Chapter 9
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Chapter 9
Late-September - 3,390 BC
Earth: Village of Assur
NINSIANNA
Ninsianna snuggled closer to her husband's torso, resisting the dawn. The sheer, lush pleasure of waking up each morning ensconced in his downy wings tempted her to spend the day luxuriating in their feathery warmth. She tugged the topmost limb up over her eyes like a child hiding beneath the covers to scare away the lulu-khorkhore, the boogey-man who devours naughty children, to block out the brightening sky.
"They're not blankets, you know?" There was amusement in his voice, but he suppressed it, always cautious to guard his emotions.
She opened her eyes and stared into his unearthly blue ones, a rarity amongst the brown-eyed Ubaid. Each morning her first thought upon awakening was how breathtaking he was, her beautiful winged husband who had fallen from the sky. One large hand caressed the swelling of her abdomen, but his spirit-light was marred by splotches of grey.
Mikhail leaned in for a kiss. “You dreamed again."
It was a statement, not a question. The muscle in his right cheek twitched. He was worried.
"I always dream," Ninsianna lied. "It must have been many hours ago because I awake now refreshed."
"You called my name."
There was no hiding the truth from those sharp blue eyes.
"You're my husband," she reassured him. "Who else would I call to chase away the lulu-khorkore [boogey-man]?"
She placed her hand over the deep scar that marred his chest, the place where wreckage from his ship had pierced his ribcage, and focused the power which grew stronger each day to send calming emotions into his heart. Whenever she did that, whatever worries caused a rift between them seemed to evaporate, as though he needed to feel that physical reassurance, correcting some inter-species miscommunication which had not been overcome simply by learning her language.
As she focused her gift, the worry line on his brow waged battle against his happiness that soon they would have a child. She focused on that happiness, that thought, and used her gift to expand upon it and whisper into his mind, 'don't worry … everything will be fine.'
"He came for you again, didn't he?" he said, his worries undeterred. It seemed some days he could pick up on her worries as much as she could pick up on his, even though he had the psychic sensitivity of a rock.
Ninsianna shivered. "Why … are you jealous?"
From the way he pulled her tighter, he wasn't fooled by her dismissive attitude.
"It was just a dream," Ninsianna lied. "Nothing more. It did not have the feel of prophecy."
How could she tell him that, each night when the goddess sent her a vision of the white-winged Angelic who would come for her, he was not there? How could she tell him what she foresaw the Evil One would do to their child? How could she tell him that, each night as she fought the Evil One in her vision and called Mikhail's name, it felt as though he no longer even existed?
How could she tell him the goddess showed their love was doomed?
She did not want to think about such things! Why would She-who-is give her these visions if there was nothing she could do to change them? Mikhail was the goddesses Champion. She-who-is only sent the dream to warn her not to waylay him from his mission!
"I worry when you cry out at night." The powerful hand splayed across her womb trembled. "If anything were to happen to you…"
"It won't," she snapped. "It was just a dream!"
It wasn't just a dream, but she had made a bargain the night she had pleaded with She-who-is for an alternative to forced marriage to Jamin. She must learn to control her power and get him to train her people so they would not stand against the Evil One alone. Ignoring their dark future would only get her people killed.
His hand had moved up to caress her upset tummy, those piercing blue eyes never leaving hers, watching to make sure she did not fib. "How do you feel this morning, Mo ghrá?”
She glanced over at the urn she kept next to the bed, praying she wouldn't end up on her hands and knees heaving nothing out of an empty stomach. She'd seen him single-handedly smite eighteen attackers or lead their tribe against an overwhelming force, but every time the morning sickness hit, you'd think he was a worried mother hen instead of an eagle who soared the skies!
“As long as I take it slow," she forced a smile, "I am fine.”
His raised eyebrow indicated he found fault with her assertions. It aroused Ninsianna's ire. She did not wish to discuss all the things she shouldn't do with her overprotective husband! Who was he to tell her what she should and should not do?
Ninsianna knew just how to handle him…
She slid her hand down his abdomen, relishing the way his flesh quivered over rock hard muscles. Ah! There! That was the proper way to distract an Angelic from his fretting. With a predatory grin, she caressed his manhood and projected prurient thoughts into his mind until he groaned for mercy. Just because she could not see into his mind the way she could the others did not mean she could not toy with him!
She formed a picture in her mind of how good it had felt the last time he had made love to her, how she imagined she had looked with her lips parted and back arched as she'd screamed his name, and pushed the image into his mind.
"You are a cruel woman to tease me thus!" He nuzzled her neck and inhaled, as though her scent brought him pleasure, and nipped the place where her pulse quickened at his ministrations.
"Tease?" Ninsianna gave him a coy look. "Why would I wish for you to linger in our marital bed when the dawn heralds another day of training?"
A shadow crossed his beautiful, chiseled features. Never had she met a more reluctant leader! It was small wonder the goddess had chosen her to make him do what he would otherwise refuse. She knew just the remedy for his lack of ambition!
Ninsianna focused warmth into his spirit light until his murky grey worries began to clear. Mikhail thought she caressed him because it brought him pleasure, but it brought her pleasure, as well. She could see what her ministrations did to his spirit-light and she enjoyed making it turn different colors. Her hand brushed his temple to wipe the worries from his mind.
Make love to me, my husband…
She whispered the thought directly into his mind. Her lips curved up in a victorious smile as his manhood twitched and grew harder. All it took was one touch to turn the reticent Angelic into an eager, hungry mass of trembling clay. She wielded that weapon until he begged for mercy.
"You have turned me into an insatiable beast, Mo ghrá!" Mikhail growled in surrender. "Are you certain you feel okay?” The hand splayed protectively across her abdomen indicated the cause of his hesitation.
“We are married.” She tugged him towards her. “It's tribal law that we have to do this at least three times per day or we shall be evicted from the tribe. Especially when you are expecting a child!”
“I have never heard the Chief mention that law.” A heart-melting smile lit up his face as he tugged the wing she had been sleeping on out from underneath her body and arranged himself in anticipation of making love, his earlier worries forgotten. “Should I ask him about it?”
He would ask the Chief no such thing! Her husband was the most private man she had ever met, learning the unspoken rules of humanity by keeping his eyes open and his mouth shut.
Her goddess-kissed eyes noted the way his spirit light wove around her, as though he never wished to let her go.
“Kiss me!” She tugged his manhood towards her waiting mysteries. “And try not to thump your wings against the wall. I don't want my parents to hear.”
With a fit of giggles, Ninsianna welcomed the dawn.
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