I love you through the daytimes,
In the dark,
Through all the long divisions of the night...
—Song on an Eastern Vessel
Sunset was approaching as they left Rhys’s house, walking hand in hand to the meadow behind the stables. The air had cooled from the scorching heat of day to a pleasant evening warmth, and a soft breeze played with Gillian’s pale hair, messing it up even more than his fingers had earlier. She looked fragile, but oh, so beautiful.
“I dread going back,” she said.
So did he. “Then let’s stay out for a while longer.”
The sky was a kaleidoscope of dazzling color. Oranges and pinks swirled in the west around the dying orb of the sun, topped by a meringue of blues and purples that melded into the indigo of the night sky to the east.
It was the kind of sunset that begged to be enjoyed and revered, offered up to the gods as a token of earthly devotion.
He shifted into al Fahl and she climbed on his back, and together they rode out into the vast desert, up to the highest point on the gebel.
There they stood, the lone woman and the wild beast she’d so thoroughly tamed, watching the ark of the sun be devoured by the mouth of the Night God. She stroked his equine neck with loving hands, just as she had stroked his body as they made love earlier. He could feel her strong knees pressed into his ribs, her silky, bare thighs wrapped around him, the pushed-up hem of her dress an insubstantial flutter against his thick hide.
The sultry heat from between her parted legs insinuated itself into his consciousness, bringing him to full erection. He could smell the scent of her, of him, of their intense and fevered sex, clinging to her skin, his own essence still deep within her, proclaiming her to all as his.
As the last burning vestige of the sun was eclipsed by the black rim of the Western Desert, he raised his head and let out a powerful whinny, joining the chorus of jackals and wildcats and the other night creatures that greeted the darkness. All around the desert, the voices of the night lifted, a cacophonous noise to celebrate the daily defeat of the sun god Re-Horakhti to the sovereignty of Set-Sutekh, Lord of the Moon.
Rhys felt Gillian shiver in fear at the unearthly sound and lean forward to cling to al Fahl’s mane. She didn’t know that no creature would dare harm her because she now belonged to the per netjer of the Guardian of Darkness and rode the ghost stallion.
He reared up, turning, and started the chant, catching her in his arms when she tumbled from her seat as he shifted back to human form.
He kissed her deep and hard, and shoved her dress from her shoulders, peeling it down her body until she was naked before him. His arousal still throbbed for her, thick as a stallion’s and with a stallion’s appetite.
He splayed the buttons of his trousers, letting his desire spring free, then urged her to her knees in the sand. She looked up at him, her eyes reflecting the glitter of the stars and moon above. Slowly, she moved closer, her lips parting and her tongue reaching for his rampant cock as their gazes met and locked.
She painted his turgid flesh with hot, wet strokes while she wrapped her fingers around him and squeezed. He grunted, a harsh, animal sound that vibrated from deep in his lungs. Her lips opened wider and enveloped him, almost bringing him to his own knees.
His voracious hunger exploded as she worked him. He shot his fingers through her hair and wound its length around his fist as though she were the horse and he the rider. When he couldn’t stand it a moment longer, he dragged her mouth off him, and dropped down in front of her. He took her lips, and tasted himself on her. Desire flamed through his body, his carnal flesh still feeling the echoes of his recent shift.
Fist still in her hair, he quickly turned her, pushed her to her hands and knees, and with a mighty thrust, mounted her from behind.
She cried out his name and arched her back, meeting his thrust with one of her own. Accepting his domination. Urging him to go faster, harder.
The animal in him thrilled to his possession of her. As did the man. They rode their passion to the brink of ecstasy, faster, harder, deeper than ever before, then together they closed their eyes and left the world behind in a blinding explosion of hearts and bodies.
In the dark desert night, with the stars and planets as witnesses, Rhys knew she had become his one true mate.