride would live among them. Add to that the fact that Kathryn was a great healer with a touch of magic and they couldn’t contain their joy. Their voices, raised in song and cheer, had rung through the stone castle for several hours.

But the joy had been tempered by the fact that Logan and Tienan were gone. Jarek and Christina had spent a short time with them before retiring below. Neither Marc nor Kathryn had joined the celebration. He knew that she was hurting at the loss of her friends.

Instead, he’d stripped her naked and tucked her into bed before removing his own clothing and crawling in beside her. He’d held her as she shed copious tears, each one a knife thrust to his heart.

Reaching out, he traced a long strand of reddish hair that fell over her creamy white shoulder and onto her collarbone. He ran his finger across the delicate bone, once again marveling at her resilience and strength. To give up all one had ever known for love was an amazing thing and he would spend the rest of his life making sure that she never regretted it. Her love was a gift he would cherish every day of his life.

“Hey.” Her soft voice drifted over his skin like the lightest of touches.

He raised his gaze from her collarbone to her face. She blinked and smothered a yawn as she watched him. Her eyes were soft and warm, still filled with sleep. The cover shifted slightly, giving him a glimpse of a firm, white breast. His body tightened as his cock twitched to life. Last night had been about comfort. This morning, he wanted to claim her with his body. He wanted to pleasure her until she cried out her release.

Taking a calming breath, he slowly released it. There was time for that later. Right now she was awake and would need reassuring. “Good morning.” Sadness descended over her features as she sat up beside him, tugging the furs to cover her nakedness. “It really happened then. They’re gone.” His gut clenched. Did she regret her choice? He didn’t think he could bear it if she did. “Yes. They’re gone.”

She nodded, her green eyes luminous with unshed tears. She was so pale, her few freckles stood out on her heart-shaped face. Sighing, she rubbed her fingers over the thick fur on the bed. Marc’s skin prickled as if it were his skin she stroked.

“Are you sorry I stayed?”

“Never!” He sat up beside her. “How can you even ask that?” She shrugged and glanced away. Reaching out, he cupped her jaw, tipping her chin upward until she was looking at him again. “Don’t ever be afraid to ask me anything, Kathryn.” He caressed the side of her jaw with his thumb. Her skin was so soft and smooth. “You are my heart and that will never change, no matter how many years we both live.”

She searched his face. He wasn’t sure what she was seeking but she seemed to find it there. “I love you too.”

Unable to bear the separation between them, he pulled her into his arms. Burying his face in her neck, he breathed in her essence. Her words seemed to heal a rift in his heart and soul that had been there for more years than he could remember. He was no longer alone. For as long as he lived, Kathryn would be by his side. His woman.

She flattened her hands on his chest, pushing him away. “Lie back.” He did as she asked, stretching out on the mattress with her seated above him. In the morning light, she resembled a nymph from legend with her long red hair twining around her body and her green eyes alight with pleasure. Her nipples peeked out from between strands of hair and he couldn’t resist stroking them with his thumbs.

Moaning, she arched back, thrusting her breasts toward him. The motion brought the moist, damp folds of her sex down on his rock-hard cock. Marc rumbled with pleasure. If he shifted her the slightest bit, he could easily slide inside her waiting heat.

He wanted her to do it.

“Take me inside you. Claim me as your own,” he urged, tugging gently on her nipples. Other than that, he remained motionless. He wanted her to do it.

Heat pulsed through Kathryn’s body. It felt strange, yet right to wake up with Marc propped up in bed beside her, watching her. For a second, she’d wondered if it had all been a dream but reality had quickly descended. Tienan and Logan were gone and she might never know what became of them. She could only pray for their safety and hope that they found some peace and happiness in the world they’d chosen.

But she’d made her choice and she didn’t regret it. Couldn’t regret it. Not with Marc beside her. She was glad that the tapestry, along with the encouragement of her friends, had given her the courage to take what she wanted.

She believed Marc when he said she was his heart. She understood it too, because he was her heart as well. For the first time in her life, she truly knew what love was. It wasn’t greedy or confining, it was giving and freeing. Marc would have given up his home and family for her. That meant everything.

His clever fingers tugged on her nipples, bringing a fresh surge of cream from between her thighs. Today was the first day of the rest of their lives and Kathryn wanted to celebrate being alive and being with Marc.

The hard length of his cock pressed against her and she shifted slightly, rubbing her clitoris against it. It felt so good she did it again.

Marc lay beneath her, solid and warm. “Take me inside you.” He murmured.

“Claim me as your own.”

Hers.

He truly belonged to her as she belonged to him.

Raising her hips, she reached between her legs and wrapped her hand around his pulsing shaft. When he groaned, she pumped her hand up and down several times, licking her lips when liquid seeped from the tip.

“Kathryn.” He said her name on a groan.

She no longer wanted to wait either, needing to feel him deep inside her body.

Fitting the head of his cock to her opening, she slowly lowered herself. Her inner muscles stretched, encompassing his girth and length until he was all the way inside.

Sitting on him, she wiggled slightly, wanting to make sure she had every last bit of him within her.

He clamped his hands around her hips, stilling her. “It will be over too soon if you keep that up.”

Delighted, she laughed. She’d never thought of herself as a very sexual woman before she met Marc. He brought out another side of her. One she wanted to explore.

“Like that idea, do you?” he teased as he squeezed the globes of her ass. This time it was Kathryn who moaned. Then he ran his finger over the dark cleft of her behind, rimming the puckered opening.

“Yes. No.” She no longer knew what they were even talking about. Her body and her soul were on fire for the man beneath her. The primitive need to claim him welled up within her, urging her to move.

Following her instincts, she raised up on her knees until only the wide head of his cock was still within. Then she sat down heavily, driving him deep. Her inner muscles rippled. It felt so good that she did it again and again.

Marc stroked over her slick folds as she rose, coating his fingers with her cream before returning to her behind. This time when he rimmed her ass, he pushed inward.

The tight muscles protested slightly and then gave as his finger slid inside.

With his cock in her pussy and his finger in her ass, she felt surrounded by Marc.

He let his finger slide, keeping time as she continued to lift and lower her sheath over his straining cock. She could feel him swelling inside her and knew he was close.

“Marc,” she cried his name, not quite knowing what she wanted.

He withdrew his finger and pulled her down on top of him. Her breasts crushed against the hard planes of his chest as his mouth captured hers. Then he rolled, keeping them joined from mouth to pelvis.

He truly surrounded her now, his weight a delicious reminder of the differences in their sizes and strengths. Yet, they were equal when it came to the passion raging between them.

Releasing her lips, he left a trail of hot, wet kisses on his way to her breasts. He sucked one nipple and then the other, until she was almost mindless with pleasure.

Release hovered just out of reach.

Planting her feet against the mattress, she pushed upward. Marc sat back on his heels, hooked his arms beneath her thighs, spread her legs wide and began to thrust.

His hips pumped hard and fast.

There was nothing she could do but dig her hands into the covers beneath her and hang on as he took them both over the edge. They came at the same moment, an explosion of sensation. She cried out as her hips jerked. The hot flood of his semen filled her, lengthening her orgasm until it felt as if it would never stop. He tilted back his head, the cords of his neck straining as he came.

Eventually, his chin dropped forward onto his chest, his long hair obscuring his face. He lowered her legs and slid away from her. She couldn’t bear the separation and tugged him down into her arms. He came readily, dropping onto the mattress beside her. Curling his arm around her, he pulled her into the curve of his shoulder.

“You’re mine,” she whispered as she toyed with a strand of his brown hair.

Slowly, he raised his face, his expression solemn. “I am…and you are mine.” It was a pledge, a promise, that neither one of them would ever forsake.

“Destiny is a funny thing,” she began, walking her fingers over his chest.

“It is,” he agreed as he cupped her breast in his hand.

She stilled. “Again?” she gasped almost breathless at the thought.

“Again.” He smiled as he lowered his mouth to hers, their lips touching in a tender caress.

It was several hours later before Kathryn thought about what she’d meant to say to Marc. They’d gotten sidetracked. She wrapped her arms around herself and laughed, just thinking about what they’d done. He couldn’t seem to get enough of her.

Destiny was a funny thing. She’d found the tattered book in the attic. Inside its pages she’d first met Marc. Then she’d discovered the journal and the tapestry. All of it had led her here. She could almost here Sarainta’s laughter echoing in her mind.

Our lives are bound. Connected with the finest of threads, which reach across time and space to touch and knit together to form something new.

“Threads of destiny,” she whispered as she picked up her purse in search of her brush. Her hand struck something soft and square. Wrapping her fingers around it, she tugged out the journal, opening it to the final page she’d read. But there was now more writing scrawled across the paper.

Sitting down on the edge of the bed, she read her own story. She knew that the journal didn’t pass judgment on the choices people made. That could only be done by the people who made them—for good or for bad.

She sighed and started to shut the book but something made her flip through the blank pages at the back. Writing jumped out and she stopped. The page was blank except for two names—Tienan and Logan.

Her heart began to pound. Maybe she would find out what happened to them.

Someday. Her fingers traced over the empty page, willing more writing to appear but it remained unchanged.

Perhaps at some point in the future the tapestry would bring them back to Javara.

But she didn’t really believe that would happen. The tapestry’s magic was in its ability to seek out women who could thrive here. She knew the secret of calling the tapestry but she had no idea how to make it bring her friends back to her. Even magic had logic and rules governing it. Maybe in time, she’d understand more.

The door to the room opened and Marc stepped inside. “Are you ready?” Kathryn closed the journal and tucked it and her brush back into her purse. Her heart felt lighter. If their names were in there, she at least knew that they were still alive.

That was something.

Rising, she shook out the folds of the pretty green dress that Christina had brought her. The bodice was embroidered with colorful flowers and the sleeves went all the way to her wrists. The fabric was fitted to the waist and then fell in soft folds all the way to her ankles. On her feet were soft, leather shoes. She normally didn’t like dresses but today was different. Today she was marrying the man she loved.

“I’m ready.” Walking over to Marc, she took his hand.

He raised her fingers to his lips and kissed it. “Together.”

“Together,” she echoed as they walked down the stairs to the crowd waiting below.