Or perhaps it was the company that joined her.
Nadir had spotted her from the beach where he was training others, and she hadn't waited to see if he would follow. She certainly hadn't expected him to.
But the door opened when she was pulling her shirt off, and Nadir paused just inside, hand still on the doorknob.
"Hello, Commander," Nyssa said as she finished unbuttoning her pants. She kicked them off, leaving only her undergarments.
Sweat continued to drip down her spasming muscles. Nadir hadn't stopped staring. He was watching her with as much, if not more, lust than he ever had.
Nyssa had worked a long time to be confident enough to stand naked in front of another being and be proud of her body. Especially to stand before someone who looked like him. Years of battling and pushing herself against her brother, growing muscles, and finally storing some fat on her petite frame in the place of the frailness she'd once thought was the only way someone would think her beautiful or worthy of their attention. She'd fought to push her mother's voice out and focus on her own.
Exhaling the fire. Breathing in the smoke.
Nadir closed the door.
"I'm going to take you as mine against this door, Princess," he said as his gaze lingered on her heaving breasts. "And then I'm going to devour you in that bath like I did at your castle."
The corner of her lips quirked when his eyes locked with hers, and she reached for the tie on the front of her leather corseted bra.
"All yours, Commander," she uttered as her supple breasts sprang free.
Before she could blink, he was on her. Lips crashing into hers, his hands on her wrists. He threw them above her head and shoved her back into the wall.
The want from him sent her head spinning and made her body come alive.
All the pain in her muscles seemed to wane with his grasp. His mouth was on her throat, hips pushing into hers. He moved to cup her face, and she reached for his pants. The criss-cross ties on the front quickly came undone. He reached between her legs as she began to stroke him, and he pushed her underwear off in a manner that had he not been hanging onto her, she might have stumbled.
Pressing his torso flush with hers again, he allowed a finger to rake between her folds. She couldn't control the sharp inhale of breath against her sensitive nerves, the tease from the night before making her ache already.
His lips curved against her throat as he felt her already soaking. "Good morning, Princess," he purred in her ear. He didn't wait for a response. His hands moved to her backside. She was hauled up onto his waist with a jump, and he filled her completely. He cursed in her neck as her head threw back into the wood.
The door rattled with every thrust. She didn't hold in her moans as he took her, claiming her as he'd said he would. Until she couldn't breathe and her nails raked into his flesh. She came apart with him in a manner that limped what was left of the feeling in her legs.
Despite his saying he would devour her in the bath, he quickly realized his tub was not the size hers had been in her castle. He had instead held her backward on his lap and hugged her from behind as she pleasured him slowly. His forehead had laid against her spine, fingers snaking around her waist and dipping between her thighs, causing her breath to hitch and for her to find her end before he.
She relaxed back against his chest after, and he drew circles on her arms as he told her about the legion he had been working with that morning and where he hoped they would be by the time the spring arrived.
Nyssa was enjoying learning more about his army and the way he cared for his people. The way he spoke about each person... She wondered if his people realized how much he cared for them both individually and as a unit.
"I was honestly surprised to find you do not have an underwater legion," she said as she toyed with the bubbles on her hands. "What with your water breathing abilities,” she continued. “Or even a secluded village beneath the water."
"There are remains of such a village out by the home place," Nadir said. "Underwater. It was pretty spectacular back then. I'll show you one day.”
"What happened?"
"Ah... We were once a divided people about sixty years ago. Back then, we were at each other's throats because of the way everyone thought we should be sharing our resources. Some of us knew it was the only way to secure our place in Haerland and become an essential part of the world. Others thought we should keep all of it to ourselves. Only worry for our own."
"How did you come to a settlement?"
Nadir didn't speak for a moment, and she felt him tense behind her. "There was a great battle fought between us, but the battle wasn't what destroyed the underwater village.”
"What was it?"
"The sea dragon," he said, and she leaned up from against him.
"The one you fought to secure your place as Commander?" she remembered.
He nodded.
