Starlight Gleaming Ch. 21 Pt. 02

When the AI shut off, Izel came up behind me, sliding her arms around my waist, running her hands over my chest. "I was so scared when they started attacking the war base. I knew you needed to go save your family -- I know, it's mine, too, now. Ando was a good servant. He'd been with my family since he was a small boy. I'm told he was killed dragging one of the wounded troopers to safety."

"We're okay, Izel. We survived. It's going to take everyone time to adjust to what happened here. The important thing is we're alive." Taking one of her hands, I brought it up and kissed it, then turned her hand and kissed each finger.

Izel shuddered behind me. "By the gods, you have totally rearranged my reality. I feel like this is all some mad dream. It was so intense yesterday and last night when you were inside me. I couldn't believe how incredibly good you made me feel, how many times you made me come. Your house is damaged, yet you are giving me shivers with what you are doing with your tongue! Ranji, I need you right now. I need to feel your strength holding me and filling me."

Turning around, I discovered she was quite naked, but for the neckerchief in her hair and a new, expensive-looking necklace around her neck. Her dress, shoes, and mask were piled on the floor. I was tempted to examine her necklace, but Izel grabbed my hand and shoved it down between her legs. She was soaked!

With a look of hunger, she opened my vest and pushed it off. When I didn't protest, she grew bolder. While I unbuckled and removed the shoulder and hip holsters, she rapidly undid shirt buttons and my belt. By the time my weapons settled onto the nearby desk, Izel was bent over, shoving my pants and underwear to my ankles.

Unbalanced, she brushed against me and I fell backward to the floor with a hard thump. A glance to make sure I was all right, then she set back to her task. Moments later, Izel yanked off my shoes and with a triumphant cry. My socks, trousers, and underwear followed. I laughed and she practically dove at me, kissing and touching my chest and face after taking my mask. Her hand found my cock and stroked it.

"Please, Ranji. I need you inside me!"

Before I was fully hard, she rolled off me and onto her back, tugging at my cock. Moving over her, Izel widened her legs, guiding me to her aching center. When my crown met her lower lips, she cried out in a mix of wonder and need, hunching her hips upward. I pushed into her slick heat and she let out a low moan. Her tender flesh engulfed me. Pulling back, I pressed deeper and gained another couple of inches.

"Oh, yes! Deeper! I want you deeper!"

Izel looked at me with joy as I entered her, panting with arousal. I repeated the motion and gained still more depth. Her moans deepened. The fourth stroke found me fully buried in her tight tunnel, my crown at the gateway to her womb while my balls nestled against her sensitive butt cheeks.

"Oh, gods, you feel so good! Husband, you seem to be doing everything right. I feel you deep inside, stretching me around your cock. I can't seem to get enough of you. The heat of you filling me is incredible, yet I yearn to feel you thrusting until you give me your seed. I say it again, Ranji, I love you. Take me and give me what I need!"

"You feel amazing, Izel."

I leaned down and kissed her. Urged on, I pumped firmly into her buttery core, enjoying the clasping heat of her sex wrapped around mine. With a slight rising shift of position, I pressed hard against her upper mound, and Izel cried out as I probed her core, wrapping her legs around me and bucking onto my shaft. A half-dozen strokes and she half-growled, half-whimpered, while she shook against me. Her pussy milked my cock as she bathed my balls in her juices.

Slowing the pace, I kept moving within her rippling sheath, prolonging her pleasure. At last, Izel gasped for air and released me as her orgasm faded. Rotating my hips, I worked over her clit while exploring her deepest parts with the head of my cock. Izel's eyes widened. "Oh, Ranji, I can feel it... feel it building again, deep inside me. Love me!"

Heaving for air, she started bucking and rolling her hips. "Harder!"

Sliding in and pounding into her slick sheath pleasured me as much as her. I felt the tightness building, the underside of the crown growing more sensitive with each plunge into her welcoming, yielding wet warmth.

"Oh, gods," she huffed. "Almost there! Give it to me!"

Pulling up her legs, I moved them onto my shoulders. Lifting up, I began to slam down into her soft center, spreading her around my shaft over and over.

She seemed to appreciate the new angle. Her hands clutched at me as she slowly arched her back. With a grunt, she threw her arms around and held me tight, pulling me close. Bent in half, she shook and I felt her pussy gripping again along my length.

Working from side to side, I did my best to prolong her ecstasy. As the pulsations within her core faded, she flopped back onto the floor, heaving for air. Then she grabbed me again and yet another wave seemed to crash through her center and explode outward.

"Did... did you come?" she gasped, beads of sweat on her forehead.

"Almost, but not yet."

"Oh, sweet goddess, can one die from pleasure?"

Thrusting hard, I pushed balls deep, then shoved against her with firm strokes, doing my best to reach as deep into her as I could; then I pressed harder for just a bit more depth. Her face scrunched up as I probed her inner sanctum.

"Ranji! I'm going to come again!"

Nearing the edge, I looked her in the eyes. "Izel, I'm going to fill you up till you're dripping with my seed."

Her hands gripped my upper arms, her fingers digging in. "Yes! I'm yours and I want it. Give me everything, Ranji! I want it all!"

Working my hips from side to side, I emptied myself into her, grunting with bliss while pulsing jets of sticky semen coated her insides. Her eyes suddenly widened as she came, her hips grinding against me, her mouth open in wonder. Slowing down, I rested with my still erect shaft inside her snug heat. Mindful of her hips, I moved her legs off my shoulders.

She sighed with relief, her legs flopped onto the floor. Izel shivered again, then tenderly lifted her hand to my face. "You are not just my husband but you are also my beloved. I've never, ever had so much pleasure before. I love you, Ranji, my husband and my lover."

The door quietly opened and closed, and Calia padded over and knelt down beside us, grinning. "I felt the two of you downstairs. It was wonderful and terribly distracting." Turning to Izel, she asked, "Did you have a good time with him?"

"Wait, you felt us downstairs? How is that possible?"

"Oh, Izel, just as I can read people, I know when they lie or hold things back. For those that I'm close to, I can feel strong emotions. My connection to my master is strong. From that night I held you in my arms, I have seen into your heart and now we have a connection, too. I am happy for you both, but especially for you, Izel."

"For me? Why?"

"You have been hurt so often by those who were supposed to love you. You didn't just need my lord's protection, you need his love, too. Just as important, you gained a husband and a family -- a family who will love you, support you, and protect you. With love, all things become possible, Izel."

I felt my shrinking cock forced out of her muscular sheath. I moved to lay beside Izel.

Looking thoughtful, Izel said, "I'm not sure what to think of you, Calia. You have these incredible powers that most would think impossible. Some would consider them alarming, but when I look at you, I'm not afraid. Have you cast some spell on me?"

"No," she replied, her face turning serious. "It is one thing to ease the grief or painful memories to help someone cope. It is quite another to beguile a person in such a way that requires I suppress your will with my own. That is possible but it is also extremely repugnant. There is no difference between holding someone down and forcing sex and forcing their mind to submit to another's ideas and desires foreign to their wishes. Both are forms of rape and they are evil acts."

"I meant no offense, Calia. This reading of others, can it work both ways?"

Calia nodded. "I've done it a few times before. Why?"

"Will you do it with me, and think of Ranji?"

"All right," she replied, though her face became concerned.

"Are you thinking of him, oh! Oh, Calia!" Izel gasped and said, "Enough, that's enough. Your love for him is so strong. Please, I ask you to think of what I'm about to say--"

"I swear I did not mean such!" Calia interrupted.

"Please! Let me finish! I believe you meant no ill will. Truly I do. When you slept with me, you did exactly what you said -- you eased my painful memories. And I'm grateful. As difficult as they are to recall, they don't tear apart my heart as they once did. When you thought of Ranji, your love for him slipped through. I knew I needed to marry this man to be safe from my brother, but I'd long ago associated men with physical pain, and I had developed a twitch whenever one touched me. I think that's why I spent so much time with the Empress and her retinue. There are very few men around.

"No, I don't even hint that you tried to change my feelings. Rather, yesterday morning when I hugged Ranji, that dread was gone. So was the automatic reaction to being touched. You healed my body, eased my pain, and you healed my heart. Throughout the night in your arms, your love for him, your trust of Ranji shone through and touched me. When a woman sees how another loves her man so deeply, it raises many feelings and most of them are positive. When he and I lay together to bind the marriage, I was nervous, but I wasn't afraid. That's important, Calia. I wasn't afraid because you showed me I had nothing to fear. Instead, my heart is open to Ranji and these feelings I find within me. I feel hope, joy, and a growing love for this man beside me."

"That's nonetheless troubling," Calia replied. "I wanted to show you him, yes, but that's all."

"I believe that's all there was, too. I learned how you truly felt for him, and it reassured me that I really can trust Ranji with my heart."

Calia frowned, then nodded. "Thank you for your honesty and your words, Izel. I will need to work on my mental shielding so that I don't inadvertently affect others that way. My concern right now is you. Oh, I see. You asked him to make love, not the other way around." She grinned at Izel. "Did he comfort you with his strong body and sure ways?"

Blushing, my new wife smiled shyly at me. "Oh, yes. He was amazing, Calia."

"Do you plan to clean him up?"

"Clean him up?" Izel looked at Calia, puzzled. "You mean like getting a washcloth for him?"

"That's one way. Another is more intimate and affectionate. You lick him clean."

"I... I'm not sure I'm ready for that."

"Would you object if I cleaned him then?"

"But he's covered not just his seed but also with my vaginal secretions. I... That doesn't bother you at all, does it? All right."

Calia shook her head. She moved down by our feet, then grinned as she crawled up and settled between my legs. Gently lifting me, she inhaled me, humming as she rolled her tongue around and around my member, happily slurping and sucking and swallowing. Then she shifted and pulled back the foreskin and flicked her tongue all along the underside of my crown. My body stiffened at the sensation, trying to pull away. Calia giggled and after another brief suck down to my root, she let me loose with a wet plop, then kissed the glans.

Izel watched the entire process intently, occasionally looking at me for my reaction.

"There, he's all clean," Calia announced, licking her lips for effect. "Or at least he won't stick to anything. May I clean you, too, Izel?"

Startled, Izel pulled her legs together. "What? Do you mean you want to...? I'm married! It's so shocking yet so incredible when he does it to me, but he's my husband! I just don't know, Calia. I don't know!" She looked at me, blushing fiercely, unsure, and maybe even a little confused.

"If you like, I have no objections, Izel," I said. "As you know, I don't hold with the official line of crap that oral is taboo. I learned how to eat a pussy from Calia. She's a skilled and patient lover. But don't feel it's something you have to do, either. Calia, Ixma, and Cholan will openly lick my seed while it drains out, and they enjoy it when they are being licked. I know there's more at work there than my poor male brain can fathom. Still, I suspect some of the motivation is to claim a part of me for themselves while giving intimate attention to the woman they are pleasuring. I just know it's hot to watch. It's like them taking my dirty laundry."

"Your what? Why ever would they do that? Janetta mentioned that earlier, and Calia asked for the sweaty shirt he wore at the gym. You actually want to wear his smelly clothing?"

It was Calia's turn to blush. "His shirts keep his scent, Izel. His masculine scent. There's not enough room for all of us to sleep in the same bed, and we have to share who gets to sleep on the other side because the captain takes his left. His daughters sleep better if there's at least one of us with them through the night, so at least one of us must sleep with them instead of him. Ranji's shirts smell of him, and... if you can't sleep beside him, his scent is really comforting. As for cleaning you up, if it's too intimate, Izel, I understand."

Izel looked at me. "You allow your Personal Servant to be intimate with others?"

"Only with my other lovers. Calia is good at helping people feel better. She gives great hugs and she has a knack of asking the right questions and saying the right things to put you at ease. Her healing abilities are new, but even before that, she was a gifted and skilled counselor and healer. Before I left for Sparantzlo, she asked my permission to be lovers as she saw fit with them. I knew my long absence was going to be difficult for them to endure. If Calia becoming intimate with them would help them cope, giving her that freedom was worth it." I sat up. "Besides, Calia's not just my Personal Servant. She's also my oldest friend. Besides, I've already filed the paperwork to emancipate her. By the end of next week, she will be a free woman."

"I see. That certainly changes things. But isn't manumission terribly expensive?" Izel asked.

Calia turned her attention to me as well.

"Normally, yes," I admitted. "Seventy-five thousand Imperial credits. And her freedom is worth every credit. But I recently discovered that for those attaining the rank of Commander and above, it's less than five thousand credits, including the filing costs--"

"What?" Calia exclaimed.

Izel nodded. "I remember you mentioning this at the gym."

"I had no idea it was that cheap. Captain Kilfoor at JAG brought it to my attention. I used some of the savings to put more money into everyone's account, including yours, Calia. Izel, Calia only agreed to become free because I insisted, and that I promised she could stay."

"She loves you, Ranji. That I can easily understand."

Calia nodded. "Slave or free, I love him and I will never willing leave his side again. Now a question for you, Izel, and tell me true. You've known him two and a half days, with but one of them as his wife. I happily believe this is no longer a political marriage between you both."

Izel raised her eyebrows. "Why happily? He's been pleasuring me, not you. I know you love him, but I would expect indifference at best."

"My lord is perceptive. If he found you standoffish or distant, he would not approach you for sexual favors. He has discovered the joy that physical sex joined with emotional love makes the union many times more intense than the mere physical act alone. Indeed, he would avoid them because his heart needs the woman to not only enjoy the pleasure of his cock into her pussy, but to enjoy him for the love and companionship he offers her. Many men think with their cocks, and the stupidest ones never get beyond that. The wiser ones, like Ranji, realize they need love, too."

Izel looked at Calia as she listened to her speak, but her hand reached out to me. I clasped it, and she gave me a squeeze.

Calia glanced at it, and her smile widened.

"When the house was being attacked, I was afraid for his safety," Izel admitted. "Yet I knew he had to go. With everything between us so new, the thought that Ranji was going to leave without saying goodbye was unbearable. Ranji did give me a proper goodbye with a wonderful hug and a kiss that sent my heart soaring, yet I was even more sad because he had to leave me. If I were to read this in a novel, I would snort with derision at the heroine falling so deeply in love in so short a time. Yet here I am."

I smiled at Izel. "You told me you loved me."

"And you said you loved me, too, my husband," she answered.

Reaching over, I pulled her into my lap and we kissed without urgency yet nonetheless passionately. Then we kissed twice more for effect. Naturally, it worked.

Heads touching, Izel said, "I love you, Ranji Kandikan. You are strong and brave while at the same you are gentle and caring. You give such good hugs! Last night I woke more than once because I had to assure myself you were there beside me. When morning came, while I was tired, my heart felt energized. I do feel I'm home here. Calia's advice to me was unexpected, but it's nonetheless sound. If I focus on loving you and not feed my jealousy when you attend to them, I will have happiness. Janetta and I have pledged to become sisters. I can be quite content being loved by my husband and by the rest of his -- no, rather, loved by our family."

Then she buried her face into my neck and started crying. "Ranji! By the gods, you need to know! When you left, I was so scared I would lose you and I would be alone again!"

I held her, caressing her back and kissing her, doing my best to reassure her.

"She needs to let those emotions out," Calia said. "In between her fear for your safety and her fear for her own life, she's had a rough few weeks. She also has years of going it alone. She thinks this is the entirety of your family. Wait till she's been introduced to your parents and your brother and his family!"

Izel started coughing, and Calia handed us our filter masks. "Put those on," she ordered. "It's an hour past midnight. You both should dress for bed and go downstairs. Especially you, my lord. I expect you will have a very long day tomorrow and for many days for the near future."

Getting up, she padded into the bathroom and returned with a dry washcloth. "Please use this to clean yourself, Izel. Normally I'd get it wet with warm water. Recall that Captain Lovyanchiti said water is being rationed. I'd prefer to not drain the water tanks. We'll need what potable water we have for cooking and to flush the toilets."

Calia helped Izel stand, and then I stood beside them.

Izel took the washcloth and wiped between her legs. "I am used to luxury, but I will not break from its absence." Folding it so the soiled side was now on the inside, she picked up her underwear, and once her panties were on, she placed it in the gusset.

"I applaud your foresight about the water, Calia," I said. "Things will become more primitive for a while and conservation is going to be important. Are you coming downstairs with us?"

"Not right away. There are a few things I want to do up here. For one, the girls will need fresh clothes to change into in the morning. For another, little Daydo's grace period is up. Nariya will need the diaper storage bin downstairs, too."

"Grace period?" I asked, untangling my trousers, underwear, and socks.

Izel's face lit up with amusement. "Oh, that's right, he's a newborn! Ranji, the first day after a baby is born, their poo is nearly odorless because their body has been taking nutrients directly from the mother's bloodstream. Once they are born, their bodies begin to process what they eat, and that takes a full day or so to start working. Diapers can become quite toxic to the nose. Though where I'm from, we call them nappies, not diapers."