Chapter 4 Cenric #3
Cenric unfastened the brooch at his shoulder and removed his mantle. Stepping up behind Brynn, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his chest. She clasped his arms, her back melting against him. He inhaled, smelling her hair and that indescribable scent that was somehow her.
“Have you eaten?” Cenric asked, glancing at Kalen and Esa.
“Not yet, lord, but there’s a piglet on the spit outside.”
Cenric nodded to the two of them. “Go. Both of you.”
Esa and Kalen bowed and slipped out. Kalen kept close beside Esa, which should reassure Brynn.
“Do you think we’ll be back in the next fortnight?” Brynn’s question came soft, quiet the moment the tent flaps stilled.
Outside came the low chatter of their thanes and Hróarr’s people around the campfire. If Cenric listened, he could hear the soft murmur of the waves along the beach.
“Yes.” Cenric chose to believe that they would be home soon. If they weren’t it would mean something went terribly wrong.
“If we aren’t?” Brynn squeezed his arm.
“We will.” Cenric didn’t plan to spend an entire raiding season away from his lands, promise from Ovrek or no.
Brynn exhaled a long breath. She tilted her head back.
“I’m sorry to be keeping you from home,” he said.
Brynn twisted in his arms, facing him. Her fingers stroked his jaw, a featherlight caress. “You are my home.”
Cenric couldn’t hold back anymore and kissed her. Her mouth was soft, giving. He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her flush against him.
The night’s chill clawed at his back, but Brynn’s gentle warmth beckoned him. He clenched her backside, pulling her against his hardening groin.
Brynn broke their kiss. “Kalen and Esa will be back soon.”
Cenric glanced in the direction the two youngsters had gone. They might be out for an hour, or a half, or less. Cenric wasn’t too concerned about being interrupted, but perhaps there was still a compromise.
Cenric nuzzled her hair, nipping at the top of her ear. “What if I just eat you? That shouldn’t take long.”
She wanted to learn Valdari. Even amongst total strangers who didn’t speak her language, she had spent the whole evening showing nothing but courtesy to his old friends.
He ached to show his appreciation, to show what her effort meant to him.
He felt intensely loved at the moment and he wanted her to feel the same.
Brynn lifted her head, frowning in confusion. “Eat me?”
Cenric smirked wickedly and decided to demonstrate. He swept his tongue over the tip of her nose, making her yelp.
“Cenric!” She wiped at her nose, giggling.
He caught her and licked her cheek. She let off a shriek that devolved into laughter.
“Stop!” Brynn shook with giggles, hiding her face with her arms.
“Well?” Cenric kissed the top of her head. “I won’t even have to take your clothes off.”
Brynn straightened, gasping for breath. “I might not be able to see to you before Esa and Kalen return.”
“I’ve been getting seen to for years.” Like most boys, Cenric had started seeing to himself not long after puberty and as an adult he’d never been deprived of partners for long. “It seems to me that you have much catching up to do.”
Brynn had never climaxed before Cenric, despite being married for six years to her first husband and having a child.
On one hand, Cenric reveled in being the one to give her that.
The swell in his pride had been undeniable, but on the other hand, it didn’t seem fair.
Brynn was a good woman with a body made to be pleasured often and well.
It was an injustice Cenric had been working hard to remedy.
Brynn hesitated and Cenric knew exactly what she was thinking. She usually felt guilty receiving without giving back.
“Let me do this for you,” Cenric pressed. “I want to do it.”
Brynn bit her lower lip. “Alright.”
“Is that a yes?”
“Yes,” Brynn whispered.
Victorious, Cenric scooped her up into his arms.
She giggled, arms wrapping around his neck as he carried her to the pallet they would share. He enjoyed seeing her like this—giddy and flushed with delight.
Cenric laid her down on the pallet and knelt between her legs, lifting her skirts. He started at her ankles, leaving kisses above her knees and a trail up her inner thighs. “My sweet wife,” he murmured, inhaling her musky scent.
He nuzzled the hair between her legs, his tongue teasing her open as she spread for him. He found the bud at her apex and stroked her with his tongue, making her sigh as she laid back.
“Oh, that’s good,” Brynn whispered, still trying to keep quiet. “You make me feel so good.”
That was exactly what Cenric wanted to hear. They would see how long she was able to keep her voice down.
Snapper whined, blood soaking his fur. Cenric? He whimpered. Cenric? Snapper struggled to reach him, growing weaker by the moment. His back legs dragged on the ground, mangled and useless. Hurt. Snapper hurt.
It’s alright, Cenric sent back, lying.
Armored bodies lay all around them on the riverbank of Ombra. Smoke filled the sky as the village burned. Screams rent the air, men shouted, and weapons clashed as the last of the survivors fought a losing battle.
Cenric couldn’t move, the sharp pain in his ribs and chest kept him pinned to the ground. An arrow pierced through his neck, just above his collarbone. A dark bird fluttered overhead—a crow come to feast on the dead.
Cenric. Snapper collapsed at his side, letting off soft cries.
Good dog, Cenric told him. You were so brave.
Good dog. Snapper tried to press closer to Cenric’s side. His breathing grew shallow, barely audible. He sank into the ground, leaning heavily against Cenric’s armored side.
Snapper?
No response. Snapper lay motionless.
Fighting tears, Cenric struggled to turn his head. Everything was a blur of burning houses and rushing bodies. Valdari voices shouted, mixed with Hyldish screams.
A thud beside Cenric drew his attention. A banner had been staked on the riverbank just a few steps away. It fluttered and rippled, the familiar outline of a black serpent writhing over the expanse of dead men.
King Ovrek had taken Ombra.
Cenric jolted awake with weight nudging him to the side. A paw stuck into his ribs. Snapper was trying to shove Cenric out of the way so he could get between him and Brynn.
Cenric grabbed Snapper by the scruff of his neck, wrestling the dyrehund to his other side.
Brynn. Snapper huffed indignantly. Cenric. Snapper wanted to sleep next to Cenric and Brynn at the same time and getting in the middle was the only way to achieve that.
No, Cenric sniped back. Brynn is for me. All the same, Cenric scratched the rough fur around Snapper’s neck, relieved to find the dog alive, well, and unharmed. He reached for his own neck, letting out a breath when there was no hard arrow shaft jutting out of his flesh.
He patted Snapper’s ribs as the dog groused, settling down on Cenric’s far side.
Snapper?
The dyrehund lifted his head, ears forward.
You’re a good dog.
Snapper’s tail thumped. Good dog!
The soft murmur of the waves along the beach was a stark contrast to the screams from his foretelling. He lay in the quiet as his heart slowed and he let his breathing match Brynn’s steady rhythm.
As he drifted back off to sleep, it occurred to him that Brynn had been right about Ovrek once again.