by Marie Hall
"It took me awhile to work the design," he said, lifting the chain and working his fingers towards the clasp. "And you see, I thought I was quite… romantic in its making." He brought his other hand over and opened the tiny hook. He'd requested the lightest chain possible. Io didn't wear jewelry, but for the band on her left hand. But he hoped she might be inclined to wear this once in a while.
"It is beautiful, Xavier, I just do not understand," Io said, working to keep the pendant supported in her hand as he brought the chain around her neck and locked the clasp in place.
"I thought to perhaps have you wear a constant reminder of what you are to me. What I hope I am to you." He lifted her hair until it was free of the chain and then leaned in to place his lips at her nape. "The Ouroboros and the tree of knowledge."
He felt her chuckle a bit. "That tree was forbidden," she chided, but her tone changed.
"Yes, I know, but being one disobedient woman already took a bite." He grunted when her elbow struck him in the ribs. He responded by lightly biting the skin below her ear. "Everything I knew, Io, changed when you entered my life. You gave me something I did not know I was missing. A more complete life."
"Only a strong back and a skilled arm. A mind for war, destruction. An empty chest." Io sighed and leaned back against him.
It took him a moment to understand she was repeating what he told her. He was little if nothing without her. She made him a man fully, in every sense of the word. "You are the riches that fill my life. I would be the one who surrounds you, protects and provides for you." He watched her flip the disk one more time. "You are everything I want to be around." Dipping his head, he kissed a line from her neck across her shoulder, only to have her jerk and lift her hand to block him. "Stop," he chided and pulled her hand down. He'd never thought much about how she still tried to cover the scar made by the sword that nearly stole her life years before he'd the chance to know her. It was still her 'sin,' a visible and tangible reminder of the guilt that plagued her over something she couldn't have stopped if she'd tried. At least this time she barely resisted when he pulled her hand away. He resumed trailing kisses down then back up her shoulder to her neck. "You are my life, Io. My very reason for being. My goddess, whom I will never stop worshiping."
"Such blasphemy, my lord," Io said, her little chuckle ending on a moan as she tipped her head and gave him access to more of her warm flesh.
"I can survive hell after death as long as I have you to make life heaven." Her second moan wound through him like warm wine, giving him the same light feeling too much drink might. He brushed the hair from the back of her neck and set his lips there. Nipping and kissing skin that smelt like flowers in the summer wind.
"Xavier," Io called. He could only hum an acknowledgement he listened, too busy trying to get her to tip her head back by pulling on her hair. The moment she stopped resisting, he was able to set his lips at the spot where her pulse thrummed in her throat. His tongue slipped out and swirled around the sensitive little place, and he was rewarded by the quickening of the beat there. "Xavier, when did you have this made?"
"Have what made?" He couldn't think what she was talking about. He needed to find a way to get his lips up where he could claim hers.
"This necklace. When did you have this made?"
"Some time ago." He was at her jaw now, if he could only get her to turn her head a little more.
"When, Xavier. Please tell me when." She pulled away. Sitting forward until his arms wrapped around her and pulled her back.
"I cannot recall exactly. The jeweler in Melkin is who I hired."
"Melkin?" her voice cracked though he didn't know why.
"Yes, we were there this summer."
"We were not there. I was there and you were there."
"Well, yes." It was true how Io put it. He'd gone there with Charlotte. "We did not go together. I think I was there two full days before I knew that was where you'd gone. I spent the whole first day and even part of the night with the jeweler and the smith trying to figure out the design and how much gold and silver it would take."
"You did this the first day?" Her voice shook.
"Yes, I ran into you the third day and—" Io's sob cut off his words as much as her arms around his neck as she twisted to press against him. He felt the hot tears drip onto his collarbone. "Io." Wrapping his arms around her, he held on in case she planned to flee. A cold dread swirled in his gut. "Io, for the love of Heaven, speak to me. What is wrong? Please. Tell me why you cry."
She pulled back as far as his hold allowed, and though tears streamed from her eyes, a soft smile graced her lips. He searched her face in the seconds before she shifted and claimed his mouth in a hard, deep kiss. Her hands found their way to the side of his face, and she held him in place as she continued to mesh their lips together. Long interludes when her tongue swept over his bottom lip then pushed through to duel with his then short pauses and she dropped brief kisses at the corner of his mouth only to go back and again take up the battle of lips and tongues. When she finally pulled back, they were both breathless. Xavier was more confused. He willed himself some control as both his mind and body raced. Io seemed to gain back hers a little faster as he could hear her giggle, sniff then giggle again.
"Io?"
She sniffed again as she reached down and clutched the pendant in her fist. "You did this the very first day you were at Melkin." He could only nod. What did the day he commissioned the thing matter? "You made this before you said you wished Sabrina was your wife to those men and before you said I shamed you."
He groaned, "Io, I never meant those words as they sounded. I did not…" Xavier could sometimes want to damn Io's perfect memory. He'd not only completely forgotten the pendant, he'd forgotten the awful events that followed. It was at Melkin he'd lost Io the first time. Or maybe he'd lost her the only time, but she'd not physically left him there. She'd fled the market after the confrontation with Sabrina. He'd sought her out that day and even the next several as he was forced to stay with his mother until she was done. He'd not found her again and rightly assumed she'd returned home. She'd returned home, waited, giving him a chance to come to her and tell her he was sorry for his ill-chosen words, then she'd written the king and made her request to have the marriage annulled. The letter and her messenger were well on their way before Xavier had the opportunity to try and make things right.
"I know," Io said, putting her fingers over his lips before he could tell her how much he regretted speaking without thought, without considering how Io would interpret his words. "I know, Xavier. I know you did not speak with anything more than politeness when you told that man you wished Sabrina was your wife. I know, too, it was not me who caused you shame, but my actions and—"
"Io," Xavier began the denial. True as it was, he didn't find it at all tasteful to have his lady wife brawling in the public market place, she was doing all she could to defend what little she believed she still had.
"No, Xavier. I had as much time to think on everything while I was gone and as we came back as you did. I know my behavior is not as ladylike as you might have hoped to have in a wife."
"Io," he tried again to voice a denial.
"No, I understand. I am not a perfect model of a noble lady, but I know you still accept me, want me, as I am. I know this. I believe it. I do." She lifted her eyes, still bright with tears but also with joy and something he'd longed to see again in her, hope.
He set his palm on her cheek and brushed at the tears. "It is more than acceptance or want, Io. I need you. Like air, or food or any of those basic things every man needs to live." She pressed her face into his hand and nodded. "Tell me, why?" He wasn't sure what he was asking. It wasn't for hurt she'd reacted the way she had, he knew that now. Still he was confused.
She sniffed again and wiped at the tears with the back of her hand. "You still thought of me." His deeper confusion must have shown on his face because she laughed and snorted at the same time. "The last thing we said
to each other before I went to Melkin, do you remember?" He shook his head. "You forced me to the hall for a meal and I fought with Sabrina. I told you I did not want anything you offered because I would not be left in your debt. I said I wouldn't repay you by sharing your bed. And you said—"
"I said I did not want you to repay me."
"Yes, you also told me that I could do as I wanted from then on. You said you no longer cared." Again she fisted the charm. "But you did. You said you did not, but you did. You cared, and you thought of me. Like with the camel. You thought of me even when I did not deserve such consideration." Io leaned forward and let her forehead rest on his chest. "I am sorry, Xavier. I was stupid. This entire time you have never failed to give me thought yet I failed to see it. Even as it was right before me."
"Io," Xavier said, pulling her close and swallowing down the lump forming in his throat.
"I am sorry."
"Io, it is done and past. I have always given you consideration, that is the truth. But it is also true I did not always consider things past what would be easiest for me at the moment. Or even how you might consider my words and actions. For a long time, I forgot to think about what you knew before we were put together. I forgot you survived because you did not trust anyone, and you lived far longer that way than you have lived with me. I should not have dismissed what you knew as best for you. Your distrust served you well before I was made part of your life, and if I must be completely honest, it served you well again. You are, after all, living even after so many attempts on your life." He again shifted her around so she was curled against him, her head resting on his chest and her arms wrapped around one of his as he squeezed a little tighter.
"I trust you, Xavier. I do."
"I know you do. Perhaps not as I might want, but—" He squeezed her when she started to interrupt. "But, I would rather you continue to distrust a little. I do not want you to forsake the habit all together. Like your instincts, your distrust has not been wrongly placed."
She tipped her head back then to look up at him. "No, it was. You did not try to murder me."
"Neither did I do everything I could to protect you. For mercy's sake, Io, I left the house not knowing what reason for your sudden change of mind about going with me. If I had but sought you out that morning." He shook his head. "It might not have been the sheep herder who found you. Or even if it had, I might have already caught the men who tossed you from the cliffs and whoever it was who put them up to it. You would again be safe in this house, unlike now."
She stared up at him a moment more then, with a nod, dropped her head and snuggled closer. "But you will find them?"
"I will, and," he said, lifting her chin so he could say this to her face not the top of her head, "I will make them regret what they did, long before it is done."
"I know," she said, stretching up towards him even as he was bending down to her.
The kiss this time was less frantic but filled with passion, and even as he adjusted them so Io lay back on the floor and he covered her body with his, he knew he might regret taking her now. He should at least give her the courtesy of finding a bed, but if he waited any longer, if he didn't touch her, claim her, take her completely this moment, he might break from the strain of denying his need.
He slipped his hand around to her front and through her dress cupped her breast. Io moaned loud and lifted into his touch. He placed small kisses at her temple, along her jaw down her neck to the top of her breast where the dress stalled his progress. He heard the material rent as he put his fingers to the collar and tugged, trying to free more of her skin to taste. She was laced in tight, and when she gave a distressed gasp at the tearing sound, he gave up and moved his hand to her skirt. This tugged up without resistance and his fingers were grasping and stroking the warmest, softest flesh he'd ever known. Again Io lifted into his touch and the moan was closer to a growl as she tried to get her legs out from under him. He lifted enough she was freed, and spreading her legs wide, she shifted her hips. Xavier followed her lead. Letting her shift her body around until his hand sat where she wanted to feel it. His finger now curled at her inner thigh, near the juncture that so often welcomed him. Without actually touching, he could feel the heat. The skin on her thigh was wet. She was as ready for him as he was for her.
He gave no warning, did nothing to make her receptive. He simply turned his hand and impaled her on two fingers. Her body accepted the abrupt invasion without resistance. Io gasped, moaned and then ground down as his fingers slid back and then pushed in. She gasped out again, and in the next heartbeat, she fell into rhythm with his strokes. Lifting to meet each forward thrust and dropping to make sure he was sliding along the complete length of her tight channel. He added a third finger, and though there seemed to be a tint of displeasure in her next moan, she continued to move to meet him.
She moaned again, her hands fisted at her sides, her hips lifting and following his fingers, as she clenched down with the strong wall of her core so he couldn't retreat. Unable to go back, he pushed in deeper and that was all it took.
Io's release came hard and fast. Leaving her breathless and panting but able to voice her desire with one word. "More." She said it over and over and Xavier was willing to give her everything, anything she wanted. He reached between their bodies for the ties at his codpiece, pulling the first one loose even as the door to the room opened and he looked up to see Sarah backing in with a tray and two of Io's guards still trying to taste the food on it.
Xavier only barely managed to swallow the curse that came too easily to his mouth. But as Io scrambled around beneath him trying to right her skirts, he put his mind to shielding her from view. He put his finger at her collar and tugged up even as he hoped and prayed he'd not torn the dress enough it might fall from her when she sat up.
"That is enough. If you are so starved, go find your own meal," Sarah said as she continued to back into the room. She managed to kick the door closed before turning which gave Io and him a chance to sit up and try and look less like two lovers caught in the act. "I have your supper, Io, and…" Sarah abruptly stopped talking when she turned and didn't see them right away. She had to step right to spy them past the chair. "What are you doing on the floor?"
"Some things fell, and we were picking them up," Io said, a little breathlessly.
"Some people too it looks to be," Sarah said, and Xavier couldn't tell if she was mocking them. He didn't think she didn't know. Even though she was Lucas's little sister, she was neither stupid nor completely innocent. Which made Xavier worry over how far she'd taken her filtrations with Seth. Damn his knight might have to take Sarah to wife in quick fashion. Not that he doubted the two would be a good match, but he'd already decided to give Seth his own holding. The one once held by his brothers. Marriage to Sarah would separate these women. How Io might respond he couldn't know, but guessed it wouldn't be well received.
"We did not fall, we had to get down here to pick it all up and then we started talking and…" Io left that unfinished as she climbed to her feet on shaking legs. Xavier got to his and tugged down his shirt so his open ties were not visible.
"Well, the floor is no place to sit and speak, it is cold." Sarah set the tray down and began arranging the pillows in Xavier's chair. "Come over here and eat."
Io made her way to the chair and took a seat, as Xavier moved behind the table to hide the painful bulge in his pants. He needed relief so badly, he could feel it through his shaft, down into his sack and up through his gut.
"There is too much food here, I cannot eat all of this," Io complained and the sound of her voice made his cock pulse. Biting his tongue, he resisted screaming at Sarah to get out so he might put his wife on her back and ram into her. Hell, once she was out he could take his shaft in his hand and finish what they started. Either way, it would be quick.
"You are not supposed to," Sarah said as she fussed over getting Io settled back with the tray. "Come, my lord. The meal will feed both of you."
"Let Io eat," Xavier ground out then cleared his throat and hoped his voice sounded more normal, less pained. "I will join her in a moment." He started pushing the papers around, pretending to search for something.
The women chatted a moment more and Xavier didn't know who he wanted to strangle more. Io had to know what she'd created in him wasn't going to simply fade away. Several times he turned his back like he might be looking through the books on the window sill. Each time he grabbed his cock and gave it a squeeze or rub. Not a bit of the stiffness faded, and he found himself swiftly crossing the floor to Io even as Sarah stepped from the room and pulled the door closed.
Io's expression caused him to trip and stumble. The wicked little scold knew exactly what she'd done. She'd not kept up the chatter with Sarah because she wanted to talk to her friend, but because she knew she tormented him. Even as his eyes narrowed, and he contemplated thrashing her before taking her… well perhaps while he was… after, definitely after he filled her cunny with his cock, Io started laughing.
"Oh, Xavier," she cooed, setting the tray on the floor and shifting to sit on her knees in the chair. "You did not get any. I am sorry." She laughed again but already her fingers were at his cod piece and the ties were coming undone faster than he might have freed them on his own.
His cock sprang free and the release of that pressure buckled his knees and made him moan hard. Barely recovered, his knees once again buckled when Io put her lips over the swollen, seeping head and drew him so deeply into her mouth he thought he felt the back of her throat. Her tongue swilled around as she sucked at his flesh. One hand settled at the base while the other cupped and squeezed his sack. As much as Xavier wanted, needed to feel his own release he held back. Pain and pleasure mixed to an almost unbearable point, but he didn't want to lose the sensation as Io began to slide back. Her hand followed her lips up the length then back down, and she never stopped flicking her tongue over the many ridges created by the engorged veins.