They closed the distance between them in an instant, desperate hands and feathered lips. The kiss was all the things that had been pent up—regret, adoration, need. It tasted of sea salt and tears and the bitter-sweetness of reclaimed intimacy. Their moans—soft, urgent—merged with the sound of the water as they surrendered, if only for a moment, to the small absolution of each other's arms.
"Mine tonight," Elisha growled, voice low and throaty, laced with that ancient siren timbre that could command depths. "Let me purge him from your flesh."
Sheba's answer was a sharp gasp as Elisha's mouth crashed against hers in a bruising kiss, all teeth and tongue and desperate claim. Water streamed from their naked bodies as Elisha pressed forward, one thigh shoving roughly between Sheba's legs to grind against her sex.
Sheba's backed arched, full breasts breaking the surface, nipples hardened by the cool air and the heat rising between them.
Elisha wasted no time. Her hands were everywhere, gripping Sheba's arse, kneading the soft flesh hard enough to leave marks, then sliding up to pinch and tug at her nipples until Sheba cried out.
The siren queen's mouth left hers only to trial lower, sucking bruises along her throat, then latching onto one breast with fierce hunger. She bit down, just enough to sting, before soothing the hurt with long greedy pulls of lips and tongue.
"Elisha—" Sheba's voice broke.
"Hush" Elisha's hand dove beneath the water, fingers parting Sheba's slick folds without mercy. Two plunged deep inside her at once, curling, thrusting, stretching her open. The motion was rough, possessive, water churning with every drive of her wrist. "I shall lick you clean of him. Every inch. Every drop."
She worked Sheba's cunt with brutal skill, thumb grinding circles over her swollen pearl while her fingers fucked her in a relentless rhythm.
Sheba's hips bucked wildly, chasing the pleasure, but Elisha held her pinned, controlling every twist and shudder.
Then Elisha withdrew her fingers, brought them to her own mouth, sucked them clean with a moan of pure delight. "Sweeter than I remember."
She sank lower in the water, lifting one of Sheba's legs to drape over her shoulder. Her mouth descended on Sheba's aching sex like a starving creature. No teasing licks– Elisha devoured her.
Her tongue thrust inside the tight heat, lapping and sucking noisily, drinking the slick arousal that flowed freely. She hummed and growled against Sheba's flesh, the vibrations shooting sparks of raw pleasure through her core.
Sheba's hands tangled in Elisha's wet hair, pulling hard as her hips rocked against that relentless mouth. Elisha sucked her clit between her lips, flicking it mercilessly with the tip of her tongue while two fingers drove back into her cunt, fucking her deep and fast.
Yet, she was not satisfied with just her core.
She pulled back, eyes dark with obsession, and lifted Sheba's foot from the water. Without hesitation, she took her toes into her mouth, sucking them one by one, tongue sliding between them, licking the delicate arch with long, worshipful strokes. The act was filthy and reverent at once. Elisha's gaze never left Sheba's face, drinking in every moan and shudder as she cleaned and pleasured her lover's foot with the same hunger she had shown her cunt.
"You are mine to devour," Elisha panted, voice hoarse, before diving back between Sheba's thighs. She licked her clean again, tongue dragging from her tight arsehole up through her dripping folds to her throbbing clit, over and over, until Sheba was shaking, cursing, begging in broken oaths.
Elisha rose suddenly, water cascading from her body, and spun Sheba around. She bent her over the ledge, pressing her breasts against the cool stone while she mounted her from behind. Fingers returned to Sheba's cunt, three this time, stretching her wide as Elisha's other hand reached around to rub her clit rough, demanding strokes. Their bodies slapped together wetly, skin on skin, bath churning like a storm.
"Come for me," Elisha commanded, teeth sinking into Sheba's shoulder, intending to leave her own mark on her too. "Forget Lucifer. Let me burn him out of you."
Sheba shattered with a raw cry, her walls clenching hard around Elisha's thrusting fingers, pleasure ripping through her like lightning. Elisha kept fucking her through it, drawing out every spasm, licking the sweat and water from her spine.
But as the peak crested, a different fire ignited.
A wave of searing burn flared deep within Sheba's core, spreading outward like molten brands. The marking mark Lucifer had made on her flared to vicious life. Heat blazed across her skin , the devil's claim rejecting the siren's touch with cruel fury.
No property of Lucifer should be converted by another. Pain twisted through the pleasure, sharp and possessive, forcing a choked gasp from Sheba's lips even as her body still trembled from release.
Elisha felt it too, the sudden unnatural heat against her tongue and fingers, but she only pressed closer, desperate, unwilling to yield her prize to her most despised foe.
"Enough Elisha!" Sheba cried, pulling herself away from her grasp.
"Sheba, he's doing this so you'll never be free of his claim. You must resist!" Elisha's voice trembled with something like command and worship.
"I can't!" Sheba sobbed. "It burns. I have to go." Her emerald eyes darted to her ruined gown, crumpled a few feet from the bath.
"No." Elisha's voice dropped to a thunder. "You will not leave me. You belong to me."
Sheba forced herself up, every movement a blade of pain. "I'll die if I stay. Lucifer's mark—his darkness—is beyond my sorcery. I won't last. I must go back and make him end it. He would not want me dead." She crushed her lip until it bled; the sound of her wails proved how completely Lucifer had her under siege.
Elisha bridged the distance in a single stride, eyes bright as the sea in a storm. Sheba's protests were flame against a wall. "I am sorry, Sheba," Elisha murmured, and there was no pity in the apology, only an ownership that chilled. "I cannot let you return to him. Dead or alive, your rightful place is by my side. You are mine."
Sheba's hands clutched her dress. Pride and pain warred behind those green eyes as they bled. "Do not make me hate you. I came to you because I hoped your warmth would loosen his hold. Instead, it's only worse. I'm bleeding out here—my life is draining. I will find a way. I promise I will come back."
She turned. Elisha's voice rose then—low, impossible to refuse, the melody of a siren that had once been tender and was now command. The sound struck a painful chord through Sheba; her body folded as if struck.
"You dare to use your voice on me?!" Sheba rasped, pain tearing her throat raw.
"I love you, Sheba. I always have. I always will." Elisha crouched and took her as if claiming a prize. "He's poisoned you with his mark. I won't let you go back. I'll not allow him to have what is mine."
Tears carved tracks through Sheba's blood-smeared face. "Do you think I chose this? I asked for none of it."
"I know," Elisha said softly, and the word was an anchor and a chain. "You belong to me. No one will take you."
"You are breaking me," Sheba managed. Her resolve, always iron, began to splinter.
"Everything I do is for our love." Elisha's tone flattened into ritual. "Hush. Sleep." The siren's song washed over Sheba, and darkness took her like a tide.
Elisha carried her out and laid her on the bed with the casual tenderness of a conqueror. She kissed the top of Sheba's forehead as if sealing a vow. "I'm sorry, but I will not let him win."
Then the Shoal roared. Water flared and churned as something—or someone—stirred in outrage.
A maid stumbled in, out of breath and white with fear. "Your majesty—"
"Elisha?" Sheba murmured, half-lost to sleep.
"It's Lucifer," the maid gasped.
Elisha's smile sharpened into a blade. "I was wondering when he'd show up. Typical." Her gaze slid over the naked body she cradled, possessive, hungry. "Bring him to my inner chambers. It's time I gave him a performance of my own."
"As you wish, your majesty," the maid whispered, and fled.