10. Chapter 10
Chapter ten
A nslo counted his coins and slipped them back into his purse, secreting it under the loose floorboard in his room at the tavern as the lunch crowd at the inn clamored below. He'd more than earned enough for a ring, now, but it didn't appear that orcs proposed or married with rings. He could still buy Tam one, but she rarely wore jewelry. Not much that was flashy or decorative seemed to interest her.
He found it oddly charming that, of all the people he'd met in his travels, it was a king who seemed least interest in wealth and most pleased with gifts of fruit and paper butterflies and songs and the "womb wellness" tea the old herbalist in Silver Cliffs sold. Each time he presented Tamaka with something he worried would be paltry and unworthy of her, she beamed at him as if he'd brought her the moon and stars.
And then, when Dregu went off to sleep at night, she kissed him with all the passion she'd had that first night they'd met before he bade her goodbye to sleep, alone and lonely, in his bed at the inn.
He'd told her that if she never wished to be touched by him again, if she wished him to cease his wooing, he would. He would stay for their child but would expect nothing else, no matter how much he wanted it. She always gave him an odd look when he said that, as if she still didn't quite trust his words.
He was serious, though, and one day she'd see it. He still didn't have a house of his own, and it would be a while yet until he could afford that, but he had a steady job. He had made friends. He'd grown to know and love the city and its people.
He'd grown to love her and the little one she carried, who didn't even have a name yet.
He was staying.
He locked his room behind him and headed through the streets to King's Rest, but Dregu and Bula came racing towards him before he could make his way up the mountainside.
"Are you coming to Dralas Day?" Bula demanded breathlessly.
"What is Dralas Day?" he asked.
"The races!" the youths cheered, then rushed off towards the farm fields.
Tamaka and her friend, Zoli, approached, and Zoli gave him a nod and a mischievous wink. Tam supported the increasing swell of her belly with one hand, her gait slower the past few days. She'd complained in the mornings of her hips being sore, but waved him away when he asked how he could help.
"There are races and prizes on Dralas Day to celebrate Dralas, the messenger of the Gods," Tam explained. "Dregu and Bula like to compete to see who is fleetest of foot."
"It's usually Bula," Zoli said with a laugh. "But I don't think Dregu cares. They made a deal years ago that whoever wins has to buy the loser a sweet, so she ends up spending all her allowance on treats for him."
"I wonder if he loses on purpose," Anslo mused.
"Doubtful. He has enough pride for two grown men." Tamaka rolled her eyes. "Old people like us don't compete anymore," she said and Zoli clicked her tongue. "But you're welcome to come and watch with us."
Anslo fell into step with them. "I'd love to. Do I cheer them both equally, or do I have to pick a side?"
Tamaka blew out a breath. "Pick a side and you'll end up on both of their bad sides." Her fingers brushed against his as they walked, and he looked down to where their hands almost touched. Her gaze was fixed ahead, but he saw her lips quirk when he took her hand.
"Is this alright?" he whispered.
Zoli scoffed. "No one will bat an eye. By now half the city knows you put a baby in her."
Tamaka sputtered a laugh and Anslo cleared his throat. "Go away!" Tam told her and Zoli laughed, jogging ahead. "It's alright," Tam said quietly.
"Is it, though?" Anslo asked, to be sure.
She bit her lip. "Yes."
"You don't sound certain." He tried to pull away, but she held his hand fast.
"No, I am."
The walk down to the fields in the neighborhood of Maartusk was long, the sun high in the sky by the time they arrived. The races were already in progress, a long course set up along the river for runners. Groups organized by age competed, crowds cheering them on.
They found a place to sit on the riverbank, and Tamaka's hand drifted back towards his once they were seated. He scooted closer on the grass until their shoulders touched and the corner of her mouth quirked up as she watched the race in progress. Anslo could feel the stares of a few people on them, and doubtless she could too, but she didn't move away. If anything, she moved closer, leaning against him as she rubbed her stomach.
They cheered as loudly as they could when the youths raced and Bula beat Dregu by barely a sword's length. The sweaty prince and his best friend stayed with them long enough for a few congratulations, then hurried off to spend their coins at the vendors who'd set up shop to serve the hungry crowd.
"When you were young, did you win any of these?" Anslo asked.
"I did," Tamaka said proudly. "And then I lost one to Vagar, and I fell in love with him." She had told him a few stories of her husband over the weeks, and when she spoke of him, he could not detect any sadness lingering in her voice, only fondness. It gave him hope that the ghost of her mate was not the sort of specter that would cling to her forever. He didn't doubt that she would never forget Vagar, but perhaps she would be willing to take a new mate soon, to love again.
He would be there when she was ready. He might be crawling out of his skin with desire for her by then, but he would wait patiently for as long as it took.
She rubbed her stomach again. "The baby is hungry," she announced, as she often did lately. She took a coin from her pocket and offered it to him. "Will you get me a few skewers of those peppered mushrooms?"
"Madam, what do you take me for?" Anslo gasped, pressing a hand to his heart. She looked at him, wide-eyed. "I am not a complete pauper," he laughed, closing her fingers around the coin and producing one of his own. "I can afford to buy you food."
"So dramatic," she muttered, trying not to smile as he stood. "And a tankard of apple cider!" she shouted after him.
He procured a few skewers of mushrooms and one of roasted beef and sweet onions as well as two tankards of cider and brought them back to her, and they ate their midday meal together. He could still feel a few stares, but Tamaka seemed to relax more with every moment, so he did as well. Those citizens who'd been curious about his presence the last few weeks had never once made him feel judged, and they did not appear to be bothered by the fact that their king was having a child out of wedlock. It was a refreshing difference from many of the human cities he'd traveled through in his time. There were plenty of open-minded people everywhere, but nowhere did they seem so disinclined to gossip about their monarch as here in Seven Falls.
The monarchy itself seemed completely different here. Kings walked amongst their people every day, in ordinary clothes, rather than sitting on gilded thrones, locked away from the people they were meant to serve. Anslo had heard tales at the tavern that Tamaka's father had been a bit more of a distant king than she was, but no one ever seemed surprised to see Tam out and about amongst them. No one seemed to mind that she was being courted by a human, though they were curious about it. No one made snide remarks that the second prince would be a bastard.
Though that wouldn't necessarily come to pass, if he managed to convince her to marry him.
He still wasn't sure he was worthy of that. Being married to a king seemed like madness, when he had few skills but his voice and his wit, no fortune, no high birth, no prowess in battle, and no grand future to offer her. But she seemed to like him just as he was, and if she loved him as he loved her, perhaps she would not notice that he fell short.
They finished their food and drained the last of their cider, and Anslo returned the wooden tankards to the vendor. Tamaka was fanning herself when he came back, the neck of her shirt untied.
The day was growing too hot for racing, so the competitors had taken to jumping in the river to cool off between bouts, much to the joy of the orclings spectating, who splashed in after them. Anslo wet his kerchief in the cool water and passed it to Tam, and she took it gratefully, wiping the sweat from her neck.
"Is it good for the baby to be out in such heat?" Anslo asked.
"You're becoming a mother hen," Tamaka groused, though there was only fondness behind the statement.
"I've never been a father before," he shrugged. "I don't know what I'm doing."
She looked at him, one eyebrow raised. "You're doing an excellent job for knowing nothing."
He sketched a courtly bow and she chuckled, pulling him down beside her. "I've been smiling and laughing a great deal the past two months," she whispered, leaning close.
"I'm glad. Should you not?"
She sighed. "I hadn't, for years." They watched the racers splashing through the river with screaming orclings in tow for a few minutes, and he couldn't stop the smile spreading across his face, though he probably looked like a loon.
It had always been a personal philosophy of his that making a woman laugh was a sure way to her heart, and his Tam desperately needed to laugh, to smile, to remember that the burden of the whole world did not rest on her shoulders, alone, and that she was as entitled to joy as anyone.
She turned, her lips brushing his ear. "Do you want to kiss me, here, in front of everyone?" she asked.
He startled. "Do you mean it?"
She shrugged, picking at the grass. "Maybe the heat is driving me mad. But I wouldn't stop you."
He didn't need to be told twice. Anslo cupped her cheek, sealing his mouth over hers. She sighed against him, her tongue slipping between his lips, and he forgot they were surrounded by thousands of shouting orcs. He wrapped his other arm around her waist and held her close, nipping at her lips until they were both breathing quickly.
She pulled back with a small shriek, grasping his hand and pressing it to the side of her stomach. "He's kicking," she whispered. "Do you feel that?"
Anslo knelt perfectly still as he felt the baby's tiny feet pressing against her womb, against his hand. He held his breath until the movement stilled, the child seeming to relax again. "Gods," he breathed. "Does he often do that?"
"He's started recently, but usually only at night." She beamed at him. "It's a wonder, isn't it?"
It was, and though he'd never imagined himself experiencing it, he could not imagine life without this, without her, now. "Do you still think I'm going to leave?" he asked. "After this, do you think I could walk away?" He needed to hear her say it, to know that she had faith in his commitment.
She shook her head slowly, leaning close. "I don't," she murmured against his lips before she kissed him again.
And just like that, the sunshine of the day was no longer in the sky. It was in his soul.
They stayed until the racing was finished, the winners claiming their prizes and the vendors hawking the last of their wares at a discount. He helped her up and they followed the crowd back up the river towards the city. Dregu and Bula found them, Zoli in tow.
"I'm going to stay the night at Bula's," Dregu told them excitedly, "and we're going to sleep out under the stars!" Still full of boundless energy, the two ran along the river.
Zoli leaned close. "I figured I'd keep him out of your hair for the night," she whispered, then followed the children.
"We used to trade nights with them when they were smaller," Tamaka laughed. "They were little barbarians. Trying to put them to bed was like fighting a battle."
"Will this one be like that?" Anslo caressed her stomach with a mock grimace.
"No way to tell. Every child is different." She smiled at him. "But you can sing lullabies better than I ever could. You'll lull him to sleep."
The walk back to King's Rest seemed even longer than the walk down, after the hot day. Tamaka leaned her shoulder against his as they made their way up the long stone stairs built into the mountain. She was too tall for him to carry safely, but he wrapped an arm around her back as he felt her energy fade.
She didn't bid him goodbye at the entrance to the king's cave complex, so he followed her in.
"Gods," she groaned. "I hate the summer. I'd give anything for a mead."
He chuckled, shaking his head. "I'll bring you some water."
He filled a clay cup with water in the kitchen and brought it to her. She was in her bedroom where he'd rarely set foot, seated on one of her chests of clothes and tugging at her boots. Her belly was still relatively small, but big enough to start giving her trouble with such tasks. "Stop," he told her, handing her the water. "I'll help with that."
He knelt and unlaced her boots as she leaned back against the wall and drank greedily. "My feet are killing me," she grumbled. He pulled her boots off and set them on the shoe rack, then held out a hand to help her up.
"Lucky you have me, then," he said, shooing her to the bed. She sat down on the soft pile of furs and groaned again, rolling her neck and shoulders. Anslo took a jar of pinkwater herb salve, intended to relieve small aches and pains, from a high shelf and sat by her feet.
"You don't have to. Give it here," she murmured, trying to take the ointment from him. He clicked his tongue and held the jar out of her reach.
"You're still doing it." He shook his head at her. "Still trying to push me away because there's a small part of you that thinks I'm here out of obligation rather than choice. Now, unless you're going to tell me to lick your sweet pussy until you drench me in your honey, stop ordering me about and lie down."
She stared at him for a long moment, her mouth hanging open. Then she snapped it closed and leaned back on her elbows, watching him from beneath her lashes.
Anslo opened the jar and warmed a dab of salve between his palms. He lifted one of her legs onto his lap and pressed his thumbs to the arch of her foot. Tam whimpered, collapsing onto the furs and closing her eyes as he massaged the soreness from her foot and ankle. She mumbled a bit, cursing him under her breath and asking how he could possibly be so good at this and telling him she hated him, not a trace of real displeasure in her voice. Anslo chuckled as he picked up her other foot. He liked her contrariness. It was perversely charming.
She moaned, squirming against the furs as he pushed up her leggings and worked the muscles of her calves. Slowly, the tension bled from her body, though she still plucked at her tunic as if she was overheated.
"Stop torturing me," she groaned.
"You like when I torture you," he retorted.
"I like when you fuck me," she snapped.
Anslo froze, his gaze finding hers. She glared up at him, kicking softly until he released her leg. "You're driving me mad," Tam hissed, planting a foot on his lap where his shaft was quickly stiffening. She rubbed her foot against him through the cloth of his pants and he almost choked. "I can't take it anymore. I need you. I need you inside of me."
Anslo's heart beat a deafening tattoo in his chest. "Are you certain?" he asked. He had been so careful to move slowly, not wanting her to think that he only wanted her for her body, for the pleasure she brought him, but his control was wearing as thin as hers seemed to be. "Is this just the pregnancy?" he asked. "The herbalist said pregnant women often have strong needs—"
"Shut up," Tamaka demanded. "If you're not going to get your cock out in the next ten seconds, then leave." They stared at each other for a moment. She raised an eyebrow. "Six seconds."
Anslo tore at the fastening of his pants, shoving them down until his cock sprang free. "Finally," he heard her whisper as she lifted her tunic over her head. He paused for a moment, forgetting what he was doing as her breasts were revealed. They had grown plumper, the nipples fat and pebbled with anticipation. His mouth watered.
"Help me," Tam ordered as she pushed at her leggings. Anslo quickly pulled them down her legs and tossed them aside, barely having time to slip one arm free of his shirt before she reached for him and pulled him towards her. Tamaka wrenched at his shirt, tearing it down the middle and shoving it off his shoulders as he settled between her legs.
"Just let me—" he started, pushing at his pants, but she shook her head.
"Now," she demanded. "Fuck me, Anslo, please."
"Are you—" he reached between her legs, finding her soaked and ready for him. "Alright, yes." She wrapped one leg around his hips, her heel pressing against his buttocks, and the tip of his cock slipped between her folds, notching at her entrance.
"Now?" he asked.
"Now," she growled.
He slid inside, deep, and she gasped, "Yes!" Her nails scored his back as she tried to pull him closer. He could be no closer, with her belly between them. Tam groaned in disappointment.
"Patience," Anslo murmured as he rocked slowly against her. He smoothed one hand over the tight skin of her abdomen, her hips bucking up to meet every thrust. "Relax," he breathed. "I'll get you there, love."
She nodded with a soft whimper and he bent his head, sucking one of her nipples into his mouth. Tam cried out, her hands flying to his head. He traced his tongue around her breast and she speared her fingers through his hair, holding him to her. She still arched against his slow, measured thrusts, her thighs tight around his hips, but Anslo refused to increase his pace, savoring the wet heat of her as he trailed his lips across her chest, latching onto the other breast.
"Don't stop," she begged him.
"Never," he promised, catching her pebbled nipple between his teeth. She gasped, her sheath tightening around him. "You have me, Tam. I'm not going anywhere."
She cupped a hand beneath his chin, lifting his face so she could look into his eyes. Anslo stilled. "You mean it?" she asked quietly.
He shook his head. "I've told you. I've tried to show you. If you don't—"
"Tell me now," she interrupted. "I'll never ask you again. I'll believe you. Tell me now."
He bent and pressed a kiss to the skin over her heart. "You have me," he whispered. "You own me, Tam, and I love you."
She was silent for a long moment, her lips pressed tightly together. "You don't have to say it back," he assured her. "It's alright if you need more time, but I won't lie to you. I lo—"
"No, I don't need more time." Her hand trembled against his cheek and a tear slipped silently from the corner of her eye. "It's just, I know how much it hurts when someone... leaves you. The first time, I thought I might die. There was so little I lived for in the months, years, after, and I certainly didn't live for myself." She swallowed and he lowered himself to his elbows, wiping the tears from her face. "I didn't want to feel, because feeling was pain. Nobody had warned me when I married what I stood to lose. Nobody tells you that it feels like walking around with no heart in your chest, nothing to pump your blood. Just ice in your veins. I'm afraid," she said in a small voice. "It scares me that I'm willing to risk that again for you."
Anslo pulled back and lay down beside her, pulling her against him until her belly pressed to his. He couldn't pretend to understand how she felt, he could only imagine, and he didn't know how to assuage her fears. He didn't think it was possible to assuage them. Neither of them could tell the future, and he could not promise her that he would not die like her first husband. He was younger than her and not a warrior who regularly put himself in dangerous positions, so he figured it was unlikely she would outlive him, but he didn't say that. It wouldn't help at the moment, and it was useless for mortals to speculate on fate.
He simply held her as she wept quietly, combing his fingers through her hair and kissing the tears from her face. His arousal quickly flagged, but it hardly mattered. He was holding her in his arms. She had opened herself up to him, finally, and that was more precious than any other way to spend their time together, to his mind.
After a while, her tears dried and she reached up, lacing her fingers with his. She kissed the back of his hand, a sad smile on her face. "I shouldn't have done that," she whispered. "I liked what you were doing, and then I ruined it."
Anslo laughed, shaking his head. "I like everything you do. I'm not complaining." He pressed a kiss to the corner of her mouth and she leaned into him when he tried to pull away, her blunt tusks catching on his lip as she kissed him, open mouthed, her lips tasting like tears and her tongue slick and hot against his.
"Then make love to me again," she demanded, her teeth leaving stinging marks on his lower lip. She lowered his hand to her sex, slipping his fingers into her, then pressed her own palm to his cock. His shaft began to thicken again, and she rubbed her thumb against the sensitive skin beneath the head of his cock.
"Still hungry?" he teased, spreading her folds to play with the bud of her pleasure.
"Ravenous," she groaned.
Anslo grinned, sliding down the furs and spreading her legs. "Be patient, then," he said. "Because so am I."
She still lay on her side, so he pushed her top thigh back until her foot could rest against his shoulder and her hips wouldn't be pained, then dipped his head between her legs. He traced the lips of her sex with his tongue, pressed wet kisses against the crease at the top of her thigh. Tamaka moaned, her toes curling, and Anslo licked his way to her bud, sealing his lips around it.
Gods, he'd missed her taste, the subtle womanly flavor of her pleasure. He sucked, licked, filling his mouth, his senses with her until she was crying out, thighs trembling around his head. He wrapped his arms around her hips, holding her in place as he brought her to her peak, flicking the tip of his tongue over her bud until she screamed, a flood of her honey soaking his chin. He lapped some of it up until she pulled at his hair, demanding he move.
Anslo crawled back up beside her, wiping his face with his forearm, and she winced. "Did I hurt you?" he asked.
Tam shook her head, groaning and rolling to her stomach. "My hips," she muttered, pressing the heel of one hand against the joint of her hip. "Everything seems to hurt them. It's not you."
Anslo palmed his cock, now achingly hard from licking her, and Tamaka clicked her tongue. "Don't waste it," she said with a wicked smile.
He'd thought it might hurt her to continue, but she knelt on hands and knees, shoving a pile of furs beneath her stomach for support. "If you spill your seed in your hand rather than in me, I won't let you back into my bed," she threatened.
"I do love it when you snap at me," Anslo laughed, kneeling behind her and rubbing his cock between the cheeks of her bottom.
"Then get on with it and fuck me," she grumbled, wiggling her ass invitingly.
She reached back and clasped him at the root, guiding him to her entrance, and he pushed forwards, spearing her slowly. "Fast, this time," she demanded. "And harder."
He gripped her hips, fingers digging into the soft green flesh, and thrust hard. Gritting his teeth as she tightened around him, he drove into her roughly, each thrust punctuated by her throaty cries, the decadent wet slap of their bodies meeting again and again.
"Yes," she hissed. "More, please! More!"
He couldn't last like this. She pushed back against every thrust, back arched in pleasure. He bent over her and reached between her legs, pressing his fingers to the hard pearl of flesh that would send her over the edge again.
"With me, love," he gasped, his balls drawing up tight. "Let me feel it."
He circled her bud and the muscles of her back tensed. Tam pressed her face into the furs, her cries muffled as her pussy squeezed around him, her arms and legs trembling. With a groan, he poured himself into her, the tight clench of her sex almost painful after his own release. He started to pull out, but she shook her head, looking over her shoulder at him.
"Keep it in," she ordered. "All night."
Gods above. He wouldn't survive this woman. She would wring him dry and then demand more. Anslo grinned. He would love every second.
He eased them down to their sides, his chest pressed to her back, and she hummed in contentment before shifting uncomfortably, her brow furrowed. She pulled a small cushion from the head of the bed and tucked it between her knees, then settled against him with a sigh. Anslo rested an arm over her stomach, tracing soft circles over the stretched skin.
"I love you," she whispered. She tightened her channel around his cock and he sucked in a breath, beginning to harden again. She'd done that on purpose, the tease.
He reached down and pulled one of the blankets over them. "Glad to hear it," he said, pressing a kiss to the back of her neck, "because you're not getting rid of me."