When he cracked open his eyelids again, he saw her stripping down, removing multiple layers of clothing until she was down to her brassiere and underwear. She didn’t seem to want to go any further with the clothes department, and he suppressed a small wave of disappointment. She waded in as well, one hand running through her brown hair. She then glanced down at a red line there. “I didn’t shave my legs so well. You only have the single blade to do it, and I’m not used to that...” Her eyes settled on his groin, where his erection happily prodded at his underwear.
“Sorry,” he said. “It happens whether I want it to or not, sometimes. The water’s warm… and...” He left it hanging, unsure which of them might go redder first. A strange jolt went through him when she glanced away and lowered herself into the water.
“I’m surprised a place like this even exists here. It’s so… cold.” She let out a sigh of content, also floating backwards, spreading her limbs out like a starfish. “But wow. I feel tension just… vanishing.”
“Not many people can reach here. You need to fly for it, and there’s not that many people who can fly. So it’s about as safe as I can make it for a date.”
“Mm.” She drifted a little closer to him, and the satisfaction rippled through them both, making him almost comatose with sleepy bliss. “This is a great choice.” Her voice came out as a purr, and he examined her, noticing two little bumps in her brassiere. Where…
He rolled himself onto his stomach and swam forward. The waters only reached waist deep at most, with the deepest section being where the tip of the horn was. He knew she was nervous, and he felt it important to help place her at ease. They continued conversation, meticulous to step around all the subjects that mattered, enjoying the heat, the tranquility of the place, and not being ogled or forced to train.
“I liked the braid in your mane, by the way,” she said with a grin, getting out of the waters to towel herself down and rifle through the selection of food.
“Damnation. I was hoping you wouldn’t notice that. My sister wanted to braid all my hair.”
“Should have let her.”
By the time he’d gotten out of the heated lake to their warm picnic area, she’d spread out the two white blankets on offer, and had brought out a generous selection of food, including leavened bread, with a selection of sauces to smear on them. Renne liked smearing copious amounts of raspberry jam on his bread, where Maya tried the jar of honey for hers. He went through the beef jerky afterwards, thinking to himself he wouldn’t mind going on more dates like this. It was… nice, to be with one another in more relaxing circumstances such as this.
“Sometimes I just wish the world would go away and I could just do things like this every day,” Renne admitted to her, chewing on a large string of jerky. “Not stress about the war, the responsibilities… anything, really.” His eyes traveled over her body. In the heat surrounding them, neither of the two felt particularly inclined to dressing back up again. Sweat trickled from her forehead, mingling with the damp, and he found himself taking in deep, sharp breaths. Her body… so slender, with a pale pink blush to her skin, proportioned in such an elegant way… hard not to realize how attractive he found the female form. He couldn’t adequately describe it. He wasn’t exactly a poet. It just… worked for him.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t completely hide his own attraction to her. The best he could do was just act like it wasn’t any big deal.
“I know what you mean. In my case though, my world really did go away,” Maya said with a rueful smile. “It went away, I gained magic – I have a prince I’m supposed to work closely with – all the things a woman of my world could love. Yet I miss it terribly, because of the people I’ve left behind. And, I guess we have some awesome food, tech, and clothes, too.”
“Tech?”
“Technology. We’ve invented things that I don’t think your realm has yet.”
“We have magic for that,” Renne said. “Some of our magic users are seriously powerful. They can shape the world and make it a better or worst place to be.”
She absently pulled out a small ring with a dull green gem set in the centerpiece and examined it briefly. “I was just thinking… about the dragons. You people keep talking about them, but I’ve never seen one. Are they really as vicious as you say?”
Renne stared at her incredulously before reminding himself: how would she know? “They destroyed everything my family has ever known. They’ve displaced thousands and thousands of people. They don’t care about life at all – they just want to burn it.”
Maya bit her lip. “Has anyone ever tried to negotiate with them?”
“You don’t negotiate with dragons,” Renne said flatly. “Those beasts don’t know reason.”
“Beasts...” She continued wearing that dubious expression, taking her time now to slather on more honey on her bread. “Don’t get me wrong. I believe that they did all this. You have your war, you have a just cause for it. I’m just… if they can have people as allies, like those werewolves – then that suggests to me that they’re more intelligent than just mere beasts. They’ve not expanded beyond Albalon, have they? I mean, did they conquer anything else after… taking your kingdom?”
“No,” he said. “Albalon is by far the richest kingdom, with the oldest culture. For them it’s a long flight across the seas to terrorize our shores. Why leave when they have flesh to feast upon and a scared, weakened population to abuse?”
She didn’t appear satisfied with his answer, but didn’t press the matter. “I just wondered.”
“That’s okay. What’s that ring you have there? It looks enchanted,” he said, sure because the green was such an unnatural dullness.
“To sense weak spots in this realm to others.”
His heart plummeted somewhere to his stomach. “You’re thinking of using it to get back home, aren’t you?”
“I’m thinking of using it to at least contact my family, Renne,” she said with a bite of anger. “It’s not right they might think I’m dead. It keeps me awake thinking about it, imagining them standing over an empty grave.” She folded her arms in front of her, hunching up in a defensive manner.
Oh. He sighed, glancing up to the sky. “I’m sorry. I just – I don’t want you to vanish. I don’t want to wake up and then find out you’re gone forever, back into that other realm.”
An ironic smile lit her mouth. “Glad you understand the sentiment. Look. I’ll try this out. Whatever we have together. I know it’s pointless just to sit around moping. And I know – you’re a handsome guy. Driven. Conflicted. Sometimes feeling things you shouldn’t be feeling. Sometimes wondering where your place is in the world, with a genuine desire to make it work out for me. I feel that. All of it.” She tapped her chest, and he could have sworn he felt the same tap upon his. “I know I have something valuable, and that… if it can help you, then I’ll use it. Since I’m protecting with it, right?”
He nodded. “Yes. You are. But this isn’t why I’m here, Maya. This is a date away from your powers. It’s a chance for us to get to know one another off the battlefield.”
“I appreciate that. Really.” She closed her hazel eyes for a moment. “You’re doing everything you can. I mean, if I was in your position, I couldn’t imagine the pressure they must pile on you. I understand about why you’re expected to marry me. This Bond is intimate. Too intimate for just a simple friendship.”
Something mischievous traveled up and down their connection to one another. A sly smile covered her lips, and all of a sudden, Renne became aware again of just how very naked they were, and how close in proximity they happened to be to one another. He needed to stop thinking about that, stop wondering what it might be like to kiss her upon the lips, to take off those last items of clothing and leave her open and vulnerable to his touch.
Of course, she sensed everything he sensed as well. He bravely attempted more conversation, but her eyes slid to the one part of his arousal he couldn’t hide.
“So
rry,” he tried, smiling apologetically, both eager and worried about how she’d react to him. Wouldn’t it be great if she took no alarm to him but came closer? Wouldn’t it be just fantastic to know how intense their connection became if they let go of everything?
Excitement shot through him when she got up onto her knees. “I’m tempted,” she said softly.
He knew exactly what she meant. “Me, too. Skies… I want to know what it’d be like with you.”
In response, she shivered, the pupils in her eyes going wide and black. “We probably shouldn’t.”
“Yes,” he said, instinctively moving closer to her. “We definitely shouldn’t. I mean, we’re not married. Not that you have to be married, of course, but it’d be seen as strange on my part to approach you out of wedlock.”
“Ah, yes. Old fashioned values. How… quaint.” Her hands idly played with the straps of her brassiere. “So even entertaining the thought of doing something would be all kinds of wrong.”
“Very wrong,” he murmured, before wrapping his arms around her body and bringing his lips to hers.
Maya
Electricity seemed to crackle in the places where they touched. Maya remembered a moment not so long ago when Renne had pinned her to the door, and his desire hit her for just a moment. Long enough to send her systems crazy. To freak her out before she had time to process it and realize what she wanted. And also to entertain the idea long after of what might happen between them. Hell, she’d been teasing Renne since. The way she approached and just straight up said she knew he’d felt her was probably one of the boldest moves she’d ever done in her life. Bolder even then shooting people with arrows.
“Damnation,” Renne muttered, pulling away from her swollen mouth and looking deep into her eyes. “I really, really shouldn’t be doing this.”
“Then back away,” she challenged, knowing full well that he held no desire to do such a thing. His lust for her became ravenous under their connection. Their lips slammed back together, and their hands explored one another’s skins in a desperate, searching manner. He tugged her body closer to his, but she grinned and fell back, leaving him to topple between her legs and brace his chest against hers. It did make for more convenient kissing, though, so she didn’t hear any complaints.
“You call this backing away?” Maya whispered against his mouth, barely managing to keep her mind rational when her arousal piled on with his. His hands were braced on either side of her as he surfaced from her lips, his breath still hot upon them. The way his eyes glittered, black with want, made all sorts of pleasure shivers ripple up and down her spine, and her own breaths quickened.
I won’t be able to control myself. I don’t want to. I...
“It’s a little hard to back away like this,” Renne whispered, one hand now sliding along her right arm, before following the strap. “What with you being so inviting and all.”
His tongue touched with hers, and she sank into the moment, wanting nothing more than to drown in pleasure, to give into the energy surging through them. His fingernails raked her back, and his heart thundered against hers like a storm. A shame she couldn’t wrestle his clothes off because that was part of the fun – but also pretty convenient right now. Her hands brushed his chest, nails scratching slightly. Quite an impressive chest, to be honest, with the fine black hairs pooling between his pecs, and the way the muscles around his shoulder bunched up and flexed as he worked on getting rid of her bra.
He wore a rather impish grin on his rounded face, and she raised a hand to the black stubble on his chin, liking the way it had scratched against her when they kissed. She enjoyed his eyes, now twin black holes of lust, feasting upon her body. And feeling that ever so noticeable bulge between his legs as it pressed against her thigh. Yeah, that turned her on further, and she let out a hiss of longing as he pressed his bare chest to hers, their naked skins hot and greedy for one another. His tongue thrust into her mouth in quick, darting attacks, before his lips traveled to her neck, sucking on the soft flesh there.
A tiny worry wormed into Maya past the incredible pull of arousal. They wouldn’t have condoms, would they? Shit. She didn’t want to ruin the mood by asking for one, but he clearly sensed the change in her emotions, for he stopped kissing long enough to say, “What’s wrong?”
“Is there...” she said, slightly afraid there wasn’t, or he’d look at her in confusion, “protection for an, um, baby… not to be made?” Aside from the obvious don’t have sex, she thought. She doubted he’d have the foresight to bring them, if even they were invented in this other realm.
He blinked a few times, as if trying to clear his head of the lust consuming him. “I… there’s herbs you drink that stop anything happening.”
“And have you… been with anyone?”
He shook his head furiously, and Maya’s eyebrows shot up. “Wow. I wasn’t expecting that. Surely someone like you must have had it with another person.”
“We’re not supposed to until we’re married,” he reminded her gently. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t have some idea of what happens...”
A part of her wanted to keep asking questions, but she also didn’t want to risk ruining the mood, turning their heat to something awkward and lukewarm. She compensated by kissing him hard instead, to signal her question time ending. He finally finished working her bra off, and she didn’t keep her underwear on much longer, either.
I should tell him I’m a virgin, she thought. They say the first time’s supposed to hurt… though she wasn’t exactly a nun. Given that somewhere in her bottom drawer back home, she had a certain thing that aided with solo pleasure. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe she should just –
Her eyes widened when he tugged off his own underwear, and he helped to place her in a more comfortable position on the blanketed ground. She saw the rocks and green behind him, smelled his mineral bathed scent and the softness of his skin fresh out of the waters, and felt relieved that his erection wasn’t as large as she’d been dreading. Still of considerable size, however, to send a sliver of shock through her system. Her heart beat so fast that she thought it might leap out of her chest altogether, and she sighed when his hands ran along her sides, her stomach, before his palms brushed over her nipples.
There was a lot of ways she’d imagined sex to be, but the gentle teasing he did now, from his exploring hands, to his lightly planted kisses, did something to her. Like she was drugged, or weakened, somehow, because all the power in her bones had vanished, somehow. Leaving him to do whatever he wanted with her body.
Dangerous, she thought, trying to summon some strength, but losing it again when his lips touched the side of her neck, mixing hot air with his damp tongue. He pinched the skin slightly by sucking on it, and she sank further and further into his thrall.
“You’re making it very hard to focus,” Renne breathed against her neck, and his desire and adoration hit her like a sledgehammer, making her gasp, turning her on beyond anything she’d ever experienced before.
Positioning himself better, Renne brought his erection to her entrance. His excitement infected hers, and she didn’t wait. She reached down to seize him there and coax him inside. He groaned at her eagerness, and sank in slowly, clearly making sure that she adjusted to him. All her skin remained hypersensitive, and she struggled to focus on any one thing. The feeling of him inside, the way his legs pressed against hers, the way his chest moved up and down, how they smelled, how every part of her body shivered, and how dark and hungry his eyes were. He began to move, leaning down to whisper against her ear that he’d try not to hurt her, but she was to speak up if anything felt off.
Nothing did. Both of them soon dissolved into a haze of primal pleasure, seeking out mutual satisfaction in one another as their bodies tangled together. The internal storm that raged felt incredible, and she couldn’t think, couldn’t concentrate, other than to urge him on, wrap her legs around him, and cry out. Nothing could have prepared her for this. The pleasure rose around
her like the shimmering heat that formed a mirage, infusing them, driving them onwards and making their whole worlds shrink into each other. All that mattered was him and the sensations, too many to count.
The other thing that surprised her was the way his voice ignited everything inside. When he gasped and groaned next to her ear, when he shivered at her own moans, spurred on to greater efforts, it drowned her and built up a pressure, a familiar one that she braced her thighs for. The orgasm hit her like a truck – even though she’d partially prepared for it, the wave caused her dizziness, to gasp out and tense. She was dimly aware of him stopping as well, and slowly recovered with Renne extracting himself from her and laying by her side.
Both of them seemed too comatose to talk. They looked at the bright blue sky together, and the white clouds drifting across. The tranquility and warmth tempted Maya to want to sleep after she went to wash herself and dress, and it wasn’t long until the prince nestled himself beside her, saying nothing at all, but saturated with contentment. Adding to that contentment was her nuzzling into his body and him letting it happen. Sharing space and warmth with someone else, hearing their heartbeat gradually slow down… it lulled her into a peaceful sleep.
When she woke up at some indeterminable time later, the sun was still high and bright, and the prince seemed deeply asleep. Deciding to let him stay that way, Maya instead began walking around the lake, enjoying how light her body was, like there was a spring in every step. That little session with Renne… just wow. She didn’t know what she was expecting, but for a first time, it went better than all the horror stories she’d heard. Maybe because of her practice with certain inanimate objects, maybe because she did have an awareness of how sex was supposed to go, courtesy of her rather loud mother and father, and them passing tips for when her first time arrived.
That helped. Even if it was as embarrassing as hell. Her parents were way too open about that shit. As she walked, fluctuating between thoughts of Renne and that deep, intense connection that terrified her as much as thrilled her, she kept glancing at her ring. Hoping against hope that it might light up, so that she could turn on her phone and attempt to contact her world. Five minutes of walking yielded nothing, and she’d covered over half the circumference of the crater. It was a long shot, anyway. Maybe she’d have to find a way to get back to that place where she’d had enough of a connection to get a message. But the trouble was, she didn’t know when she entered the weak spot. When the message had time to send.
The Last Unicirim’s Bride Page 12