The Arete - Princess-Consort Ch. 04

"Oh. No, milady," Bakian dissuaded me cautiously, "Her Highness intends to join dinner once it's served."

"As she wills, then," I heard myself saying again. "We'll start dinner whenever she's ready."

Sure enough, my lovely bride entered after the steaming food had all been laid out. And -oh- what and entrance she made.

She wore a slate blue silken gown, dripping with platinum jewelry set with shiny stones of all shades of blue and gray. Her lustrous dark hair was bound in elaborate braids and platinum accessories. Her lovely face was expertly painted in very expensive cosmetics.

My wife was and is beautiful. While she's just as beautiful to me in a nightgown, even I could see the astounding level of effort that she'd put into her splendid appearance. For a simple household dinner?

I stood and the table stood with me. "Caeli, you are magnificent."

She smiled and went to sit, but I took her hand instead and led her from the room.

"What's going on, my love?" I knit my brows at my dear Caeli with concern.

"You still find me attractive, even with Lucax here, right?" she sought affirmation.

"Sweetheart, I've never met a woman as attractive as you, not anywhere in the world. I've told you that," I reassured her honestly and added self-deprecatingly, "And you've told me what a terrible liar I am."

"I know, but it's different now that it was with just Vostiv and you. Lucax is so exquisite."

"Is my own wife calling me ugly?" I teased, smiling down at my pampered princess.

"No. You know you're handsome, but it's different," she thwapped the inside of my shoulder with the back of her hand, "She's pretty and she's a strong soldier like you. You two will always have more in common. I worry that you may come to like her better and want..."

"Of course I won't, dear Caeli," I shook my head emphatically. "I don't want another soldier," I caressed her smooth cheek, "Another brawny soldier wouldn't be soft like you." And I hugged her. "She wouldn't fit into my arms like you." I rested my face to her, "I couldn't smell the crown of her head as I nuzzled into her hair like you." I pulled back a little, falling into her fathomless dark eyes. "And, most importantly, she wouldn't gaze fondly up at me as her big, well-meaning, loving bear like you."

"You are well-meaning," Caeli agreed as she smiled back up at me.

"And I'm committed to you and to only you. Forever. I love you, Caeli. More, I like you and I like being with you."

"I love you too, Tai," she stood on her tippity toes and kissed my lips briefly. "Okay. Let's go to dinner."

Kemptrux excused herself unsubtly after dinner to spend time with Imogen, but I kept my three noble household members back, thinking we could bond a bit over cards.

Turns out, the only game all three of them knew and had decks for was Gwent, a new pastime to me, but apparently widely played in great houses.

Caeli didn't befriend Lucax in just that one night, but she soon came around as we all spent some more time together as a group. Within a few days, she was scolding and teasing Lucax around the table just like she did Yonjax, Vostiv, and me.

My time alone behind closed doors with my dear Caeli was still better though. Far better.

I spent most of those days fully naked with her and we fooled around for an ever greater portion of the time. We didn't go further though, not until she unwittingly prompted me to further action.

"You never press me?" she asked during one of our few breaks to catch our breath.

"Would you like to be pressed?" Again, my knee parted her legs, but I pushed suddenly instead of simply letting her squeeze as she felt the need. Not that she stopped squeezing.

"I want to know if you want me. No," she looked up at me boldly, "I want to know that you want me."

I maintained eye contact, "I want you. I want you on your terms and in your time, but I absolutely want you. Have no doubt on that score."

"Maybe I'm ready?"

"Let me know when you're sure."

She said nothing. I said nothing. I let the moment hang.

"I'm sure."

She wasn't.

I touched her sweet face, kissed her delicate jaw and down her slender neck. With slightly trembling hands, I undid the tie of her nightdress and pulled it down over her elegant shoulders. I brushed my lips over her prominent collarbone.

I'd seen her bare before, more of her cleavage than I'd exposed thus far even, but revealing the soft skin for myself and pressing my lips to that cleavage was far different.

Eyes up, I checked in. She nodded encouragingly. I pulled her dress down to her waist.

I ran my hands along the outside of her pert breasts. I ran my tongue along the insides of her pert breasts.

Someday, I would bite and nip pleasurably, but at that time I didn't even nibble or graze. No teethwork. Only my lips and tongue on her velvet skin.

She moaned nonetheless, enjoying my fairly respectable technique and honest reverence for her and her gorgeous body.

I took a puffy nipple in my warm wet mouth, feeling it harden as I sucked. My left hand on her other breast felt her heartbeat quicken. My right hand on her side felt her ribcage expand at her sharp intake of breath.

After a time, I switched nipples. And again. And a third time. By the fourth time, her panting was making it physically difficult to ensure no teethwork.

And then I had a choice to make. (Not on the teethwork, that was decided.) I'd never taken her so far before, always giving her a respite rather than risk taking her to a point where her lust might outweigh her other emotions. But now her sweet body wanted a release she didn't fully understand. And she wanted it more than she knew how to deal with in her limited carnal experience.

With reluctance, I quit the firm breasts that I'd already decided were the best on the earth. I licked down her form through the valley between her breasts and further to tongue her bellybutton. Working my way back up, I put tender kisses and gentle caresses on her hot skin until I reached her lovely face again.

She panted by my ear as I whispered in hers, "I want to take you further. Can I touch you?"

"Yes!" Caeli agreed eagerly.

Then I frowned, face buried in her zanabaq hair so she couldn't see it. I wasn't sure if she understood what I was asking. I wouldn't use vulgar terms to clarify, and couldn't be sure she'd understand my rude soldier's terms any better than my vague suggestion.

Caeli was a healthy woman of twenty. Even if denied access to a romantic partner, surely she'd touched herself. At least in her teens. But I wouldn't embarrass her by asking after what she did alone in her darkened bedroom.

I kissed her graceful neck as I caressed downward from her bellybutton, not stopping until my fingertips brushed over her downy pubes. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," her voice was breathier, lower. She was sure.

"Spread your legs more, my love," I advised her as I tickled my fingers through the fine hairs on her mound and over her pouting lips. Then between them, stroking the length of her virginal sex.

Caeli was wet, very wet. No real surprise given that we'd been kissing and touching for hours - days, really - with no relief for her.

So I continued to kiss the tender skin betwixt her earlobe and her collarbone while two fingers slowly eked inside her. Moist and open, her slit allowed my fingers easy entrance.

I remained ginger and slow though, knowing that no one else had touched her that way before and that - no matter how turned on she was - the new experience would engender a level of involuntary trepidation.

I returned to kissing her sweet lips as I fingered her gently, patiently waiting for her inner muscles to relax enough that I could be sure I wouldn't hurt her.

Eventually, my thrusts met as little resistance as I could reasonably expect, so I found her g-spot hiding inside and touched lightly to confirm that she wouldn't be too sensitive to enjoy repeated contact.

"Tai!" she shouted.

"You like?"

"Yes!" With the greater part of our honeymoon to this point having been spent in fun foreplay that was nonetheless aggravating to the libido, I knew my overstimulated princess wouldn't last very long.

So I built a pattern of internal tapping thrusts to near continuous yeses of approval. Those yeses grew even more in frequency and intensity as I found her excited clit out and proud with the ball of my thumb.

Feather touches. Darling Caeli was already too overheated for more than feather touches.

"Tai!" she screamed my name loud and long as she came in a watershed of physical and emotional release. I held my fingers deep within her as her inner muscles convulsed and clenched in pleasure.

Her pretty body went suddenly limp, so I pulled my fingers free and immediately licked off her tantalizing juices.

Caeli looked up at me in wide wonder, so I smiled back down, "Have you never tasted yourself, my love?"

"I have, yes," she blushed, "but I never thought anyone else would want to."

Probably at least seven eighths of the women in the palace would love to taste her, but I left that thought unsaid, "I do, Caeli. You taste amazing and I'd like to try you from the source next time."

"You would?" she smiled back.

"I would like to do all kinds of very sexual things to your gorgeous body, Caeli," I kissed the tip of her nose affectionately, "If you'll let me."

"I'll let you," she agreed avidly. She tried to pull down her nightdress further, but the herculean effort was beyond her capability in her post-orgasmic state.

"Right now though," I gently restrained her questing hands and brought her into my powerful arms. I never feel quite so protective of her as when I've made her weak by making her cum, "I'd like to cuddle you."

"That sounds nice," she murmured sleepily as she nuzzled into my shoulder.

As I snuggled my sweet girl, I marveled at how utterly nice things were with her.

With the fleeting nature of all my previous sexual relationships, there'd be a mad dash to try every carnal pleasure in the catalog available to me as quickly as possible before the fling ended. No time for rest.

Conversely, just watching and holding her sleeping form while she needed sleep filled me with a serene sense of rightness.

As I mooned lovingly over her adorable face, I noticed that our love-making session had caused her to become a bit sweaty. Or to glisten, rather. Chic ladies glisten, I suppose.

But, yeah, she was a bit sweaty.

Having not seen her exert herself so greatly previously, I'd not seen my wife sweat before. I found it cute and I kissed her adorably damp brow.

Just another little detail that further humanized Caeli to me. There'll likely always be a small part of me that will never fully believe my luck that the ravishing and vivacious princess was really mine. A nagging voice forever declaring that she's far too high above me. She's so lovely.

But those little moments helped and each one served to deepen my ever growing affinity and affection for my charming wife.

By the time she stirred and woke naturally in my arms, I was feeling extraordinarily possessive of her.

"I'm hungry now," I whispered.

"Is it breakfast?" she murmured back, "I'm sure Bakian will give us some ham and honeycakes."

"Not the kind of honey your bear is hungry for, Caeli," I growled back as I rolled her onto her back.

"Oh!" she agreed and wiggled on the bed to get comfortable. My announcement and positioning her rapidly raised her alertness.

More aggressively than previously, but still without actually biting her, I worked my way down her body.

I did nip the inside of her thighs. Her warm, smooth, creamy, enticing thighs.

It was impossible not to nip the inside of her thighs, especially with the added accelerant of the little hitching noises made by her breath catching whenever I let my teeth close and apply just a tiny bit of real pressure.

But she hadn't been coherent and aroused long enough to wet the insides of her thighs yet and I wanted to taste. And I wanted to drink until I both sated her and was sated myself.

I took a long, slow lick up her slit, gathering the sweet nectar I found greedily and following with more sweeps of my tongue through and throughout her puffy pinked lips.

Hungry bear that I was, I followed the flow to the source, using my long, agile tongue to draw honey from her warm honeypot.

Resting my hand gently on her hip to comfort her, I continued to tongue as far inside my tasty wife's channel as I could reach. My focus wasn't as entirely on her pleasure in the moment as it was on drinking as deeply of her font as possible.

But her groans rang in my ears, impressing me back into her service despite my new addiction.

Letting my nose bump her clit repeatedly, I got into a better rhythm of licking her pretty pussy, curling my tongue up somewhat to to finish each up-nodding movement of my head with a tap with the tip.

Her perturbed groans became delighted moans as the patterned movements agitating her sex flooded her pleasure centers.

My comforting hand on her hip turned into an armbar across her navel as her excited hips tried to pop and jerk.

As complimentary as those involuntary reactions were, I needed her to be somewhat still.

In fact, I didn't realize myself how irrationally irritating I found her rebellious hips until I heard her giggle and felt her shiver because I was growling vocalized vibrations into her wet snatch.

Calming and focused, I consciously sped my patterned ministrations on her wondrous sex. Just as consciously, I listened for her breathing to change. Her cute, sporadic little pants for air consistently and more rapidly interrupted her near constant whimpering.

I love that satisfying her beautiful body is now part of my arete.

Her cries rose in volume and urgency. Her bucking became more exigent, although no more successful as my strong arm held her where I needed her to be.

My tongue still delving into her with measured strokes, I brought my free hand down past her mons venus to toy with her clit from above with my thumb as I consciously kept bumping her clit from below with my nose. I was intent on bringing her off quickly, because the desire in her voice had taken on a desperate timbre.

"Aaaaaahhh!" she called out more loudly still as her dam broke under the pressure of pleasure.

Her body simultaneously went rigid with orgasm. Then immediately relaxed fully in an afterglowing abatement of tension.

I was duly rewarded with a fresh flow of sticky honey for my carnal efforts. I was extremely gentle - and yet entirely thorough - in lapping up my liquid spoils over the next minutes.

Finally contented from my feasting, I crawled back up the bed and gathered Caeli's enervated body into my possessive embrace.

"That," my happy wife noted, "is a very nice way to wake up."

"I'm glad you liked it," I agreed puckishly, "because it's how I plan to put you to bed, too."

And so I did. And when she roused from that round, I ate her out and cuddled her again. Our life became a cycle of primarily sex and cuddles, interspersed with food, sleep, reading, cards, and exercising.

After a few days, she attempted to return the favor. Her first try was unsuccessful in bringing me to climax. As was her second, third, and fourth. Through those first four times, I was a patient and understanding lover. I'd argue that I was always an understanding lover, but I did lose my patience.

Caeli was wriggling her tongue in my snatch as she rubbed my inner thighs. I'm not complaining. She enthusiastically licked and flicked. She had me afire. But it wasn't going anywhere and I began to need it to go somewhere more desperately than in our previous touchings.

"Caeli, love, come up here and kiss me?" There was no need to be cruel. She'd learn. Probably. Even if she didn't, I wouldn't ever choose to be cruel with her.

"Now?" She looked up at me, her lower face shining wetly in the candlelight.

"Please?" I reached down my hand to her. "I want to taste me from your lips."

She climbed up me at that.

If I've anything to say in my own defense, it's that I'd not had an orgasm since before we'd married and I'd spent weeks in my alluring princess' presence and ardor.

And I hadn't lied entirely. Tasting her all wet with me got me even hotter.

Her kisses landed mostly on my lips and chin. One of her hands braced herself against the wall behind the bed while the other tangled in my chestnut hair.

I pressed one of my hands between our naked bodies to touch myself while I gripped a firm buttcheek with the other to keep her grinding against me.

"I love-" I panted out between kisses, "you, Caeli."

"Mm-hm," she couldn't be bothered to stop showering my face with kisses long enough to form actual words.

Inspired to self-satisfying despite my discipline by the provocative woman who laid undulating on top of me, I didn't hold out long. Mirroring the simple and effective technique I'd used on her, I found my own g-spot and and teased my own clit.

I closed my eyes, but still pictured my beautiful bride as I sighed into a quiet climax that released all the pent up sexual puissance driving me.

She brushed the hair from my face and kissed me sweetly. Even satiated, her lips on mine are always pleasant and I didn't object.

"I'd like to do something?" Caeli asked as she caressed my loosely fallen locks.

"Okay," I agreed happily, not knowing at all what I might be in for.

"Can I play with your hair?"

"Aren't you currently?"

"No. Or, yes. But I want to style your hair."

I frowned and huffed a laugh in response.

"Please?"

"Yes, dear Caeli."

I forced myself to get up and kneel by our bedside as she sat behind me.

The first part was lovely as she massaged my scalp and ran her fingers through my tresses. But then the plaiting, braiding, twisting, tying, and pinning began and seemed never to end.

She held up a mirror for me when she finally finished. My hair was styled well, symmetrically and intricately. Still, I felt entirely silly.

But Caeli'd done a good job and was rightly proud, so I praised her efforts. And the sensation of her unbinding and shaking out my hair was nice. Not worth an hour of boredom to no useful purpose, but nice.

So I occasionally permitted her to play with my hair. (By occasionally, I of course mean whenever she asked.) Our days and nights were filled with sex, cuddles, sleep, food, reading, cards, exercise, and hair-styling.

We were in just that compromising position a few days later when the Crown Princess walked in.

"What are you doing, Taiglox?" Heoldax chuckled, but in a pained way.

"I, er," I sort of gestured half-apologetically to Caeli behind me.

"Don't make her feel bad, Heo," Caeli rebuked her sister, "She's doing it for me."

"Alright," the mirth left Heoldax's face, "I should be thanking you, Taiglox. That's the first time I've smiled since I heard the news and will likely be the last for a good while."

"News, Your Highness?"

"Horde building in Arashnia. It's recruited many tribes and conquered more. It's moving toward Tarvini and snowballing. Yonjax has the fortress. Jelvix will muster the army here. I'm rallying every woman-at-arms available now to gather at Proquian Rock."

"Caw," I cursed and called out, "Corporal, squire, ready your tack and kit!"

I heard an "Aye, ma'am," and an "Aye, ser," from the hallway.

As I stood and loosed my silly hair, Caeli grabbed my hand.

"No!" Caeli interjected vehemently at her sister, "Taiglox can't go. No!"

"Caeli," Heoldax didn't yell but her voice became harsh and angry. "You shame yourself. You know very well that-"

"Your Highness," I interrupted as politely but firmly as I could, "My wife is mine to correct."