Ch 26
It was well past midnight when we finally reached the small cabin that had been readied for us. It was placed well out of sight from town but close enough to our men so that we could be guarded overnight. The night air was cold with early spring chill and I sat cross legged on the floor in front of the blazing fire as I watched Richard light more candles.
"I used to stop here many a night when I had been out hunting our guiding a traveler on a long journey. I'm sorry it's not more, Kahlan….I really wanted more for you than this, but this was the best that Cara, Rikka and I…" I stood then and went to him gently moving the flint from his hand and setting it aside taking his hands in mine.
"Everything is more than I could have ever dreamed." I said, my voice wavering with emotion. "You are everything I could have ever dreamed, my Richard. All I want tonight is to be with you." I said stepping closer yet, pressing my body tight against him. I let go of his hands then and ran my own under the hem of his shirt. I caressed my hands over the planes of his chest and abdomen memorizing again everything that was him. I felt him grip my hips and press our bottom halves together causing a sudden surge of wetness to pool between my legs when I felt how ready for me he was.
I smiled and ran my hands around his abdomen to his lower back and allowed my hands to slide under his pants to grip his bare backside. He groaned and brought his lips to mine in a heated kiss that lasted all too brief as he pulled away from me.
"Is something wrong?" I asked unsure of myself.
He chuckled and answered in a low husky voice "No, my love…I just want this to last forever and I was about to lose myself in the moment and simply take you."
I moaned at his words and reached up to rid him of his shirt which he allowed me to do. I leaned forward and grazed my lips and teeth across his chest and snaked my tongue out to lick a nipple on my way down his chest. When I began tugging at his pant strings he stilled my hands.
"Kahlan…wait."
"Richard?" I asked, worried and hurt at the way he had pulled out of my embrace to step back. He grabbed his discarded vest that was on the floor and fumbled in the front pocket.
"I want to give you something first before we make love. I won't be able to stop once I begin and then this would lose it's meaning I fear." He found whatever it was he had been searching for and stood, reaching for my hand and turning it over in his. He placed a small silver ring in my hand and I began to weep with the simplicity and beauty it.
"Oh, Richard! You know you didn't have to give me a ring…I told you all I want is you. I don't even have one for you and…."
He gently gripped my hand and placed the ring on my finger, the one that connected the inner pathway to my heart. It was then that I noticed the black shiny gem in the middle. It seemed to reflect the devotion that I often saw in Richard's eyes whenever he looked at me. "It was my mother's, and her mother before her. Zedd gave it to me before we were wed today to give to you." He caressed the top of my hand with his thumb as he spoke. "The stone is from the foundations of the Wizards Keep and was spelled by the wizards of old as a protection barrier to all those who resided in Aydindril….it's very ancient and holds so much meaning….just as you hold an unsurmountable meaning to me in my life. It's fitting, being from Adyindril and from my family. It's as though the good spirits knew before the foundations of the world of our love for each other."
"Dear spirits," I whispered in awe. "I don't know what to say, Richard."
"Tell me that you'll wear it forever and think of me every time you look upon it and remember my love for you is endless."
"I love you, my Richard." I said as I gazed at him through my tear blurred vision. "I've always loved you….even when I was afraid to and you mean more to me than life itself. Thank you for this. It means so much to me."
He brushed his hands through my hair, moving it from my face. "I can see my soul in your eyes…" the lips that spoke and the words stole my breath as he kissed me deep and tender. I melted into him, my body being pulled against the solid fortress of my protector, lover, and now my husband. I wept with love for him, at the joy of being his wife, and let all the pain I had ever locked behind my confessor's resolve spill over at last.
He seemed to know as if he could read my thoughts because he simply wiped my tears away as he kissed me slow and tender, caressing my neck and chest. I gasped when his fingers grazed lightly across the tops of my breasts that were exposed. My head was forced closer, pressing my lips tighter to his as his tongue entered between my lips and waged a sweet war with my own.
He grabbed his pendant that was around my neck holding me against him as his other hand reached under the laces of my dress to cup my left breast. I pushed myself into him, moaning at the simple intimacy of his hands on me. The way I fit with him was perfect. I snaked my hands between us, feeling the strong firm planes of him and memorizing his shape and seeing that which was mine with my fingertips.
I pushed back for an unwanted breath removing my hands from his skin and began to pull at the laces of my dress with shaking hands. He stilled my movements gently, pushing my hands away and began to pull free the laces himself, all the while keeping his eyes locked with mine.
I gasped every time his fingers brushed against my bare flesh as he slowed his pace to taunt me, pulling the last laces free in a slow fluid motion. My hands found the soft skin of his lower abdomen and I brushed my fingertips lightly across his taunt skin, feeling the pulse in the air between us like the cracking of powerful magic. I felt him flex, responding to my feather light touch and allowed his desire for me to fuel my need for him.
I pulled apart his belt that held his scabbard around his narrow hips and let go. Upon hearing his sword clatter on the solid dirt packed floor his hands moved the dress off my shoulders, pressing his palms down my bare flesh until my arms were free.
He caressed my forearms until he reached my hands and took both of them in one of his strong callused ones placing them on his chest and began to kiss my bared shoulders. I shuddered when I felt his other hand slide up my spine and begin to loosen the stays of my corset. His tongue licked across my collar bone and I moaned at the wet soft feel of it on my naked skin. When he pulled the all of the stays loose enough, he released my hands and used both of his to pull the last barrier of clothing that covered my upper body away.
A low gasp rumbled in his chest and my arms went instinctively to cover my breasts. Even though he had seen me before, I was still afraid of disappointing him because it had been so long ago since he saw me this vulnerable and exposed before him and that had been before my betrayal of taking a mate. His brow furrowed in pain and confusion as he gently grabbed my wrists to prevent me from shielding myself.
"Don't do that" he whispered tenderly. "I'm yours now, as you are mine…and I want to see you…all of you."
"Even though I've been with another?" I wailed, tears pouring from my eyes as I lowered my gaze from his.
"Kahlan….you know how I feel about what happened. My heart aches for you because you had to do what you thought was necessary. I will never hold it against you…on my life as your husband…I swear it." He said cradling my face in his hands. "In my heart and soul, I believe you never wanted to hurt me. Promise me, Kahlan, after this night you won't blame yourself ever again."
I nodded, wiping my tears and clutching his hands that were still cradling my face. "I promise."
He smiled then and I reluctantly dropped my arms to my sides and let him look at me. His eyes caressed me with so much tenderness and open passion that I felt my powers begin to slip even more. I wimpered when his hands finally touched me, cupping each breast in a strong calloused hand. His palms rotated, causing my nipples to pucker and he then moved a hand to my back, bringing me closer to him as he took my breast into his mouth, slipping his tongue over my nipple.
I hissed and fisted his hair in my hands as he devoured my breast and pushed myself closer. His hands slid down my body and found my rear, sqeezing the globes in his hands eliciting a wanton moan from deep inside me that I wasn't aware had exsisted. He lifted me as I wrapped my legs around his waist.
"Richard…." I panted as he lowered me gently on the pallet and continued to lick and suck at my breasts. His hands caressed down my thighs moving my underskirt above my waist. I reached between us and made to pull it off. His large hand covered mine as we both pulled in down past my waist and knees. I gave it one last kick, discarding it to the floor. I closed my eyes then and felt his hands on my bare legs caressing my ankles, then my calves to my knees. I giggled airily when his tongue dipped behind my knee and licked the sweat that had gathered there. Then his hands and tongue licked and caressed my thighs oh so close to my womanhood which was throbbing with anticipation.
I was panting with lust as I dug my fingernails into his shoulder blades which seemed to fuel him further. His tongue slid over my small clothes up to my flat stomach. His hands slid up my sides and then to my breasts again sqeezing them and toying with them torturously making my nether lips pulse with need. His teeth grazed the tender place just above the waist band of my small clothes and then he dipped his tongue into my belly button teasingly.
My hips bucked into his chest, begging him to touch me where I needed him the most, but he grinned and shifted so I couldn't make contact. He kissed me again, closer to my womanhood and snaking his tongue under the top of the waist band. I moaned, almost begging him to taste me there but he only breathed in deep, the scent of my arousal.
My powers rocked with promise below the surface as his hands continued toying with my breasts. He hadn't even touched me there and I could feel my muscles clamping at the phantom memories of him inside of me. "Richard…." I wimpered and he complied by caressing my torso downward to grip the hem of my small clothes.
He stilled for a long moment staring at me with lust darkened eyes and then he tugged them down my waist. I lifted my hips to assist him, growing wetter at the touch of air against my exposed woman hood.
When they were discared he whispered my name and drank in the sight of me bared before him. I sat up gripping the back of his neck and pulled his lips to mine in a soft sensual kiss while my other hand finished untying the laces at his waist. "I want to see all of you too, my Richard."
He leaned back and gently pushed me down on my back as he removed his pants. I gasped at the sight of him seeing how aroused he was. "Dear spirits, Richard…please…now….make love to me."
He chuckled and moved to lean on his side as he circled my belly button with his finger and then he lowered his hand to softly graze his fingers over the wetness between my thights. He caressed me between my folds and circled my throbbing nub with his finger. I moaned with hot need and he rewarded me by pressing the pad of his finger against my nub. He touched, caressed and tortured me for what seemed like an eternity bringing me close but never enough to push me over the edge.
Then at last I felt a long finger slide through the wetness to my opening. He watched me as he pushed inside of me. My head rolled back as his finger was pressed deeper into my sheath moving lazily around to caress my inner core. He pumped teasingly slow a few times before adding a second finger. I spread my legs wider and he pushed deeper between my folds. He pumped slowly back and forth while he watched me with lust fogged eyes. I writhed against his hand and begged for him to enter me but he seemed content to watch me while he pleasured me with his fingers.
I balled my fists against the sheets and sqeezed my eyes shut and relished in the feel of the man I loved as he touched me there. I screamed when I felt his wet lips curl around my nub as he continued to pump two fingers in and out of my sheath. When his tongue pushed between my folds, replacing his fingers I gripped his hair violently and lifted my hips pushing myself into his face.
My powers cracked, but I held them tight because deep down there was still the unwarranted fear of hurting him. Tears of pleasure, joy and fear flooded my face as he licked and sucked me there. And then he stopped suddenly and I felt his hands on the sides of my face.
"Kahlan….let go…it's all right. You can't hurt me."
I wimpered at the feel of him above me and the love that was his to take that I was too afraid to give. "I can't! I'm so afraid, Richard….If I lost you I…."
"Shhh….look at me." I reluctantly opened my eyes and saw the truth of his love for me written in his eyes. "Theres nothing for your powers to take that doesn't already belong to you. We both know the truth of it Kahlan….you confessed me already that night and you didn't hurt me because I already belong to you in every way."
I wept then…wrapping my legs around his waist pulling him against me. I moaned at the pleasure of feeling his manhood against me there and rocked my hips making both of us groan in want. "Then make love to me…I want you too…forever."
He kissed me tenderly and I felt him there against my bare womanhood. I wiggled my hips to guide him to my opening and when we were aligned he pressed into me sheathing me deep.
I moaned softly whispering his name as he pulled out slowly almost completely and slid back in. He filled me, all of me, inside and pressed his chest against my breasts. His strong arm clutched me by the small of my back to hold me tight against him and his other hand slid up the back of my thigh opening me further.
My hands fisted in his sweaty hair and I pulled his lips to mine in a fierce, intense kiss. His tongue that had moments ago been on my lower wetness snaked between my lips allowing me to taste what he had devoured. The effect was erotic and fueled my passion as I rolled my hips to match his movements.
The slick sweet slide of him in me was rapture and I sqeezed him with my inner muscles causing him to moan deep in his chest. I felt the vibration rumble through me stroking the nerves that lay beneath my core and I almost screamed then but he stilled his movements and pulled back from our lip's embrace to gaze at me.
He caressed my hair away from my face and gazed at me like one confessed but with more devotion than I had ever imagined possible. "I love you forever, Kahlan Amnell. . This night, I give you my body, my heart, my mind and my soul. I seal a promise in our blood and in our bodies that I will never love another as long as my soul exists, in this world and the spirit world." I gasped, hearing his familiar words only spoken to me once before on the night we had first made love. "My body, I give to you as protection and pleasure in this life, with my heart I give you my love for eternity and beyond, my mind I give to you, promising to put you first above everything including myself, my soul I give to you that we will be as one forever, and I seal my oath to you, again, this night as your true husband, your soul, and the one who loves you more than any other."
As he leaned close to kiss away my tears I wept, holding him close against my slick wet skin and I moved with him in the dance of love. He told me to trust him, to love him, to let go and in the dark still night I released my powers into him. He held me tight, accepting all the love that should have destroyed him but he was unafraid. He whispered his love for me as the thunder without sound rushed into the night and I felt him give himself over to me.
Never in my whole life as a confessor did I ever experience the clutches of my powers being welcomed without resistance and it stunned me, collapsing my strength and giving me pleasure insurmountable. My whole body tightened around him and I felt like I was falling bringing him with me through the storm that I had always traveled to alone.
I felt her powers surge into me from every pore in my body and I let go of everything I was. Her magic felt like a great soft caress stealing its way into my soul and I clutched to the presence of her magic with all of the strength and love that exsisted within me. Her body tightened around mine and I moaned with untold pleasure, that which I had never felt before, even with her. She writhed and screamed beneath me digging her nails into my back and I knew that in that moment I loved her more than I ever had.
Our pleasure rose like the tide of a vicious, powerful storm that would not end but when it finally waned we were both spent, breathless and a feeling of weightless bliss enveloped us. I was truly one with her, my Kahlan, my wife, my soul….my confessor.
When at last the storm of our release had calmed I opened my eyes to gaze upon him. His eyes were closed in serene peace and his face held a youthful appearance of the man I had first fell in love with that day back in Hartland. "I love you, Richard Cypher. You are truly a rare person." A lazy grin spread on his face and his arm tightened around my shoulders bringing me close for another sweet kiss. The flames of our love began to fan again and we gave into each other again and again on that endless night. And it was more than I could have ever dreamed.