by Eric Vall
I moaned and kissed along the juncture of her neck and shoulder. The palms of my hands grazed over the nipples that poked through the fabric so invitingly, and I plucked them with the pad of my thumb to elicit a sweet little groan from Arwyn.
“Gryff,” she sighed softly into my ear, and I did it again, and then again, until every breath she took was a shuddering gasp. I loved how much just the simple action riled her up and drove her crazy.
My hand finally slid between her thighs, and I smirked as the dampness hit my skin.
“All that for me?” I teased.
“Only you,” Arwyn moaned and nodded.
I pushed the hem of her nightgown over the curve of her ass and pulled the strappy red thong she wore beneath it aside. Now I was able to feel the full effect of what I did to my sweet Arwyn, and I slid my fingers into her wet tunnel.
“I love it,” I moaned back.
Arwyn shivered as I teased her, and her fingers gripped me tighter until she stopped the motion altogether.
“Please,” she begged. “I need you.”
“Of course,” I complied with a short nod, but before I could do it myself, Arwyn moved over me and sank herself down. She filled herself full of me, and when she was ready, she moved on her own. Her hair fell in her face, messy, tangled, and damp at the roots with the sweat of sex. Manicured nails scored the base of my neck and shoulders, and her lips parted ever so slightly with each pleasure-filled sound that escaped her.
My hands found her hips to keep her steady as she rode me for a good twenty minutes. Our foreheads rested on one another’s and our eyes locked the entire time we made love, but I eventually felt her body tremble around my shaft and she let out a long whine as her orgasm took control of her tempo. I bounced her in my lap only twice more before I followed after her with a stuttered, broken moan of her name on my tongue as I filled her with my seed.
Our chests heaved as we caught our breath, and I held her tightly as we came down from the high together. I dragged lazy kisses over her cheek until I captured her lips with mine once again. What I wouldn’t give to spend each morning completely lost in Arwyn Hamner.
“Maybe I will take up that research class,” I joked.
Arwyn smiled brightly and giggled. “As long as you’re researching other things aside from how to make a mess inside of me.”
“No promises,” I laughed.
“Oh?” She raised an eyebrow. “I want you to promise to keep doing it.”
“I promise.” I had been less than an inch from kissing her again when a sharp, familiar knock sounded at the door.
“Petyr?” I asked, more to myself than to Arwyn, but as she leapt up, eyes mildly frantic, she nodded. I covered my mouth and groaned audibly at the loss of moist warmth around me. I understood her concern, though. We couldn’t be caught together, especially with her state of dress, or rather, her state of undress.
“Go to my room,” she commanded as she did her best to right herself. “I’ll meet you in there in a moment.”
I covered myself again and unnecessarily hopped over her desk. Then I took the stairs up to her quarters two at a time, and I closed the door to her room behind me. I leaned against it and took a moment to catch my breath. That had been a close call.
My eyes scanned the room, and I noted there were papers scattered over the bed. I picked up a few and read over them as my curiosity got the better of me.
From what I could tell, they looked like notes about the weapons they had designed, and there were sketch ideas for others. For instance, there was a detailed, but still obviously drafted design of a lance adorned with ribbons and gems. A note beside it read, “We can create weapons, so why not armor and accessories?”
Another sketch was a gun, and it looked very much like the one Gawain used in the rift before I caught the baroquer. I wondered if his gun was also made of rhin, or if it was a standard military issue that was enhanced by magic, but I also remembered he’d mentioned his father had it specially made for him after he lost his duel with me.
Maybe there was a connection I couldn’t see? I’d ask about it later.
I collected the rest of the papers and stacked them neatly on her nightstand before I took a seat on her bed. There was a small writing desk with a little stool I could have sat at, but I chose comfort over what was proper. Besides, it wasn’t the first time I had been in Arwyn’s bed, and I highly doubted it would be the last.
A few minutes later, I heard her bare feet pad across the cool stone of the stairs, and then she entered her quarters, quick to close the door behind her. A troubled look settled in her eyes, and I sat upright immediately.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, but Arwyn shook her head.
“Nothing, nothing” she said with a smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes completely, and she moved about her quarters, “but we have to go.”
I stared at her, bewildered. “I’m sorry. Go?”
“Yes,” she affirmed, “Headmaster Sleet has called a meeting, and we are to be in attendance.”
My heart sank a little and panic rose in my throat. Surely we had been careful. There was no way we had gotten caught.
Whether Arwyn sensed my shift in emotion, or she simply turned and saw my wide-eyed expression, she laughed a little and sauntered forward a few steps to cup my cheek. “It is not so bad. You can relax.”
I did relax, but only a little. “If it isn’t that, then why are you troubled?”
Arwyn turned away from me again. Her robe billowed behind her as she strode back to her wardrobe to find an outfit.
“He has called a meeting in the military wing,” Arwyn explained as she sifted through her clothes. She finally settled on a purple top with a pair of matching, high-waisted pants.
“Military wing?” I repeated. I didn’t know we had one of those. I learned something new about the Academy every day, it seemed.
Arwyn slid her robe from her shoulders, and it fluttered to the floor. I watched her as she shimmied the nightgown over her ass, and was more than delighted to see that the inside of her thighs were covered in what seed had seeped out of her. My cheeks burned, and I would have been a complete liar if I said I didn’t want to have her again right then and there. Her breasts bounced as she pulled off the gown and dropped it to the floor in a pile with a sexy little wink over her shoulder.
I licked my lips, but I knew better than to be greedy. Arwyn was all business first, and pleasure second. If the Headmaster was waiting on her, then she would make me wait, and Arwyn was more than worth waiting for.
“You, um … ” I hesitated, then pointed at the area between her thighs. I didn’t really know how to voice what I meant to say, so all I could hope was that she was able to catch my drift.
Luckily, she did, and she smirked before she went back to changing.
“I let it drip onto my panties during the day,” she told me in a sultry tone. “Think of it as a proud secret between you and I.”
I barely resisted the groan that rose up in my throat. That … was unexpected, incredibly sexy in its own right, but definitely unexpected.
I nodded dumbly and politely averted my gaze as she dressed. As much as I enjoyed Arwyn and her beautiful body, I had enough respect to not gawk at her like a creep. Maybe I had it backward, but she seemed to appreciate the gesture all the same.
“The military wing is where we do a vast majority of our deployment and mission briefings,” Arwyn explained as she dressed. “Despite us being one of the larger Enclaves, our military wing is rather small in comparison to Hartmire.”
My ears perked up. Hartmire was where Nia’s family had their second home, and it was where she had gone for the end of term holiday. In hindsight, it made sense she would be there if that was the case. Having General Gallahar Kenefick as a father, he would need to be stationed where there was a larger military presence.
“So, where is the military wing?” I asked. My gaze was still fixed on the ceiling because I couldn’t think of anything else t
o look at while Arwyn changed.
“It would be better if I showed you, don’t you think?” she rebutted, and her finger grazed my jawline.
My eyes fell on hers, and I took note that she was already dressed. Her scarlet hair cascaded down her back and fell over her bare shoulders. She wore a top that left little to the imagination with a white collar held closed with a red tie, and black straps that barely contained her gorgeous breasts. A black underbust corset was zipped in the front and was accented by a few belts draped over her angular hips. Thigh high boots that matched the beautiful color of her hair left only a small gap of flesh exposed between their tops and her white mini skirt. Fingerless black gloves clung to her arm and up over her elbows.
“I guess, but shouldn’t you go alone?” I answered with another question, and Arwyn smirked.
“Why would I go alone? Your presence was requested as well,” she replied.
My jaw dropped. “Mine? But why?”
Arwyn shrugged. She looked genuinely out of the loop, as curious as I was. “There is only one way to find out.”
She stood upright again, and I clamored off the bed to follow after her. “Did you tell Petyr I was here with you?”
We descended the stairs and stopped at the door as Arwyn grabbed her cloak from a rack nearby. “Of course not, but when he told me that he was off to find you next, I told him I would fetch you.” Arwyn turned as she clasped her cloak closed with a smirk. “Looks like you found me first.”
I chuckled at that, and Arwyn kissed me again before she opened the door for me. I stepped out quickly, much like the way I came in, and Arwyn followed suit. With a brandished key, she locked the door behind us, and I fell into step one pace behind her to allow her to lead the way. I certainly had no idea where we were going.
We passed the dining hall again, and I peeped in as a boy in a green cloak entered. I searched for Braden and Layla and found neither of them was in our usual spot. That was odd. I at least expected Braden to have been there. He didn’t normally like to skip breakfast, and I wondered if he was okay. I remembered our last heart-to-heart had been laced with a bit of despair from his end. We hadn’t really had the time to catch up on what had been on his mind. I made a note to make some time for him soon.
Arwyn continued to lead the way, and I noticed we were by the hallways where the lab and the secret weapons room where Nia and I had made love yesterday. She led me a few steps past the hallway to a staircase just beyond. I’d never noticed one here before, but I’d never had a reason to look for it, either.
“Is this always here?” I asked anyway.
Arwyn shook her head, and I gawked.
“It isn’t?” My voice hitched, incredulously. “How do you keep a staircase hidden?”
She laughed at my expense, then apologized. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t find it humorous.”
I waved it off. It didn’t bother me, but I was still curious.
“The staircase is only exposed to the people who need to know where it is,” she continued. “If you are granted the ability to see past the guise of a blank wall, then it is because the Headmaster has deemed it so.”
I was shocked. Sleet thought I was worthy enough to know the location of where they held their military operations? Surely that wasn’t something that was granted to just anyone.
The stairs, much like the rest of the Academy, were stone and donned the colors of the different types of mages. They were lined with plush red velvet with gold trim, and I thought it was perhaps a little eccentric, but what did I know about decorating stairs? Portraits of who I could only assume to be mages with ornate frames and gold name placards lined the walls of the spiral staircase.
Yes, another spiral staircase. I started to wonder if this was a purposeful design choice, or if Sleet simply wanted me to suffer.
When we reached the top of the stairs, Arwyn took the lead again. Two dark wood desks flanked me on either side. Female mages sat at each of them, and they greeted us as we walked in.
“Hello, Ms. Arwyn,” they greeted in unison.
It was then I realized they were identical twins. Well, either that, or it was an elaborate illusion and I was seeing double. They had short, dark blue hair that was slick in the front and spiky in the back, and bright violet eyes that seemed too big for their petite faces. Admittedly, they were cute.
“Rae, Andi,” Arwyn waved to the one on the left, than the one on the right. “This is Gryff.”
“We know.” Again, they replied at the same time, and I swear the one named Andi winked at me.
“Headmaster Sleet already informed us of your arrival,” Rae told us. “He’s in Meeting Room Two with the others.”
“Others?” I asked as I glanced between them. “There are others?”
“Of course there are, silly,” Andi giggled and twirled a finger in her hair as she tapped a quill on the desk. “You can’t run a whole operation with only two people.”
I looked to Arwyn in the hopes that she had more answers. “Operation?”
Arwyn nodded. “This is the military wing, after all, Gryff. People don’t just come here for the cinnamon doughnuts, though they are rather exceptional.” She left me to stand there even more confused than I had been before I asked her the first question.
“What doughnuts?” I called after her. When she didn’t answer, I waved a quick goodbye to Rae and Andi, and caught up to her.
“Ar--Ms. Hamner, what exactly is going on?” I questioned, but this time I was more urgent.
“Gryff, I don’t have all of the answers you’re looking for,” she replied in short. “What I do know is you and I were summoned here by the Headmaster, presumably to take on a mission that is beyond typical deployment of a monster response squad.”
I crossed my arms, not completely satisfied with the answer I’d gotten, but I supposed I had to take it anyway. We stopped at a door made of black glass toward the end of a narrow hall. On the other side was the faint sound of shouting, but I wasn’t able to make out what was being said.
As Arwyn slid the door open, the sound intensified tenfold, if not more, and I caught sight of Varleth and Gawain nearly on top of one another. Both of their faces were red and flushed with fury, and their hands itched on the hilts of their weapons. Before either of them could continue whatever quarrel they had been in the middle of, Arwyn stepped in.
“Enough!” She raised her voice over theirs, and they both quieted, though I could still hear them growl under their breaths at each other. “You were obviously both invited here by the Headmaster because he deemed you worthy! Act like you deserve it!”
I watched as both Gawain and Varleth cowered. Arwyn was a force to be reckoned with when she was angry. I’d seen her on the battlefield, and I knew she didn’t take any shit, either.
Varleth backed away before he retreated to the other side of the long table that sat lengthwise in the middle of the room. Gawain scoffed, but he also backed off and chose to remain on that side. He leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms, content to stare a hole into the floor.
Arwyn remained by Gawain’s side, likely to keep him in check as he was the one with the relatively explosive temper. I ventured over to stand by Varleth.
The room itself wasn’t large, just big enough to fit a table with a few chairs, bare walls, and a screen that resembled the projection screen used in the Magicae Nito so the audience could watch without being harmed by the monsters inside. It was cold in there, and I regretted not having something warmer to cover my arms with.
“Long time no see,” I joked to my comrade as my teeth chattered. I propped myself up on the table across from him and folded my arms over my chest.
Varleth didn’t look nearly as amused at the joke as I was, but that was probably due to whatever it was he and Gawain had been so heated over. I had a hunch it was something about whatever Gawain’s father supposedly knew about Varleth, or rather, whatever misconception he had of him, but it wasn’t any of my business to pry into some
thing like that. If Varleth wanted to divulge that information to me, then he would. In the meantime, I would try to lighten the mood. I hated being in a heavy atmosphere.
“Petyr summon you, too?” I tried again, and Varleth sighed.
“He did. Barely even got to finish my first cup of coffee.” He looked forlorn, as though he were mourning the loss of however many cups of coffee he’d miss out on because of the interruption.
“Oh boohoo,” Gawain sneered, and Varleth bristled.
I whirled myself around and leaned on the table. Gawain Madox looked as pale as ever, but not in the sickly way he had when I’d brought him to the infirmary in the middle of the night only two days ago. In fact, he looked even better than before, maybe only a little bit tired, but that was easily enough explained. After all, it was still pretty early in the day. I was still tired myself.
“Aren’t you supposed to be hospitalized?” I questioned with a slightly teasing tone. I knew Gawain and I were far from friends, but I’d like to think we had bonded some during the events of our shared round in the Magicae Nito.
“If you must know,” Gawain eyed me, and the sneer in his features ebbed away, “I happened to be released earlier this morning. Meriden called it a miraculous recovery.”
Behind me, I heard Varleth snort. I couldn’t necessarily blame him, because I had barely resisted the urge to do it myself.
“Something funny over there, gypsy?” Gawain started again, but as soon as the words left his mouth, Arwyn reached over and pinched the back of his neck between her thumb and forefinger. I smirked as the pain registered on Gawain’s face, and he almost wasn’t able to bite his tongue in retaliation. He managed, however, and he quieted again as he scratched his back on the wall.
“Back itchy?” I asked. I was curious because he’d previously had two fist-sized holes punched into him by a monster posing as a little girl who resembled the angelic creature I’d met in Bedima a few months back.
“Still healing,” he grumbled, “but I’m in fighting shape.” He made sure to add that last bit to make sure we all knew he wasn’t going to be pushed around. None of us really cared, though. If he wanted to flaunt, let him flaunt.