He flashes me a wolfish grin for a moment, takes my hand, and puts it between us. I can feel where his shaft sinks into me.
He takes a stroke, and my hand is covered. He gestures for me to switch hands, so I do. “Now put them where you want me to kiss you the most.”
He watches as my hands trail down my neck, over my breasts, and down my belly. Something like a rumbling purr comes from him as he complies. The sun starts to dip below the horizon, and I realize we have to leave. He’s spent but toying with me as he continues to mark me. “I think I'm well covered.”
He chuckles wickedly. “I'm just making sure I didn't miss any spots.”
Oh gods. There's not an inch of me that's not marked. And not much of him that's not marked. I look, and the other horse has shown up. “We need to go back soon."
He laughs and waves a hand at his naked body. "Unless you want to scandalize everyone, we need clothes,"
I ask if I can dress him as a Fey, as I want to see him dressed. He shrugs. “As long as you don't make me look ridiculous, I don't care."
A flick of my wrist, and he’s dressed like a Fey prince. Gods, it suits him.
He looks delicious. "You definitely don't look ridiculous. Except for the ears, you could be one of us.”
He smirks. "Now it's your turn. Hmm… how about… something fluffy that will hide where my hands are?”
I think I know just the thing. A flick of my wrist, and my hair is swept back, while I wear a dress with a skirt resembling layers of oversized flower petals. He laughs. “Yes. I think that will do nicely.”
Puzzled, I ask why he wants his hands hidden. “Because my fingers will be inside you all the way home.”
My breath catches, and my core clenches. He notices my reaction and pulls me close. “I want to see how many more times I can make you fall apart in my arms before I have to let you go for the night.”
That’s so delectably indecent that my core floods with moisture. He guides me back to where the horses are standing. He ties the second one to the saddle of the first. Mounting the first, he helps me up and drapes me across the front of the saddle. I lean back against his arm while his other hand slips up my thigh.
His fingers find me, and he whispers, “You are soaking wet right now. You’re a naughty-minded little minx. I adore it.”
I fall apart as we reach the game trail.
He purrs, “That’s one.”
His fingers keep moving. “Tell me, did I learn anything from watching you touch yourself, or do I need another session to improve my technique?”
I come apart again. “That’s two.” “I think maybe another session or two could improve your effectiveness.”
I hear his chuckle. “I definitely won't complain. That’s three. What else would you like?”
“I want to see you service yourself.” “I’ll be thinking about all your decadent little noises the whole time. I’m sure I can manage that.”
We’re back on the main road now. “Four.” “What are you going to do if we pass someone?” “Keep working and let you rest your face on my shoulder and pretend to be asleep.” “They’ll smell us.” “Why? They’ll think you’re so tired, you’re asleep across my saddle bow. I wore you out, you poor thing.”
I think I blushed from my roots to my toes.
He laughs before he adds, “You're so marked now, do you think they'll notice?”
I think about this for a moment. “They might not.”
He sighs happily, “I marked every inch of you I wanted.”
I frown a bit. “I think you marked every inch of me that there is, even my hair.”
He laughs, “I know. I want all of them. Hmmm…. Five.”
He’s humming a happy-sounding tune for a time as we ride. Gods! I even find that delectable. I squirm a bit at his attentions, and he looks down at me. “ I want every last scrap of you. I even want your hair. I want it wrapped around my fist, while your lips are wrapped around my cock.”
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That does it, and he chuckles. “ Six. Be extra sleepy for a few minutes. We have to pass the city gate and the guards.”
The sheer wickedness of it undoes me. “Oh, you naughty thing. Seven.”
His fingers slow for a bit until we’re past the gate before they pick up their pace again. “It’s hard being quiet.”
I feel the rumble of his chuckle. He shifts my hip a bit and whispers back. “That’s not the only thing that’s hard.”
I can feel him pushing into my hip each time the horse moves.
I had him six times in the valley, and he’s clearly ready for seven. I am undone, and he purrs. “My, my. Eight. I can see your parents’ house from here. Nine. Is it me, or are they closer together now? That’s something I might need to investigate later.”
His fingers withdraw, and he starts methodically licking them. I watch him through lowered lids. I am limp and spent.
When he’s done, his fingers trail over my face, “Time for you to wake up, sleepy head. We’re almost home. I almost forgot to tell you. You need to be dressed and ready in the morning. You're coming to court with us to talk about this trade deal.”
My eyes fly open, wide with panic. “Calm down. I’ll be right there with you and just as marked up as you.”
The panic continues to spiral, and his mouth crashes down on mine, erasing all thought. He sighs and releases me. “It’s going to be fine.”
I frown at him. “I’ve known our king much longer than you have. The king will smell me and you all over me. I don't know how he will react to that. As nearly as I can tell, he’s a petty, capricious shit who likes seeing me unhappy and goes out of his way to keep me miserable.”
He shakes his head at this. “I’m pretty sure he's already smelled your markings on me. The king already knows that I’ve offered for you, and you’ve accepted. He received a note today, almost as soon as your mother arrived at the temple. It came while we were negotiating, and he waved it at me, saying congratulations were in order. He’d like for all of us to take Fey wives, but most of the rest of the delegation is already married.”
I look at him, puzzled. “No secondary wives or concubines?”
He shakes his head. “No, we don't do that. It's one husband and one wife.”
I frown, “Are you sure you want to do this? You know that children are rare. If you marry me, you might not have any.”
He nods, “I knew that before I offered for you. I don't care about any of that. I want you.” “Are you sure you won't regret this?”
He throws his head back and laughs again. “I am absolutely positive I won't regret it. I'm equally certain that if I passed you up, that I'd regret it to the end of my days.”
He leans down and puts his forehead against mine. “I am absolutely certain that I want you. No one’s wanted you in a long time. I expect it will take some time for you to get used to the idea that you are most definitely wanted. Now let's go tell your parents, shall we?”
He ties the horses to the picket fence around the garden, and we head up the walk. My parents open the door. My father sniffs and laughs. “He's definitely marked you. And you've marked him again, more thoroughly this time.”
My father looks at the human and smirks. “Welcome to the family. You know, in the old days, this alone was enough to constitute a marriage.”
Kenric shakes his head. “That won’t do. I want her to have all the rights and protections of a proper legal marriage. There will have to be a second ceremony if she goes back with me, so that our laws recognize her as my wife. I also want to ensure that if anything were to happen to me, the king would have to send her back here. I want to be sure she doesn't end up stuck somewhere far from home without any of the people that care about her.”
To my never-ending surprise, my mother hugs me. She pulls me over to the mirror in the hallway and spins me around to face it. I'm much less feral than I was before. My claws are retracted, and my teeth look nearly normal. I can’t remember the last time I retracted my claws. I start to hyperventilate, and the next thing I know, I'm lying on the sofa in the parlor. He’s still here. “Hush, now. You’re just fine. Nothing’s coming out of the dark for you. You’re safe here. I’m here and breathing. Anything that wants to hurt you has to get past me first.”
I inhale his scent and relax. I don't even know how I did it, but it seems like I've almost entirely shifted back. Maybe that male from the court knew what he was talking about.
He leans down and whispers in my ear, “By the gods! You’re even more gorgeous like this. I can’t wait to see what you look like after a week in a big bed with silk sheets and room service.”
He glances at my father and asks, “Where can I hire Fey I can trust to review this contract?”
My father shakes his head. “Almost everyone would be too afraid of the king to give you an honest answer. Your best bet is right there on the sofa. The two of them don't get along. He's always been a pompous ass with her, even when he knows he's wrong. Sometimes, especially when he knows he’s wrong, like this thing with her name. He's lucky we don't follow the Old Ways anymore, or she’d challenge him for his right to rule. He'd be minus a head and a crown in short order.”
Kenric nods. “So that's what that little display was about when she was leaving court.”
My father shrugs, “I don't know what happened. I wasn't there. The king made sure I was called away.”
Kenric chuckles. “She went into full hunter mode when he made her bow and ask for permission to leave. Both rows of teeth and the full claw extension.”
My father laughs. “He was such an ass to her that day that he deserved that. We've been getting letters of support, and the court has been getting inundated with petitions to reinstate her name. As soon as word got out about what he'd done, all the refugees and other war survivors started organizing. There's quite a bit of anger about it. I think everyone knows that the king didn't end the war; it was Yávi?. Treating her like that was a poor reward for her service.”
I can see him thinking, so I ask what’s on his mind. “Your father seems to think I should ask you to review the document we’ve negotiated so far.”
I shrug. “I’m not one of our specialists in that sort of thing, but most, if not all of them, would be too afraid of the king to give you an honest answer. I can review it and see if I find anything that suggests you should renegotiate. Knowing him, there's probably more than one thing that needs to be renegotiated. If you thought a Lawful Fey couldn't mislead you, you need to have a Fey review that agreement. I might not be able to tell you that the grass is blue and the sky is green, but I think I've shown how I can express myself in ways that get around that limitation. If it's not explicitly stated, then it's not valid.”
He nods. “You're also used to dealing with your king, so you might have a better idea than most what kind of tricks he might try.”
I nod and start to sit up. “Sleep well and be ready tomorrow. Once the negotiations are done, maybe we'll try for ten.”
Chapter 10 has confirmed several important truths about the universe:
- Yávi? is a force of nature.
- Kenric has hidden depths that should probably be registered as controlled magical artifacts.
Chapter 10 is a turning point in:
- Trust
- Intimacy
- Connection
- Mutual understanding
- And Yávi? reclaiming pieces of herself that trauma tried (and failed) to keep
It is tender.
It is human.
It is Fey.
Which is why we celebrate.