Aris crept quietly up to her shared room, but she needn’t have bothered. Anton was awake and waiting for her, and Suliel was curled up next to him, sleeping like a day-old kitten. Kelsey was still in her chair, nattering on about nothing.

  “All done?” Aris asked.

  “And how!” Kelsey responded. “You’re lucky Suliel’s going to be riding in the carriage, ‘cause she won’t be able to walk tomorrow.”

  Anton looked uncomfortable with the crudity. “Don’t exaggerate, Kelsey,” he said. He looked at Aris with a smile that sent a shiver of anticipation through her.

  “Actually,” Aris said, holding herself back from just jumping on her husband. “Can we get some privacy?”

  She started slowly unlacing the front of her dress. While her clothes were fancier now, she could still undress herself without help.

  “Huh?” Kelsey asked. “What’s that?”

  “You want Kelsey to leave?” Anton asked, surprised. “You’ve never minded before.”

  “It’s more that she has something she needs to do downstairs,” Aris explained as her bodice came loose.

  “I am pretty busy right now, outfoxing those wizards,” Kelsey admitted, “But that leaves this avatar free to appreciate the finer things.”

  “You need to apologise to Tyla,” Aris said. “She told me everything.”

  Kelsey grimaced. “Look, it’s no big deal. What happens in my head stays in Vegas.”

  “It matters to Tyla,” Aris stated firmly. “It matters to me, and it will matter to Anton when I tell him all about it.”

  She slipped the dress off her shoulders, allowing it to fall freely. Now she was just wearing her shift.

  “Aw, come on!” Kelsey protested. “No one likes a snitch!”

  “So,” Aris pressed, “You’re going to go down there and apologise, and make Tyla feel better so by the time Anton hears about it, you will have—somewhat—made amends.”

  “That sounds hard,” Kelsey whined. “Can’t she just stew in her own repressed feelings for a while? It works for Catholics.”

  Aris didn’t know what that was supposed to mean, so she ignored it. “I know you can act like a decent human being when it suits your interests,” she stated. “It is, right now, so do it.”

  “Fine, fine,” Kelsey said, getting up from her chair and heading for the door. “If I die from those guys while I’m away, it’s on you.”

  “What was that about?” Anton asked as Kelsey closed the door behind him.

  “It’s not urgent,” Aris said. “I’ll tell you later. Trust me?”

  “Always,” Anton replied. “Do you still want to?”

  Aris nodded, and Anton gently disentangled himself from Suliel. She mumbled something but didn’t come close to waking. Aris drank in the sight of her tall, muscular husband. His caramel-coloured skin seemed to glow in the lantern light.

  “You really wore her out,” Aris said. She dropped her shift to the floor, giving Anton a good view of her naked body. Her dark skin—almost as dark as Suliel’s—her large breasts with nipples that ached for his touch.

  He smiled appreciatively and drew her over to the other bed. Like the one Suliel was in, it was narrow and had high wooden sides. They’d hoped to push them together, but the walls made that impractical. Anton bent down to kiss her, his tongue invading her mouth. She was breathing harder when he released her.

  Anton chuckled indulgently. “She handles the social stuff so well, but it stresses her so badly,” he said. “She needed… release.”

  Aris was feeling the need for some of that as well. She brought her arms up over his shoulders and kissed him again. Then she lowered her lips and tasted the salt of his sweat. Anton murmured his encouragement, so she went lower, placing kisses all the way down his chest and stomach.

  Anton sighed with contentment as Aris knelt before him, taking him into her mouth. The side of the bed was too high to sit on properly, but he leaned back on it, letting her have his way with him.

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  Aris tasted the remains of his lovemaking with Suliel. His musky scent was overpowering. She ran her tongue down the length of him, delighting in the pleased grunts she elicited. Then she began to work on him more earnestly, bobbing her head back and forth. She felt the twitches in his muscles as his orgasm began, but she didn’t relent, squeezing as hard as she could with her lips and tongue.

  Mindful of making noise, Anton’s cry when he came was a strangled grunt, but the seed that gushed into her mouth was sign enough. Aris swallowed every drop, licking him clean before releasing him.

  “Ah, that was so good,” Anton sighed. Still panting from her exertions, Aris could only hum in acknowledgement.

  “Lie down,” she finally managed to say, and Anton grinned, knowing what was coming next.

  He lay back in the second bed and let her slide over him. She straddled his naked form, letting her sex rest against him. He was quiescent for now, but that wouldn’t last long. Just rubbing against him like this made him stir, and she felt an answering response from within her.

  Despite her position, she didn’t feel like she was dominating him. She knew that, despite the awkward positioning, the hands caressing her waist could lift her over Anton’s head easily. His hips could thrust hard enough to send her slamming into the ceiling.

  Aris shivered as she felt the power of the man underneath her. It wasn’t tamed or restrained. Anton was in control, and she trusted him, absolutely, to use that power to please them both. Suliel wanted to struggle against that strength and fail. She wanted to be crushed by it, like a stormy sea smashing itself against a cliff.

  It was different for Aris. She wanted—and got—Anton to respond to her desires, even as she surrendered to him. She smiled as she felt him get slowly hard against her. His hands came up and squeezed her full, heavy breasts. She pushed them into his hands and moaned at the sensation. Then he started gently twisting her nipples, and she had to suppress a scream.

  “Don’t… go too rough, we’ll wake Suliel,” she gasped, barely able to think straight. Anton’s member was almost ready, hot and hard against her. She adjusted her hips to slide along it.

  “It’s fine,” Anton groaned. “I don’t think you could wake her up if you screamed.”

  “Oh?” It was time. He was ready, and she was wet. Aris rose and impaled herself on her husband’s member. Hot and hard, it pushed her flesh aside and prompted a stifled scream of pleasure from her.

  “That wasn’t—I’m not testing—” she gasped.

  “Go slow then?” Anton grunted. He moved his hands to her hips and lifted her up. Only a short distance, and then he slowly drew her down.

  Aris moaned. She could move herself; her legs still worked, but Anton’s strength was irresistible. She could strain against it, or she could relax; it made no difference to the slowly building rhythm that he was enforcing on her. Her muscles started to twitch, urging her to drive herself down harder on him, but there was nothing she could do. The slow, inexorable slide of his flesh in hers consumed her.

  “Faster,” she moaned, and Anton obliged. The electric tension of her orgasm was building in her, but Anton’s steady pounding was holding it at bay, letting the edge of it run through her, without letting the wave crash down.

  She gasped as she hit a new peak, and the strength ran out of her muscles. She slumped down on top of Anton, squashing her breasts against his bare chest. He responded by adjusting the angle of his hips, but kept pistoning into her.

  Now she was sliding across him, friction building up in her nipples as they dragged against him. She wanted to kiss him, but his lips kept getting dragged away every time he pulled her back around him.

  “Please,” she cried. “I can’t take much more.” She wanted to, wanted that pounding rhythm to drive everything out of her.

  Anton groaned, lost in his own pleasure, and started thrusting deep inside her. He picked up the tempo and force of his thrusts, every one launching a firework of ecstasy that ran through Aris like a wildfire.

  “Anton! I can’t—”

  Aris convulsed as her orgasm took over. A brief moment later, she felt Anton give way and release himself inside her. For a brief moment, she lost herself.

  When she came back to herself, she was kissing Anton, and he was holding her tightly. His tongue wrestled hers as she greedily invaded him. She tasted sweat, his saliva and Suliel.

  Anton’s hand gently stroked her back, calming her frantic exertions. A few moments later, she broke off the kiss with a slight feeling of embarrassment. Her chest heaved as she gasped for air.

  “Calmed down?” Anton asked.

  “I didn’t know I missed this so much,” Aris admitted. “We were only guests of the duke for two days.”

  Suliel had been mortified by the thought that her liege lord—and by extension, her mother—would hear of, or worse, hear her releasing herself. Aris had refrained from anything strenuous out of solidarity.

  “I don’t know how she managed when we were out at sea,” Aris said.

  “It was horrible,” Suliel said from the other bed. Anton gave a little start, moving underneath and inside her.

  “Sorry, did we wake you?” he asked.

  “Mmn,” Suliel sighed languorously. “Are you done?”

  “Don’t tell me you want another round?” Aris asked.

  “No,” Suliel said, after a reluctant pause. “I just don’t want to sleep alone in this bed.”

  “There’s barely enough room in here for two,” Aris protested. “If you come in, we’ll both be jammed in on top of Anton. He’ll be crushed.”

  “I don’t mind,” Anton said. “You’re both as light as feathers. Won’t you get uncomfortable, though, lying on me instead of the bed?”

  “We’ll be fine,” Suliel said. “You’re very comfortable.”

  Aris snorted, but slid to the side, allowing Anton to slide out of her. “I suppose we do have a big day tomorrow.”

  Suliel climbed in next to her. Still naked, she pressed herself against Anton and kissed him.

  “Mmm. Are you sure you weren’t after a second round?”

  “Monster. Just let me sleep,” Suliel mumbled, snuggling up to her husband. Aris did the same. The bed really was narrow. The high sides meant that there was no danger of her falling out, but she was squeezed against Suliel. Not that she had a problem with that.

  Anton breathed easily under both of them, showing off his immense strength. They really were just featherweights to him. Aris felt herself relax against the steady rhythm of his movement.

  “Remember, you have to tell me what Kelsey did,” he murmured. His deep voice rumbled through her.

  “In the morning,” she promised.