50. Amarhuk（Rook）
AMARHUK(ROOK)
Lhorine and Zora found us limping along, checking in on various battle sites to ensure the fighting had stopped.
They confirmed the enemy had fully surrendered and escorted us back to the command center.
Zora gave us a report on how the other forces had done.
The addition of the titans had helped immensely.
Their earth magic, along with all the fortifications prepared ahead of time, had helped save thousands of lives.
Still, the news wasn’t what any of us would call “good.” Tens of thousands had died on both sides.
This had been the most devastating conflict since the last titan war.
Izzy beat herself up, of course, despite our victory.
She kept mumbling about how if we’d planned for the sylphim mental attacks we might have won sooner, that she might have defeated Valnea and stopped the war sooner.
In many ways, that was the day Izzy truly became queen, bearing the burden of leadership and the care of all her people with the solemnity that such an obligation deserved.
Luckily, Izzy was so drained that Lhorine and Olinara and Zora didn’t have to work too hard to convince her to rest and recover before she helped them rebuild a nation.
And so, we six returned to Izzy’s residence, showered just enough to clean off the dirt and blood, then fell into bed.
Our recovery took time. We all had new wounds, both physical and mental to heal. I woke first the next day, other than Myel who seemed to have been up for a while. But he wasn’t the only one in the room…
…My mother was puttering around Izzy’s quarters.
“Mother? What are you doing here?” I asked in shock, drawing her aside.
Her smile held a note of mischief.
“I have accepted the position of head lady in waiting for our new queen,” she said. I knew instantly she hadn’t been offered this position. She’d probably found Lhorine and the others and demanded it. Not that she’d be bad in that role, but…
“Why? I thought you were happy with your life.” Despite her youthful appearance, she was nearly ninety and had been retired from active service for years. And yes, in Urval, “active service” for a succubus meant exactly what you might think.
“I was, but now I want more.” She beamed at me, before her smile faltered and faded. “And maybe… I want to be closer to my son. Since we are free to live wherever we like now, Seial seemed safer.” That was true enough. “And I might have been a bit curious to see the woman who’d stolen your heart.”
She peeked back over my shoulder to the bed. I turned and followed her gaze. Izzy was naked, having had no energy to put anything on after her shower. She’d fallen into bed as she was. She was also half-covered by other men, who were also naked. It looked like the aftermath of a small orgy.
“She’s quite something,” my mother breathed in awe.
I knew that tone. Turning back to her I gave her my best don’t-you-dare look.
“I don’t think she’s into women, and even if she was, I’m not sharing her with my mother!
” The practice wasn’t entirely uncommon in Urval, the sharing of partners with adult children, but it wasn’t for me.
I may have fucked pretty much anything before I met Izzy, but I still liked to think I had some standards and boundaries.
She shrugged. “I don’t think you get to make decisions for her. Why don’t we let her decide?”
I sighed and facepalmed, then shook my head. “Can we talk about something else.”
When my mother spoke again, her voice was far less coquettish and far more serious. “I also came… to say I’m sorry.”
I looked up at her. Her gaze was distant and I knew instantly who she was thinking of and why she wanted to apologize.
“I loved him more than anything,” she whispered.
“It surprised me. At first, it didn’t feel right at all.
I felt… ashamed. I shouldn’t favor anyone.
All are welcome in my bed. But over time, I came to accept it, even…
desire it. I lived for his next visit and made sure I had no other appointments when he was with me.
I savored every moment with him. I thought for a while, it might be because he gave me the most spectacular orgasms, but eventually I realized it was far deeper.
” She pursed her lips, a tear tracing her cheek.
“And when he died…” her voice was so choked up she couldn’t speak.
I went to her, held her, like I’d done as a boy when she’d gotten like this.
Back then, I’d not known why she wept. “I felt even more ashamed that I’d fallen for him.
” She still couldn’t say the “L” word it seemed.
“It hurt so bad and…” she sniffled, “…I didn’t want you to ever feel that pain. ”
“I know,” I whispered.
“But I only ever told you about the pain and never about the joy, and I’m sorry for that. You… you should know more of your father. And you should enjoy every second you have with Izzy.”
I smiled. “I know,” I said, my emotions settling.
Izzy hadn’t died. We’d both lived and now I no longer felt the anticipation of pain I’d felt before.
I’d been living in the future, a future which didn’t exist and wouldn’t, at least not for a long time.
And I’d probably go before she did, damned long-lived elves.
When I released my mother, she dried her tears and smiled at me. “We’ll talk, soon,” she whispered.
“I look forward to it. Until then, can you not lurk in our bedchambers? If you’re a lady in waiting, could you… whip us up some breakfast?”
Her smile grew. “I suppose I could do that.” She slowly turned to go, glancing back over her shoulder.
“Amar…?” she said as she paused looking back at the bed. “That big one, the titan, is he… entirely devoted to her, or…?”
“He is, now get!” I said, exasperated as she winked at me, then sauntered out.
I showered and by the time I dried and was dressing, the others were starting to rise. Bayn staggered in for a shower, and Vyns said he wanted to soak in the tub. Koar stayed close to Izzy as she slowly woke.
“Can I borrow her?” I asked the dragon. He nodded and wandered over to the far side of the massive room.
“Morning orgasms?” Izzy asked, then groaned as she shifted. “Maybe not, I’m sore… everywhere.”
“Orgasms can help with that,” I said sliding next to her on the bed and smoothing back her sleep-rumpled hair. I kissed her forehead, and she hummed a contented sound. “But can we talk first?”
“Serious talk?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“It’s too early.”
“You just have to listen, is that okay?”
“And orgasms after?” she said, still dopey with sleep.
“Orgasms after, I promise.”
She slid up so she could lean her head on my chest, one hand straying up to undo the buttons on the shirt I’d just put on. Horny, was she? I’d talk fast.
“I know we joked, before the battle, about our reasons to live, but I need you to know… it isn’t a threesome with you and Myel that gave me hope and made me fight yesterday.
” She gave a soft sound of acknowledgement.
I sensed her mood shifting, turning dark.
Her thoughts were clear to me, she didn’t want to think about yesterday, about the pain and death.
I hurried on, “What gave me hope was… you,” I whispered. “Just you. Just being with you and doing normal things with you, having soft and tender moments like this with you.”
She snuggled in closer at that.
“Even though I’d said I love you, I was still keeping a part of me back.
I was living in some theoretical future of pain, holding out on all the things I really wanted, afraid that having them would make that future even more painful.
But I’m not doing that anymore. I want to…
hold your hand and take a walk. I want to make you dinner.
Hell, I want to have kids with you. Our kids would be adorable!
They’d break so many hearts. I want to care for you, tend to you, hold you—” I wrapped my arm around her and pressed her close to my side, “—comfort you when you’re in pain.
I want to show you how much I love you for the rest of our lives. ”
She sighed and softened in my arms, her darker thoughts fading.
“I need you to know how big a deal this is, Izzy. An incubus, saying these things… it’s…”
“A mental disorder?” she prompted.
“Yeah, exactly. I’m all wrong in the head, but all right in the heart and it’s weird, but I don’t want anything to change.”
“Me neither, I love you too Rook, and I want all those things with you.” She shifted, moving up and languidly rolling her body onto mine before rising to straddle me.
Blazing Inferno, she was damned gorgeous and fucking sexy, even first thing in the morning.
All that tousled hair made me think of post-sex-satisfied Izzy and my cock was suddenly on high alert.
She ground against my lap and smiled as her hands came up to cup my face.
“You, more than any other man… are the most like me,” she said, voice soft.
“I was afraid for so long, afraid of losing those I loved, so I didn’t love.
Thank you for saying it was scary. I was scared too, but I’m not afraid anymore.
I want to squeeze all the sweet and sticky juices out of every second with you and the others.
” She rocked against me, her wetness pressing through my pants.
“Yes,” she breathed. “That was meant to sound dirty, but also… true. I know how close we all came to…” she swallowed hard.
“And I want to live life to the fullest now, and love to the fullest too.”
She leaned down and kissed me, soft and tender at first, then growing more and more needy until we were deep in each other’s mouths.
“Are you done with the serious talk?” she breathed in the scant space between our faces as she pulled back a touch.
“Yup,” I whispered back.
“Then show me your love, fill me to the fullest and give me those orgasms you promised.”
I did, softly and gently, giving her everything she needed to ease away the ache of her body and the pain of her memories. I had a feeling she’d need many more tender moments like this in the next little while, as she recovered.
And I’d be so very happy to give them to her.