To Walk the Constellations Pt. 08

Thale broke the kiss again. Venn bit his neck, then kissed the throbbing point of contact, then whispered. "I...I had a bad day..."

"Me too," Thale said. His voice was raspy. Venn let out a choked laugh, then mashed her face against his shoulder and began to cry. Thale felt a touch out of sorts. Adoran had held him when he cried. But he'd never had to hold anyone who was crying. Adoran never cried – Adoran had parents that loved him and wasn't a mutant. What did Adoran have to cry about? Thale gulped, then slid his arms around behind Venn, holding her to him. He caressed the small of her back and murmured. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Venn gasped in a shuddering breath. "A...Absolutely not!"

"Okay," Thale said. He got that. Talking about stuff was overrated. "W-Want to kiss more?"

Venn's smile was sloppy – her cheeks glistened with tears and her nose gleamed with a tiny bit of snot. She reached up and wiped at her nose, sniffling and whimpering. "Yeah. A prince like you wants to kiss me like th-" Thale smothered her voice with his lips. His mouth pressed to hers and his tongue swirled into her mouth as his hands slid from the small of her back to her ass. He squeezed her to him and she shuddered, her eyes closing. Her moan, muffled as it was, held enough wanting for a century.

When the kiss broke, Venn whispered. "I had to kill someone," she whispered.

"Shh," Thale said. He kissed her forehead, gently. Then he kissed her nose, then her chin. His tongue darted out, licking up some of the tears on her cheeks. He nuzzled against her neck then. He nipped her in the same place she had bitten him – but more gently. Even that gentle contact of teeth to skin wrung a throaty moan from Venn, who pressed herself against him as if she thought she could merge with his body. Thale thought about telling her that he had killed many people. That he had struck down the enemies of the Hegemony, the Hegemony that he hated. That he had sometimes dueled with enemies that had absolutely no chance against a Liminal Knight with a threshold blade, and that he had struck them down.

He said none of those things.

Instead, he whispered. "Better them than you," he breathed.

"No..." Venn whispered, looking aside.

He caught her cheek. "If something happened to you, I..." His voice caught. "I would burn the whole universe, Venn."

Venn's eyes widened and her breath came out in a sigh. "Thale..." She kissed him then – her lips gentle. But then her want overcame her gentleness and she pressed against him more. Then she kissed his neck, licking him, whispering. "S-So I best not die, then." She kissed the flat plane of his chest, then licked her way down to his nipple. Thale knew where she was going and the urge to hurry her along was intense. Nearly overpowering. But he stretched his arms behind his back, hooked them over his neck. His eyes half closed as Venn kissed his belly button.

"Y-You don't have to do that, you know..." He purred. He tried to not purr. But he couldn't help it – even as her tongue circled around and around and around his belly button. Her hand cradled his back, hooking around his tail, then caressing up along it. Petting him as she moaned into him.

"I like doing it..." She murmured, huskily.

Thale purred even harder.

Venn kissed her way along the flat of his belly. Her tongue rasped along the seams of his scars. Her nose flared as she pressed herself up against the side of his groin, her tongue darting out. The feeling of her silky, soft tongue flicking along his cock made Thale feel a deep, attentive peace. His eyes closed and his fingers slipped through Venn's brown hair, stroking against her scalp as her lips moved lower. She closed her mouth around one of his balls and moaned wetly into him, the vibration buzzing through him like his purring. His tail started to lash – but it lashed while her hand gripped the base, holding him, stroking him. She was petting him, and for once, Thale didn't feel like an animal as she did it. His ears slicked back and his mouth opened as his purr grew stronger and more rumbling, vibrating through his whole form.

Venn released his ball with a soft gasp, moaning softly. "Christ, I love how you taste..." She planted one kiss, another kiss, a third kiss, her eyes fluttering shut as she breathed in his scent. "I love how you smell, I love..." She trailed off as she leaned up and closed her mouth around the tip of his cock. Her lips hooked around his glans and her tongue began to explore his foreskin. Pre pulsed into her mouth as Thale's mouth hung open and his head rolled back.

"Venn..." he crooned.

She started to slide forward. She slicked his cock up with her mouth, her tongue swirling around and around. Then she drew back, and released his cocktip, gasping out eagerly. "I love how big you are..." She purred the word, trilling it, as if she was trying to match the sound escaping from Venn's chest. His fingers tightened on her hair and he tugged her in closer. His cock slid along her tongue and Venn made a soft, almost choked noise, her eyes rolling back into her head as she sucked on him.

Thale clenched his jaw and forced his claws back, before he dug them into her scalp. His hiss was so soft that it was nearly drowned out by the waves. "Venn, I...ah, Jesus, yes!" He gasped as her hand closed around his wrist, and tugged him just so. At first, he thought she wanted him to stop. Then. Realization. She had taken him in her mouth before – and she was indicating...she was ready for more. Thale bucked his hips, feeling his control on a knife's edge as his feet skidded along the sand under him, sinking in deeper.

His toes clenched.

And Venn's lips bumped against his groin. Her eyes were closed tight and she had tilted her head backwards, so that his cock could slide down her throat. He swore he saw her skin bulging slightly with his grith. Then she slid back with a long, slow slurp. The sound was nearly enough to push him over the edge. Then Venn used her hand. She gripped his cock the same way she had held his tail, then tightened it and twisted her palm. She pumped him and bobbed her head with eager, frantic slurps, moaning. Her left eye opened and she looked up at him, desperately.

She needed his cum.

She needed him.

"Venn!" Thale snarled out. His tail lashed once and he let out a fierce, almost animal yowl as his balls boiled over. They clenched and the first pump of cum splashed along the roof of her mouth. It exploded around her lips and she pushed forward, her throat bobbing as blast after blast of cum emptied down her throat. She moaned with pure bliss, and the vibrations buzzing through his cock drove the orgasm on longer and longer. Thale felt as if he was about to collapse – and then Venn drew her mouth back, her hand lazily pumping his cock. Another spurt struck her face and she grinned at him, her eyes hazy. Dazed. Cum dripped from her cheek, splashing along her shoulder as she tilted her head a bit to the side. Her giggle was infectious as she licked her lips, crooning happily.

The sheer delight she took in his pleasure was intoxicating.

Thale's knees hit the sand and he leaned into her, gasping. His face pressed to the side of her neck that wasn't splashed by his cum – not because he didn't long to lick himself off her, to clean her with his tongue. It was simply that that urge was not as intense as the need to breathe in Venn's scent. Her laugh was shaky.

"When do we get to do that in real life?" she mumbled.

"This is real," he whispered, kissing one of her freckles. He traced it with his tongue – sliding his tongue from freckle to freckle, drawing out her constellations. He could make a thousand constellations with her freckles, with her skin, and they would all be more beautiful than the skies over any world on the Chain.

Venn drew him onto her as she laid back. Her back pressed to wet sand and the warm, pinkish waters of Grey Hawk brushed against her side, frothing against her. She giggled and squirmed – trying to move so that at least her head wouldn't be slapped by the waves. But Thale wouldn't let the five, six seconds that'd take pass without kissing her. In the end, it took nearly a minute to orient themselves so the waves washed over their legs and their bellies. She tasted strongly of the bubblegum waters, and Thale was hard again as he loomed over her.

"What is this place?" she whispered. "Is it real?" Her tongue slid along her lips, tasting the water. "It can't be real."

"It's the paradise moon of Grey Hawk..." Thale murmured. His purring had come back. And when he was with Venn, when he saw the pure delight in her eyes when he purred, he could do nothing but purr harder. He leaned forward, kissing her scalp, tasting her sweat and the sea water. He started to lick his way along her forehead. "Crystal beaches. Waters full of sugars from the engineered algae. Micro-gravity meditation geysers. Uplifted octopuses masseuses."

"Sounds hideous," Venn mumbled.

"I'm told..." He licked the salt off her lips. "It's divine."

"Can't be better than you..." She whispered, then reached up and dragged him in for another kiss. Thale felt his heart hammer faster and faster as she lifted her legs up, spreading her thighs, arching her back. Her hot, desperately eager pussy pressed to his cock. Part of Thale wanted to draw back. It felt...wrong. IT felt wrong to adore this so much. To need this so much. To want Venn to be with him, forever. Not while Adoran was in danger.

But his cock slipped along her. Slid up. He arched his back to get himself into the exact right position, his voice soft as he drew his mouth back. "Venn..."

"I...I'm a virgin..." Venn whispered.

Thale smiled ever so slightly. His eyes met hers and she looked so tense and nervous and shyly abashed. Like she had just confessed some great sin. Thale licked his lips, then leaned forward. His forehead pressed to hers and he breathed. "I'll be glorious."

That was what she had whispered, once. When she had first taken his member in her mouth. She had wanted not gentleness. Not meek, quiet touches, retiring and afraid. She had wanted glory. She had wanted perfection. And Thale felt his entire body quivering, ready. He kissed her lips slowly, his tongue sweeping into her mouth. He tasted her eagerness – and his, his cum, still warm on her tongue. Her thighs spread even more wantonly and he arched his back just so. His cock slotted against her sex and Thale opened his mind to his djinn.

The Machine had watched humanity ever since they had breathed life into silicon and copper and superconductors. They had learned. Some of the first had been entirely built around the act of sex. The art of love. And Thale felt the voiceless voice whispering in his mind – and he knew the arts he needed. It was the curious knowing without learning that he normally felt when he called upon his djinn, and he let it flow through him. His hips bucked and Venn cried out – a single, wordless, desperately hungry voice – and her back arched as water sluiced over them, tasting of sugar and sweetness. He was only half inside of her, and she felt as tight as a vice.

"Oh Thale!" She moaned.

He kissed her neck. He bit her. He thrust again and it was glorious. His member spread her and Venn's pussy gripped him like a silken fist. Her slickness made her nearly frictionness, and the pleasure that swam through him made his teeth tighten harder against her neck. He could taste the thundering of her heartbeat. His purring vibrated through them both as Venn locked her hips around him. She tightened more and she refused to even let him draw back enough for a thrust. Her fingernails dug into his back and left furrows – bright pain that was all worth it.

"Oh Thale, oh, yes! I love you!" She gasped out, her breath coming sharp and desperate. Her hips started to rock as she impaled herself on him. Her body was more athletic than it had been when they had first met in the dreamscape – he had trained her, but she had also trained herself. IN the times where they had been awake, when whole light cones had separated them, she had made herself into a lithe dart of a woman, and the feeling of her wantonly fucking back was the most satisfying thing that Thale had ever felt.

It was better than being with Quah.

It was...

Gods.

"I love you too!" He growled out. The words came almost before he realized what they were, and when he looked down at her, his hands planted to either side of her head, he could see how happy they made them and could not bring himself to regret them. His hips drove into her in the tiny space that she left for him – but that space got bigger and bigger as her legs lost their tension. She wasn't able to keep them locked as she started to go limp with bliss, her mouth opening as she cried out in wordless joy.

Their voices echoed from the cliff that loomed over the crystal beaches – and the sound of the surf seemed to provide a perfect counterpoint to the gasps, the moans, the cries of pleasure. Venn's hands slid from his back to his cheeks and she kissed him – but it was a fleeting contact of lips to lips. Neither could endure the contact, lets their lungs burn and their vision go black.

There was no way that this ferocity could last. Like a fire in a small closet, it burned hotter and brighter than it could have outside – and it hit a climax with the same shocking suddenness. One moment, Thale was slamming into her like a jackdrive, driving her back up the beach, drawing a Venn shaped furrow in the sand. The next, his balls were boiling over and his instincts screamed for him to slam deep while his brain screamed for him to pull out. The image of breeding with Venn, of having a child with the same loathesome deformities that he had been sired with, was horrifying.

It was intoxicating.

He loved her.

He hated himself.

And Venn locked her legs around him again. Her voice was a fierce, feral hiss. "Don't you dare."

And she grabbed the back of his neck and when she kissed him and she came, it was with a furious heat. Her refusal to allow his loathing to stay burned into him and her tongue swirled against his as her eyes remained focused on his and Thale saw a thousand blurred Venn's as his eyes filled with tears and his cum exploded inside of her. His balls clenched and he rocked against her, slamming home with tiny, abortive thrusts, each one planting more of his seed into her. He felt his loathing and his joy mingle, then leave him – sliding out. He floated in a haze of physical sensation – the contact points of her diamond hard nipples, the feeling of her sex around him...but also the thousand more vital, more important touches.

Her fingers, on his hair.

The ear she caressed with her other hand.

The touch of one sandy ankle, pressed against the base of his spine.

His tail hooked under one of her knees, fur rasping against the softness of her calf.

The warm meat of thighs against his bony hips.

And then the softness of her tongue, licking at his tears as he leaned into her, his body shuddering. She caressed him, her voice whispering. Softly. "They're lies. Thale."

"No..." He shook his head. But he didn't know what he was saying no too. Was it to her? Was it to the lifetime of being told he was a disgusting mutant? He didn't know. Then, suddenly, he did. Because he felt the faint quiver of someone gripping him, shaking him. "No...no, no, no!" He pressed against her, holding her tighter. The shaking grew more insistent. Venn kissed him one last time, then whispered, her voice husky.

"Go," she breathed. "I'll see you. I'll find you. I promise. I love you, Thale. I-"

"I love you," he whispered.

And then he was yanked from the dreamscape. A servitor automaton was shaking him still, which meant Thale felt no guilt when he grabbed his threshold blade from under his pillow and hewed it in half with a single, snarling swing. His gold blade crackled and hummed as he sat back on his knees. He looked down, panting heavily.

His sheets were clean.

Thale frowned.

"S-Sire..." The automaton said, its voice warbling. "Praetor Theodosius...dinner...invitation...invitat...invi...invi..." It whirred and then the internal components that had been ripped to shreds by the passage of his blade finally gave up the ghost. As the automaton went limp, Thale panted and shook his head.

"I'll eat in," he growled.

***

The Victrix Imperita arrived in the Parliamentarian Monarchy of Hydra with the fanfare that was due the Hegemony. Hydra was one of their states. They sent their tribute to Eudaimonia on regular sundiver ships, and their fleet and their ground forces were entirely at the beck and call of the Hegemony's bigger, more powerful navy. And so, when the Victrix emerged from Hydra's primary, it was greeted by an entire flotilla of PMHN ships, arrayed in parade formation, their radiators fanned out and glowing as bright as the distant stars. Drak stood on the bridge with Theodosius – unable to ignore this official occasion.

As laser light flickered between the Victrix and the flagship of the Hydra navy, Drak took a moment to reach out with his power and caress through the PMHN fleet's comptech, what he could sense from here.

It was pathetically easy. The Hydraese hadn't had a Liminal Knight born on their planets for generations. And none of those that had been sent to Eudaimonia for training and induction into the Hegemony had returned to beef up their infosec. It was almost embarrassing how quickly he was to begin listening in on their private comnets, even if they were speaking in their local combat language. It was a clipped, fast, ciphered tongue that Drak wagered would be maybe...two, three days of concentrated effort to translate.

The official language spoken between Theodosius and the flagship's admiral was easier to follow, but infinitely more tedious. The Hydraese admiral was too busy kissing the Hegemony's shoes to say anything of interest – and Theodosius was too much of a pompous prick to think about cutting protocol short.

Then...

"And, of course, the Liminal Knight, as you have been informed, has escaped. We sought to chase after her, but...well..." The admiral sighed. "Our navy was unable to track the sundiver until after it had executed a jump. Containing more than a thousand tons of perishable biologicals too." He sounded more irritated about that. "They've made it to Atom, and according to our QE communications with the far side of Atom, they haven't emerged from the jump. Which does mean they're bottled up nicely, yes?"

"More like forted up," Theodosius said, his lip curling in a sneer. "This is why you see you need the Hegemony, Admiral Harrison. Only we can protect you from this rebel scum. You say they were trying to disable your fusion reactor?"

"Well, uh...that does seem to be their target," the Admiral said.

Lord Drak stepped forward into the range of the communicator. "And what of Lady Enriquah?" he asked, his voice pursed and tight. Worry knotted at his gut – but he knew it was more likely that Quah had gotten distracted than that she had gotten hurt. "Did she arrive here safely?"

There was a long pause.

Drak felt his gut twist.

"She arrived, uh," the Admiral said. "She did not contact our government. But, she, ah. Well, she faced the rebel Knight."

Drak felt cold sweeping along his body.

"She was killed."

Killed.

Killed.

Killed.

"Lord Drak, you would have been kept up to speed on this if you had attended-" Theodosius started.

The console before him exploded. Sparks filled the air and one of the ensigns who was tending to the communication array cried out – while Theodosius sprang backwards, lifting his arm. His eyes were wide as the bridge flickered. "What are-" Theodosius started, but then Thale closed his hand around Theodosius neck. He pushed forward and smashed him into the front screen of the console. The screen bowed inwards slightly and a staticy circle of distortion waved through the screen as Thale snarled.