43. First, your penance
43
First, your penance
Talon
I gazed at Nidori, wanting to pull her back to me and wrap my arms around her. The images of her raptured expression and flushed cheeks were lingering in my brain.
“We just have one problem,” Kaine said, with a sigh. I tore my attention away from Nidori. I’d been so caught up in how she’d felt around me, I hadn’t been able to follow his command. “Talon didn’t listen to me. And after I let him be the first person to fuck my wife.”
His words set my pulse hammering.
“Do you think you can listen to me now?” he asked, tilting his head to the side. I licked my lips and nodded. “Good boy. Stay there until I say you can move.”
Nidori looked concerned, but Kaine pulled her into his arms.
“Talon and I are going to play a little game.” He tangled his fingers in her hair, and she gazed up at him. He murmured into her ear, and she nodded, eyes sliding to me. She sank down onto the ground, legs crossed and watching us curiously .
Kaine approached until he was standing right behind me. He radiated dominance, and I could feel liquid heat pooling in my core again, calling to my spent dick.
“Be honest. You promised to behave. Why didn’t you listen?” Kaine asked, running his fingers through my hair. I swallowed.
“I lost control,” I said, my voice low and husky.
“Mmm. Can you tell me why, Talon?”
Kaine pulled my head back with a sharp tug, so I was looking up at him. My temperature was soaring again. Why did this feel so good? Kaine stepped closer, rubbing his hard cock against one of my wings. I couldn’t suppress a whine.
“I’ll tell you why,” he breathed in my ear. “It’s because you’re a depraved slut. You’re so hungry for it, you can’t even think.”
The words made me quiver with shameful exhilaration. Lust speared me to my core.
“F-fuck,” I choked out.
Kaine regarded me with his hard eyes, pausing for a moment. Perhaps waiting for me to say the safe word. But I didn’t want him to stop. I wanted him to whisper more degrading things before he fucked me.
“Yes. I need…all of it,” I said.
He pushed me, hard, and I fell forward. My cheeks burned with heat as I fell on all fours in front of him. I imagined how I looked right now—naked, covered with fluids, spread out in front of him. As if my only purpose in the moment was to take his dick.
“I can see it in your eyes,” he said, walking around to my front. I didn’t move, but gazed up at him. I bowed before him, in a stance of worship, and the thought sent another wave of lust through me.
He settled beside Nidori, and she wound her arms around him, playing with his hair as she regarded me with a curious, excited expression. Kaine’s eyes were hooded as he raised a finger, beckoning me closer. “Come here, pet.”
I obeyed, crawling on the ground towards them. I’d do anything they wanted, if it meant being able to touch them, to taste them.
“Apologise. To the lady,” he said.
I stared at Nidori, who was watching me with that trembling curiosity. Her cheeks were still flushed, and she bit her lips as she looked at me.
“I’m sorry, my lady,” I said, and I meant it.
Her eyes met mine, delight lighting up her gaze. She hesitated and leaned up to whisper something in Kaine’s ear. He nodded, his cold eyes turning to me.
Then vines shot from the ground, pulling at me. They held down my legs, wrapped around my torso, and bound my hands together. I didn’t even know it was possible, but my spent dick hardened again as I was bound.
“I like this game,” she said, leaning forward to examine me.
Kaine stepped forward, standing over me, and Nidori came, too, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. Heat was radiating from me, and my tail lashed as I leaned towards them. I didn’t know where to look—Nidori’s flushed face or Kaine’s hooded gaze. His collarbones, his contoured chest or her dark, hard nipples brushing against his arm. His hand, which was slowly stroking his cock or the wetness on her legs, still dripping from where I’d filled her.
I struggled against the bonds as need overtook me. To touch them. To have them. I slid my tongue out of my mouth and licked up Nidori’s thigh. She let out a breathy sigh, her eyes locking with mine.
Kaine pulled her away, and I snarled.
He tutted. “You still have to pay your penance, O mighty Paladin,” he said, his voice light and his eyes hard.
“Bring her back,” I said. He cocked his head at me, and I gritted my teeth, trying to push back my anger. “Please.”
“No,” he said simply.
Instead, he guided Nidori down to the floor and kissed her. She melted into his touch, her arms winding around him as they proceeded to completely ignore me. He made a satisfied sound of pleasure in his throat as her fingers trailed across his back, down his spine. She was panting as he kissed further down, pressing his lips to her neck before reaching her breasts.
Fuck this penance; I’d take flogging any day over this. I was painfully hard, and my hands were unable to do anything about it.
She moaned, her lips parting as he took one of her nipples into his mouth and sucked. My tongue was rocking in my mouth, pressing against my teeth. Kaine’s hands moved to her thighs, pulling her closer to him as he lavished attention on her other breast. She looked stunning; eyes half cloaked in pleasure, thick curls coiling beneath her and skin glistening.
His hands dug into the soft skin of her thigh, and she moaned again as he lined himself up. His curls hung over his eyes, his lips kiss-plumped as he panted and gazed down at her. If I hadn’t seen it here, I wouldn’t have believed his features could change to such a soft expression. She whined, wriggling her hips and arching her back as he paused. He slid inside, and her lips curled into a smile, eyes closing.
I clenched my jaw tighter. I didn’t want to disturb this moment—the pure ecstasy on her face as he started to move inside of her and his eager eyes, drinking in all of it. He moved his arm down, lowering his thumb to stroke her clit, and she shuddered.
“Don’t stop,” she whispered, face contorting as he continued at the same measured pace.
His eyes flicked to me, his eyebrow raised. He held my gaze as she came undone underneath him, as her nails clawed into his flesh and her back arched. Kaine sped up his pace, closing his eyes and tipping his head back as Nidori let out a cry of pleasure. I was dripping onto the floor, even straining my tail to try and get a bit of friction on my cock.
It appeared they had forgotten me again as Kaine came to rest on top of Nidori, whispering something in her ear that made her smile. They stayed there for a minute, in each other’s arms, before I managed to speak.
“Please, may I come out now?” I asked, and Nidori giggled as she let me go. The vines dropped from around me, and I groaned as I wobbled to the side. My hand went down to relieve my aching cock, but another slender hand met my own.
Kaine met my eyes. “Did you learn your lesson, Talon?”
“Yes,” I said, fingers twitching. “Please, I need—”
His lips met mine, and I trembled again as his hand wound around my cock.
“Hmm. Be specific, pet.”
“F-fuck. Please, Kaine,” I said, tipping my head back. It was so hard to think. “I need…to come. To be touched.”
“Hmm. I do love it when you beg so prettily,” he said, and pushed me back to the floor.
“Thank you,” I said, laying my head back as he trailed his tongue down my abs, then circled the base of my cock.
I cried out, trying to stop from coming right then as my tip slid inside his cool, wet mouth. I wasn’t going to last long. Not with the way he was gazing up at me, observing my every reaction as he took more of me inside him. His gorgeous lips, reddened and kiss-plumped, worked around my member. Somehow, he kept going, pulling all of me deeper and deeper, and I lost it as I felt the back of his throat against my head. He twitched as I came but didn’t pull off, instead swallowing around me. It was shorter and more intense than my first orgasm, and I was left twitching in his grasp, chest heaving.
He rested his head on my stomach, watching me with a predatory gaze. His fingers reached up and stroked my chest. “How are you both so perfect?” he murmured, almost too quietly for me to hear.
We cleaned up, and I finally collapsed on the ground, only to be accosted by Kaine and Nidori.
Nidori lay down by my side, putting her head on my chest and letting out a little sigh. Kaine squished himself into my other side, his eyes drooping. I lay still as they drifted off to sleep, drinking in every moment I could.
***
Long after their breathing had settled, my mind was still very much awake. I moved slowly, extracting myself from their embraces and heading towards the door for some fresh air. It was a cloudy day, and I blinked blearily at the bright colours and clear air that met me. Soon, Kaine would be able to see this again. He’d be able to see how the blades of grass shimmered when the sunlight peeked through the clouds. He’d be able to feel the warmth on his face without it blistering his skin.
I heard the creak of floorboards inside, and I felt someone sit by my side. Nidori looped her hand in mine. “Looks like it's your turn to not sleep."
I nodded my head. She shuffled closer. We were silent for a moment, listening to the ferns rustling in the breeze and the short, sharp call of a songbird.
“Leihandra told me, if you free the relic, you’ll die,” she said in a whisper, squeezing my hand.
Hearing it said out loud in her soft voice almost broke me. I remained silent, a lump forming in my throat .
She leaned forward, her large eyes meeting mine. “I have some good news, Talon. She told me to tell you; there’s another way. You can let us take the relic and not die,” she shot me a grin.
“What?” I looked at her, a fragile hope stirring in my chest.
She nodded. “Yes. She said to give you this.” She pulled out a necklace. A tiny, glowing gem hung from its delicate silver chain.
I took it, my heart sinking.
“She said you’d know what to do with it.”
Tears burned in my eyes. The universe had a sick sense of humor.
“It’s an oathstone,” I said, taking it from her. “A Paladin can use their oath magic to infuse it, to draw out the power contained inside. Some of the most powerful acts of magic Paladins have ever done have been through these.”
Nidori nudged me. “Sounds like it’s enough to save you.”
I shook my head, eyes fixed on the ground. It took me a second before I was able to speak.
“I can’t use oath magic.” I clutched the necklace tightly in my hand. “I broke my oath. Abandoned it. I can’t use this.”
Nidori didn’t say anything at first, and I couldn’t bring myself to look at her.
“No,” she said, her voice trembling. She grabbed my arm, her fingers digging in as she tugged me to look at her. “There has to be a way. Just… swear a new oath. We can make one right now. Right?”
I gave her a sad smile. “It’s not that simple. The oath is not powerful by itself. It’s powerful because it magnifies a power you already have. Before, I believed so strongly in vengeance, I was able to use that to produce magic. But I don’t believe in that anymore.”
“But you probably still have something you believe in like that. That’s just who you are, Talon. You believe things so strongly.”
I moved close to her, sitting behind her and wrapping my arms over her shoulders. She leaned back into me, absently stroking my forearm.
“Yes. I probably do have something I could shape into a new oath. But I don’t have the time to figure out what that is. I was going to try and find it after I was done here. The way I see the world has changed so much, and it’s still changing. I don’t think I’ll be able to define it before we reach the end.”
“We can,” Nidori insisted. “We will just wait here until you get it. We won’t go into the tower.”
I buried my face in her hair, breathing in her scent. Pine and fruit. Summer forest.
“We can’t,” I murmured. “Cassandra is here, hunting for Kaine. We have to reach the tower as soon as we can.”
Nidori’s body shook beneath mine, and then she was sobbing, shoulders heaving as she turned and wrapped her arms around me. “It’s not f-f-fair,” she said, and I found tears pouring down my face as well. It wasn’t fucking fair.
“Don’t tell Kaine,” I said thickly. “It’ll be all right. You’ll have each other and everything you ever dreamed of. Kaine’s freedom and your new form.”
“I want you too,” she said, hugging me ever tighter. “We need you, Talon.”
She pulled away and took the necklace, slipping it over my head. Her face was red and puffy, and she wiped her nose on her arm.
“Keep it,” she said. “Promise me you won’t stop trying to find your oath.”
“Of course.”
“No, promise ,” she demanded.
“I promise you, Nidori, that I will do everything within my power to find my new oath and not die. Okay? ”
She giggled. “Did that promise work?”
I gave her a smile. “Sadly not.”
I stood, and she squeezed my hand as I stepped inside.
“I’ll be in soon.” She said thickly.
I fell asleep as soon as my head touched the soft moss and didn’t wake up, not even when a faint buzzing started to fill the air.