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  But the days stresses were over and tonight she just wanted to relax and try to have a pleasant evening in good company.

  So she sat curled up on her softest sofa with Maria who she’d invited over to have a drink with her. Naturally, being Magi and living the lives they did, talk turned to recent events. She glossed over the less savoury elements, not wanting to dwell too much on death and destruction. But she did wonder if Maria knew anything about the woman she and Celest had met in Griffith Park. She’d mentioned her name to both Victoria and Trevelyan and they both seemed to know her from their reactions but neither had commented much and basically avoided the issue.

  She hoped that Maria would be a little more forthcoming about this strange and powerful beauty she had met and argued with.

  ‘…so do you know anything about this Nefertiti?’

  ‘You mean you’ve not heard of her?’

  ‘No, should I have?’

  ‘Did you take history at school?’

  ‘I did,’ Amanda replied, ‘but it wasn’t my favourite lesson to be fair.’

  ‘I can tell. Well, Nefertiti was a Queen from ancient Egypt, wife of the Pharaoh Akhenaten and one of the most powerful and most well-known Queens of Egypt.’

  ‘Wow, I had no idea. And she’s lived all this time? She must be…’

  ‘Over three thousand years old, yes.’

  ‘Jaysis, she didn’t look bad for it, though. So, you know of her, I mean, as a Magus?’

  ‘She’s one of the few Arch Magi in the world, and although she does keep to herself, she is a known Magus yes. You don’t get to be that powerful and live that long without people knowing about you.’

  Amanda sipped her wine, enjoying its fruity taste. ‘So is she a Nomad or an Arcadian?’

  ‘Neither. She stays out of all that, does her own thing. I suppose you could say she’s an independent.’

  ‘I’m glad I didn’t try to fight her then.’

  ‘Me too,’ Maria said and smiled at her over her glass. Amanda let her gaze linger, and they looked into each other’s eyes for a long moment while a pleasant tingling feeling ran down her neck and nebulous possibilities opened up to her, enticing her in.

  Amanda bit her lip behind her glass, feeling distinctly attracted to this beauty before her. Maria always looked gorgeous and well turned out. She had a smokiness to her twinkling eyes that promised pleasures and intimacy with her every look.

  Maria ran the end of her tongue over her lips. Amanda didn’t know if she’d done it on purpose or if it had been something involuntary, but Amanda felt a tingle, a need or a pull in her pelvis that felt so good.

  She looked away before she got utterly lost in those eyes, her mind filled with what might have happened if she had listened to her deepest desires.

  ‘Any progress on the man front?’ Maria asked. It was a leading question, Amanda knew that. Maria had one goal in mind, and Amanda wondered if she should let her score.

  ‘Not really,’ she said, feeling just slightly short of breath, almost as if the amount of air she could hold inside her had diminished. Was it excitement, nervousness, a mixture of the two? She paused after those first two words. She knew what she wanted to say next, but the connotations of it were too obvious to miss. Should she be so bold, should she take a small step towards a leap of faith that could change everything?

  Maria’s legs shifted, they were tucked up beside her on the couch, and as she moved her leg, shifting one over the other, the movement drew Amanda’s eyes and she couldn’t help but stare at those shapely thighs and tapered calf muscles. She wanted to run her hand over them, to feel the smoothness of her skin and the warmth beneath her skirt.

  ‘…I don’t think about men that much really,’ she said, and looked up into those mischievous eyes once more. The words had just spilt out of her, almost beyond her control. She wanted to know what it would lead too, what would happen next. She took a breath as their gaze locked once again, the adrenaline surged through her body making her heart pump at a furious rate which made her exhale a little ragged. Her skin felt incredibly sensitive and she could feel every movement of her clothes over her body, but wanted to feel Maria’s hands touching her instead.

  But she felt frozen in place, like a deer in headlights, wanting to move, wanting to take the lead and that first step, but being terrified of what it might mean and where it might lead.

  She’d put it out there with that last comment, surely Maria could read her signs, had seen her looking at her. How much more obvious could she make it? The line had felt right, but also incredibly cheesy. Not thinking about men anymore, it couldn’t get much more blatant and obvious than that could it?

  Would Maria pick up on that, would she see the invitation that Amanda had made and would she take it?

  Amanda watched as Maria moved and it was as if the world had suddenly dropped into slow motion. It almost felt like an out of body experience. Her senses were suddenly hypersensitive and she noticed everything as Maria took Amanda’s wine glass from her hand and placed it on the coffee table next to her own before she returned and leant in, coming closer and closer to her.

  She could smell her fragrant floral perfume as she approached and it filled her nose. Maria’s hand reached out and gently took hold of her jaw with the lightest of touches and guided her in.

  Amanda followed the hand, leant in with it, going where it led and anticipating the meeting to come. Her face was so close to Maria’s now that she could feel her warmth, her body heat as she tilted her head to one side while Maria did the same. She paused then for a second and let the anticipation of the moment grow just a fraction more. Neither of them took a breath, Amanda felt like she’d been holding hers for an age when Maria closed the gap and pressed her lips to Amanda’s.

  They were soft and warm and they felt so good. Maria kissed her, gently, once, and Amanda just let her do it, revelling in the moment and soaking in the feelings that went with it. Maria started to pull away slightly, but Amanda didn’t want it to end, so she went in to kiss her back. Maria responded, and suddenly it wasn’t just a peck on the lips, now it became energised and Amanda moved her lips and relished the feel and the movement of this woman.

  She went deeper, their tongues touched and danced with each other as they kissed.

  Maria pushed Amanda back, climbed on top of her and kissed Amanda again as she pressed herself against her, laying between Amanda’s legs and moving over the top of her. She’d wondered how it would feel, having someone with the same sex body as hers laying on her and pressing into her, and she decided it felt great. The feeling of Maria’s bust pushing into hers as she moved about felt delicious. Maria seemed to sense her thoughts almost and ran her hands over her body and took one of her breasts in her hand and caressed it gently.

  Taking Maria’s touch as her cue, Amanda ran her hands down Maria’s body and over the rise of her bum. She loved the softness and the feel of it, the weight of her flesh in her hands as they continued to kiss. Maria moved her mouth from Amanda’s, kissing her on her cheek and then down onto her neck while her hand moved down Amanda’s body. Maria pulled on her jeans button and quickly undid it. Amanda’s breaths came quickly then, she knew where Maria’s hand would be going and she wanted it so badly, she ached for it, for the feel of it. She wanted to know how it would feel to have another woman touch her there, to feel her fingers caress her and press inside her. Maria reached down then, sliding her hand into Amanda’s underwear and over the curve of her body and then ever so gently touched her in her most intimate of places. Amanda gasped, she’d never felt so aroused and turned on before. Maria’s every touch and kiss felt electric and like fire. She needed to feel Maria inside her, she needed Maria to take her to the very summit of pleasure like no one had done before.

  Was it the taboo nature of their coupling that caused it, the long drawn out flirty relationship that just needed to explode and find some release for the pent up energy that had built up between them?

  ‘Pu
t your fingers inside me,’ Amanda gasped, wanting this more than anything ever before.

  Maria didn’t need asking twice and pressed first one, then two fingers into her. Amanda let out a long drawn out gasp of pure pleasure as Maria filled her up, her palm pressing against her clitoris in just the right way and tipping her over the edge into a body shaking orgasm that felt stronger than any she’d had before.

  She clung on tight to her lover as the waves of pleasure rolled over her and carried her to new heights of sexual gratification.

  Her body writhed of its own accord, her hips rolling and moving to get the most out of the experience and to help Maria’s fingers press in and then out again in a rhythm that did wonderful things for her.

  As the last few waves of ecstasy faded away, Amanda kissed Maria frantically.

  ‘Oh my god, that felt so good. I’ve never felt anything like that. Thank you.’

  Maria pulled her hand from between Amanda’s legs and placed her wet fingers in her own mouth. Amanda could only watch as Maria tasted her and seemed to enjoy every moment of it.

  ‘Let’s go upstairs, I want to taste you for real,’ she said.

  Amanda couldn’t speak, she had no words to answer with, but just nodded her head, and wanted nothing else as much as she wanted that.

  Leading her by the hand, Maria took her upstairs and into Amanda’s bedroom. She wasted no time and pulled off her dress before pressing into Amanda once more, kissing her with an urgency and need fuelled with passion. Maria pulled off Amanda’s top and bra and then everything else, before guiding her, now naked form to the bed and sitting her on it.

  ‘You want this?’ Maria said, as she removed the last of her lingerie.

  Amanda could only gaze up at the naked beauty before her from where she sat, legs splayed on the edge of the bed, exposing herself to her new lover. ‘I do, I want you so much.’

  Maria knelt down between her legs and within moments sent her back up to new heights of wondrous pleasure and fulfilment. The one coherent thought she had at that moment was that she never wanted that night to end before the feelings of ecstasy washed it away again.

  Amanda lay on the bed and looked over at the sleeping form of Maria, the morning sun playing over her naked body. Her skin looked so soft and inviting, the swell of her breasts rising and falling called for her to touch them, to feel them and taste them.

  She hadn’t slept much all night, not least because they had spent most of the night until the early hours just enjoying each other. Touching, kissing, caressing, taking a shower together and cleaning each other’s bodies before returning to bed when the desire grew too strong. It had been the most amazing night of lovemaking she had ever had. She’d never felt so sexually gratified, and laying here looking at her lover now made her want to wake Maria up and do it all again. She reached out and with the lightest of touches, ran the pad of her middle finger over Maria’s skin, up over her breast and around her nipple.

  Maria moaned and shifted in her sleep, making Amanda stop and move onto her back.

  Her relationship with Maria had crossed a line, and there was no going back now. She wondered what this meant, what she was now she had done this thing with Maria? Was she a Lesbian? She wasn’t sure. She still liked men, she still found them attractive, so maybe she liked a bit of both? Did this thing, did she, need a label? She just didn’t know, but she did know that she loved what she and Maria had done, and she did know that she felt a keen love and attraction towards the dark-haired beauty in her bed.

  She rolled herself out of bed, and gently padded across her room and into the bathroom to use the facilities. Afterwards, she washed her hands and looked at herself in the mirror.

  Is this what you wanted, she thought to herself, is this the right thing to be doing? She turned away and walked round the corner to look at her bed and the sleeping form of Maria, still in a deep slumber.

  She leant against the wall and just looked at her friend and now lover. She smiled, feeling content and happy and while she looked at her, everything felt right with the world.

  She returned to the bed and pressed herself up against Maria’s back, wrapping her arm around her and kissing the back of her neck. Maria stirred and moaned lovingly in her newly woken state.

  ‘Mmmm, morning Mandy, what a lovely way to be woken up,’ Maria said.

  ‘My pleasure,’ Amanda answered as Maria pushed into her, while her hands traced gentle lines over Maria’s breasts and tummy.

  ‘Oooh, that feels good,’ Maria moaned.

  Amanda kissed her neck some more and lowered her hand down and into the warmth between her legs, caressing her ever so gently, moving her fingers in slow deliberate movements that barely touched her skin at all. ‘And how about this?’

  Maria rolled her pelvis around, clearly loving every second of it.

  ‘Don’t stop,’ Maria said, ‘just don’t stop.’

  A little while later in the morning, Amanda sat in Liz’s room, on the edge of her bed while Liz busied herself putting some makeup on and sorting a few things out in her room.

  ‘You seem happy this morning Mandy? Did things go well yesterday? You spent a long time in your office.’

  ‘Yesterday was a little stressful, dealing with the Politics of the Covens, Houses and Councils, it’s all a bit of a nightmare don’t yeh know. But, I suppose things could be worse, the end result in Los Angeles was basically what I wanted.’

  ‘So what’s got you smiling like a hyena? Hang on, did you meet someone last night? I thought you had Maria over. Did you go out?’

  Amanda chuckled, ‘We didn’t go out, no, but, I did have a grand night.’

  ‘Well good, you deserve it. You’ve had to deal with some shitty things since moving here,’ Liz said.

  ‘We all have. We all deserve to have some fun from time to time.’

  ‘Ain’t that the truth. So, what did you do?’

  Amanda had come in here to see Liz while Maria got herself up, it felt like a few days since she’d really seen her apprentice and friend and she needed to see someone she could speak to. Someone she could confide in. Liz was still so young, though, she wondered if she would understand, and what her views on same-sex relationships were. She had no idea and poking around inside someone’s head to find out would be just rude. So she’d just have to say it.

  ‘Yeah, well. I did end up in bed with, someone. With, um… Maria…’ Amanda let it hang there and watched Liz for her reaction.

  Liz paused and seemed to be comprehending the information that Amanda had just given her. It took her a beat, but she then turned with a look of surprise and maybe happiness on her face. ‘You mean, you and Maria, had sex?’

  Amanda nodded.

  ‘Heh,’ Liz said, comprehension spreading over her features. ‘And is that what you wanted? Are you happy?’

  ‘I… I think so. I’m still kind of getting my head around it, but she does make me happy.’

  ‘Then that’s all that matters. That you’re happy. And Maria?’

  ‘I think so, we need to talk though I think.’

  ‘I would say that’s a very good idea, and don’t leave it too long.’

  Amanda returned to her room and found Maria pulling on her boots while sat in one of the chairs in Amanda’s spacious room.

  ‘Can we talk?’ Amanda said.

  ‘Sure, what do you want to talk about?’ Maria said.

  ‘Us. I want to know what this is. What the craic is between us and how this is going to move forward.’

  ‘Of course, sit down,’ Maria said. Amanda sat in the soft seat next to Maria. ‘I like you, Amanda, I think that’s been clear to you for a long time. I’ve fancied you ever since I met you when you first arrived at the Legacy Mansion. I think I’ve been quite open about that.’

  Amanda nodded, ‘You have. I have been in no doubt about that for a long time.’

  ‘But you also know that I am not a one person girl. I can’t and won’t have just one lover, one girlfriend or
one boyfriend. That’s not me, and it never will be. I like you, Amanda, I like you a lot. But I have other lovers who I am not prepared to end things with. No offence, but that’s just not me. So if you want this, if you want to be with me, you have to be open to that.’

  ‘I understand,’ Amanda said. ‘That’s pretty much what I thought it would be.’

  ‘Please don’t take offence, it’s nothing personal and no reflection on you. And do feel free to have as many other lovers as you want as well. Go wild, enjoy yourself.’

  Amanda smiled. ‘Thanks, I’ll bear that in mind.

  ‘Are you alright?’ Maria asked.

  ‘I’m grand, it’s just been a bit of a rollercoaster and, well, it’s all a bit new to me and I think I’m still getting my head around… this, around us, you know?’

  ‘I get it, I understand. It’s your first time with a woman. That will take a bit of getting used to. Take as much time as you need.’

  ‘Thank you. I do want to see you again, though.’

  ‘And I want to see you again too. You’re not getting away from me that easily,’ Maria said with a mischievous smile.

  ‘I won’t be going anywhere, last night was fierce fun so it was. Oh yeah, how about the Ball we’re throwing at the World Trade Center? Will you come to that?’

  ‘Just you try and keep me away. In fact, I’d like to get you your outfit for it, if you’ll let me?’

  ‘Oh really? And what makes you think I don’t already have an outfit?’ she said in mock horror.

  ‘You haven’t got an outfit Amanda, have you?’ It was more of a statement than a question, Maria knew her better than she thought.

  ‘No, I haven’t,’ Amanda answered, the ball was still a few days out and she just wasn’t that organised.

  ‘Then, would you mind if I got you something?’

  ‘Go for it, go wild, I’ll look forward to seeing what you get me.’