Chapter 48 #3
But then it all shifted and reoriented again, because — of course Kalfr shouldn’t mind.
Not when Gaelfr himself kept constantly insisting that their sons belonged equally to them both, no matter which of them was actually the father.
And in this hazy, hovering instant, it occurred to Raye that if Gaelfr agreed, shifted himself up over her instead, she wouldn’t argue.
She would gasp, and open wider, and welcome him inside her, oh gods…
But Gaelfr hadn’t moved, staring back at Kalfr for a moment too long — and he cleared his throat, and stroked his hand down Kalfr’s back.
“Ach, not tonight, ástin mín,” he breathed.
“For I long to witness this, and bless this, between you both. I long to help you finally gain this, as we ought to have done, so long ago.”
Kalfr hesitated, but then exhaled and nodded, his dazed eyes dropping back to Raye’s sprawled body beneath him.
While Gaelfr’s hand slipped down between them, nudging Raye’s fingers away from Kalfr’s shaft, so his own hand could circle around it, instead.
And after giving it a slow, deep stroke, milking out a thick spurt of white onto Raye’s quivering open heat, he guided Kalfr’s cock forward, straight between her slick folds, into her pulsing, clutching core.
As if he truly wanted to see this, and be part of this.
He wanted to help Kalfr’s body vanish into hers, wanted to feel it as Kalfr slowly stroked in, and seated himself full and deep, while Raye bucked and quaked around him.
“Good, both of you,” Gaelfr murmured, and fuck, yes, it was good.
So good, to feel Kalfr sputter and flex like that inside her, while the pure, staggering hunger blazed brighter across his eyes.
And so good to feel Gaelfr’s hand still locked between them too, his palm grinding gently against the top of Raye’s crease, while his other hand curved against her jiggling bare breast, and gave it an encouraging, proprietary squeeze.
“Now plough your mate wide open, ástin mín,” he breathed. “Furrow her empty garden, and plant your good strong seed deep inside her.”
Raye’s cry tore through her chest, echoing toward the sky, and Kalfr’s eyes burned as he drew his hips backwards, his cock sliding out of her, leaving her empty and bereft — but then he sank back in smooth and firm, furling the ecstasy deeper, quaking her all over.
And then again, and again, his hips rolling in a fluid, thudding rhythm, making Raye writhe and shout beneath him, her hands clinging and clawing at the muscled strength of his back.
Gaelfr’s hand was still caught between them, too, grinding just where Raye craved it most, and firing up more perfect, impossible pleasure, more stark furious need.
And in another burst of uncontrollable craving, she clutched sideways for Gaelfr’s kneeling body, and found that bulge beneath his trousers.
And with sharp tugs of her fingers, she yanked the trousers open, and drew his hard, straining cock out into the moonlight.
Gaelfr’s shaft flexed and shuddered beneath her touch, his body shifting closer, his head tipping back as a dash of white spurted across Raye’s belly — and Kalfr groaned as he looked, his hips rocking faster inside her.
Wanting to see Raye touching Gaelfr like this, bringing him into this, stroking him fast and frantic, milking out steady spurts of seed across her skin.
And it was right, it was perfect, it was just what the goddess needed, in this moment.
Raye ready and bared and open on this altar, welcoming her beautiful bonded mate inside her, seeking to spark a precious new life together.
While his sworn ástvinur tended and guarded them, guided them in the goddess’ path, granted them the gleaming essence of the moon, made just for them, deep from within his very being.
And if they only kept praying, kept offering, they would —
“Please, goddess,” Raye choked, helpless, lost. “Grant this to us.”
Kalfr’s body jerked, his moan risen to a shout, while Gaelfr’s groan was deep and raw and reverent, his cock flexing in her fingers — and in a bright, blistering burst, just — ecstasy.
Pure, screaming ecstasy, wrenching Raye’s body in wild, convulsive judders, demanding, needing — and yes, her mates were answering her call, Kalfr’s hips bucking as his seed surged and seethed out inside her, while Gaelfr’s release streamed from him in smooth, luminous arcs, flooding Raye and Kalfr with lavish showers of decadent white moonlight.
It was a prayer unlike anything Raye had ever imagined, and as she kept quaking in the wake of it, her blinking eyes lifted to the sky, to the watching, winking eye of the moon upon them.
The goddess had given them her encouragement, her care, her blessing.
And no matter what happened with the son, in this moment, it still felt like a gift. Like hope. Like… peace.
“Thank you,” Raye whispered, to that bright watching eye, as she drew in a deep breath, inhaling the sweetness still anointing her skin. “Thank you.”
The cool tickling breeze on her damp skin felt like an answer all its own, another whisper of peace.
Of safety. And as Raye let out a low exhale, and sank heavier into the fur, there was nothing to doubt, nothing to fear.
Not here, not like this, not with both her strong, beloved mates beside her, granting her their great blessings.
When her hazy eyes slid downwards again, both Kalfr and Gaelfr were staring at her, not moving.
Though Kalfr’s strength inside her was slowly softening, Gaelfr’s doing the same in her hand, and Raye gave Gaelfr a brief, affectionate squeeze before slipping her hand away, back to her own belly.
To where she was still painted with Gaelfr’s gleaming light, and her hand smoothed slow and reverent against it, revelling in its silken, sweet-scented blessing upon her. Upon the promise of their son.
“We should have done it like this before,” she murmured, her voice low and dreamy in the silence. “Back at the start. Shouldn’t we?”
Kalfr and Gaelfr both kept staring at her, but Kalfr twitched a short, almost imperceptible nod, while Gaelfr cleared his throat. “Ach,” he replied, husky. “It is clear you both need me, in this.”
Raye still felt too hazy to try to argue, though she did manage an affectionate roll of her eyes toward him. To which Gaelfr harrumphed, and gave a light pat to her cheek. “I mean this,” he said, firmer this time. “Both of you. No more secret trysts in the tunnels, without me.”
Right. Because she and Kalfr had gone wrong with that today, hadn’t they?
They’d come together, they’d met each other when they’d needed it — but they hadn’t been honest with each other, either.
They hadn’t been clear about what they’d wanted.
And afterwards, they’d both kept their distance, making choices that had strained their bond, and their cautious steps toward each other.
But this, now, had been different. And though it was all far from settled — goddess above, they’d all just agreed to have another son together — it still felt like trust, more than anything else had yet.
They’d come together, on this altar. They’d been honest with each other, and with the goddess, about what they wanted.
And it had been Gaelfr to help them in that.
To bring them together. To grant them this trust.
Surely Kalfr knew that too, now glancing between Raye and Gaelfr with something like chagrin in his eyes, or regret.
As if he was about to start apologizing, but before he could speak it, Raye’s sticky hand raised up to his lips, settled against his soft mouth.
Holding there, asking, offering, and when Kalfr drew one of her fingers into his mouth, sucking Gaelfr’s seed off her skin, it was more trust, too.
So she kept feeding him her wet fingers, one by one, watching his eyes flutter as he tasted them. Such a simple, quiet thing, but in the hazy contentment, it felt like more reconciliation between them, and perhaps an admission of what Gaelfr had said, too. You both need me, in this.
But amidst that awareness, a new, whispering question slowly bubbled into Raye’s thoughts.
Why hadn’t Kalfr recognized that he’d needed Gaelfr, back when they’d first met?
He and Gaelfr had sworn those vows, they’d clearly cared about each other.
And no, she hadn’t liked hearing about Gaelfr back then, she’d been jealous and mistrustful and afraid…
but why hadn’t Kalfr done more to explain?
Why hadn’t he introduced them? Why hadn’t he made it clearer to her what Gaelfr meant to him? What Gaelfr could have meant to her?
But even as Raye opened her mouth to ask, Kalfr’s eyes cut sideways. Away. Not toward Gaelfr, but toward the trees. Toward…
The orcs. The handful of waiting, silent orcs, tucked into the greenery around them. Watching this. Watching them.
Raye twitched, but the contentment was still warm enough, close enough, that she didn’t attempt to cover herself, to hide.
Not even when Kalfr drew himself back onto his knees, releasing his softened length from within her with a squelch — and releasing, too, a sudden churning rush of liquid heat, bubbling out from inside her onto the altar.
A sight that was surely shocking, obscene, especially given how Raye’s fully bared body was still coated with Gaelfr’s seed, too.
But her eyes were still on Kalfr, on the beautiful halo of his hair in the moonlight, on the silken sheen of his gleaming skin.
And most of all on his glossy, half-hard shaft, still dripping with her juices, and still oozing a trickle of his white seed, too.
The goddess’ own beautiful, virile son, kneeling on her altar, with a pliant, ravished woman lying sprawled before him, still streaming his seed from deep inside her.
From where she’d just offered him a son.
It was the power again. It was Kalfr finding his power again, and wielding it over her. Maybe even testing her. Punishing her…
But for perhaps the first time, it occurred to Raye that she held power in this, too. She wasn’t just obeying him, proving this to him — but she was giving it to him. Making an offering of her own. Meeting him. Trusting him.
And when Kalfr waved the orcs forward, into the open moonlight, she was certain of it. Because the orcs — Eyolf, Iyolf, Egil, Othan, Skirvir — were all watching them with awe, and with envy, and with admiration. Surely seeing the goddess’ blessing upon them, too.
“Could one of you fetch our mate a drink?” Kalfr asked them, his voice surprisingly steady. “And aught to eat, and a cloth to clean up with, also.”
Several of the orcs nodded, but none of them moved, and Kalfr’s smile toward them was almost amused. “And next time, only ask to come pray with us,” he told them. “Mayhap we shall even grant you leave to help.”
To help? It coursed swift and shocked up Raye’s sprawled body — what did Kalfr mean, help?
— but she couldn’t deny the effect it had on the watching orcs.
Several of them gasped, Egil bit his lip, and Skirvir adjusted the gigantic bulge in his trousers.
While Eyolf urgently tugged at Iyolf’s arm, yanking him back toward the byrgi, presumably to fetch the items Kalfr had asked for.
And as Raye’s eyes searched Kalfr’s again, found the mingled hunger and relief and regret, she again understood, even stronger than before.
He’d been vulnerable with her, and with Gaelfr, just now.
He’d fully admitted he wanted that son, even when he surely knew he shouldn’t, either.
And now he was drawing the power down around him again, seeking its refuge again — and Raye could give him that.
She could decide to meet him in that. To trust him in that.
When Eyolf and Iyolf returned, they brought not only food and a bulging waterskin, but a full washbasin, a fur, and multiple fresh cloths, too.
And at Kalfr’s murmured order, they took turns offering Raye the water and food — more of Grum’s dumplings, and some fresh tart berries, too — while Kalfr and Gaelfr washed her together.
Stroking their cloths over her, flaring out shivers and gooseflesh beneath their touch, until she was fully dry and clean again.
And again, it felt like a gift. An offering.
A new, tenuous trust, glimmering quiet and hopeful between them.
And when Gaelfr tugged Raye to her feet, and swung the fur around her shoulders, she desperately wanted to hurl herself into his arms, to tell him, Yes, we needed this, we needed you, I’ve always, always needed you, please say you’ll stay forever…
But it was another hitch, suddenly, another question, another whisper of the darkness Raye had almost fully buried in her thoughts.
Gaelfr had only promised to stay because — because of the son.
And yes, he’d done his damnedest to give them that son tonight, but what if it didn’t happen?
What if Raye still wasn’t healthy enough?
What if she could never have another child?
What if Kalfr ran off and got himself killed, what if Gaelfr left her forever, too…
“Come, saeta,” cut in Gaelfr’s voice, his hand firm against her back. “You must rest.”
And though he didn’t say it, Raye could still hear the rest of it, rippling out behind his words. You must rest. You must grow fat and hale. You must keep your vows to us. You must save him. You must seek the goddess’ blessing, and beg her to grant you a son.
And after one more long, uncertain glance up at the shining moon above, Raye nodded, and bowed her head, and obeyed.