Chapter 29
Portarius
DEVIL IN DISGUISE - MARINO ?
“Ithink we need to give your cunt a break. It looks puffy and red,” I say, inspecting Emmie's forbidden centre.
“Portarius!” She gasps, trying and failing to close her legs.
Chuckling at her attempt, I turn and kiss her inner thigh, resisting the urge to eat her cunt another time.
We have bonded over and over throughout the night, but the red sun is unfortunately rising, and with it, means a new day of rebuilding.
She lies on a makeshift bed, nestled in the grass outside our cottage. The smoke damage was too much to sleep inside the house, the smell overwhelming, but after a good clean, it should come to life again.
“I will light a fire for the bath, and you can rest your cunt before I take you again.”
Striding toward the bath, it's basically in new condition still, the flames of the fire doing no damage to the metal.
“Portarius, you can't say things like that. It's too much,” she sighs, flinging her arm over her eyes as she lies naked. Gloriously naked. There is nothing but a faint golden glimmer to the place where the Ananea first cut her, surviving the war practically unscathed.
“I do not like these words. I am not too much. I'm simply stating that your cunt needs a break because we spent the night fucking.” This is a word I like. “We should fucking every night,” I say, grinning, remembering her trying to explain modern profanities.
“I should never have agreed to teach you those words,” she mumbles to herself, moving to join me beside the bath as I set fire to the kindling. “And it's fuck, we should fuck every night, is how you would use it in a sentence.”
I’m glad I filled the bath earlier; no need to waste time filling the bucket and carrying it over. “Do you want to wait for it to warm?” I ask, already knowing what her answer will be.
“No. Come sit with me as it warms.”
She steps into the bath, holding her hand out to me as I slip in behind her, pulling her onto my lap, and she relaxes against me. Already, I can start to feel the trickle of hot water from the top valve, and I'm content to stay here for as long as she needs.
Healing was tiresome, yes, but I was also able to step outside of my body for a moment and rest. Emmie did not have that chance, so I'm trying to make it up to her now.
There is no one on our lands we need to deal with immediately, which means we can simply exist in each other's embrace for a while.
“Do you know how to replant the crops that were burned? How will the other realms work without the wheat you were growing?” she asks, her fingers lazily wrapped in mine.
“I expect we will be sent directions in the next few days. Little could be done to stop what happened, and I'm sure —”
“You who, howdy neighbour.”
A soft, feminine voice calls out from behind us, and Emmie goes stiff in my arms, trying to cover herself from our unexpected guest. If it were anybody else who dared to enter our sanctuary, my blade would find solace in their necks.
“Speak of the devil,” I say, sitting both of us up in the bath water but not moving to get out.
“And she shall appear. Ta-da.” Her scarlet pant suit, coming into view. “I love it when we finish each other's sentences, Portarius. It makes it seem like we saw each other only a century ago and not millennia.”
Her cherry demeanour is one of the things people find so difficult to deal with when interacting with her. The devil should be cruel and harsh. Not this petite woman with long black hair.
“Emmie, please let me introduce you to our Queen, Diabolus.”
She sits on my lap, slack jawed as she flickers her gaze between us.
“You're… you're the Devil?” she whispers, and I'm not sure if she is going to scream and run or continue to stare with her mouth hanging open.
“These men and their titles,” she says, rolling her eyes.
“I hate such a formal name, so please call me Diana. Thank you, both of you, for taking care of that little infestation we had. They caused quite the stir, didn’t they?
” she says, planting her hands on her hips, looking out to the charred fields, scattered with the ashes of the Ananea swarm.
“Mind you, they did leave all this beauty in their wake.
It's almost a shame to get rid of it.” Her eyes widen, and she looks longingly at the nearest carcass, shaking her head as she comes out of whatever whimsical place she was transported to.
“Nevertheless, they must go. The damned will be here in a day or so to start preparing the fields, and you will be up and running in no time.”
“You're the Devil?” Emmie repeats, pointing at the woman standing before us.
“Diana, Emmeline. Please call me, Diana. The Devil sounds too stuffy.” Her face scrunches at the thought before snapping back to a too wide smile.
“As always, our conversations are riveting, but I must be off.
I was delighted to feel your bonding, though, Portarius.
I didn't know you had it in you, you old dog.”
“My Queen,” I say, rubbing a hand over my face, knowing I'm about to get an onslaught of new questions, and I was hoping to get back to the fucking at some point today.
“You never did send word that you had a new arrival. Anyway, as much as I love catching up, I have some sinners waiting for me. God knows I love a good skinning. Get it. God.” Emmie tilts her head, and you can see her rapidly trying to understand what she means.
“You two are no fun,” she says nonchalantly.
Waving her hand and practically skipping as she walks back the way she came. “Toodles.”
“That … that was the Devil?” Emmie asks again, turning in my lap, straddling my thighs.
“Yes, that was our Queen.”
“And she wants to be called Diana?” she says, confused, looking over my shoulder to where the Devil walks away.
“Apparently. We should make plans for the damned who are coming. I imagine there will be several hundred.”
Her face looks to me in shock. I may have over exaggerated. It will be closer to two to three hundred, but it was enough to get her attention.
Leaning back against the edge of the bath, I pull her down against my chest, rubbing my hands up and down her spine.
My bonded is no longer sick, and we have survived a challenge far bigger than expected for the short time we’ve known each other.
Our land will heal, and with the help of the damned, we will be back to running the farm as usual.
I may even ask Steve for a few ideas on how to upgrade the cottage.
Her soft body rolls against my cool touch, and I remind myself we have forever to do the fucking.
I can wait for one afternoon until I’m buried inside her once again, bonded for eternity.