Torgan Wine Ch. 11

Once again, huge thanks to Todger65 for helping me edit!

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"It's not required, but it's fun if you do it right." Isonei laughed at Arissa's appalled expression.

"It sounds... depraved, degrading..." The Lerian woman shuddered and looked at Isonei as if she were trying to trick her.

"Perhaps this is a conversation that should have stayed in your rooms?" Daga Liadith met them as they walked to the family dining area for breakfast.

Arissa blushed furiously and Isonei sighed, inclining her head, "Perhaps, my Daga."

"But I have to confess I'm curious as to what would make my dear Arissa blush so charmingly." The Daga's smile was mischievous as he took their hands.

"You can't chide me for having the conversation outside of our rooms and then expect me to continue it, my Daga." Isonei bumped him with her hip and earned a sharp look.

"She's feeling playful today, Daga Liadith. It's how the conversation started." Arissa smiled and shook her head. "You should let her play with Draeseth and see if she gets it out of her system. Though I think what she was describing might give the poor man palpitations."

Draeseth rose from the table where he had been waiting and looked at them dubiously on hearing his name.

"She thinks you're prudish and shy, my flower wine." Isonei teased him and released Daga Liadith's hand to give him a warm embrace before taking her seat next to him.

He remained silent giving her the sternest look he could muster, but the nearly imperceptible curve to his lip and the way his dark eyes glittered gave his amusement away.

"He spends his days in prayer and he won't even dance with you, you can't convince me that he would let you do that." Arissa gave her a skeptical look.

"I'm not trying to convince you; I only said that it's enjoyable." The woman's doubt was starting to annoy her almost as much as not being able to enjoy Draeseth as she wished to. The two weeks of being close and not able to so much as kiss were torture. "I didn't even mention how much fun it can be when they return the favor skillfully." Her sullen mutter made Draeseth blush.

"I think he knows exactly what she's talking about, my dear Arissa. Would someone enlighten me?" Daga Liadith gestured for the breakfast to be laid on the table.

"It is not an appropriate conversation." Draeseth spoke carefully, giving Isonei a pointed look.

"Why would you be wishing you could do that if your match doesn't want you to?" Arissa pressed the matter with a frown picking a roll from the trays in front of her.

"Doesn't want her to do what?" Daga Liadith was rapidly losing his patience.

Isonei opened her mouth to answer, Draeseth spoke up before she could, "I enjoy it when she does. Knowing the way I taste pleases my wife, and that her desire for me is equal to my desire for her goes well beyond pleasure." The look he gave her was almost accusing and she smiled sweetly moving her chair closer to rest her hand on his thigh.

"You're not discussing..." Daga Liadith looked at Isonei with incredulity in his now brightening green eyes.

"We were, we should probably change the subject." She stopped him from saying anything else as he frowned and opened his mouth to speak again, "Your dear Arissa didn't want to drop the subject don't chide me for the way she chose to press the matter."

"How could that have been an appropriate conversation to start with?" Daga Liadith put food on his plate and absentmindedly on Arissa's.

"I asked what she was thinking of this morning." Arissa rested her hand on his arm. "We talk like she used to with her sisters."

"What were you doing that you-" Draeseth stopped abruptly giving her a scandalized look.

"I was missing you." Isonei squeezed his thigh before pulling her hand back.

"Woman, if you have no privacy..." His face was darkening with what looked to her like a mix of desire and embarrassment.

Arissa began to giggle. "He is prudish and shy. How could he allow you to do that?"

"He isn't! My Draeseth just seems that way when he's behaving himself. He's worse than I am when we're alone." Isonei gave the now scowling Prince an impish grin. "It was such a wonderful surprise."

The Torgan made an annoyed scoffing noise in his throat, "I've told you before, your affection could make a saint embrace depravity." He bit into a roll and made a face before offering it to her, it was filled with manirel.

"You should break them in half before taking a bite, husband." Isonei broke one and, finding it filled with the brown spread he favored, put both halves on his plate.

"I want that." Arissa's wistful tone made Isonei look up. "They're so affectionate even when they aren't touching."

"I can have food you don't like served so that you can put it on my plate if it would please you." Daga Liadith teased her gently.

"Would that thing we were discussing make him sweeter to me or would I need to try something else?" Arissa took a bite of her food, ignoring Daga Liadith.

The Daga's eyes changed to a very bright, clear green. "Please. Answer her." He didn't take his eyes off of Arissa's face.

"You don't do it to change their behavior; you do it because you want to show them how much you enjoy them and because the sounds they make are thrilling." Isonei struggled not to break into giggles, "If you want to change his behavior you could try applying your hand to his bottom, my Draeseth seems to think it works." She fluttered her lashes as the Daga turned to look at her with a stunned expression.

Draeseth leaned, gripping the back of her chair hard enough to make it creak, and breathed into her ear, "I would offer them a demonstration, but I am meant to be helping you maintain propriety and I don't want the first time I touch you again to be putting you over my knees and leaving my handprint on your perfect blue ass."

"Does it work?" Arissa leaned onto her elbows. "Does it change her behavior?"

"No, I enjoy it almost as much as I enjoy the way he threatens me with it." Isonei blushed and grinned, turning her head slightly to look at the flushed Torgan who was still leaning close. He looked as though he wanted to have her on the table.

The sound of the Daga sucking his teeth against his lips brought her attention back across the table. "Father said I should consider allowing the two of you some time to be intimate. He said it would become difficult for you to maintain your propriety."

"I will try to behave better." Isonei let her smile fade as she gave a sigh and inclined her head.

The Torgan Prince straightened and made a startlingly loud unhappy noise in his throat, "Forgive our lapse."

"There is nothing to forgive." Arissa waved her hand. "I like seeing the two of you together that way, it gives me hope that I might be able to make someone look at me that way if I pay attention to Isonei's instruction." She gave the Daga an arch smile.

"If you look at me the way she looks at him, I will do anything you desire." Daga Liadith lifted her hand and kissed the backs of her fingers with a sparkle in his eyes. "I finished the letter to your father if you wish to read it. I was going to wait to send it for propriety's sake but I want our match finalized."

"To find out if I'll try smacking your bottom or kissing you in peculiar places to make you stay this sweet?" Arissa blushed as she teased him.

He didn't lift his mouth from her fingers as he spoke, "I was going to say because having a flawlessly beautiful woman under my roof who clearly wants me to express my admiration in more obvious ways is too much to bear while I have to behave as a Daga should."

The Lerian woman's flush deepened as he lingered over her fingers; Isonei thought he might be nipping the backs of them.

"My flower wine, would you pass me the pitcher?" Isonei inquired sweetly, earning a look of furious reproach from Arissa.

The Daga began to laugh quietly, "Perhaps you might wish to accompany Isonei down to speak to my father? He's been looking forward to it and I think she would cut her visit short out of concern for our... continued appropriateness."

"If you're suggesting you would come sit with me in the garden while she's-"

Draeseth set the pitcher down within reach so firmly that the freshly pressed juice inside sloshed audibly.

"This is where our task becomes more difficult. It's been decided but until Daga Gildith returns and the ceremony takes place they need to continue behaving themselves." Isonei rested her hand on Draeseth's thigh again.

"In Torga they would not be permitted to sleep under the same roof until after the wedding."

"In Ara we would be discouraged from the match unless we'd made certain we enjoyed each other." The Daga leaned back in his chair holding Arissa's hand. "Thoroughly."

"I'm very fortunate to have met my Draeseth in Ara." Isonei tried to keep her face composed, "The two of you will have to behave like Lerians." The suddenly nervous look on Arissa's face prompted her to make a suggestion, "But if there are concerns, perhaps my flower wine can offer you some instruction on how to be sure to please her."

"What instruction could he offer?" The Daga gave her an annoyed look.

"To curl your fingers when giving her an Aran kiss." Draeseth was blushing as he offered the advice.

"What did you call it?" Isonei looked at him incredulously.

"An Aran kiss. We call it the same." The Daga looked as though he was barely containing his laughter.

"What is that?" Arissa asked curiously.

"Kissing in peculiar places as you phrased it my dear." The Daga grinned wolfishly. "I've never tried it, but I was told it's easy."

Disagreeing with a growling grunt, Draeseth placed his hands on the table. "It requires some skill to please a woman properly."

Isonei lifted her hand from his thigh and stroked his arm. "It requires patience and the desire to please. I'm certain he'll pay attention to her responses and adjust his touch accordingly."

"If he does not lose himself in the joy of the way she feels against his skin." His breathing grew just a bit heavier, "Or in the taste of her desire."

"Did you lose yourself in it?" Arissa teased him still blushing.

He closed his eyes and the sound he made brought Isonei to the edge of her chair pressing herself against his arm. "She had to ask me to be more gentle, less impatient. I needed." Opening his eyes he looked at her helplessly, "I need, woman."

Before she could respond, the Daga inquired with spiteful glee, "Can you reach the pitcher, Arissa?"

"Shh! I want to see what she does!" Arissa laughed.

Standing and wrapping her arms around Draeseth's neck she sighed against his hair, "It won't be much longer, my flower wine. I need you just as badly." She moved away from the table and waited by the arch to the rest of the family rooms until the Daga realized why.

Arissa joined her with a mock pout, "I wasn't finished with breakfast."

"I'll have refreshments brought to the garden." Isonei took her hand leading the way to the crypts.

"Are you upset?" Arissa asked gently, pulling her to a stop. "You seem... unhappy now."

"I haven't behaved well this morning, and it's pure torment to hear him say he needs me and I can do nothing to ease his need or my own." Isonei let herself be embraced.

"Touching yourself the way you were showing me this morning didn't help?" Arissa's smile was slightly apologetic.

"Not when it's his touch I want." Isonei pressed her face into Arissa's shoulder.

"Does it... does it really feel good? The Aran kiss they were talking about? It sounds disgusting to me." Arissa started walking again but very slowly.

Isonei smiled and shook her head, "Only if they do it right. The first time I experienced it I was bored and annoyed. I didn't let him try it again. I was surprised when the next lover I had made it feel good. When I talked about it with one of my sisters, she told me a few things to have him try and I've enjoyed it thoroughly ever since, as long as the man is willing to learn how to do it to my liking."

"Draeseth was willing to learn?" Arissa giggled.

"He already knew how to do most of it." Isonei laughed. "Whoever taught him did it well."

"It doesn't bother you to think about him with someone else?" Arissa frowned slightly. "It would make me crazy."

"No. I reap the benefits of his time with them, just as he benefits from the things I learned from others."

"Does it make him crazy?" Arissa hesitated at the top of the stairs outside the crypts.

"Sometimes, I think it does. He can be very jealous but when he and I are together I think only of him. He fills my senses." Isonei took a deep breath and started down, stopping as she realized Arissa was standing nervously at the top. "Are you afraid?" She held out her hand encouragingly. "There's no need to be."

"What if they don't approve?" Arissa looked as though she wished to change her mind about the visit to the elder Daga.

"If they didn't approve they would have made it known to the Daga." She smiled warmly taking a few steps back toward the nervous Lerian woman. "I was nervous the first time I was allowed into the crypts too. The elder Daga teased me for sticking to his side like a burr."

Arissa took her hand and gripped it tightly as she let herself be led down. "Who did you visit?"

"The elder Daga's father. He wanted us to meet when he gave me my room. When I came down on my own to look at the statues again, the veiled priests were always very kind and happy to tell me about them."

"They like to be remembered." She studied the statues as they moved through. "They're less stern looking than the ones at home."

"I like it down here; it feels warm and friendly to me. I just wish it weren't always so quiet."

"It isn't always quiet; the daughter of Liadith is as fond of pleasant conversation as her Daga." The veiled priest lifted his hand to his heart, "Welcome daughter of Gildith."

Hesitantly, Arissa released Isonei's hand to return the gesture, "Thank you."

"You will be required to kneel today, sweet girl. We want to make a good impression." The priest teased gently as he followed them into the room with the sarg.

"Of course. I haven't been well behaved today. I don't know why today is so difficult." Isonei sank onto the kneeler and made room for Arissa.

"You're young and in love. New matches often find being apart unbearable." The veiled priest stood behind them with a hand resting on each of their heads.

"You usually sit on the sarg?" Arissa turned her head slightly to give Isonei an incredulous look.

"I like sitting with the elder Daga, it's comfortable and I feel uhhmm close." Isonei dutifully tried to dust off her Lerian.

"How can that be comfortable?"

"There have been several daughters of Liadith and even a wife who shared her view. Daughters of Liadith have always been loving and sweet natured."

"My Daga is always easy to love. He made people happy."

"I remember. He was always charming and kind." Arissa took her hand and squeezed.

"To be remembered so fondly warms the heart, but I would rather hear what you think of my son. He enjoys matching wits with you; your conversations stir him as much as your beauty. Do you feel the same?" The elder Daga's inquiry had a slight edge to it and Isonei tilted her head under the priest's hand only to have it straightened.

"I do. His humor is sharp and I like it. I like him."

"Are you certain you would be content here?"

Isonei squeezed Arissa's hand as she hesitated.

"If he could choose..." Arissa leaned against her arm. "If I knew it was me he was thinking of..."

"Ah. I knew something was bothering you. He needs to address that, but from where I stand, daughter of Gildith, he would choose you over anyone else."

Leaning into Arissa's arm, Isonei smiled and sighed, "I never saw his eyes that shade of green, Arissa. He looks at you in a way he never looked at me. I wish there was a way the two of you could spend time alone together."

"They have been. The maids talk amongst themselves on the benches and she stands at the Daga's window to talk to him."

Arissa shifted her weight on the kneeler and Isonei began to laugh. "I knew the two of you would find a way around me! Your children will be clever enough to give you fits."

"They thought we would both be occupied. Had they not been so well behaved I would have told you sooner." The priest patted her head.

"He should know better, you were always sweet but very clever, my Daga."

"I always thought his mother must have been the clever one." Arissa teased and then tensed.

"She was. My Moraea was as quick witted as she was beautiful. I wouldn't have been able to win her heart had I been too dim to make her laugh." At his amusement Arissa relaxed again.

"That's such a beautiful name." Isonei smiled wistfully.

"You'd never heard it?" Arissa squeezed her hand. "He wants to name his first born daughter after her."

"We didn't discuss children; we were far too young for that." Isonei tried to turn her head to look at her and the priest kept it in place.

"Did you tell him your mother's name?" The priest asked carefully.

"He never asked."

"You didn't offer it?"

"No, I never thought to. Why?"

"He wants me to see that the names that we discussed weren't from you." Arissa sounded very pleased. "What is your mother's name? As long as I've known you I've never asked."

"Wynnan of House Neriris."

"Your name is nothing like hers..." Arissa sounded almost concerned and Isonei managed to turn her head just slightly under the priest's hand.

"Why would it be? My father chose my name just as he chose the names of my brothers."

"Lerian tradition dictates that there be some similarity." The priest spoke gently.

"My mother is Arnarra. All of us have names that contain the 'ar' of her name and end in 'a'."

"That's a lovely tradition. Names within a House tend to have similarities, but..." Isonei shook her head slightly under the hand on her head. "Children belong to their father's House, he names them. I've never considered what my children might be named."

"How often do you visit your mother's House?" The priest tapped her head and turned Arissa's back to the front.

"I don't. Father said that I would have if she were alive, but without her I have no connection to them. I've met some of them though, they're very charming."

"My father would demand to see my child." Arissa pulled Isonei's hand over to hold it in both of hers. "Your father robbed you of your family."

"I knew he kept two of your sisters from you, I scolded him for it. Had I known he kept your mother's family from you as well I would have made myself heard as clearly as your Torgan." The elder Daga's displeasure was something she'd never encountered and her father had never said that he'd been scolded.

"He kept her sisters from her?" Arissa's grip tightened painfully.

"The two my mother gave House Beivaris. I haven't seen them since she died." Isonei squeezed Arissa's hand back, "But I had my brothers' mothers and-"