Chapter 44
When morning came, Raye was curled up in bed with Gaelfr, and Kalfr was gone.
The end of the night before was a bit foggy, but Raye definitely remembered Kalfr coming to bed with them, his body slipping in behind Gaelfr’s. And he’d even kissed both of them goodnight, and in that moment, Raye had again been able to cling to the peace, and the hope.
But now the doubts were already whispering again, scraping through the darkness. Had Kalfr spent a full night with them yet? And why hadn’t he stayed, after all the pleasure they’d shared? Where had he gone?
“Ach, I can scent you fretting again, saeta,” came Gaelfr’s gravelly voice from behind her, his breath tickling against the back of her neck. “You are meant to be resting. Building your strength, and growing fat and hale for us.”
He patted Raye’s belly beneath the fur, and her face heated at the realization that her lacy chemise had twisted up in the night, and he was touching her bare skin.
Not only that, but he himself was fully naked beneath the fur, his body curled up close behind her, and she was now suddenly, acutely aware of the warm, solid ridge prodding brazenly into her crease.
A ridge that already felt dangerously close to where it wasn’t supposed to be, and she could feel it shuddering fuller, rocking in closer, oh gods.
“Gaelfr,” Raye breathed, in a voice that sounded damnably needy. “You said…”
Gaelfr’s groan into her hair was low and frustrated, but his head nodded against hers, his hand slapping lightly against her hip. “Ach, ach,” he said, with a heavy exhale. “This ought to be Kalfr’s place, and Kalfr’s issue. Kalfr’s due.”
And maybe it was the tiredness, but he sounded not only decisive, but also… disappointed. As if he might really… want that with her. And also, what did he mean, Kalfr’s issue? Kalfr’s due? Did he mean Raye owed Kalfr that, as part of her penance, her punishment? Or did he mean…
But Gaelfr was already yawning and shoving backwards, out of bed. “Now rise and dress, woman,” he said firmly. “We made great gains yesterday, did we not? I am sure we shall gain even more today.”
Right. Raye nodded and shoved up too, squinting at the sudden brightness flooding through the room — Gaelfr had lit the lamp, and was now lumbering over to the washbasin, where he swiped for a fresh cloth, and began scrubbing at his face, his hairy armpits, his groin.
And why couldn’t Raye stop staring at him, especially at the easy way he handled his chubby, still-half-hard cock…
“Um, you really think so?” she made herself ask, as she dragged her eyes away. “You think we’ve been… successful, so far?”
“Ach, we have,” Gaelfr replied, without hesitation, as he plucked up a fresh cloth. “You saw Kalfr yesterday, did you not? He was made to lead a band thus. He was strong, and content, and able. He was… himself, just as he used to be.”
Raye twitched a nod, and something that might have been a smile, or a grimace. “Well, except for that little show on the sofa,” she countered. “With all the… commands.”
But Gaelfr shrugged as he dunked his cloth in the water, and wrung it out.
“Ach, the more I see this upon him, the more I ken it suits him,” he replied.
“Mayhap he would have found his own way to this, in time. These games of pleasure and power run deep in our clan, and he has become fixed upon seeking these Bautul ways of old, has he not?”
Raye blinked at him, while her brain sought to digest all that. Did Gaelfr really see Kalfr as just playing games with her, rather than punishing her? And the Bautul of old had played these games, too? And Gaelfr thought Kalfr would see this as something worthy of pursuing?
“I can scent you, woman,” Gaelfr said, with a smug grin, as he strode back toward her in the bed. “You have enjoyed my ástvinur’s new taste for command just as much as I have. Now undress, so I can wash you.”
Raye blinked at him again — he wanted to wash her?
But after a wincing glance down at her sticky body — and the rumpled red chemise twisted around it — she cautiously obliged, and tugged the chemise off over her head.
Leaving her fully bared for Gaelfr’s assessing eyes, but he was still naked too, and his chubby cock betrayed a distinct spasm as his gaze swept up and down her body.
“Good,” he murmured, as one hand raised his damp cloth to her face, while the other patted against the slight roundness of her bare belly. “This was some good fattening, last eve.”
Raye rolled her eyes toward him, but her face was heating under his cloth’s touch.
And perhaps growing even warmer at the way he was washing her, his strokes soft and careful, working down her face to her neck, her collarbones, her breasts.
Making her skin tingle, her nipples growing hard and eager, and she almost whined when he turned away — but oh, he was only rinsing out the cloth in the basin, and coming back again.
“Do you now feel healed, here?” he murmured, as his cloth slipped down between her thighs, caressing carefully over the curve of her. “Any more tenderness, or pain?”
Raye shook her head, though her face flushed even hotter, because — had he been intentionally giving her time to heal? And had Kalfr, too? And last night, was that why they’d only fed her, instead? Had they still been tending her, all that time?
But Gaelfr looked thoroughly pleased with himself, and his cloth stroked deeper between her legs, too.
Firing out more tingles of heat and pleasure, enough that she had to fight to hold herself still, to keep herself from leaning forward, or even touching him.
And she was almost relieved when he finally drew away, and tossed the cloth back into the basin again.
But perhaps he wasn’t finished, after all, because next he eased around behind her, and began drawing his claws through her messy hair. Tugging apart the tangles one by one, until he could card freely through the strands, and pull them back into a neat new braid.
“Good?” he asked, once he’d tied it off with another green ribbon. “Naught too tight?”
Raye shook her head, feeling strangely shy, suddenly — and she still didn’t argue when Gaelfr next strode over to the shelf, and carefully picked out her clothes for the day, too.
Another lacy chemise, this one in pure white, and another beautifully made wrap-around dress, in a deep blue this time.
And he even helped to dress her in them, too, fussing with the chemise and the belt until he seemed satisfied.
“Good,” he said firmly. “Now you will go up to Kalfr, and kiss him good morn, and tell him how you missed him in bed this morn. And ask him to take you on another of these surveys of the byrgi, also.”
The warmth skittered, stilled, because — damn it. Gaelfr doing all this, just now — had it only been meant as a message to Kalfr? Another part of their plan? And if Raye obeyed Gaelfr, did that mean she was lying to Kalfr? Showing herself entirely unworthy of his trust?
But — she had to do it. She’d made the vow. If she failed in this, Kalfr and Gaelfr would leave.
But it still twisted in her gut as they headed upstairs into the sunlit byrgi, and found Kalfr and Svein seated together at the table with a handful of the band’s other orcs.
Grum had cooked another meal, the succulent scents of herbed meat and mushrooms swirling through the air, and Svein was happily eating, shovelling large forkfuls into his mouth.
“Mama, Papa Gaelfr!” he called between bites, waving toward them. “Come eat, it’s yummy!”
He wriggled himself away from Kalfr, pointing Raye toward the empty space between them — and since there was no obvious reason to refuse, she took a breath, and obliged.
However, it meant she was now wedged up tightly against Kalfr, her hip and arm pressed to his — and though he returned her cautious smile, he didn’t speak, and he looked distinctly tired, too.
Gaelfr sank down across the table from them, and when his glinting eyes caught on Raye’s, she could almost hear his orders from just moments ago, ringing through her thoughts. So before she lost the nerve, she twisted up toward Kalfr, and pressed a quick, furtive kiss to his cheek.
“Er, good morning,” she said, glancing toward the safety of Svein on her other side, too. “How are you two doing this morning? Did you get up early again? What have you been up to?”
Kalfr gave her another tired smile, but didn’t speak, while Svein cheerfully replied, telling her how he’d already helped Eyolf and Iyolf in the garden, and he’d even caught a glimpse of Iyolf’s new skunk — and together they’d decided to name it Mr. Stinkles, of Clan Terror.
And once Raye and Gaelfr had both praised this development, Gaelfr nudged Raye’s foot under the table, and loudly asked Svein what he would like to learn in his training that afternoon.
It was another not-so-subtle hint, and Raye took a breath, and aimed another tentative smile up toward Kalfr’s face. “Er, we missed you in bed this morning,” she said, quiet. “And what are your plans for the day? Do you think we could do the byrgi survey together again?”
Kalfr’s tired eyes flicked back across the table toward Gaelfr, as if he knew Gaelfr had put her up to this, somehow — but he squared his shoulders, and nodded.
“Ach, should you wish. And whilst we do this” — his eyes slid to Gaelfr again — “Julian is ready to begin with his common-tongue reading lessons this morn, and Gael and Svein shall both take part in this.”
Gaelfr’s eyes snapped to Kalfr, his frown rapidly deepening, while Svein crowed aloud and flailed his arms, almost losing grip of his fork. “We’re going to school, Papa Gaelfr!” he exclaimed. “You’re finally going to learn to read common-tongue! Aren’t you excited?”