Chapter 5

 

Gaius closed the door to their bedroom with his heel and walked in a straight line to the fireplace. He stopped in front of the dwindling flames, and lifted Alex a little higher in his arms so he could lay his head alongside hers. He kissed her forehead, holding his lips there as he inhaled her scent deeply.

Alex moved her left hand from around his neck and gently stroked his chest, sharing her aura with him as he worked to quiet his internal storm. She felt him back up a few paces, then he gingerly sat down on the leather sofa facing the fireplace. He settled her on his lap so that she was comfortable, and wrapped his arms securely around her body as she leaned against his heart still.

“Gaius,” Alex whispered, as she continued to stroke him through his shirt, “I am alright.”

“Shhh,” he murmured, pressing his lips to her forehead again. “I know what you’re trying to do, sweetheart, and I love you for it. But this time, I do not want you to try to reassure me. It was you, Alex, who just went through that gauntlet; so let me comfort you, my love.”

Alex leaned back a little in his hold and looked up into his eyes, seeing the intense blue that burned there at the moment. She slid a hand up to cup his cheek and she gently smoothed her palm over his skin. Then, she let her hand travel up into his thick chestnut hair. Alex’s eyes followed her fingers as they trailed through his locks, seeing that the length had grown just past his collar again and was in need of another trim.

The observation made her smile wistfully, and she looked from his hair back into his eyes. He cupped her face then and held her to him, letting his thumb sweep across her skin as they stared at one another. Though it was several more minutes before they spoke again, as each took in the other’s aura for hope and the serenity their power offered.

“Gaius,” Alex began, bringing an end to the stillness, but he silenced her again as he ever so lightly settled his lips on hers. Alex sighed and deepened their kiss, intertwining her fingers into his hair and holding him to her. When she moaned a little too loudly, he moved her in his arms and sat her astride his lap so he could completely cup her face.

Alex melted into his hold, feeling his aura traveling deeply into her body as she leaned in close to him. When his lips began to move down the column of her throat, Alex exhaled heavily and shivered as his hands moved from her face to her back to caress her there. A soft chuckle escaped her lips before she could stop it, and she heard him groan as he lifted his head to stare into her eyes.

“What are you laughing at?” he asked, smiling as he cupped her face again and kissed her once more before he could let her answer him.

“I just like your idea of comforting me, that’s all,” she whispered innocently, leaning back slightly to grin at him.

“Alex,” he breathed, slowly shaking his head at her. His thumbs traced her cheeks as his eyes searched hers. “Sweetheart, you were just impaled on a Dalkeenan sword, knocked to the ground repeatedly with great force, and I know you sustained internal injuries. I could feel your pain as it trailed through your aura. Please tell me that you’re not trying to put your fears and suffering to the side, just so I will not worry for you. Because I always will. Always,” he said, his eyes tightening at their corners.

“I know you worry for me, Gaius, just as I do for you. And because I am the guardian of all of our kind, I needed what Ganymede just put me through. I needed to analyze what is feasible, while I am here and safe with all of you. And I am fine, Gaius, I am. In truth, I haven’t felt like that since I first came to Aeoferth Hall, and Tomoko landed me on my backside three times before I could blink.”

“Sometimes it’s good to have your backside handed to you, so you can pick yourself up under your own power and realize you’ve got to try harder. It makes you want it more, and I want nothing more than to be here with you for the rest of time. And fight I will, Gaius, with every fiber of my being,” she whispered vehemently.

Now Alex saw his eyes narrow, but not out of distress. No, this was the look he wore when his pride and fierce hope bloomed in full for her and it reflected in his gaze. She ran both of her hands through his hair, starting at his temples, and smiled at the one she loved above all others.

“I have not the words to tell you how proud I am of you, sweetheart,” he said quietly.

“Oh, Gaius,” Alex chuckled softly and shook her head a tiny bit. “Jack told me early on in my journey that war is hell. And it most assuredly is. I don’t want any of this. No, far from it,” she sighed.

“I want to be back in London, holding our niece and watching Grace grow and change each day. I want to walk beside my mother in Oxford without fear, and enjoy of day of shopping and talking with her before the deadline passes. I want to go to the farmer’s market with Jameason, and watch him inspect every single purchase as though it’s the most important decision he has to make. I want all that, and more.”

“I want to go home to Elysium with you, and not have to hide under Ganymede or Haniel’s Light because the Fallen might be waiting for us there. I want to go back to Santorini, and lie in our bed with you holding me in your arms deep into the night as we love one another, knowing no demons are just outside our door. And the only way I know for us to have those moments, those cherished times that have yet to come, is to face this discord now before it destroys the future I want for us,” Alex said, feeling her eyes cloud with moisture.

“You told me weeks ago, the night Jannairus started the game and we had to call my mother to cancel my birthday dinner, that eventually self-preservation would kick in, and the Fallen’s children would stop coming for me. Well, if they are their fathers’ children, then the same is hopefully true for the Fallen. At some point, they are going to decide existing is more important to them than being ended for all time.”

“If they weren’t selfish, vain, and petty creatures, they would still be living with the Lord and serving Him. And I don’t have any doubt that when they see their own kind fall to us in great number, as their children have been, they will step back. They will want to live, very much so. I have to believe that, Gaius. For if I don’t, the terror will take over, and it will end me before they ever could,” she confessed as she pulled her lower lip in with her teeth. Alex tried to stop the quiver that was there with her tears, which were freely flowing now.

Gaius’ eyes grew misty as well and he pulled her to his chest, wrapping his arms around her again. Alex buried her face against his neck and allowed herself to let some of her dread and anxiety work its way out while she silently cried. She remained there, unmoving, until she knew her tears were spent for a time.

“What do you need most right now, Alexandria?” Gaius asked, when he sensed her own internal storm had quieted.

“Right now?” she whispered, sighing heavily. “A nap, I think,” Alex confessed, tipping her head back just a bit to press her lips to his neck. She felt him shiver, and she smiled and then repeated the touch.

“Is that all?” he asked, and Alex’s smile grew at the real question she heard behind his words.

“You did say you wanted to comfort me,” she said, shrugging her shoulders slightly. “So…”

“Let’s get you out of these soiled clothes first, then we’ll see what comfort you might need,” he said, chuckling softly at her words. “Hold on to me, Alex.”

Gaius held her firmly to his body and stood from the sofa. He carried her over to his side of the bed and set Alex on her feet before him. Slowly and tenderly, he removed each of her garments and then his. He brought her with him under the covers, loving the feel of her skin against his as she snuggled into his side and shoulder. He removed the clip from her hair and began to work his fingers through the blonde mass.

“Do that for a while please,” she sighed, closing her eyes to the bliss he was instilling in her through his touch and aura.

Gaius turned a little more toward Alex and ran both of his hands over her head, massaging and caressing her scalp with each pass. He watched her lips part as she sighed again and again under his care. He gentled the massage until her breath began to come in and out of her lungs slowly and evenly, and he looked on as she slipped off into slumber.

He smiled as he removed his fingers from her hair and kissed her forehead. Gaius pulled Alex closer, and then closed his eyes as well. He asked the Lord to help him hold onto her, for it was all he really wanted – to be with his soul mate for the rest of his days.

 

They slept for over an hour until Gaius felt Sabina call to his mind that lunch would soon be served. He slowly turned onto his side and saw that Alex had rolled onto her stomach at some point in their nap. And somehow, she had managed to work her head under her pillow. He chuckled at her natural inclination to steal as much rest for herself as she possibly could, and then set about rousing her.

He swept her hair over her left shoulder and began to trail his lips lightly across her back. She shivered under him and Gaius heard her mumble something incoherently, but he grinned and persisted in his slow play. He moved a little closer and slid a hand over her skin and down her arm. Alex moaned and finally started to work her head out from under the pillow.

“Gaius?” she whispered, trying to wake and think through the sensations of his aura and touch gliding over her skin.

“Yes, love?” he whispered in return, smiling as he moved to kiss the slight dimples that lay at the base of her spine.

“Are you comforting me now?” Alex asked, chuckling.

Gaius gasped in mock surprise. “I did not comfort you before?”

“You put me to sleep, yes,” she said innocently, shivering as he moved up her spine with his lips.

“Hmmm,” he murmured, “my wife is not fulfilled. What to do, I wonder?”

Alex laughed a little louder and she turned over to look into his face. His eyes were alight with merriment, and she found it a distinct improvement over the worry and unease she had witnessed in his gaze before they fell asleep. She cupped Gaius’ cheeks and drew his lips closer to hers, but she hesitated before she kissed him.

“You wonder?” she asked, arching an eyebrow at him playfully.

“Well, there are so many ways to comfort you.” Gaius smiled, leaning in a little closer. “We could take a bath together. I could massage your shoulders. We might venture down to the stables and ride for a while. I know you love that. We could take a swim in the pool and hope the entire assembly doesn’t choose to join us in the water. Or we could…,” Gaius said, but his litany was put to an end when Alex drew his lips toward hers. She leaned up to close the distance between them, and she heard his soft laughter as it rolled through his chest.

“All that sounds well and good, but let me comfort you. I have something else in mind, you see,” she whispered into his ear as she moved her lips there and then down the column of his throat.

“Do you, now?” he asked, loving the lighthearted banter between them.

“Hmmm, I do,” Alex hummed, as she rolled him over and moved atop his body.

“Something specific, it would seem.” He grinned, raising and lowering his eyebrows quickly.

“Very,” she said in return.

Alex leaned down to match her lips to his again, but she lingered there only briefly. Her lips charted a path down his neck and on to his broad chest. Slowly and deliberately she drew out her caress and touch, so it became Gaius who was having difficulty remaining quiet. She felt him try to lift her back to his lips twice, but she deftly evaded his hands and continued with her loving play.

Finally, he could remain as he was no longer. Gaius sat up and wrapped his hands around her waist, lifting Alex and bringing her to his body. She gasped softly, but smiled as they became one. She ran her hands through his hair as he settled his lips fully on hers, and she sighed as he began to take her breath away, and she his.

They loved one another there for a time, until he turned her quickly and had her stretched out beneath him before she could blink. Alex laughed softly and kissed him deeply to muffle the sound from others who might be nearby. But she need not have worried, for he kept his lips on hers, not wanting to move any distance from her until they found their surrender together.

Gaius continued to love her, feeling Alex find fulfillment again in his arms before he began to still their movements. He smiled and raised his head to gaze into her blue eyes. They were misty and clouded by passion, and he kissed each of her eyebrows and then the tip of her nose. Alex sighed again and ran her hands down his back to his waist.

“Don’t move away yet, Gaius,” she whispered, looking up into his eyes as his hands framed her face and smoothed her hair back. “Just hold me for a few more minutes before we have to be around the others.”

Gaius’ brow furrowed as he took in the unease that suddenly trailed through her aura. He saw a slight shadow of anxiety flit through her eyes as well, and he lifted himself a little higher on his elbows to clearly see her face.

“Alex, talk to me, love. What is the matter?” he asked slowly.

“I need…,” she began, but broke off and stared at his jaw momentarily.

“Tell me, what do you need?” Gaius asked, though he thought he knew.

She would have to steel herself for their brethren’s needs for reassurance and comfort the moment they faced the assembly. And right now, Gaius could see his brave, powerful wife as the tenderhearted and young person she truly was. Alex clung to these moments of peace and quiet with him, as though they were the only thing that could keep her head above water when danger came calling. And tomorrow, they were going to let her mind and spirit purposefully sink below the waves.

“You. I need you, Gaius. Just you, for a few more minutes before we have to go into the dining hall,” she confessed, looking back into his eyes.

“I know, sweetheart. And I do understand, I promise you I do. It is not always easy to be the leader, is it?” he asked tenderly, leaning in to kiss her cheek and then her neck just below her ear. Alex shivered, and Gaius repeated the kiss there.

“Is that why my soul formed the council long ago? Because shouldering the weight of it all is just too much sometimes?” she asked, relaxing a little from the anxiety that had suddenly gripped her moments ago.

“It is,” Gaius replied, kissing her lips again before he lifted his head. “And if you think for one moment that I will leave you alone to bear any of this, you are sorely mistaken, Mrs. Marcus,” he added devilishly, and playfully narrowed his eyes at her.

Alex chuckled at the look he was giving her, and she shook her head slightly. She cupped his face and let her fingers trail over his skin and lips. Gaius tried to capture her fingertips with his mouth as he so often did, and she smiled as she watched him finally take hold of her ring finger. He seemed reluctant to release her, and she tugged lightly on his hair with her free hand to have her way.

“If I promise to keep you close to me and not actually let you go, can I coax you to the shower?” Gaius asked, smiling at her as he awaited her words.

“How close?” she asked in return.

“Hmmm. I promise, wife, you will not be disappointed. You will, in fact, be very comforted,” he vowed, and Alex laughed loudly before she could stop herself.

“Well then, by all means, take me to the water, husband,” Alex said, chuckling still.

“I love you, Alexandria,” he said tenderly, staring at her a little more seriously than before.

“And I love you, Gaius. So very much,” she said, letting her aura pour over him. She needed to show him, as well as articulate what lay in her heart.

“Shower,” he whispered playfully.

Alex laughed softly and nodded as she agreed.