Chapter 25 #2
The servant drew himself up, his chin going high, his jaw clenching, and then Tallu spoke.
“Do as my husband says.” There was only one Dog in the room with us, their numbers too thin to guard him with the usual four. Tallu caught his eye. “Get them out of here and then guard the door. From the outside.”
The frozen moment went on too long, but then the lower ranked servants began to move, rushing to the door. They would not risk their positions by angering the emperor. The Dog approached the servant who had hesitated, and he looked down, leaving quickly.
The door shut behind the Dog with a pronounced click, and I sank to the floor in front of Tallu, looking up at him.
“How bad is it?” I asked.
“I am fine,” Tallu said, but he shut his eyes and raised one hand, his fingertips brushing his temple, his thumb pressed against his jaw.
I stood quickly, searching the table until I found a glass carafe of fruit juice, the orange color bright against the stained wood.
I poured Tallu a cup and pressed it against his lips.
He opened his mouth, and I put my fingertips under his jaw, tilting his head back so that he could drink more easily.
His throat worked, but he still didn’t open his eyes. He finished half the glass, and then I let him breathe, his gasps sounding raw against his throat. I pressed the glass against his lips again, and he drank more, his color going pale.
When he had finished it, I returned to the table, refilling the glass and bringing it and a silver bowl heaped with a mix of nuts and candied fruit to the couch on which my husband slumped.
I picked up a soft nut, pressing it against Tallu’s lips. His eyes opened, and he arched an eyebrow at me. His gaze was still muddy, distant, and slightly out of focus.
“I can feed myself, you know,” he said.
“Prove it,” I said, letting my grin grow, and my whole chest began to loosen from the sight of him safe in his own palace.
He opened his mouth, his tongue whispering across the tip of my finger before he bit down on the nut, chewing it and swallowing.
I picked a candied fruit next. I started to pull away once he pulled the plum into his mouth, but he reached out, his hand trembling only slightly as he carefully sucked the sugar off my fingertips before deigning to chew the dried plum.
I chose a nut again, watching his plush mouth, watching him gain vitality with each bite.
When he had finished a generous handful, I stood again, searching the table until I found a frozen dessert, the small bowl nestled inside a larger one filled with ice.
I took a spoon and sat next to him on the couch, serving him the mix of frozen cream and fruit.
He didn’t protest again, watching me as I fed him each delicate spoonful. I should be hungry. I knew I was, but my stomach nearly curdled with my desire for something else.
“Why is it that every time you take me up a mountain, we end up fleeing down it, injured?” I asked.
I readied another spoonful for him, the pale cream mixed with red berries plucked at the peak of their flavor.
This was my own favorite treat in the Silver City, though mine had been flavored with citrons that grew in the Northern Kingdom instead of these southern berries.
Tallu laughed, opening his mouth for the next taste of sweetness. “Until I met you, I had gone up and down plenty of mountains and only ever fled them during war campaigns.”
“Are you implying that I am my own war campaign?” I asked, finally unable to resist and taking a bite for myself. The sweetness exploded on my tongue, cut with a tart flavor from the berries.
“I would go to war for you,” Tallu said. “I would take on as many armies as it took for you.”
His hand no longer trembled when he rested it on my upper thigh and something warm woke in my stomach.
“This will melt,” I said, which wasn’t a no.
“We should finish it, then,” Tallu said, stroking his fingertips over my thigh.
Gently, I spooned more into his mouth, watching his pink tongue, his flushed lips, as he swallowed down every last drop.
I took my own spoonful, aware of his gaze on my lips as though he wanted to trace the sweetness with his tongue.
We finished too quickly, the silver spoon clinking against the bottom of the bowl, and then he was on me, his tongue lapping at the corner of my mouth.
“I will fight this entire world to keep you,” Tallu said. His mouth pressed against mine forcefully, and I opened myself up willingly to his plundering.
I could taste the sugar in his mouth, the tart berries and salted nuts. Everything was open for me. He pushed me back, his body bearing me down against the couch.
But that wasn’t what I wanted. I nudged at his shoulder, and he leaned back easily, eyes worried before I pushed to my knees, swinging my leg over his hips and straddling his waist.
His hands came up automatically, tight on my hips.
He closed his eyes, breathing deeply through his nose, but I could feel his interest, his cock trapped between us.
I kissed along his neck, over his shoulder, pushing his robe aside to worship the delicate bones and soft skin leading to the complicated twist of his tattoo.
Then I returned to his neck, biting and nipping my way up to his jaw and back into his mouth. He was panting, hands clenching against the fabric of my robe.
Leaning back, I pulled open the tie, letting it fall off my shoulders only to be caught in my elbows.
I pulled the bottom half open so he could see how much I wanted this, too.
His hand trembled, this time not from exhaustion when he lifted it and cupped my face.
He bit his lip before drawing me down for another kiss.
I grinned into his mouth, reaching down and busying myself with the tie of his robe, pulling it open and shoving it wide so that our skin touched.
“Airón,” he murmured, but I knew exactly what I wanted.
Standing, I could feel my robe trailing on the ground as I walked over to his bedside table, opening all the drawers until I found what I needed. I came back to find him naked on the couch, his robe tossed to the side. I presented him with the small tin of oil.
Then I repositioned myself, astride him again, my hands on the back of the couch as I held myself above, not letting myself touch him, not yet. He swallowed.
Dipping his fingers in, he tentatively pressed one finger to my entrance. I shut my eyes tight, feeling the breach. I was still sore from the night before, but the edge of pain just made pleasure that much sweeter once he pushed inside.
He crooked his finger gently, searching until he found the place inside me that lanced pleasure throughout my body, nearly making me collapse on top of him. He pulled his finger free, adding a second and gently working them in and out as I focused on relaxing.
When he pulled out again, readying a third finger, I shook my head. I dipped my fingers into the oil, dripping the stuff between us before I wrapped my hand around his cock, pumping once, twice.
His head fell back, hand trembling as he tried to keep the oil steady. I reached behind my body, positioned him at my entrance, and sank down on his beautiful cock.
At the first breach, I nearly stopped, needing to enjoy the feel, but gravity pushed me all the way down, too fast. I panted, crying out before I grabbed the back of the couch more tightly, my fingers aching as I held on.
Tallu set the tin of oil down on the couch, both hands coming around me, fisting the robe that was pooled behind me and drawing the fabric tight so I could feel the pull at my elbows.
When I had settled myself, I pushed back up slightly, letting my weight bring me down. Tallu’s eyes were fixed on my face, his jaw clenched with the effort not to move. I grinned down at him.
He thought that some fate, some curse controlled him. He was wrong.
He might fight the entire world to keep me, but I would take on the animalia themselves for him. He was not going anywhere.
I rode him, the slow slap of my hips against his maddeningly perfect. I could have gone forever except for the building tension at the base of my spine and the heated friction of my hard cock sliding against his flat stomach.
He reached to the side, wetting his fingers in the oil and then wrapping his fist around my cock. My head fell back, and I groaned, desperately clawing at the back of the couch to keep my balance as I rode him harder and faster.
He yelped, grunting and using his free hand to draw me close against him, pressing his face into the crook of my neck as he tried to hold me still through his orgasm. He trembled, gasping desperately against my skin.
After the last shudder drove through his body, he continued working my cock and kept his own softening one inside me.
The moment was impossibly perfect, from the drip of his come to the heat of him between my thighs.
I grabbed at his hair, my fingers yanking, pulling his head back as ecstasy exploded inside me.
My own climax felt too wonderful to be real, like being buried alive under pleasure.
After a few moments, we loosened our grips, and I gently swung myself off him, feeling him slip free. I curled next to him, letting him wrap an arm around me. For a moment, that was enough.
Then I had to speak, because he had to understand what I knew in my heart. He had to know.
“You think fate has trapped you,” I said, brushing my lips across the delicate skin at his shoulder, unable to meet his eyes.
“I know I am trapped. I can feel the strain of the curse pulling my body. Each time I use my magic, I feel it tear something deep inside me. It is painful.” Tallu raised his hand, pressing it to his chest.
I lifted my own hand, twining my fingers with his and pressing it against his skin. “I will not let fate have you. We will go east to Tavornai where Spider lives. And I will make her free you.”
Tallu breathed out a single huffed chuckle. “You will make the animalia whose web binds us to our fate free me from mine?”
“I have already killed one animalia today. I will kill another if it is what I need to do to save your life. Do you understand?” I finally looked up, expecting to find amusement or incredulity in his russet gaze.
Instead, his eyes held wonder, the smile on his face full of belief. He didn’t argue with me, just nodded. “We will go to Tavornai.”
I felt a smile split my face, finally able to relax. Soon, we would have everything we needed. Tallu would be free of his fate, Hallu would be safe, and the Imperium would be reduced to irreparable shards of its former glory.
We moved to the bed eventually, only standing when one of us needed something more to eat. We had managed to consume most of the food on the table when a pointed beak tapped on the window, and I closed my eyes, not sure I wanted to know what the ravens had to say.
“They probably just want food,” Tallu said, amusement coloring his voice.
“What they want is to be target practice if they keep this up,” I muttered, standing and pulling on my robe, cinching the waist before I opened the window.
Dawn and Terror sat in the windowsill, the latter immediately craning his head to see the spread of food behind me on the table. Dawn pecked him sharply, and he shook his head.
“This one has news. And I am still owed my fee for all the information I gathered on our trip. Even if you were not able to hear it.” Terror shifted back and forth, pecking slightly on the sill in front of him.
I stifled my laugh, unwilling to encourage him. Turning to Dawn, I asked, “What news?”
“I demeaned myself to speak with a vulture who had traveled all the way from the Mountainside Palace,” Dawn said.
“What?” I asked.
“An army marches on the Lakeshore Palace,” Dawn said.
“What army?” I asked sharply.
“General Saxu,” Dawn said. “He brings what is left of his men and everyone from the Mountainside Palace.”
“What are they saying?” Tallu asked from my shoulder.
“General Saxu is marching what is left of your army here.” I looked out the window but saw no hint of the forces yet.
“So, war has come for me again.” Tallu looked down, his fingers just barely brushing mine.
I turned my hand, catching his, lacing our fingers together. “War is coming. But not for you. For us. And we are ready.”