The Winds of the Heavens (Sons of Rhodri Medieval Romance Series) (9 page)

Rhun looked at them both curiously. Rhydderch struggled to maintain his composure. “I envy your happiness, Rhun. Isolda hasn’t yet shared my bed. I must do something or I’ll go mad.”

Rhun’s mouth fell open. “I’m sorry, brother, I’ve been caught up in my own delirious happiness and failed to recognize your torment. I’ve likely made it worse, have I not?” He banged his fist on the table. “We’ll help. Where is she now?”

“In the little chamber, where she always is.”

Rhun came to his feet. “I’ll find Glain, and explain things to her. We’ll leave Isolda there for a while to dwell on your absence. She’s not used to being alone. It will be hard for her.”

Rhydderch slumped into a chair. “It will be more difficult for me. I’ll want to rush to her aid.”

***

Sweat poured off Rhydderch and he leaned his forehead against the cold stone wall of the passageway. Isolda had been alone for two hours. He had never stood in one place for such a long period of time. How agitated she must be, no doubt cursing him for leaving her.

Suddenly the door of the little chamber opened. Isolda stood on the threshold, clinging nervously to the frame. “Hello—is anyone there?—I need help to get to my chamber.”

She strained to listen. He held his breath. She must not discover he stood watch. Her face betrayed her anger and frustration—and her fear. His heart went out to her.
Be strong
, he wanted to say—to her or to himself?

She went back into the room, slamming the door. Perhaps a good sign?

Rhun and Glain walked by him a short time later. Rhun winked as they entered the little chamber, leaving the door ajar. Isolda sternly berated everyone for leaving her alone. Rhydderch was relieved at Glain’s reply. “Isolda, you’ll manage. Your husband will be back in a few days, and there is usually someone nearby who can help you.”

She continued to rail. “I’ve been here for at least two hours.”

Rhun’s voice. “Why didn’t you call for someone?”

Isolda’s snappy retort. “I did. No one came.”

Rhun persevered. “Your chamber isn’t far from here. Come, I’ll show you. Then, if it happens again, you’ll be able to make your own way there.”

Isolda protested. “Glain, I can’t—”

Glain glanced at her husband, who winked back at her. “Rhun is right. You must learn to do some things for yourself.”

It broke Rhydderch’s heart to watch his wife grope her way along the walls as she followed Rhun’s voice to her chamber. Wrenching sobs shook her once she got inside. She had probably collapsed on the bed. He sent her maids in to tend to her needs, with strict instructions not to reveal his presence.

***

For a fortnight he watched, a silent sentinel. Isolda struggled with her demons, but he noticed an increased confidence in the way she made her way round the
llys
. One day she sought out Glain in the still room, and his sister-by-marriage later told him Isolda had touched and smelled several of the herbs and salves. Glain took her to the herb garden and showed her a path where she might walk to a tree and sit on a bench. A few days later she ventured there alone, smiling as she raised her face to the sun. Surely she would hear the thudding of his heart? If Rhydderch couldn’t watch her, Rhun took his place. No injury would befall her.

Naked and alone in his bed every night, Rhydderch dreamed Isolda came to him and pressed her lithe, warm body against his. The evidence of his erotic dreams was only too plain on the soiled linens each morning. He fell into a fitful sleep on the thirteenth night. Rhun had told Isolda he would return on the morrow.

Let’s hope she’ll welcome me back! Mayhap she hasn’t missed me.

Again he dreamed Isolda came to him and pressed her naked body to his. In his dream he cupped her bottom in his big hands and pulled her to him. She moaned. Her delicate hands played across his chest, grazing his male nipples, and her soft lips brushed his mouth. He opened to her inviting tongue and kissed her back, longingly.

“If only this were not a dream,” he groaned, half awake now, his hand clamped on his tarse.

“You’re not dreaming, Rhydderch.”

His eyes flew open. Moonlight flooded the chamber, reflecting on the flaxen hair of a maiden cuddled into him. Was he still dreaming or had Isolda come naked to his bed? Her slim legs were entwined around him. He eased away to look at her. The moon’s rays illuminated her beautiful breasts, the pink nipples begging to be suckled. His heart raced wildly and his tarse became rock hard.

“Isolda!”

She nuzzled her head into his chest. “Rhydderch, make love to me. I need you.”

He drew her face to his and kissed her deeply. She arched her body and opened her mouth in response to his coaxing. He sucked her tongue into his mouth. She raked her fingers through his long hair and felt his hard maleness grow more insistent against her. She longed for him to fill her, to rid her of the emptiness she had endured. His lips moved to her breasts and he suckled her with a hard rhythm, like a thirst-crazed man delivered from the desert. She arched her back again and a strangled shout emerged from her throat as the aching need built between her legs. She pulled away and traced her hands slowly down his taut belly to where they found what they timidly sought. He groaned.

“I’ve longed to touch you, Rhydderch. You’re silken, and heavy!”

He took one hand and guided it to cup his
ceilliau
. “Feel all of me, Isolda.”

His throaty growl intensified the ache in her loins and echoed between her legs. She breathed his name.

He rose above her. “I’ve often dreamt of our first time together and planned it to be slow and beautiful for you, but I’m about to lose control. I need to be inside you—now.”

She opened her legs. “Now, now, now, come inside me.”

Still he hesitated, his voice full of need. “But if you’re not ready it will be painful for you.”

She moved her hands on his manhood, urging him to her. “It can’t be any more painful than the ache driving me now.”

He groaned and touched his finger to her female centre. She was wet and inviting, her mons swollen. “Isolda, forgive me, I have to now.” He knelt, positioned the engorged, throbbing end of his shaft at her entry then plunged through the barrier. She cried out but rocked against him, matching his strokes, pulling his hips towards her. He felt the pulsating heat of her sheath as he thrust, delirious as rapture surged through his loins and his seed entered her body. He cried out her name, straining to hold on to his wits as the chamber spun around him.

Wanting to stay inside her, he held her close and sat up on the edge of the bed, fastening her legs around his hips, burying her head against his neck, supporting her back with his big hands. Her long hair flowed over her shoulders and his chest. He breathed in the enticing scent of rosemary. They were one at last.

Gradually their breathing steadied. He kissed the top of her head. “I want to stay inside you forever. Next time will be better. I’ll be more in control and will give you more pleasure. You took me by surprise.”

She laughed and stroked his cheek. “I wanted to surprise you.”

Hearing her laughter made him want to cry with joy. He licked her fingertips. “How did you discover I had returned?”

“You never left.”

Good thing she couldn’t see the sheepish look on his face. “When did you know?”

“A blind person comes to rely on other senses. After my two hours of fuming, I detected a note of conspiracy in Glain’s voice. When I opened the door a few minutes before her arrival with Rhun, you were in the hallway. I was angry with you and slammed the door.”

“How did you discern my presence? I held my breath.”

She pressed her nose to his chest and inhaled deeply. “Rhydderch, my love, before I lost my sight I recognized your scent anywhere. I can tell the moment you enter a room, even if you don’t make a sound. As soon as your scent fills my nostrils I want to wrestle you to the ground and make love to you.”

He had been softening, but her words renewed his interest. “Now that’s more like the saucy Isolda I love.”

She rested her forehead against his. “I’ve been such a fool. I couldn’t let go of my anger. I wanted to drive you away, but I would die if you left me.”

He untangled her legs from around him and gathered her up in his arms, cradling her tightly. “Isolda, you’ve suffered a devastating loss, but you are courageous. I was convinced your courage would overcome your anger. I’m sorry I lost my temper. I’m too much in love with you.”

She twirled her fingers in his hair. “I suspect I have Rhys to thank for this plan to force me out of myself?”

He chuckled. “It was a conspiracy. Now, we can sleep for a while, and then we might wake and surprise each other again—and again.”

He left her to find a wet cloth. “I’m going to wash you, Isolda. Don’t be alarmed.”

He dabbed away the proof he was the first to possess her body, planting kisses on her thighs. “Perhaps on the morrow I’ll run these linens up the flagpole!”

She put her hands on her hips. “You will not, Rhydderch ap Rhodri! I won’t have the whole
llys
know I’ve tortured my husband.”

He laughed. “I spoke in jest! Don’t worry. People will guess by looking at your face we’ve made love.”

She smiled. “Is it obvious?”

Her beauty took his breath away. “You were a beautiful girl. Now you’re a radiant woman, and I’m a satisfied man. I’ve bedded my first virgin! You were tight. I hope you’re not sore.”

She shook her head and felt for his tarse. “Was I too tight?”

He kissed her forehead. “It can never be too tight.”

He climbed back into bed and curled his body around her, one hand on her thigh, the other cupping a breast, her neck resting on his arm. She fell asleep and he watched her for a long while, elated he had wrestled some of her demons to submission, but aware there would be many challenges ahead.

Now they would face them together. Life was complete.

Isolda never regained her sight, but strangers rarely suspected she was blind. She bore eight children to Rhydderch and her word in the household was law. All of their sons and daughters grew to be adults and had families of their own.

Rhun sired ten children, including one set of twins, a boy and a girl. Six of his and Glain’s offspring survived into adulthood.

The redheaded twins spent most of the year with their families in Cadair Berwyn, the mountain fortress their father had built, where their parents had first met, and where they had been born. The children preferred life there. Their absence left more room at Powwydd for Rhys and Annalise’s five.

The eldest child of Rhodri and Rhonwen, Myfanwy Mabelle, the Prioress of Llansanfraid, came often to visit the
llys
. She was fond of remarking how fortunate the family was she had borne no children and that Carys and Baudoin lived somewhere else with their brood. She complained good-naturedly that the place resembled a rabbit warren when all Rhodri’s grandchildren were in residence.

The notorious twosome did not abandon their fight for Welsh freedom from Norman domination, but they didn’t risk their lives as much as before. Their families depended on them. They would always share the bond of being born together. Now spaces defined their togetherness. The winds of the heavens danced between them.

Thank you for reading
The Winds of the Heavens
. If you enjoyed this book, I would appreciate it if you would help others enjoy it too.

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Curious to read more about Rhun and Rhydderch’s parents, Rhodri and Rhonwen? The saga begins with Book I of the sons of Rhodri trilogy,
Defiant Passion
.