The Exarch & the Errand Girl Ch. 12

They shared a wordless stare for a moment, before Yvain started to laugh at her, and she laughed back. He reached across and swatted the side of her butt, and she gave him a soft slap on the cheek for his impudence, which only made both of them laugh harder.

His hands reached for her face and she kissed him, eager and willing, winding herself up against his chest, his arm coming down to wrap around her back.

When they finally gave into their breathlessness, Rouran turned around, pressing her back up against Yvain, pulling his arms tight around her chest and neck like a cloak, grinning at the feeling of his breath on the back of her neck. Just as she got comfortable, Yvain pulled away from her and blew the candles on the table next to them out, and in the darkness he found her again, quickly retaking his spot.

In a few moments, he was sound asleep. Rouran grinned to herself, listening to him breathing, feeling his chest rising and falling against her back.

***

Her waking caught her off guard, as she had no memory of ever drifting off to sleep, only of listening to Yvain. But the bells were chiming out the morning market, and Rouran started at them, realizing how much louder they were than at the vai Ullan estate.

Yvain was sitting in his chair, dressed up to his lamellar armor. He smiled at her as she propped herself up to her elbows.

"It's morning already?" asked Rouran.

"That was the midday bells," he said.

She glanced at him in shock.

"Oh, no, I'm so late," she said.

"For what?" he asked.

"The Exarch. I was supposed to report to Lord Ked about last—"

"He must know by now, Rouran," he said. "If you were so critical, he'd have sent for you, don't you think? Instead of letting you sleep away half the day."

"I..." she started

Rouran paused and thought on it. There was a truth there, but it stung. She'd had a conception of herself, of her place in Lord Ked's household, and she knew that he did rely on her...and yet, that he also had no need of her, truly. That her clerkship had been only a temporary arrangement while she waited to return to her village. She'd never talked to the Exarch about formally extending it into something permanent.

"He relies on me. He was relying on me to be his liaison..." she said.

"Oh, I didn't mean it like that," said Yvain. "I just mean, you're not the only liaison. Siara knows as much as either of us. I'm sure Chair Heldi has told Lord Ked everything there is to know."

"He would have sent someone for me," Rouran agreed, helplessly.

"Well, there you go," Yvain said. "And he hasn't. Are you hungry?"

Rouran was not surprised to discover that she was, but when she pulled herself to the edge of the bed, she became starkly aware of her nudity. She looked for the soiled dress she'd arrived in, but it was nowhere to be found.

"I sent our clothes out in the laundry," said Yvain. "They'll be back by close of market."

"I can't wait around that long...you can't wait around that long," protested Rouran.

"I'm on leave," said Yvain. "A reward for my progress after I reported to Captain Dain. Maybe that's what you've been given by Lord Ked, and you just haven't seen him to know."

He stood up and approached his drawers, then found a shirt and some breeches and tossed them to Rouran.

"Here," he said. "You can wear these."

Rouran pulled the articles of clothing on. She couldn't help but notice they smelled a bit of the sergeant, and she wondered how fresh, exactly, they were. She had to knot the shirt at her waist and undo the laces at the top to make it all feasible, and borrow a belt from Yvain to make the pants work, but eventually she was in something of a decent state of dress.

Yvain had her boots waiting for her. They'd been polished up, and she looked up at him when she took them.

"These aren't very good," he said.

"They were the best the cobbler in my village made," she said.

"Sentiment's no reason to keep bad boots," he told her. "You're probably walking the soles of your feet off."

"Well, they've served me," said Rouran.

"I know a cobbler who does good work at a decent rate," said Yvain. "He'll fit you out."

"Maybe some other time, Sergeant."

He glanced at her, then nodded.

"As you wish, Widow Metil."

She looked up at him. His face was deathly serious, but there was a glee behind his eyes.

"What?" she asked.

"I pushed too far and got slapped again," he said.

"Maybe," said Rouran, pulling the boots on. She stood up. "Where's that breakfast?"

"Lunch," he corrected her. "This way."

They ate in the mess hall of the Guard, and Rouran was surprised to find that the fare wasn't quite half so bad as she might have feared. She kept expecting someone to come through with the green griffon of vai Ullan on their breast, but nobody did. She wondered if Lord Ked had even noticed that she'd never returned.

At Yvain's insistence, they took a walk for the digestion, plodding down the Guild Hill. Rouran was glad of it, for it finally gave her a chance to return to the vai Ullan estate. The guards watching the entrance waved her through, Yvain following slowly after. When Rouran climbed the front steps, he paused.

"Aren't you coming?" she asked.

"I couldn't," he said.

"Why not?"

"I haven't been invited," said Yvain. "I couldn't impose myself on the Exarch's own home."

"The Exarch has more people in and out of here all day than he knows," she said.

"But he'll know when you're in and out," said Yvain. "And if I'm with you..."

"Then you'll be here at my invitation."

"Can you do that?" he asked. "You're his help, not his family."

"I'm his clerk," said Rouran. "Sure I can."

Yvain regarded her carefully.

"You're lying," he said.

"You can stand out here, if you'd like," she offered, sniffing. "I'm sure you'd have no interest in seeing the inside of the Exarch's house anyhow. Guard like you, you're probably in all the Five Noble Families' homes."

"I've been in the vai Tischer estate," said Yvain.

"Right, so there you are. This one's probably just like that. Sergeant Marjov's come into this one, so you can compare notes."

"I...I could come in for a moment," offered Yvain. "But not longer. I don't wish to offend."

"I won't be too long anyhow," said Rouran.

The guards at the door, who'd long since tired of the conversation, pushed them open, letting Rouran and Yvain through.

Yvain started at the massive staircase up to the second floor in the center of the entrance hall, and Rouran nearly laughed openly at him, but caught herself. The man was going through enough emotional turmoil just crossing the threshold, let alone being embarrassed in how apparent that turmoil was.

By some blessing of Vash, Harvald came up from under the stairs, holding a scrap of paper in his hand.

"Harvald," Rouran called. The squire started and looked up.

"Widow Metil," he greeted her. "You're back!"

"I'm sorry I didn't return earlier," she said. "Has Lord Ked asked for me?"

Harvard frowned.

"No, my lady," he said.

"Did he know I hadn't come back?" she asked.

"Oh, yes," said Harvald.

"And is he upset?"

"At what?"

"That I haven't returned in half a day!"

"I don't know, Rouran," said Harvald. The trouble with him, Rouran had always thought, was that he was slightly too tightly wound for the duties put on him. Like Yvain, the mere trappings of nobility had done strange things to his head. Rouran thought it was because nobility in Tia Vashil was so rare and uniform, whereas in Tia Joi there were more nobles than you could shake a stick at, all of different ranks.

"Should I go and attend to him?"

"No, no," said Harvald. "The master is quite busy. I would...what was it you were doing?"

"She was assisting on the investigation," said Yvain, before Rouran could answer.

Harvald looked surprised to see Yvain speak, but he nodded obediently.

"Then, yes, I would continue with that. I'm sure Lord Ked would be pleased to know that."

"Oh," said Rouran. She glanced at Yvain. He smiled at her.

"Well, it was very good to see you, Rouran. Good luck with your investigation."

Harvald moved on, away on whatever errand Lord Ked had sent him on. When he was gone, Rouran hit Yvain in the shoulder. The hard lamellar plates probably hurt her more than him, but he flinched all the same and rubbed his arm.

"What was that for?"

"What if Lord Ked investigates our investigation and discovers I have lied to him?" she asked.

"You put a great deal of faith in a thoroughness from Lord Ked that I have yet to see," said Yvain. "He does not even want to see you."

"Harvald said he was busy, not that he didn't want to see me," said Rouran.

"I apologize. You're right," said Yvain. "But it seems clear to me that he is not taking a personal interest in the hour to hour goings on of Rouran Metil."

"Perhaps I'll go and see him, regardless of what Harvald says," said Rouran, turning away.

Yvain reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling insistently, keeping her from getting too far.

"Please, no," he said.

"You can't keep me from it," said Rouran. A touch too sharp, from the way Yvain reacted, releasing her as though she'd slapped him.

"No, of course not," he said. "I would not wish to. I just..."

He trailed off, and he avoided her eyes.

"What?" she asked.

He sighed.

"I do wish you would spend the day with me, Rouran," he said. "What's left of it."

"And what, precisely, would we do?" she asked.

"Well," said Yvain. "I was thinking, perhaps, I could buy you those boots."

***

Which was how, a handful of hours later, she was lying on his bed, her new boots up over Yvain's shoulders. A fine pair of deerskins that ran up to the middle of her calves. They were the only article of clothing she had on. Her dress had been laundered, and neatly folded and placed on the chair in Yvain's room, but by the time she'd shimmied out of Yvain's loaned clothes, he'd been on her.

Their whole day out had been very similar, with the Sergeant running his hands across her body whenever he got a chance, or pressing her into corners of the city to sneak a kiss. By the time he'd stepped up behind her, his cock straining through his trousers as he kissed the back of her neck, she'd been more than worked up. She'd barely let him touch her before stripping him in turn and guiding him into her.

She arched her back, and Yvain pulled her buttocks, lifting her off the bed slightly, thrusting as hard and deep into her as he could manage, growling as he hit his limit.

"Oh, fuck," moaned Rouran. She bit her bicep to keep from screaming. Naklas had never been one for foreplay, so being taken straight away was not new to her, but he'd rarely ever seem to simply desire her, just wanting to use her body to get off as quickly as possible.

But once or twice, he'd come home drunk and stared at Rouran with a deep, rough lust, until he'd throw her to the bed or bend her over the table and fuck her as hard and fast as he could manage.

It had been some of the best sex of Rouran's marriage.

Which was how Yvain was fucking her now. As though he could not restrain himself for her, as though he had to have her, even the act of withdrawing to ready another thrust an unjust, undesirable disservice to be unfortunately suffered through.

He heaved a groan, burying his cock in her to the hilt, pressing forward on her legs until the tendons in her calves cried out. When she shouted a warning in response, he pulled out of her sharply, making her groan at the sudden emptiness.

Yvain's hands turned her onto her stomach, her feet touching the floor, and she felt his fingers in her hair, just behind her head, pulling her up to her feet. He turned her to the wall, and she threw her hands out, catching herself on them.

She turned her head and looked at him. He seemed to be staring at her backside, drinking it in, his hand holding her hair out of the way.

"Fuck me," she moaned. "This pussy is yours. Take it."

Rouran gasped as Yvain pounded into her, pushing her up against the wall a little further, so that she was bracing on her elbows rather than her palms. His left hand was grasping her breast, his fingers stroking, slapping at the nipple, keeping it hard and sensitive. His right hand held a thick hank of her hair aloft, pinning it to the wall over her head, keeping her head turned so she could look at him out of her left eye.

And she was glad she could, because all she saw on Yvain's face was the pure animalistic lust of a man deep in the throes. She shuddered and let her arms turn to jelly, her shoulders pressing up against the wall, her breast pinning Yvain's hand against the wood. His pace continued unabated, pushing her right up flat, moaning the entire time.

After a few moments of this, Yvain freed his left hand and dropped her hair. He stepped back slightly, his hands wrapping around Rouran's waist, his fingertips on her hip bone, his thumbs pressing into the middle of her back, pushing her forward. She braced herself on the wall again, yielding to Yvain's guiding touch, bending at the waist, moaning as the angle shifted with him still buried inside her. It felt deep, and full, and she groaned as his hands tightened around her hips.

She began to pump back in time with him and a small shiver ran down her spine when she felt Yvain groan. She wondered how close he was, then resolved to push him over the edge, pumping harder.

"Oh, hells and dragon's bells, Sergeant," she moaned. "You make me...feel so good...such a thick fucking cock...I need it...I need it..."

She knew some of it was just something she was saying to elicit a reaction, but some of it she realized she meant unreservedly, in a way that even surprised her. Rouran decided she would puzzle it out later, losing herself for now.

Yvain shuddered and tensed, and Rouran straightened as soon as she felt his pace change, his cock slipping out of her. She spun and knelt on the floor in front of him, greedily devouring his cock, ignoring her own taste on him.

Yvain shuddered again, and he let out another heaving moan. His right hand wrapped around the back of Rouran's head, plunging his cock down her throat while he balanced himself on Rouran's shoulder with his left. Rouran felt him come, the pulsing in her mouth against her tongue, the flood of his seed filling her lips, spilling over even as she swallowed instinctively, much of it dripping down her chin. She tried to pull back slightly, but Yvain was loath to let her go anywhere while he was still experiencing the heights of his climax, pumping burst after burst into her eager mouth.

Rouran groaned around his length and he continued to shiver and shake as he withdrew. Another spurt from his cock splattered across Rouran's chest, and a second struck her stomach before Yvain was too exhausted to stand, falling back into one of the chairs by his dining table. Rouran dragged herself up onto his bed, lying on her side, staring at him while he panted against the table.

"Vash damn," he moaned, lolling his head back. Rouran grinned at him. Yvain's head lifted and his eyes ran the length of her body before he shook himself, groaned again, and sank lower into his chair.

"Well, I'm glad you enjoyed yourself," she said.

"Did you not?" grunted Yvain.

"I enjoyed it, yes, but maybe not the way you did."

"Vash damn, I can't move a muscle," said the Sergeant. "You've taken all of my strength."

"Should I attend to myself?" Rouran mocked him. "You can't help me even a little?"

"If you chose to handle things on your own, I would not stop you," said Yvain. "I might even like to see it. As for help, well...why don't we see how you do?"

Rouran raised an eyebrow at him. Could he really mean...? She almost rejected the idea out of hand. After all, not moments ago he'd been buried to the hilt inside her. Surely that was how a person was supposed to reach their own climax.

"By myself?" she asked.

"Yes," said Yvain. His skin had flushed with color, and his hair was matted to his scalp with sweat. He certainly did seem tired. "I won't be offended."

"And what about me?"

"I think once you get into it, any concerns about offenses will evaporate," laughed Yvain.

Rouran did not think it quite so funny, and, yet, the idea rather toyed with her imagination. When she took her hand and ran it across her body, drawing her fingers through the light splattering of Yvain's seed on her skin, she could feel her body humming in response. She glanced over at where the Guard was sitting, his eyes focused on her, and felt a slight shiver run up her spine.

Never in all her life had she done this at a partner's request. Her forward behavior during Yvain and Elena's coupling had been an error of judgment, and a belief that they never would have asked her to join in. But the hungry way Yvain was staring at her...

She rolled onto her back. One hand squeezed her breast, tacky with Yvain's cum, her fingertips grasping at her nipple, pulling it hard enough to make her moan. The other hand, moving in perfect time to its partner, explored down her stomach, her fingers stroking softly at her pussy, teasing around her clit on each stroke up the full length.

When she glanced back at Yvain, she had his full attention. The heavy lidded eyes had widened. He was still sitting slumped in the chair, but his hands were gripping the arms tightly, his movements still.

Her fingers played with her clit, slowly at first, so that when a wave of pleasure washed over her, she gasped and arched her back.

For a brief moment, it did become easy for her to put him out of her mind. She looked over at him in his chair. One of his hands had drifted into his lap, yet it didn't move, just rested next to his softened cock. That starving, wolfish look was still on his face, eyeing her. Her fingers continued their slow, insistent stroking of her clit and her eyes closed, the image of Yvain staring at her staying, though the rest of the room was shut out.

Her other hand squeezed her nipple between her fingertips and the pad of her thumb, so that a bolt of sensation ran across her body, racing to meet the warm pleasure emanating from between her legs. Yvain wasn't necessarily in her thoughts now, although the image of some man, a man who could've been Yvain, came to her. The feeling of his weight on top of her, the sweat of his body, the taste of his skin. Everything came flooding into Rouran's imagination, into her senses, as she played with herself for Yvain's amusement.

Her eyes snapped open and she looked up to see Yvain stroking himself, his cock hard and erect. Her orgasm followed in an instant, and she bit down on her lip to keep from screaming some blasphemy that might wake the whole barracks. Yvain's pace increased, and it seemed to only intensify Rouran's own climax, the pleasure sweeping through her in waves that made her body heave to and fro in their storm.

"Oh, fuck, Yvain, fuck me now!" she cried.

No sooner had she uttered the words than he was leaping across to the bed, flinging himself between her legs. He guided his cock into her, and she wrapped her hands around his buttocks, forcing him to the hilt immediately. His hand wrapped around her jaw as she screamed, and he kissed her, no doubt half out of the passion and half out of the desire to keep her quiet.

His strokes were to the point—thick, violent thrusts that drove her back against his mattress, so that she was hardly guiding him with her hands but rather clinging to him to maintain her position. She screamed again, swearing out a thanks to Vash as he filled her.

Yvain let out his guttural moan again, and she wrapped her legs tightly around him, her thighs keeping him from moving very far as her hands pulled him down on top of her, her right hand grabbing him by the hair. She pushed her tongue into his open mouth, feeling his push back against hers, wrestling even as he groaned. His strokes were getting shorter now, partly from the way she was wrapped around him, partly from his own need. His hand pawed at her breast, and he broke their kiss, dipping his head to feed her nipple into his mouth, making her moan again.