“Oh, solas!” She let her hand brush his chest, miming as though pushing him away. It slid down across his stomach, briefly settling on his cock, pulling back like she’d touched a hot coal.
“You can touch it,” he said. “Aesta. I want you to touch it.”
“Mind who you’re speaking to,” she said, clearly trying for sternness.
“It’s the truth,” he said. “I’m already touching you. If you want to, don’t hold back.”
He let one of his fingers probe into the hem of his girlshorts, gently rubbing along the sensitive skin along the top of her thigh. The effect it had on Malon was pronounced enough to make it seem as though he was doing far more than he was, the way her hips shifted subtly upward, the way her head leaned back and to the side.
“I have to hold back,” she whispered. “We both have to. We both should.”
“Should we?” He let a finger press against her womanhood through her girlshorts, taking its full measure. Her girlshorts felt damp, but he couldn’t tell if it was from her or his own sweaty palms. “Doesn’t it feel good?”
“That’s… not the point.” Malon let out a shuddering moan and squeezed his cock. “Oh, solas. You need to listen more.”
“Oh, I’m hearing you, aesta,” he said, deepening and strengthening his voice. “We were talking about that last night at the inn, weren’t we? About what we did in the common room, atop one of the tables.”
“No, that’s not…” Malon seemed lost in a fog of lust as Damon began to touch her more aggressively, yanking at her girlshorts, caressing her stomach. “I mean, it is what I wish to speak of, but not… not like that.”
“Like what?” he whispered. “We had to be quiet, remember? It’s so much more spacious here. We wouldn’t be overheard.”
“You were just horny, and anxious, and… you lost yourself,” she whispered. “It wasn’t about me.”
“It was.” Damon cupped her face, shifting to lie next to her on the undersized couch. “I love you, aesta. So much that it just spilled over, and I—"
“Solas…”
He kissed her, and this time, she made no attempt to hide her lips for him. The point of contact of their mouths was more charged and explosive than even touching under her dress had been. His cock prodded against her, confined by clothing, while his tongue probed and claimed her mouth. It was his. She was his.
He could hear a quiver running through her breathing, those hidden noises of repressed anticipation burning through her. He slid her dress up, listening to the faint rustle of soft cotton against softer skin. He pressed his cock forward, letting it strain against the thin layers of their clothing, announcing its presence as it found an angle that would have been primed for penetration.
Damon was enjoying himself but got the distinct sense that it was torture for his aesta. She couldn’t endure extended teasing like this, not in the days and weeks after using her magic. His cock tapped softly at the door, and the way her legs pulled open for him was as much an invitation as flinging herself wide open.
“Solas…” she muttered.
There was still an edge of warning, or perhaps worry in her voice. He understood it as well, if not better than she did. Damon knew that it would be different this time. This would be no accident, no one off, happenstance meeting of partially naked bodies. This would be a true taking of her as a woman.
Malon’s arms suddenly squeezed him tight, and he felt a flash of confusion as the movement broke from their shared moment. She shook his shoulder, wriggling out from under him to sit up.
“We’re being watched,” she whispered.
CHAPTER 28
Damon felt equal parts disappointed and curious over who might be spying upon them in the night. The idea of Vel sneaking down to witness the beginnings of their carnal sin was unsettling, but then he thought of young Seffi… young, but far from unknowing Seffi… or even Kastet, or Lilian.
He looked up and saw none of those faces. Wrath sat upon the bottom of the stairs, elbows carefully set upon her knees with her hands folded together in contemplation. She wore a thin black shift over tight black leggings, practical, but girlish. She was smiling, and she turned her head a bit to the side as she saw him see her.
“Am I interrupting?” she asked. “Oh, don’t mind me. Feel free to continue if that’s your prerogative.”
Malon was already fixing her dress and pulling herself to her feet. Damon, fully clothed, but still hard enough to make his arousal impossible to hide, stayed seated.
“Wrath,” he said, darkly. “You’d better have a good reason for being here. An incredibly damn good reason.”
“Seffi,” said Malon. “She’s here… for her sister.”
Her eyes pulsed crimson, and Damon felt a horrible premonition of what was about to come. He reached a hand to hold back Malon as an anxious pit formed in his stomach. Wrath lifted her hands in mock surrender.
“Easy,” said Wrath. “Good guess, but no. I’ve no need to confront or speak with her, not until she’s ready to receive me. We’ll speak when we speak.”
She slowly stood up, arching her back into a stretch as though Malon posed no threat to her. A silent stillness filled the room, letting the tension of the moment climb to precarious levels.
“Why are you here, then?” asked Damon, suspecting he already knew.
“I need to speak with you,” said Wrath. “In private.”
“About what?”
Wrath’s eyes darted toward Malon, and then back to him.
“She’s my aesta,” said Damon. “I trust her.”
Wrath let out a mocking laugh. “Oh, yes, I saw plenty of evidence of that when I first came in.”
“If you have something to say to me, you can say it with her here,” said Damon.
“Not this,” said Wrath. “Come, Damon.”
She started to turn toward the door, holding out a hand to him. Damon’s jaw tensed, and he only just resisted the urge to swear and kick something. Why now? Had she picked this moment to interrupt on purpose?
“Solas,” whispered Malon. “You don’t have to go with her. You could stay… right here… with me.”
She took his hand in both of hers, pulling it to touch her heart. Damon could feel it pounding with the lingering excitement of what they’d been up to a moment before. It would take seconds for them to get there again, to rush right on past where they’d stopped.
“I have to hear her out,” he said.
“She’s going to make you an offer.”
He gave the smallest of nods, knowing how it must be breaking her heart. From the very moment he’d brought up his encounters with Wrath so long ago, before the stakes had been unreasonably high, Malon had warned him. She’d made him promise not to take Wrath’s crest.
Was that a promise he could hold to?
He slowly drew his hand loose from his aesta’s chest and followed Wrath to the door. She opened it for them both, standing at an awkward angle that left Damon brushing by her in the doorframe to get outside.
The gentle hiss of the shifting waves was the music of Silke at night. A crisp tapestry of stars stood out overhead, with the waning ghost moon partially hidden by a tangled mass of clouds.
They didn’t go far, only walking down the stairs to the jetty before finding spots to lean against the guard railing and gazing at the few barges still moving through the city’s shadowed canal. The stars were reflected in the water, shifting and dancing to the whims of each wave.
“Well?” said Damon, letting his annoyance leak into his voice. “I’m here. Say your piece.”
“You’ve always been so short with me,” said Wrath. “It’s as though you don’t actually think I’d kill you if the urge came to me.”
“Yeah, I came to that conclusion a while ago, Clara.”
She gave him a predator’s smile, eyes flickering with azure power. Damon wasn’t wearing his myrblade, but even if he had been, he doubted he’d even manage to get off three strikes before Wrath coul
d kill him… if she wanted to. He knew she didn’t, sensed it on a level that felt confirmed through his intuition.
“How embarrassing would it have been if I’d waited a few minutes longer before letting your aesta see me?” she asked. “I must say, even just listening to the two of you getting each other worked up is arousing, in a weird sort of way.”
“You’re trying to fluster me,” said Damon. “Get me to let my guard down, or fall off balance.”
She took a step forward, facing him directly. With her shift hanging loose, Damon could now see that it was made of thin, webbed fabric. Sections of it across the chest were woven to offer a view of what lay underneath. She wasn’t wearing an undershirt, and the edge of one of her nipples poked out as clear as the rising sun.
“The fight we’re heading into won’t be simple,” said Wrath. “You know this as well as I do. There’s still time left for you to consolidate all of the power and opportunity left to you.”
“I’m strong enough as is,” said Damon. “Chasing after power is a game with no end.”
“Damon,” said Wrath. “Think carefully about what I’m saying to you.”
“I am,” he said. “You already have Shank. Why not summon him back to your side if…?”
He did think about what she was saying then, and realized something that, in retrospect, was incredibly obvious.
“You released him from his crest contract,” said Damon. “True Divine. That’s why he hasn’t been around for so long.”
Wrath’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t meet his gaze. Damon shook his head, unsure of how he felt as more of the picture came together.
“Lascivious, Malon’s master, can only make one crest contract at a time,” he said. “She isn’t powerful enough to have multiple crest sorcerers at once. It’s the same for you, isn’t—"
“Enough!” snapped Wrath. “Whatever… conclusions… guesses, you think you might have arrived at are completely irrelevant to the current moment.”
“I agree.” Damon stepped closer to her, so close that their bodies were almost in direct contact, and he could feel the heat radiating off her. “If you have something to ask me, go ahead and ask.”
Wrath’s mouth formed a thin, dangerous line, and she refused to back down. “If you have something that you think I could offer you, why not make it explicitly clear what it might be?”
“Interesting phrasing,” said Damon.
“Is it?”
He nodded. He felt so strange, in that moment, as though he could simply reach out and gain a complete understanding of her, if he wanted it. With a few words, he could tie his fate to Wrath’s for the indefinite future, grant himself the kind of power that would put him on a level unmatched by anyone but the Forsaken themselves.
All it would cost him was the promise he’d made to his aesta.
The silence lingered to its bursting point. Damon exhaled.
“Goodnight, Wrath.”
He kissed her, rebuking the intensity of their bickering with a soft touch of his mouth. He wondered how long it had been since someone had kissed Clara like that.
***
Malon was still in the common room when Damon came back inside. She immediately rose to her feet, all but running to fold him into a tight embrace within her loving arms.
“Solas!” she said. “I was so worried.”
She squeezed him tightly enough to fully express those worries. Damon hugged her back, experiencing so many different emotions as he held her warm body against him. Her breasts were crushing into his chest, plump and soft and wonderful.
She suddenly stopped, forcing herself to hold him at an arm’s distance. “Did she… offer it to you?”
He almost answered before deciding to be a brat and tease her a little. He feigned as though he couldn’t meet her gaze.
“No…” whispered Malon. “Solas! Did she offer you her crest? Did you accept it?”
He turned away, committing to the act as he let his head sag downward as though he’d disappointed her, and himself, through that.
“Where?” asked Malon. “Show me it! I need to see. I can’t believe that… Solas! Are you laughing?”
Damon snorted and finally revealed his grin. She glared at him and punched him hard on the shoulder. He caught her wrist as she tried to continue playfully pummeling him and whisked her off her feet. She let out a gasp, followed by a sharp inhalation as he tossed her onto the couch. Her body bounced in a mesmerizing manner as she came to a rest, hair splayed out like a halo across the pillow.
“It’s late,” she said. “It’s unfortunate that we were interrupted, but we should probably…”
She trailed off as she noticed him taking his shirt off, and then his pants. His cock was primed by all the action, and he stayed standing as it hardened under her gaze. Her face was right there next to it. She sat up, blushing as she took it into her hand and began to tease and caress.
“I’m so proud of you.” Her mouth was so close that each word teased his tool with the exhalation of breath. “I can’t imagine how hard that was. You have so much more than simple courage, solas.”
“It wasn’t as though she didn’t make a good point,” said Damon. “There’s no telling what we’ll be heading into for this next fight. Part of me feels I should at least…”
He suddenly forgot what he was saying as Malon’s tongue slid outward and began prodding into the tip of his erection as though she was trying to divine his size using only that. It felt so good that Damon almost sank to his knees.
She shifted position, sitting normally on the couch and reached around to grab his bare buttocks and pull him closer in. Her eyes never left his as her lips slid lower, and lower, along his cock. So low that his entire length was crammed into her sweet mouth and slick throat. Damon knew his face must look goofy from the pleasure.
He ran his hands through her hair, suffused with wild pleasure. Malon began working her mouth back and forth, polishing his cock with her lips and cheeks and tongue. It was more than just what she was doing, but how she was doing it. The care that went into each movement, the different facets of the love intermingled within her eyes.
It felt so much dirtier to have her do this for him than their game of leg rubs and dry humping earlier in the night. She was doing it with that lewd, loving expression, giving it her all to get him off. Any doubt about whether he’d made the wrong choice fled in the wake of his burgeoning release. He loved his aesta, along with Vel and Ria. He loved them twice over, and making a choice that might hurt them would similarly double the pain.
Damon tightened his fingers in her hair, thrusting harder and faster into his aesta’s mouth than she could handle. She let him know with a soft gag and a not so soft pinch of his butt with her fingers. She slowed down the motions of her bobbing mouth for an instant, still sucking with that loving intensity… and that was it for him.
He buckled as he came, the pleasure hitting him with such intensity that he couldn’t see, let alone stand. Malon helped him down onto the couch without ever breaking the contact of her lips. She gazed up at him with the stars reflected in her eyes as she continued to lick and swallow and clean him up.
“See?” she whispered. “There are always benefits to choosing your family, in the end.”
“Yeah,” he said, unable to manage more than a syllable. “Oh, aesta. I’ve missed you so much.”
“As I’ve missed you, solas.” She planted a kiss on the inside of his thigh. “But we should be getting to bed. There will be time for us to… speak more with one another, soon enough. We need our rest.”
He didn’t argue. She was right, and moreover, he trusted that she was right, even if a part of him wanted more. Malon gently helped him back to his feet and led him to his room, going so far as to tuck him into bed as she used to do back when he was a rebellious youth on the farmstead.
“I love you, aesta,” he whispered.
“I love you, solas. Get some sleep.”
CHAPTER 29
“Vel,” he whispered, shaking her gently. “Hey. Vel. You’re in my bed.”
She groaned and opened one eye. “And?”
“If you’re concerned about being discovered by your princess, or Lilian, or aesta, you might want to…”
She yawned and put her arms around him, doubling down on her cuddle. Damon couldn’t help but smile. He caressed her hair for a minute or two, and then started teasing one of her nipples to see if he could get a reaction from her. She made growling noises, snapped her eyes open, and softly bit his pectoral muscle.
“Solas?” called Malon from the hallway. “Are you awake?”
There was no time to hide Vel, and as much as Damon was vaguely concerned about his aesta reacting to their relationship, part of him felt as though they should be past that point. They all really needed to sit down and have a serious talk, Ria included.
“He’s awake, aesta,” said Vel. “I’m in here with him. I got cold during the night, so I figured it was worth enduring his snoring for the benefit of body heat.”
Malon reacted to that with a small frown, though it didn’t slow her down. “The two of you should get dressed. Princess Kastet and Lilian are already downstairs… with Wrath. Seffi is still in her room, but I think we should all be present for when they first encounter one another.”
“Of course, aesta,” said Damon. “As soon as Vel gets her big butt out of my bed, I’ll be right down.”
“Damon!”
Vel grabbed a pillow and hit him with it. Damon flipped her underneath him on the bed and started wrestling her hands down as she continued to swing the pillow. From behind them, Malon let out a sigh that was equal parts good natured and suspicious.
Sin and Soil 10 Page 14
