Damon only just resisted the urge to beg her to take him along.
CHAPTER 28
The evening wound down as the meal came to a close. Ria was still visibly exhausted, and Damon was quick to offer his bed to her.
“Thank you,” she said. “I will leave room on one side for you to join me, when you are ready.”
“I think it would far more appropriate for Damon to take my bed, tonight,” said Malon, chidingly. “I have rested throughout the day and doubt I’ll need much sleep.”
“Always looking out for the moral sanctity of your precious solas,” said Ria, mockingly. “I should have expected no less.”
She settled for pulling Damon into a hug, which gave him a more direct sense of how weakened she was while also making him acutely aware of her body and its feminine softness. He let one of his hands settle on the back of her head, briefly touching one of her long, sensitive ears.
“Goodnight, Ria,” he said.
“Damon.” She pulled back, biting her lower lip, and planted a kiss on his cheek. “Sleep well.”
He noticed Vel watching them as Ria disappeared into his room and shut the door. Her arms were folded and her expression was clearly disapproving, maybe even a little jealous.
“She’s too flirtatious with you,” said Vel. “She wasn’t like that before, was she?”
“I was just a boy before.” He cleared his throat, realizing how that sounded. “She’s just teasing, Vel. It’s not like she means anything by it.”
“I know that!” snapped Vel. “It’s just weird. Especially after how you got with your crazy ideas about my mask.”
“What’s this about a mask?” asked Malon.
“It’s nothing,” said Damon.
“Anyway,” continued Vel. “I’m also tired, so I will also be heading to bed.”
She looked at Damon expectantly, and he realized she was waiting for a hug similar to the one he’d given Ria. He stepped over to her, feeling awkward as he extended his arms. Vel was blushing, making it even weirder, at least until he felt the crush of her body against his.
“It’s nice to have Ria back,” said Vel. “And to have you here as well, Damon.”
“I feel the same way,” he said.
Vel settled her head against his shoulder and let out a soft sigh. He enjoyed the moment, the closeness he felt for her, but couldn’t pull his thoughts from how she’d mentioned that cat mask. Her body felt way too familiar, the way it fit against his, and he felt ashamed at how it drew out his arousal despite the reluctance and denial of his mind.
“Goodnight, Vel.”
“Goodnight,” she whispered, blinking at him, faces mere inches apart.
Malon cleared her throat and Vel sheepishly pulled back, disappearing into her own room.
“It’s nice to see that you’re getting along with the two of them,” said Malon, once they were alone in the common room.
“It is,” he said. “It’s been so long since we’ve all seen each other. I’m looking forward to getting to know them as adults.”
Malon gave him an interesting smile and a tiny nod. “Would you mind helping me clear the table, solas?”
“Of course.”
There wasn’t much water left in the washing basin, so Damon carried a few buckets back and forth from the lake to refill it. Then, he crouched beside Malon, scouring with wash stones while she dried each dish with a towel cloth.
It was when they were bringing the clean dishes back inside that he noticed Malon stumble, nearly dropping the set of plates she was carrying in her hands. Damon caught her by the shoulders, helping her to the kitchen table to set her haul down.
She shivered, placing a hand on his chest that sent a wave of warm excitement spreading through him. Malon closed her eyes, breathing deep, and drew closer to him, close enough for her large breasts to mash against the side of his arm.
“You’re still tired,” he said. “Did you really get enough rest last night after using your magic?”
“Perhaps not,” she said.
“Then you need to sleep more than I do.”
“No, solas,” said Malon, shaking her head. “Really, I’m fine. You should take the bed first. I can just…”
She tried to pull away from him, staggering as he stopped supporting her. Damon caught her again before she could fall and was surprised when Malon pushed forward into a more intimate embrace, instead.
She kissed his cheek, then his lips, her hips undulating provocatively against his. Her eyes were closed, and she was biting her lower lip in a manner which made him wonder if she was in full control of herself.
“Aesta,” he whispered. “We can rest together. I would almost prefer it to leaving you alone right now. I’m a little worried.”
“You mustn’t worry for me, solas,” she said. “It might not… be the best idea for you to lie close with me, as I am now.”
She was still moving her body against his, and he felt his arousal burgeoning in response. He wasn’t stupid. He knew exactly what she meant. Part of him didn’t care and wanted to play with fire, the same part which he’d given into that first night bathing with Malon in the lake.
“I’m sure it will be fine,” he lied. “Come, aesta. You need your rest.”
CHAPTER 29
Malon led him into her bedroom by the hand, letting go only as they approached her bed. There was no lantern burning, which left the only illumination coming from the common hearth behind them, no more than a sliver of orange light as Damon closed the door.
He watched her pull off her apron, tunic, and leggings in a state of surprised, muted arousal. Malon was now clad only in her small clothes, a loose shift, from what he could see, and possibly girlshorts, though it was impossible to tell that from her silhouette.
“Solas,” she cooed, sitting down on the bed. “You don’t have to sleep in your trousers if you prefer not to.”
“Ah…” Damon was glad the darkness hid the color of his cheeks. “If you don’t mind it, aesta.”
He stripped off his tunic and trousers, joining Malon under the sheet in no more than his undershorts. Her warmth was already spreading through the quilt, and Damon felt his heart pounding in his chest as his bare shoulder brushed against the edge of hers.
For a while, the room was silent aside from the sound of their lengthening breath. Damon was still ashamed at how aroused and excited he was, but he managed to calm somewhat, accepting the fact that Malon had only rest in mind when she’d agreed to share her bed with him.
Wishing for anything more than that with his aesta, of all people, was beyond shameful. He leaned into that feeling, chastising himself for letting himself view her in that way.
It had the opposite effect of what he’d hoped, conjuring images of the way her tunic billowed downward to reveal her cleavage as she’d served the food, or the back and forth, wiggling motion of her hips as she’d taken off her leggings.
His guilt over seeing her like that, like the attractive older woman she was outside of their relationship to one another, was a potent intoxicant. Like one of the smoke drugs that Austine had been so fond of, bringing about euphoria, but undercut by dirtier emotions that created both conflict and oftentimes addictions in their users.
His hand drifted downward, settling on his near painfully hard cock. He tried to pretend he wasn’t doing what he was doing as he began to touch himself through his undershorts, heartrate quickening, awareness of Malon as deep as it had ever been.
“Solas,” came her soft voice. “Are you asleep?”
“…No,” he replied.
He felt her roll over to face him and immediately did the same. Eldritch had shifted out from behind a cloud, and by the ghost moon’s light, he could see most of the details of her pale face, red hair askew across her forehead, eyes mirroring his own conflict.
He was kissing her before he knew what he was doing. He felt a shudder run through Malon’s body as their lips touched, followed by a faint pulse of crimson light t
hat he might have missed had he not known about her crest.
Malon let out a shivering moan and pressed herself against him, Damon’s cock grinding into her stomach was proof of his illicit desire, impossible to ignore.
She kissed him with too much passion for what they were to one another, her tongue pushing into his mouth, teaching him lessons he thought he’d already learned. He ran his hands over her slender body, groping her buttocks, grinding into her, desperate to do more.
“I… I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I am so sorry, solas. Often, in the days after I use my magic, I become… beholden to the nature of my crest contract.”
She bit her lower lip, hips rolling in time with Damon’s own movements.
“It’s not your fault,” he whispered, voice guilty. “I’m also finding it hard to, uh, act respectfully.”
He squeezed her butt and pulled her up slightly, adjusting her so his cock was resting directly between her thighs, nestled right below the place where he so badly wished to sheathe it. Malon hugged him tight and let out an abashed moan.
“We can’t,” she whispered. “We mustn’t.”
“I know,” he said, still pushing forward and back, despite himself. “I just want to help you, aesta. In any way that I can.”
“It’s wrong and unfair for me to expose you to this side of myself,” said Malon.
“I don’t mind,” he said. “I love you so much, aesta.”
“I love you just the same.”
She kissed him deeply again, this time so passionately that it made the previous kiss seem chaste. Damon groped one of her breasts and one of her buttocks, searching to find an angle with his cock that Malon refused to let him have.
She ran a hand through his hair while simultaneously kissing him and squeezing his member with her thighs, locking it in a place that was dangerous, but comparatively safe.
“This can’t happen,” whispered Malon. “Forget the events of this night, solas. We need to stop here. I am capable of… helping myself move past this state.”
She slid a hand down between them, and Damon blinked in stunned disbelief as he felt her finger gently push his cock aside and take its place between her legs. She pushed her hips out a bit, adding a safe distance for good measure, though now their foreheads were touching, breath mingling.
“Aesta…” he whispered. “Are you…?”
“Forget all of this night, solas,” she whispered. “Tomorrow, we shan’t speak of it.”
“Aesta,” he said. “I’m going to have to… help myself as well.”
“Solas!” she moaned. “Don’t say such things!”
He kissed her lips, and then her neck. “If you are, why can’t I?”
He took firm hold of his cock and began gently stroking, knowing that any further stimulation would have him blowing his load in an instant. Each of his forward motions was in time with Malon’s gentle undulations.
It made the fact that there was no direct contact between their lower halves seem like a pointless technicality, with both of them pleasuring themselves no more than inches apart.
“Solas,” she whispered, voice undercut by shame.
Damon kissed her. She pulled her lips away, giving him only her cheek. He kissed her neck instead, and then, lost in a fog of lust, pulled her slip down, exposing one of her breasts.
He kissed her there as well, lips finding first the soft upper flesh of her chest, and then her nipple. He sucked on it, hearing Malon gasp sharply, sensing her movements between her legs speed up. He matched her pace, beating off as though pounding at a drum, cock pointed at its forbidden target.
Their motions drew them together until Damon’s member was back between her thighs, his pumping hand now brushing Malon’s masturbating fingers with each stroke. It was too much for him to handle. She came an instant before he did, one of her legs reaching out to pull him closer, despite her reservations.
He let go of his cock as he blew his load, pulling her into an embrace with both arms. He tried to spear into her without thinking, desperate to bury his cock in her womanhood, but the angle was wrong. His seed splattered against her thighs and crotch, and they hugged each other, mostly naked and completely blissed out.
The sound of Malon’s heavy, satisfied breathing was like music to his ears, but it only lasted for a short span of seconds before she pulled back and rolled out of the bed.
“That… shouldn’t have happened, solas,” she whispered.
The crimson pulsing of her crest faded like the last dying embers of a fire as she quickly pulled a nightgown on.
“I didn’t mean for it to,” he said. “I’m sorry, aesta.”
“It’s not your fault,” she said. “I should’ve been more careful about allowing us to end up in a situation with so much… confusion. We weren’t thinking as ourselves. My crest can stir the emotions of others under certain circumstances, a fact which I came to forget after living alone for so long.”
“It’s not as though I’m not to blame as well,” he said. “I wanted it. And I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t enjoy it.”
Malon cleared her throat, as though that small gesture could also clear the tension from the room. “Sleep, solas. I need to clean myself up, regardless. I’ll get some rest after.”
She left the room before he could form a response, and he realized it was probably for the best as the full weight of the shame of what he’d just done hit him like a mace to the chest.
CHAPTER 30
It was late in the morning when Damon awoke the next day. He dressed quickly, hearing the sounds conversation filling the common room, and emerged to join the others. Malon was spooning out a ladle of porridge for Vel. Ria was nowhere to be seen.
“Good morning, solas,” said Malon. She smiled warmly at him, and neither her expression nor her tone hinted at what had taken place between them the night before.
“Good morning, aesta.” He kissed her on the cheek, trying not to let her familiar smell stir recent, illicit memories. “Morning, Vel.”
“Damon,” said Vel. “You seem happy. Is aesta’s bed that much more comfortable than your own?”
His face flushed, despite there being nothing overtly accusatory about her question. “It would seem so. I slept surprisingly well.”
“Have some breakfast,” said Malon. “Jonna gave me some brown sugar in the market which blends marvelously with the porridge.”
“I would love some,” he said. “Where’s Ria?”
“She insisted on doing her early morning training,” said Malon. “I believe she’s out by the lake, in the old spot where she used to practice.”
Malon leaned forward to ladle the porridge, and it took a force of will for Damon to keep from glancing down at her full, flawless cleavage. It seemed worse to do it now, after the guilt-stricken way she’d been in during the wake of their illicit intimacy.
“I have a few chores that the two of you can help with today, if you’re so inclined,” said Malon. “The melon field needs to be weeded and tilled over. I also could use a few ripe waterfruits for the dessert I have planned for tonight.”
“Of course,” said Damon.
He smiled, watching as Malon adjusted her braid and shifted it back over her shoulder. Malon noticed his attention and gave him a small smile that strode the line between flirtatious and chastising.
“How much sleep did you get last night, aesta?” asked Vel. “Did you and Damon trade off, or…?”
She didn’t finish her sentence, as though even the idea of them sharing a bed seemed weird to voice aloud. It only fanned the flames of Damon’s shame, especially as he considered how Vel, let alone Ria, would react if given a clear picture of what had transpired.
“I didn’t need much sleep,” said Malon. “I’ll take a nap later today if I feel tired, worry not.”
Damon went looking for Ria as soon as he’d finished his porridge. True to what Malon had said earlier, he found her lakeside, moving through the motions of one of the Remenai mart
ial styles at a slow speed, adjusting each detail for perfection.
She’d changed into some of her old clothing, black leggings and a grey half shirt that left her navel and taut stomach on full display. He’d always found Ria to be intriguing as children, and only part of that had been due to her being half a decade older than him.
He saw now that there was a quality of intangible beauty to her, an exotic elegance that was shared by only a few of the Rem he’d known in Veridan’s Curve. Her hair was long enough to be playful, but short enough to be convenient. Her pointed ears jutted outward elfishly, moving almost as though to counterbalance her attacks, always aware, always listening.
Damon realized that he was all but leering at her, and made himself known, kicking his shoes off and padding across the grass to join her by the lake. Ria finished the series of flowing strikes and relaxed her shoulders, turning to raise an eyebrow at him.
“I’m surprised you aren’t practicing your tempesting,” said Damon. He gestured upward, to the overcast sky, pregnant black with approaching storm clouds.
Tempesting was beholden to the weather, and on days when the moisture and pressure was thick in the air, the magic came easier for its wielder. She would be at full strength during a true storm, though matching the weather to her combat needs often made fighting under those circumstances a rarity.
“I am beyond the level of practicing,” said Ria, with a smirk.
“You’ve never lacked for confidence, have you?” asked Damon. “I disagree. Everyone needs practice.”
“Such a general remark,” said Ria. “Are you of assumptions now, young Damon?”
He chuckled. “Maybe, but not in the way you’re probably thinking. When I first saw you out here, I assumed that your reasons were the same as they used to be. Remember how Malon used to scold you for frightening Vel by practicing your lightning strikes too close to her?”
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