Chapter 75: Beastblood

Talia did not wait until the next day.

Night had barely settled over the academy when Arthur’s door shook under a heavy knock.

He opened it and found her leaning against the frame, combat jacket half-open, red eyes glowing with residual heat.

No words. She stepped inside, kicked the door shut, and shoved him backward until his legs hit the bed.

"Ward it," she said.

Arthur threw a privacy ward against the wood. The moment it locked, Talia ripped her jacket off and pushed him down.

"I told you the edge would come back," she muttered, straddling his hips. "Your frost witch and the princess can negotiate feelings. I negotiate this."

She ground down against him, already wet enough that the heat of her soaked through the fabric between them.

Arthur sat up, yanked her micro-top over her head, and closed his mouth around one dark nipple. Talia hissed approval and gripped his hair hard.

"Teeth," she ordered.

He bit. Not gentle. Talia’s whole body jerked; a low, animal sound rolled out of her throat. The gold runes along her ribs and the underside of her breasts flared brighter.

Arthur switched sides, biting and sucking until both peaks were swollen and sensitive, while Talia rocked against the growing hardness beneath her.

She shoved him flat again, yanked his clothes open with impatient hands, and wrapped her fingers around his cock. One firm stroke. Two. Then she lifted her hips, pulled her shorts to the side, and sank down onto him in a single heavy drop.

Both of them groaned.

Talia did not start slow. She planted her hands on his chest and rode him with raw, powerful snaps of her hips, taking every inch on every stroke. The wet sound of it filled the room.

Her breasts bounced hard. Sweat already sheened her dark skin. Arthur gripped her waist and thrust up to meet her, matching the brutal rhythm she set.

"That’s it," Talia panted. "Fuck me like you mean it. I don’t want careful. I want to feel it in my goddamn spine."

He slapped her ass hard. The sharp crack echoed. Talia moaned and clenched around him.

"Again."

He gave her another, then a third, watching the skin flush darker under his hand while she rode him harder. The runes across her body pulsed in time with her heartbeat.

Residual beast-blood heat poured off her in waves. This was not the controlled dual cultivation he shared with Selene or the emotionally charged nights with Iris. This was appetite. Pure and uncomplicated.

Talia leaned down, bit the side of his neck hard enough to sting, and growled against his skin.

"You’re going to leave campus in three days with a random group of soft first-years. Some of them will get you killed if you let them. Don’t let them. I still have use for this."

She punctuated the last word by grinding down and rolling her hips in a tight circle that dragged a curse out of him.

Arthur sat up, wrapped an arm around her back, and flipped them without pulling out. Talia landed on her back with a breathless laugh that turned into a moan when he drove back in hard.

He hooked one of her knees over his shoulder and fucked her deep.

Talia’s red eyes stayed open and locked on his, fever-bright, hungry, completely free of jealousy or politics.

She took every thrust with open pleasure, nails raking down his arms, heels digging into him.

When he reached between them and rubbed tight circles over her clit she nearly arched off the bed.

"Yes—there—don’t you dare stop—"

Arthur didn’t.

He kept the pressure and the pace until Talia’s thighs started shaking. Her inner walls fluttered, then clamped down hard as the orgasm ripped through her.

She came with a raw, broken shout, runes flaring gold-white along her torso, body locking around his cock in strong pulses.

Arthur fucked her through it without mercy, dragging the climax out until she was gasping and twitching under him.

He still hadn’t finished.

Talia noticed. A sharp, satisfied grin cut across her mouth even through the aftershocks.

"Good. I’m not done either."

She pushed at his chest until he pulled out, then rolled onto her hands and knees, presenting herself with zero shame.

Arthur gripped her hips, lined up, and slammed back in to the hilt. Talia dropped to her forearms and moaned into the sheets. The new angle let him go deeper.

He set a hard, punishing rhythm, skin slapping against skin, and watched the way her back flexed and her ass bounced with every thrust.

"Harder," she demanded, voice muffled. "I want to feel you for the next two days every time I sit down."

Arthur gave it to her.

He reached forward, tangled a hand in her dark hair, and pulled just enough to arch her back while he drove into her.

Talia’s moans turned louder, less controlled. The residual beast-blood heat in her body surged; for a moment he almost felt the ghost of ears and tail from the first night they had spent together.

The temporary print was gone, but the echo still lived in her flesh when the hunger rose this high.

She came again with a long, shuddering groan, pushing back onto his cock as the waves hit. The way she clenched and fluttered pulled Arthur over the edge with her.

He buried himself deep and spilled inside her in thick pulses, gripping her hips hard enough to leave bruises that would last past mission departure.

They collapsed forward together, breathing hard.

Talia was the first to move. She eased off him, rolled onto her back, and stared at the ceiling with a look of deep, physical satisfaction. Seed leaked down her thigh onto the sheets. She didn’t bother cleaning it up yet.

"That’s the arrangement," she said after a moment, voice still rough. "No exclusivity talks. No ranking me against your frost witch or your princess. When the hunger hits, you answer it if you’re on campus. When you’re not, I handle it myself. Clear?"

Arthur lay beside her, one arm behind his head. "Clear."

Talia turned her head and studied him with those sharp red eyes.

"You’re collecting dangerous women," she said. Not a judgment. Just an observation. "Try not to die in a random forest because some Group 17 idiot freezes when something with teeth shows up. I like fucking you too much to replace the convenience."

She sat up, found her clothes, and dressed with the same efficient speed she always used. The combat jacket settled over the still-glowing runes. At the door she paused, hand on the frame.

"One more thing. Your princess is starting to carry herself differently. The dream book feels heavier. Whatever you two sealed in that dungeon is still evolving. Watch it. Evolving Grimoires don’t always stay polite."

Then she dropped the ward and left without waiting for an answer.

Arthur stayed on the bed for a long minute after the door closed, the smell of sex and residual beast heat thick in the small room. Three different claims. Three different temperatures. Frost, jealousy, and raw hunger.

Outside, the academy counted down the last days before mandatory deployment.

Inside, the second slot of the Eros Codex remained empty, waiting for whatever came next.

Arthur finally sat up and reached for a clean shirt.

Three days left.

And Talia had made her position brutally clear.

He could live with that.