Torgan Wine Ch. 35

A comment about the Duchess roused her from her thoughts.

"Hm?"

"They have noticed you seem to be flagging, my delicate wife. If my father allows we will retire for the evening so we do not dull the enjoyment of the other guests." Draeseth looked to the King for permission.

"Allow your Duchess to retire and stay to converse. I enjoy the change your sweet-natured wife has brought to you." King Orgath smiled warmly, but it faded slightly as Draeseth hesitated.

Burgath spoke up with a faintly teasing tone, "You should let him go, father, if she leaves his side he grows sour."

"She is my joy. When she leaves my side all I can think of is when she will rejoin me." Draeseth brought her hand to his lips again with a small smile.

"The Black Prince is going to make fawning fashionable," Ougath smirked. "Ganas' priests will froth at the amount of hand kissing in Court."

"Many wives will welcome it." Braeth's father smiled wryly looking at one of the women.

"Very true, Baeroth." Lord Vigrim shook his head with some amusement, "But it may..." he lapsed into Torgan and there were chuckles from the men. And a huffed retort from one of the women.

Isonei looked up at Draeseth for a translation but he looked mostly annoyed at being teased and didn't volunteer anything.

With a smile Burgath spoke up, "It may cause more jealousy than jewelry, Duchess, and create a demand on the men. Lady Vedai says it should be much more affordable."

"Not all men are as tactile as Draeseth, and not all women want them to be. One of the sweetest things I ever saw was Daga Gildith being affectionate with his wife. He's a very stern and composed man, but he brought her a cup of tea himself and adjusted her skirt to cover her feet as she lounged in the garden. Such small things, but she gave him such an adoring look." Isonei collected her thoughts to make a point. "It isn't what a man does that matters it's that the woman feels cherished."

Lord Vigrim inclined his head warmly but the King waved his hand dismissively, "You may retire. Take your wife to her rooms before the rest of the evening is spent discussing how best to cherish our wives."

"Thank you, father." Draeseth rose, helping her from her chair with a well-schooled expression and glittering eyes. "Though the conversation would be less unpleasant than you imagine."

"I have been subjected to more lectures on how to cherish my Queen than I can count." King Orgath's tone became dangerously sour and everyone's eyes sought their plates.

"Whoever lectured you had no right, your Majesty." Isonei gave him a small smile. "Affection or the lack of it is something between the two of you. If it becomes a requirement to be enforced it's a burden and will only bring misery."

He narrowed his eyes at her slightly. "You don't require Prince Draeseth to be so affectionate to you?"

"No, your Majesty. I encourage it but I don't require it."

His sly smile returned, "How so?"

"That would be a question best answered in private, father." Draeseth stiffened, wrapping her arm around his.

"You can only think of the things we do in bed? Not when I rub your head or stroke your arm to help you calm?" That he only ever seemed to think of sex when he thought of her value stung and helped return some of her clarity.

"You may have disappointed your Duchess." The King sounded perversely pleased.

Isonei gave him a cool look of warning and he raised his eyebrows.

"What springs to my mind is the way she leaps to his defense when someone makes him unhappy." Burgath's lips twisted wryly. "If you were a mere Prince there would have been a scolding with that look."

Baeroth coughed, a sound very much like a stifled laugh.

"My Duchess grows sharp when she tires." Draeseth tilted her face up to him with a half smile. "We should retire before she has more reason to be apologetic in the morning." Half turning back to the tables he gave a shallow bow and led her promptly from the room.

"We didn't say good night." She whispered as they moved toward the stairs.

"That is something intimate, not something said to a room of people." Draeseth squeezed her arm against his side.

"Oh." The faint sound of laughter came from the dining room they had left. "You didn't tell me that when I said it to your brothers."

"They were charmed. You treat them as your own brothers and they enjoy it."

"I like your brothers. I didn't when I first met them; they seemed cold and cruel but getting to know them a little..." Isonei looked up at him as he laughed softly in his throat.

"Most find me colder, my jewel."

"You don't show your sweeter side to others as often." Leaning against him as they walked she sighed, "You should."

"They see it when I am with you." They walked in silence until they reached their room; inside he closed the door and pulled her close. "I do not enjoy answering private questions in front of an audience. It was not that I only think of bedding you..."

She wrapped her arms around his waist absentmindedly. "It's just that sometimes... sometimes it feels like..."

"Krouth told me. Sometimes you feel I only want you to have my desires met." He rubbed her back soothingly. "There are many reasons I want you by my side, that you match me perfectly in bed is only one."

That they were well suited in bed was something she couldn't argue with. Isonei pressed her face into his tunic.

"What are you thinking of, my jewel?"

Trying not to laugh she lifted her head to tease him, "I was just thinking that it's true. You are perfection in bed."

Draeseth smirked and guided her toward the bed. "When the midwives have looked at you and said you are well enough, I will give you as much perfection as you can bear. I still want to celebrate our good fortune."

"And that can only be done in bed?" She let him begin unfastening her overdress.

"It is the one place I know I can make you joyful." He captured her lips and tugged the overdress off letting it fall.

°°°°°°°°°°

Isonei woke to a peculiar fidgeting behind her. Draeseth's face was against the back of her shoulder and his movements rocked her ever so slightly. She turned to face him and ran her hand down his arm as she pressed her face to his. The Torgan's movements stilled and he groaned as her hand joined his on his cock.

"Why are you doing this while I'm asleep when you know how much I enjoy watching?" She teased sleepily.

He laughed in his throat and began to kiss her, moving his hand again. "I did not wish to wake you, or to have you think I wanted you to help me."

Putting her leg on top of his, she rubbed it up and down his thigh as she helped him stroke his impressive cock. Draeseth took the opening of her thighs as in invitation to position himself; rubbing the head of it against her sex. Kissing her urgently and panting as he broke the kiss, he growled something in Torgan.

"You haven't taught me that yet."

"Woman, I want you and you are wet for me." He pressed more firmly against her. "How can I not enter you."

Ill-advised or not, she'd gone to bed thinking about sex, dreamt of being bent over the sofa in Lothlaerith's sitting room, and now she wanted it desperately. "If you were careful..." She moaned softly as the tip pushed inside.

Kissing her lustfully as he made short shallow thrusts, he took his hand off of his shaft and encouraged her to keep stroking in time with his thrusts before cupping the curve of her ass. Inviting him deeper into her mouth with gentle suction, Isonei wanted more. Before she could tell him so she felt him releasing.

Draeseth broke the kiss and tilted her face to look at her with a pleased smile; it faded as he noticed her disappointment. "Woman, you said..."

"I wanted you deeper and you finished before I could tell you so." Her pout made him laugh and he covered her face in kisses.

"I cannot be careful and thrust as deeply as you enjoy. We will arrive at my father's court before dinner today and the midwives will be sent for. Perhaps tonight..." He grinned and squeezed her ass. "Or tomorrow morning."

"If you have me thinking about sex before we go to bed again, perhaps." She snuggled closer and he rolled pulling her on top.

"You can sleep naked beside me and not think of sex?"

Isonei got comfortable on his broad chest enjoying the way his hair felt against her cheek. "Of course. It's usually only when you're being wicked or rubbing me."

He made an amused sound and muttered something in Torgan that she could feel through his chest. Caressing her back, he teased in Aran, "You rub me constantly, woman. Even in your sleep, you rub your face against me."

"You love to be rubbed! You're like a kitten!" She lifted her head to see him grinning, "Also like a kitten you usually like to lie on top of me."

His laughter jostled her but he kept her in place. "The Kitten of Kroscur does not have the same sound."

Yawning and rubbing her face against his chest again she replied, "Mm."

"You are more kittenish, my sleepy wife. The way you play and drowse..."

The sound of Krouth bustling into the room with other servants, bringing clothes and opening the curtains, ended the conversation but Draeseth continued stroking her back. Isonei didn't open her eyes.

"Halloc Urroth asked when he should come to examine her Grace. I will have water for washing brought."

"She seems better this morning. I think it may not be necessary." Draeseth's displeasure was clear in his voice and in the way he brought his hand to grip the back of her neck.

"With her delicate health, it would be wise-" Krouth brought himself up short and Isonei heard him leave.

"Did you scowl at him?" Isonei sighed and started to slide off of him.

Draeseth rolled her onto her back and positioned himself over her. "I do not need to be lectured on your delicate health. Nor do I need to have him give me disapproving looks as if I roused my ill wife to sate my desires." His eyes were hard and there was no trace of amusement on his face.

"If you started calling yourself a kitten they might stop treating you like a beast." She gave him a rueful smile and he bent his head to kiss her tenderly.

"They would tease me and you are the only one I will allow to do that."

"You allow me to tease you? I thought you endured it because you can't stop me." Widening her eyes, Isonei put on an innocent face.

"Woman..." His fingers dug into her side tickling her, making her squeal with laughter and writhe under him. He kept her held in place with his other hand, licking her face from chin to ear and then trying to get his tongue down into it.

"Wicked horrible man!"

"I am your Beast, woman." Draeseth began to trail biting kisses down the side of her neck. "Your hungry Beast."

Laughing again, she turned his face enough to kiss him, "Then he should get up and put on his clothes to go to breakfast."

"What I want to devour is in this bed." Capturing her lips he kissed her deeply, insistently, until she moaned into his mouth and wrapped her arms around him.

When he broke the kiss she tried to protest again, "I haven't washed-" he cut off her protests with another hungry kiss.

This time when he broke it she pressed small breathless kisses to his lips and he grinned wickedly, "As long as I can kiss you I know I can persuade you."

"I would have expected a seductress to be immune to such persuasions." The Kamrus' icy voice made her flinch.

Draeseth began growling furiously in Torgan as he rose from the bed and Isonei pulled the covers back over herself, looking incredulously at the man before noticing Krouth and Halloc Urroth standing closer to the door. The two of them were wearing almost matching expressions of discomfort as they kept their eyes glued to the floor.

Ignoring the argument happening closer to the bed, she quietly spoke to them, "Krouth? Could you inquire about the water?" The slim servant bowed, an expression of gratitude passing ever so briefly over his face as he hurriedly departed. "Halloc Urroth, perhaps we should go to another room?"

Before he could respond the Kamrus snapped something in Torgan and she looked at him in bafflement.

"You are naked, wife. We will take our," Draeseth paused, "discussion to another room."

"You're naked too. I, at least, have the covers." At her look of concern, his face softened.

He came back to the bed to kiss her tenderly. "I will dress."

"You haven't washed," Isonei whispered to him with a frown.

"What did she say?" Kamrus Gillaugrim took a step closer to the bed.

"I have not washed. My wife is very concerned for cleanliness; she would have me wash before I dress." He straightened with a half smile.

"You always laugh at me. How can you bear to spend the day feeling sticky and dirty?"

"I have been far dirtier, my Duchess."

"When you have washed," the Kamrus sneered the word as if it held another meaning, "join me before breakfast. I would finish our discussion."

Halloc Urroth stepped aside, waiting nervously by the door as if he were uncertain of his right to be there.

Isonei took pity on him, "Please come in. It may be a moment until we have water to wash with and anything can be done..."

"I-Washing is not a concern, Duchess. I can-" The Halloc stopped speaking as Draeseth moved in front of her and made an annoyed sound in his throat.

"It is for her."

There was a pause. "I was told she washes far more often than necessary."

"She washes less than she would like. Arans bathe as if dirt will harm them."

Giving his well-muscled ass a playful pinch, she peered around his thigh. "Torgans bathe as if soap and water will harm them, as sparingly as possible. Being clean feels nice!"

"Have you ever labored at a task and felt proud at its completion?" Draeseth's eyes glittered. "That feels nice. Bathing is something you have to do before you attend functions."

"Being clean should feel like a reward. Try getting into a hot pool of water after you've done your laboring, be rubbed and washed, you'll-"

He cut her off with a kiss, seating himself on the bed. "I allow you to rub and wash me as often as you desire, wife. It does feel like a reward, that I am clean after you finish is not the reason."

The Halloc coughed and Draeseth coolly spoke something to him in their language. The only word she understood was wife.

Krouth came back a moment later breaking the uncomfortable silence. "Warm water for you, your Grace. I have only one pitcher this morning, they are very busy with preparations for breakfast and our departure."

"Thank you, Krouth. One will do." Isonei took the cover with her as she crossed the room to the basin and pitcher. "Draeseth, would you...?" She gave the large Torgan a smile as he took it from her and held it up like a curtain giving her privacy to wash.

She started with her face and tried to be quick but thorough. Washing from a basin had been appalling at first but it was much better than nothing at all and the quickness of it was sometimes nice. When she finished she looked to Draeseth and he smirked, pulling the cover around behind himself.

"Wash your husband and then I will give you the covers back." He stooped to steal a kiss in the privacy behind the curtain.

"I could examine her while you wash." Halloc Urroth sounded displeased. "I would prefer it."

"The Kamrus has concerns that she is not a dutiful wife, you will be able to tell him of her obedience."

Isonei shook her head and gave the Prince an annoyed look. "You want me to wash you to make him uncomfortable. You're not being kind."

"You do a more thorough job of washing me, my jewel." Draeseth was smirking, "Do you not wish your husband to be clean?"

"Is that why you do such a poor job of washing on your own? So you can convince me to do it more easily?" She made a face at him as she wrung out the cloth.

The thought of washing him with her dirty water was disgusting but there wasn't any other water to use. He stooped as if to let her wash his face and she hesitated. "This water isn't clean enough to use on your face. I should have washed your face right after I washed mine."

"There is a smaller basin of cold water for his Highness, your Grace. I will fetch it."

Stepping close to Draeseth she let him wrap her in the covers as Krouth brought the smaller basin she hadn't noticed and took away the dirty water and cloth. He left a clean cloth next to the basin and she gave him a grateful smile. "Thank you, Krouth."

As she washed Draeseth carefully, using the soap sparingly because of the lack of plentiful rinsing water, she heard a hushed Torgan conversation between Krouth and the Halloc. The look on the Torgan Prince's face said it must be amusing. As she knelt to wash his legs he spoke to her just as quietly, "I have come to prefer your warm water, and I am grateful that you wash me so lovingly."

The words made her belly flutter. Her face flushed as she gazed up at him in pleased surprise before kissing his thigh and pressing her cheek to it. It felt so rare for him to be the man she'd thought him to be in Ara it shook her will to try to find a way home.

"If gratitude means so much to you, my Duchess, why would you not ask me to show it?" He stroked her hair with a bemused smile.

"If it has to be prodded out of you, it isn't gratitude. When you're truly grateful it comes naturally." she opened her mouth to say more but the Halloc interrupted them.

"If his Highness is finished..."

Isonei ran the cloth over him once more and saw him grin down at her. "I suppose he's clean enough to dress."

He made an amused sound in his throat and pulled her into a kiss as she stood. "I will have Krouth arrange a hot bath for us when we arrive."

"That would be wonderful." She tried to take the covers from him and laughed as he wrapped her in them tightly, carrying her to the bed.

Draeseth put her on the bed and lifted her legs, kissing and nipping at the tops of her feet before he moved to the other side of the room where Krouth had laid his clothes. Isonei gave the Halloc a sheepish smile as she tried to disentangle herself from the covers somewhat.

Following his instructions, she arranged herself at the edge of the bed as she had before and stared up at the lace as Halloc Urroth inspected her. When he pressed down on her lower belly it wasn't quite as painful as it had been in the Kroscur. She closed her legs and sat up as he stepped away.

"The bleeding has not entirely stopped. She should ride in the carriage and I would suggest again that you refrain from bedding her but that does not seem to have dissuaded you, your Highness." The Halloc avoided looking at either of them as he spoke.

Letting Draeseth be scolded when it had been her idea wasn't something she was willing to do. "I encouraged him and he was very careful."

"You do not always have to leap to my defense, my Duchess. I knew it was ill-advised, and I knew you would not refuse me. That I was gentle with you is the least that could be expected."

"A husband should leap to his wife's defense, and he should be strong enough not to need hers." Halloc Urroth gave her a peculiar look. "You make your husband seem weak with your excuses."

She frowned at him in bafflement, "I should allow you to scold him when it isn't entirely his fault?"

"Allow me to defend myself." Draeseth straightened his tunic and came to the bed to stroke her hair, stooping to give her a brief kiss. "I will see you at breakfast, my jewel."

°°°°°°°°°°

Dressed and with her hair brushed and pinned in crossed braids, the black cloth in place, Isonei was ready to go down to breakfast. When the knock at the door came she expected it to be Brisnora again. Seeing Baeroth at her door instead was a surprise.

"Good morning! I was expecting Lady Brisnora to escort me to breakfast." She offered him a warm smile. "How is Braeth? I haven't seen him since we arrived."