Chapter 148: Say the Word
RETH
She stared at him, shocked for a moment, then that wicked smile he loved crept up on her face, and her eyes sparkled. "Now, that's the kind of royal discipline I can get behind—oh!"
"Get behind, you say?" he panted, rolling into her again.
She groaned and nodded, still clinging to his neck and shoulder.
Reth shuddered when she clenched around him, but made himself focus. To take her here, all the way, or bring her to the furs and do this properly?
To stay angry or to reconnect?
He pressed into her, long and slow, holding the peak. "Elia?" he rasped.
"Yes?" she said, her head lolling back against the wall.
"What do you want from me?"
She blinked her eyes open and straightened her head to meet his gaze.
He didn't stop moving within her, but slowed the pace. Her breath still caught, but she could think.
"W-what do you mean?"
"I mean… do you want a King? Or a… a man? Do you want a protector? Or a… what do you call them? A cheerleader?"
"Reth…" Her eyes went sad and he wasn't sure why. Even with her breathing so rapid, she put a hand to his face. "I just want you."
"Do you, though?" he croaked, and surprised himself by how terrified he felt of the answer. His anger was leaving, and apparently it had decided to take his balls with it. He swallowed and met her gaze, pressed into her and watched her mouth open, but she made herself keep eye-contact. "You said you don't want me to do the things I have to do, Elia, the things I must do to protect everyone."
"Oh, Reth, I adore that you want to protect everyone—including me. I j-just need to know that there will be a day when I can walk out of this c-cave… and you'll be proud to be beside me—or let me walk alone."
"I already am, Elia." He let out a deep breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding and took her mouth again. But his fingers were in her hair and he'd lost the razor edge of his anger. When she whimpered and her clinging took on a different tone—less aggressive, more desperate—he kissed down her neck, then whispered, "Hold on, love."
She tightened her arms around his neck as he pulled her off the wall and turned, walking her to the furs, crawling up her legs still wrapped around him—her legs that had developed new, hard muscles under her soft skin, he realized.
Then he lay her down on the furs and rolled into her again, groaning as she put her hands above her head and arched for him.
"Oh, Reth, please…" she murmured, her nipples peaked and brushing against his chest.
With another groan, he took one in his mouth, and tweaked the other between his thumb and forefinger, even as he curled into her again, and again.
"Reth! she gasped. "Please don't ever pull away from me again! That scared me,"
"I won't, love. You have my word." He kissed her softly, but was soon forced to drop his face to her shoulder, to breathe.
She was clenching again, her breath coming in short pants.
"Oh, Reth—"
"Come for me," he whispered, nipping her neck. Her skin pebbled and he growled his approval.
"Reth!"
"I'm here, I'm here!" and he was, right on the cusp.
"Please!" she cried and braced on the furs, fisting them at her sides as he pounded into her again, harder, and harder, moaning his desire and his love until she clenched around him and tensed, arching, not breathing, her body jerking, and her cry called to him, deep inside.
His orgasm hit at the base of his spine and he shuddered, roaring for her, shaking, then collapsing over her, both of them panting and sweaty.
*****
ELIA
Having his weight resting over her, his breath in her ear, was a balm. She hated fighting with him—hated seeing the cold distance he'd been willing to put between them. Being so close to him—even when he was angry—soothed something in her. Something that got desperate and chittery when she thought about losing him.
"Reth, I love you so much," she said, combing her fingers through his hair.
He mumbled something and she snorted.
"Well, I can see that all I have to do to calm the beast is piss him off, then bonk him," she giggled.
Reth sighed and pushed himself up on his elbows, his face confused. "What the hell is bonk?"
She grinned. "It's a word I learned from a British research assistant at the university. It means… what we just did."
He raised his eyebrows, then sank back down on top of her, groaning. "Humans are weird."
Elia's chest swelled and she hugged his shoulders, but then her smile faded. "I meant it, Reth."
"Meant what?" he mumbled into her hair.
"Please don't ever pull away from me again. Even if you're angry, or I am. When you didn't want me to touch you…" It had made her feel cold inside. Alone.
He pushed himself up again, leaning on one elbow, his fist at his temple. His other hand stroked her skin and his eyes glowed when he saw her pebble again under his touch, and her nipple harden. But he cleared his throat and refocused.
"Even if I get angry," he said carefully, "even if I pull away, it will only to be to… soothe myself for a time. I will never stop wanting you, Elia. And I will never deny you. Not for any length of time."
Her lips twisted. "Can we make some kind of deal?"
He gave her a look. "I thought we already did?"
"No, I mean about the touching. Can we have some kind of agreement. A signal. Something that we agree, if one of us gives the signal because we need… something, the other will always give it."
"What did you have in mind?"
She put a hand to his shoulder and stroked it, playing her fingers along the lines of his muscles. "How about a word that, if one of us says it, the other has to allow touch? Or give some kind of comfort?"
He frowned. "I don't see why not. How do you want this to work?"
"Well," she said, smiling and stroking his face, pulling him closer. "For example, if I said the word and looked at you like this, you'd have to kiss me." She pulled him all the way in and laid her mouth on his.
He kissed her and she felt his body twitch. "Mmmmm… and if I said the word?"
"What would you want?"
"I would want to taste you," he whispered, then took her mouth again.
"I could definitely get into that," she whispered back, and let herself be tasted.
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