So after a deep, unsteady breath, she shoved away from Gaelfr, and toward Kalfr. Fighting to ignore the look on his face, the bleakness in his eyes, as she reached for his slack hand, and caught it. Gripped it, held it, as tightly as she could.
Kalfr’s hand twitched in hers, but he didn’t pull away. And as Raye looked at him, felt the cold clamminess of his hand, she wanted to say something. Something eloquent, and meaningful, and hopeful, but there was only —
“Will you kneel with me, like Gaelfr asked?” she croaked. “You don’t need to pray, if you don’t want to, not like that. But we could still —”
Her throat convulsed, because gods, she hadn’t been about to say that, or offer that… or had she? And the way Kalfr was looking at her, still with glimmers of that familiar hatred in his eyes, yes, but also… also…
Hunger. Anger.Life.
The memory of her kneeling beneath the table flashed behind her eyelids, because… he’d looked like this then, too. And he’d done it, he’d wanted it, and now… now…
And before Raye lost the nerve, she staggered toward the stone altar, and clambered up to kneel on it. Not the way one usually would kneel to pray, demure and pious, but instead… the other way. On her hands and knees, her still-covered arse aimed toward him, like an appeal. An offering. A punishment…
“Please, Kalfr,” she whispered. “Please come, and kneel, and… do whatever you wish with me.”
30
Too late, Raye cringed at the sound of her own voice, the appalling position of her own body. The unthinkable, humiliating thing she’d just offered.
Please come, and kneel. Do whatever you wish with me.
And gods curse her, she was still offering it. Still waiting, kneeling, her face burning hotter with every silent passing instant, while her thoughts blared with the hysterical urge to lift up her skirts, just in case Kalfr had somehow missed the point. But what even was the damned point, they were outdoors in the middle of the fucking day, what was happening to her, what was Kalfr thinking, why wasn’t he responding, would he laugh or mock her or just walk away…
But as Raye squeezed her eyes shut, about to shove herself backwards again, to perhaps try to pass this off as some terrible joke, there was a sound, from behind her. Gaelfr, clearing his throat. And then the unmistakable sound of footsteps, moving closer, followed by… a touch. A hand. Gaelfr’s hand.
“Ach, mark this,ástin mín,” came his gruff voice, as that hand gripped at Raye’s skirts, and began… sliding them up. “Ourmate seeks to honour and comfort you, upon your altar. Just as she should.”
That was approval in his voice, in the brief squeeze of his hand against Raye’s thigh, and oh, he kept raising her skirts higher. Clearly not caring that they were outdoors in the middle of the day either, perhaps since he’d said the rest of them were staying inside. And the altar was surrounded by all this greenery, and Raye couldn’t catch even a glimpse of the house from here.
But then again, anyone else could still be watching. Anyone else could walk over at any moment, and witness this. Raye’s trembling body kneeling on all fours on a public stone altar, while an orc brazenly kept lifting her skirts, exposing her entire bottom half to the second orc standing silently behind them.
“Look what your mate offers you,ástin mín,” Gaelfr murmured, as he settled Raye’s skirts up over her waist, and — oh gods — touched his warm hand to her exposed bare arse. “Look what she has kept only for you, all these summers.”
Raye twitched at the feel of Gaelfr’s hand moving, sliding further downwards. Toward where her hips were still tucked inwards, foolishly clinging to some paltry modicum of modesty — but then Gaelfr’s hand drew back, and landed on her bare arse-cheek with a light, taunting slap.
“Show him, woman,” he ordered. “If you wish myástvinurto deem you worthy of him, you must tempt him with what you offer. With what you wish him to fill once more, and claim as his own.”
Oh, hell. Raye’s face flamed hotter, but she nodded, and… obeyed. Arching her back, tilting herself out, even spreading her knees wider. Exposing every private mortifying detail for Kalfr’s watching eyes behind her. Trying to…tempthim. To earn his claim.
But there was only stillness from behind Raye’s kneeling body, even as Gaelfr’s warm hand gave her an approving pat,and slipped downwards. Smoothing easy and possessive over the bared open curve of her, his finger sliding down her crease. Where she was shamefully wet, and quivering, and Kalfr could see that, he was watching that, deciding whether she was worthy…
“See,ástin mín?” Gaelfr’s husky voice asked. “You see how wet and open she already is for you. How she longs to be filled by you again. And” — his voice deepened — “how she yet scents only of you, also. How she has been awaiting you, andonlyyou.”
His hand caressed her slick heat again, lingering even more this time, settling closer, until… his fingers. Three fingers, settling proprietary and close, and then, with a firm, familiar thrust, pushing up inside.
Raye shuddered and gasped, spasming tight against his solid invasion, and Gaelfr huffed a satisfied chuckle as he held his fingers there for a long, humiliating moment before drawing out again. “I have been training her for you these past days also,ástin mín,” he murmured, and oh, his wet fingers spread her folds wider, showing off even more of her, damn him. “Readying her to open wide for you again, and to bear aught you choose to grant her. Whether this is your ploughing, or your power, or your punishment.”
Your punishment.Those too-powerful words wrenched up Raye’s spine, bitter and painful, but laced with something else, too. Something base and dangerous, something reckless, something like… hunger.
And when Gaelfr’s hand drew back again, and gave another light slap to Raye’s bare arse, that hunger wrenched even higher. He couldn’t be doing this, offering this, and she couldn’t be still kneeling here, waiting, agreeing.
“What shall it be, then,ástin mín?” Gaelfr asked, with another thrilling slap, a little firmer this time. “Shall you grant your wayward mate your perfect prick, and your strong Bautulseed? Or shall you mayhap join me in punishing her, until she is red and begging? Or, mayhap” — another firm slap, a hungry growl from his throat — “you could only empty yourself upon her, and walk away. Leave her empty and untouched, and dripping with the dregs of you.”
Oh gods, what the hell was Gaelfr saying, what was he offering? And no matter what Raye had promised, why wasn’t she arguing this, arguing any of it? Why wasn’t she getting up, and walking away? Why was she just waiting, her heart painfully pounding, to hear what Kalfr would say?
But Kalfr still didn’t speak. Didn’t reply. And Raye kept waiting, waiting, squeezing her eyes shut, trembling on her hands and knees, until —
Another touch. Just there, where Gaelfr had opened her. Something warm, and wet, and rounded. And Raye gasped and shuddered at the familiar feel of it, even after all this time, because it was —
