“Was I, now?” Tanis lifted an eyebrow. He didn’t care if she wanted to rewrite history, he was just so hopeful that she might stay, even if only for a little longer.
“From the moment you saw me.”
Tanis lifted her up onto a rocky ledge, kneeling before her. He kissed his way up her thighs and dragged his teeth across her leg. It had already been too long since he was sated on her taste, and for all he knew this could be the last time.
“In fact, uh, actually. You should know, peeling bugs off a halfling is essentially the same thing, so we’ve been already married for a day,” she told him between little gasps as he traced the sensitive rim of her entrance with his thumb, unable to suppress both her mischievous grin and her pleasure.
Tanis rolled his eyes. “How fortunate, then.”
His mouth met her sweet cunt, her earthy scent sending a shiver down his back as he tasted her again. Her hips jerked as he passed over that little needy bud, and he brought his full attention to it, tongue working over it as he curled his fingers in and out of her.
Tanis came up for a breath and licked his lips, chin no doubt wet with her nectar. Her insides twitched around his fingers as she looked at him and winced. He grinned, thinking he was the luckiest soul in the Whispering Woods.
Bianca bit her lip and cast a look at his cock, bobbing eagerly between them, a trail of his seed leaking down his shaft already.Their eyes met and he knew she was ready when she tried to spread her legs even wider.
Tanis threaded his arms under her knees, lifting her up against him. He felt her light touch guide him to her entrance and when he lowered her she came down on his cock, hot and tight and perfect.
“But that also means you have to swear to protect me from all bugs. For–forever,” she managed between heavy breaths, gasping and groaning at every inch she worked her way down his shaft. Tanis had to laugh, half in admiration and half at himself for how he had already decided that on the way over. If all he had to do was kill some spiders to be worthy of her affection, then he'd take that deal. Even if it was a fool’s task, living in the woods.
Every bit she took of him he could feel her stretch tighter. He thrust into her, she rocked her hips against him, clutching his shoulders until her insides spasmed, and even after.
“Y-you also have to make me flower crowns. Daily,” she gasped.
He would see what he could do about that.
Tanis could feel the scar she’d cut into his jaw burn with the Blood Fever, his muscles straining as he pounded into her, blood pumping, heart thudding until his release tipped over the edge. Heat flooded his body wholly as he pumped into her, slicker with each thrust, as her core quivered and milked his seed from him.
For many minutes, it was just her arms around his neck, him holding her close to his body, melting into the hot spring.
He climbed out of the water to cool off on the soft mossy ground, offering her a hand. Bianca scrambled out even with his help, and curled up against his side, laying her head on his chest. After several quiet minutes, he noticed the little clover buds growing alongside the moss. He plucked a few, winding their stems together as the minutes passed.
“No, but for real,” she trailed off, and for a moment he didn’t think she would finish her thought. How mandatory was the flower crown thing?
Bianca looked at him, a quiet sort of openness in her face. “You heard me when no one else did.”
He cupped her cheek in his hand. That meant something important to her, and it made his chest ache to think of her feeling overlooked, and by her expression, for far longer than she had told him. He wanted her to know she made him feel the same way, that he felt more open just by being around her.
In time, he would tell her. If they had time.
“So you’ll stay?”
“The troupe does come through this way every year,” she shrugged, watching the reservation in his face turn slowly into understanding. “I thought, maybe I’ll catch up with them next Solstice. Maybe you could come with me. We’ll figure it out. But I want to give us the chance we deserve.”
He smiled at that. A year was perfect. He finished off the knot on the chain of wild clover, and looped it over the top of her head.
Horse took notice of her edible circlet and sniffed the top of her head. Tanis shooed him away with a hand.
She scrunched her nose at him, but it slipped into a smile. “So, Tanis Halfling Eater, kin-in-law to mushrooms. How are we going to explain all this to the rest of them?”
“I told you, I don’t like riddles.”
“Tough.”
1
Nettle
Unfortunately, the best seat in the tavern for Nettlewisp was in the dusty rafters. There, at least, she didn’t have to worry about the drunken patrons pulling out the chair she was occupying and nearly sitting on her again. Up here, she only had to fend off the occasional rat crawling across the beams.
