Void System: Every Heroine Makes Me Stronger

The Siltglass keys clicked against Alicia’s belt as she set the last coil of rope beside the river leathers.

Rope, hooks, shuttered lamps, folded dry cloth, and 2 sets of river leathers rested against the inner wall of the north upper landing. Nothing blocked the stairs. The lamps had been filled but not lit.

Alicia straightened. "Saelith has the copy, Master. She read the seal before she took it."

"The wagon?"

"No change at the old lime weighhouse, Master. Team and gear are still together. Nobody approached. The watchers still don’t have a buyer or destination." Her ears shifted toward the closed records-room door.

"Keep the relay running. No message goes through the Guild."

"Yes, Master."

Severin checked the knots on the rope, the hook points, and the shutters over the lamp glass. Alicia had arranged the leathers by size instead of piling both sets together. The Siltglass key ring stayed clipped to her belt.

"Hold this landing," he said. "Wake Marienne if the wagon, team, or gear separates. I’m going to Maerith."

Alicia’s tail curled behind her calf. "Will you be above long, Master?"

"Long enough to get an answer."

Her ears lowered by a fraction, then rose again. "I’ll be here when you return, Master."

She moved into the adjacent upper room and sat in the padded chair with the stair and landing still in view.

Severin entered the north records room and locked the west door behind him.

The charcoal rubbing remained beneath glass. The office copies remained inside the cabinet. He left both where they were.

He stood at the center of the dry table and opened his right hand.

Dense black mist poured from his palm.

It spread low across the wood, thick enough to hide the grain. The charter packet appeared first at the northwest edge. The Siltglass packet settled beside it. The Limeback option emerged last, still bound with its own cord. The mist withdrew without touching the glass weight, cabinet, or lamp.

The 3 cords lay apart as the mist thinned.

Severin stacked them beneath his left forearm, tested each tie with his thumb, then unlocked the door. His right hand stayed free. He closed and locked the room again before crossing the landing.

The ascent opened beyond any mortal door.

Greycross disappeared. Warm stone replaced the wooden floor beneath his boots, and the smell of lamp oil gave way to clean air touched by some flowering tree beyond the walls.

Inside the west reading room, Maerith stood 2 steps beyond the eastern doorway.

She wore a cream-gold nightgown tied loosely at the waist. Her long hair hung free over both shoulders. No crown rested above her emerald eyes.

She looked at his face before she looked at the packets.

"You came late."

"I bought a dungeon."

Her right eyebrow rose. "That does explain the paper. It doesn’t explain why you haven’t kissed your wife."

Severin crossed the remaining distance.

Her hand touched his jaw. The other settled over the left side of his chest as he drew her against him. Their first kiss stayed familiar and unhurried. Maerith’s mouth opened beneath his. Her fingers slid behind his neck, and the packets under his arm had to wait while he tasted her tongue.

When he drew back, her lips remained parted.

"Better," she said.

"You were going to complain?"

"I was deciding how much dignity to preserve while doing it."

He kissed her again, shorter, then carried the packets to the long table.

Maerith adjusted the east lamp wick before he set anything down. The flame steadied. She moved a water cup farther north, away from the papers.

Severin placed the charter packet on the left, Siltglass in the center, and Limeback on the right.

Her gaze stopped on the first heading.

Morcant-Valcor Company.

The pause was small. He knew her too well to miss it.

"Another woman’s name has learned to travel beside yours," Maerith said.

"On company paper."

"A distinction a wife should find comforting?"

"Marienne runs the books. Her name belongs on the work she carries."

Maerith looked at him rather than the page. "And mine?"

"You’re my wife. You don’t need a clerk’s ink."

The corner of her mouth softened. "No. I have better proof."

Her fingers closed around his wrist and held it for a quiet beat before she released him.

"Now," she said, "tell me what you built."

He opened the charter.

"I own 60%. Marienne owns 40% and serves as Managing Treasurer. Copperglass stays hers. The warehouse-house stays mine. The company owns Siltglass Run."

"And Limeback?"

"An exclusive option. The seller still owns it."

"Debt?"

"Siltglass carries a 2,100 Stellar Gold seller note. We have 5,196 Stellar Gold left in the acquisition account."

Maerith leafed forward. "You didn’t come here to celebrate a balance."

"No."

"What do you want from the claims?"

"Ground. Water. Roads. Output. Places people have to cross, repair, guard, or buy from."

She lifted her eyes. "An empire."

"A beginning."

"Mm." She read the share schedule again. "A beginning is usually the part most eager to be killed."

He opened the Siltglass packet and put the hazard pages beside the marked title. The last 3 entries named the same shelf and the same Riverlace Eel. He told her about the broken leg, the bitten river leather, and the crews driven out of clouded water. He didn’t repeat the seller’s excuses.

Maerith read the entries in silence.

"No Original observed," she said.

"That’s what 3 different hands wrote."

"Then that is what they failed to observe, not what the Beast is in every circumstance."

"Agreed."

She moved the hazard pages beneath the charter and found the sentence the registry clerk had read without changing his voice.

Maerith read the sentence and kept her fingertip beneath the final word.

"An active claim left unwatched or allowed to endanger neighboring land may be placed under a temporary keeper until the danger is contained."

"Does the keeper receive title?"

"The sentence doesn’t say."

"Then don’t give it what it doesn’t claim." She glanced at the Siltglass mark. "Who decides a claim is unwatched?"

"I don’t know."

"And dangerous enough to threaten neighboring land?"

"Same problem."

Her fingertip tapped the last line. "Who appoints the keeper?"

Severin looked at the page. "That isn’t here either."

Maerith didn’t rescue the silence.

The lamp made a quiet pop. Somewhere beyond the reading-room wall, leaves moved in a wind he couldn’t feel.

"Who can put trained people at Siltglass tomorrow?" she asked.

"The Guild."

"Anyone else?"

"Me."

Her finger left the clause. "That answer arrived more quickly."

Severin opened the Limeback packet only long enough to show the exclusive option, then closed it again. "A covert wagon carried a Guild inner-yard clearance mark. It wasn’t entered on the public freight page."

"And that mark proves?"

"Someone with inner-yard access moved it past a desk."

"Not that the Guild owns the wagon."

"No."

"Or that its leadership knows."

"Nothing I have says that."

"And nothing says anyone has petitioned to touch your claim."

"Nothing."

Maerith sat back. "You dislike the number of times you’ve said that."

"I dislike people hiding behind missing facts."

"Missing facts aren’t always a hiding place. Sometimes they’re simply missing."

"The Guild has people, records, Hunters, and a reason to call itself useful. If someone wants Siltglass run by another hand, it can supply the hand."

"Capacity," Maerith said. "Not intent."

"Opportunity."

"Yes." She tapped the clause. "A real one. But don’t promote suspicion into proof because anger finds the promotion convenient."

He met her gaze. "I won’t accuse them."

"What will you do?"

"Siltglass won’t be unwatched when the registry opens. I’ll take the keys and stand on company ground before anyone can describe it as abandoned."

"And the law?"

"I verify who can appoint a keeper through a clerk or advocate who doesn’t answer to the Guild. After the claim is occupied."

Maerith’s eyes narrowed slightly. "Why after?"

"Because a legal answer tomorrow doesn’t stop someone from arriving before it."

She let out a small breath that might have become a laugh if the subject had been lighter. "There. That is the man who wants an empire."

"You sound relieved."

"I was concerned you might ask your wife to rule it from another realm."

"I came for your judgement, not your hands on my reins."

"Good." She closed the charter. "I have enough hands here."

Severin retied the charter packet. He closed Siltglass and Limeback in turn, drawing each cord tight without damaging the wax.

Maerith checked the table. She lifted the Siltglass packet to make sure no hazard page remained beneath it, then put it back.

Severin held his right palm above the charter.

Dense black mist spilled downward.

It wrapped the first packet and drew it away. The same heavy coil took Siltglass next, then Limeback, each remaining separate as the mist swallowed cord, wax, and paper. The table stood bare when the last black strand pulled between his fingers.

Maerith looked at the empty wood, then came around the east end of the table.

"You arrived with another woman’s name under your arm," she said. "You may spend the rest of the night correcting the insult."

"An insult now?"

"A small one." She stopped between him and the broad-backed chair. "I’m Wisdom. I can measure these things."

He sat and pulled her between his knees.

"Then measure this."

Severin drew her onto his lap facing him. Her knees settled on either side of his thighs, the nightgown gathering around her hips. Her arms circled his shoulders before he asked for them.

He held her there first.

Maerith’s cheek rested against his. Her breath warmed his neck. The earlier precision remained in her posture, but her fingers had begun to move through the hair at his nape.

"I missed you," she said.

"You saw me 5 days ago."

"A Goddess may still find 5 days excessive."

"Jealous of the company or the days?"

"At present?" She kissed the corner of his mouth. "Both."

He caught her lips.

The kiss deepened until her back curved under his right arm. His left hand opened the nightgown at the neckline and slid beneath the soft cloth. Her right breast filled his palm. He squeezed slowly, thumb rolling the tight nipple.

"Mm..."

Maerith pressed closer. Her breasts flattened against his chest before he drew the right one free of the gown.

He kissed her neck, then lower. His tongue traced the swell of her left breast. When he sucked the nipple into his mouth, her fingers tightened in his hair.

"Mmh... husband."

He pulled harder, feeling the peak stiffen against his tongue. A brief bite caught the nipple between his teeth.

"Ah!"

The sound sharpened, then softened into a breath when he soothed the bite with his tongue.

"You approve?" he asked.

"I was... not asked to judge."

"Good answer."

His right hand slid beneath the gathered nightgown. Warm, wet flesh met his fingers. He rubbed her clit through the slickness already coating it.

Maerith’s hips pressed against his hand.

"Ngh..."

"Stay on me."

"I had no intention of leaving."

He pushed 2 fingers into her pussy.

Her answer broke into a soft cry. "Ahhn..."

Severin curled both fingers and kept his thumb over her clit. Maerith rocked against the pressure, no longer pretending stillness. Her mouth found his again, kisses turning shorter whenever his fingers pressed the place that made her thighs tense around him.

"Mm... ah... there."

"Tell me properly."

Her emerald eyes held his. "Finger your wife harder."

He did.

"Ahn...!"

Her head dropped against his shoulder. He kissed beneath her ear while his left hand kneaded her exposed breast. The gown tie caught beneath her right knee when she shifted. Maerith made an annoyed sound, lifted the knee, and freed it without ceremony.

A brief laugh left Severin against her throat.

"Don’t make that significant," she murmured.

"It wasn’t."

"Good."

His fingers drove deeper. Her thighs began to tremble.

"Hah... Severin..."

He slowed before the contractions could gather.

Maerith lifted her face. "Cruel."

"Not yet."

"You came to Wisdom for restraint?"

"I came to carry my wife to bed."

He stood with her in his arms. His right forearm supported her ass while his left arm crossed her upper back. Maerith locked her legs around his waist and kissed him through the west bedroom door.

He set her on the mattress only long enough to remove his coat, shirt, boots, and trousers. Each went to the west bench. Maerith opened her nightgown herself, but Severin caught her wrists before she could pull it down.

"Leave that to me."

"Yes, husband."

He drew the gown from her shoulders and over her hips. The thin underlayer beneath it followed. Both joined his clothes on the bench.

A clean absorbent linen covered the lower mattress. Severin braced his back against the padded headboard and stretched his legs across the mattress, leaving space at his right.

Maerith knelt at his right side.

Her eyes moved over his cock, then up his abdomen to his face. She wrapped her right hand around the base and stroked upward, slow enough to feel every change under her palm.

"You asked what I wanted from the claims," he said.

"Mm."

Her thumb spread the wetness at the head.

"What do you want now?"

Maerith leaned close and kissed the tip. "To leave my husband unable to pretend his wife doesn’t affect him."

Her tongue moved along the underside.

Severin’s abdomen tightened.

Satisfaction warmed her eyes. She took the head into her mouth.

"Fuck."

The word left him low and rough.

Maerith hummed around him. "Mmmh..."

Her hand worked the base while her lips slid farther down the shaft. The suction tightened when she drew back, tongue circling the head before she descended again.

Severin’s right hand moved between her thighs. Her hips stayed open beside his right thigh. He rubbed her clit, then pushed the same 2 fingers back into her pussy.

"Nnnh..."

The sound vibrated around his cock.

He gathered her hair at the nape with his left hand and guided her lower. She opened wider until his cock pressed deep against her throat.

"Mmph..."

He held her deep until her throat tightened, then pulled her back for air.

Maerith drew in air, eyes watering. Her right hand never stopped.

"Again," she whispered.

He pushed her down.

"Ghk... mmph..."

Her throat tightened around him. The pressure dragged a groan from his chest. His fingers curled inside her at the same time, and her hips jerked against his hand.

"Nghnn..."

Severin released enough for breath. She returned before he could command it, licking the head and taking him deep again.

Slurp.

Her cheeks hollowed. Her right hand tightened at the base. His cock throbbed against her tongue.

"Mmph... mmmh..."

He watched her study him through wet lashes. Each rougher breath from him made her mouth work harder.

His right thumb pressed her clit while his fingers thrust inside her.

"Nnnh!"

Her thighs spread farther. She kept sucking.

Slurp. Slurp.

Severin’s left hand tightened in her hair. "Deeper."

Maerith obeyed.

"Ghk—mmph..."

He fed his cock into her throat in controlled strokes, drawing her back whenever her breath ran thin. Each time she returned, her tongue flattened beneath him and her hand kept the base slick.

"Mmm... ngh..."

Her pussy clenched around his fingers. Wetness coated his knuckles and ran over his palm.

He changed the angle, rubbed her clit harder, and drove both fingers against the swollen place inside her.

Maerith’s body jolted.

"Nnnh—!"

Severin’s thighs tensed beneath her. Pleasure climbed too quickly for him to keep the same rhythm. His left hand tightened at her nape while his thumb pressed harder over her clit.

Her pussy fluttered around his fingers. A hot gush burst over his right hand and soaked the linen beside his thigh just as his own pressure broke.

Severin came into her mouth.

"Mmph—!"

His cock pulsed against her tongue and throat. Maerith stayed aligned through the gush and swallowed each hot spurt he gave her. Her hips shuddered against his hand, then loosened again instead of locking around his fingers.

"Nnnh... mm..."

Another pulse left him. His abdomen locked, then eased in hard waves. The last contraction dragged a low groan from him and left a heavy warmth through his thighs.

Maerith swallowed again before he withdrew.

"Hah..."

Her voice came out hoarse. A small trace remained at the corner of her lower lip. She gathered it with her tongue.

"All of it," she said.

"I felt you swallow."

She smiled, proud and breathless. "Then I succeeded."

Severin caught her beneath the arms and pulled her upward.

"You still sound too composed."

"A temporary condition."

He kissed her. She opened willingly, letting him taste himself on her tongue. Her legs trembled when he turned her, but she followed his hands without hesitation.

Severin remained seated against the headboard. He placed Maerith over his lap with her back against his chest, both knees spread wide on the mattress and her hands braced on his thighs.

Her ass settled over his cock.

"Hold there."

"Yes..."

He rubbed the head through her wet folds. Her pussy opened around the pressure before he entered.

"Ah..."

Severin pushed inside slowly enough to seat her without losing the angle. Heat closed around him, tight and slick from his fingers.

Maerith’s head tipped back onto his shoulder. "Ngh... deeper."

He pushed to the base.

"Ahhn!"

Her body stretched around his full length. He held her waist and let her feel the first deep pulse of his cock inside her.

Then his right palm struck her ass.

SLAP!

The right cheek flattened beneath his hand and rippled back, color rising across the skin. Maerith gasped and pushed down around him.

"Hah—!"

"Move."

She lifted and lowered herself. Severin caught the rhythm, pulling her down while his hips drove upward.

CLAP!

The first hard impact shook her breasts and sent her hair over his shoulder.

"Ah... ah... husband..."

He kept his left arm locked across her waist. His right hand squeezed her breast, then slid lower to her hip as the pace built.

Each time he lifted her, she opened. Each time he pulled her down, she took him to the base.

"Ngh... ahhn... yes."

Severin kissed the left side of her neck. His teeth caught the place where her shoulder met it, hard enough to make her cry out but not break skin.

"Ahn!"

He drove upward again.

"Hah... harder."

"You asked for it."

"I know—ah!"

His palm struck her left cheek.

SLAP!

Her ass recoiled against his lower stomach. The red mark spread beside the first.

"Nghnn... Severin..."

He fucked her harder from beneath.

CLAP! CLAP!

The mattress shifted beneath his heels. Maerith’s hands tightened on his thighs.

"Ah... ah... ahhn..."

Her breasts bounced above his forearm. He caught the right one, squeezed, and rolled the nipple between his fingers.

"Mmh—!"

"Tell me what you are."

"Your wife."

He drove deep and held her there.

"Whose?"

"Yours... ah... yours, husband."

"Again."

"Yours!"

He pulled her up and dropped her onto his cock.

"Aghn!"

Wet heat coated the base. The smell of sex thickened around the bed. Maerith reached back and caught his left forearm, using it to hold herself against him.

"Don’t slow... please."

"I won’t."

His right hand struck her ass again.

SLAP!

Both cheeks shook. The last impact deepened the red across her skin.

"Ahhn—!"

Before the recoil settled, Severin drove harder. His cock dragged through the same swollen channel with each stroke. Maerith’s pussy tightened in scattered pulses.

"Ngh... I’m close."

He slid his right hand between her thighs and found her clit.

Her whole body jerked.

"Ah! Yes... there."

Severin rubbed in time with the upward thrusts.

"Hah... hah... Severin..."

"Come for me."

"I... ah... I’m—"

The next stroke broke the sentence.

Maerith’s back arched against his chest. Her pussy clamped around him in hard waves.

"Severin!"

Her climax tore through her. She squirted in repeated pulses over his hand, his thighs, and the absorbent linen. Her knees shook wide on the mattress while the muscles inside her gripped his cock again and again.

"Ahhn! Ah... ah..."

Severin held her waist and kept thrusting through the first contractions. The pressure around him turned brutal. His breath caught. His rhythm broke for a beat, then his hips drove deeper.

"Take it," he said against her neck.

"Inside... please, inside..."

Severin locked her down against him and came inside her.

His cock pulsed deep in her pussy. Hot semen filled her in thick spurts while her climax still clenched around him. Maerith cried out at the first pulse, then sagged against his chest as he gave her the rest.

"Mmh... husband..."

Severin’s abdomen remained tight through the last contraction. He kept her seated over him, his left arm around her waist and his right beneath her breasts, until both of them could breathe without breaking.

Maerith’s fingers loosened over his forearm. A weak laugh left her. It turned into a soft moan when he shifted inside her.

"Mm... sensitive."

"Hold still."

"Yes."

With Maerith still seated over him, Severin kept his left arm around her waist and took a folded clean cloth from the east bedside table with his right hand. He laid it on the linen between his thighs, directly below their joined bodies. He waited until her thighs stopped shaking hard enough to slip, then withdrew. Semen leaked onto the cloth.

Maerith leaned back against him, eyes closed.

Severin wiped the heaviest wetness from her inner thighs and his lower stomach. Water would handle the rest.

He moved from beneath her and lifted her bride-style, left arm behind her upper back, right arm beneath her knees. Her reddened ass stayed clear of the narrow edge of his forearm.

Maerith looped both arms around his neck. Her legs still trembled.

"I can walk," she said without opening her eyes.

"You can be carried."

"Mm... an argument without a weakness."

He took her through the east arch.

Warm light lay across the bathing chamber. Severin set Maerith on a folded towel at the dry margin. He entered the shallow pool first, then offered his right hand. She took it. His left hand steadied her waist as she stepped down.

Her knees wavered when warm water reached her thighs.

"Slowly," he said.

"I had gathered that."

She laughed, then winced when the movement tightened her pussy. "Hah... cruel husband."

He rinsed the semen and squirt from between her thighs before leading her to the submerged west ledge. Severin sat with his back supported. Maerith settled sideways across his thighs, facing him.

For a while, neither of them hurried.

She rested against his chest. He washed her breasts, stomach, hips, and thighs with his hands. When his thumb passed too close to her clit, Maerith caught his wrist only long enough to guide his hand higher on her stomach.

"Husband... here. Still too sensitive."

He left his palm where she put it and kissed her mouth.

Maerith lifted the water cup from the dry rim and held it to his lips. He drank, then took it from her and gave her the rest. A few drops ran down her chin. Severin caught them with his thumb.

"Morcant-Valcor," she said after a quiet stretch.

"Still measuring the insult?"

"Revising it." Her fingers moved over his chest. "Marienne’s name shares the company because she bears its weight. I understand the decision."

"But?"

"Understanding has never prevented a wife from preferring her husband entirely to herself."

"No company shares this."

He kissed her throat, then the soft skin beneath her ear.

"Mm..."

"No ledger. No clerk. No other woman in this realm."

Maerith’s expression softened. "That is the answer I wanted."

"You already knew it."

"Wisdom isn’t immunity to wanting to hear one’s husband say something obvious."

Severin’s hand slid from her stomach to her pussy.

Her breath caught.

"Ngh..."

He rubbed her clit lightly at first. She opened her thighs across his lap and kissed him while the trembling returned.

"Mm... ah..."

His middle and ring fingers entered her again. Maerith’s pussy was swollen and sensitive, but she pushed her hips into the careful pressure.

"Hah... not too gentle."

"You said you were sensitive."

Her thighs opened wider. "I was. You’re doing better now."

He laughed into her mouth and curled both fingers.

"Ahhn..."

The water moved around her hips. Whenever her thighs began to lock, he eased the pressure until her breathing steadied again.

"The claim," Maerith said, eyes half closed. "You will stand there yourself?"

"Yes."

"Not send Alicia alone."

"No. She holds keys and gear. I hold the decision."

"And if the Guild arrives first?"

"Then I learn why."

"Husband..." Her voice broke as his thumb pressed her clit. "That answer is incomplete."

"So are the facts."

A breathless laugh left her. "You’ve been listening."

"Occasionally."

He withdrew his fingers before her body could lock around them.

Maerith opened her eyes. "Again?"

"Stand."

Her mouth tightened in disappointment, then softened. She obeyed.

Severin rose from the west ledge and guided her across the textured pool floor. The water stayed below his waist. Maerith knelt on the broad submerged north shelf facing the dry rim. Her forearms rested on the stone above the water. Her knees remained secure on the textured shelf, shoulders and face fully clear.

Severin stood behind her.

He kissed the back of her neck. Maerith’s fingers curled over the dry rim.

"Present yourself."

She raised her hips beneath the water and spread her knees wider.

"Yes, husband."

His left hand secured her left hip. With his right, he guided his cock between her wet folds.

The head pressed into her pussy.

"Ah..."

He pushed in slowly. Her knees stayed planted on the textured shelf. When she pressed back for more, he seated himself deeper.

"Nghnn... full."

Severin tested a slow stroke. Water drew against his thighs and her hips.

Maerith pushed back into him.

"Harder."

He gave her a deeper thrust.

SPLASH!

Water struck the north shelf and spilled over the dry rim beneath her forearms.

"Ahhn!"

Her ass recoiled against his hips. Severin kept his left hand fixed at her waist and set the next stroke harder.

"Hah... yes."

He bent over her, kissed the side of her neck, then turned her face enough to catch her mouth without forcing it toward the water.

The kiss broke under the next thrust.

"Mmh—ah!"

Severin straightened and struck her right cheek.

SLAP!

The wet skin flattened, reddened, and shook beneath the waterline.

"Ahn!"

Maerith pushed her hips back into his control.

"Again..."

"Hold the rim."

"Yes."

He drove into her harder.

SPLASH! SPLASH!

Water slapped stone and their thighs. Her breasts moved beneath her hanging hair. Her moans grew louder in the enclosed chamber.

"Ah... ahhn... husband..."

His cock dragged through her swollen pussy, every return deeper under the pressure of her hips meeting him.

"Ngh... don’t stop."

"I won’t."

Severin’s right palm struck her left cheek.

SLAP!

Her ass rippled. The 2 wet red marks joined the warmth left from the bed.

"Ahhn—!"

He leaned forward again, kissed her neck, and drove his hips hard enough to make her forearms tighten against the dry rim.

CLAP!

The impact sounded beneath the water and through wet skin.

"Severin... ah..."

Her knees gripped the textured shelf while Severin braced his feet on the floor. His right hand moved beneath her, found her clit, and rubbed in time with the thrusts.

Maerith’s knees shook.

"Nghnn... there... keep—keep..."

"Keep what?"

"Fucking me... hard."

Severin’s grip tightened on her waist.

"Good."

He gave her exactly that.

Her forearms stayed firm on the rim while Severin kept his footing on the textured floor and fucked her from behind through the resistance of the water.

"Ah! Ahhn... mmh..."

Her fingers whitened on the rim.

"I’m close... husband, I—"

A hard stroke cut her off.

"Ngh!"

Severin rubbed her clit faster. Her pussy began to pulse around his cock.

"Come."

"Severin..."

"Now."

Maerith’s body locked.

"AHHN!"

Her second climax broke through her in full-body contractions. She squirted into the bathwater in forceful pulses.

SPLASH!

The water churned around their hips and struck the shelf. Her ass pressed back against him as her pussy clamped down hard.

"Ah... ah... husband...!"

Severin kept his depth through the first contractions. The pressure around his cock dragged the breath from him. His thighs tightened. His left hand nearly lost the smooth rhythm at her waist before he locked it again.

"Mine," he said against her neck.

"Yours... yours..."

He drove deep again and came inside her, keeping himself buried through the first pulse.

His cock throbbed in deep, heavy spurts. Maerith moaned through each one, body still shaking around him.

"Mmh... yes..."

Severin’s jaw tightened through the final release. Pleasure left a hard tremor in his abdomen and a dull weight in his thighs, but his arms stayed steady around her.

He remained joined for several breaths.

Maerith’s head lowered over her forearms without nearing the water. "Hah..."

His right hand left her clit. His left arm moved around her waist and supported her while the contractions eased.

"Still with me?" he asked.

"Always... though my legs may file a complaint."

"Denied."

A tired laugh shook through her.

He withdrew. Semen leaked from her pussy into the used bathwater.

Severin helped her turn and sit on the submerged shelf. His left hand stayed firm at her waist while her balance returned. Then he reached for the drain gate.

Stone clicked.

The used water spiraled away, carrying the cloudy traces of squirt and semen. Fresh warm water ran from the wall channel and rinsed the pool.

Maerith watched him change cloths before he washed her. His touch softened around her clit and swollen pussy. He cleaned her inner thighs, ass, stomach, breasts, mouth, and the damp hair at her temples.

She flinched when the cloth passed over her reddened right cheek.

"Sensitive?"

"You know it is."

"Say it anyway."

"Warm, sore, and entirely yours."

"Better."

Maerith cleaned his cock, hands, abdomen, and thighs. Her fingers still trembled, but she missed nothing. She wiped his mouth last, then kissed it.

Severin folded the used cloths wet side inward and dropped them into the linen basket.

They drank again.

When the pool and both bodies were clean, Severin stepped onto the dry margin first. Maerith took his hands and rose from the shelf. Her knees weakened before she could take a full step.

He caught her at the waist. Maerith gave her unsteady knees a narrow look and let him support her without argument.

He dried her completely, then himself. Her nipples stayed sensitive beneath the towel. Her ass remained warm and red, the skin unbroken. He lifted her bride-style and carried her back through the east arch.

Severin set Maerith on the clear east end of the west bench beside their folded clothes. She leaned back against the wall, loose-limbed and tired while he dealt with the bed.

He folded the used lower linen inward and carried it to the bathing-chamber basket. Then he spread the spare clean layer and fresh sheet across the mattress.

Severin carried her back to the bed.

They lay face-to-face on their sides beneath the clean sheet. Maerith kissed him slowly. No urgency remained, only warmth, the faint taste of water, and the softness that followed exhaustion.

"When will you return?" she asked.

"After Siltglass is held and I know what lives in its water."

"That may not be a short answer."

"It’ll be an honest one."

She touched his jaw. "Then give me another honest answer now."

"Ask."

"Did you come because the charter frightened you?"

"No. It showed me where someone might put a hand."

"And that made you angry."

"Yes."

"Did you come because you needed Wisdom?"

"Yes."

Her thumb moved over his lower lip. "And your wife?"

Severin kissed her before answering.

"More."

The word softened her whole face.

"Good," she whispered.

They turned together. Maerith settled with her back against his chest, both facing east. His left arm passed beneath her shoulders and rested across her upper chest. His right hand held her waist. Her right hand covered his.

"Before the registry opens," Severin said, "Siltglass will have its owner standing on it."

"Mm."

"No accusation. No Guild mission."

"And the keeper law?"

"I’ll verify it after the claim is no longer unwatched."

Maerith pressed his hand against her stomach. "Then sleep, husband. You have ground to hold."

He kissed the back of her neck.

Her fingers loosened over his. The lamps dimmed. Maerith’s breathing softened against his arm, and Severin kept his hand at her waist until sleep took him too.