Part 49 (1/2)

I lifted my helmet off, and cast it into a corner. Maran, her eyes solemn, never leaving mine, came close, and her fingers slowly unb.u.t.toned my tunic, and I slid out of it, and pulled off my s.h.i.+rt.

There was a chair behind me, and I fell back into it. She pulled my boots off, then I stood as she unb.u.t.toned my trousers and I stepped out of them.

Maran turned her back, and my fingers moved down the long line of b.u.t.tons of her gown, and it fell in a pool about her feet. All she wore was a transparent white lace undergarment that began between her legs, ran vertically in the rear until it reached the base of her spine, then Y-ed out to reach over her shoulders and down to her s.e.x, barely widening enough to conceal her nipples.

I ran a fingernail down the smoothness of her stomach, and she shuddered, her eyes closing.

I lifted her in my arms, and laid her down on the carpet, barely noticing another marvel, that it was as warm and soft as a comforter. I kissed her eyelids, the edges of her lips, caressed the inside of her mouth with my tongue, the rims of her ears, her neck, slipped the straps of her undergarment, and teased her nipples with my teeth.

She lay with her hands together, above her head, as I moved my lips down over her stomach. Her hips lifted and I slipped the undergarment away. Her knees lifted and spread as I slipped between them, lips moving on her shaven satin, tongue sliding inside her, warmth meeting warmth.

”Oh, Damastes,” she whispered. ”Oh, my husband. Now we are one.”

I rose to my knees, and guided my c.o.c.k into her, measuring its length within her as her legs embraced me, her nails rasping on the rug above her head as we moved in the rhythms of love, little heeding the storm roaring outside.

”How does it feel to be doing this legitimately?” I asked.

”You know,” Mar&i said, and I saw in the flickering firelight that her expression was quite serious,”I never felt what we were doing was wrong.

”I just wish I'd met you when I was seventeen.”

”Now what would the chances have been of me, a country legate of what, twenty, being able to woo the beautiful, virginal daughter of one of the richest families of Numantia? I would have been horsewhipped off your estates by one or maybe all of your brothers. Things like that happen only in the romances.”

”Iwonder,” she said. ”I'll always wonder.”

”Do you know when I first fell in love with you?” Marin asked. We lay side by side.

”The first time I held your hand, and lifted my eyebrows'?” ”Stop being lascivious! It was when Hernad... when a certain person who shall never be named told you that 'the lit- *tie woman knows how to please,' the very first night we met, and the way you looked at him. I'd never seen such contempt before. Do you remember?”

”I do. But I thought I kept better control of my features.” ”No, my Damastes. I fear you can be read like a book, at least by me. For instance, I can tell what you are thinking at this very moment.”

”That's hardly much of a challenge,” I said. ”Youcan feel what I'm thinking, too.” I rifted her thigh over mine, then came to my knees, pulling her legs over my thighs until her s.e.x was close against me and I was fully inside her. She locked her legs around my back, and pulled herself back and forth, each time almost letting me come free. I slipped my thumb down, moving it gently across her c.l.i.toris, and her back arched as she moaned, then screamed aloud as her body spasmed.

I felt my own throbbing build, pulled out of her, and moved up over her, rubbing my c.o.c.k between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and then I came, gasping as I spattered across her body.

Maran smiled up at me, breath still coming hard, and began rubbing my s.e.m.e.n over her nipples and b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

”A lotion to keep you forever mine,” she murmured, and licked her finger.

”What do you want your son to be named?”

”I didn't know it was going to be a son. Or did you visit another mage without telling me?”

”I just know it will be a boy.”

”Thank you, my wizardess. We can name him after your father.”

”No.”

”All right, thenmy father.”

”Can't we give him a fresh beginning?”

”Mar&i, isn't this a little ...” I stopped myself. ”Very well. Let's name him Laish. That seems to be a very lucky name these days.”

She considered.

”Yes,” she said, finally. ”Yes. That is a very good name.”

She was lying on her stomach, staring at the dying embers of the fire. It must have not been far from dawn. I was lying on one elbow beside her, admiring the way the fire outlined her sleekness. She got up and went into the bathroom. I heard her rummaging around in one of her cases, then she returned and lay back down.

”Can I ask you something?”

”I never knew you had to answer all these questions on your wedding night.”

”You don't,” she said, and her tone was strange. ”Not if you're unlucky.”

I grimaced, ashamed I'd accidentally led the conversation onto uncomfortable ground.

”You can ask anything, you can tell anything,” I said, and hugged her around the hips.

”Once, when we were on a picnic, you started to do something, and I stopped you from going any further. Do you remember?”

Suddenly I did, and said so.

”Damastes... make love to me again. Please. Make love to me... that way.”

I felt a chill. I was wondering what I should say, and she turned her head and looked at me.

”Please, my darling?” There was urgency in her tone. I nodded. She gave me what was in her hand, and I saw it was a tube of unguent.

I caressed her b.u.t.tocks, and moved my finger between them, and she flinched.

”Maran,” I whispered. ”I don't think this is right. I don't want to hurt you.” My c.o.c.k was limp against my thighs.

”Youmust... and I know you'll never hurt me. Please. This is important.”

I began caressing her back, then moved my hand between her legs, stroking her s.e.x, feeling the wetness I'd left from our lovemaking. After a time, her breathing became faster, became panting. I responded, growing hard once more. I lifted her hips*and slid a pillow under them, then moved her thighs apart and knelt over her. I slid gently into her. She gasped. ”Not there, I meant-” ”Hus.h.!.+”

I moved slowly, long regular strokes, and her gasps became moans, her hands digging at the carpet.

Now I put unguent on my finger, and put it in her, moving it in a circle, feeling my c.o.c.k inside her body as it moved and my finger caressed. She cried out in pleasure, and I put another oiled finger beside the first, both moving, moving.

”Oh yes, oh now, oh Damastes, I'm ready,” and I felt her pulse back and forth around my fingers.