Chapter 20
Chapter
Twenty
RANAN
I hate lying on my back like a beached whale. I feel helpless, and pathetic, and my limbs twitch with the need to do something. I need to swim, to hunt, to walk…anything. Instead, I lie here and feel my bad leg throb in time with my heartbeat.
I lie about while my wife runs herself ragged around the cave, taking care of me.
My wife. I taste the words and I rather like them. They’re strange, much like a new hunting knife or uncharted waters, but I don’t mind it. I’m grateful to Vali. She’s saved my life in multiple ways. Not only did she come after me, but she’s worked on healing me. If I’d been alone…the flotilla would have run across my bleached bones eventually.
I glance over at Vali, who is working on some sewing nearby. There are hollows under her eyes from lack of sleep and she yawns as she stitches, but even now, she works. There is hot tea bubbling and a soup of seaweed, fish, and clams simmering over the coals in a kettle. She never stops to rest, even when she’s falling over with fatigue, and I admire her more with every day that passes.
True, she might lie as easily as she smiles, but Vali has more good qualities than bad. Her actions tell me more than her words ever would. I can learn a lot from her. Not the lying, of course, but the determination. The strength to push through even when I’m exhausted.
It’s time for me to do something.
The way I see it, there are two routes to my recovery. I can lie here, useless, and hope that my leg works properly after I have slowly healed, or I can test it now. If it can support my weight, we go to the flotilla sooner rather than later. I see the healer there. I marry Vali in front of my parents so she no longer questions me. I return home with a happy, eager wife.
I like that version of events much more than the other.
So I sit up and curl the toes on my bad leg, testing things. Pain lances through me, but all my toes obey—some more than others. It’s a good thing, though. I try to push off the floor as normal and am unable to do so, however. I glance over at Vali. “Help me up?”
“Wait? What? No!” My pretty little wife scrambles to her feet, tossing aside her sewing. She races to my side, an intense frown on her face. “Lie back down! You’ll hurt yourself.”
“I’ve lain down long enough. I want to test my leg.”
“Ranan, no .”
“Valessa, yes.” I hold a hand up to her. “Are you going to help me or are you going to sit and watch me do this on my own?”
She scowls, but holds out her hand. “You’re a stubborn bastard. If you bust the stitches, I’m going to be incredibly pissed at you.”
If I bust the stitches, it’ll make the choice easy at least. I’ll have no recourse but to lie on my back, staring up at the ceiling, thinking about the sea dragon that even now lurks far too close to my territory. I haven’t told Vali about it yet because I don’t want her to panic. Truth is, once I’ve recovered, we’re leaving this place. If the waters here aren’t safe enough for a sea-ogre, they’re certainly not going to be safe enough for a delicate human female who can barely swim in a shallow puddle.
I take Vali’s hand and she braces her feet wide apart. Even though I’m twice her weight, having her to balance myself against helps and I’m able to heft myself to my feet. I keep my weight off my bad leg and gingerly test putting my toes down on the stone floor of the cavern.
“The stitches look like they’re holding so far.” She sounds proud.
“Aye, they seem to be.” I put more weight on my leg, and crushing pain flares through me. I force myself to continue to press my foot to the ground, testing how long I can put any weight on it.
“How did that happen anyhow?” Vali asks. “Was it a trap of some kind? A shark?”
“Big shark,” I agree, since it sounds less fearsome than a sea dragon. “I wandered too close into his territory.”
“Lord Vor is sending you a message,” my wife tells me. “He wants you to keep close to me, obviously, since he’s the one that brought us together.”
I eye her. Is she teasing or does she truly think that? “I doubt the gods care that much.”
“Yes, well, you can think that all you like. All I know is that I promised Lord Vor a fish and I haven’t given it to him yet. I don’t want to face his wrath for not fulfilling my side of the bargain.”
She does have a point. “Lord Vor will understand that you haven’t had a chance to honor his wishes yet.”
“You hope.”
“Aye, I hope,” I chuckle. “But the good news is that I can stand upon my leg.”
“Now who’s the liar?” Vali asks, voice tart. She takes a step back from me and I wobble. “A stiff breeze could knock you over, husband.”
She’s not wrong, yet I’m still encouraged. “It will get stronger every day,” I reassure her. “I simply need to exercise it.”
Vali looks unconvinced. She drops to her knees in front of me, pulling aside the bandages so she can inspect the stitches. “Everything still looks pretty bad. I worry I’ve stitched it wrong. Or what if there aren’t enough stitches to keep everything together?” Her fingers move lightly over my flesh and I hiss in pain. She draws back and eyes me, clearly worried. “Perhaps I should find the nearest town and pay the healer to come out here.”
“There are no towns near here. That’s the point.” The thought of Vali venturing off into the human lands alone terrifies me. I remember how those men on the shore treated her. “And I don’t want a human healer. I have you.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“You know what I meant.” I reach down and lightly touch her ear. “You have saved me. You know I am thankful.”
She gazes up at me, smiling, and her mouth is so inviting and pretty that I graze my thumb over it. My cocks respond when she blushes, but another jolt of pain shoots up my leg and puts an end to any amorous thoughts.
“Let me try to walk around the grotto,” I tell her as she continues to kneel in front of me. “See how far I can move.”
“Please, please be careful,” Vali breathes as I move out of her grasp.
I take one wobbling step, hissing with pain when I have to put my bad leg down. A second step proves to be too much and I nearly topple. Vali is right there as I do, putting her arms around me to steady me. I lean on her heavily…and then we both spill to the ground, legs flying into the air.
“Gods!” she cries, even as I snort with laughter. Her gaze searches my face as she struggles to sit up. “Are you all right, Ranan?”
“Nothing hurt but my pride,” I tell her. “But I am encouraged. It is painful, but I can use my leg.”
“Well, I don’t want you doing it! You’re just going to make things worse!” She fusses over me, her hands moving over my bare chest as she frets. “You just need to sit down and relax and?—”
“No,” I say, capturing her hand in one of mine. “I have sat about enough. We will pack tonight, and tomorrow we will head out to the flotilla upon Akara’s back.”
“I still don’t know how to swim,” she reminds me, her expression doubtful. “Are we sure that’s wise?”
“I will not be doing much swimming, either. It is simply a change in plans.”
She tries to pull her hand free from mine and get up, but she looks so worried that I refuse to let her go. Her gaze locks onto mine and a small smile tugs at her mouth. She pulls at her hand again, and I drag her toward me. Her soft mouth looks lush and appealing, and I want to kiss away her concerns. Vali leans forward over me, her other hand splaying across my chest. “What are you doing, Ranan?”
I love how breathless she sounds.
“I’m going to kiss my wife.” I slide a hand along her side, caressing her through the fabric. “But only if she wants it.”
Her gaze flicks over my body. “But your leg?—”
“Not using it at the moment.” I’m on my back, half on the bedding. Vali is practically sprawled over me, and she’s being careful to avoid my injury. “Does this mean you don’t want to kiss me?”
“I’ll kiss you,” Vali blurts. “I just…I worry. I don’t want to hurt you. I know you’re in pain. Your leg?—”
“Is nowhere near my mouth,” I remind her, tugging her close once more.
Her lips quirk, and she leans in, meeting me halfway. Her kiss is tentative at first, but I’m reminded of how much I enjoy the feel of her. The soft, delicate sweetness of her mouth, mixed with the warmth of her body. Her lips give under mine, parting, and when I stroke my tongue against hers, she makes a sound of pure delight.
I pull her closer, leaning into the kiss. I’ve forgotten just how enjoyable it is to meld my lips to another’s. To lose myself in the joining of our mouths, to feel a body yielding against mine. Kissing Vali feels…different than what I recall when I kissed women of my people. She’s made the same as them, but she’s Vali, and somehow that makes it different.
Makes it better . She’s warm and loving and gorgeous and her pink tongue feels like a dream against my own. My cocks stir, and I’m reminded of our conversation from yesterday.
She takes nothing for herself in bed. No male has ever given her his mouth between her thighs.
I suddenly want this more than anything. “Let me taste you, Vali.”
My wife pulls back from me, her dazed expression glorious. Her gaze darts to my lips and then she licks hers, as if wanting to make my taste linger. “I thought that’s what we were doing.”
“I want to taste you between your thighs,” I point out. “Like we talked about.”
She grows flustered, her teeth sinking into her lower lip. “Your injury?—”
“Need not affect us when I have four strong arms.” I lift one to graze her thigh, play with her hair with another, and pat the blanket with a third hand even as the fourth strokes her cheek. I am tiring, it’s true. The wound has sapped my strength, yet this is something that I want desperately. “I can hold you and taste you, or you can come and sit upon my face and let me lick you to my leisure.”
“Oh.” Her flustered gaze darts over my face. “You…you truly want that?”
I groan at the hint of excitement in her voice. Just the thought of Vali straddling my face, her warm cunt pressing against my mouth, makes me crazy with need. “I want it very badly.”
She hesitates.
She’s going to decline. I recognize the stubborn look on her face, and my disappointment is immeasurable. But then she shakes her head. “I’ll only do it if we put your bad leg on the pillow again.”
Is that her only request? “Done.”
Vali detangles from my embrace, her cheeks flushed dark with color as she adjusts the bedding. I’m forced to lie back and watch, hiding my fatigue, as she straightens the blankets and then fluffs my leg pillow. When I’m settled down to her satisfaction, I gesture that she should come toward me. “You look at me as if you are afraid.”
“I’m not afraid.”
“Good, because I don’t bite. You think I won’t be gentle?”
“I’m sure you will be.”
“Then be brave and claim your pleasure, wife.”
She wrings her hands. “What if I don’t enjoy it? I’ve never done this before.”
“Then we will stop.”
“But what if you enjoy it and I don’t?”
“There are a great many things I enjoy, Vali. If you hate it, I can avail myself of one pleasure and focus on the ones that bring both of us joy.”
She hesitates for a moment longer and then sighs heavily. “Your pleasure is far more important than mine. You realize that, right?”
“You’re my wife now and no longer a slave. You realize that, right?” I jab back.
Vali scowls and sits delicately on the blankets next to me, folding her legs under her. “I see your point, but this is new territory for me. You’ll have to forgive me if I seem reluctant. It’s not that I don’t like pleasure or don’t trust you…”
“It’s that it’s vulnerable and you don’t like being vulnerable,” I guess aloud, and she grimaces again. “I would be honored if you would let me try this. If you hate it, we never have to do it again.”
Vali chews her lip again, then nods and smooths her hands down her simple dress. She gets to her feet, eyeing me. “How do we manage this?”
I gesture at my head. “I thought you could sit upon my face.”
I say the words casually, as if I haven’t been contemplating this very thing all night. As if I haven’t been wondering what it would feel like to have her thighs clasping my ears, to feel the weight of her upon my face as I press my mouth and tongue against her cunt. As if I haven’t been making myself crazy with the thought of touching her.
Of what sounds she’ll make when she’s pleasured.
Gods, I’ve been thinking of nothing else since we mentioned this yesterday.
Vali sinks down to her knees by my shoulders and then carefully leans forward, easing one leg over until she’s straddling my neck. Her dress falls over my face and I sputter.
She giggles, pushing the fabric off my chin to expose my grin. “Do you want me naked for this?”
“I’d love to have you naked,” I admit.
With a little smile, she pulls her dress over her head and tosses it away, and then she’s atop me, gloriously naked. Her weight is solid for a human, but to me, she’s light. She trembles, but she doesn’t beg off again. She’s determined to see this through.
My brave wife.
I run my hands up her thighs as she adjusts herself, her knees parted and her feet out to the sides. She leans forward on her hands again, then hesitates, clearly trying to decide the best position. “I’m still not entirely sure how to do this, Ranan.”
“Let me.” I grip her flanks, holding her in place, and one of my lower hands anchors at the small of her back so she can lean against me. We maneuver and wriggle about a bit more, and then she relaxes, leaning back against my grasp.
The scent of her envelops me, and it’s intoxicating. She smells like musk and arousal, and I know without touching her that she’s turned on by the prospect of me putting my mouth on her. My own cocks are fully engorged, throbbing with an aching need that won’t be fulfilled. This is about her.
I take one hand and put it between her legs, running my thumb over the seam of her cunt. It’s shrouded by a nest of dark curls, but I don’t mind that. In fact, I rather like it. It’s just another small difference between our bodies, and I enjoy all of hers. Exploring Vali is like adventuring to new, fresh waters…yet even when I have learned every bit of her form, I suspect I will still enjoy touching and caressing her.
She trembles as I move a hand between her thighs, and that makes me pause. “I have you, Vali. I have four hands to hold you up. I will not let you fall.”
Vali doesn’t look down at me. “I’m not scared you’ll drop me.” Her voice sounds tight. Uneasy. Uncertain.
“Then what is there to be afraid of?” I want to brush my mouth against the soft skin of her thighs, but I want to make sure my touch is wanted, first.
“I…I don’t know.”
“Do you trust me, wife?”
She nods jerkily, as if she hates to even give this small concession. Her unease makes me ache, because pleasure is such a simple thing. Has no one ever thought to touch her in a way that would bring her joy? I hate that she has been surrounded by people that have used her only for what she can give them…and I am no better.
That changes today.
I stroke her thigh with a confident hand, as if I am soothing a fractious hamarii. “Relax, my wife. We will try this, and if you hate my touch, we will never do so again, I promise.”
“I’ve never hated your touch,” she says, voice soft. Her hand goes to her ear, as if recalling all the times I’ve been tongue-tied around her and showed how I felt with a caress there.
It makes me ache all the more. “Then trust me to pleasure you and enjoy myself while I do so.”
“It’s just…difficult.” She squirms against my grasp.
“Because you are giving control of your body over to me,” I state, guessing why she is so hesitant.
“I just…in bed is the one place where I have some control. Where I can get the upper hand. Are you sure I can’t just pleasure you?” She sounds desperate.
“I’m positive.”
She makes a pouty sound and puts her fists on her thighs. “Then let’s just do this and get it over with.”
If I didn’t know her better, I’d be offended at her reluctance to let me touch her. But I know the reason behind her reticence. I know how Vali likes to put on a brave face to hide her vulnerability. I am not put off by her actions. It just makes me want to taste her even more.
I nuzzle along the inside of her thigh, pulling her down towards my mouth.
“If your leg hurts,” she begins, “we should?—”
“Hush,” I tell her. “Just hush, my Vali.”
“Hushing.” Yet she trembles all the same.
I kiss along the inside of her thigh, moving towards the tuft of curls that cover her cunt. She smells delightful here, of salt and brine, of feminine musk and delicate skin. It’s a combination that feeds the feral side of me, the side that wants nothing more than to toss her down onto the bed and thrust both cocks into her willing body.
But that is not happening. Even if my leg were whole and I were capable, I want Vali to want to be with me because she enjoys the pleasure of our bodies equally. I do not expect her to simply service me. That is not the act of a wife, but an eager slave.
And I am not interested in slaves.
So I put all my focus into making this moment good for Vali. I touch her all over, and with twice as many hands as her, it’s easy enough to accomplish. She makes soft little sounds when I caress her thighs and the curve of her belly. I want to touch her breasts, too, but her arms rest over them. Next time, then. I move my face closer to her cunt by small increments, and when she no longer tenses at the feel of my lips on her skin, I give her a tentative lick and then wait to see her reaction.
Vali sucks in a breath.
“Was that good?”
She squirms in my grasp again. “I…I don’t know. It felt different .”
Hm. I do not have to think if Vali’s mouth is good when she tongues my cock. I know all of it is good. The fact that she has to pause and consider means I am not doing it the way I should. I drag my tongue over the seam of her cunt again, experiencing more of her taste, but I do not get the rapturous moans that I want from her. “Better?”
“I think so?”
It feels like a lie. Her mouth says yes but her body is still full of uncertainty. And Vali lies when she fears I won’t like the truth…so it is not better. I move my tongue over her again and her folds delicately part under my seeking tongue. I use one hand to gently expose her flesh, and she is damp and her skin is darker here. A small nub protrudes from the apex of her cunt folds, and then her folds veer down to the opening of her body, and then the pucker of her anus. It’s all fascinating, and I touch a reverent finger along the inside of one delicate fold. She jumps in response, and the tension re-enters her body.
I wish I was not so ignorant of how to please her. She knew just how to please me. I need a demonstration of what touches she enjoys and?—
Aha. That’s the solution.
I slide my hand away from her cunt and tap a finger on the outside of one leg. “Show me.”
“What?” Her voice wobbles and she glances down at my head from where I’m perched between her thighs.
“Surely you’ve touched yourself before, aye?”
Her face colors and she gets an embarrassed expression. “That is a private question.”
“I already know your answer from your reaction. Why so shy? I have touched myself many a time for a simple release. I expect you would do the same. So…show me.” I gesture at her spread thighs. “Show me how you touch yourself.”
She blusters, clearly reluctant. “What, like you’d show me if I asked?”
“Absolutely.”
That quiets her. Her mouth snaps shut and she purses her lips.
“Come now, where is my bold, eager bride?”
“She’s being asked to diddle herself with a face between her knees,” Vali mutters.
I chuckle at her response. “It would please me greatly if you would show me, my wife. I will not ask if it troubles you, though.”
Vali chews on her lip again, then licks her lips. One hand slides down her belly, and then she skims it over the curls on her cunt.
And by the gods, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so gorgeous—the swing of her heavy breasts as she expertly pushes her folds apart with first and third finger, stroking the longest finger along the side of the nub. I am fascinated. I am entranced.
I am going to spend myself all over my belly if this continues.
And yet it does, thank the gods for that. Her eyes flutter closed, and when I say nothing to interrupt, she continues. Her hand moves faster, her middle finger pressing inward, and she rubs back and forth alongside that bit of flesh, moving faster. Her hips rock in my grasp once, and then she goes still, her eyes flying open.
“Keep going,” I say hoarsely. “I have you.”
Nothing would convince me to let go of her at this point. I watch in utter fascination as she touches herself a handspan from my face, my hands gripping her thighs and buttocks and holding her in place. She pushes her hand lower, pressing that middle finger into her body, and I hear the wet sound of arousal as she pulls back, spreading the slickness over her skin.
My cocks throb at the sight of this, and I scarce dare to breathe. I want to put my mouth on her now, but I don’t dare interrupt. This is too entrancing a show. All the while, my cocks ache and leak a response, my sac tight and pre-cum dripping onto my belly and thighs from my excitement.
Vali rocks her hips again, dipping her hand down once more, and the slick sounds grow greater, as does the salty scent of her. She moves faster, giving up on spreading her folds apart and soon just rubs that spot with all of her fingers, growing rougher and more urgent.
When she comes, she quakes and shivers, her lips parting on a silent cry.
I’m fascinated. Fascinated, and I want to experience it for myself. As she catches her breath, I slide my hand between her legs and brush over the little nub she put so much focus upon. “What is this called?”
“That’s my clit.”
“And it is sensitive? Like the heads of my cocks?”
She gives a jerky nod.
“Do you just have the one?”
For some reason, this makes her chuckle. “Most humans only have one cock, Ranan. They’d be jealous to know you have two.”
Interesting. It’s not something I’ve thought of until now. “I see. Does it bother you that I’m built differently?”
“I seem to recall running my mouth all over you,” she muses, her tone drowsy and delicious. “So no, it doesn’t bother me.”
Good. I focus on her lovely flesh again. She’s flushed now, her skin slick and gleaming with her juices. I drag my thumb over her clit and watch her reaction. Vali shudders, her lips parting and her body jerking in response.
“Sensitive,” she gasps.
“I imagine so,” I murmur, and try a couple of different touches. I skim around the small bud while she whimpers and jerks above me. She’s no longer tense, though, and I feel confident enough that she’s relaxed. I pull her hips down toward my mouth and close my lips over that small bead.
Vali cries out. “Gods!” Her hands go to my head, flattening against the sides of my crest.
The taste of her is incredible, and now that she’s slick with arousal, I get so much more of it. I use my lips to nibble gently at her clit, then take it between them one more and suck on it. She gasps and rocks against my face. I lap at her, determined to induce another orgasm, this one for me. With tongue and lips, I tease her clit and it’s not long before she’s driving down against me, sobbing her need, her hands pressed against my skull as she rides my tongue.
It’s incredible.
This time when she comes, there’s a rush of wetness from her cunt, and I greedily lap it up. “Beautiful,” I murmur as I tongue her. “Perfect.”
“No more,” she whimpers, bucking and trying to get away from me. “Too sensitive.”
I let her go, pleased with her orgasms. She rolls off of me, panting, and sprawls on her back on the bedding next to me. I reach down and take myself in hand and with two quick pumps to each cock, I come, spraying over my chest. My muscles tense and I hiss in pain as my leg clenches along with the rest of me.
“Ranan?” Vali sits up, alarmed.
“I’m fine,” I grit out. “Just…my bad leg. Flexed it.”
“You idiot,” she tells me, but her tone is affectionate. She sits up and gets some of the newly cleaned cloth and gently wipes down my stomach and cocks, and then cleans herself up. “No more of that until you’re feeling better.”
“Mmm.” It’s not an agreement. I’m going to taste her again, I decide. Tonight. Daily. I liked the taste of her. More than that, I liked her responses. I liked watching her lose control. I catch her hand as she tosses the fabric aside and search her face. “Did you like that?”
Gone is the awkward Vali from before. My wife chuckles and plants her hands on the sides of my face and gives me a smacking kiss. “You even have to ask?”
I manage a small grin even though my leg is throbbing and exhaustion is catching up with me. “I do.”
“I did like it. I’ve never done that before.” She smiles.
“Will you let me do it again?”
“Aye, I imagine I will.” Some of her shyness returns, and she wags a finger at me. “But not until you’re feeling better.”
We’ll see about that.