09-17-2023, 09:30 PM
Honestly, she was relieved by the irreverence. Nythadri would lean into ritual if she believed it meant something to him, but for her it would only be another mask to wear. So the threat of his half-grin as she cupped his face prompted the hint of her own, restrained in favour of a raised brow. “I never said you were more stubborn than me,” she argued.
“And anyway, the best pancakes are in the north. Or so you told me.” She met his eye for a moment, amused and knowing. Because until tonight he’d revealed very little of his actual life as an Asha’man, but in the benign stories he had shared he’d laid a confectionery map of his tours. Jai always revealed more than he intended. She would have known where along the border to look first.
Afterwards saidar slipped away with a little less finesse than she was prepared to acknowledge. Fatigue chased the edges of control, also ignored; she was well aware she needed to rest. She sat back on her heels for his reaction, and allowed for her own attunements as her sense of him bedded into her mind. Jai shifted physically, like he was accommodating a new balance. It seemed more of a gift than she had expected, but it was her glimpse of his boyish grin that captivated her most in the moment shared.
“Like some kind of programme, you mean? We could train the world’s most elite warriors for the honour. What a wonderful idea.” She laughed a little, unguardedly dry, but within was only a sense she was revelling in his own wonder and the part she played in it. He’d reap the same physical benefits as any Warder – and the Green Ajah had its own particular secrets. But of course, want of a warder wasn’t why she’d done it. That was why there had been no oaths. It was want of him.
Her expression remained wry under his study, amused for his reactions, but he would feel the faint surprise at how quickly and unerringly he navigated his new insight. His hands found knots that nothing in her posture suggested were tight with the tension she carried. Though as his touch had skimmed up her sleeves, and she experienced something of what he felt in turn, Nythadri did not find it to be at the forefront of what she was thinking now.
Where Jai led she followed. She felt the welcome twist of his roguishness a moment before his expression changed. Heat flooded as he pulled the ties of her robe, prompting a wicked flash of appreciation in turn, and a needful tug of teeth on lip. As his attention found her neck she made a sound that only fueled the slip of his hands inside the bare curve of her waist. “There’s more I still need to tell you,” she murmured, completely serious, but the warning was easily deferred as her palm travelled the expanse of his shoulder. There was a resonant feeling between them, and it would never be as new as that first exploration.
Her fingers curled into the hair at his nape. Trailed to his jaw. When she pulled his mouth to hers, her lips brushed with heat but did not claim, just escalated that moment of anticipation with a tease that challenged capture. He’d chased her once like no horizon would ever stretch too far, no matter the bands on her hem. When she peeled away it was slow, the distance an aching divide with every sultry step backwards. Then she slipped the fabric from her shoulder, as blatant a tease as once beckoned him into the sea’s waiting arms, but with infinitely more promise. Where moonlight kissed skin then, it was only shadow and firelight to embrace in now, and her arms that waited to welcome. But she wanted him to watch first; to feel the crave of his eyes before the roam of his hands. And to see the longing in him, as he would see and feel it in her, as that robe finally puddled to the floor.
The kisses were hungrier then. They fell back into the bed, lost in each other. Desire once recklessly courted and danced for months on strings of control finally found release.
In a perfect world Nythadri would have curled into his side to sleep after. Light knew she was exhausted enough for it, and a part of her longed to escape a while longer into a world that was solely about that new wrought connection. It would be easy to mistake it for safety, because it did have that heady weight to it. Like some part of her soul finally settled into place. And for a while she did rest in the rhythm of breath and satiation, and softer touches that were a rarer indulgence of affection. The bond hid nothing of feeling.
“You have no idea how many times I’ve thought about that these past months,” she said, mostly for the flutter she knew she would feel from him at the confession. In normal circumstances and kinder surroundings, she would not be relinquishing him from her bed so soon at all. Not least for how long she had waited. The sly flash of pale eyes and twitch of her mouth said as much as she began to shift before she changed her mind. From the pillow of arms, she moved to rest against the headboard instead, still tangled in the sheets and the heat of his skin at her side. But it was another need she plucked from the bond. She knew Jai had absconded from the palace before the food had been served.
“I can’t remember the last time I ate, either. And I will need to set wards before we sleep.”
He’d soon enough recognise the fare the servants had brought alongside the bathwater as Illianer; platters of olives and cheese and bread, currently set along the sideboard from which he’d unknowingly channeled the wine earlier. Ellomai’s pastries had been a long time ago now too, and crumbled to ash for the turn the conversation had taken back then. Yet she was reluctant to move, for all duty's beckon. She reminded of the danger somewhat regretfully as she glanced over at him, aware of his boundaries, and aware of fears that would have sent him like an arrow plunged into night to protect those around him he loved. She would keep nothing from him, though it did not make her eager to begin.
“And anyway, the best pancakes are in the north. Or so you told me.” She met his eye for a moment, amused and knowing. Because until tonight he’d revealed very little of his actual life as an Asha’man, but in the benign stories he had shared he’d laid a confectionery map of his tours. Jai always revealed more than he intended. She would have known where along the border to look first.
Afterwards saidar slipped away with a little less finesse than she was prepared to acknowledge. Fatigue chased the edges of control, also ignored; she was well aware she needed to rest. She sat back on her heels for his reaction, and allowed for her own attunements as her sense of him bedded into her mind. Jai shifted physically, like he was accommodating a new balance. It seemed more of a gift than she had expected, but it was her glimpse of his boyish grin that captivated her most in the moment shared.
“Like some kind of programme, you mean? We could train the world’s most elite warriors for the honour. What a wonderful idea.” She laughed a little, unguardedly dry, but within was only a sense she was revelling in his own wonder and the part she played in it. He’d reap the same physical benefits as any Warder – and the Green Ajah had its own particular secrets. But of course, want of a warder wasn’t why she’d done it. That was why there had been no oaths. It was want of him.
Her expression remained wry under his study, amused for his reactions, but he would feel the faint surprise at how quickly and unerringly he navigated his new insight. His hands found knots that nothing in her posture suggested were tight with the tension she carried. Though as his touch had skimmed up her sleeves, and she experienced something of what he felt in turn, Nythadri did not find it to be at the forefront of what she was thinking now.
Where Jai led she followed. She felt the welcome twist of his roguishness a moment before his expression changed. Heat flooded as he pulled the ties of her robe, prompting a wicked flash of appreciation in turn, and a needful tug of teeth on lip. As his attention found her neck she made a sound that only fueled the slip of his hands inside the bare curve of her waist. “There’s more I still need to tell you,” she murmured, completely serious, but the warning was easily deferred as her palm travelled the expanse of his shoulder. There was a resonant feeling between them, and it would never be as new as that first exploration.
Her fingers curled into the hair at his nape. Trailed to his jaw. When she pulled his mouth to hers, her lips brushed with heat but did not claim, just escalated that moment of anticipation with a tease that challenged capture. He’d chased her once like no horizon would ever stretch too far, no matter the bands on her hem. When she peeled away it was slow, the distance an aching divide with every sultry step backwards. Then she slipped the fabric from her shoulder, as blatant a tease as once beckoned him into the sea’s waiting arms, but with infinitely more promise. Where moonlight kissed skin then, it was only shadow and firelight to embrace in now, and her arms that waited to welcome. But she wanted him to watch first; to feel the crave of his eyes before the roam of his hands. And to see the longing in him, as he would see and feel it in her, as that robe finally puddled to the floor.
The kisses were hungrier then. They fell back into the bed, lost in each other. Desire once recklessly courted and danced for months on strings of control finally found release.
*
In a perfect world Nythadri would have curled into his side to sleep after. Light knew she was exhausted enough for it, and a part of her longed to escape a while longer into a world that was solely about that new wrought connection. It would be easy to mistake it for safety, because it did have that heady weight to it. Like some part of her soul finally settled into place. And for a while she did rest in the rhythm of breath and satiation, and softer touches that were a rarer indulgence of affection. The bond hid nothing of feeling.
“You have no idea how many times I’ve thought about that these past months,” she said, mostly for the flutter she knew she would feel from him at the confession. In normal circumstances and kinder surroundings, she would not be relinquishing him from her bed so soon at all. Not least for how long she had waited. The sly flash of pale eyes and twitch of her mouth said as much as she began to shift before she changed her mind. From the pillow of arms, she moved to rest against the headboard instead, still tangled in the sheets and the heat of his skin at her side. But it was another need she plucked from the bond. She knew Jai had absconded from the palace before the food had been served.
“I can’t remember the last time I ate, either. And I will need to set wards before we sleep.”
He’d soon enough recognise the fare the servants had brought alongside the bathwater as Illianer; platters of olives and cheese and bread, currently set along the sideboard from which he’d unknowingly channeled the wine earlier. Ellomai’s pastries had been a long time ago now too, and crumbled to ash for the turn the conversation had taken back then. Yet she was reluctant to move, for all duty's beckon. She reminded of the danger somewhat regretfully as she glanced over at him, aware of his boundaries, and aware of fears that would have sent him like an arrow plunged into night to protect those around him he loved. She would keep nothing from him, though it did not make her eager to begin.