Fifty-Three
F IFTY - T HREE
CALDRIS
The massive, long tables they’d pulled into the edge of the woods were decorated with vines that sprawled down the center. Flowers were dispersed through the vines, candles lit to offer dim lighting as darkness descended. Pieces of tree trunks were cut in perfectly uniform pieces, forming stools where people would sit. The plates were simple and white, crafted with painstaking precision to keep them as close to a perfect circle as possible. The same white fabric that Estrella and I wore was draped through the trees at the edge of the forest, cascading and framing the tables flawlessly. The trees were wound up in faerielights, strings of glowing embers that never burned looking like starlight.
“ It’s everything I’ve read about ,” Estrella thought, referencing the books she had buried herself in during our brief time with the Resistance in Nothrek. It seemed so long ago now, that she’d been unaware of who I was and fighting her own curiosity about the Fae and Alfheimr. She’d read about the festivals we celebrated, the meals and the dancing that we’d all partaken in back before our world had descended into darkness. This kind of carefree celebration was before my time even, for Mab did not believe in joy. She chose only to celebrate the darker of our holidays, the ones that she’d twisted into sacrifices and a brutal version of sex. Some of our ceremonies were sexual in nature, but she’d taken the beauty of those moments and twisted them into darkness. She’d taken them from life to death.
Joy became punishment. Pleasure became pain.
The area beside the tables remained empty, a large space that was dedicated to nothingness. To Estrella, it probably looked like a place where the Fae and humans could dance together, could revel in the sounds of the human who played his lute with a soft and soothing sound, but the undercurrent of notes was sensual. It struck a chord deep within me, the magic of his music stoking the embers of a flame that I knew he would build over the course of the dinner.
If I was correct, that clearing wouldn’t be where we danced the night away in celebration. It would be where Estrella was expected to accept pleasure. Where she was expected to enjoy herself and the knowledge that all who joined her here would wish to watch her with her chosen partner for the night. This was a celebration where an unmated woman would have chosen a partner from the crowd, where the rest would have wished it was her.
While they were unlucky enough that she would never be theirs to touch, it was fortunate for them that my little star loved to be watched. That she loved to come undone with an audience to bear witness to her pleasure.
All eyes were on us as we approached the head table, letting Xela guide us to the seat at the head. Estrella waited for me to sit, her eyes widening as I pulled out the tree stump and motioned for her to take it. The implication of placing her at the head was not lost on her, but she was the only one who was surprised by the act. Everyone around us knew that Estrella was the guest of honor, the one who would be at the center of attention for this night. She swallowed as she took the seat, carefully arranging the fabric of her skirt so she did not need to worry about the curious eyes watching her.
As the others took their seats, leaving the place to my mate’s left for me, she scanned the group. Xela took the seat beside her to my surprise, but it made sense that the only other person Estrella knew would be the one to guide her through the evening. Rheaghan and Medusa were conspicuously absent from the feast, confirming my every assumption about the purpose of the strips of cloth in the little clearing. Someone must have told Rheaghan not to attend, more for Estrella’s comfort than his as he did not know they were related.
Xela poured wine for both of us, and Estrella’s nerves were obvious as she lifted the cup to her mouth and took a deep sip of the liquid. Estrella didn’t ask any questions, hearing the facts in my mind as she raised the wine to her lips once again. The others at the table did the same, mirroring her movements. She groaned as she drank the liquid down, the magic imbued into it undoubtedly stroking the flames the music had already begun to build within her. A Fae woman snapped her fingers at the foot of the table, and Estrella jumped back on her stool slightly as her plate filled with food.
“Please, eat,” Xela said, smiling as Estrella picked up a piece of fruit. She studied it cautiously, taking a gentle nibble at first before she dug in with more relish. While time moved differently here, while certain realities of the living were made less important in this strange place, it had been far too long since my mate enjoyed a meal.
Conversation started around us, casual and easy about the training or relationships that had begun among the people who called the village home. Estrella listened as she ate, grateful for the distraction from the trials that had been so stressful. Her thoughts wandered, the normalcy of the events occurring around her lulling her into a sense of calm, making her comfortable in a situation where she might have been on edge otherwise. She sank into the ease of it, the tempo of the music remaining calm and carefully sensual as she listened, offering a smile and partaking in the conversation where it called for her attention.
I slid my hand to her thigh beneath the table, sinking beneath the fabric where it parted. Her bare skin was as smooth as silk, gooseflesh rising in response to my touch. She smiled, though it was tense, as my touch wandered closer to the haven between her thighs. I didn’t touch her there, but let my fingers play over the sensitive flesh of her inner thigh as she clamped her legs shut to attempt to dispel my touch. I grinned at her as her attention turned to me, leaning in to press my mouth to hers so sweetly that anyone watching might have thought it a moment of affection had it not been for the scent of her arousal on the air. I couldn’t say for sure that anyone else would notice it, but I was far too attuned to my mate’s desires to miss it.
“How did you two first meet?” a woman halfway down the table asked. Her face was lit with a bright smile, her eyes crinkling in the corners as she raised her wineglass to her mouth. “Was it love at first sight given your mating bond?”
The Fae who were in the settlement were limited, and I hadn’t seen any mated pairs since we’d arrived. The understanding of our bond was probably limited given the erasure of all the memories that had come before, a bit of a fascination to the humans who either had never experienced such a thing or couldn’t remember a time when they had.
“It was for me,” I said, locking eyes with my mate. She rolled hers in response as my thumb stroked against the seam of her pussy under the table. She jolted at the contact, her body primed and ready for me so that even the faintest tease felt like a jolt of lightning in her veins. “I obviously had the privilege of knowing about our bond before I ever found her, so the moment I laid eyes on her, I was done for.”
“Cheating, if you ask me,” Estrella said, the mumble earning a laugh from the rest of the table.
I couldn’t help but smile at her, sinking my teeth into my lip. “But even if I hadn’t known, she was still the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.”
Estrella rolled her eyes again as her lips pursed, ignoring the sound of women swooning at the sweet moment. She knew it to be true now, could feel the genuine emotion behind the words, but that didn’t mean that Estrella allowed herself to feel that. It didn’t mean that her own self-conscious nature could accept them fully.
“What did you think of him, my Queen?” Xela asked, her eyes finally straying to me. Her stare wandered for the first time, but it wasn’t entirely with the weighted gaze of attraction or the burn of lust. Instead, it was strangely calculating, though she did seem to conclude that she approved of what she saw.
Determining if she thought me worthy of Estrella, measuring me to decide what my mate might have seen the first time she looked at me.
It didn’t stop Estrella from growling possessively, the sound rumbling in her chest. She placed her hand on my bicep, squirming when I finally brushed my thumb against her clit beneath the table. A quiet admonishment and reward all in one, I couldn’t help the feral grin that took over my face at the sound of her jealousy.
“I thought he was absolutely fucking terrifying,” she admitted finally, earning a laugh from those down the table. Xela glanced down, scolded for her wandering gaze, and I almost felt bad for the woman. “He snuck up on me in a barn when I was resting—”
“I tried to comfort her, but she’s too fucking stubborn. She tried to run from me, even though I had taken great lengths to make myself appear less intimidating,” I admitted, watching as she chewed another bite from her plate.
“Great lengths,” Estrella scoffed. “You made yourself appear human, I will give you that. But less intimidating would have meant reducing your attractiveness, and you are far too vain to allow something like that, my love,” she said with a chuckle, the affection in the words warming something in me.
“Are you insinuating I am arrogant?” I asked, pressing my free hand to my chest to feign offense.
“I’m not insinuating anything. I’m stating plain facts,” Estrella argued, picking a berry from her plate and throwing it at my face. It bounced off my nose, landing on the ground beside me as I leaned in and placed my elbow on the table.
Invading Estrella’s space came so naturally, the power play we constantly engaged in humming beneath the surface. In this place, she might have been the Goddess they all sought to worship and believe in. But at the end of the day, when we all retired to our beds, it would be me she obeyed. There was something powerful in that, in knowing that this strong woman followed my orders and obeyed my commands not because she had to, not because she was weak or needed direction.
But because she chose to. Because she wanted to be submissive to me and me alone because I was the only one who could make her kneel at my feet and do what she was fucking told.
“Have I somehow not proven to be worthy of all that I’ve claimed?” I asked slowly, letting her feel the torment in each word. I leaned forward, catching her bottom lip between my teeth and biting just hard enough to bleed her. That single well of blood was enough to charge the celebration with sex, her scent reaching even the humans as I licked it from her mouth and let it sink inside of me. Her taste on my tongue was the greatest aphrodisiac as the music increased in tempo, even the musician not immune to the magic of her. “Have I not made good on every single promise I’ve made you?” I asked, watching her pupils dilate with desire. She glanced away from me to the table of people watching our interaction with rapt fixation, my thumb stroking her beneath the table to drive her to the point of madness. I craved nothing more than for her to find that place where she was so lost to her own wants that she would embrace the discomfort that came with being watched, that she would revel in the attention that she deserved.
I wanted her wanton. I wanted her lost to anything but the feel of me moving inside her.
I wanted her to crave me to the point of desperation.
“Caldris,” she said, her tone hesitant. It amused me that even after I’d fucked her in front of countless people before, she could still have that moment of insecurity. She could still wonder if this was what was right, if the desire to know that she was the point of fixation and desire for so many was what I wanted.
I lived for the knowledge that what they wanted would always be mine. I lived for the moments where they realized how blessed by the Fates I truly was to have her soul entwined with mine, to know that there was nothing I would not do for the woman that possessed me as much as I owned her.
I brushed the fabric off her shoulder, watching the white slide down her light brown skin. She was stunning as it slipped over her bicep, and she caught it and held it there as she studied me and tried to make her choice. If she wanted it, I would take her back to the cabin and fuck her there, but she and I both knew that she wanted to prove a point just as badly as I did. I wanted every man at this table to know she was mine, and she craved that same possession over me.
She wanted Xela to watch me fuck her, so that the woman whose gaze had lingered too long would understand that I would never even see her outside of when she existed in my mate’s periphery. Estrella burned so bright she eclipsed every other woman from the world, casting them into the shadows of her light.
“They want me to prove that I am worthy of touching you, min asteren. They want me to prove that I am worthy of being your mate,” I said, slowly sliding out of my chair. Everyone at the table stood as one, getting to their feet out of respect as I held out a hand for Estrella and waited to see if she would take it. If she would accept this ceremony willingly or if she would want to retreat to our private quarters. I would support her choice either way, revel in the feel of her body moving against mine.
She slid her palm into mine, letting me guide her to her feet finally. The fabric that had been draped over her flesh slid to the ground as she stood, leaving her nude as eyes fell to her. I led her through the gathered crowd, letting the onlookers have their view of the Goddess who walked among them. She moved with feline grace, her steps fluid and in time with the rhythm of the music that continued to play. She eyed the clearing as we entered, the strips of cloth hanging from the trees in two lines at the center. Waiting between the two largest trees that formed an archway, a ceremonial table had been crafted from stone. It was long and wide, intricate carvings of a faceless woman and a man etched into the stone on the side.
The woman took her pleasure from the man she’d tied down to the altar, her head thrown back in the throes of ecstasy.
I stripped out of my clothes while Estrella watched, her gaze bouncing between me, the audience who now watched us carefully, and the altar beside us. I knew the path her thoughts had wandered, that her uncertainty came from a place of insecurity.
While she knew I loved her and desired her more than anything, I had always been the one in control. I’d always guided her where I wanted her, particularly when we played with people to watch us.
She connected the pieces of the puzzle easily, understanding making her mouth drop open as I stood naked before her and turned my back to the altar. Lifting myself up onto it, I laid myself out along the surface.
Estrella hesitated beside it for only a moment before she climbed up onto it along with me, settling herself over my hips so that she straddled me. I raised a single hand to cup her behind the neck, bringing her down close so that her mouth touched mine as I spoke into our bond. “ It’s just you and me, min asteren. Take what you need from your mate. ”
Estrella twisted her hands at her sides, the thread of our bond pulsing in gold as she guided my hands up over my head. The thread dug into my flesh, warm and comforting in spite of the steady pressure as Estrella wound it around my wrists and fed it through the loop at the top of the altar.
For the first time in my life, I felt like the lamb that had been led to slaughter. Like the sacrifice I had seen so many times throughout my long history. This was an offering I would gladly give, my love and my body to the mate that I wouldn’t have changed for anything.
“You’re so beautiful,” I murmured as she placed her hands on my stomach and stared down at me, studying her handiwork and deciding what she should do with me.
“ I don’t know what to do ,” she said, the nerves in her voice making my heart clench. Estrella had stepped into her own power in so many ways, but in this she still struggled to understand exactly how much power she wielded over me.
“ Yes you do ,” I insisted, smiling up at her in encouragement. “ Get your cunt wet for me. ”
“ Your hands are busy ,” she snarked, but her mouth twitched in the barest hint of a smile.
“ My mouth is not ,” I argued, bucking my hips ever so slightly to motion for her to shift her body. She did so, carefully inching her way up my body and settling herself when her legs were above my shoulders on the tableau. She stared down at me for a moment before she reached down, burying her hand in my hair and angling my neck as she lowered her pussy to my mouth.
I worked her over with my tongue, letting her guide me where she wanted me as she whimpered, her voice hoarse and throaty. Her arousal coated my tongue, and I could feel it simmering in her blood, the way her entire body needed this moment.
I was hers to touch. Hers to taste if she wanted. Hers to fuck.
She shivered above me as my tongue slid inside her briefly, gliding through her until I reached her clit. She shivered above me as I flicked it against her, adding pressure where she needed it most. “ They want to watch you come undone, my star. They want to watch you rearrange the heavens with your chaos ,” I spoke directly into her mind as I worked her over with my tongue, reveling in the feeling of her hand in my hair and the way she manipulated me for her use.
She was so fucking wet as I devoured her, sliding my tongue into her once more. Her body responded immediately, pulling me in as deep as she could and contracting around me, constantly seeking out more like the greedy thing she was.
“Please,” she begged, her tongue darting out to lick her own lips. I gave into her, licking her until she was a writhing mess above me, her hips undulating so that she rode my face and took her own pleasure. Drawing her clit into my mouth, I sucked gently until she came, her entire body shaking with the force of it.
She all but collapsed after, maneuvering herself down to straddle my hips. She rested there for a moment, her chest heaving with the force of her breaths as she laid her body atop mine.
Touching her mouth to mine, she murmured a single gentle word of ownership for all to hear. “Mine.”
She smirked at me as she pulled away, the look one of pure seduction, a quirk of her mouth as she rose to sit on top of my hips. The wet heat of her pussy touched my cock, making it twitch in response and the need to drive inside her. But no matter how I shifted my hips, I couldn’t get the right angle with the way she’d positioned herself.
She grinned as if she understood exactly how much that tormented me. Her orgasm feeding down the bond had driven me to the edge.
“Fuck me,” I said, the word an order that earned a startled gasp from the crowd watching.
They didn’t understand that this was exactly the way my star liked me.
And it was exactly the way she would fucking have me, even as the little Goddess shook her head at me playfully and dragged a single finger down the center of my chest.