His tongue traces up the same path his fingertip went down, and I’m nearly ready to combust. He detects the change in my scent and rumbles. He pulls the tip of my ear into his mouth and starts working on it with his tongue. He finally releases my ear, and I’m panting like I’ve run for miles.
He looks at me carefully. “Well? What did you think?”
I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it. “It’s very intense, just short of being painfully intense.”
He develops a mischievous look. “More experimentation is necessary. I swore for a moment I was going to be able to make you fall apart for me again with just your ears.”
The carriage pulls up, revealing a big tent on top of a hill overlooking a lake. Inside the tent, there’s a large bed and a table piled with food. Lamps are strung everywhere, creating an incredibly romantic atmosphere. The carriage departs, and he gestures toward the food. “Come and eat something. I had to listen to your stomach rumbling all morning because you skipped breakfast. You’ll need the energy.”
I pick through the fruit. Frowning, I set some aside and tell him not to eat those. He asks why, so I pick up the jarindino and waggle it at him. “If you eat this, you won’t be back at the trade negotiations for at least a week. You’ll be too busy talking to plants and trying to commune with insects.”
I pick up the durikanje. “This makes our magic stronger, but at the cost of visions. I don’t know what it does to humans, but I’d rather not test it on you.”
I grab the lantinalli. “This isn’t toxic, but I’d rather not spend the night with you in the privy. We use it as a laxative.”
He laughs and nods. “Fair enough. If I see anyone trying to feed me those, I know to steer clear of them. Now tell me about these dreams.”
I don’t mention that I sleep with his jacket because his scent comforts a primal part of me that quiets the nightmares. I describe both dreams in detail, including the spell I saw myself cast in the second dream. When I’m finished, he has questions. “Are you sure it was backwards in time? I've been in battles before, and I probably will be again.” “It was my own magic. I know how to read my own spells. When I cast that spell, it wasn’t just a little in the future but a lot in the future. I threw myself backwards quite a way. I still don’t know how I met you since you seemed to be trapped in a battle from this time, but I know things that I shouldn’t. I am aware of various things that don’t yet exist. I can’t talk about them or write them down, but I can make things. Let me show you.”
I pause for a moment, trying to think of something completely harmless. Inspiration hits, and I believe I've got it. It’s a clockwork device I saw once in a museum. The great thing about magic is that I don’t need to understand how it functions; it all works based on my intent. I flick my wrist and concentrate my magic. Suddenly, a table appears on the lawn outside the tent. It holds a silver swan, still and silent for now, but soon to be swimming on a silver pond and nibbling on tiny silver fish.
I pick up the crank, slot it into place, and wind the device up. Music begins to play, the swan starts to swim, and the fish is snacked on. It winds down, and Kenric looks at me with big, round eyes. “That’s incredible. What kind of magic is that?”
I shake my head. “That’s just it. There’s no magic in it at all. It’s all cogs, gears, and winding springs. The only magic I used was to duplicate it. It’s an old museum piece. That’s why I wasn’t so worried about showing you.”
I open it up to show him how it works, and he’s amazed. “What do you mean by being worried to show me this?” he asks. I grimace. “What I did was so foolish and so dangerously beyond anything I should have done, it’s not even in the same realm. By casting myself backward like this, I could disrupt my own timeline and erase myself from existence retroactively.
He sits down in one of the plush chairs and stares at me. "If it’s so dangerous, why would you ever attempt such a stunt?"
I chuckle a bit and kiss his cheek. "Even in my dream, I loved you madly. I don’t know how I met you or where we met, but I loved you, and it felt like you loved me. I was determined to find what binds you to that battle and set you free from it. I can’t imagine you doing anything terrible enough to warrant being sentenced to re-fight the same battle every day for gods alone know how long. It takes something big to set up a loop like that. Big emotion. Big magic. Maybe both.”
I can see that he’s thinking.
Finally, he shakes his head and shrugs, “I don’t know what either of us can do about it."
Kenric gives me a wicked smile, “Since we can’t do anything about it, I think I’d rather enjoy the present. I have a scavenger hunt to finish.”
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I dart away from him, but he jumps and grabs me, growling in my ear, “I am going to shred your clothing until I find every last one of those notes. I do hope you’re not attached to this dress.”
I shake my head. “I’m not. I created it just for this.”
His growling hum returns as he seizes my dress. With a yank, the dress comes off, leaving me in little more than my shoes and hairpins. His gaze scans me so intently it’s almost like being touched. I strike a pose and turn slowly so he can see some of the items on my list written on my skin. I used berry juice, and I hope it doesn’t stain. With a flick of my wrist, I hand him a set of hourglasses. “You’ll need these.”
He raises an eyebrow at me. “Timed challenges? Or time limits?”
I point to my dress. “You’ll have to find out. It’s all in the notes.”
He lets out a low rumble. “You are a delightfully naughty little minx, but your dress can wait while I take care of the things I’ve already found. Don’t worry. I’ll get to the things tucked into your dress.”
He lifts me up and plants a slow, teasing, testing kiss on my mouth. It’s a slightly fruity version of the Old Forest and just as delicious. His scent of arousal is heady, and I’m already lost in it. When he releases me from the kiss, he’s got one foot on the seat of a chair and my knee hooked over his leg. There’s a wicked gleam in his eyes. “Now that I can reach you and your ears, let’s try some new experiments.”
His fingers trail around the folds of my labia while he nibbles delicately up the edge of my left ear. I don’t have enough leverage to try to seek some release against his hand. I’m completely at his mercy. He chuckles at my attempts to maneuver. “Be patient. I know what you want. I’ll get there… eventually.”
Gods above! It’s bliss and torture all at the same time. I cling to him, begging for release. He gets to the tip of my ear, and his tongue swirls around it. I moan and feel my pleasure start to spike. His tongue makes another swirl around the tip of my ear, and it is rapture. A third swirl and I climax, screaming wordlessly. I return to reality to find everything has changed sides, and he’s nibbling on my right ear. He rumbles in my ear. “I told you that I could make you come apart for me with just your ears. That’s one. Now to see if the other ear is easier or not.”
A little while later, after more torturous bliss, he’s got the tip of my ear in his mouth, gently teasing it with his tongue. I moan as his tongue swirls down the edge of my ear. As he moves his tongue back up my ear, I come unwound again, screaming. He rumbles in male satisfaction. “That’s two, and yes, it was easier. Louder, too. I think I did a better job the second time.”
Still carrying me, he sits on the edge of the bed, in front of a huge mirror. He spins me around and moves my legs so that they’re outside his. “Time for some more experiments, but this time, you can watch. I want you to see just how fucking gorgeous you are and how unbelievably lovely it is to watch you come apart.”
He spreads his knees wide, like he’s sitting on a horse, and pulls me back against his chest. There’s not a part of me that isn’t revealed as he bends down and starts licking and kissing the back of my left ear. I lean back into him and begin to close my eyes. “Oh no. You keep your eyes open. You close them, and I’ll stop.”
I watch in fascination as his hand creeps around my hip and moves slowly down my thigh. I can feel his length digging into my back. His hand moves back up my thigh, and my breath hitches. He’s purring again between kisses on the back of my ear. My eyes are nearly crossed. “Look at how gorgeous you are. Lovely legs with plush, shapely thighs. Pert, rounded little bottom.”
His hand moves up my body. “Flat little belly.”
His hand slides higher until it’s kneading my breast. “The most perfect, delectable globes, and yes, I saw your note. Your ears aren’t the only part of you I’ll be paying attention to. My curiosity mostly drives my experiments with your ears. They look so different from my own that I wanted to see how you react when I kiss them.”
He kisses the back of my ear, and I moan. “When I touch them.”
His fingertip traces a small circle on the back of my ear, and I moan again. “When I caress them.”
His fingertips start at my head and trail feather-light out to the tip of my ear. I make a mewling noise, and he chuckles as he leans down.
When I run my tongue over them.”
His tongue tip traces around the back of my ear. I’m nearly undone when I see his other hand come around my waist. His fingers spread me open even more. “Look at this lovely little flower, already in full bloom, just waiting for me to come drink all that nectar.”
The thought of that does it. My back arches, and I’m coming unwound again. A rumbling huff comes from him. “That’s three. Do you see how gorgeous you are? Gods! I love watching you fall apart for me. Now, let’s work on four before I start on the rest of your list, hmmm…”
He shifts to the other side of my head and starts by caressing the back of my ear, fingertips trailing along all the way out to the very tip of it and back again. I’ve devolved into a puddle of need and want that can’t even speak by the time his fingertips start their second trail up my ear.
He rumbles into my ear, “Gods! I adore every one of your captivating little noises. I wonder what other luscious little noises I can get you to make for me.”
As his fingertips start back down my ear, his tongue starts up. I am almost ready to come unwound again when I see his finger dip into my core before starting lazy circles on my clit.
That pushes me over the edge. "Mmmm… That’s four. Now, let me see which one of these I want to tackle next. Ah… this one."
By the time he’s gone through three of the things written on my skin, I start to wonder if this was a good idea. There are still a few more left, and he hasn’t even begun searching for the notes tucked into my dress yet. This is going to be a very long night.
Sometime later, I roll over and prop myself on his chest. “Are you going to be this thorough every time you decide to freshen up my markings? I might need to rearrange my schedule.”
He rumbles and shrugs before wrapping his arms around me. “I want you, Víl?. I want every inch, every scrap, every broken bit. I want the best parts and the darkest parts. I will love them all. In return, I’ll give you all bits of me and hope you love them just as much. I want you to know how much I want you. Every few days might be a bit excessive, but I want you to know how much I want you and in how many ways I want you. I want everyone to know. Not just here, like this, but beside me every step from now until my last one.”
The thing in me that was torqued and twisted nearly to breaking, unwinds a bit more.
- Would you call this courage or pure madness?