Chapter Sixteen – Altair
Chapter Sixteen
Altair
My face is buried between Tressa’s thighs, my tongue moving slowly over her. I feel her shudder and stir awake.
The night before, we lay embraced for hours before she told me she was thirsty and needed a bath. I bathed her myself, my hands reverent as I washed away the evidence of our lovemaking. Then we went back to bed and slept in each other’s arms, my massive wings blanketing her.
Now she’s stirring awake, her clit throbbing against my tongue. I can feel her heartbeat pulsing in it.
Tressa moans and grips my hair. I grunt in pleasure, breathing hotly against her pussy. Every sound she makes and every twitch of her body fills me with a desperate need to worship her.
“Mmm... Good morning to you too,” she murmurs. “Eager for breakfast?”
I smile against her and lick her more thoroughly, sucking her clit as I push the tip of my tail into her pussy.
I can feel her clench around it. My cocks throb, hard and awake, dripping for her.
I want to feel her gripping them, I want to sink them both into her body and lose myself in her warmth, but I know she must be sore from last night.
She’s sensitive and responsive to my ministrations, and soon enough, she’s gasping and crying out. I feel her pussy flutter around my tail as she comes onto my tongue. I groan and drink her greedily, savoring every drop.
I plant a final kiss on her clit and climb up her body, my wings spreading to bracket us in our own private world.
“Delicious,” I say.
Tressa laughs and pulls me in, crushing our lips together. We kiss for a minute before I pull away and simply look at her. Her light brown hair is tangled across the pillow, her green eyes are bright and satisfied, and I can’t believe she’s real. That she’s here and she chose to stay.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” I say. “You’re... actually giving me a chance?”
She cocks an eyebrow at me.
“Why? Do you think I shouldn’t?” Then she quickly adds, “No, don’t answer that. That was a stupid question. Yes, Altair, I am actually giving you a chance. Are you going to fuck it up?”
I shake my head quickly.
“No. I will do everything you ask me to. I’m yours. Use me, order me around, I won’t complain for a second.”
She laughs and punches me lightly in the shoulder.
“That’s not how it works.”
I stare at her with furrowed brows, and the realization crashes over me. I don’t know how a relationship works. I’ve never been in one before, and now I have this gorgeous woman in my life that I don’t deserve, and I have no idea what I’m supposed to do.
Panic rises in my chest. I know that I have so much to make up for, so much to prove, and I can’t waste a single moment.
I jump out of the bed.
“I need to show you something.”
Tressa moans lazily, stretching like a cat.
“Can’t it wait? I feel like my body is putty.”
“I need to show you something important now,” I insist.
My heart is pounding, because this can’t wait. I need her to understand what I’m offering her. What she means to me.
She rolls her eyes and gets out of bed. She’s moving too slowly, and I help her dress with impatient hands, pulling her clothes on too quickly and fumbling with the fastenings. She giggles at my urgency.
I take her hand and lead her out of my chambers, down corridors and stairs, toward the depths of the palace.
We descend staircase after staircase, going deeper and deeper, into dungeons carved from the mountain itself.
The corridors are lined with torches that I light with a touch of my fingers, and the flames cast dancing shadows on the stone walls.
“I’ve never been down here before,” Tressa says.
I can hear the nervousness in her voice. Her hand trembles in mine.
My heart is in my throat. Because I don’t know how she’ll react to what I’m about to show her. The uncertainty is killing me. We walk in tense silence, the only sounds our footsteps echoing off the stone and the crackling of the torches as we pass.
Finally, we arrive at a heavy door with a massive lock.
The lock is embedded with sharp blades protruding from its mechanism.
It is designed to be opened only by my family’s blood.
I press my hand into the blades, they pierce my palm, and the door unlocks with a heavy grinding sound.
It swings open. Magic torches light up automatically when we cross the threshold.
Tressa is blinded by the brilliance and covers her eyes with her arm. When her vision adjusts, she gasps as she stares around the vault in disbelief.
A massive mound of treasure fills the center of the room – gold bars stacked high, gleaming in the torchlight, jewels of every color scattered throughout like stars.
Jewelry of all kinds covers the shelves lining the walls – necklaces dripping with diamonds, crowns studded with rubies, rings and bracelets of platinum and gold.
Paintings in ornate frames lean against the walls, some depicting ancient wyvern lords, others showing landscapes of Aurumveil.
Vases and sculptures sit on pedestals, each one a priceless artifact from centuries past. Some treasure lies haphazardly in the middle of the room where it was tossed carelessly, while most jewelry and art is carefully placed on shelves.
“Oh gods, what is this?” Tressa breathes out, her voice filled with awe. “I had no idea.”
I kneel before her and look up at her face.
“Wyverns are creatures of possession. My family has accumulated this wealth over centuries. We can’t resist the compulsion to gather more and more.
” I take her hands in mine. “This is all yours now. I will add your blood to the lock, so you can access the vault whenever you please. If you ever decide to leave, if I mess up and upset you ever again, then I won’t stop you, and you can just take whatever you want and not even give me an explanation. ”
Tressa kneels in front of me and takes my face between her hands.
“I will never leave.”
I kiss her passionately, pouring every ounce of gratitude and devotion into the kiss.
“If you want, you can bring your father to live at the palace,” I say when we break apart.
Tressa shakes her head.
“He wouldn’t survive it. It’s better for him to stay where he is, and I will help him from afar. My father isn’t the man he used to be. Through his negligence and vices, he’s hurt me a lot, and I had to do things I didn’t want to do to take care of him.”
Her confession makes me bow my head in shame.
“It was all my fault. I’ve heard about your struggles, and I feel deeply ashamed. I don’t care what you did before to survive. Now you are mine, and I will protect you.”
“It wasn’t your fault that my father failed me when I needed him most,” she starts to say, but I cut her off.
“I will offer you anything,” I say quickly, the words tumbling out.
“Alana and her family can come live with us. I know how much your friend means to you. And I will offer you revenge. I will kill my father for you and for what he did to Brandon. I’ve been poisoning him for years, but I never had the courage to end him. But I will do it now. For you.”
Tressa is taken aback and presses her hand to her chest.
I’m mortified. This is it. I just messed up, as I knew I would. I’ve gone too far, and she’ll leave after all.
“I don’t want that,” she whispers.
“You can do it yourself, if you want,” I whisper, unable to stop myself. “You deserve to make him suffer.” I might be digging my own grave, but I need to offer her this.
“No,” she says firmly. “The poisoning needs to stop.” She looks at me with those big, green eyes. “I’ve forgiven you, and I’ve forgiven Lord Varrick. I’ve forgiven everything that happened to Brandon. We can start a new life.”
“We don’t deserve your forgiveness.”
She kisses me gently.
“I am giving it to you anyway.”