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Ch. 26: A Weird Human Thing
Sometimes Hayward needed the reminder that setting aside his pride was worth it. In this case, being willing to beg a little had paid off marvelously. “Dear god, Elissa... that was amazing.” He patted the bed beside him again. “C’mere. I feel... very relaxed. I’m gonna shut my eyes for a while.” He reached over to the nightstand and took another drink of his wine.
She smiled up at his praises, “I know...” she was rather confident in her abilities, even if she was a little out of practice. It wasn’t exactly something you forgot.
Then the princess crawled up next to him and wrapped her arms around his good one, laying her head against his shoulder, just touching him. She too closed her eyes, soaking in the moment. She wasn’t sleepy, but the day had been exhausting. A little nap wouldn’t hurt anythi
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Catalyst Ch. 27: Stories
Elissa nodded and disappeared down the stairs, taking a hard left turn when she saw one of her sisters to avoid them. They appeared to not take that as an answer and followed her toward the kitchen. “Not interested, Aeris...” she called behind her.Aeris wasn’t the beauty that Elissa was, but she had an adorably round face. She was only two years behind Elissa in age, but sometimes her ‘baby face’ as many had called it, made her appear much closer in age to the twins. It also didn’t help that, unlike Elissa, she had barely developed a chest. All of her extra weight laid in her hips and bottom, and while she was sure someone would find that attractive, it wasn’t the hourglass figure men drooled after (which, of course, Elissa had).“I’m not stupid. I know there’s something going on with you and that prince...” she double stepped to catch up to her. “Why can’t you be normal for once in your life and want to tell your sister?” They had never been close, and Aeris had been more of the pes
Catalyst Ch. 28: How 'Bout a Dance?
What good is it going to do to even ask it? Let it be a game. Let it be fun. Don’t ruin it...Then she looked straight at him, and despite her inward pleas, her mouth opened anyway. “Why not? Why wouldn’t I?” She raised an eyebrow, looking at him, her heart feeling like it was going to beat out of her chest. At least she had a decent poker face on, she hoped.You don’t want to ask that. Why in the hell did you ask that?He blinked a few times. “Why wouldn’t you what?” He furrowed his brow, thinking back over what he had said, trying to figure out what she’d be responding to. “Oh. That. Well, I guess I just assumed... I mean... you don’t want to come live in the desert with me. I guess I could come live in the mountains, but...” he shrugged. He didn’t have a suitable answer. He’d mostly been saying it to avoid the opposite, given that, just the day before, she’d seemed rather uncomfortable with the idea.He smiled playfully at her as a better answer came to mind. “Because it would give
Catalyst Ch. 29: Magic
“I’m curious. Why do you dance? Is it a ritual? Or a way to commune with people?” “That in particular?” She asked, her eyes temporarily closed as she enjoyed the sensation of his hands roaming over her body. “It’s a ritual. One that if you asked about it, you would promptly be told doesn’t exist. Just like you’d be told no one used magic... if you asked...” she opened her eyes and looked back at him over her shoulder. “But the two things are very much related. It’s both an initiation and a celebration.” She was scanning his face to see how he would react to her words, and then her mouth opened and the words that came out surprised even her. “It marks you as a witch.” Her own family didn’t even know. It wasn’t something anyone spoke of, and it certainly wasn’t something that would be condoned. Hayward listened to her, though he was more that a little distracted as his hands moved over her body. He raised an eyebrow at her, thinking that she was just messing with him. “A witch, hm
Catalyst Ch. 30: Magic (part 2)
He didn’t have to tell her twice. She moved quickly to break away from him, lying down on the bed. “Done,” she said back with a playful smile. Hayward licked his lips as he followed her more slowly, climbed onto the bed, and crawled toward her. He made it until he was on top of her and then stopped and shut his eyes. “Ooh... ow. Dammit.” He slowly laid down beside her, rolling onto his back. “I’m sorry Elissa. I would love to mount you right now and fuck you senseless... but that’s gonna have to wait.” He groaned in pain and pointed toward his empty glass. “Get me a little more wine, and I’ll be fine, but you’re gonna hafta be on top again.” He flashed a playful grin. “I hope that’s alright.” She shrugged, leaning over to the nightstand and refilled his glass. “You know as much as I want to do this, we don’t have to,” she looked pointedly at him while pouring and then handed it to him. “Because I do really want to do this—but—I don’t want to hurt you.” Some of the intense lust had dw
Catalyst Ch. 31: The Hangover
Elissa awoke the next morning to light streaming through a window and hitting her face. She instinctively groaned and covered her eyes with her hands. “Damnit...” Her head was pounding. She could smell the bits of food still in the room, and it made her horribly nauseous. She then turned her face away from the window and was face to face with Hayward. She groaned, rubbing her temples. Had she fallen asleep in here? Had that been intentional? How much did she drink? She turned back toward the nightstand and saw a little wine was left in the glass's bottom and downed it. “I need water,” she groaned, looking at the pitcher across the room. Determined, she sat up and the entire room spun, and she gagged. “Uh-uh...” she mumbled, falling back to a laying down position. “I’ll just die. It’s not worth it.” Hayward was resting just on the edge of sleep, having already been partially awakened by the morning light. He couldn’t help laughing. “Good morning to you too, beautiful,” he teased her
Catalyst Ch. 32: Saddle Up
Like the walking deus ex machina that he was, Dantares appeared shortly after Elissa left. Hayward was still picking out clothes when the older man knocked. “So. How did it go?” he asked sardonically.“Eh, about as well as could be expected. We got drunk and fucked like rabbits,” the prince answered. “It was enough to keep my mind off the pain, at least until she fell asleep. The rest of the night was miserable, as always.” He picked out a sturdy pair of grey pants and a pale blue shirt—clothes he cared little about, in case they got dirty in the mines.Dantares just shook his head. “You two aren’t wasting any time, are you?”“Carpe diem, my friend. Or perhaps carpe dolium, in this case,” the younger man replied, grinning.
Catalyst Ch. 33: Magic (part 3)
“If you want to go slow, we can talk and ride, and I believe I owe you an explanation.” She sighed. “So, it started back with the prior explanation... about the boy who my father sent away. I was young and stupid and angry, and I wanted to punish him. So I had heard talk that there were witches that came to the woods for full moons to pay tribute to the powers given to them by the moon goddess. And I sought them out. This was where hunting really came in handy.”She paused to see if he actually was interested in this part of the story, or only how it worked.Hayward nodded. “No need to rush. It’s a lovely day.” He wasn’t terribly interested in her history with the soldier, but could at least look like he was. At worst, it would be a window into her relationship with her father, something he was probably going to navigate sooner rather than later. As soon as she mentioned
Catalyst Ch. 34: The Mines
After he had also dismounted and safely tied his horse up, she nodded for him to follow and walked toward the opening. The men in the mines seemed unphased by her presence.“Harold! How are you?” She greeted one, and he nodded.“Just fine, m’lady. Thank you for asking.”“This is prince Hayward from Asaleagh. Prince Hayward, this is Harold, who is the foreman over the mines.”He nodded to the prince as well. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, sir. I hope you find your time here enjoyable. We run a tight operation. I’m happy to show it to you.”“No need...” she said, holding her hand up. “We just need a lantern, and we will go exploring on our own. You know I more than know my way around!” He nodded and handed her one. “Thank you.” She smiled and nodded for Hayward to continue farther back into the tunnel.Hayward quickly joined her approaching the mine entrance. “A pleasure to meet you, sir,” he said out of reflex. He didn’t need to treat a mere foreman with such respect, but
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