by Simon Archer
“I have not done anything to you yet, and you are already making sounds of pleasure,” Diana commented, her voice low and tempting.
“I didn’t want to talk, remember?” I said, lowering my voice to her level and giving it a commanding tone, trying to play off how affected I was by Diana’s ministrations.
“Oh, yes,” Diana said as she straightened herself so that her lips were breaths away from my own. “I am terribly sorry. I forgot.”
“How dare you?” I teased, but Diana swallowed the rest of my words with an arresting kiss.
Our lips found one another and fell right into a familiar, feisty dance. They toyed with each other, molding to fit the shared eagerness. She licked my bottom lip, silently asking permission to enter. I opened my mouth slightly and welcomed her tongue. It twirled along mine, and the sensation sent shivers directly to my groin. I pushed myself into her, to touch her, grope her, envelop her into my very being.
Our hands roamed over bodies. We teased with fingertips, then clawed with fingernails. We continued kissing, stroking, comforting until I could feel myself grow tight between us.
I pressed into Diana and rolled my hands down her back to her ass. I used it to shove us closer together. She broke the kiss this time in order to grip my shoulders and maneuver me towards the bed. It collided with the back of her knees so that she was forced to fall upon it.
Her hair fanned out beneath her, and she raised her arms over her head. I looked down onto the bed and then began untying my belt and unbuttoning my pants. She went to remove her own shirt when I grabbed her wrists, stopping her.
“Please,” I said, breathless, “allow me.”
She put her hands back over her head and arched her back so that I could shimmy her out of her shirt. As I did so, I kissed feather-light kisses along her stomach, and she squirmed joyfully. I dipped my tongue into her belly button, and she giggled.
“That tickles,” she said softly.
I looked up at her and caught her gaze with sultry eyes. “No talking, remember?”
She closed her mouth dramatically and nodded.
I lifted myself onto the bed and proceeded to straddle her. Once her shift was removed, that left only her bra and her pants.
She removed her bra with a flourish, sliding her arms out of the straps so that it tumbled off her breasts and down her stomach. I quickly removed it and dove towards her so that I could kiss her sternum. I moved my arms beneath her so I could lift her ever so slightly, just enough for me to reach my lips to her nipple.
She leaned her head back and released a moan as my tongue circled her hard nipple. Then I pinched it softly with my teeth, releasing another moan from her lips. My fingers twirled the other one and elongated it with gentle strokes. Soon, I moved my lips back to hers and used both of my hands to massage her swollen breasts. My thumbs rolled around the tips, and I swore she almost came right then, with the breathless sounds she was making.
I rolled off her to better remove my pants. As I did so, she leaned on her side and reached down to stroke me. Already hard and well-endowed, she tested the waters with her fingertips, causing me to close my eyes with bliss upon her touch. With that approval, she proceeded to grip my shaft and rub it with steady and measured strokes.
“Diana,” I moaned, eyes still closed. “You are going to make me come too soon if you keep that up.”
She listened and removed her hand after one last caress. A visible shiver went through my entire body, and I caught her smiling smugly. She seemed to relish the power she had over me. She could make me weak at the knees, and she knew it, while I could do the same to her. The knowledge we gained went both ways.
Neither of us was a newcomer to the ways of making love, but over our several weeks together, we learned the ways to pleasure one another. She found hidden spots on my body like the inside of my wrist, which made me growl with desire, while I performed tricks with my tongue that she had never experienced in her life. There were bumps in the beginning, as there usually were, but we had gotten into a comfortable rhythm. It was just enough to whisk me away, transport me somewhere else for a little while. Or sometimes a long while, depending on what kind of day we’d had.
My favorite visits were after Diana returned from scouting missions. It often took days to venture across the kingdom, and I found myself missing her when she was gone. While Rebekah was always welcome, always there to help fill the void, I found more and more that I yearned for Diana as well. Her absences made the reunion all that sweeter and more passionate.
Now that she had brought me to the brink, it was my turn to return the favor. I returned Diana’s smug smirk as she began to stand, and I caught her under both arms. She almost let out a yelp as I hauled her the rest of the way to her feet and drew her in. The huntress respected strength, and I had gained that in the past months, so that yelp of surprise turned into a gasp of pleasure as I pulled her in with that strength. Using that intimate knowledge of her body, I drove my throbbing erection right into her slick folds as I captured her mouth with my own.
It was a clash of bodies as she instinctively pushed into me, her breasts crushing against my muscular chest, her nipples as hard as diamonds as our tongues clashed. Diana matched my thrusts by grabbing hold of my shoulders and digging her nails in, a delicious pain that made the moment that much better. It was almost a struggle of dominance as she tried to twist us towards the bed, but I was now the stronger one. I took control as we started to fall towards the mattress, and when we crashed down on top of it, I was on top, pumping hard as I worked her into a frenzy.
In that moment, I forgot my worries and responsibilities, the weight of the kingdom’s fate on my shoulders, and found release, well, inside of Diana. As she let out a scream of ecstasy as she reached her climax, I held on for just a moment longer before letting go myself. A growl of pleasure rolled out of my throat as I filled her with my seed.
Finally, we broke apart and laid on either side of my bed, worn and satisfied, staring at the curved maroon curtain draped across the four-poster. I sighed and closed my eyes as I tried to hold on to the distracting sensations for a moment longer. But as my body recovered, the endorphins dwindled, and the responsibilities of today trickled back in.
Desperate to get away from them, to return to that peaceful feeling of serenity, I rolled over and kissed Diana. She kindly returned the kiss, but I felt her exhaustion.
“Martin,” she said softly, “I cannot, I am sorry.”
I rolled onto my back and placed my hands on my stomach.
“I can hear you thinking over there,” Diana teased.
I didn’t bother apologizing. Instead, I opened the blankets and slid myself between them. I shifted onto my side, away from Diana. It wasn’t an insult, but I didn’t want to worry her anymore with my ‘audible thinking.’
Surprising me, Diana dipped under the covers as well and wrapped herself around me. She pressed me into her and held me there.
“Is this alright?” Diana asked, indicating the cuddling.
While we had not previously cuddled, I found myself oddly okay with it. The whole set up was a lot more intimate than we had done in the past, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy it. Just this once, at least.
“Are you sure you do not wish to talk?” Diana checked again.
I shook my head, not even wanting to open my mouth for fear of all my emotions and worries and speculations to come pouring out of me.
“Alright,” Diana said as she shifted a little to get more comfortable. “Will you blow out the candle?”
I leaned up a little and puffed, knocking out the small flame. The room plunged into darkness, finally allowing us to sleep, though my mind had no intention of letting me do so.
7
The next morning, I awoke after sunrise. My immediate reaction was panic. Normally, I met Diana right before the sun came up for our morning training session. Since Diana started training me all those months ago, my body had improved drastically. I could
keep up with her running and managed to take her down in hand-to-hand combat nearly every time. I was getting better with weapons, but I found that I preferred my light.
Here I was, though, for the first time since I don’t know when, waking up past my normal time. Diana was probably furious. I wondered why Mora hadn’t woken me and thought to talk to her about it once I saw her. I bolted out of bed and heard an unfamiliar sound. A piece of parchment paper fell to the floor next to me, rustling the whole way down. Curious, I bent down and picked it up.
Scrawled with hurried handwriting, it read:
Good morning, Martin,
I figured you could use a morning off, considering the exertion of the previous evening. I will see you later for the weekly meeting with the king. Try not to get overly excited about it.
Diana
I chuckled at the note and set in the nightstand drawer. Grateful as I was for the morning off, I was itching for another distraction. I knew I wouldn’t be able to sit here and enjoy the time. Relaxation felt like something I had forgotten how to do long ago.
So I quickly dressed and headed to the Zoo early. Alona and Bailey-Sue would surely have something for me to do, even if I were literally hours ahead of my normally scheduled shift.
I left my chambers and ventured out into the court. The court resided inside the inner wall that separated the city from the nobles. Within the wall, there were many parts to the castle. Various stone hallways wove the structure together, and they all ended up at the large courtyard in the center. Noble families lived within the castle walls, but the king was the only one who lived in the castle proper. The rest of the rooms in the main castle were empty, waiting to be filled by guests, or were all business-related, like parlors or meeting rooms.
When the king and I met weekly, we often met in his study. This was when the group was smaller, around four or six people. There were times, however, when he wanted to include all the ministers who ran the different departments in the kingdom. Then we would meet in this medieval-style boardroom, with a long wooden table where many arguments were held.
After wasting several hours in that room, I suddenly understood the revolutionary aspect of King Arthur’s round table.
No matter what room I visited within the castle proper, King Atlus was always at the lead of it. He had the largest chair or sat at the head of the table. There was never any doubt that this man was ultimately in charge. If he had it his way, no one would ever refute that.
Then there was me, a constant and rather unrelenting threat. I tried to be as honest and open as possible with Atlus, but his paranoia was constant and perpetually got in the way of anything I said to him. It created an automatic distrust and made everything more difficult.
Hence the side council I started. While we were in line with the king’s wishes, which were supposedly saving the kingdom, we didn’t share his methods. There was an underlying classism to his orders, and I refused to let his prejudice cause people to die. So, we vowed to help all members of the kingdom of Insomier, regardless of where they lived.
Because of this vow, I had spent more time outside of the castle walls than within it. Sure, I trained with Diana, worked with the dragons in the Gardens, and helped out in the Zoo, but it wasn’t the same. While my chambers might have resided in court, I knew little to nothing about it.
That was why it was such a big surprise to me when I walked out of my room and into a bustling courtyard. Various people were walking about and chatting. Some people sat in shaded chairs while others leaned against walls. All of them were dressed in the latest fashions, including large skirts and corsets for the women, with long, pulled back hair and buckle shoes for the men. The most surprising part, however, were the vendors.
It was like a regular farmers market here. Each merchant had a separate cart, all to themselves, where they sold their wares. Fruits, vegetables, trinkets, clothes, and all sorts of shops were littered about the yard. It was like a cleaner, more organized, and quieter part of the city outside had been brought inside.
My room was on the second level of the court, so I got a decent view of the scene before me. As I scanned the crowd, I recognized one of the vendors as Raiyna, the seamstress and one of Bailey-Sue’s friends. She had outfitted me for many clothes, including a couple of presentable outfits for when meeting with the king. In exchange, I shared some secrets from my world with her. We were currently trying to figure out how to manufacture a zipper.
I darted down the stairs and made my way over to her stand. “Raiyna!” I called out with a wave.
The woman turned at the sound of her name and smiled upon seeing me. Raiyna had the biggest mane of hair I had ever seen. It puffed out from her head like a bird’s nest in curly, messy waves. It was a milk chocolate brown and fell to her lower back. The whole thing must have weighed a ton, but she at least kept it out of her face with exotically patterned scarves tied around the top of her head. The whole ensemble made her look like a Romanian gypsy, and easy to spot in a crowd.
“Martin, darling!” Raiyna called out to me.
I approached her, and she brought me into a solid bear hug. “I did not know you would be here.”
“I live here, well, kind of,” I admitted bashfully. “My room’s on loan from the king.”
“I see,” Raiyna said with understanding. “It is a pleasure to see you. I have yet to see you on market days like this.”
“Normally, I’m in the Zoo with Bailey-Sue or training. I’m hardly in court at this time of day.” I looked around at the groups of people shopping around us. “Does this happen often?”
“Eh,” Raiyna said with a shrug. “At least once or twice a week.”
“Once or twice a week?” I blabbed in shock. “Well, if you’re here, then who is running your shop?”
“No one,” Raiyna answered definitively. “It is closed when I am here.”
“Wait,” I paused, trying to wrap my head around this. “You’re losing business to be here?”
“I could be, yes,” Raiyna said.
“Why are you here?” I asked, feeling like I was touching on something rather sensitive. “I mean, you have a shop for a reason. You don’t really need a traveling one, do you?”
“I need one for the days when the court orders us to come and sell our wares within the castle walls,” Raiyna explained.
I looked about the square and realized something. Most of the vendors were city folk with shops I’d seen before in my wandering about the city. There was my favorite baker who made the best donut-like sweets, a leatherworker whose shop was the best to stand in front of, just for the smell, and a florist who offered me a chrysanthemum every time I visited her.
“Raiyna,” I said her name slowly, unsure I wanted to hear her answer. “Are you telling me that all of these city vendors were ordered to bring their shops inside of the castle walls so that the nobles don’t have to venture outside of the wall to shop?”
“In so many words, yes,” Raiyna replied, her voice lowering conspiratorially.
“Their sheer entitlement knows no bounds,” I muttered so only Raiyna, and I could hear my insult.
My mouth filled with bile, and I fought with myself to squash it down. This whole setup was absurd, and I wondered how I hadn’t even seen it before. Granted, like I had told Raiyna, I wasn’t around. I was elsewhere in the court and never experienced the lives within them. While we had promised that we would save all Insomier, regardless of where they lived, it was moments like this that really made me wish we didn’t have to save these people.
“Have you sold anything?” I asked.
Raiyna offered me a light shrug. “Some, not much. But some.”
“Some is good,” I said, trying to find the positive. “Can I help? What can I purchase off you to make this day worthwhile?”
“Oh, Martin,” Raiyna laughed at my offer. “You are too kind for your own good, but I assure you that you do not have the funds to make this day worthwhile for me.”
I
hung my head. It was no secret that I was broke. All my exchanges were based on merit and a trade of goods and services, not money. I would babysit Styu’s kids so he could make me paint for my art, or I would heal the baker’s dog for a sweet treat. The king covered my amenities, and as much as I hated to say it, I kind of needed them in this world.
All my skills, of which I didn’t have many, applied to art, fighting, or healing. Other talents, like being able to fit a dad joke into less than one-hundred-and-forty characters on Twitter, just didn’t apply here. Striking out on my own without the generosity of the king and the kindness of others would have made surviving in this realm a lot more difficult, even without the corruption and an evil king who wanted to steal my powers.
“I am sorry,” an airy voice interrupted. “I could not help but overhear. I would very much like to help.”
Both Raiyna and I turned to locate the source of the voice. Before us stood a petite blond with Shirley Temple curls, pinned back into an elegant updo. She wore a lavender dress with a loosened corset and gold embossed slippers. Her hoop skirt ended just above her ankles and rippled a little as she stood there.
She was unnaturally pretty, with symmetrical features and rosy cheeks. Her nose sloped at an attractive angle, and her eyebrows were darker than her light hair. She coated the lids of her bright blue eyes in charcoal, adding a winged tip that was a style ahead of her time.
“Help how?” I asked, unable to hide the suspicion in my voice.
“Well,” the young woman stammered with a bright, but nervous smile, “the seamstress here, Raiyna, yes?”
Raiyna nodded a confirmation.
“Raiyna said that you did not have the funds to make her travels into the court worthwhile. However, I might.” The woman untied a pouch hanging from her belt. She held out the small, purple sack with a straight arm. “Would this be enough?”
Cautiously, Raiyna took the pouch from the woman. She pulled it open and stuck her nose down into the center. Her mouth dropped, and her hazel eyes shifted from the young noble to me and back again. From her reaction alone, I figured the money was more than enough.