Chapter 54:

  Her emotions finally felt like her own. Nereida looked at her wife, who was trembling. Ael was so certain she would be rejected that she kept offering to run. Nereida gently took her wife’s hands, and entwined their fingers.

  “Do you want this?” Nereida asked clearly, softly. “Do you want me?”

  “Yes.” The word burst out of Ael as if by its own accord, and she went bright red.

  “Then, my love, with a reminder that winter means stop, what are the rules tonight?”

  “Why do I set the rules?” Ael asked her, her voice quivering.

  “Because, my love, I know what I am comfortable with, what I am willing to do, what I am willing to have done to me.” She leaned in and kissed Ael’s cheek, then trailed her kisses up to her ear. “And I won’t do anything you aren’t ready for.”

  “I want you, my wife,” Ael said, her voice shaking as if she was afraid of her own words. That was something of a conversation for ter, Nereida decided.

  “Do you want the helm, my love?” Nereida whispered softly, kissing the lobe of Ael’s ear. “Or do you want me to lead you down this path?” She ran her hands down Ael’s still clothed body. The hesitation melted from Ael. She moved her hands to Nereida’s corset, to the ribbons that bound her in tightly.

  “I want you,” Ael managed, her breath already ragged. “I want to see all of you, touch all of you, and I want you to do the same to me. But… I want to see you first.” Nereida smiled, pced a gentle kiss on her wife’s lips.

  “Touch, taste, explore anything you desire,” she whispered.

  Ael began to slowly undo Nereida’s corset, loosening it first and then untying it completely. It dropped to the ground, and Nereida nudged it under the bed. The release of pressure was glorious. Ael pulled her in tightly, running her hands over her still-clothed breasts.

  “I believe, my dear princess, you promised I might mark you.” Ael whispered softly, tracing her fingers around in a circle around Nereida’s breasts.

  “Yes,” Nereida breathed, already feeling the heady rush. “Please, my wife, my love.” Slowly, Ael undid the front of her overdress, dropping the expensive fabric to the floor in a puddle of ruffles, ce and purple. Ael gently maneuvered Nereida onto the bed, kissing her softly down her neck, along her colrbone, as her fingers worked at the ribbon that held up her underdress. She slipped the dress down over Nereida’s shoulders slowly, ever so slowly, making Nereida shiver with anticipation. The underdress removed, Ael began trailing kisses down her wife’s chest, kissing each breast, licking her nipples, and then blowing gently on them. Nereida felt a little sound escape her as she buckled under the sensation. She wanted more, needed more. But Ael was inclined to tease her, trailing her kisses to the princess’s navel, stopping at the edge of her drawers. Slowly, she bent down, bringing her face to the ribbons that held the drawers on. She bit the knot gently, tugging it free with her teeth. Nereida felt a shiver run through her as the pirate gently eased her drawers off, leaving them on the floor.

  “There you are,” Ael whispered, her voice husky. She stood, leaving Nereida exposed on the bed in the bright moonlight. She made a show of looking over Nereida’s body, her face becoming more red the more she did so.

  “Ael,” Nereida said, looking up at her still standing wife. “Touch me, please.” Ael smiled, her expression wild, feral. She traced a single finger along the hair at the edge of Nereida’s groin. It was the lightest touch, so light it tickled.

  “Like that?” Ael asked, her smirk mischievous.

  “More than that,” Nereida replied, arching her back.

  “First… I want you to undress me.”

  Nereida did not have to be told twice. She sat up, kissing her wife’s lips while she worked furiously at the buttons on the overcoat. Ael had far too many buttons. Who put this many buttons on their clothing on purpose? Her hands shook, her need, her anticipation, driving her to complete distraction. Ael kissed her neck as she worked, making the undressing much harder than it had to be. Nereida moaned, trying to keep focus on her singur task. The st button was the most stubborn, and Ael switched sides to kiss the left instead by the time she managed to get the accursed jacket off.

  The jacket was immediately tossed to the side, and Nereida pulled her wife’s tunic up over her head. It came easily enough. Under all that was the Admiral’s corset. The knots were tied at the side. This, at least, came off easily enough, as she tugged the ribbons, uncing the garment until it tumbled to the floor. Nereida took a moment to gently kiss down Ael’s colrbone, trailing her kisses down her chest until she reached the top of Ael’s trousers.

  “May I?” she asked breathlessly. Ael agreed, slipping her fingers into Nereida’s hair, gently tugging, driving the princess to distraction as she worked the ribbon that tied the trousers up. She pced kisses, gentle, insistent kisses along the lines of Ael’s drawers. They were purple. Nereida chuckled.

  “Oh love, really?” She stroked the silky drawers. They ended in ce that was also dyed purple, though a much lighter shade. “Why purple underwear?”

  “Because I’m certain, love, that your brother told you of his little joke… and now, you can never tell him.” Her tone was teasing, and Nereida chuckled. Her wife was perfect.

  Content to tease through the drawers for a moment, Nereida lowered herself to her knees. She curled her fingers around the waistband, gently pulling down, and after each slow, gentle tug, she pced a kiss on the newly exposed skin. Ael’s hands tightened in her hair. She was clearly enjoying the sensation.

  “More?” Nereida asked, pulling the drawers down just a little more. The next tug would free her wife from clothing completely. Ael groaned out her “yes”. The silky purple fabric fell to the floor, joining the other bits of clothing that neither wanted any longer. Still kneeling, Nereida pced gentle kisses on the insides of her wife’s thighs, getting ever closer. Ael’s knees buckled and she nearly lost her bance.

  “Love,” Ael whimpered. Nereida looked up, a sly smile on her face.

  “If you can’t stand, we have a perfectly serviceable bed to explore each other in,” she said, taking a moment to very gently lick the inner thigh. Ael shivered and dropped onto the bed without any grace at all. “Do you want me to taste you?” Nereida asked, kissing her wife again, earning a moan as the Admiral y back in the bed. “Or touch you?” she ran her fingers slowly from the back of Ael’s right knee, ever so slowly upward. She could feel the goosebumps rising on Ael’s legs as she did so. “Or shall I mark you here,” she kissed inside the thigh, high up where no one else would ever see, “with a love bite? Should I mark you as mine?” Ael shivered, making a soft, mewling sound that made Nereida’s own fine hairs stand on end. Oh how she wanted this woman, her wife, her love.

  “Mark me,” Ael managed, leaning in enough to reach her hair, “but then I want to touch you, I want to…” she struggled to articute what she wanted, and so Nereida kissed her gently, and waited, running her fingers near the backs of Ael’s knees again, making her groan in frustration, in need. “I want to touch inside you,” Ael managed.

  “Soon, love,” Nereida promised. She deepened her kiss on Ael’s thigh,sucking until Ael buckled, grasping Nereida’s hair, pulling with both hands. Ael came apart with Nereida’s name on her lips.

  The siren climbed into the bed, straddling her wife, and she leaned in to kiss her.

  “Tell me, love,” Nereida whispered into Ael’s ear, nibbling on it, touching her nose to the soft hair that swirled free from the beautiful braid. “Tell me, can I take your hair from your braid before you touch me? I want to see you in all your glory, wearing nothing but our engagement bands and the circlets they gifted us.” Ael made another noise, one that sounded strangled, before she managed to speak again.

  “Take my hair out, love, while I touch you…” Nereida shifted back, so that her lover, her wife, could sit up, and she began, ever so slowly, to untie the ribbons in Ael’s hair. They sat facing each other, their legs tangled. With each knot the siren undid, Ael pinched her breasts softly, touching her with urgent, needing hands. The distraction of it drove Nereida nearly out of her mind, as she managed to undo the stubborn ribbon. Ael’s hair cascaded around her, wild, untamed. Nereida pced the silver circle back on her head. Ael reached over and put the blue circlet on Nereida.

  “Perfect,” she decred softly. “Nereida… do you accept all that the moon will give you, this night and all others?” Nereida shivered, leaned in, and captured her wife’s lower lip in a desperate, needy kiss.

  “I do,” she whispered. She took Ael’s hand, slipping it between her legs, giving permission to her beloved to touch, to py. Ael’s small, agile fingers did not disappoint. “Ael, do you accept all that the ocean will give you, this night and all others?”

  “I do,” Ael replied reverently, as she slid her fingers into Nereida. Ael used her free hand to slide Nereida’s unoccupied hand between her legs. “Nereida, please… I want…”

  “Me?”

  “Always.”

  They came apart together, and then, panting, Nereida pushed Ael gently back onto the bed.

  “Can I taste you?” she asked softly. Ael nodded. “Hold my hair, love,” Nereida encouraged. “Tightly, if you can. And don’t let go until you’ve come apart.” Ael mewled agreeably as Nereida lowered her mouth to her wife, touching and tasting as Ael twisted beneath her, crying out her name, begging desperately for more. The pull on her hair nearly had Nereida losing her mind, she wanted so badly to come apart again and again to her wife’s fingers, her tongue, whatever she would gift her with. They traded pces once they were done, Ael’s tongue shy but her fingers more than willing to take up the cause.

  “I love you,” Ael whispered as Nereida shuddered apart beneath her touch. “I would give you everything.”

  “I love you too,” Nereida managed, even as Ael slipped her fingers in again. Ael grinned mischievously.

  “How many times do you think I can make you come apart before we are too tired to move?” she asked, leaning in and taking Nereida’s breast in her mouth. She bit down gently, thrusting her fingers at the same time, and when Nereida cried her name in ecstasy, she grinned, mouth still on her breast. After a moment she looked up, pleased with herself. The pirate moved her face close to Nereida’s, kissing her chin up, moving up toward her ear. “I believe you promised I could mark you next time, love… and now you’ve gone and marked me twice.” She moved Nereida’s hand to the love bites, one after another. “Seems only fair that I mark you the same… what do you say to that, Ner? Can I mark you as mine?”

  “I’m yours,” Nereida whispered. She kissed Ael’s mouth, capturing her lip, holding it a moment between her teeth. “Mark me, love.” Ael growled pyfully, trailing soft, gentle, insistent nibbles down Nereida’s colrbone, down to her breasts. She kissed the left breast, squeezing the other nipple gently as her kiss deepened. Nereida arched her back, craving more, more, her body screaming with need as her wife dragged kisses lower and lower. As Ael kissed her thigh, demanding, sucking kisses, she slipped her fingers inside Nereida, causing the siren to fall apart, the air rushing from her lungs, the need turning into a burst of pleasure that left her dizzy. She opened her legs further, and Ael took that as an invitation to taste her again, until Nereida saw stars, her breath nearly gone as she whimpered her wife’s name in glorious, overwhelming ecstasy.

  Finally both spent, Ael y her head down next to Nereida’s. She pced a gentle, far more chaste kiss on her cheek, and pulled Nereida into her embrace.

  “Was that alright?” she asked, her tone shy in the darkness.

  “It was more than alright,” Nereida replied, kissing her cheek. “And for you?”

  “I saw stars. I’ve never known… now I know why people get so foolish about this.” She chuckled softly. Nereida shivered, this time not from pleasure, but from the chill in the air. There was no fire here, and now that they had worked up a sweat, the coolness of the air was far more noticeable. Ael slid out of the bed, and began to pick up their clothing, handing bits and pieces to Nereida. “Probably best if you just put on your underclothing to sleep. That dress will rustle.”

  Nereida ughed.

  “You just want easy access,” she teased, kissing her. “Come to bed, and we can pick up where we left off in the morning.” Ael grinned.

  “I love you, Nereida, my ocean.” She kissed Nereida deeply.

  “I love you, Ael.”

  A shadowy cloud passed over the moon, and the air chilled suddenly. Ael moved to Nereida’s side, leaning down to grab the sword that she betedly realized was still on the ship. Nereida felt a strange dizziness, heard Ael swear violently, and then she knew no more.

  FionaRobinsong