"How do you feel?" I asked, watching his face carefully for any sign of pain or regret.
"Full," he said with a breathless laugh, his cheeks flushing with renewed color. "Empty now, but... changed. Like you've remade me from the inside out."
The description sent heat spiraling through my belly. "Do you hurt?"
"A little," he admitted, then quickly added, "but it's good pain. The kind that reminds me what we've done, what I've given you."
I leaned down to press a soft kiss to his inner thigh,tasting salt and the faint musk of our lovemaking. "You've given me everything," I said against his skin. “Such gifts deserve proper care."
My hands and mouth worked in careful coordination, cleaning and soothing, pressing gentle kisses to skin still marked by our passion. When I reached the place where I'd been buried inside him, I was extra gentle, using the softest cloth and the warmest water to ease any lingering soreness.
The intimate attention made him squirm beneath my touch, not from discomfort but from growing awareness. I could feel his arousal beginning to stir again through the bond, could see the way his cock twitched with renewed interest despite his recent release.
"Already?" I asked with amused affection, pressing another kiss to his hip bone. "So eager for more?"
"I can't help it," he said, voice rough with embarrassment and desire. "The way you touch me, the way you take care of me... it makes me want things I didn't know I could want."
The confession sent heat racing through my veins. To know that my care, my attention, could affect him so deeply was intoxicating beyond measure. But there would be time to explore that response later—much later, when he'd had time to recover from his first claiming.
"There," I murmured when I was satisfied with my ministrations. "Better?"
He nodded, but I wasn't finished. Moving higher, I began to clean the evidence of his release from hischest and stomach, my touch reverent as I wiped away the proof of his pleasure. Each stroke of the cloth was followed by a kiss, until his torso was both clean and thoroughly worshipped.
"You're incredible," I said, settling beside him to gather him into my arms. "The way you responded to me, the way you trusted me with your first time... I've never experienced anything like it."
He curled against my chest with a contented sigh, fitting against me like he'd been made for this exact position. The bond hummed with satisfaction at our closeness, a warm golden thread that seemed to pulse with our synchronized heartbeats.
"I never understood before," he said quietly, his breath warm against my collarbone. "What people meant when they talked about feeling complete. But this... being yours, belonging to you... it's like finding a missing piece of myself I didn't know was gone."
The words hit me with unexpected force, emotion swelling in my chest until it felt difficult to breathe. This beautiful, strong man—who had knelt for me, who had taken my cock with such eager devotion, who had given himself to me so completely—felt the same overwhelming rightness I did.
"The feeling is mutual," I said, pressing my lips to the crown of his head. "I've never felt power like this before. Not the kind that comes from dominating through force, but the kind that comes from being trusted with someone's complete surrender."
We lay in comfortable silence for a while, skin cooling in the night air while our connection deepenedwith each shared breath. But gradually, I became aware of the marble beneath us growing cold, of the way Rion shivered slightly despite the warmth radiating from the sacred stones.
"Come," I said, helping him sit up with gentle hands. "We should move to our chambers. You'll be more comfortable there."
His eyes widened slightly. "Our chambers?"
"Did you think I'd send you back to sleep alone after what we've shared?" I asked, unable to keep the possessive edge from my voice. "You're bonded to me now, Rion. For the next twenty-eight days, you belong at my side. In my bed. Under my care."
The shiver that ran through him at my words had nothing to do with cold. "I... yes. Yes, I'd like that very much."
I helped him stand, both of us moving carefully on legs still unsteady from our exertions. Our ceremonial robes lay forgotten on the floor, but that didn't matter—we would have new clothes waiting in the bonded quarters, garments that marked our changed status.
As we moved toward the chamber's exit, I kept one arm around his waist, acutely aware of the way he leaned into my strength. The bond pulsed with contentment at his dependence, at the way he trusted me to guide him through this new reality.
"The bonded quarters are in the eastern wing," I explained as we walked through moonlit corridors. "Larger chambers, private bathing pools, everything arranged for pairs who need space to explore their connection."
"Have you seen them before?"
"Once, when I helped move a friend's belongings after his bonding ceremony." I tightened my arm around him, pulling him closer to my side. "But experiencing them as a bonded pair... that will be entirely different."
The corridors were empty at this hour, but I could feel eyes watching from shadowed alcoves—servants and acolytes who would spread word of our successful bonding, of the way Rion moved against my side with such obvious contentment. Let them see. Let them witness what authentic compatibility looked like.
We paused at the threshold of our new quarters, and I turned to face him fully. In the soft light filtering through the corridor windows, he looked like something out of legend—beautiful and marked and utterly mine for the next twenty-eight days.
"Are you ready?" I asked, though the question carried deeper meaning than mere relocation.
