Thrax

But maybe he’ll be proud of his Daddy.  And maybe he’ll want to grow up to be just like you.  Thrax, being who you are and doing what you do doesn’t have to break your child’s heart.  You’ll be a good example.  And maybe he’ll turn out to be a good person because of you.”

Agena slid her hand across the rail to touch his.  Thrax looked at their hands together and took in the feeling of her skin against his own.  It felt refreshing, like the dew on the leaves and the first cool air of night turning to day.  He met her eyes and felt as if he were waking up all over again.

“I did not think of things in that way,” he admitted.  “Perhaps it’s because I am a Knight, after all.  We think in very linear, very direct ways.  Duty and orders and deeds.  Look straight ahead, no distractions.  Think of one thing and one thing only until it is done.  This is our way.  At times, we think of things in one way and do not see anything else.  But it’s true, I never considered that.”

She kept her hand there, and they both appreciated the simple pleasure of reassurance by touch.  For the moment, they needed no words.  This was all the understanding they required.

But at length, Thrax did speak up again.  “There was one other thing that I thought of last night,” he said.  “It’s one other thing that makes all the difference, at least to me.  And, I hope, to you as well.”

“What’s that?” she asked.

“When you left the table last night, you took all your expectations with you.  And I soon realized…you also took all of mine.”

“Expectations?”

“Yes.  We both know why we are here.  We both know what the two of us were brought together to do.  But at least at first it meant something different to each of us.  For me, it meant a duty that I had not asked for, that I had not sought, and that I had done everything to avoid.  But when you left to spend the night alone, I knew something had changed.”  He took his hand from hers, only to take her hand again and entwine their fingers together.  A world of feelings stirred inside Agena once again. 

“The one last thing that makes a difference in everything is just that I know…that I want you, Agena.  I do.  I expressed my desire then, and I repeat it now.  I came out here to see you this morning, hoping that I had not offended and disappointed you so that your feelings had changed.  I want you.  Not for the purpose of making a child, but for the pleasure of your body and mine, together in bed. 

I want us to do to one another everything that would make us happy.  There is one benefit of the Courtship: It takes away all of the complications and uncertainties and doubts and reservations and all the games that people play that may not get them what they want.  It simplifies everything.  The simple truth is that I very much want us to go to bed together, if you will still have me.  Today.  I offer my body to you, Agena—today.” 

She reached out with her free hand to touch his face—the first thing she wanted to touch but by no means the last.  He was handsomeness and sensuality personified, strength wrapped in pure s*x. 

“I’m so happy you feel that way,” she said.  “Yes, Thrax.  Yes.  Today.”

Thrax let her keep her hand on his face and travel with her fingers down to his neck and shoulders.  Down below, beneath his trousers, the part of him that he most wanted her to touch pulsed with readiness for her.  “Then here is what I propose,” he said.  “First, we take breakfast, which will end more happily than our dinner.  Then, you join me in a bath.  And then, to bed.  All day and all night, and all tomorrow, and onward.  Do you accept?”

Agena smiled widely, beaming her happiness at him.  Her answer came almost as a laugh.  “Yes.  Yes, Thrax, I accept.”

Smiling back at her, he said, “Then let me offer you this to begin.”

And with all the decisiveness that he would show on a mission or in a battle, Thrax reached for her, took her by the waist, pulled her to him, brought her face to his own stubbled handsomeness, and claimed her mouth in a fiery kiss.  A burst of pleasure filled Agena’s being. 

She gave herself to the kiss, wrapped her arms around his bare shoulders, took in the delicious crush of his powerful arms encircling and capturing her, and delighted in the hardness of his muscles and in the smoothness of his skin, the preamble to everything else she wanted.  The kiss lasted a long time, but eventually, he took his mouth from hers while keeping his face close.

“Then let us call for service, have last night’s dishes taken away, and order breakfast.  And after we have taken food…I shall have you.”

This time, Agena kissed Thrax, long and hard, pleasing him with her acceptance and sealing the bargain. 

*****

It was not the most romantic thing Thrax could have asked her, but under the circumstances, it was necessary:

“Where do you want to wear your data collector?”

After breakfast, they had adjourned to the common bathroom off the central area of the suite, with a large, circular sunken bathtub that might as well be thought of as an artificial, miniature pond.  Thrax and Agena had stripped naked, as they had done to swim together in Serpent’s Tongue Stream, and filled the little bathing pond with warm water.  Then they waded in together, and Thrax, once again showing her his awesome erection, strode through the water and presented her with a malleable piece of artificial dragon skin.