Chapter Five #3
“I think it has something to do with you getting stronger. You don’t feel stronger today, do you?”
He grinned. “I don’t know. We should try it again so I can check on how I feel.”
He knelt, and she blinked as she saw his physique without the shadows between them. He had muscles on his muscles, his skin was a dark grey-brown, and it gave him the appearance of being tanned, which was funny for a creature who didn’t see the sun that often.
He withdrew, rolled her to her back, and slid back inside her. She gasped, arched toward him, and her lashes fluttered. He growled. “You are right, this is much better.”
He kissed her carefully, shadows covering the sharp edges of his teeth, and he surged into her as she held onto him for stability, while his shadows cupped and stung at her breasts while roaming everywhere else.
His kiss was deep, and his shadows were everywhere because if you could, why wouldn’t you?
She dug her clawed fingers into his shoulders, her arms tucked under his to wrap around his ribs. When she came, she raked his back, which sent that cool spill into her again. The kiss slowed, and he lifted his head.
Hura smirked. “You are really trying.”
He grinned. “It has only begun. We are between right now, so we can have endless time in here before we need to rejoin the waking world.”
“If you wear it out, I am going to be very unhappy.”
Kremoryn chortled. “Mine or yours?”
“Either.”
He sighed and lifted off as her hands dug into his back. “Why didn’t you ever offer yourself to me?”
“Aw, snooky, I am a traditional woman from a traditional time. I need a man to make the first move.”
“Wait. So, at any time in the last decade, I could have propositioned you, and you would have been favourable?” He stared at her. “Seriously?”
“Yup. I mean, not all the cuffs and chains at the parties, but I have no issue being confined in shadows.” She chuckled softly. “In fact, I enjoy it.”
He blinked, and his eyes shifted from red to gold and back again. “I am an idiot. Where have you been all my life?”
“Just out of reach. I have wanted to get a solid idea of my future breeding partner.” She felt a small curl of cold. “Damn you are easy.”
He blinked. “I don’t think I have cum this often in the last century.”
“Well, I can pin down at least once. I wonder how she and her husband are doing?”
Kremoryn blinked. “Ah, yes. I need to summon her family to a chat. I do not like the fact that she sold our child.”
“I am less impressed with her kicking the child out as soon as the dowry payment was offered.”
He growled. “What?”
“Oh, yes, Vaia was given a direct payment as her dowry, and then maintenance payments were sent to her family. But they kicked her out, and she had to scramble to find out how the world works.” Hura shrugged. “I helped when I could.”
“Wait. So, you knew that Vaia was my daughter.”
“Yes. Well, I knew she was shadow-sired. She has some of your hallmarks. Either way, she needed help feeding, and I was teaching a class at the time that helped her with her path through dance. She took to it like a duck to water.” She ran her fingers down his back. “She got stronger and more confident.”
“How did you know about her at all?”
“Minayel. She’s an oracle, and she also rents a room from me as she is often between jobs. She got a job with Vaia, and I have helped her keep it.”
“Why?”
“This is so stupid.”
He frowned and whispered, “What?”
“Because she saw us all standing together, power whipping, she has a child, and there is a dragon standing with her.” She paused.
“And...”
“And we have two kids by then. You have one little girl on your arm, and I am holding the second.”
His eyes glowed. “So, I am a shadow king with a little family.”
“Yup, and growing rapidly.”
“You do realize what is going to happen when you threaten me with another daughter?”
“I am gonna be sore.”
He laughed. “Not until you are receptive, but yes.”
She smiled. “Good. In that case, get off me before I see if my shadows can put teeth where no teeth should be.”
He sighed and backed out of her.
She gave him a bland look. “All of you.”
He chortled and pulled the shadows out of her. She huffed and used her energy to shove him backward. “Comfortable bed.”
He laughed. “I find folks are more likely to want to stay if they are comfortable.”
“Ah. Well, this is only going to work one way. If there is another woman where I should be, I don’t come back. Ever.” She looked at him calmly. “I have other places I can make a home in.”
“But what about sex?”
“I have lived without it this long. Once we are no longer in contact, the urge will fade.” Hura smiled. “Basically, I will not have my children growing up in a place where their mother is considered disposable, disrespected, and not honoured for her presence in their father’s life.”
He paused. “I see.”
“You haven’t had the same woman on your lap in the last ten years I have been entertaining at your parties. It was not my business then, but it would become my business the moment you were trying for a child with me.”
“You sound like you speak from a wound.”
“Sure. I was born near the gateway. My father was delighted that he had spawned on a demigoddess. She was quiet, shy, and happy to be at his side while he kept her at his side during the pregnancy. When she was in labour, he brought his next mistress to show her what awaited her if she quickened with his seed. Of course, he had no idea that my mother had been a fertility goddess and had done more than her share of the heavy lifting to bring me into the world. Her labour stalled, and she cursed him for his infidelity, his cruelty, and said that this was the only child he would ever have. Then, she disappeared.”
“What?”
“Oh, yeah, she bore me next to the gateway, encouraging me to embrace all the power it had to offer. She lived another fifty years, but then she was done with life and decided that it was time to leave the earth. I buried her and then sought out my father. He was sitting amidst a hundred unhappy women, and his eyes lit up when he saw me until I let my shadows flare. I told him I was here to congratulate him on his enormous family. His eyes got huge. I told him I was desperate to meet my new brother or sister. The one he had been so desperate to meet that he had degraded my mother in the most vulnerable moment a woman could have. He stared as the last fifty years of denial swamped him, so I simply pulled all his power and walked away. He died two days later.” She smiled softly.
He looked at her. “You are the Scourge of Corvenyn.”
She beamed. “I am. So, before you turn gardener, be very, very sure that you can be happy with a single partner.”
He frowned. “It will work for me. I haven’t done more than play with anyone in the last ten years.
I do enjoy watching those who wish to experiment come to me for instruction.
” He paused. “But will you be able to handle being without me while I go to a variety of councils and courts across the year?”
“Probably.” She wrinkled her nose. “I will get peckish close to the end of the pregnancy.”
“I would like to set up a backup snack for you. I have a few names that I have pulled together. All are willing.”
“Wait. What?”
“I do not expect you to live between, but I am going to set you up with a bed that I am comfortable under. Be prepared to be visited often.”
She laughed. “Formal arrangement?”
“Blood mates are our normal tradition. You and I can engage in that later.” He grinned. “For now, I would like to see your home.”
“Oh. Right. It’s covered with paint.”
“That’s fine. It plays into one of the options for your second.”
“Oh. I need to put something on.”
He laughed. “I thought you would demand a shower.”
Her fire washed over them both. All the sweat and most of the emissions were gone.
She laughed. “Forgot I could do that, huh?”
Kremoryn’s smile was slow. “Yes, I did. Can you keep the fire in with another partner?”
“Yeah. There are things I can do to get around the destructive factor.”
He paused, “Like what?”
“Condoms. My body reacts really aggressively to attempts to breed me without my authorization.” She fluttered her lashes at him. “My mother gave me a singular education.”
She eased away from him and stood up, swaying a bit. He got out of bed and held her. “Are you all right?”
“Yup. Fine. Just feel... peculiar.”
He smiled and moved behind her to wrap his arms around her. “You will get used to it.”
She leaned back against him as shadows moved over her and formed a very daringly cut gown.
“Interesting choice.”
“I like your curves. A lot.” His hands dropped to her hips.
“So do I.” She smiled. “They fill out the bras and keep the skirts from falling off.”
Kremoryn laughed and said, “A meal in the physical world?”
“Yup. Incidentally, the child will have to be conceived there.”
“Yes. I am aware.”
“Good. Some guys think it works anywhere. Time is too large a thing to mess with.” She looked at him. “So, if you want to get dressed, we can go out and have dinner. I don’t care how relaxed a restaurant is.” She waved at his torso and groin. “That needs to be hidden for sanity.”
“You flatter me.”
She shook her head at the sight of the abs, the smooth muscles on either side of his hip arrowing toward his groin, the erection that was now rising as she watched. She looked away. He walked around her and smirked. “That was flattering.”
She sighed. “Right. Get dressed, Your Majesty. I want to get something in my mouth, and I am not getting on my knees today. I prefer to pace myself.”
He huffed, and a lovely suit wrapped around him, forming trousers, a shirt, a vest, and a suit jacket that made him look like he was going to take over a corporation.
He offered her his arm. “Shall we continue our negotiations?”
“Sure. Where are we going?”
He grinned and slid a pair of dark lenses over his eyes. “I have a hankering for tacos.”
She was still laughing when they stepped out of the shadows and got into line.