As she slouched against the cold of the marble balcony, Maya feel the cool, salty breeze whisper sweet words of freedom on her cheek. A single tear slipped from between her lids as she thought of how quickly Jasper was fading. All those years ago, when she had first met him, he was a strong and healthy young man with the world at his feet. Now looking at his sleeping figure she could barely recognise the man she herself had turned him into. The health had been sucked out of him like her soul had been sucked from her.
The priestesses of Jor were hard to please; she had to learn that from a very young age. In spite of the fact her father was the king of the sea people she was only a girl, and a halfling at that. Her mother was a sea witch with powers of song; the fairgan captured her, cut out her tongue and she became a concubine to the king. Maya was just a mixed race outcast….until the inimical priestess found her singing one day, she was no longer a waste of space, she was a weapon….and how she'd been wielded. They had used her powers of enchantment and ensorcelled her beloved Jasper.
In the beginning she had loathed him, but his affections for her were soon returned. He had shown her love and kindness when all she'd know was pain and hate. However she had a mission. She could not fail her father. What would he do to her? Death would be a mercy. She had to succeed or agony would be her lifelong bed mate.
Summoning her courage, she walked across the room to where Jasper lay. He winced in his sleep as her shadow passed over him; she soothed him with her cool fingers on his brow. His eyes fluttered open while she perched on the red velvet duvet beside him. Jasper grasped hold of her hands and gently pulled her to him.
"I love you" he whispered.
"I love you too, my sweet" she breathed over his lips.
He closed the distance between their lips and she sighed as he pulled her down beside him. His hand made quick work of the laces on her shift while she traced circles on his broad chest. Jasper's hand ran over the curve from shoulder to hip. She moved her hands to his back as she felt the desire pulse through his body.
"Maya, my sweet Maya. You're the only one who didn't leave me. Don't ever leave me"
His hands cupped her breasts as she positioned herself under him. She cried out as he drove into her, matching his vigorous rhythm. She lost herself in pleasures of the flesh and forgot about her duties to her people for one night.
Maya woke to Jasper still inside her in the early hours of the morning, she shifted and he moaned in his sleep. She walked carefully over the tub and poured a bag of salt in the water, slowly she stepped in to soak her skin ready for the day to come.