Chapter 66
Avice
Avice awoke more languid and satiated then she ever had been before.
Every single part of her was stretched, relaxed, and deliciously aching.
She was squashed up to Trewoofe’s chest. At some point in the night, perhaps between their second or third rutting, he rolled them onto their sides and tucked her head beneath his chin so they could rest.
She wriggled in the cage of his arms and froze at the realisation that Trewoofe was still buried in her.
He had been serious when he had asked to keep his seed inside of her.
Avice’s bladder squeezed uncomfortably, and she knew she had to escape from their cuddle to relieve herself.
Slick with their mingled sweat and Trewoofe’s saliva, she managed to slip from his arms. It was like uncorking a bottle, the moment his length exited her, a river of his seed poured out.
She went hot at the thought. She had begged him to fill her up, put a Knuckerling in her belly, and rut her until she overflowed with him.
It made her excited all over again. Before she gave into temptation and pounced on him, she scooted away from the makeshift bed of blossoms.
Only to be met with a wall of writhing flowers and vines.
She sighed at them. “Will you please let me out?”
Avice stood and tapped her foot as she waited for them to part.
She tossed a look back at Trewoofe, who mumbled something in his sleep.
Gritting her teeth, she hoped he did not wake.
Instead, he mumbled something and lay flat on his belly.
She studied his rear and resisted the wicked urge to pinch a firm cheek.
By the time she turned back to the green wall, it had flattened itself and she made her way out of the nest.
She was unsure of where exactly she could relieve herself. Avice would ask Trewoofe later, but she knew it would not be proper to pass water near the nest, nor the river where they drank. Instead, she slipped into a tunnel she knew did not lead to Wulver-led and concluded her business there.
Once Avice was done, she returned to their nesting cavern and was determined to prepare for the challenging day ahead. Whatever may be, she knew she would have her King by her side.
First, a bath. Then wake Trewoofe and head to the church.
She wandered over to the crystal-clear healing waters.
She had never seen a river like it: slow-moving, shining and refracting the light of crystals in the walls and ceiling.
It was a liquid rainbow. She dipped her toes in, sighing as the warmth seeped up her leg.
Avice carefully trod her way in, until the river reached her navel, and promptly sat.
“This must be what heaven feels like,” she moaned.
She had never been in hot water like this before, and she did not ever want to leave it.
Avice took a deep breath and dunked her head beneath the surface, washing away all the evidence of their rutting.
The healing waters eased her over-stretched muscles, and seeped into her centre, wicking away the slight ache there.
She popped up, took a deep breath, and shoved her hair from her eyes.
Trewoofe stood on the bank and beamed down at her. “Are you ready for your swimming lessons?”
Avice grinned back at him. He was adorably bedraggled: silver hair tousled and knotted, shell amulet askew, display colours flushed, a rosy tint to his cheeks, and smeared with a combination of sweat, saliva, and seed. She had not realised that Knucker rutting could be so… messy.
“We scarcely have time for that,” she replied. Her stomach swirled as he joined her, wading in until he loomed over her. “It must be Sunrise by now.”
“Not so,” he said. “Time moves differently in the Underneath.”
“Both you and Bramble keep saying that,” she huffed, tossing more water over her head and rubbing it into her scalp. “Yet neither of you have properly explained it to me.”
Trewoofe splashed himself over his arms and chest. “Time can move differently here for different Good Neighbours. For the younglings I brought down, the Underneath sensed that time needed to move more quickly for them to save their lives, in combination with the magic of their adoptive Queens.”
Avice furrowed her brow. “So, the time surrounding them sped up to help save them and make them grow.”
Trewoofe grinned. “There you have it. Time in my Kingdom occasionally flows as you need it. The Underneath knew we needed more time together: to rut, to rest, to bathe, and to swim. So, within our nest, it slowed it down.”
He dunked his head beneath, and emerged again, shaking the drops loose from his hair. Avice turned away and giggled as they smattered her face.
“Will I ever be able to tell?” she asked. “The difference in the flow of time in the above and below? Will I be able to understand?”
Trewoofe reached to cup her chin. “The longer you live here, the more you will understand it. It is like breathing, something you simply do.” He ran his thumb over her lip, making her shiver at his gentle touch.
“Much like, the more time you spend in the Underneath, the healthier you will feel, the less rest you will need, the less you will need to eat, and the longer you will live.”
“I do feel very well rested, despite how little we have slept.” She dotted a kiss to his thumb tip. “But I will not live as long as you, even if my life is extended by being here.”
Avice immediately regretted her words. She could only have killed the tender moment more effectively by forcing Trewoofe to eat pickles. She watched as his lips tugged down, and silver pooled in the corner of his eyes. His throat bobbed several times, trying to swallow back his tears.
“I am sorry,” she blurted, pressing kisses to his palm. “That was foolish of me to announce like—”
“It is alright.” Trewoofe tugged her into a hug. “One day with you is worth a hundred turns of seasons without you. I will take all the time you have to give me, and treasure each and every moment.”
Avice sighed into his scars. He was right, of course.
Trewoofe may not have considered himself as smart as her, but in many ways he was.
He had a deeper understanding of emotions.
He helped talk through her concerns and feelings, as well as coping with his own grief for hundreds of turns of seasons.
She decided they owed it to each other: to try their best, to live as well as they can for as long as they can, to dare what they dreamed, and relish in the time they had.
Her steadfast resolution reminded Avice of the Pillywiggin Princess.
The little Good Neighbour had been determined to have her first bargain.
Avice realised then, with everything that had happened, she had not told Trewoofe about what the Princess had said.
“Have you heard of Eostre?” she asked.
A line appeared between Trewoofe’s brows. “I have not. What is it?”
Avice recounted what the Princess had said to her about when she was marked and how the Spriggan needed females to look after Eostre.
“She did not know what or who it was either,” Avice concluded.
Trewoofe mulled for a moment as the line on his forehead deepened. “We can explore this further,” he replied. “But first, I assume you still wish to go to the church at Sunrise?”
“Yes, shall we prepare and make our way?” she replied, stepping towards the shallows.
He snagged her wrist. “It is not yet Sunrise,” he growled playfully. “It seems the Underneath thinks you need more time here before you go above.”
Avice tutted. She did say Sunrise and knew it would be wise to wait until there was light. She had no idea what the above would be like now, nor the state of the village, and she would need to see where she was going.
“So, swimming lessons?” Trewoofe offered brightly.
“Right now?” she scoffed.
He offered her a fang-filled grin. “Perhaps that is why the Underneath has slowed time for us. My Kingdom may not be content until you have learned to swim.”
Avice relented. Trewoofe knew the Underneath far better than her. He understood how it functioned in his inconceivable Sidhe King way.
“Alright.” She dipped her head in agreement. “Teach me.”
Trewoofe beamed at her before blundering deeper into the river. She gasped as he dropped beneath the surface, disappearing in a blink. Her heart was in her throat before he popped back up and sucked in a breath.
“It is easier to move through the water in my Knucker body than my human one,” he admitted as he swam smoothly back towards her.
Avice arched a brow at him. “You are doing very well, even so.”
He stood where the healing water lapped at his chest. “Lift your feet from the silt, put them behind you, and try to move towards me. Kick your legs and move your arms.” He rose and dipped his own arms in a regular pattern, one after the other. “Like this…”
Avice stuck her chin out. She did as he instructed and promptly sunk. She shoved herself up, sputtering, and eyed a smirking Trewoofe biting back a chuckle.
“Perhaps,” he suggested with twitching lips, “a little faster?”
She ignored his teasing and tried again. Whirring her arms around as quickly as a spinning wheel and kicking her legs with vigour.
It worked.
Slowly but surely, she made her way to her Knucker.
He swept her into a crushing hug and kissed her nose.
She beamed under his praise, and she realised she loved it a little too much.
It reminded her of the words he growled during their rutting.
She ignored her arousal as he instructed her to swim back to the bank.
She did so, a little faster than when she had clumsily swum out.
Avice puffed and sat in the shallows. “How was that?”
“Wonderful!” He clapped his hands together. “Now, you must repeat it, many, many times over.”
Avice did indeed repeat it many, many times over.
She made her way to and from Trewoofe at increasingly bigger distances as he swam out further to test her growing ability.
By the time she could reach the far bank, Trewoofe sang his approval and swam the distance back with her.
They settled together in the shallows, the chiming water caressing their skin.
“Well,” Avice panted, “am I doing well?”
“I am satisfied with your swimming.” Trewoofe licked a hot stripe from her inked collar bone to her ear lobe, making her tremble. “I know, should you fall into the river without me close, that you will be safe.”
She quivered at his tenderness. Avice wished she did not have to go above.
What she wanted to do was ask Trewoofe to take her back to their nest and rut her until she could not think clearly.
Instead, she stood and stepped onto the bank.
Determined to prepare to go above, she squeezed the healing waters from her dripping hair.
Trewoofe was not shy as he ogled her, his eyes following the pattern of the sparkling water that ran off her body.
“See something you like?” she teased.
He flashed her a grin. “I do. Every curve of your body is my heart’s delight.”
Avice tutted at his shameless flirting. “Out of the water, we need to get ready to go above.” Trewoofe pouted. Instead of leaving the river to dry and get dressed, he swam further out, cutting through it as effortlessly as an otter. “Lord, we need to—”
Her words switched to a gasp as Trewoofe changed.
The air around him seemed to bend and stretch, preparing to make room for his much larger Knucker body.
Avice watched in wonder as his magic burst from him in cascading waves.
He folded out, filling the space the air had made for him.
Swapping skin for scales and claws for talons.
As his transformation completed, he sent a roll down his coils and twitched the very tip of his tail.
Trewoofe paddled back to Avice, cocking his head playfully at her. “Little witch, I know I cannot convince you not to go to the church—”
She pinched her face up at him. “Trewoofe, I will not abandon—"
Her Knucker dropped his snout to her and puffed. His hot, sweet breath blasted the remaining water that dripped from her hair. Avice squeezed her eyes shut against the heat and opened them again as he finished.
She patted her head. “Bone-dry.”
“Yes,” he rumbled. “I will go to the village like this, Avice. I will not risk anyone hurting you.”
She had not considered this. Here she was again, putting another’s wellbeing above her own; not thinking about the risk to herself.
Doubt churned her stomach. They had tried to kill her, but many more had tried to stop them.
Avice also knew that if any of the men involved in her kidnapping, imprisonment, and attempted hanging still lived, Trewoofe would sweep them from the land as easily as the wind swirled the leaves.
She swallowed down her fear and kissed her Knucker’s snout. “When is Sunrise?”
His gaze flicked up and back to her. “Imminent.”
Avice nodded and braced herself. “Let me get dressed, fetch my things, and then…” She gestured up as guilt pricked at her. “…we can finally help this poor Faerie that I have abandoned for so long.”
“It is not your fault,” Trewoofe comforted, following her as she made her way up to their nest. “With the younglings, the Winter, saving me, and the Equinox, it is understandable you did not return to the church.”
Avice appreciated his efforts to comfort her. “Thank you.”
She beamed up at him before entering the nest and preparing to return to the place that scared her the most.