She gave a tiny, rather cute shrug of her shoulders. Damon made a partially successful attempt at keeping his jaw from dropping as he considered and realized the implications of her words.
“You mean that you can engage in activities of an, uh, intimate nature?” he asked.
Malon gave him a rather condescending smile. “Solas. I am again going to firmly insist that you let me rest. I need my space right now, perhaps from you most of all.”
He wanted to ask what she meant. He was scared to ask what she meant.
“If that’s truly what you feel like you want,” he said.
“It’s what I truly feel like I need,” she replied. “I love you, solas.”
“I love you too.”
She nodded in a manner that was clearly a dismissal, and he turned and left through the door. Ria was waiting in the common room, hair and clothing still damp from the rain.
“Is she fatigued?” she asked.
“If I say yes, will you use it as a chance to duel her again?” asked Damon.
Surprisingly, Ria’s gaze sank to the floor. “Not for… some time. If ever.”
“That was so stupid!” snapped Vel, who Damon hadn’t noticed was sitting at the table. “What need is there for us to be provoking conflict among one another? We’re all stuck on this stupid farm together. Can’t we at least get along?”
“It’s not entirely Ria’s fault,” said Damon. “We aren’t children anymore, Vel. I think Malon is still adjusting to that fact.”
He sat down next to Vel and then, noticing how upset she was, took hold of her hand and squeezed.
“You are not wrong, but you are not entirely right,” said Ria. “We are not children, that is true. But the forces at play in the Malagantyan are clearly beyond our individual ability to influence. Malon is of power that makes us seem as relevant as children.”
Damon couldn’t resist chuckling. “It’s surprising how capable you are of showing her respect when she’s not in the room.”
Ria glared at him. “Acknowledgment and respect are not the same.” She headed for the door.
“Where are you going?” asked Vel.
“Relax,” said Ria. “I am simply going to the lake to bathe. You will not appreciate my smell come evening if I put it off for any longer.”
She grabbed a towel cloth from the pantry before heading out through the front door. Damon folded his arms on the table, watching Vel begin moving around the common room out of the corner of his eye.
“Aesta had already begun laying out dinner,” she said. “I’ll make an attempt at finishing it.”
“You’re wording doesn’t exactly inspire my optimism.”
“Shut up!” she snapped. “I’ll cook. You go watch Ria.”
“Why?”
“Have you forgotten how she used to disappear when we were younger?” asked Vel. “She could have already run off into the forest in just the minute she’s been out of sight. Go and make sure that she at least stays for tonight.”
Vel’s tone was serious, irritated, and surprisingly vulnerable. Damon considered the emotional toll she was paying, torn from her life in court only to come home to a reenactment of much of the conflict and turmoil of her youth.
“If she tries to run, I’ll drag her back by the ears,” he said. He leaned over, kissed Vel on the cheek, and hurried off toward the lake.
CHAPTER 33
Ria was where she’d said she’d be, which was both a relief to Damon and a minor problem unto itself. She was bathing in the lake, her half tunic and leggings lying in a crumpled pile on the edge of the bank.
The first glimpse he received of her tanned flesh, obscured and blurred by the refraction of the water, was enough to tell him that she hadn’t bothered leaving her small clothes on, either.
The rain had subsided, leaving a veil of fog in its wake that only added to the mystique of the moment. Ria broke the surface of the water, droplets of water beading on her nude breasts, which Damon briefly saw in their full glory for the first time as an adult.
They were of a good size for her lean body, large enough to jiggle and bounce without verging into unwieldy territory, with deep brown nipples.
“How long has it been since you last spied in me while I was bathing?” Ria called, without turning to look at him.
“We both spied on each other, if I recall,” he countered.
“We were of different motivations,” said Ria. She shifted to float on her back, her naked body sending a ripple outward across the surface of the water. “I did it to tease you and fully intended to be caught each time. You tried to hide, watching with curious eyes, a little boy eager to see a woman in the bare.”
“Don’t act like you cared all that much,” said Damon. “You’ve always been a bit of a flaunter.”
Ria laughed. “A flaunter? You Merinians and your pointless modesty. This is my natural state.”
She twisted, turning upright, but dipping her knees to keep most of her body obscured by the water’s refraction. Slowly, Ria stood up, water trickling from her nude form as though in consecration of her raw beauty.
His face felt hot, and his arousal was burgeoning in a physical sense. He didn’t let himself look at Ria, even though he desperately wanted to.
“Vel was afraid you might run away,” he said, in a desperate bid to shift the tone of their conversation.
“Velanor is of good instincts,” said Ria. “I was considering it. Are you here to keep guard and ensure I stay?”
“Something like that?”
He risked a sidelong glance that he instantly regretted. Ria had her arms crossed over her breasts and held his gaze for a split second, lips pursed into a tiny smile, one eyebrow lifted.
“The water is warm, Damon,” she called to him. “Why not join me and ensure you get the job done properly?”
It was a horrible idea, but his body began to move before his mind could issue a halt. He tossed his tunic and trousers aside, feeling the warm late afternoon wind kissing his newly exposed flesh.
“Leaving the undershorts on?” called Ria, who was now swimming the forward stroke in a smooth circle. “Do you feel embarrassment under my gaze?”
“Not exactly,” said Damon, with a cough.
He hooked his thumbs into the waistband of his undershorts, acutely aware of the obvious bulge in the fabric. Ria must have seen it too. She was poking him, seeing how far he’d go. Damon wondered if maybe he should start poking back.
His cock snapped loose as he pulled his shorts down and kicked them aside, growing even harder as he noticed the way Ria’s eyes locked onto it. She looked like she had another quip in store for him, but it seemed to die on her lips as Damon began walking forward, unashamed of the intensity of his own masculine state.
Well, perhaps slightly ashamed, he admitted to himself.
She hadn’t been lying. The water was warm, primed by multiple days of direct sunlight. He waded in until he was waist deep, deliberately ignoring Ria as he began to swim the crawl stroke out to deeper water.
“Are you running away from me, young Damon?” called Ria.
He shifted to treading water, letting her draw near and suppressing the strange mixture of embarrassment and arousal he felt as she did.
He’d once seen an erotic play starring a Remenai dancer with Austine, a young, beautiful tribal woman who’d lured a mercenary to his blissful doom in an ancient fountain spring. It was hard not to favorably compare Ria to the dancer, who’d appeared naked for much of the play and been handpicked for her face and assets.
“Malon mentioned wanting us to pick a few waterfruits earlier today,” he said. “She might not be up to making what she had planned with them, but I should still get them, just in case.”
Ria grinned, bobbing upward to briefly expose her breasts before diving downward, legs and butt briefly poking above the surface before sinking into the deep. Damon followed after her, but she’d always been the faster swimmer.
There was only one w
aterfruit of sufficient ripeness, and Ria plucked it from the vine with deft hands. She held it in her arms as she came to the surface, kicking her legs to stay afloat as she lifted it over her head triumphantly.
“Nice,” said Damon. “Toss it here.”
Ria grinned teasingly and shook her head. “I think I’ll keep it for myself. I have always been of fondness for the flavor of these fruits.”
Damon floated toward her and made a grab for the fruit. Ria laughed and pulled it out of his reach. He caught one of her ankles as she tried to kick away and reeled her toward him. He grabbed again, this time taking her by the hips, and pulled her body into his.
For a glorious instant, his cock mashed against her wonderfully soft butt. The sensation was enough to stir his tool back to its former proportions. Ria tried to buck him off, pushing backward, grinding into him with accidental naughtiness. Damon wrapped his arms around her, one hand cupping one of her breasts, all but groaning in pleasure as she wiggled in a manner that rubbed her buttocks along his hard length.
“Not quite, young Damon,” laughed Ria. “This prize is not so easy to be taken as such.”
She held the waterfruit in one hand overhead, turning so they were face to face. She was slightly taller than him, which made it hard for Damon to grab at the fruit. He did the obvious thing and grabbed at her instead, wrapping his arms tight and pulling her body to his.
Ria had been bobbing upward as he hugged her, and pressed together as they suddenly were, the resulting downward shift left Damon’s cock with only one, rather tight and welcoming, place to go. She gasped and he let out a low groan, and they both stared foolishly into each other’s faces, the waterfruit forgotten and floating off toward the lake’s center.
His cock was buried most of the way into Ria’s wonderous womanhood. He wouldn’t have believed it, had the sensation not been so distinct and stunningly pleasurable. There were no words to apologize, excuse, or explain what he’d just done, what they’d both were now continuing to do, so he said nothing.
They held each other, staying afloat through a mixture of natural buoyancy and gentle leg treading, which had the added effect of bouncing Ria ever so slightly up and down along Damon’s length. Her eyes were fluttering, and she was shaking her head in small movements back and forth, reflecting Damon’s own internal reaction.
“Damon,” whispered Ria. “We are sinking.”
He took hold of her buttocks, not even trying to hide his intentions as he pumped into her. “Are we?”
“We could drown, if we stay like this,” said Ria, speaking the words against his neck.
“We could,” Damon admitted. He tried to kiss her lips and got her cheek instead as Ria turned her face at the last instant.
“Malon…” She cleared her throat, still rolling her hips to meet his thrusts. “Malon would not want us to drown.”
“When have you ever cared about how aesta felt?” asked Damon.
Ria shook her head again, her mouth falling half open either in awe of the pleasure or an inability to form a proper response. For several blissful, guilty seconds, they continued to bob, Damon’s cock plunging into her and removing all plausible deniability from the situation.
“Velanor will be the one to find us, if we continue, ahem, drowning,” said Ria.
Damon groped one of her breasts, still thinking with the tip of his cock. Ria suddenly surprised him with a kiss, no more than a quick peck, and then forcibly pushed down on his shoulders, separating them and dunking his head.
Damon hadn’t been expecting it. Water rushed up his nose, burning his sinuses and leaving him coughing as he came back to the surface. Ria had retrieved the waterfruit and was already wading into the shallows. She seemed to have found her modesty in the wake of what they’d begun, and kept her breasts securely covered by one arm as she looked his way.
“For what it is worth,” she began, “I enjoy our bathing games, young Damon. We may find time to indulge in a bit of teasing again, if Jad wills it.”
He wasn’t sure whether to tell her he was looking forward to it or admit that they’d just made a terrible mistake, crossed a truly unfortunate line. He watched Ria walk back to the tower house naked, hips swaying from side to side, waterfruit in one hand and her dirty clothing in the other.
CHAPTER 34
The rest of the afternoon passed in relative peace. Damon helped with the remaining chores, tending to the horses and carrying firewood inside. Vel handled the situation inside the tower house, watching over Malon as she rested and preparing a stew from whatever miscellaneous ingredients she could find for dinner.
The fight had apparently taken a hidden toll on Ria, as well. Damon found her asleep in his bed when he finally carried the last of the firewood inside and finished his share of the work. It was early evening, and while he was again curious about what the sleeping situation would be for the approaching night, he figured it made sense to let her sleep for the time being.
“The stew is almost finished,” said Vel. “Want some?”
“Sure,” he said. “How is aesta doing?”
“She’s fine, as far as I can tell.” Vel began ladling two portions of the stew, which was mostly vegetables with a few hunks of leftover meat, into bowls. “I hope Ria learned something from today.”
“I agree, but it’s not as though she didn’t have a point.”
Vel frowned, sliding his bowl across the table. “What do you mean by that?”
He shrugged. “Shank took you hostage in Morotai, Vel. He’s not going to stop coming after us, and his methods are obviously rather underhanded. With Malon refusing to be proactive in helping us fight, it’s possible, even likely, that we’ll end up being surprised by what he does next.”
“Do you think he might come here?” asked Vel. “To the farm?”
He hesitated, seeing the anxiety in her expression. The truth was that he still didn’t know for sure if Shank had figured out their exact location. The people of Morotai hadn’t seem like the type who would freely give out information on one of their own to a stranger.
Beyond that, he saw no reason to stir Vel’s worries over an outcome which they had so little control over.
“I don’t think his first move will be to attack the farm,” said Damon. “Gavel, the man who he’s acting on behalf of, wants my money, not my head. I think we’ll be safe here if we’re smart about sticking together and not openly announcing our presence.”
“Are you certain?” asked Vel.
“Not completely, but regardless, we aren’t exactly defenseless,” he said. “If Shank does attack, I highly doubt Malon’s current reservations about fighting will hold her back from melting his face off.
Vel snorted and covered her mouth. “You’re probably right. Here, the soup should be cool enough for you to start eating. Give it a try!”
Damon nodded and scooped up a spoonful of carrot, potato, and broth. The predominant flavor was of salt… an intense amount of salt. He suppressed a cough as he chewed and swallowed.
“It’s… interesting,” he said.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” snapped Vel.
He flashed a teasing smile. “Let’s just say that it would be ideal if Malon was recovered enough to do the cooking tomorrow night.”
“Hey! It can’t be that bad!”
Vel took a spoonful from her own bowl and tasted it. Damon watched her blink in surprise, making an obvious effort to keep her lips from puckering at the overpowering flavor.
“It’s fine,” she insisted. “Salty stews are actually quite popular in the capital.”
“Oh, I’m sure they are,” said Damon, rolling his eyes.
She tried to slap her shoulder, but Damon caught her wrist, holding her hand and caressing one of her knuckles instead.
“Thanks,” he said.
“For what?”
He shrugged. “I know you never wanted to come back to the farm, Vel. I also know that the situation we’re in right now is at least partially m
y fault.”
“Your father’s fault, you mean,” she said. “It’s not like you were the one who ran up those debts.”
“It makes little difference to them,” he said. “Regardless, my point is simply that I appreciate your effort in keeping a mostly positive attitude.”
“Oh…” she said, smiling. “Thank you. I thought for a second you were going to bring up the cat mask again and your ridiculous fantasy about, well, you know.”
She blushed, and the expression was so genuine on her face that Damon suddenly felt embarrassed, himself. He had basically accused Vel of not just willingly going to bed with a man, a commoner, no less, after an hour of knowing him, but also of getting intimate with someone who was a nearly brother in all but name.
“I’m sorry about that, Vel,” he said. “I’ll admit that I was wrong.”
The words still felt odd to say aloud, as though his instincts still wanted to contradict them, but he saw the relief they brought to Vel’s expression.
“Is the soup really that bad?” she asked.
He took another sip, confirming that it was. “Nah. Just a bit salty.”
***
Damon rested in the common room after dinner, nursing a half full mug of waterfruit wine. Vel had brought Malon and Ria a bowl of the soup, the latter of whom was still sleeping in Damon’s bed.
He wasn’t tired, however, and it only seemed fair for him to be the last one awake, given that fact. He took his and Vel’s dishes outside to wash in the trough, only to discover that someone else was also up.
“Damon,” said Ria. “Care to be of mischief with me tonight?”
Her voice was playful and suggestive, but the fact that she was dressed in a tunic with one of her old coats over it made him discard his first interpretation of her words.
“Are you finally making your departure?” he asked.
“Hopefully not,” said Ria. “I know where Shank and his friends are currently camping.”
Damon folded his arms. “You didn’t see fit to mention this earlier?”
“I was unsure if it would get back to Malon if I told you,” said Ria. “Not to mention that I needed this, the weather, the approaching storm, to be at my full strength. If we are of timing on this, I shall make my performance earlier today look like a novice’s experimentation. If you would like, you can come along with me and lend a hand with what needs to happen.”
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