by Dena Christy
She stood up and pulled his head down for a kiss. He put his arms around her and held her tight against him. The hardness of his body fit perfectly with the softness of hers. He’d always felt like he’d been made for her, and the dampness pooling between her legs told her she was ready to love him completely.
He pulled back and reached down between her legs. She widened her stance so he could have better access and her breath shuddered out of her lungs when he stroked her with his fingers. It was his turn to kneel before her, and she put her hands on top of his head to stop him. He looked up at her, a question in his eyes.
“This is supposed to be about me taking care of you,” she said, her voice breathless as she swallowed hard.
“I need this. I need to taste you,” he said as he lifted one of her legs to rest it on his shoulder. His hands cradled her hips as he brought his mouth forward, and he slid his tongue over her clit.
“Baldr,” she cried as her head tipped back and she buried her fingers in his hair. His tongue stroked her, building her pleasure to a fever pitch until she could not hold back the explosion. She cried out as her orgasm pulsed through her. She trembled, her legs felt weak and the only thing holding her up was his hands on her hips. He knelt before her for long minutes, his head resting against her stomach until she came back to Earth and found her feet.
“Lay on the bed,” she whispered, her voice husky. He stood, dipped his head to kiss her and she could taste herself on his lips. He straightened and moved away from her to lay prone on the bed. He looked into hereyes as she approached and held his hand out to her. She took it, and he gave her a gentle squeeze as she put one knee on the mattress on one side of his hips and swung her other leg over to straddle him.
She grasped his cock in her hands and put him at her entrance, sinking down until she’d enfolded all of him in her warm, wet embrace. He filled her completely, as he always had, and she moved her hips slowly, forward and back. The friction of their bodies felt delicious, and she licked her lips as she looked down at him. He mirrored her actions and rubbed his hands up and down her thighs. She was going to take her time with him. She was going to ride him until everything but her was driven from his mind.
His hands tightened on her legs as she moved a fraction faster. A smile curled the corner of her mouth when he drove his hips up, almost unseating her. Her husband's control was rapidly unraveling, and she couldn’t be happier about it. She grasped his hands, leaned forward and placed them on either side of his head. Her hold was firm and the change in her position brought her clit in full contact with the flesh at the base of his pelvis and she moved her hips. She rubbed herself against him, and darts of pleasure lanced through her.
“Yes,” he growled as she rode him, her movements growing faster as her body craved more of the pleasure being joined with his flesh gave her. Her hands relaxed against his, and he turned the tables on her. He flipped her over on to her back, his body still buried deep inside her. She looked up at him in surprise as he pulled back until only the head of his cock remained inside her.
“Tell me what you want,” he growled as he held himself still.
“You Baldr, I’ve only ever wanted you,” she said as she looked deeply into his eyes. Her words must have satisfied him because he pushed fully inside her and she closed her eyes as the intensity of the pleasure his body gave her.
“Look at me,” he said as he cradled her face in his hands. She opened her eyes and looked into the deep blue of his. There was a look there, one she hadn’t seen since she’d gotten here, and hope sprang inside her that perhaps he loved her again. “You are the one I want, the only woman I’ve ever wanted. In a thousand years, it’s only ever been you.”
“Love me Baldr,” she said as tears prickled in her eyes. He kissed her tenderly, and her tears were forgotten as he moved inside her. She gloried in her husband’s flesh, and soon he made her body sing with pleasure.
Their sweat slick bodies moved in unison as their pleasure built to a fever pitch. She was the first one to reach the peak, and her pleasure triggered his and he joined her in paradise. His body collapsed on top of her, and she held him tight as he poured his pleasure into her. Their hearts beat in unison against each other, and they clung to each other as if they knew that all too soon the world would intrude and shatter the peace between them.
* * *
Cadric lay in bed, in the arms of his wife and felt no real desire to move. What had started out as a way to push away the pain of having the Order ripped away from him had turned into something else. When he’d reached for Nan when he’d come home, it shamed him to think that he had only intended to use her as a way to blot out what had happened at headquarters. He knew when he’d looked in her eyes that she’d known it too, and she had given herself so generously and sweetly that it had changed things for him. It had forced him to see her, and to realize just how much he needed her for no other reason than because he was in love with her.
That he’d loved Nan once had never been in dispute, but when she’d first arrived he’d been too focused on his own life to realize that he’d never stopped. He looked down at where her head rested on his chest and he stroked her hair. He longed to tell her how he felt, but he’d said the words to her before, only to abandon her in the most cruel way. It would be better to share how he felt once he’d gotten permission from his father for her to stay. And he wanted her to stay.
“Do you want to talk about it?” she murmured quietly, and she raised up and looked at him. There was warmth and compassion in her eyes, and something else that he couldn’t define. He’d spent most of his life here burying himself in work, that he never stopped to allow anything else in. He needed to find another way to cope, in the event that his work was taken from him.
“I’m sorry,” he said as he ran his finger down her cheek. “I haven’t been fair to you.”
“Do you mean making love to me when you got home? Baby, I knew that you needed a distraction and I was happy to give it to you,” she said as she grasped his hand and turned her face toward the palm, pressing her lips to the centre.
He gently took her by the arms and lifted her so they were face to face. He kissed her for several long moments before settling her on the pillow next to his. He looked into her eyes and thought he’d drown in their blue depths. The love he felt for her filled his heart, and he longed to let it burst forth but didn’t. He had so much to make up to her for before she’d believe he spoke the truth.
“I’m not sorry I made love with you. I think we both know that it may have started out as a distraction, but it became more than that. I’m sorry for how I’ve been lately. I’ve been under pressure, my place at the Order has been threatened, and I’ve taken it out on you. I haven’t been fair to you. None of what is happening is your fault,” he said and her eyes shifted away from him.
“You don’t need to apologize. I know that this stuff with the Order is bad but it will get better, won’t it?”
He rolled over onto his back and sighed. He dragged her over to him so she was draped across him. His fingers drew lazy circles on her back, and her body pressed against him went a long way to soothing the anxiety that wanted to rise inside him when he thought about what was happening with the Order.
“I don’t know if things will get better,” he said.
“But surely they know you aren’t guilty of anything? There has to be more to this than a two day investigation,” she said and her movements grew agitated beside him. He held her tight, moving his hands over her skin in soothing circles. It touched him that she would get so fierce on his behalf when he’d done nothing lately to earn such devotion from her.
“There will be more to it than a two day investigation. Nemesis, Honos and Hyperion will form a tribunal with one other god. They will all be Order heads, and the evidence will be brought against me and they will weigh my guilt or innocence.”
“And if they think you are guilty, they will make it so you can’t work for the Order any lo
nger,” she said, her voice quiet as she rested her hand against his chest. He lifted it and kissed it.
“If they feel I’m unfit to lead, I will be stripped of my position and duties. I will be barred from the Order,” he said. He hoped that didn’t come to pass. The bitterness and anger he’d brought home tonight had been soothed in her arms, but he was left with a lingering sadness that he could lose all that he’d worked for.
“Would you be able to come home?” she asked in a tentative voice, and he felt a stab of regret that she would seem so hesitant to bring up Asgard. His single minded focus on the Order had made it difficult for her to talk about any other reality, but he needed to think about it. The Order may not be his reality for much longer.
“I don’t know, that would be up to my father,” he said. “I would like to see Forseti. I’ve been a horrible father to him, and would like a chance to at least see him. What’s he like?”
“You would be proud of him,” she said. “But we are getting ahead of ourselves. This talk of going back to Asgard may not be necessary. You still have the tribunal, and anyone would be crazy to think you were unfit to lead.”
Cadric gave a self-deprecating laugh at her faith in him, it was hardly deserved. It also told him that he needed her more than ever in the coming days since his faith in himself was waning.
“Will you come with me to the tribunal,” he asked, and she looked up at him startled.
“You want me there with you?”
She seemed surprised that he would want to involve her, and he realized just how much he had to make up to her for. He’d been a piss poor husband to her if she was surprised that he would need her support through one of the darkest periods of his life.
“I need you with me Nan. I need your support. I need someone with me who believes in me. Please be with me through this,” he said as he kissed her softly on the mouth. She clung to him and the kiss deepened into something more. He could feel himself stirring against her, and in a few minutes there would be no more time to talk. “Please say you’ll be there with me.”
“I will,” she said as she rolled onto her back, pulling him on top her. “Don’t you know I would follow you anywhere if you asked me?”
He sank inside her, and all thoughts of the tribunal, the Order and everything that wasn’t her fled his mind. How had he’d gone a thousand years without her by his side he didn’t know, but he didn’t intend to be without her for another moment.
Chapter 16
Cadric squeezed Nan’s hand tight as they walk through the door to the Tower House, which would lead them into the tunnels and to headquarters. He’d hardly slept last night, even with the comfort of her body beside him. Too much was riding on the outcome of this tribunal for him to be able to sleep easy.
“It will be okay,” she said as she gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. He wished he had her faith. He knew he’d run this branch of the Order to the best of his ability, and if that was all that mattered then he would rule the day, but someone was very effective in making it seem that he couldn’t. How could he fight an enemy that he couldn’t find?
“And if it’s not okay,” he asked as they made it inside headquarters.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Don’t borrow trouble,” she said.
They drew to a halt when he saw Miach waiting for him. His friend had a neutral expression on his face, and when Cadric held out his hand to him he hesitated for a moment before grasping it.
“Miach, this is my wife Nan,” Cadric said as he introduced her to him. Miach’s eyes took on an intense light, and before Cadric could puzzle over it, it was gone as if it had never been. Cadric told himself that it must have been a trick of the light.
“Nan, it’s lovely to meet you,” he said and reached out his hand.
Nan tucked herself tight against Cadric and refused to take his friend's hand, and Miach quirked his mouth as his hand fell away. Cadric frowned down at her and noticed that her face had grown pale.
“Nan, are you okay?” he asked as he put his arm around her. She said nothing, continuing to stare at Miach, and Cadric’s concern grew. “Nan?”
“I’m sure your wife is just nervous about the tribunal. It can be an intimidating process for the uninitiated. Don’t worry, Nan, we won’t hurt your husband,” Miach said as Nan continued to stare at him silently.
“Can you give us a few minutes?” Cadric asked. His friend nodded and walk down the hall and into the room where the tribunal would take place. “Nan, what is it? What’s wrong?”
Nan seemed to shake herself out of whatever trance she was and smiled weakly up at him.
“I’m sorry for being so rude,” she said as her shoulders sagged. “I guess I’ve been trying too hard to be strong for you that I’ve pushed down what I’ve been feeling. When I saw your friend it hit me how serious what you're about to go through is, and I guess all the worry I have for you hit me all at once. And I’m angry that they would want to put you through this, and unfortunately it hit me when your friend wanted to shake my hand.”
“Are you sure that’s all it is?” Cadric asked. What she said seemed plausible but he couldn’t help but think that what had passed between Nan and Miach had been more than a delayed reaction. “It was almost as if you knew him.”
“How could I know him, Cadric? I’ve been in Asgard, and he isn’t part of our pantheon. It’s just nerves. I’m better now and we can’t keep them waiting any longer.”
Cadric attempted to smooth the frown forming between his eyebrows. He needed to have his shit together for this, and couldn’t show anything other than iron control.
“Let’s go,” he growled as he led her down the hall toward the room that would decide the fate of his professional life.
The large conference room just down from Cadric’s office had been set up for the tribunal. A large long table sat at the front of the room, and the four gods who would preside over it were already seated, waiting for Cadric to arrive. There was a chair set up directly across from the conference table, set back a few feet. Cadric sat down in it and faced his peers. More chairs were behind him for spectators, and there was a lone chair to the left of the main table where any witnesses that were to be called would sit to give testimony. The room was silent. The only people here were Cadric, Nan and the four gods, and a man Cadric didn’t recognize, who stood at the back beside the double doors leading into the room. He was surprised that none of his staff were here, and if he was honest he was a little disappointed that none had come to show their support. Perhaps they felt he wasn’t fit to lead them either.
Cadric turned to where Nan sat behind him.
“Bring your chair here next to mine,” he said, and she looked surprised. He surprised himself, truth be told. He needed her next to him, and if the other gods objected, that was tough. If they were going to put him through this farce, then he wanted her support through it.
Nan stood, lifted her chair and settled it beside him. She held out her hand to him and he clasped it tight.
Miach looked at them before standing.
“I think we are ready to start,” Miach said. “I will begin by reading out the charges and we will begin with the witness testimony.
“Cadric Odinson, you’ve been charged with being unfit to lead the Order of Odin. We intend to prove that you ordered the wholesale slaughter of innocent creatures without benefit of trial, that a prisoner was murdered while he was in the Order’s custody while under your protection,” Miach said as he read from the sheet. None of this was news to Cadric, and he settled back in his chair to wait for things to start. However, Miach didn’t roll the charge sheet away as Cadric expected him to. He continued to read. “And we will also prove that you punished the agent who committed the murder of the prisoner by killing him.”
Nan let out a gasp, and Cadric sat up straighter in his seat. This was news to him. Were they dumb enough to think that he’d killed Eduard because his body was found on his property?
Miach rolled up the sheet of paper and set it on the desk. “We will call our first witness now. Please bring in John Carstairs.”
The man standing by the doors opened one and motioned for someone to enter. John walked to the front of the room and sat in the witness chair. He would not look at Cadric, and Cadric’s gut tightened. What would John possibly have to say that would have relevance for the tribunal?
“Please state your name for the record,” Miach said as he took his seat.
“John Carstairs,” John replied as he stared straight ahead.
“And what do you do here at the Order?”
“I act as a medical examiner. I perform autopsies.”
“And are you a sworn member of the Order of Odin?”
“Yes,” John said, and he rolled up his sleeve to reveal the Order tattoo on his forearm. The tattoo was a magical mark that appeared once a prospect took the oath of loyalty to the Order.
“So any testimony will be the truth as you know it, otherwise you will betray your vow?”
“Yes,” John said.
“Can you tell us about the last autopsy you performed?”
“The last autopsy I performed was on Order agent, Eduard Rouben. He was found on the property of Cadric Odinson, and he was brought in to be examined.”
“Let the records show that Eduard Rouben was an agent with the Order who is suspected of murdering a suspect in custody, one Dany Cavanaugh,” Miach said as he picked up a piece of paper and waved it in the air, and Cadric folded his arms across his chest and rolled his eyes. Miach must have thought he had a bigger audience than he did, and that he was in the middle of a courtroom drama. Cadric frowned. He didn’t remember Miach being this showy.
“Were you able to determine a time of death?” Nemesis said as she gave Miach a sideways look.
“Not definitively. Upon examination I discovered that Eduard’s body had been frozen. He could have been dead for any length of time.”
“Were you able to determine a cause of death?” Miach asked.
