Moonlight Rondo (Closed)

[Nouh_Bdee]

Kai was riding on adrenaline and frustration at the moment, and if Lina kept chipping at it it might shatter. As brash and confident as this new forceful Kai felt, he’d never actually taken charge in the bedroom before; or, on the forest floor, in this case. With less than a handful of unsatisfying sexual experiences before he’d joined the Order, and without so much as a self-love session since, he was making this up as he went, based on some ribbing he’d gotten from his cousins and an overheard conversation or two from his travels.

“That’s some big talk from someone who’s already wet down here,” he teased as soon as his head was free. He had to keep her on her toes, make her want to please him, or he was afraid she’d get hers and give him a halfhearted handjob at best, just like the others. He needed to keep his head and maintain control of this situation or she’d walk all over him. IT was easier said than done, though, with the growing bulge in his trousers.

He flattened out his tongue and licked her once, slowly, bottom-to-top, tasting her, like she wasn’t just snow, but the sweetened snow he’d had once in that little town the dorchalfe kept above ground. “Maybe if you give me enough to drink down here…I’ll let you.” And then his tongue was busy again, long licks just as she’d said. He followed every instruction Lina gave him about how to lick her, but he’d ignore anything else, and if she tried to move his head, she’d find his lips suctioned to her cunt, and the grip of his fingers on her hips strong and unmoving. This was a tense negotiation, and he had every intention and then some of getting his pound of cum.

 

[Apollo Wilde]

Oh, he’d gotten here there! The faintest blush spread across her cheeks, but it was brushed off with a scoff as she merely pulled his head in closer. “Maybe if you weren’t such a tease, I wouldn’t be so wet. But then again,” she ground her hips into his face, biting off the tail end of a moan. “Gods, right there…”

For long moments, there didn’t seem to be any more reason to talk. His tongue was light - a bit inexperienced, if not rusty - but hey, he was a monk - but that light touch was wonderful. Teasing, dancing - all it took was the slightest shift of her hips, and his grip would tighten, his tongue finding precisely where she wanted it to go. That delicate flicking was like snow melt; little drips down a well worn path, tumbling towards the waterfall of inevitable orgasm. Gentle, but insistent -

But not too distracting from her noticing him shifting back and forth - as if laying between her legs was uncomfortable. Shifting, just a bit, she looked down. Not that she could see, but putting two and two together, she was beginning to get the impression that maybe he was sitting on, or laying on, rather, quite the erection. Well: she definitely had plans for that once he let her up.

A curious stroke of his tongue against her clit, and she hissed, arching her back high into his mouth. “Fuck, right there, oh, gods, right there” - her fingers dug further into his thick hair, pulling him further in. She was grinding shamelessly against his face now, her sex rubbing up and down against his nose, smearing her arousal all over his cheeks. Her thighs gripped the sides of his head, pressed down against his shoulders. Her breathing hitching, stuttered - caught between quick inhalations and shuddering. Trembling through her legs that he could undoubtably feel as she ground harder into him, harder, harder, until - she gasped, her back arching further from the ground, her thighs tightening almost painfully around him as she whimpered, one hand darting from his hair and clamping over her mouth to muffle the small cry of orgasm that shuddered through her. It tore through her, the last little butterfly flicks of his tongue against her causing smaller shudders to course through her body.

She forced her eyes open after long moments, staring up at the blue of the sky above them. For those moments, the rest of the world didn’t seem to matter. There was no staff, no threat, nothing but her and Kai, and whatever it was that had been brewing between them for these years. But who would be the first to speak?

She took in a long breath, waited for her pulse to slow. She was still…angry. Something like that, anyway. He’d turned out to be just like any other man - look at him, laying there between her legs and she’d done so much to avoid…this. Or something like it. “You were supposed to be better,” she sighed out, shifting her legs from out of his grasp. “Better than this.” Was she accusing him, or herself more? Even she wasn’t entirely sure. What had Kai been to her? A kind monk, yes, handsome, that too, but there had been…an innocence about him that now she ruined. Or, what was worse - that his innocence was imagined, or that she’d simply built him up to something that he actually wasn’t in her mind?

To see him sexually felt like crossing an unspoken line; something that she’d respected for all of these years. When they fought, there was no time to think of that. It’d started, she figured, when they started traveling together. When he first pulled her close in the temple to his chest that it had suddenly clicked that he was a man, not a…thing. Sleeping beside him had been warm and comforting. And now they’d crossed that line, and what would there be next? Would it even matter, considering that they were going to die?

A twist of her lips as the bitter taste of death came across her mind. Why did she have to think about that now? What difference would it make if he was like any other guy, if they were going to die soon? It was, this was, supposed to be about feeling good. About reveling in the physical, what it felt to be close to someone, closer than skin, closer than breathing. Existing in one another.

“…I’d wanted it to mean more,” she admitted to the air, let out in a soft exhale. But how was she going to get that back? Here he was, his face glistening from her, and all she wanted was to pull him down and have him join with her. “Take off your pants - or do you want me to do it for you?” The combativeness was gone; replaced by something cooler, but neither hostile or dismissive. Broken, perhaps. Or trying to salvage something that she didn’t want to fully admit to him.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

Kai was happy to enjoy the honesty of this moment. As much as he trusted that Lina wasn’t planning to stab him in the back and run off with the staff, especially since he was fairly sure he was going to give it to her anyway, he still needed to work through a bit of mistrust. With his head between her legs, and the frustrating woman moaning, gasping, and shifting under his tongue, he trusted her. He flicked his tongue across her nub, and he breathed in. He dragged his tongue along her lips, and she moaned. He pressed his face against her mound, and she bucked her hips. It was real, and it comforted him.

He was a man that loved eating pussy for its own sake: the texture of her silky skin and coarse hair against his face, the taste of her juices on his tongue, the warmth of her thighs against his ears; it all turned him on like he was a horny teenager again, which, to be fair, was the last time he’d done it.

He took his time, but eventually he surrendered and made her cum. Her legs shook and cream dripped from her slit, and she was beautiful. Once she was done he cleaned her up with slow, languid licks. He lay there, breathing softly, until she spoke. Better than this? Kai couldn’t believe it. After all that, nine years of whatever the fuck they’d been doing, plus the emotional tumble she’d sent him into, and she didn’t think he was good enough? Fuck that. She’d cum hard enough, and who said they were even done? How could she judge his skill like that, so early?

Well, now I am saying that we’re done. He stood, looking down at her lying on the ground. Fuck, he wanted to rip his pants off and plunge himself deep inside her. She was gorgeous, and infuriating, and caring, and sacrificial, and he was starting to feel things for her he’d never felt before. It was too bad she was apparently an ass.

She asked him to take off his pants, and that made his decision for him. There was no way in hell he was doing this again. No way he was going to let her spread her legs, halfheartedly lie there while he got off, and walk away thinking she’d given him a satisfying experience. If he was going to have a bad time, then he was going to make sure she knew it.

“No.” He stared back down the path, in the direction they’d come from, hiding his face so she couldn't see his expression of anger and frustration. “I don’t know how much time we have. We need to keep moving.” He looked back at her, but quickly ducked his eyes to look at her bare legs. “Do you think you can walk?”

Ah, shit. The monk in him was fading quickly. His heart hadn’t been in it for some time, but he hadn’t realized it. At the moment, he was preoccupied with his realization that Lina might not even be able to put on her own clothes. So, he walked closer, ready to help as much as she needed, and pick her up once she was ready. Even though she was an ass, she’d saved his life at least once, and healed him at apparently great cost to her self. He would protect her and get her to safety.

 

[Apollo Wilde]

No?

He’d said…no?

But why?


The confusion was clear on her face, before dissolving into an odd grimace, the right side of her nose wrinkling, as if she were a snarling dog, ready to bite. Not that it could’ve had that much of a serious impact, with her shaking knees and bare ass on the ground. What was this monk’s actual deal? He seemed a bundle of contradictions - he’d given into her request easily enough, even through the bluster, and certainly showed no further reluctance when he was between her legs. And now he was ready to leave again? He blew hot and cold; worse than a teenager.


Still, a thief was a thief, and as far as she was concerned, they weren’t finished. So as he walked closer, she feigned a weakness that she didn’t quite feel. And when he was close enough, she simply reached up, grabbed him by the forearm, and used her body weight and the momentum of him being caught off guard to pull him down on top of her. He slotted neatly between her thighs, and knowing that she’d caught him was worth getting the wind knocked out of her. Before he could truly react, realize what was happening, she wriggled one leg all the way out of her pants, taking her boot with it, and used the newfound freedom to lock her thighs around his waist, effectively trapping him there. It was one of the few holds that she knew for a fact that he hadn’t been able to break in the past if she was doing it properly - and she was using it at full strength now, putting a not insignificant amount of force on his hips.


“Now,” she spoke, no softer than a whisper, looking up into his face. Her eyes still held a bit of that devil-may-carelessness, hardened by a conviction that also slipped into the corners of her smile, setting it a little firmer than usual. “I came, but you didn’t. And I didn’t ask to be eaten out - I asked for you to make love to me.” Her hands moved to wrap around his shoulders, right hand scratching gently at the nape of his neck, dragging down the close cropped hair. “And I intend to make that happen, even if I have to fight you and then Magus. If I’m going to die, I’m going to feel something real before that happens.” Her left hand moved to caress the side of his face, running her thumb softly below his lower lip.


Looks like I’m going to have to be the first one to do this. Fuck.


She looked to the side; took such a deep inhale that he nearly sank into her body, before letting it out in a long, slightly noisy sigh that seemed to sink her lower into the earth. “I…uh…I like you, Kai’ori. Maybe a little more than I should; with your being a monk and all…that’s…” She caught her lower lip between her teeth, worrying it. Why was this so blasted hard?! In those moments that she tried to scrape up how she actually felt, death nearly felt preferable to the impending embarrassment and rejection.


But then again, if you’re about to die, might as well be with a clean conscience.


“I..believe it or not,” forced laughter, like she was telling a story that was beyond comprehension, welcoming him to laugh with her, not to take it seriously, “Because you’re a monk, I didn’t make any sort of move earlier, and I thought, okay, maybe just teasing him a little to get him to relax, lower his guard, like we did every year when we talked a little, but these last few days on the road, sharing space…It’s wrong, and I swear, I’m not trying to make you break your vows, but then you just…did that, and I thought, ‘He doesn’t care at all; he’s just doing it to prove a point,’ and that’s why I said I thought you were better, that it was supposed to mean something, because it was. If it was just a random fuck I’d wanted before I died, you know, I’d wait till we were in town or whatever, but I want to feel it with you, and…I’m going to stop talking now. But I needed you to know that.” She loosened her grip on him, looking down past his body for where her boot had gone off to. Spilling her guts hadn’t made her feel any better, at least, not what it would feel like in the long run. She’d said it, and maybe that meant something, but right now, her face felt like it was on fire and she would’ve gladly welcomed a sneak attack or something or anything to get the attention off of her and that grand “speech.” She had wanted more - but it had been unfair of her to ask, even with her own demise looming over her. God, she hadn’t even asked if he wanted anything; she’d only been thinking of herself, and had been since he was dragged into this. He could’ve, should’ve, stayed at the temple. Maybe she would’ve given the staff back, only to start their dance again the year after, if only to wipe the slate clean.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

“You asshole,” he breathed as she tricked him into a pin, and he tensed. She’d used this hold on him before, and it was a good one. He hadn’t broken it yet, but he was sure he could with enough time, but he was also curious what her plan was here. Lina wouldn’t force herself on him, not if he’d read anything about her disposition correctly. So, he let her talk.

He could see it was heartfelt, and he was stunned. Part of him, the part of him that had pushed him toward the Order in the first place, that had pushed him in his training, that told him he was never good enough, didn’t believe her. But, the rest of him knew she meant it. She liked him. Goddess, that sounded juvenile, but at least it was something real, something she’d actually put into words. He just wished she hadn’t put him through all this before finally admitting it. He was tempted to lay into her again.

So you *can* use your words like an adult, huh? All it took was facing near-certain death, a loud argument while we’re trying to hide, and a orgasm to get you to do it? You jerk me around for days when you could’ve just said this from the beginning?

If they were going to do…this, whatever this was, then he didn’t want to keep fighting, at least not all the time. “Don’t stop talking.”

Damn him he wanted to plunge into her, but he held back. It wasn’t like he was free to take off his pants, anyway. His hands pressed against the dirt on either side of her, and he gave her a warm, genuine smile. No smirk, no teasing, just the truth. “That was a great start.”

He took a deep breath. “I like you, too, Lina. You’ve got honor, and you’ve sacrificed for me, which is more than my so-called Brothers ever did.” A little bit of a smirk crept into his smile now. “And you’re beautiful. That doesn’t hurt.” Serious face now. “I’ve felt closer to you on this trek through the wilderness, but this…teasing, this uncertainty, I’m not built for it. It’s been torture.”


He wanted to cup her cheek, but then he’d be holding himself up on one hand and he was concerned about where his cock would go if that happened. Even through clothes, if he felt her he might cave early. “I’m in. For now, at least; if you are. If we do this, I’m not going to wake up tomorrow and be cold to you, pretend it didn’t happen, act like I don’t want it again. I’m in. I have feelings for you.” He raised his eyebrows and looked deeply into her eyes. “That’s what I need from you. I need to know it’s not just a one-time thing. I need to know it’s real.”

He watched her, and steeled himself. He had to be strong. He trusted that her feelings were real, but he needed to know they weren’t going to change, at least not soon. He didn’t need some fairy-tale promise of love ever after, just a commitment *for now*, to know that she’d at least be there in the morning, more than just physically. With him. Present. Intertwined. Connected.

 

[Apollo Wilde]

“Yeah, well…” A slow sly grin, shy. “I am a thief.” Clearly, she regretted absolutely nothing about their current position. Maybe telling him how she felt would ultimately be stupid - it didn’t feel like it was one of her more intelligent decisions. And if pressed, she wasn’t entirely sure why she felt that way. She’d gone from thinking of him as something “other”, then “Kai,” and then, somewhere past that…

Ugh. Feelings were stupid.


She was stupid.


But he smiled down at her like she hadn’t just vomited up everything on her mind, that weighed on her. Like it was the first time he’d really looked at her. It made her tongue thicker in her mouth; her thoughts all the more muddled. Well, except for that voice screaming in her head that this was a monumental mistake and she’d lead them both to their premature deaths. If that smile hadn’t been enough to do her in, what he said next nearly stopped her heart all together.


For once, she was completely speechless.


Not that she had ever been much of a chatterbox, but compared to how close-lipped he’d been, she might’ve well have spoken a mile a minute. If her silence wasn’t a clear tell, the widening of those amber eyes spoke volumes. Oh. He liked her. Okay. That she could live with. Like…wasn’t as bad as that other “L” word that she knew she was dancing closer and closer to the precipice of. “It’s not teasing,” she said, lamely, she knew, perhaps a bit defeated. “Okay, well, maybe a little. At first. You’re so stiff. I just…” Her voice weakened, faltering as she resisted the urge to rub the back of her head, look away from him. Anything other than having to be face to face with not just him, but herself.


“I just wanted you to talk to me more.” Well, wasn’t that the final nail in the coffin? It was the closest she could get to admitting that she’d been…lonely. Her existence was nomadic at best; something that generally suited her. But to be with someone, traveling with them, and have them physically be there but mentally elsewhere? It’d been torture. He seemed more talkative when they were at the temple. The loss of even that simple banter had left her colder than she’d wanted to admit.


“So, uh…you like me. And I like you. That’s good.” Was that a hint of disappointment there? It was dumb. Monks didn’t love.


And they’re not supposed to eat cunt either, but he did and he’s definitely done it before.


The thought made her twist her mouth, an unsure expression that rarely crossed her face. She wriggled a bit beneath him, twisting to the side to slide from under him. Probably would’ve been easier if her pants were actually on her legs rather than tangled about her ankles. “My liking you is real,” she rolled onto her stomach, then got to her feet, tugging up her pants. Turning her back to him she hopped, wiggled, and shuffled things back into place. “I..uh, I don’t think there’s any reason to elaborate on that.” Ah - that’s where her boot went. She knelt and picked it up, straightening up to stand on one leg as she pulled it on.


“ ‘Like’ is good. I can deal with ‘like.’” She turned to face him now, a ghost of disappointment in her worn smile that she gave him. “But if you can’t oblige my request, well…I guess I’m going to have to die without getting laid ever again.” There. Keep it causal; makes it easier to walk it off. Walk all of this off. There was a hook in the bait she’d laid out; the implication that no, it hadn’t been an off the cuff suggestion; that she was serious - that she’d wanted more. That maybe she’d been imagining it for a little longer than she’d be willing to let on.


But here we are again, and I’m not making the first move. I’ve said enough as it is. What a sad, sad ending to this life of mine.



A heavy sigh now, trying her best to shake off any further dramatic self-pity. So they were going to die. Okay. That was inevitable. But how to stave it off for as long as possible?



“Okay,” she breathed, glancing around where they were. Not like she had any idea further than she had before she’d gripped that stupidly handsome face between her legs.


Okay, let’s stop thinking about that.


She stuck a finger in her mouth, then held it up. The north side grew colder first. Seemed as good as a place as any to start walking to figure out where the hell they were. “Let’s head that way,” she pointed north. “Figure out where we are by the first town we hit. Then we can head to a major trade route. Magus has got to be after us - or you - so, that means we get somewhere big where he has an audience, and then he’ll strike. Best way of going about that is to get to a big town. City, really. And the sooner we figure out where we are, the sooner that can happen.”


And the sooner I can walk this off. What did I think was going to happen? That he’d admit that maybe he felt a little something stronger than ‘like’? That he would’ve just given in and made love to me, right here, right now?


It was getting harder to ignore the way that though tugged at her heart. I wish. I wish he would’ve.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

No reason to elaborate? But, the elaborating was one of the best parts! Really sharing; opening up; it meant something. Something real. Still, she’d told him she liked him, even if it was in a roundabout, assumptive way. He’d let her off the hook for now.

“We like each other,” Kai said with acceptance and a soft smile. “That’s good enough for now.” He looked around the jungle again, hoping he’d notice something he’d missed; some landmark or trail. Nope.

“And that means something to me. Something I’m not going to give up easily.” He was serious now, a bit of the monk back. “So let’s give not dying a bit of effort, yeah?” He knew he was still a mess, but he was trying his best to look confident, if not about fighting Magus, then at least about this tentative relationship they were exploring.

He walked past her, and on the way he slapped her ass, hard enough to make sure she noticed, but not hard enough to hurt her in her injured state. “Then we can see about getting you some sex.” He stifled a giggle, surprised by his own cheek. It felt right, though. Things between them felt lighter to him now, easier to let himself experience without the rush of conflicting emotions he’d been dealing with for days.

He felt lighter, more at ease, after her semi-confession. He had no idea how they were going to survive Magus, but he felt like they would figure it out somehow. “That means getting you healed up first, though. He had a few coins on him still. Hopefully that would be enough for a bed and a healer.

With that, they started walking.








They’d been closer to a town than they’d thought, and it wasn’t long before Kai was helping Lina through the apothecary’s door. The woman was sitting on a low bench, and Kai was leaning against the opposite wall. The healer, an old dwarf in well-worn leathers, had been about to close up shop and go foraging when they’d barged in.He agreed to help with a curt nod, and gestured for Lina to sit in a bench against the wall.

“Hey, do you…need to do that?” Kai asked, when he saw the old man’s fingers reach just under the edge of Lina’s shirt and start to lift.

He turned and gave Kai an annoyed glare. “I don’t need to do this at all. You’re the ones who came to my door, remember?”

Steam might as well have been coming out of the former monk’s ears. “No, we need you to heal her. Just, isn’t there a less intimate way to do it?”

A look of understanding flashed across the dwarf’s face, but there were practicalities to consider. “I have to at least see the injury…”

 

[Apollo Wilde]

He was that itch between her shoulder blades that no amount of contorting, twisting, or fury could get her hands to reach. The kind that always resulted in her either asking someone or rubbing up against a tree or a wall or something to get it. And the more she tried to ignore it and move on with her life, the more it bothered her.



“Like” was fine. It was a perfectly acceptable way to be. They liked each other. She liked a lot of things: sunny days, flowers, the smell of the ocean, even when it was low tide and carried with it the heavy waft of decaying fish and uprooted seaweed. She was sure that he liked things, too - he obviously liked his vows. He liked…to keep warm? Maybe he didn’t like, but he certainly didn’t outwardly dislike the fact that she talked way more than he did during their travels. And he apparently liked her face, and her ass - she hadn’t forgotten that he’d said she was ‘beautiful’, and then that slap? It didn’t feel forced. But that didn’t mean that he was acting a part; what he thought she wanted to hear or see.



And try as she might, she couldn’t get past the eternal “yes, but” thought loop that had started before they’d left the respective safety of the woods. Miraculously enough, as soon as one foot was in front of the other, the thoughts began, stealing attention away from the pain in her side, the looming specter of her, no, their, impending death at the hands of some beast of a man. She didn’t even so much as hiss as the dwarf gently probed at her ribs, her gaze faraway, seeing but not seeing. If anything, she was deceptively accommodating in a manner she hadn’t really been known for previously. Any unspoken guidance given by the gruff healer was acted upon, equally unspoken.



“He’s fine,” her voice was as distant as her gaze as she lifted up the edge of her tunic. Where Magus had punched her was a galaxy of colors - deep scarlet at the center, radiating into sickly blues and purples, an ugly flower tattooed against the warm brown. With the extent of her wound exposed, the dwarf clicked his tongue; surprise and concern mingling perfectly in the small sound.



“You should’ve died,” he finally said. Flatly, to disguise any suggestion of surprise that she was in fact, still moving. “You’re a stubborn miss.”



Somehow, she managed to catch Kai’ori’s gaze. Before it could settle into depth, into exploring those emotions further, she gave him a sheepish grin, baring those sharpened canines.















Healed up - and a significant amount of coin lighter - Lina was feeling ‘chipper’ enough to want to explore the town a bit better. It hadn’t taken her long to surmise where they were - Hanee, a sleepy little town that was smack dab in the middle of nowhere in particular, and somehow equidistantly away from both Windermere and the sea, if the dwarf was to be believed - , but there wasn’t too much more to her thoughts than that.



Why was it, that even with her inevitable death hanging over her, she was still fixated on this stupid puppy of a monk? He’d been worried about her - seemed only natural -, yes, there was that, but now what? Maybe fixating on this was a way of easing her troubled mind into the inescapable inevitability that they were going to die in a gloriously public fashion where she more than likely would have to have what was left of her body washed off the walls. Okay, great - she knew she was going to die at some point, and dying in a particularly gruesome fashion was something that wasn’t inherently out of bounds, considering her life. But throw one hapless monk into the mix, add that stupidly loaded and not loaded ‘like’ into it, and now she couldn’t even focus on what was actually important.



“Those who are about to die should splurge a little,” she’d managed to scrape the words off the roof of her mouth with some shadow of her carefree self as she eagerly handed over a bit too much gold to the innkeeper. She’d ‘splurged’ indeed, going for the nicest inn in town that actually provided meals - true, an inn standard, but this place was nice (and discreet enough) to actually leave meals at the doorstep, for those who didn’t want to be bothered with the typical dining arrangements.



She’d let Kai’ori agonize over her gold -ill-gotten or not, it was a coin toss! For her, it felt like extra weight on what was becoming an increasingly short trip. And it wasn’t like, even before this, that she ever worried about being short on cash. Gold, for all of the strife it caused, could be ridiculously cheap and easy to come by. The look on the inn keeper’s face as he tried to discreetly bite down on the coin to verify its worth, realized that it was indeed pure, and that she’d overpaid (but not as much as she COULD have), was worth whatever ire Kai might bother to dredge up, she’d decided.



And now, as she sat on the edge of an extremely large bed with extremely massive pillows and an extremely fine and plush and fluffy goose down comforter, she wiggled her bare toes in the finely woven rug placed at her feet and sighed in contentment. She rarely treated herself - even after a successful heist - and was more than pleasantly surprised to find that the joy that was bubbling in her chest was twofold. Maybe having someone here to share it with made it that much better. Leaning back a bit, she took a look at the small bedside table. Ooo; extra fancy.



“Did you see this,” she said, with a bit of a toothy grin. Holding up a piece of fine parchment, she cleared her throat ceremoniously, and with an affected air, holding up her nose, read, “ ‘Afterhours dinner menu.’ D’you hear that? We could order a veritable FEAST.” She flopped back down on the bed, arms spread wide. Excitement or something close to it didn’t keep her there for long, and she held the menu up high above her, silently reading the contents. “You should come over here and take a look so we can at least place one order instead of having whatever poor serving maid running back and forth half the night. I’m thinking everything from here,” she pointed at the top of the list which started with lighter fare, such as flatbread and cheese, “to here,” and dragged her finger halfway down the menu, stopping short of the desserts. “But also some of these,” and she pointed out two smaller desserts: some sort of chocolate offering and a creamy pudding that promised being made with only the freshest of milk and finest of vanilla beans. “What do you think?”

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

Kai followed Lina around in a daze. Anyone watching would’ve thought him the dutiful young husband of a wife who lived in comfort as the woman searched around the town for an inn that suited her mood. Any complaint he had when she paid for the room was non-verbal. His face was scrunched up in concern, and he probably would’ve said something, but he was too keenly aware of what she’d been through in the last day. His emotions were all over the place, and he wasn’t the one who nearly died.

The sight of that bruise had shocked him. If he hadn’t seen Magus do that to her with one punch, he would’ve thought it had taken a team of men kicking her into unconsciousness. It was more punishment than he’d ever seen a single fight cause, much less a single punch. He could only imagine what she must be thinking, knowing how unprepared they were if Magus found them soon.

So, he frowned in silence when she paid the innkeeper far too much. At least, he thought it was far too much until he saw the room. Then, he thought it was a little too much. The room was very nice. The rug was soft, the bed looked warm, and most importantly, Kai noticed that the instant they closed the door, the sounds of the common room below disappeared. For a man who’s spent nearly the last decade in a monastery, that was a luxury.

He took off his boots and exhaled. His legs felt like jelly. As soon as he sat down, he probably wasn’t going to get up again, so he stood for now. He just watched her look at the menu. It had been slowly dawning on him, in a rare moment of empathic clarity for him, why Lina was being so carefree and extravagant. It broke his heart.

“I’m starving,” he admitted as he stepped toward her with a smile. With her on the bed, he practically towered over her. “So, yeah, let’s do it.” He had some coin on him still, and they’d find a way to survive poverty if it came to that. Starvation wasn’t the looming issue, anyway.

Kai leaned down, and cupped Lina’s face in his hand. She was warm to the touch, reminding him they’d survived so far. “You were right, you know. Out there, in the forest. He wished he’d undressed. He’d never really seduced anyone before, but he thought it might help if he were naked.

“I want to feel you, before he finds us. Just in case. I want you to be my dying memory if I don’t make it.” Yeah, it was fucking dark. It was terrifying. Kai was bad at this. But the alternative was just to go back to keeping everything stoppered up, and miss out on intimacy and touch, to miss this opportunity with Lina. “so we’re going to order everything you want. Then we’re going to eat it in this criminally soft bed. Then we’re going to take off all our clothes.” He paused, wondering if he had it right. “Or maybe we take off all our clothes and then eat all the food in this bed. I don’t know.” Whatever she wanted. “Then we’re going to have sex.”He chuckled to himself. “Or fuck, I guess, since I’ve all but left the Order now. We’re not going to think about tomorrow, or about what happens when he finds us. We’re just going to make each other cum until we don’t care any more.”

Another serious turn. His voice deepened. His eyes narrowed. “But then we’re going to wake up. And if he hasn’t caught us by then, we’re going to come up with a plan. We’re not going to give up. We’re going to plan on living long enough to put that monster in the ground.”

 

[Apollo Wilde]

His smile sent a ripple of water through her - comforting, reassuring; maybe a little arousing, if she was going to be honest. Enough to kick start that whole ‘what did he mean by ‘like’ debate that she felt that she’d somewhat gotten past. Did he know he was doing this to her? Stringing her along like she was fresh off of the -


Oh.


Well, that certainly didn’t help.


It seemed that she was magically frozen in place the moment his hand cupped her cheek. It was stupid; this was the same guy who had willingly buried his face between her legs. Why would she be shy now? “Oh…um…” A brief catch of her lower lip between her teeth. “So…food.”


It was an attempt at a segue way; one that was completely undermined by his next statement. And if she didn’t frozen enough before, she certainly did now. She shook her head, trying to clear the heat from her cheeks and prevent the steam from leaving her ears.


“…Are you trying to kill me?!” So much for the hot-blooded adulation; now was the fury. “First you get mad at me for asking you to make love to me, then you eat my cunt like you’re starving, then you’re right back to as if it never happened, and now this!” She threw the menu down to the ground, standing up so quickly that the top of her head nearly slammed under his chin. “Look, I like you - we keep saying that word, ‘like.’ ‘Like,’ ‘like,’ ‘like’! What does it even mean anymore?! I’ve spent the last few hours - no, days - trying to figure out what all of this means. It’s so fucking stupid and needlessly complicated. All I asked, the one thing I’d asked, is for you to make love to me. Not ‘fuck’, but to actually, I dunno, sleep with me and have it mean something. You were…I dunno, supposed to be better, not just…do it without thinking about it! You took vows! This is supposed to mean something! Not just some random fly by night skin slapping.”


It seemed just as fast as her fury rose, it’d burned itself out - she shrank down; ran a hand through her hair, and took in a deep sigh. She was confusing herself - why couldn’t she say what she clearly felt? She wasn’t sure if she ‘loved’ him; she barely knew him. Even with the little that they’d spoken with each other during this journey - she knew she was fond of him. Had been for a while. There was something about him; his innate kindness, the slips of compassion that she’d seen from him. And guilt, perhaps: guilt knowing that she’d dragged him into this, that his life was forfeit because he had the misfortune of being in the temple that he knew nothing about.


“Look…Why don’t we just start with food? No one can think straight on an empty stomach.” A weak chuckle as she slipped from around him, kneeling to pick up the menu that she’d thrown down. How childish. If near-death experiences made her this illogical, she was going to do her damndest to avoid it for the rest of her days. “I really, really want this flan.”

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

Once, when Kai was little, his cousins Ganati and Poa had cornered him in Great-Grandfather’s kitchen, as he was having a snack. He’d been about 10 at the time, a year older than Ganati but much closer to the older Poa in temperament. They asked him to come play outside with them, and he knew something was up. It was that look in Ganati’s eyes, and the blush in Poa’s cheeks. She was being devious, and he was ashamed of himself, or nervous at least, for going along with it.

Kai agreed, because that was what he always did. Even though he knew there was going to be a false snake on the ground, or something else that would frustrate and embarrass him. He couldn’t even be mad at Ganati about it, either. If he ever managed to turn the tables on her, she’d love it. It was just her way. So, he let her pull him outside by the arm.

It turned out it wasn’t a prank on him. They’d dragged a cart near the stables, with a saddle and bridle sitting in it, along with everything else they’d need to secure the cart to a horse. Except the horse.

“You’re so good with them, Kai’ori! Pleeeeease!” Ganati’d begged. Poa was quiet. They all knew they weren’t supposed to take a horse out alone. Kai objected, but it was weak, and his cousins knew it.

“Fine,” he finally relented. “But we’re taking Kitty.” The old mare was placid enough that they probably wouldn’t even have needed Kai’s talent at keeping the animals calm.

“You’re no fun. You know that?”

“I am so fun!” Kai protested, but he saw Poa’s incredulous look. “Fine. We’ll take Onyx.”

“Yes!” shouted Ganati.

In short, it hadn’t gone well. They’d barely gotten in the cart before the young stallion was out of control, racing down the small path toward town, only to stop like nothing was wrong every time one of them was about to fall out, or Kai was about to fall out of the saddle. He was only able to grasp the reins a few times, until his Grandmother, who had heard their screams as they were dragged away, found them and landed in front of them, stopping Onyx in his tracks.

For some reason Kai’s conversations with Lina had brought that story to mind.

A few hours earlier, Kai would’ve probably yelled right back at her. At a minimum he would’ve pointed out that she was the first one to use that word she suddenly hated. Now, he was too tired. He’d expended all the energy he had in his body twice over, physical and mental. He took a deep breath through his nose.

“No. Let’s not.” His stomach grumbled audibly. “I mean, yes. Let’s get the food, but let’s not just sit here in silence while we wait.” He frowned at her. “That’s been our problem for a while now, you know? Too much left unsaid. Well I’m tired of it.”

“You don’t think this means something to me?” He knew she wasn’t really that dense. “That’s the whole thing I was getting at earlier.” He would definitely be yelling now if he had it in him anymore. “I…” A downbeat. The weariness showing through, along with a sliver of vulnerability. “I needed to know it was real. That you actually felt something, and didn’t just want to get off. Because I feel something.”

He shook his head and exhaled. “But fucking? Making love?” A smile, so she would know he was teasing her. “I’m going to need you to avoid reading too much into the words I say, because–and I cannot stress this enough–I do not know what I’m doing.” He’d never had a meaningful romantic relationship before, never felt like any feelings he had were returned. This was new territory. “How are people supposed to talk about this stuff?”

He sat next to her and leaned over to look at the menu. “But yes, I think all of that looks good.” He pointed to a dish of meat wrapped in steamed sorrel leaves. “And maybe an extra order of those?”

 

[Apollo Wilde]

The Turaoi were nomadic by nature; that was her life. But “nomadic” didn’t mean without attachments. And when she decided to strike out on her own, taking the hopes of her people with her, she hadn’t really given much thought to anything else other than her survival. Stealing had started off as a survival thing; maybe a bit of a self righteous thing as well. She never stole from anyone who didn’t deserve it - naturally, stealing from other bandits was the best choice. Money was sent home, spent on her expenses, given away in bouts of unnerving generosity for the somewhat scruffy looking woman with the gleaming eyes and devilish grin. Life was simple - just get to the point where she felt she could steal the Staff back. Attachments didn’t really happen; her family, yes, was there, in a sense - but romance? Only from what she’d heard in stories, read about. Was a nice enough distraction. But something that happened to other people and not something that she particularly longed for.


And then…Kai’ori.


She started laughing - softly, at first, then loudly, tossing her head back and showing those sharp canines.


“You know what, Kai’ori? I don’t know what I’m talking about or doing either.” She wiped tears from the corners of her eyes, snorting a little as she tried to calm down. “I had sex to get it over with; like a rite of passage, you know? Strengthen the bonds in my community. Thought there was someone I really fancied for a while. Not in like the ‘settle down and have kids’ kind of way. I was curious and he was nice so it happened.” She shrugged - turning her attention back to the menu. Why hadn’t she talked like this earlier? “But you’re right. We should be…talking.” A grin, now, way more of her former self, confident, relaxed. “But let’s put in this order first. It’s going to take some time for them to get everything.”






Ordering had proven to be as simple as getting the room - and the wait, as Lina had assumed, was going to be a while, though the extra coin she’d provided meant that they were considered priority. But it still seemed that the food arrived entirely too quickly for the conversation Lina was preparing herself - and as much as she figured they both wanted to talk, once the food got there, all of their attention was focused on that. And it wasn’t until a great deal later, after they had both eaten their fill, that she slowly started looping back round to what they’d started.


“I guess what I was trying to say is that…you know, ‘fuck’ means something that doesn’t matter. A brief escape, you know? But ‘making love’ is something that’s serious. It means something to both people.” She carefully scraped out the last bit of flan from the crystal saucer it had been presented in. “I just thought because of…you know, the forest, that you didn’t care. Or that it wasn’t that important to you. I really, really like you. You’re kind. Compassionate. And I thought, ‘Well, if I’m about to die, I couldn’t have chosen a better partner,’ and I thought, okay, yeah, maybe this next bit is a bit selfish,” she licked the spoon, “But I thought, well, you wouldn’t have had any prior experience…that it would mean more? I dunno. I can’t really tell you what was going on in my head. Other than, ‘My god; I’m going to die.’” Her tone became a bit more serious, as she set down the bowl. “And I’m still feeling like that. Scared. I’ve never been hit that hard in my life. But then, you just…went down on me like it was nothing, so it felt like absolutely nothing in this world made sense. That I’d read you wrong, and that you were some sort of degenerate hiding behind this whole, ‘I took vows!’ thing. Because for me, it was never about, ‘lemme see if I can make him break his vows,’ because that’s awful and people, everyone, even thieves like me, have to have some sort of code to live by, otherwise how are we people?”


“But I like you. I don’t love you,” she smiled, to soften how her words could be taken, “But I honestly…don’t think I’m too far from it.”


Seemed like there wasn’t a better moment. With one hand, she gently moved the plates and bowls from the bed where they’d both ended up (a small little picnic she’d insisted on), and, taking his face in her hands, pressed her lips to his.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

Kai listened to Lina with a placid smile, his lips spreading into a warm smile before twitching into a frown when she described her feelings about their boreal cunnilingus. This was what he wanted. It felt like an honest, heartfelt conversation. They could move forward understanding each other. Finally. Still, he felt bad about ripping it out of her like this. He was about to tell her that when he saw that she was about to kiss him, and he didn’t see any reason not to just enjoy that.

This kiss was different: raw but warm, deep but sweet, fraught but content; it was peace the way swords fall to the ground after a battle, healing the way muscles knit in pain. It was real. Kai’s fingers slid up Lina’s cheek and slid past her ear to cup the back of her head. His other hand rested on the bed. His tongue played at her lips in invitation, but one thing about this kiss was that it was patient.

When they finally separated, Kai leaned back and smiled. “I might love you soon, too.” His heart leapt in his chest, saying it out loud, but something had come over him, pushing him to say things the same way he was asking her to do. He still felt some of the same fear and uncertainty he’d always felt, but he said it anyway. “You’re generous, and selfless. Even your thievery was something you did for other people. I respect that. You stand by your principles. You also…” He took a deep breath. “You pulled me in, when none of my Brothers did. I…” He was blushing now, stammering. “That m-means something t-to me.”

He leaned forward and pressed his forehead against hers. “You mean something to me. This means something to me. So ‘making love’ it is, I guess.” Another smile. “It’ll be my first time, for that at least. My other first time definitely wasn’t ‘making love’.”

“I just…” Another blush, but for a different reason this time. “I’m sorry, for the way I reacted at first. I…did kind of think you just wanted to fuck, that it didn’t mean to you what it would mean to me. I’m sorry.”

 

[Apollo Wilde]

She gave a little start feeling the touch of his tongue. Rather than deepen the kiss, there was a soft hum from her, contemplative. He’s sweet. I don’t want to rush this. Her hands didn’t leave the side of his face through the kiss, content to just cradle his cheeks within her palms.


As the kiss ended in its own time, she took in a deep breath as he was speaking. Funny how that contact was enough to press a ‘reset’ button in her head. Things didn’t seem so desperate, so hazy. “We don’t know each other well enough for that…word,” and it was said gently, with a warm smile, one that was without her usual edge. “I want to know more about you, of course…Which you should be honored by.” The softness of her smile was replaced by the smirk of a jokester. “I don’t usually take this much interest in someone I’m trying to steal from.” A reminder of their initial meeting; common ground that they could always return to. There would be no hiding from it, after all.


Then he ‘confessed’ - and she feigned shock. Kind enough though that he’d realize that she wasn’t mocking him. “You haven’t made love before?” Oh, her curiosity was peaked - that much was clear by the lift of her brows, the mouth that tried to suppress a teasing smile. Who was his first? How had he ended up in the Order? “Did you leave someone behind, when you joined?” Softer. Joking moved aside, as she let her hands drift from the sides of his face to grasp his hands. “If you did…I don’t want to get in the way.” A slight ducking of her head to the side. Strange. She was developing feelings for him; was scared enough to admit it to herself, to breathe it out into the air and into being, but even now, there was that pulse in her chest. The one she felt when she knew she was doing the right thing, beyond a doubt. It overshadowed all else that she could feel. “And if there is someone waiting for you, then it’s my duty to get you home to them in one piece.” She squeezed his hands softly, before cradling the sides of his face again, touching her forehead to his. She was quiet, allowing whatever energy that flowed around them convene into that singular point between their eyes.


“I’ll figure out a way out of this. I promise.” And…since the whole debacle started, she felt strength returning to her. She’d gotten him into it, and she was going to get him out of it. Magus was scary; there was no denying that. But even the most formidable wall developed cracks over time.


But now what? This sumptuous room, the meal shared - feelings expressed. She knew, on one hand, she was making an assumption that perhaps he’d left someone at home. Maybe his situation around sex was closer to her own; something to get rid of rather than something that felt…earned, in a sense. “D…do you still want to…?” She trailed off. She’d gone this far on making assumptions; maybe it was time to use her words a bit more.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

“Oh, I’m very honored,” Kai purred, joining in her teasing. Then he puffed out his chest, grandiosely booming. “But if you’re not going to steal from me, then you’ll need to return my heart.”

He blushed, and then giggled, and it was a balm. So much tension had built up in him, worrying about his place at the monastery, his place in the world, his place with Lina, what to do about Magus, and all of that was still there, but there was something about the laughter that made it seem like it was going to be okay. At least, the parts of it other than Magus. It made him feel more like himself than he had since he’d left the monastery, maybe since he’d gotten to the monastery.

He just looked at Lina for a while after she asked about him leaving someone behind. He was surprised, shocked even, to see this kind of insecurity in her, this softness and vulnerability. It sparked a protective instinct in him. He was about to reply when she mentioned getting him home to them in one piece. It was sweet that that protective instinct went both ways, but it also filled him with a pang of anxiety. One more thing to like about Lina meant one more thing to break his heart if they didn’t keep…involving themselves with one another. “No, I…I didn’t.”

He reached out and placed one hand on hers. “But, I…I feel like if I did I might still want you to get in the way.” He blushed again. It was ridiculous, and probably sounded strange to tell her he’d want her to break him up with this hypothetical stranger, but he just wanted her to know, to feel how strongly he felt that this was right between them, that they needed to pursue this and see what they could turn into together.

He smiled again. “So let’s get both of us home in one piece, yeah?”

Kai shook his head. “WE will figure a way out of this. Understood?” He squeezed her fingers with his, and took a deep breath. “You’re not doing any of this on your own. Not anymore.” He just wished he felt more confident that it would work, but he knew they wouldn’t give up. They would keep working until they found a way, or…

His eyes bounced around the room. He didn’t want Lina to see his worry, and –

Still want to do this? Of course I still want to do this.

He gave her a look, like a how could you doubt that look, and opened his mouth to speak. But, then he thought better of it and decided to take a cue from Lina and do it without words for once. He lifted his hand off of hers, and placed it on her thigh. It was warm, and soft, and he wanted to squeeze it, but he held back. Instead, he just raised one eyebrow and smiled.

 

[Apollo Wilde]

She raised a brow before she wrinkled her nose in playful distaste. What a line! But his laugh was warming and infectious. Enough so that she leaned over and gave him a light punch in the shoulder. “Monk puppy.”


The small words between them were comforting, warm. Bolstered her courage, and made it that much easier to place her hand over his. His hand was large, dwarfed her own. For not the first time, as she glanced down at their hands, she found herself marveling at how he was such a collection of contradictions. Large and gentle, skilled but a novice. She gently returned the squeeze, and sighed.


“Well, not like there’s a lot of planning to happen right now…not with the dread of impending doom looming over my head.” A small grin, the ghost of nerves. An acknowledgment that there was something serious on the horizon, but now wasn’t the time for it.


His hand on her thigh was answer enough for her. She leaned forward, lifting her hand from his to cradle the sides of his face. Her right hand inched upwards, carded through the fine silk of his hair that threatened to hang into his eyes. Closer still, a small shifting of her weight on the bed, faint rustling of the thick comforter beneath here. Hesitation, as she moved her hands lower, almost like she was going to remove them from the sides of his face. Her touch became softer as she closed the gap between them, pressing her lips softly to his.


Unlike their time in the forest, this wasn’t hurried. Instead, it seemed as if she was trying to learn the details of his face. She’d seen him several times; dreamed of him, but having him here, in front of her, filling her senses - there was simply nothing like it. She would hold the kiss until they both needed to break it to breathe - deep inhales - and she was kissing him again, her right hand running through his hair, brushing it back, gathering at the nape of his neck. Her left moved to press against his chest, tracing looping, meaningless patterns against the fabric of his tunic. Beneath the fabric, she could feel the faint pulse of his heart, the chill of his skin. Always felt like he was a few degrees temperature than normal - like he absorbed heat rather than put it out.


“…You’re cold,” she murmured against his mouth, “Is it always like this for you…?”

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

Her hands were warm on his face. He closed his eyes, just enjoying her touch, letting the room, the world, melt away. He could feel the softness of her skin, hear her breath soft between their faces. Lina, he heard himself say in his mind, he breathed in and it was her breath, and then her lips were on his. It was quite a journey from their annual fights on the temple floor.

It was like his whole body pulled itself up into his lips, desperate to touch her. He could think of nothing else. A tiny whimper left his lips, and his hands moved up her body. He felt her side and back, the strong muscles underneath silky skin, but not strong enough to withstand Magus’s punch. He wished he could take some of his great-grandfather’s scales and put them there, cover her with them, although she probably wished she could do the same to him. His hands slid to her back, and pulled her chest to his. When they finally had to pull away to breath, he felt her breath against his chest.

“I don’t handle the cold well,” he says with a smirk. “So I might need you to keep me warm.”

It would sound more confident if he could say it without a waver in his voice. He blushes, and glances down at their bodies. “I, um, I think skin-to-skin might be even better, for multiple reasons, but I can’t speak from experience.” His horniness was starting to affect his ability to think about what he was going to say. His fingers still worked, though, and he reached out to one of the ties on her top, trying to undo it.

 

[Apollo Wilde]

“…Somehow, I think that I can manage that.” A small smile. “I’ve kept you warm before…and I quite enjoyed it.” It could’ve been salacious; her perverting the moment. But it wasn’t. Being that close to him, in the midst of all of the terror that she found herself drowning in, had been peaceful. Something close to normalcy.

And as he reached for the ties of her tunic with trembling fingers (startling, in one so large compared to her), she placed her hands over his. Not to push him away, but to offer comfort. Reassurance. She wasn’t going to go anywhere, nor was she going to go back on her word - or ignore her feelings. There was no longer any fear about corrupting him, about bringing him down into the mud. It was just the two of them, in the moment. Magus was far, far away. Kai was here, in front of her.

Without a sound, she guided his hands through untying the loose knots of her tunic. As each one fell away, she would mark his progress with a kiss - always unhurried, always with a warm smile tucked in the corners. She made no effort to undress him - not yet, at least - idly, she thought, she didn’t want to overwhelm him or make him feel rushed. Besides, she technically owed him one, considering their tryst in the forest. She guided his hands lower, from the edges of the worn fabric and across slips of her warm flesh. Beneath the tunic she wore a series of bandages wrapped about her breasts - in deferment to the old dwarf’s healing job. Tenderly, she moved Kai’s hands further under her tunic, across her back. Slipping beneath the edge of the bandages, she worked the end free, causing the rest of the wound fabric to loosen. Here, she would guide him, a bit more carefully than before, thinking about her healed - phantom pains, perhaps? The bruise hadn’t subsided, at least - stomach.

She could’ve said something; anything. Instead, she kept her head lowered, forehead pressed to his, breath soft against his lips. She’d still kiss him; still lean forward, guiding him as always. Slipping his hands under the loosened bandage, keeping his hands from being tangled within it as she moved his hands to cup the undersides of her full breasts. Funny - even though she knew it was coming, the feeling of his hands on one of her more intimate parts of her body was enough to make her gasp against his lips. To soothe herself, she slipped her hands under his own tunic, her hands mirroring his on her own chest. Her thumbs grazed his nipples, and she deepened their kiss.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

Her thumbs tickled against his nipples, and he huffed under his breath to keep from laughing. He still smiled, though. It felt so..intimate…to be face to face like this, sharing their breaths, touching each other with their hands, slowly, continuously. This was no wrestling match with incidental touching, no utilitarian closeness to share warmth, no clinical bandaging of wounds. This was touch for its own sake, intimacy for its own sake. They were touching each other because they wanted to. It felt good. Her body felt good in his hands. He cupped her tits and gently squeezed, just for fun. It felt good. Her hands felt good on his body, despite the tickles. He was beginning to believe he felt good to her, too. She wouldn’t still be here with him, running her thumbs across his skin, gasping against his lips, sinking into his hands, if he didn’t? Right?

He was careful with her chest, cognizant of how recent her healing had been, as he squeezed and lifted her breasts, feeling their weight and warmth. He kissed her, his tongue slipping between her lips, and then he slipped past her chin to kiss the side of her neck. His breathing was heavy now, his fire stoked. Even if she were teasing him, about to laugh and ask why on earth he thought she would want him, he was still going to try, still going to kiss and caress her body as long as she let him.

“Beautiful,” he whispered against her shoulder, his lips tracing down toward her arm, and he meant it. He kissed his way past her elbow, and his hand lifted hers to his lips. His tongue curled around and between her fingers before lewdly sucking each one into his mouth. Once he was done, he pulled her arm around his back and dove in to kiss her lips again.

“I want you,” he whispered. “I want this.” He kissed her again on the neck. “Please, tell me what you like.” He was trembling now, breathing between kisses. “I want to do a good job. I want to make you feel good. You deserve it.”

 

[Apollo Wilde]

His soft laughter wrapped around her; pulled her closer than his hands. Funny, that. The warm amusement that she felt was quickly coaxed into tinder for that internal flame as his tongue slipped past her lips. Again, he surprised her with his experience. Why would she have ever had any reason to think of him as anything other than an un-kissed virgin? But here he was again, surprising her with a level of familiarity that didn’t feel forced. Like a natural extension of their time together.

As his tongue ran over her fingers, she watched, her face an expression of quiet amusement. His eagerness hadn’t transformed into haste - something she was appreciative of. Maybe it’d dawned on him as well that this had been a long time in coming. That it would be foolish to rush it now.

“You’re already making me feel good,” she murmured against his lips, her hands slipping from his pectorals to his upper arms, “And you made me feel good in the woods. Now it’s my turn.” As her hands ran further up his arms, she pushed off his tunic, letting it pool around his wrists and waist. “Besides…this has been a long time in coming, hasn’t it?” Words not meant to embarrass, but to finally put it out there.

Now it was her turn for his lips to travel down the lines of his throat, her warm breath a silent, softer kiss after the touch of her lips. The caress of her tongue against the corded lines of his muscles there, tasting the sweat, the imagined scent of the temple that she would always associate with him. Lips occasionally closing over the smooth skin, hints of bites, but not quite, not firm enough for her teeth to brush against his skin, then, the touch of teeth, only a ghost of them, against his collarbone. She shifted easily, working her way down his body, hands slipping between the two of them while her nose nudged against his right nipple, hot breeze before her lips closed around the small nub, her fingers working the tie on his pants loose. Another kiss, to the center of his chest, before she tongued his left nipple, gently pulling his pants down to the tops of his thighs.

Nestling herself easily between his legs, she looked up at him, checking the lines of his face. There was no mockery in her expression; just warmth and caring, as if she were tending to a precious duty. “Here….” The word was soft, barely a whisper, as she gently tugged his pants down further. The bulge in his pants was inching closer to being fully exposed, leaving him partially nude and her still mostly clothed. Not that she minded.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

A low chuckle, at the idea that all their fights had led to this. It was true, of course, but neither of them had known it at the time. All that time seeing how she moved, and in such close contact; in hindsight he felt like he should’ve seen this coming. Their fights had felt like a dance at times, and with the way Lina moved, Kai suspected that what they were about to do would, too.

The touch of her lips down his neck and onto his chest was different, though. Her lips, her tongue, even her teeth all gave him different sensations on different parts of his body. There was an amused look in her eyes, but it wasn’t the teasing he’d feared. She was enjoying his reactions to her touch, his little breaths in, the small tensing of his muscles as each one felt the tiny pressures of her mouth for the first time.

He felt like an instrument that she could draw different notes from, and it only took him a moment to realize that he liked that feeling. He liked that she could make him react the way she wanted, because she enjoyed it. That was what he wanted more than anything, and what he thought he wouldn’t get:someone to just enjoy him and his body.

She almost had his cock out, and he knew that his responsiveness would only increase. He had a thought to stop her, to keep her from giving him pleasure, to make sure she was the one being served, that she would be the one that owed him, and not the other way around. But that was the old way of thinking, the way that he’d protected himself after being mistreated. It wasn’t right, and it wasn’t helpful, certainly not with Lina. That wasn’t what he wanted between him.

She might’ve felt him tense, but it was gone soon, and he was letting her pull off the last of his clothes, and his cock tasted the air in front of a woman for the first time in years. He was eager, and it showed. His cock had a curve to it that his only other lover had seemed to enjoy, and he was more than hard enough for it to show. Still, he blushed when he saw her eyes fix on it. “You…d…I…”

He didn’t even know what he was trying to say. The sounds just came on their own.

 

[Apollo Wilde]

He was trembling. Not in fear; she knew that much. Anticipation, nerves, maybe? She did her best to soothe him, running her hands up the musculature of his thighs. They were warm and solid, seeming to steel her as well. “You’ll be okay. I’ve got you. You know that, right?” Bright golden eyes looked up at him, a warm smile on her face, her hands inching lower. Grasping the top of his pants, working them further down his legs till they puddled around his ankles. The removal of the fabric would seem second or third in her priorities - the first thing being the feel of his skin under her hands.

She didn’t instantly rush to take his cock in her mouth, or to tease him. She continued to stroke his legs, long, languorous touches - savoring the skin, the muscle beneath, the small patches of scales here and there. How had she not noticed them before? Tracing a tight circle around a patch of scales high on his inner left thigh, she smiled down at it, before turning the expression back up to him. “You know…” another tight loop around the scales, a long line drawn across the top of his thigh, “I think I’d be interested in meeting your family.”

Not a hint of sarcasm; soft wonder at the flesh before her. She held his eyes for a moment, enough for him to catch his breath, for him to calm, before she moved her hand to caress the skin at the base of his cock, right where the pillar of flesh met the soft pouch of his testicles. Fine hair covering him here, the inner thighs slightly bare, before hair sprang up along his knees, down his calves. She wouldn’t ask if it was okay, but she wouldn’t take advantage of the soft silence between them. One finger, then two, then her fist gently closing over the base of him, feeling his pulse there, the thickness of veins that strained against the skin. A twist of her wrist, soft, natural - running up and down him, still seeming to want to do nothing more than to get him used to the touch of her. Take the edge off.

“You’re so warm here…did you know that?” Spoken as softly as a whisper; cautious not to scare him away. “Warm and soft.” With each word, she moved closer, letting her voice carry over in tepid waves, until he could feel the movement of her lips against him. A tame kiss to the very tip of him followed by the brush of her tongue. “And a little sweet, too.” Teasing grin now as she mouthed the head of him, tracing long circles around the flesh even as she kept the grip of her lips loose.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

“I’ve got you, too, Lina. It goes both ways,” Kai insists. He knows she was talking about this moment, about sex and his inexperience and nervous anticipation, but his reply is meant more generally. With Magus, with the staff, with everything for as long as they stay together, they’ll protect and care for each other. He knows she has a bit of a protective streak, and he won’t let her be a martyr for anything.

It’s hard to think about that much more with her fingers so close to his cock, though. He was breathing heavily, his skin tingling with her touch, and then she really surprised him.

“They’ll love you,” he said, and he meant it, even if he had to hold back laughter at the non sequitur. His cousins were going to give him such a hard time, and he was pretty sure Lina would just join in on the pile-on. He was looking forward to it and dreading it at the same time. He was about to reach out and caress her cheek when her eyes drifted back down to his cock, and she finally touched the base with her fingers.

A sharp gasp, and his attention was back on the impatient organ between his legs. Judging by the twitches in time with his pulse, it liked her fist wrapped around it. Kai did, too.

“Oh, fuck,” he breathed as she twisted and pumped her hand, and then he said it again as her lips touched his cock for the first time, and she could’ve been talking about them. “I could say the same about your lips.” He smiled down at her. No one had ever put their mouth on him like that before. It felt wonderful, and the intimacy and trust of it made it even better. Kai could’ve kicked himself for making this so difficult for them, but he didn’t want to jostle her.

He had no frame of reference for how well she was doing, and she probably could’ve just gnawed on his cock like a carrot and he still would’ve loved it, but he thought she was doing a phenomenal job. It wasn’t long before he was tapping her arm to let her know he was about to blow.

 

[Apollo Wilde]

“…Good to know,” little more than a purr as she shifted, covering the head of his cock with her mouth. The long swipes of her tongue melted into the full embrace of her mouth. It would be an additional shifting of her body that allowed her to slowly swallow him, There was no hurry, no forced cramming of his cock down her throat. He was larger than she suspected (she had to admit, that she hadn’t actually spent much time about getting into his pants), and she had no desire to instantly choke on him. That wouldn’t have been pleasant for either one of them.

Up, down. Deeply, shallowly. Slow, always - savoring of the softness of his flesh, how warm he felt, the minor twitches and pants and sighs coming from him. It was easy to get lost in it all, to let her eyelids flutter close and fill her senses with nothing but him; from the damp tangle of his pubic hair to the raised rivers of his veins. Her nose, more than once, pressed firm against him as she opened wide, dragging her tongue from the crevasse between his testicles up the ridge of the underside of his cock.

“Mmmph…?” It was a sound of concern at the rapid tapping against her shoulder. Rather than remove her mouth from him, she simply opened those big eyes and glanced up at him, holding his gaze with her own. Concern knitted her brows for a moment, and, with a reluctant last parting suck, she pulled her lips from him. “Are you okay? Is there anything that I can do that you’d like better?” Asked softly, as not to scare him away or embarrass him. This was about him, after all. "Or..." Another soft sucking kiss to his head, "If you're getting close...do you want me to stop? Or do you want me to keep going?" A twist of her wrist as she gently pumped the flesh. "You can cum in my mouth, if you'd like."

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

Kai was having trouble concentrating on anything but how good Lina's mouth felt on him. He heard her questions, shock registering in his mind that she would want him to cum in her mouth, want to taste him. His breath hitched, gasping. He tensed, trying to hold back orgasm. She nearly had him, and he couldn’t even speak. He took advantage of her pause and huffed until his balls pulled back from the brink. He melted onto the bed.

“That’s... I just wanted to warn you. I…” His eyes finally focused on hers. “You’re making me cum, Lina. I feel like you should choose where. It’s…I’m fuckin’ close, though.”

The feelings in his cock and his heart were so intense, so much more than what he’d felt the first time he’d had sex, that he couldn’t even begin to describe it. He cared about Lina, in ways he didn’t think he’d care for anyone. It would take one or two pumps of her hand, or a single sliding of her lips down his shaft, and he was pretty sure he was going to blow. Then, he was going to take a few seconds, catch his breath, enjoy the feeling, and then he was going to flip her and shove his tongue so far up her cunt he could lick out her eggs. She deserved at least that much.