Kett sat down on the bed beside him and Bael reached for her hand. How could he explain this to her? She thought he had the emotional maturity of a child. Well, maybe he did, because he’d only been a child when his father had confided this bombshell news to him. And Bael had accepted, had believed, and a bond had been forged between them. The only bond they’d ever really had.
“My father and I were never close. I told you my parents were brilliant, always haring off all over the Realm, all over all the Realms, to investigate some phenomenon or other. They were both Magi, but since I didn’t demonstrate much talent they weren’t all that interested in me. When I told my father I believed him, it was the first thing we’d ever had in common. The first time he’d taken an interest in me. He used to sit there and go on about this treacherous kelf, and how stupid humans were to believe their innocent, friendly act. And I was just a kid, I didn’t even know any kelfs, so I agreed with him because…”
“Because you were a kid who wanted his father’s approval,” Kett said dully, and Bael shrugged.
“The thing was, I didn’t even like my father all that much. I barely knew him. Or my mother. But then…I don’t know, then I started to show some magical power and then he got really interested in me and…well, it was nice to have someone pay some attention to me, you know?”
“Bael, everyone pays attention to you. You’re like an inferno.”
“Thank you,” he said, choosing to believe this meant she thought he was extremely hot, not extremely unpredictable and destructive. “I think. But listen. I know everyone else thinks kelfs are great and friendly and helpful and everything, but you go and ask my king. They just don’t like us. And if you’ve spent your life being told that kelfs don’t like you, to the extent that one of them murdered your mother, then it’s hard to see them as nice, sweet little helpmates. Especially when they don’t do anything to persuade you otherwise.”
Kett sighed.
“Look,” he said. “I’m sorry I behaved like a child. I’ll try, all right? I’ll try to be nice to them.”
“To kelfs?”
He nodded. It was clearly important to her, so he could at least try.
Kett, her right hand still held by Bael, rubbed her face with her left. “I just can’t get a handle on you,” she said. “You’re like mercury. You keep changing.”
“I’m a Mage,” Bael said. “My animal’s never fixed. And Nasc tend to become animals that represent them-”
“Are you saying you’re a schizophrenic because you’re a Mage, or a Mage because you’re schizophrenic?”
He gave her a half smile. “A little from column A and a little from column B.”
She gave him a half smile back, and when he put his arm around her and rested his head on her shoulder, she didn’t resist.
“Bael,” she said after a little while. “I have to get away from here. If not home then somewhere else. Can’t spend that much time with my family. They do my head in.”
And yet she kept coming back to them. Kett wasn’t as immune to the pull of family as she thought she was.
“Isn’t that what families are for?”
“I dunno.” She scratched her nose. “You may have noticed I don’t exactly blend in with them.”
“You couldn’t blend in anywhere,” Bael said. And when she scowled at him, he grinned and clarified, “You’re like silver and gold in a heap of scrap metal.”
“Are you saying my family is scrap-”
“I’m paying you a compliment, woman.” He kissed her softly. “Pay attention.” Kett frowned but didn’t contradict him. “Now listen. If you really want to get away from here, we can go somewhere. Did I tell you I have lots of money?”
“Did I tell you my stepmother’s a princess?”
He grinned. “No, you didn’t, I had to work it out for myself. What I meant was, I’ve got houses in all the Realms. We could go visit one of them. Where d’you fancy? Somewhere warm? I have a gorgeous villa in Qarat. Or somewhere cooler? I have a chalet in the Aegeani Mountains, just south of Vigazza. Think about it-snow swirling outside, lovely warm fire inside, hot spiced wine, you and me naked on a fur rug…”
Kett’s eyes dropped. She shrugged. “If you’d like.”
Bael raised his eyebrows. She wasn’t fighting him? Well, maybe this was progress.
Or maybe she was up to something.
“Cool,” he said, and kissed her again. She didn’t fight it, so he chanced it and ran his hand down her back, feeling the ridges of her scars-I’ll kill the bastard who tried to rape her, I’ll fucking murder him-then slid around to cup her breast.
He kissed her neck and she let him. He slid his hand under her shirt, pulled down the cup of her bra and fondled her nipple, and she let him. He pushed her back on the bed, tugged off her shirt and buried his face in her breasts, and she cradled his head to her.
“Okay,” he looked up, “what’s going on?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re not fighting me.”
She gave him an uncomprehending look.
“You’re just lying there and…letting me do whatever I want.”
“It’s not unpleasant,” she said.
“Well, that’s the idea, but…you don’t seem to be exactly…with me.”
She sighed, looking tired. “Bael, I don’t want to fight. I’m tired, I had a late night, I nearly got arrested and I’m just…tired of fighting with you. Can we just once…”
“What?” he asked softly.
“Can we act like grown-ups?”
He looked down at her, this woman who did nothing but fight and fuck, the scars of her life displayed on her body. His fingers traced the curve of her breast. “What do you think we’re doing?”
She looked up at him as if she wanted to say something, but instead curled her hand around his neck and pulled him down to kiss her.
Confused, but enjoying this softer side of Kett nonetheless, Bael kissed her back and let his hands roam over her body. She tugged at his shirt and he pulled it off, rolling to his back and taking her with him, skin against skin. Her body was taut, muscular and the skin on her back was ridged with scar tissue, but her breasts were soft, something feminine she couldn’t hide.
She kissed his neck, his chest, his stomach, her fingers unfastening his fly as she went. She palmed his cock even as she headed south, following the line of hair down his belly to his erection, semi-hard already.
After she’d wrapped her lips around it, licked up and down the length and sucked it deep into her mouth, it was quickly very hard.
“Gods, you’re good at that,” Bael gasped, and she raised her head, her eyes dancing, before she moved away to shuck the rest of her clothes. Bael followed suit, but had only gotten as far as kicking off his boots before she was back, straddling him and sinking down onto his cock.
“You’re good at that too,” he moaned, running his hands over her hips, up her rib cage, thumbing her nipples and pulling her down to him. He kissed her, long and deep, as she moved on him, her cunt slick and tight.
It was different, so different, to all the other times. There was no urgency, no pushing and fighting. The anger that seemed to pulse in Kett day and night felt banked, leashed, as she rose and fell, her eyes closed, her body soft and yielding.
Her pussy squeezed him tight and Bael came, gasping her name, gripping her shoulders. She fell against him, her skin damp, her breathing tight, and he held her for a moment, almost indescribably glad to have her.
He kissed her neck, brushed her tangled hair aside and licked the sweat from her skin. Kett shuddered, her pussy tightening around him for a second. Bael slid his hands down her back, stroked her buttocks and delved down to caress the folds of her pussy where they were stretched around his girth.
He kissed her mouth then slid from her, pushing her gently to her back and kissing her stomach. Kett tensed but they both knew where this was going, and when he dipped his head between her legs and ran his tongue around her engorged clit, her breathing quickened.