Champion, Chapter 79: Bonds of Sea and Fire

AidanThe RealmsFifthday, 2nd week of the 11th month, Age of the Chosen 1Late EveningCaer Macht, Mistvale Highlands

Aidan closed the door behind him and erected a Sound Barrier to keep any pesky eavesdroppers at bay. It'd serve them right to wonder what the results of their machinations were. By the time he turned around, Eldrid lay prone on a cushioned table, her modesty preserved only by his shirt draped across her butt and upper thighs. She watched him approach with a serene half-smile and hooded silver eyes. Despite the covering on her lower half, she made no effort to shield her breasts from Aidan's gaze. With her arms crossed beneath her head, Aidan had an unobstructed view.

He didn't bother hiding his appreciation of the sight. If Eldrid didn't want him to look, she wouldn't give him the opportunity. As if to confirm his thoughts, she shifted on the massage table, lifting a couple of inches until only her nipple remained hidden. "Ah, you're here finally. I thought you'd chickened out."

Aidan snorted. "It's been two minutes. And why would I run? I get to rub my hands all over a gorgeous, mostly-naked woman. What's not to like?"

"Flattery will get you... well, no further than you're already getting, but I appreciate it anyway." Eldrid's lips quirked up in a grin. Then she settled back down onto the table. "As for why you'd run? I'm not sure either, but you seemed quite reluctant a few minutes ago."

"Not to give you a massage." He left the rest unsaid but figured Eldrid would get the gist of it. Aidan didn't mind the chance to feel the blue-haired Chosen up in the guise of a massage, not one bit. He'd ogle her and rub her down with oil. No problem. His problem came with the rest of what Aoife and the others suggested he do.

Did he really need or want another bedmate? There was no question in Aidan's mind that he could fuck Eldrid tonight if he wanted to. She was giving clear signals. But should he? He lusted after her, thirsted for her, but was there more than that? Beyond that, was it a good idea while she was still under the effect of his Intent? Wasn't this a half-step from mind control? Making her want to want it was no different from an ethics standpoint.

Then again, Sunnild wasn't wrong. Eldrid came onto him from the moment she pulled herself out of the river and hadn't lifted her foot off the pedal for a second. Even before he spoke the Word, she'd been all over him in a literal sense.

"Ah. You know, your fiancees have been talking you up." Eldrid's husky purr broke Aidan out of his thoughts. "You have quite a reputation to uphold."

He strode over to a cabinet at the side of the room. "I'm not that good a masseuse, so I hope you don't need the genuine article." Ah, there it was.

"I wasn't talking about your massage skills, Aidan." A bright pink tongue flicked out across midnight blue lips.

"That's funny," Aidan said as he approached the table, flask of oil in hand. "From what I recall, you were very specific about the kind of massage. No happy ending required. Those were your words."

"Phbhbht!" Eldrid stuck her tongue out at him and blew a raspberry. "You're telling me, after what happened between us, that you don't want me? If I spread my legs and invited you in, you'd turn away?"

"What we want isn't always what's best for us."

"That wasn't a no, Aidan." Aidan trickled some oil onto Eldrid's back straight from the flask. "Ooh, cold! Warn a girl next time."

"Sorry." Not really, but she wasn't looking at him. He'd done it to shut her up.

"Anyway, great masseuse or not, happy ending or not, I'm looking forward to a handsome guy rubbing me all over my mostly-naked body." Eldrid wiggled her cloth-covered bottom at him. "That being the case, it sounds like I'm still in for a great evening."

"Well, I hope so. Are you ready?"

Eldrid scoffed. "Oh, sure, you ask that after pouring cold oil on me. At this point, if you don't get started warming me back up, I'll have to complain to management."

"Okay, Karen," Aidan said with a snicker. He rubbed his hands together, then placed them palms-down on Eldrid's back.

"Hazel, not Karen."

Aidan blinked. "Pardon?"

"My name back on Earth." Eldrid's tone was matter-of-fact, despite the trust she was showing. Assuming, of course, she was telling the truth. Was she expecting him to reciprocate? Should he? "You don't have to tell me yours," she said as if in response to his thoughts. "And no, I can't read your mind. It was just the obvious thing for you to wonder."

"That's what you'd say if you could read my mind." That earned Aidan a giggle and another wiggle. The motion caused the towel to shift a hair, revealing another half-inch of pale skin. He considered tugging it back into place, then decided there was such a thing as being too much of a gentleman. Instead, he stroked his palms up Eldrid's back on either side of her spine.

"Mm. Tingly. I can already tell what Brighid meant when she said you had magic hands."

"Heh. Not yet, you can't. I told you before, you don't get those until you ask."

Eldrid looked over her shoulder at Aidan. "You're holding out on me?" She gave him a pouting look. "Will you make me beg?"

Yes! The lurking dragon deep in his psyche raised its head and roared. Beg for my touch. "A simple, 'please,' will do. I'm not unreasonable."

Eldrid's night-black eyelashes fluttered at him. "Please, Aidan?" Her voice was mulled honey. "Please give me your magical touch." Her words and expression sent a bolt of arousal through Aidan's system. He pushed those thoughts back down and dug his thumbs into Eldrid's shoulderblades.

"All you had to do was ask." With a thought, Aidan summoned an extra pair of hands and placed them on Eldrid's hips. She squeaked, an unexpectedly adorable sound coming from her, and rose onto her elbows.

"What in the world?"

Aidan gave Eldrid a gentle push until she settled back down. "A trick I picked up along the way." He continued the massage, working through Eldrid's shoulder muscles with his real hands while kneading her back and sides with the fake pair.

"Mm. I admit I wasn't expecting literal magical hands for some reason. Earth bias, I guess. Mmph." She let out a soft moan in reaction to Aidan's phantom fingers dipping into the small of her back. "Can you feel through them? You must be able to, right?"

Aidan nodded, though Eldrid wasn't looking at him. "Yeah, I can. And the best part," he said, sliding his conjured appendages down her back, then through the shirt onto Eldrid's butt, "is that they only exist to the target. They ignore everything else, including clothes."

"Ooh." Eldrid's moan was deeper this time. "I begin to see why your women are so enamored of this ability. If you can touch them like this at any time without anyone else knowing... Mmph, that's hot. So is it some kind of illusion?"

"I'm not sure," Aidan admitted. "It's not illusionary because I can affect inanimate objects. Its properties are illogical and impossible, so I chalk it up as magic and move on."

"Probably—ooh—smart." Eldrid arched into Aidan's hands. If this was a therapeutic massage, he might have fussed at her. Instead, he kept his Magic Hands working up and down Eldrid's back while shifting his personal attention to her legs.

"You know," Aidan said, "for some reasons, I never realized how muscular you are."

Eldrid let out a full-throated laugh. "Mission accomplished, then. I was nowhere near this top-heavy back on Earth, but I always wondered what it would be like. And, as a merchant who mostly deals with men, it's so much easier to get good prices when they can't keep their eyes off my chest."

Aidan stroked his hands down the back of Eldrid's thighs with long, firm motions, pressing in with the heels and letting his fingers trail behind. "Now that I think about it, you always dress to show off your breasts and hide the rest of your body."

"Mm-hmm." Eldrid's voice held notes of deep satisfaction. Whether at Aidan's massage, his comments, or both, he didn't know. "The Tide's figurehead is misleading, too. Softer, rounder, no muscle definition. She's got my face and general figure, but she ain't me. The more people underestimate me, the easier my jobs are."

Aidan let the conversation lapse into silence for a few minutes while he worked his way down Eldrid's legs with one pair of hands and up her back with the other. When his thumbs pressed into the arch of her right foot, Eldrid let out an ecstatic groan. The muscles in her thigh and shin twitched in sync with his motions, drawing attention to their sleek, silky splendor.

After finishing both feet, Aidan said, "I need better leverage for this next part."

Eldrid opened the eye facing him. "You're the masseuse. Do whatever you need to keep it up."

"Hah. With you around, keeping it up is never the problem." Aidan climbed up onto the massage table and straddled Eldrid's thighs.

"Mm. You've already got your hands on my naked body. You don't need to keep up the flattery."

"In point of fact, you're only mostly naked." Not that the shirt counted for much.

Eldrid gave him a smoky look. "You could change that, you know."

Aidan poured more massage oil into his palms and rubbed them together. "I could. I wouldn't even need a free hand to do it. You might not even notice right away. But I won't. Not unless you tell me to." He leaned forward and pressed his hands into Eldrid's rhomboid muscles along her upper spine.

"Why do you do that?" Eldrid's tone was somewhere between confused and frustrated. "You keep jailing yourself in a cage of good intentions. I know you haven't missed my signals. You're seeing them and ignoring them."

Because if I didn't, I'm afraid of what I might do to you. What I already did before I put up those bars. "I have trouble controlling myself around you, Eldrid, in ways I never have before. Here or on Earth. I never meant to go as far as I did in our bet."

A short, sharp exhalation answered his apology. "Oh, quit it with the pity party. I brought that on myself. When it comes down to it, all you did was give me the best orgasm of my lives. Considering the knife I had against your ribs, I got off easy." She snickered. "Pun intended."

Aidan shook his head. "That still doesn't excuse the way I forced myself—"

"If you make me turn over before you're done on my back, I will be very upset with you, Aidan. Listen to me." Eldrid waited a moment, then, when he didn't say anything, continued speaking. "You didn't force yourself on me. I agreed to the terms of the bet. The entire wager was about whether you could make me climax or not. It might, might," she placed heavy emphasis on the repeated word, "not be considered explicit consent by the most radical feminist, so let me be clear. I didn't expect you to succeed, but I was willing to accept that you might. So, yes, Aidan, I consented. You just happened to blow my expectations out of the water."

Aidan remained silent for a while after that, concentrating on the massage. He dug his fingers into Eldrid's calves, marveling again at the unexpected definition and tone in her legs. When he finished with her lower legs, he moved on to her thighs. Thick, but with muscle, not fat. Aidan made slow progress upward, switching back and forth, drawing ever closer to the cloth preserving what there was of Eldrid's modesty.

"Eldrid?" he finally asked.

"Mm?" She turned her head toward him, but her eyes were closed.

"May I remove the shirt?" Do you forgive me?

Eldrid's eyes opened, slow, languid, imperious. She observed Aidan for several seconds. Then, she smiled, the same genuine, beautiful smile she'd shown him earlier. "Yes." Having given her answer, she turned away from him again.

Aidan kept his hands moving, teasing at the edge of the shirt above and below. His real fingers on Eldrid's legs dipped under the cloth to tease her inner thighs. The phantom appendages above dug unreal thumbs into the muscles along the outer slopes of her magnificent ass.

"Mmmmm. You're teasing me," Eldrid said, half-complaining and half-moaning.

"Do you want me to stop?"

"Stop, and I'll kill you. You still have a spare life, right?" Eldrid's voice was as deadly serious as Aidan had ever heard from her.

"I think it would be unwise of me to answer that question right now."

Another snort showed Eldrid's thoughts on his answer. "That being the case, I'd advise you to continue. You may not be any good at therapeutic massage, but this still feels quite good, and I am not ready for it to end."

Aidan chuckled. "As you wish."

"'Mnot Buttercup either, you know. I already told you my name."

"Of course, Hazel." Aidan tried her name out, letting it roll across his tongue. She just didn't seem like a Hazel to him for some reason.

A sigh came from Eldrid. "From the ancient Hebrew hazael, not the tree. Means 'God sees,' more or less. A vicious joke, as it turned out."

Sensing that a response was unnecessary, Aidan remained silent, continuing to rub Eldrid's upper thighs and lower back while she spoke.

"My parents didn't know it at the time, but I was born with what's called retinal dystrophy. Or 'a' retinal dystrophy, anyway. It's a whole category of diseases. The long and short of it is that I was legally blind at eight years old." There was pain in Eldrid's voice, but it was the dull, scabbed-over kind. Nothing fresh or raw. Aidan maintained his silence, knowing that any expression of regret or empathy he might give would hurt more than it helped.

"I lived for twenty years without eyesight. Graduated from one of the most exclusive colleges in the South with a dual major, earned myself a job, made my way in the world. It's hard to say whether it's crueler to lose your vision or be born without, but either way, I adapted and overcame. Then," Eldrid shifted, freeing one hand to wave at the world around them, "The Realms came along. A miracle for me. There was nothing wrong with my optical nerves or my brain. IVR was a Godsend, I thought."

A short, sharp, bitter laugh from Eldrid mocked her own words. "Turns out I was right. It just wasn't from any God I knew. This was supposed to be a game, you know? An escape."

"I know." What else could Aidan say? He did know. That first death still gave him nightmares, and they didn't end with the Taig's mocking rhymes.

"You do. You're trapped here like me. And your sister, too. I'm not sure whether that's more or less cruel." The sympathy in Eldrid's voice did not make it hurt any less.

"More," Aidan said with absolute conviction. "I know my parents are safe. Eve could be anywhere, in danger, even dead. Maybe she even died before I had any chance to find her."

Eldrid twisted her head around to look at him over her shoulder. "I'll help you find her, I promise."

"Thanks." There wasn't much else for either of them to say on the subject.

"Sorry, I didn't mean for things to get so heavy. I just wanted to say, well..." Eldrid's voice trailed off, her visible eye slid closed. She swallowed, then said, "There's a lot I hate about this world." A flutter, a flash of silver as she focused on Aidan again. "You're not part of that. Rocky start aside, you've been a bright star in the night sky for me, Aidan. And that's coming from a blind girl."

Aidan felt his throat tighten. This wasn't how he'd expected things to go. He expected teasing, flirting, some taunts. Eldrid would flaunt herself at him, get him worked up, maybe convince him to go down on her, then she'd flounce off and leave him to work out his frustrations on Brighid, Sunnild, and/or Aoife.

Instead, she was opening herself up, baring herself to him in ways far more meaningful than her naked skin beneath his hands. He could hurt her now, wound with words in ways sure to leave scars deeper and harsher than any dagger.

Eldrid reached back and threw the cloth covering her aside, then turned over onto her back. Aidan pulled his hands out of the way and sat back on his haunches, looking down at her. Later, he would find it ironic that, for as often as he'd been distracted by Eldrid's breasts, now that she was bare before him, it was her shimmering, vulnerable eyes that captivated him.

"Aidan." Eldrid's voice was soft, almost inaudible. "I know you aren't in love with me." Aidan wasn't so sure of that, not anymore. "I'm not asking for forever. But as one stranger in a strange land to another, as someone who understands what I've been through. Please, Aidan? Can you love me, just for tonight? Tomorrow we can go back to our usual teasing. I don't want to give that up. But tonight, I need you."

This was it. This was the turning point. If Aidan turned her down here, no matter how gentle, he knew he'd never get this close to Eldrid, to Hazel, again. She offered up her soul to him, no less so than Brighid had, if in a different fashion. How else could he respond? A crazed fragment of his mind told him he could ask if this meant she wanted him to stop the massage, but he throttled that impulse and tossed it where it belonged.

Instead, Aidan leaned down, eyes locked with Eldrid's the entire way. He propped himself up on his hands, looking down at her, then closed the final inches. Her lips were soft, warm, and welcoming. There was no heat, no passion in their kiss, but it was no less rewarding for it.

Aidan felt Eldrid's body shudder beneath him as the tension he hadn't noticed fled from her. Her right hand drifted up, touched the back of his neck, feather-light, then flowed down onto his upper back. Her head bent to the side then, her mouth parting a fraction beneath his. Not enough to invite him inside, but it broached the possibility. "Daniel," Aidan breathed into that opening.

Eldrid's eyes widened, then squeezed shut, tears now spilling down her cheeks. A notification popped up at the corner of Aidan's mind, but he ignored it. Eldrid's left arm joined her right on his back, pulling him down onto her, then seeking out the laces keeping his shirt on him. Now came the fire, Eldrid's tongue darting out to flick across Aidan's lips. Eldrid twisted her hips, pulling her knees up then aside. Her legs parted around Aidan instead of being trapped between his.

"Just for tonight, Daniel," said Eldrid's voice, laden with emotion. Don't let me go, begged her eyes. Never, replied his lips against hers. Aidan kissed her until they both fell short of breath, then sat up and tugged his shirt off over his head. Eldrid's hands darted down to his waistline, but he batted them away.

Working with practiced haste, Aidan undid the laces, wishing, not for the first time, that he could convince Siwan to make him a belt and pants to put it in. He suspected Brighid's interference in her refusal. Pulling one leg, then the other, then his tail, free of his pants, he tossed them to the side.

Eldrid's silver eyes seemed almost luminescent in the dim light. Once again, Aidan was unable to look away from them despite the splendors on display. A smile appeared on Eldrid's face as he stared, tremulous and vulnerable. She reached up and ran her fingers through Aidan's hair. Gentle pressure tilted his head down—but not to renew their kisses. "It's okay," Eldrid murmured. "I want you to look. To touch."

At that gentle urging, Aidan finally managed to tear his gaze away from Eldrid's and take in the rest of her beauty. Her breasts flattened somewhat under their own weight but remained mountainous. An erect nipple, pierced by a golden bar and surrounded by an areola only a shade pinker than the skin around it, capped each pale peak. The steep-walled valley between plunged into tantalizing darkness.

Down past the mountains came the foothills. Aidan felt that he shouldn't have been surprised by how toned Eldrid's belly was. He'd already observed the definition in her back and legs. Yet, somehow, with her lush curves, Aidan expected Eldrid to have a bit of a paunch. Nothing could have been further from the truth.

Eldrid didn't have sixpack abs like Brighid. That kind of muscle would have looked out of place on her. She also didn't have the same sort of slender athleticism Sunnild did. Her curves were just too pronounced for those adjectives to fit. Nonetheless, the smooth lines of Eldrid's stomach provided proof that first impressions could be quite deceptive. Those lines swept down from her breasts, taking a brief detour around her belly button, then down between thighs that parted even further at Aidan's glance.

Again, what Aidan saw was not what he expected. Given Eldrid's nature, he expected her to be shaved bare. That was only mostly true. Her glistening nether lips lay exposed to his gaze, but above them sat a tidy grove of brilliant blue hair. Unable to resist, Aidan rubbed his thumb through the short strands, the first time he'd touched her since the massage's end.

"Natural," Eldrid said, "as much as you can say that about us." She shifted her weight, her muscles flexing beneath Aidan's caress.

"Beautiful." Aidan looked back up past the domed heights to Eldrid's face. She smiled down at him for a moment before gnawing on her lip.

"Will you...?" Eldrid's question trailed off.

Aidan could taunt her, make her finish her request, get her to beg for him. But that wouldn't be right. This wasn't a night for dominance or submission. This was two kindred souls finding solace in each others' arms. So, he dipped his head between Eldrid's thighs and planted a kiss between the forest and the grotto. His reward was a soft, pleased sigh, followed by one of Eldrid's legs hooking around his shoulder.

Pale skin flushed scarlet as Aidan trailed kisses along the edges of Eldrid's puffy labia. He couldn't help but tease her a little, avoiding her center until her leg tightened around his shoulder. Then, acquiescing to Eldrid's silent request, Aidan flattened his tongue against the bottom of her opening and dragged it all the way up to her stiff clit. Her hand returned to his hair, but not to guide or force him. It just rested there, stroking his hair as he lapped at Eldrid's pussy.

"Mmm." Eldrid's hips tilted up to give Aidan better access. "Mm, ah." He took what she gave him and ran with it, sliding his tongue along her slit, then using his hands to pull her lips apart. With the gates opened, Aidan sallied forth, pressing his agile muscle deeper, harder. "Oh, yes. Mmm." Eldrid's left leg joined its sister on Aidan's shoulders.

Aidan sent his Magic Hands, idle for the last several minutes, on an expedition across Eldrid's legs and sides. "Oh! Oh, mmhmm." He kept them away from her breasts, shepherding an irrational desire to reserve them for his real touch. However, a glance up from his feast showed Aidan that he didn't need to stimulate her there anyway. Eldrid's free hand was doing an admirable job of it all on its own. Instead, phantom fingers stroked and kneaded Eldrid's skin in a slower, more sensual version of the earlier massage.

"Mm, mm, oh, Daniel, mmmm." As Aidan grew familiar with Eldrid's reactions, he tailored his motions to ramp up her pleasure. Light pressure on her clit like so. Deep, broad swipes of his tongue. Long strokes along the outsides of her thighs. "Mmm, mm, mm!" Eldrid's moans grew shorter, sharper, quicker. Her hips arched up at him, her thighs flexed and released.

"Daniel," she moaned. "Oh, Daniel, Daniel, oh!" She cried out his name, repeating it like a mantra. He sent his tongue squirming into her tunnel and circled her clit with his thumb. "Oh, Daniel! Oh, God!" Eldrid's composure broke, the hand in Aidan's hair now pulling him down into her. Her legs tightened into a vise around his neck.

"Oh, oh, Daniel, mm, oh!" Feminine lubrication coated Aidan's tongue, lips, cheeks, throat. He slid his tongue out of her channel, replacing it with two fingers and starting to lave at her hard little nub in quick, short strokes. "Daniel!" Eldrid squealed, her hips thrusting up at him. "Daniel!" she cried as her back arched off the table. "Oh, God, Daniel!" she shrieked as spasms swept through her body.

Following his skills' voiceless whispers, Aidan didn't let up after Eldrid's first orgasm. He rode the waves, keeping up his attention to her clit and continuing to slide his fingers in and out. "Ah, ah, oh, Daniel, ah, fuck!" Eldrid convulsed again. Now he eased up, just a little, slowing his pace without stopping. "Mmm, mm, Daniel," she sang for him. "Mm, yes, oh, oh ah!" Broad hips rose, rolled, sought his touch. He guided her down the cliff and rewarded her at the end by pushing her over one more time. "Ohhh, Daniel!" Eldrid sighed and came for him.

As Aidan stilled his tongue and pulled his fingers free of her grasping depths, Eldrid slumped down onto the table, her legs falling open to Aidan's sides. He looked at the initial results—Eldrid's body trembling with aftershocks, her breasts rising and falling with her rapid breaths, her formerly pale skin flushed with pleasure—and smiled his work to see. It was time for the main event, but first, they needed to move venues.

"Mm?" Eldrid's voice, languid with satisfaction, sounded out as Aidan slipped off the massage table.

"Just rest for a minute," he told her. "I'll be right back." Aidan collected the pillows scattered around Aoife's bed with measured haste, then stripped off the sheets. He didn't want to rub the catgirl's nose in what was about to happen any more than necessary. Tasks accomplished, Aidan turned back to Eldrid and threaded his arms under her knees and behind her shoulders.

Lifting Eldrid off the table, Aidan gritted his teeth at her weight. No one who saw her like this could claim she was anything approaching fat, but Aidan knew right away that he couldn't carry Eldrid across the city like he did Aoife. He didn't have that far to go, though. Aidan knelt on the bed and lowered Eldrid into the middle of the pillow pile.

Silver eyes examined him for a moment. Then, Eldrid spread her legs and stretched her arms up towards him, the invitation unvoiced yet unmistakable. Aidan shuffled into place and lowered himself down onto his elbows over her. Eldrid's hands looped behind his shoulders. Her fingers stroked the nape of his neck. "Go ahead," she urged him. "They're sensitive, though. Be gentle at first."

Chuckling at being so predictable, Aidan bent his neck and nuzzled Eldrid's cleavage. She let out a quiet exhalation at his touch, too soft to be called a moan. Eldrid's breasts were the one place Aidan had found on her body that was as soft and luxurious as expected. He turned his head to the right and began laying a trail of kisses along the lower slope of the mountain he found there.

"Mm." This time, the sound escaping from Eldrid's mouth was unmistakable. Aidan smiled against her silky smooth skin. Eldrid wasn't as vocal as Brighid or Sunnild, but the sounds she made still communicated her passion.

While kissing in a lazy spiral around Eldrid's left breast, Aidan placed his left hand on her right breast. She was far more than a handful. Her nipple dug into the center of his palm, yet he couldn't contact her upper chest with any of his fingers. Aidan shifted his grip, encircling the soft, squishy peak and giving his thumb room to rub across her summit.

"Mngh," Eldrid groaned. "What would it take to come home to this every night?" Then, a split second later, "Nevermind. Forget I asked."

Not likely. Aidan kept his thoughts to himself, instead opting to flick his fingertip against the golden barbell piercing Eldrid's nipple. She inhaled with a hiss. For a split second, Aidan thought he went too far, too fast, but Eldrid's words dispelled that notion. "Mmn, yes. Love having 'em played with. 'Swhat the piercings are for."

Well, then. Aidan circled his thumb, making sure to brush against the warm metal with every pass. "Mmhm, just like that." Aidan maintained his pace, winding up one breast in ever-tighter orbits of kisses while gently squeezing the other between his fingers. Soft moans and gentle sighs issued from Eldrid's mouth, punctuated by occasional deeper sounds.

Eldrid's left hand drifted up into Aidan's hair, guiding his head with gentle pressure, urging him toward her waiting summit. As he had all night, Aidan followed her guidance, abandoning his slow tease and seeking Eldrid's right nipple. When he found it a moment later, he nibbled it with his lips, then opened his mouth and sucked it inside.

"Mm, ah," came Eldrid's response. Aidan flicked the tip of his tongue across the nipple held captive in his mouth. "Ooh." He executed a synchronized strike, circling his thumb and tongue in opposite directions. "Mmn, yes, Daniel. More, please. Harder now. Ahn!" Aidan gave her right nipple a short twist, and Eldrid's back arched a half-inch off the bed.

Aidan watched Eldrid's face as he played with her breasts. Her eyes were closed, her mouth open, panting for breath. "Hazel?" he asked. Her eyelids fluttered open, silver irises focused on him. She stared unblinking for a long moment. Then, her legs spread wide, far wider than needed.

Leaving his hand where it was, Aidan lifted his head and shuffled forward. Their heights were such that he couldn't keep suckling while he made love to her. Instead, he gave Eldrid a slow, tender, passionate kiss. As it went on and on, she lifted her right leg over his hip, baring herself completely to him.

The dragon inside Aidan showed itself at last, demanding him to draw this out, force her to beg for his cock. It wanted him to tease her until she couldn't take anymore, until she'd do anything to have Aidan satisfy her. He wrestled with his instincts, moving without conscious thought, rubbing his length between her slick lower lips. "Hazel," he ground out between clenched teeth.

Somehow, she knew what he wanted. "Do it," she sighed, tilting her head to the side. Aidan buried his head in the crook of her neck and sucked on the tender flesh there, drawing a sharp, "Daniel!" from the woman beneath him. Exultation surged through him as she accepted his mark, and he pushed forward, burying himself in tight, wet heat.

"Mm, uhn, uhn, ah, uhn." The buildup had been slow, but Aidan couldn't be satisfied with that pace any longer. Eldrid coiled around him, arching into his thrusts, heel digging into his ass as she pulled him into her, hand in his hair tangled now, holding him to her neck. "Fuck, uhn, uhn, oh, uhn, oh Daniel."

Now in the full grip of his long-delayed lust for her, Aidan ravaged Eldrid's willing body. He lunged against her hips, driving his full length in and out of her with every stroke. His hands, real and magical alike, roamed free, groping, squeezing, and rubbing every inch of smooth, sweating skin. "Hazel," he groaned into her neck, his climax still distant but visible now on the horizon.

"Daniel," she moaned back at him. "Unf, oh, ohfuck, Daniel. Uhn, uhn, ah!" Eldrid's right hand scratched down his back until her fingers sank into his bottom. "Harder! Uh, uhn, uhn, yes, fuckyes." She urged Aidan on with word and deed, reveling in the pleasure they both felt.

Seeking a change of position, Aidan pulled free of Eldrid. Seeming once more to be able to read his mind, she twisted and contorted beneath him, flipping over onto her belly, then rising up onto her hands and knees. Aidan wasn't sure what magic she used to reposition herself with such ease, but he was grateful. Taking hold of his shaft, he slotted his head at Eldrid's entrance and slid home once again.

"Mmm!" Eldrid let out a deep sound of satisfaction as Aidan's length filled her. He pulled out, then plunged forward, ramping the pace back up. "Unf, uhn, uhn, yesss." A wet slap-slap-slap sound joined Eldrid's grunts as Aidan's groin bounced off her upraised ass.

Taking advantage of the position, Aidan bent over his lover's back, reaching underneath and seizing Eldrid's dangling breasts in his hands. "Mm! Mm! Yes, Daniel, fuck, yes!" Eldrid tossed her head back, sending a spray of bright blue hair through the air. She thrust back against him, welcoming his every inch inside her. "Soon," she panted. "Mm, uhn, uhn, Daniel, close."

"Go ahead," he urged, resisting the urge to command Eldrid to come for him. Aidan repurposed his dominant aggression, channeling it instead into love bites and firm squeezes with his hands.

"Mmf, mmf, ohfuck, yes, yes, yes, ohyes!" Eldrid's head tilted farther back with every thrust and grope. "Daniel, Daniel!" Tension coiled through her body, her muscles tightening everywhere. Following his instincts, Aidan maintained his pace rather than speeding up, driving into Eldrid with hard, full-length lunges.

Aidan felt Eldrid's weight shift, then her fingers brushed across his shaft. The contact was incidental, her intention more self-serving as she rubbed her digits across her clit. "There, there, ohfuck, Daniel!" Within seconds, Eldrid clenched down around him, trembling and convulsing as her climax raced through her.

Giving her no time to recover, Aidan pulled out of Eldrid's clasping depths. He turned her shuddering body back over, then lifted her knees over his shoulders. Eldrid groaned deep in her chest as Aidan pushed between her fingers and into her drenched, spasming pussy. Her legs flexed, ankles locking behind Aidan's back.

"Monster," she accused, hands grabbing at the mattress. "Brute. Oh, fuck me. Uhn, uhn, unf, fuck, Daniel!" Aidan loomed over Eldrid, staring down at her. She seemed captivated by his gaze, unable to close her eyes or look away. The ecstasy swimming behind her silver irises compelled him. He could feel himself approaching the cliff, but he wanted to pull one more orgasm from Eldrid before he let himself fall.

Settling his weight onto one hand, Aidan cupped Eldrid's cheek and pressed his thumb to her lips. Her mouth opened, then closed, enveloping his digit. She suckled, lapping at his finger as if it were the head of his dick. "I'm close," Aidan told her, unable to keep the growl out of his voice.

"Mm-hm!" Eldrid's gaze sharpened, gained purpose. Dancer's legs tightened their grip, urging Aidan onward, downward into welcoming heat.

"Come with me?"

Eldrid's lips tugged up at the corners. "Mm! Mm-hmm!" Aidan felt her hand speed up, rubbing herself fast and hard. Her hips rolled as much as they could with Aidan's weight pinning her to the bed. "Mm!" she demanded with her body. "Mm mm!"

Aidan bent his head, finding Eldrid's neck again. Ecstatic tension filled him, ratcheting up at a rapid pace. He was there, standing at the edge, his fall now inevitable, but Eldrid wasn't quite ready yet. "Hazel," he said against her throat. Then, pulling his hand free of her mouth, Aidan plunged it between Eldrid's legs. She arched beneath him, gasping out a strangled cry as his fingers supplanted hers on her clit. Still, she wasn't quite there, the stimulus not enough. Acting without thought, Aidan clamped his teeth shut on Eldrid's shoulder.

"Oh! Daniel! Fuck!" Eldrid's body quivered, convulsed, squeezed tight around him.

Her release triggered his, and Aidan threw his head back, calling out, "Hazel!" as the world exploded around him. He pounded down into Eldrid, heedless, needy, unloading all his pent-up feelings into her writhing body.

Pleasure pulsed through Aidan for what felt like half an hour. His hips jerked and twitched as the tension drained out of him into the woman pinned beneath him. When the haze left his thoughts, Aidan pulled back and rolled off Eldrid. She followed him, nuzzling up against his chest.

"Consider your obligation discharged and your reputation upheld," Eldrid murmured. "Thank you, Aidan. I don't know how to tell you how much I needed that."

Aidan stroked his fingers through Eldrid's long blue hair. Telling her that she was welcome felt... inadequate. Cheap. "It was my pleasure," he said instead, "and I don't mean that as a joke. This wasn't how I expected this night to go, you know, but I hope this isn't the last time."

"The first night's free," Eldrid told him, the corners of her midnight blue lips tugging upward. "You'll have to earn anything more."

"Oh? I get the whole night? Then I'd better make the most of it," Aidan said. Eldrid laughed, then rolled onto her back, her legs and arms parting to welcome him between them once more.