She looked at me, then blinked her eyes several times, fighting off the remnants of sleep.
“Can I go back to bed?” she asked.
Her stomach rumbled at the same time as mine did. I smiled cheekily at her.
“’Fraid not. C’mon, love. Let’s get breakfast.”
Eris groaned once more and flung the thin sheet off her body and hopped out of bed. She lumbered over to give me a quick good morning kiss as she went to the bathroom to splash water on her face and fix her bedhead, which was nearly impossible with her thick, unruly hair. As she walked out of the bathroom, I handed her a fresh shirt, a light sapphire color with long sleeves. At this rate, she’s going to leave me shirtless.
“Put this on, you exhibitionist. Don’t want to give the other patrons a show, do we?”
“It doesn’t bother me that much, besides, your human clothing is suffocating. I’d rather feel the breeze on my bare skin,” she said, but still wore the shirt. I didn’t even bother trying for underwear or pants. That’s a fight I’m not going to win.
She walked in front of me down to the bar. Even at this ungodly hour of the morning, there were still patrons drinking. I thought about grabbing an ale myself, but food first. The scent of freshly baking bread came from the kitchen and whetted my appetite.
Ruff was still handling the bar, though I noticed he'd changed out of the shirt he’d been wearing last night. He now had a crisp, white long-sleeved one that was sure to be stained a hundred times by the time the day was over.
“Morning,” he called out sharply as we waded our way down the stairs.
We both responded, though, with far less enthusiasm. Ruff had cleaned up the wreckage from the night before, and a new table sat in the place the old one had been. You would almost think a fight hadn’t occurred last night, except for a small divot in the stone floor from where the table had cracked it.
We sat down at the table, and Eris pretty much slumped over to use the table as a pillow. Entomancer hangovers are as bad as humans’, it seems.
Ruff was a gift from the drunken gods as he brought two plates of food, heaped with bacon and eggs, with a side of the fresh bread I smelled. He also sat down an ale for me and a strange brownish-green concoction in front of Eris.
“Uh, Ruff, what the hell is that?”
“Ruff’s rough and tough hangover elixir! Guaranteed to cure all ailments!” he said with all the charisma of a snake oil salesman. I doubted the efficacy of such a claim, preferring the age-old hair of the dog cure myself, but Eris was in bad shape.
I slid the noxious beverage over to her and pretty much had to force it down her throat as she was half asleep.
“Not so hard, be gentle,” she mumbled.
I rolled my eyes and kept forcing her to take sips until the drink was gone. I sat back in my chair when it was over and started in on my own cure. When the ale was gone, I tucked into the food. It was cooked perfectly, and I savored every bite. Eris only managed a few nibbles, but she was looking batter by the time I'd finished.
When breakfast was over, and Eris standing on her own. It was time to hit the road. I went to thank Ruff for his hospitality and bid him farewell.
I turned to leave when Ruff grabbed my arm. “You be careful now, ya hear? I don’t know who or what that girl is, but it’s clear she’s something special. You take care of her now.”
I nodded to the perceptive barkeep. “With my life.”
My answer rang with the truth of my conviction, and Ruff smiled before wishing us both well. Ruff was good people.
I said my goodbyes, and with one last glance at the spot where I’d nearly killed Mikhail, we left the Inn of Ill Repute.
Chapter 16 - Can’t Run From Your Problems
Outside in the too-bright light, the prints of dozens of feet painted the dirt streets, telling a story on the ground. Most of the villagers were simple farmers, and they were already off to the fields for a day of backbreaking labor.
I helped Eris on top of Lacuna and quickly fed the horse an apple or two before leading her out of the stable. As we walked past some of the shops, I decided to stock up on a few more supplies, leaving Eris nodding off in the saddle, and went into the small general store, procuring another week’s worth of supplies and a few odds and ends.
While Eris slept off her hangover, I pushed Lacuna to the outskirts of the village. A few hours passed in silence until we entered another stretch of forest. The trails branched in three directions, but I stayed on the center line and urged Lacuna to a gallop.
Eris woke up just after midday. Her eyes had lost the eerie glow to them, and they were back to her usual hue of inky darkness.
“Remind me to take it easier next time,” she said while stifling a yawn.
I leaned down a placed a kiss on her head. “No promises, you’re a hilarious drunk,” I said with a grin.
She turned around with a frown, but it melted to a smile when she saw my face. I kept going for a few more minutes until we were out of a particularly overgrown section of forest. We stopped to eat lunch in a small recessed area that formed a natural semicircle where no trees or grass grew. We sat down on a dead log that had fallen over and been worn down to a rough bench.
I wasn’t starving since I was still full from breakfast, but Eris had only managed a few bites, and I could hear her stomach rumbling for nearly half an hour before we stopped. With the supplies I purchased, I made us a couple of trail sandwiches, and Eris scarfed hers down while I picked over mine, my stomach in knots about the fight last night, and my anger.
From the looks Eris kept shooting my way, I could tell she wanted to talk about something, and odds were it was about what happened last night. After about three minutes of her eating and not saying something, I put my half-eaten sandwich down and looked over to her.
“All right, c’mon. Let me have it,” I said.
“Let you have what?”
“You want to talk about last night, so let’s have it. Go ahead, yell at me.”
She put down the remains of her food and came over to sit by me. Her umbra eyes held concern in them. “I’m not angry at you, Sam. I’m worried.”
“Well, don’t be. I’m fine,” I lied.
I wasn’t fine. And I knew it. I didn’t disagree with any of my actions last night, and I still thought Darren and his cronies needed to die, but the viciousness in my heart that pushed me along wasn’t my own. It wasn’t the first brutal act I’d committed, and it wouldn’t be the last, but it was the first that I took pleasure in, and that scared the living hell out of me. I enjoyed feeling their bones break, reveled in their screams. I’ve done horrible things before, but the pure perverse enjoyment I felt, wasn’t me. It’s whatever is in my heart now.
I held my face in my hands and ran my fingers through my hair, unsure of what to say. Eris, though, she saw through me instantly and placed her hand on my back, rubbing gently between my shoulder blades. The heat from her hands was lovely, and before I knew it, she’d calmed me down considerably.
“Thanks,” I said.
Eris nodded. “I’m here for you, my bonded. For now, until eternity. That was the promise we made to each other.”
I wanted to open up to her, but I didn’t know how to say what I was feeling. The darkness in my heart was what was influencing me, but I thought I’d sound crazy if I told her, so I didn’t say anything. Her touch was enough to keep whatever evil was in my heart at bay, and I was content with that.
Eris knew me well and knew what I needed right then, that no amount of talking or words would solve the issue, so she didn’t say anything, letting her touch say more than her words ever could.
That I was accepted.
She scooted over to me on the tree, and before I could say anything, she came and straddled me, sitting on my lap and pressing herself against me. Eris brought her mouth to mine and kissed me softly, trailing little kisses all around my mouth like a flitting butterfly. Each of her kisses drew me into her, and I wrapped my arms
around her before I knew what I was doing.
My hand traveled to her face to cup her cheek, and I returned her kisses with one of my own, long and slow, savoring the way her mouth molded around my own. After staying locked in our kiss, her tongue snaked out of her mouth to probe my lips, searching for an opening. To which I acquiesced.
Eris’s tongue was long and strong; she explored my mouth with enthusiasm, intertwining our tongues to dance in bliss. She dug her hands into my back before running them through my hair, knocking loose my hair tie to fall by the wayside while she pushed me down against the log.
She ground against my groin, tempting my burgeoning hardness with the sway of her hips. Her hands dripped down my body to the hem of my shirt as she slipped under my clothes to caress my bare chest. My shirt was halfway off my body, so I finished the job, sitting up and removing my shirt in a flash before turning back to her.
As eager as Eris was to explore my body, I was of a similar mind. Eris had no problem with baring herself to me, and it had been difficult to restrain myself when she constantly tested my resolve. I finally gave myself to the living hurricane that was my partner.
My hands gripped her waist as I marveled over the muscle of her stomach as I trailed my way to her chest. Eris shuddered as I reached her breasts, cupping them gently while her nipples stiffened at my touch. I rolled my thumbs over them as Eris grew more heated, letting a soft moan slip from between her lips.
Her shirt was getting in the way, so she yanked it off in haste, tearing the weak fabric as it drifted to the dirt, already forgotten in the heat of the moment. Nude, I let my eyes drink in her form, uninhibited by my past reservations. Her breasts fit in my palms as if made for them, and with each pass of my fingers, I was rewarded with another unstifled moan.
Taking charge, Eris gripped the back of my neck and drew my face toward her chest. I took the hint and kissed both of her breasts before taking one of her nipples into my mouth. The heat of my mouth sent tremors through her as I flicked my tongue around. I took her nipple between my teeth and bit down lightly, drawing a loud cry as Eris clenched around me.
She’d had enough of my foreplay and shoved me against the tree. The rough bark and uneven protrusions dug into my back, but I hardly noticed, so consumed with Eris’s radiance. Her eyes swam with desire, and she quickly grabbed my pants and ripped them down, exposing my manhood to her.
My pants were in tatters around my ankles, and I shoved them out of the way as Eris lowered her hips to my shaft, pressing her wetness against me. Her opening was burning and slick with lust. She tensed with the slightest movement, her breath coming in short bursts as her face flushed red. Eris shimmed her hips back and forth, moaning with each pass before working up the nerve and slipping down, taking me inside of her.
Eris squirmed in pain for a moment before slowly shifting her hips up and down, increasing in rhythm. A few attempts and several long moments later, her discomfort faded to rapture. Her opening was hot and tight as she worked her hips, sending waves of pleasure through me. Eris was inexperienced but had good instincts and after only a few clumsy moments, she found her rhythm.
As her moments increased, so too did her volume. Eris cried out in pleasure each time her hips slammed down. She built her tempo into her cadence of moans, each one melding into an orchestra of passion.
Eris enjoyed being on top, but after a while, I decided to take charge and change positions. We went from the tree to the ground. Loose dirt stuck to us as I thrust into her, cupping her face and staring into her wholly inhuman eyes as we made love.
After what felt like a minute and an hour, we’d both built up to our crescendo. Eris’s nails tore into my back as we reached our peak. As she hit her climax, she gripped my shoulders tight and forced me as deep as I could go inside of her, crying out to the void as she came.
I reached my own limit, and my low groan melded with her cries of delectation.
Panting and utterly spent, I held Eris close as we both rode the high. I held her and lay there as a breeze rolled through the trees.
We’d made a mess of things, and flailing around on the ground hadn’t helped one bit. Eris rolled over on top of me, dirt clinging to the side of her chest and along her hips leading to her backside. Giving me a look of utter contentment, she leaned down and kissed me softly, before trailing her lips toward my ear.
“I’ll admit, that was worth waiting for,” she said with a grin.
I ran my hand through her hair as she laid back on my chest. “Yeah, it was…really nice. I haven’t felt like this in a very long time.”
“Like what?” she asked as she lifted her head.
“Content.”
Eris smiled wide at me and nuzzled into my neck. “I feel the same, Sam. Before you, there was only darkness. I never expected to find happiness in the person who I was to be bound to, but I have, and it means the world to me.”
I didn’t say anything else, for no other words needed to be said. I just held her as we lay on the ground, neither one of us wanting to move. A few minutes passed before necessity forced our hand.
“Ugh,” I said, leaning up. “I need a bath. Strike that, we need a bath.”
Eris looked at her body and mine, both covered with dirt and dried sweat. “I agree. Let’s find a place to wash up.”
If memory served me, there should’ve been a river around the area somewhere. I pulled up my map in my interface, switching to local view to scan the terrain, but there wasn’t one within the mile, so my map didn’t detect it, and the world map wasn’t detailed enough to show a river that small.
“Damn, I know there’s a river nearby, but my map isn’t showing me where.”
Eris perked up at that. “Oh, I can help with that,” she said, as her hands poured out small trails of smoke before they were whisked away by the wind.
She concentrated intensely; her eyes scrunched tightly closed. More and more of her magic bled from her fingers, drifting around us in the soft breeze and filling my nose with sharp tones of the forest. Less than a minute later, she stopped the flow of magic before it exhausted her.
"There's a river not far from here," she said, pointing in the direction we needed to go. I quickly climbed into a pair of cotton trousers and tied Lacuna to a tree. She wouldn’t run off, but I still didn’t want to take any chances. If it’s not far, I’d rather leave Lacuna here.
Eris wound her fingers through mine, and we set off, though it quickly became apparent that her judgment of distance was a little skewed, as it took us nearly twenty minutes to reach the river. After the hike under the blazing heat of the sun, sweat dripped into my eyes, and my chest and back were stinging under the intensity of the sun’s rays. Pushing past the brush, the sight of freshwater was almost euphoric.
The river rushed past like it was late for a meeting, and the strength of the current worried me. Long as we don’t stray too far, I doubt it’ll be an issue. After warning Eris of the current, I hurriedly climbed down the bank.
Eris seemed content to enjoy the sights of the river from the embankment; her eyes lit up with wonder as the river raced by. “It’s so pretty here, isn’t it, Sam?"
“Yes, it is lovely, though it pales in comparison to you.”
She beamed at my compliment, reaching out to wind her fingers through mine. “I much prefer this side of you. It suits you better.”
I laughed. “That may be true, but as I’ve said numerous times, I’m not a good person. This world isn’t kind to good people, and I won’t apologize for my behavior, even if you don’t agree with it.”
The river was too inviting, so I stepped out of my pants and climbed down the embankment and waded out into the swirling waters. Eris huffed at my back.
“That’s not what I was getting at, Sam. I promise. I, too, know just how unforgiving this world can be, but I was just saying the sweet and charming side of you is nice to see, and I’d like to see it more often. Dark and brooding doesn’t fit your handsome face.”
I
turned back and moved deeper into the water. Sweet and charming? Eh, I guess I have been nicer to Eris than I’ve been to anyone in years. She deserves someone nice, though, so maybe I can make more of an effort in that regard. I stopped when the water reached the bottom of my chest, careful of the current, but it still wasn’t strong enough to drag me anywhere.
Pulling out a bar of soap and a washrag from my inventory, I proceeded to take my time cleaning the sweat and grime that had accumulated, along with the added dirt from the forest floor. By the time I had finished washing my body and rinsing off, a splash from the riverbank told me that Eris had joined me in the water.
Small suds and soap bubbles drifted down the river. Eris sighed in contentment as the water ran over her. She was much shorter than I was and resorted to nearly submerging herself as she swam over to reach me. Not wanting her to get swept away by the river, I reached out and took her hand, pulling her into me. She wrapped her legs around my waist, fearing the current.
The water swept away all but the most tenacious of dirt, so I held on to her as I took my washcloth and helped clean the rest of the grime off her.
Once she was squeaky clean, I went to store the washcloth and soap back in my inventory, but Eris stopped me. She took hold of my hand and guided it back to her breast. She gazed at me with intent and would not let me pull my hand away.
“See, look how sweet you’re being. Even after sharing one another’s bodies, you’re still treating my flesh with respect. I am yours, body, and soul. As you are mine. You can touch me as much as you want.”
I leaned down and kissed her. “Honestly, I don’t know what you see in a failure like me.”
She took my chin in her hands and lifted my head, forcing me to look at her. “You are not a failure; I don’t believe that for a moment. You may have failed, but that doesn’t make you a failure.”
Hive Knight: A Dark Fantasy LitRPG (Trinity of the Hive Book 1) Page 24
