38 | Nine Miles **

Soren went back to Greyfen four days later, on a genuine errand this time, carrying Vesper's reply to Brannick Sallow sealed in a message tube and strict instructions to hand it to nobody but the man himself.

He handed it to Herrick whose hands were good enough to carry the message instead, because Brannick was not in the tannery, and told Herrick that was Herrick's problem, not his.

Then he went to the Broken Yoke, because it was four in the afternoon and the common room was empty except for Tam doing sums with his tongue out, and because he had thought about very little else on the cart.

Reia looked up when the door went, and something crossed her face before she got it under control, quick and unguarded.

"You're back," she said.

"I'm back."

"Nobody died."

"Not this week."

"Good." She sent Tam to count the cellar, which he did not need counting, and came round the bar and sat down across from Soren without being asked, which she had also not done before.

For a while neither of them said anything.

"I keep thinking about the key," Reia said finally.

"What about it?"

"I put it in your hand and I held on. I don't do that. I've handed that key to exactly two other men in nine years and I put it down on the counter both times so I wouldn't have to touch a hand doing it."

Soren chuckled, remembering the first time she gave him the key. "I noticed."

"I know you noticed. You notice everything, it's extremely irritating." She pushed her hair back.

"I've been trying to work out why I did it, and the honest answer is that I was frightened for you, which is a stupid thing to be frightened for, because you're a slave who kills grown men for a hobby apparently, and I'm a barmaid who's never been past the second bend in the river."

"That's not stupid."

"It's inconvenient." Reia looked up at him properly.

"You're going to be sold, Soren. I know that. Everyone in this town who's ever thought about it for four seconds knows a house slave that pretty doesn't stay a book boy forever."

She let out a complicated smile, her lips curving into a wry smile as she continued.

"And I have spent six weeks letting myself get used to a Wednesday that has you in it, and I knew the whole time it was going to stop...and I let it happen anyway."

Soren didn't say anything for a moment.

"Do you regret it?" he asked.

Reia thought about it properly, the way she thought about everything.

"No," she said. "I regret that I'm going to mind when it's over. I don't regret any of the Wednesdays...or any other day you sneaked out"

"Show me the chart again," Soren said suddenly.

Reia blinked. "Why."

"Because I want to hear you talk about it again, and this time I want to actually listen, instead of half-listening while I worked out how much trouble I was in."

She snorted at him from the later part of his comment but got it out from under the counter without arguing.

She unfolded it on the table, and named all forty islands again. She told him which ones the Choir actually controlled and which just paid tribute to be left alone.

She told him about a cliff on Ashhold that dropped into water clear enough to see fifty feet down, which a sailor had told her about eleven years ago and which she had thought about at least once a week since.

"You could see it," Soren said. "The cliff."

Reia rolled her eyes. "I could see a drawing of a cliff someone else saw."

"That's not what I said."

Reia stopped and looked at him for a moment.

"Don't," she said quietly. "Don't do the thing where you make it sound possible. I've had that done to me before, by men who wanted something first and meant none of it after."

"I'm not doing that."

"Then what are you doing?"

Soren looked at the chart, at forty islands drawn by a sailor who never came back for his own bag, at nine miles measured out in string by a woman who'd had a bad half hour on the stairs about it.

"I...I don't fully know yet," he said.

"I'm working something out. If I say it wrong it turns into exactly the thing you just described...and you're right, I'd rather be right about it than fast...sorry"

Reia studied him for a long moment.

"That's the most honest non-answer anyone's ever given me," she said. "I'll take it," she added.

Her hands slowly crept up and Soren watched without moving, letting her hand move all the way until it rested on his.

She looked at him and he looked back, and one too many things were spoken with just their eyes.

"We should...take this upstairs..."

"We should..."

...

"Fuck you're messing me up..." Reia moaned into the pillow, trying to muffle her sounds and failing miserably.

Her hips rocked to meet Soren's while he took her from behind, the sound of flesh hitting flesh echoing within the confides of the room.

Taking her in doggy, his cock pumped in and out of her pussy, her fluids dripping down continuously like a leaking fountain.

He pulled her back to meet her thrusts even more by her hands, making himself go in deeper and earning a deep groan from her.

"You're getting worse at keeping your voice," he teased.

He raised her body, making her back rest on his chest, all the while his hips never stopped pounding, his body slapping her plump ass.

"Fuck...you're...fuck...why are you so....Mm fuck just kiss me already," she begged and moaned, her mouth opened and her eyes lidded.

His hand came up, passing through the valley between her breasts, the graze making her whimper before he grabbed her neck.

He squeezed softly, the feeling of choking turning her on more than she would admit, evident by her pussy that made even more wet sounds.

Soren kissed her, and she met his passion with even more passion, their tongues dancing and kissing passionate.

"Oh, fuck me...fuck I'm coming again! Don't stop!" Reia moaned into his lips, her lips parting breathlessly as her eyes rolled into the back of her skull as her legs trembled.

"Fuck I'm comminggg!" Her pussy gushed with each thrust.

Her body went limp in his hands but he didn't stop, prolonging the state of her pleasure as her body dropped to her bed with him still moving.

"Fuck, you're so tight now," Soren groaned as he reached his own limit.

He pulled out of her, his cock jumping as it shot out load after load, painting her back with his seed.

With a deep breath, Soren looked at Reia's body, admiring the curves of her pale skin that stirred something inside to go again the more he looked at her twitching pussy.

Alas he knew her limit. He took a bucket of warm water her had already prepared a put a very weakened fire rune he got from Loraine that kept the water at 'better than lukewarm temperature'.

With a small cloth, he gently and carefully wiped down every inch of her body until she was cleaned and removed the cover sheet they placed over the main bed sheet.

"Mm...you're so good with this..." Reia hummed before climbing into his chest when he laid back to the bed.

"Least I can do no?" Soren teased, his voice relaxed and playful. Reia only attempted to bite his chest, failing to make any serious dent before closing her eyes.

Soren wrapped his arms around her, one hand resting on her hip while the other was on her back.

"I hate how much I like this..." her tone was weak, sleepy and deeply satisfied. Soren only chuckled and said nothing, watching as her breathing evened out

<<Lilith: +30 LP.>>

What's the current total

<<Lilith: 501 LP.>>