Chapter 8
I KNOW A PLACE
SUMMER
I latched the door shut behind us, the casting chamber quiet save for the wind in the trees outside the window.
It was a small spot in the upper reaches of the hollow, nestled in among the rocky crags that ran the edge of the hollow and with an old diamond latticed window that looked out over a broad expanse of the woods, stocked with basic magic equipment, an enchanter’s bench, a few tomes, a desk and a couch, with a plush rug underfoot and a magic chandelier that sparkled and swirled with different colored lights, casting the room in soft ambiance.
“Your little home away from home,” Cadence said, eyes sparkling. She seemed so relaxed… I didn’t know how. I felt like I was going to explode.
“I found it my first month at Starfall. Wanted to get away from things a little, and I found this old room stocked for magic rituals and basic practice, so… now it’s mine. Don’t think anybody else knows about it right now.”
“You, wanting to get away from things?”
“I know! I was so overwhelmed when I first got here. It took me a minute to turn into an insatiable social butterfly.”
She smiled wide, biting her lip, and my brain sparked out when she hooked her fingers under the band of my pants, tugging me towards her. “If you’re overwhelmed at first, that’s okay.”
“Oh, I see we’re not talking about my first semester at Starfall anymore.”
“Of course I am, Summer.” She bent down and kissed my collar, and I moaned softly against her, my whole body lighting up with this sensation of holy shit we’re actually doing this. And Cadence was… taking the lead? I wasn’t complaining. “I’m sure you learned a lot in your first semester…”
“I learned I’m scared of steelnoses.” I caressed a hand over her back as she kept kissing me, roaming over my collar, up along my shoulders, the base of my neck.
“Anything else you’ve learned you’re afraid of since then?”
“Intermediate Wandwork practicals. Potion-poppers who want to order six top-level pots in one go and place a back order for six more the next day. Professor Song. Rejection.”
“I can’t help you with most of those, but trust me that I don’t see a single thing I would want to reject,” she breathed, tugging my collar lower to kiss deep down on my chest before she kissed her way back up to meet my lips.
God, she was so good… I kind of didn’t want to meet my true love.
I went with her back to the couch, sinking onto the soft cushions as she came down with me, straddling my lap as we deepened the kiss, and I was moaning softly by the time she pulled away, her face deeply flushed.
“Likewise,” I said. “I’ve been really into everything I’ve seen so far. I’d like to see the rest.”
She kissed my neck. “Can we… take these off?” she said, tugging on my jacket, and I nodded.
“Just keep in mind I’m insecure.”
“About what?” she said, pausing, and I looked away.
“Oh, god. Now you’re going to make me say it?”
“Yes, but I promise I won’t reject you.”
That was the nicest thing I’d ever heard. I was emotionally touched and turned on at the same time. “Just my figure… I’m built like a brick without a curve to speak of, no hips, no boobs, nothing.”
“I will tell you every single thing I like about it if you want that.”
“I… I mean, yeah, I do, I just don’t want you to feel compelled to say nice things.”
She laughed. “I won’t have to search far to find them.”
“Damn, smoother than the best potions.” I gave myself over to her, my heart beating faster with this soft, tender sensation as she stripped me out of my jacket, and I helped her tug my shirt off over my head, my sports bra right after.
She looked at me like I was the best thing she’d ever seen, which was already good for my self-esteem, as she ran her hands up over my body, lowering me onto my back and roaming over the shallow swell of my breasts, fingers brushing over my nipples pulling a moan from my lips.
“I love how soft you are,” she breathed, kissing the top of one breast. “Your skin is so silky smooth. I love how strong your chest feels, like I can fall into you and you’ll catch me and hold me.
And you have such pretty breasts… such pretty nipples.
” She moved down to take one in her mouth, and I broke, collapsing back into the couch and slipping my hand into her hair, rolling my head back.
“Okay, be… be careful, or I won’t want to go back to my dorm, and I’ll keep you here all night to keep talking to me like that.”
“Not really a threat, Summer,” she laughed, moving over to my other nipple.
I moved with her as she kissed to my navel and undid my belt, opening my pants and tugging them down with my underwear, stripping me out of them and shedding her own clothes after mine, and I took a minute to take in the sight of her like this, beautifully bare on top of me in the soft light of the magic chamber, her skin more of a cool milky-white than my warm peachy hue.
She was so gorgeous… I wanted my hands on every part of her.
“God, Cadence.”
She blushed, ducking her head. “Yeah?”
“You’re so beautiful…” I caressed my hands up her sides, up to cup the fuller forms of her breasts.
Her skin was dotted with freckles, especially on her collar and the tops of her breasts, and I peppered kisses over them while I felt the full shapes of her breasts in my hands, Cadence’s soft breath catching at the touch suddenly the most beautiful thing I’d ever known.
“S-saints, I’m not used to doing this,” she said through a nervous laugh.
“Could have fooled me, with how confident you are.”
“I’m confident that I want you and that I like everything about you. It doesn’t mean I’m, um, experienced. Oh… it feels amazing when you touch me like…”
I looked up at her while I took her nipple in my mouth, and she moaned beautifully, throwing her head back and caressing her fingers through my hair.
She moved against me until her thigh slipped between mine, and I gasped at the touch of her smooth skin against my core, rocking my hips against her involuntarily.
When I quivered at the sensation, faltering in my touch on her, she took the momentum and guided me onto my back again, and she draped herself over me, kissing me softly as she slipped her hand down between my legs, and I melted at the touch.
“Oh, god, Cadence—oh, god. Keep doing exactly that—oh, god, that feels incredible.”
“You feel incredible. I love doing this…”
She really did sound like she meant that…
like she’d never meant anything more than that.
I closed my eyes and moaned with the movements as her fingers worked through me, flooding me with sensation, and I pulled her back into a kiss, moving my hand down between her legs to mirror her movements.
She gasped at the touch, nodding me on, and I reveled in the way she was so hot under my fingers, so silky smooth, slick with wetness and perfect.
We took our time a little, both of us still figuring out the rhythms we liked, but it still wasn’t too long before I found myself rocking my hips up against her hand, desperate for her touch as a climax built up in me.
I moved my hand faster against her as she sent me higher, closer and closer, and I broke off from the kiss to let out a desperate cry as her fingers sent me over the edge, gasping her name in a soft, broken moan.
It was magic beyond what any spell could do, the way Cadence glowed brighter than anything in the world, still rocking her hips against my hand as I came down from the crashing swell of an orgasm so much more intense than any other I’d had, and she gave me a smile halfway between tender and romantic and lasciviously needy. I think I had my new favorite sight.
“You look so pretty when you come, Summer.”
“Mm… I want to see you like that, too.”
“Good, because I need it right now. A little faster, please?”
I gave her exactly what she wanted—held her by the hip with one hand while I worked the other faster over her blazing heat, and she collapsed onto me in a deep, sloppy kiss, desperately crashing her lips up against mine, and she didn’t pull away when she swelled up into her own orgasm, kept her lips on mine without moving them, mouth open letting out desperate cries of pleasure against mine.
When her cries died down to heavy, exhausted gasps, I guided her off her quivering knees and down to lie on top of me, wrapping my arms around her and meeting her eyes as she sparkled brighter than anybody had ever been.
“I can’t believe we did this in public,” she laughed breathlessly.
“The door’s locked,” I laughed, squeezing the soft swell of her hip in one hand. Dammit, I was jealous of her curves. But she seemed to like what I had going on…
“Even so. I mean, the window’s completely exposed.”
“If someone’s levitating outside the window watching in, they deserve what they get.”
She laughed, kissing me. “Rosie would… she would be pressed up against the glass to offer me encouragement. Not even as a voyeurism thing, just to try to cheer me on.”
“Your galeria mates are a fun crew.” I paused. “And I wouldn’t blame anybody wanting to watch. You’re really damn sexy.”
“As are you,” she said, punctuating each word, and she placed a kiss on my nose before settling down against my lips with a long, sweet kiss that stole my breath away. “Thank you for this,” she whispered against my lips. “It’s perfect. You’re perfect. Thank you.”
“Thank you. This was the most incredible experience…”
“For me too. Um… this wasn’t just…” She winced. “It wasn’t just like a one-night thing, was it…? I mean, if it’s all I can get, I’m grateful for it, but—”
I kissed her. “Not a chance,” I said. “I want to get in as much of this with you as possible. Exploring new alchemical designs with your ingredients, spending time together, kissing… having sex. I want it all.”
“Saints, I guess it was a wish come true,” she whispered, pressing her face against my collar and laughing, and I laughed too, stroking her hair.
“What was?”
“Oh—” She stiffened. “Just a little… um, a silly little magic ritual. I wished for something a lot like this, but I didn’t think it would actually work.”
I kissed her again. “I feel like I should go halfsies on this wish of yours. I’m getting what I wanted too.”
“Mm. No need for halfsies. Just for more kisses.”
That, I could do.