Awaken Read Free Page A

only man in the village worth a tuppence and, in turn, the village hadn’t been enough to hold him. Myrina had half-hoped he’d change his mind about going north to the city and joining the emperor’s militia, but in her heart she also knew it was what he needed.
    Jecil wasn’t meant to be tied down in such a tiny place. If ever there was a man created to have adventures, it was he. Myrina understood, more than he imagined. There was a part of her that craved the same. Had things been different, she might have gone with him, but there was her mother to think about. The illness ravaging her body was slowly, steadily getting worse, and there was only Myrina to tend her needs. Besides, Myrina knew she didn’t truly love Jecil. Much as she enjoyed his company, and to some extent his love-making, she had always felt there should be more.
    Elawen, with her seemingly unending store of knowledge, assured her there was. After all, she said, hearing Myrina’s halting, blush-filled account of the night before Jecil left, it sounded like the man didn’t have a clue about how to go about pleasing a woman.
    Face screwed into a ferocious scowl, she asked, “He didn’t kiss your breasts?”
    “No.” Myrina felt a fresh wave of embarrassment stain her cheeks. “Only my mouth. But—” she continued hurriedly as Elawen opened her mouth to speak again, “—he did touch me there.”
    “Did you like it?”
    “Of course!”
    And it had been nice, at first. Then his fingers had pinched too hard, and she was too frightened to ask him to stop, in case he laughed at her. What did she know about that kind of thing? Perhaps it was something a body had to get used to.
    It was the same when he put his hand between her thighs, his fingers moving and circling, making her gasp and moan with building desire. It somehow hadn’t seemed to last long enough. Before she could enjoy that feeling, he stuck his finger inside her body, making her want to cry out in frustration.
    Elawen tried to get her to talk about the actual swiving too, but Myrina had cut her off, saying she just couldn’t .
    “Did you come?” Elawen asked. Seeing the blank look on Myrina’s face, she made a rude noise, and continued. “There is a moment when you feel like the pleasure is so big it will crush you, or tear you into a million pieces. It’s the best feeling in the world.”
    Myrina hadn’t felt anything like that and said so.
    “Eh, men can be so selfish. If I got my hands on that Jecil, I’d show him a thing or two.” Elawen flounced back on her cot and crossed her arms beneath her head, fixing Myrina with a knowing look. “What you need to do, before you find another lover, is figure out what gives you the most pleasure.”
    “How do I do that without a lover?”
    “Touch yourself,” Elawen said with a grin, obviously knowing what Myrina’s reaction would be. “Everywhere. On your breasts, all over your body, and especially between your l—”
    “Stop!” Myrina covered her ears, inundated with mortification so strong she actually felt a little faint.
    Elawen laughed, calling her an old maiden aunt and assuring her there was no other solution. A woman had to know what she liked, so as to tell a man how to go about it.
    “Silly,” Myrina muttered to herself now, turning off the main road into the old forest, following the twisty path to Gottreb’s cottage. “Surely some men must know how to do such things without instruction.”
    Yet Elawen’s advice lingered in her mind, and the memory of those fleeting moments when Jecil’s fingers tickled and rubbed her quim made Myrina’s skin heat. It was tempting to try, just to see if it were possible to find that shivery achy sensation again, perhaps take it even further. Although she’d said she didn’t want to hear anymore, Elawen had insisted it was possible to find that strange explosion of pleasure by herself.
    Maybe she would try it tonight, in bed.
    Myrina blushed once more just from the