Unyielding Devotion

“Thank you for doing this.” Miati straddled his hips, her hands soft and warm on his shoulders. “There are few of us, I think, who can fully embrace the duality of the gods we worship, created by human hands and yet transcendent at the same time.” She leaned forward to kiss him with gentle, focused patience.

He slid his hands up her back. They kissed for a long, unhurried moment, delighting in the quiet pleasure.

Eventually, with a simple motion of her hips, she took him inside her. They remained unmoving, each savoring their union. Miati ran her hands up and down Hassen’s arms. “When I first came to the temple as a Potential,” she said, “I was trained to arouse and entice, to read the small involuntary signs that speak the secret truths of my lover.” She ran her hand over Hassen’s chest. “I can see by the flutter of your eyes how you like to be touched. I can hear in your breathing that you desire me.” She shifted her weight against him, drawing a small gasp from him. “We are taught that we honor the gods when we make a gift of pleasure. I wonder, though. Is it a sin to take pride in my skill?” She gyrated her hips against him, a single quick, subtle motion.

Hassen shuddered. His drone let out a musical chirp. Miati chuckled. “Does it diminish my service to the gods if I relish drawing sensation from you? Do I honor the gods less when I take joy in the effect I have on you?” She moved again. Hassen arched his back beneath a dizzy wave of pleasure. “In making a gift of ecstasy to you,” Miati mused, “I also take power over you.” She leaned against him, pressing him down against the smooth curve of the chair. “I wonder, Priest Hassen, does this make me a better servant of the gods, since I serve with joy in my heart, or worse, because I find pleasure in my own ends?”

“I told Novice Minoka the gods ask us to worship them through the medium of our bodies because we bond with each other when we worship this way.”

“Do you believe that?”

Hassen drew her close, arms tight around her. “I do.”

“What if I told you I take great joy in offering such delight to others, but I feel no intimacy of the heart afterward?”

“I would say there are many ways that we connect with one another, and all of them are gifts to the gods.”

“Hmm.” Miati brushed Hassen’s hair away from his eyes. “Thank you for your kindness, Priest Hassen.”

They sat together for a long while in union, neither of them moving, as the glowing motes swirled around them, sparking in the sunlight. Hassen turned his attention inward, relishing the warmth of Miati’s body against his, the softness of her skin on him.

She started to move, so slightly he did not notice at first, the barest shifting of her weight atop him. As she gradually increased her tempo, the glowing motes swarmed around her, brightening. She ran her hands over his chest, each finger wreathed in light.

A joyful song swirled around them, softly at first, an ethereal music, beautiful and alien, carried in the faint sounds of their breathing, the tiny currents of air through the room. “Yes,” Miati said at his expression. “I hear it too.”

Hassen slid his hands over the curves of her body. The tiny points coalesced around him too, flowing up his arms to surround his hands in a golden glow. Brilliant whorls swirled over Miati’s smooth dark skin. As he watched in wonder, words coalesced from the sparkling light, rippling over her body.

Delirious pleasure shivered over him. He heard a faint murmur, growing louder, and realized it was Miati, speaking in a distant voice that seemed to come more from the air around her than from her. He looked down at her hands, watching them weave glowing words as they glided warm across his chest. Miati’s voice vibrated all around him.

The spark of Light took hold in the hearts of some who saw it, and they nurtured it, so that it grew strong. The Light shone through them, so that all those who saw them knew it. And they spoke, saying, “Let us give birth to a new god, to carry forth this light.”

Another melodic voice joined hers, reciting the words that looped and swirled across her skin. Hassen realized the voice was his, the words passing through him without conscious effort. Miati moved faster against him, calling forth pleasure even as their voices joined in union. Ecstasy roared through him, so giddying he floated free from his body. The glowing points of light flared brightly, until he was lost in a boundless glowing space that seemed to stretch to the end of existence. Somehow, Miati floated there with him, in a timeless void far from the small room where their bodies shuddered in climax.

The lights and the music faded. Hassen felt himself falling endlessly through space, until he tumbled back into himself with a jolt. Faint traces of words still lingered on Miati’s skin, and his own, but of the glowing motes there was no sign.

“Thank you, Priest Hassen. Did you gain enlightenment from our communion?”

Hassen considered the question. “I’m not sure what just happened.”

“We tasted a small measure of what the Potentials experience,” Miati said. “That’s the first time since my own Sacrifice I’ve felt…” Her gaze grew distant. For just an instant, he saw someone else there, behind her eyes—not the Grand High Priestess of the City’s most important temple, known far and wide for her rock-solid self-possession, but a woman he’d never seen before: vulnerable, uncertain, touched by sadness. “I’ve found it difficult, this last year, to interpret the messages of the Fiery One. You have helped me find clarity.” Miati kissed his lips, achingly gently.

Video review by Tom Harrison

In a world where all need is well and truly met, desire becomes the most important currency. Where AIs are gods, Sacrifices are voluntary, and sex is but a lingering smile away, relationships unfold through enthusiastically consensual exploration.

The world, built by Hung and Veaux, asks us to imagine who we are without fear of scarcity. Would we be artists, knowledge seekers, decadent servants? Or would we retreat into our own thoughts and imaginations, giving ourselves time to actually understand our innermost ambitions?

The Brazen Altar is a gratifying example of what could happen if we allow technology to heal our deepest wounds, and shift our focus to more carnal aspirations. Kink happens, and it happens to be the main event, as we witness society delve into the realm of extreme pleasure in service to their deities.

The Brazen Altar is groundbreaking in the world of erotic romance. Brave and bold, this book takes no prisoners, demands our attention, and opens up an entirely new playground for fantasy and ecstasy.

—Melanie Nicholson

One of the biggest problems with fantasy and SciFi stories is that rarely are the consequences of the fantastical elements taken to their logical conclusions. Magic and technology serve as throwaways to drive the plot and are then forgotten about. As a result, I hold in high regard stories that add a fantastical element and then explore the implications such technology would have.

The Brazen Alter nails this aspect of the story and it was my overriding feeling throughout reading it. In a post scarcity world, where would humanity find their drive? We've seen how religion and tribalism shape our society today, but what would it look like in a world where the desperate need for survival and power were taken away as concerns completely?

This setting is one of the most intriguing and interesting parts of the book. As usual from these authors, the characterizations are well done, the erotic aspects are strong without taking away from the story and characters, and the reactions are realistic to the world that they grew up in, without imposing how modern people would react to such a world.

If you like erotic novels and/or SciFi that is well written and intriguing, give The Brazen Altar a try. I certainly am looking forward to the subsequent novels.

—Michael Vogel

Sex in the world of the Passionate Pantheon is a ritual of worship and connection. The residents of the City have sex to honor their gods and each other. The sex you’ll find within these pages is unusual, and includes themes of: