Archive of Our Own

The fanciest guest rooms in the Meghaduta were all furnished with a similarly fancy private bath. The tile and brick making up the walls and floor were just as colorful as the exterior, and the gold fixtures seemed to glow faintly in the steam. The in-ground bath, spacious enough for a small group to sit comfortably without bumping shoulders or knees, was furnished with pipes that allowed for the addition of anything from bubbles to bath oils and salts. For now, though, the hot water was supplemented by a floral bath milk that felt soft on the skin.

Iridia sat on the tiled seat built into the side of the bath. The surface was wide enough that she could comfortably cross her legs on top of it (or perhaps pull her knees to her chest, which she felt sorely tempted to do at the moment), but for now a combination of nerves and hastily scrounged resolve had her sitting at the edge of the seat, her back bent forward as her hands formed tightly closed fists on her lap. Her hair, now long enough to reach the small of her back, was tied up in a messy bun to keep it from getting tangled in the bath water.

 "As we've the time, and if you were... amenable... would you be willing to join me for a bath?"

Estinien had asked her that faltering question the day she returned to Thavnair after a brief trip abroad. Their investigation into matters involving the void required some time; that being said, progress could be made at any moment, so they were not at liberty to simply leave Radz-at-Han for extended periods. It resulted in Iridia spending most of her newfound free time in and around the immediate vicinity of the city - excluding when certain equally pertinent issues called her away to Mor Dhona or Labyrinthos, as had just been the case - but she didn't dislike the relative freedom. It gave her ample time to navigate a burgeoning relationship with Estinien, after all.

She could tell the question was a gamble on his part. Estinien was comfortably physical in their times alone, and it was clear that they would be quite physically compatible if they were simply willing to take that leap. But despite what discussions they did have about where they hoped for this relationship to go, their comparative lack of experience in such physical matters meant that both were hesitant to do much more than be handsy, for fear of spooking the other.

So Estinien's offer was more than welcome, and though she was equally shy in the answering, she refused to let the question fizzle away in vain. Which brought her to this moment, freshly washed and waiting in soothing bath water as the uneven sounds of water swaying and falling echoed from the washroom.

A slight knock and the quiet creaking of a door opening pulled Iridia's attention to the edge of the room, and a handful of footsteps was all the warning Iridia received before Estinien appeared behind the partition, clad only in a towel around his waist. She sat up straighter at the sight, her thoughts momentarily full of nothing but the instinctual joy at his presence, before feeling the sudden shift in temperature below the swell of her breast. She slipped back down into the water, shoulders slumped shyly, and Estinien laughed through an affectionate sigh.

"Having second thoughts?" He remained near the partition on the far side of the room, gauging Iridia's reaction. "I'll not begrudge you choosing to have a bath alone instead."

Iridia shook her head. "No, I..." she paused to collect herself before rising to her feet, letting the opaque water run down her body as she shyly extended a hand. "I'd quite like it if you joined me."

Estinien's eyes widened momentarily as he took in her form, but they soon resumed the affectionate gaze of earlier. "I'm happy to hear that, then." As he walked toward the bath, he carefully slipped his towel off and placed it on the rack near the door leading to the bedchambers.

This time, it was Iridia's turn for her gaze to study Estinien's naked form. She sat back down, knees curled up on the bath seat and arms crossed at the edge as she watched him move. His hair was tied up in an even messier bun than hers, giving her a rare unimpeded view of the nape of his neck. The scars and surrounding mottled skin on his arms were not new to her; nor were the scratches and errant puncture wounds running down his torso from various scuffles with dragonkind. But she felt compelled to memorize the new scars running down his legs, with a particularly garish wound in his inner thigh catching her attention for... no particular reason, surely. When he turned around with a suggestive grin, she maintained eye contact as she tapped her fingers at the edge of the bath.

She was still liable to get in her own head about the current situation, but she'd be a fool if she denied the months of tension that had been building up to this moment. And when he grinned in response, she had to wonder if she deluded herself into seeing the selfsame yearning in his eyes.

"The spot next to you isn't taken, I hope?" Estinien whispered as he drew closer, his voice echoing clearly in the quiet room.

"Not at all. It's my hope, though, that it soon will be."

Estinien chuckled, the sound a deep rumble in his throat, as he stepped down the steps and into the water. Iridia turned around in her seat as he did, and he settled, as always, at her right. "I'll admit, I was afraid you'd gone meek. And after you'd fairly jumped at my invitation, too..." He slid an arm behind the small of her waist, inviting her to lean against him.

She obliged with a playful shrug; she wasn't in the mood to excuse the blush coloring her cheeks, given Estinien was clearly not bothered to explain the similar blush at the edge of his ears. "Well, you'll have to forgive me for being overwhelmed." She closed whatever spaces she could between them and placed her right hand on his left leg. She slid her palm down toward his knee, and then slowly brought it back up to the middle of his thigh. It was a familiar gesture, one she often performed in an innocent search of warmth when they were huddled together in similar fashion... but she was not prepared for how warm he would feel bereft of the usual layers of clothing. Her voice, as a result, came out much hoarser than she'd intended. "What I'd imagined could seemingly never have hoped to live up to the real thing."

"That much, I'll have to acknowledge as well." His voice was heavy in a way that caught Iridia's attention, but she didn't have time to dwell on it. His thumb brushed over a scar running the breadth of her hip, but then his hand traveled upward, fingers curled so that they could scratch against her skin.

This, too, was an all too common gesture from him. Iridia would normally find the sensation comforting, but now she shivered at the contact. She bit down on the inside of her cheek to stifle whatever noise had threatened to climb up her throat.

His resulting shaky breath revealed that she was apparently far too easy a read. Though Estinien was admittedly not doing much better, as she could feel the way he had to control his hand from descending any lower than the small of her back.

She wished he wouldn't bother controlling anything at all, but she knew just as well that she'd need to be more straightforward with her own desires, first.

The tense silence was broken by Estinien with a question that, at least for the moment, served to ground them.

"You've recently returned from Mor Dhona, hm? Discover anything interesting in your game with the gods?"

Iridia laughed at the question, which earned a single raised eyebrow from Estinien. She shook her head and leaned her head comfortably against Estinien's shoulder with a sigh. "You'll never believe who came out of the woodwork this time."

They spent some time in comfortable conversation afterward, the tension melting away as they allowed their hands to wander as they usually would in quiet moments such as these. Estinien would brush away an errant strand of Iridia's hair, while she might tap his chest playfully at some well-timed quip. She was particularly amused with the wide-eyed curiosity he displayed at the tale of her struggle against Halone; that particular conversation went a long way to removing the final vestiges of her anxiety.

By the end of their conversation, her left hand rested atop Estinien's on her waist, while her right was snuggled in the space between the wall of the bath and Estinien's back.

"For now, though we've learned much and more about the Twelve, there are still questions remaining. Regardless... it was heartening to know Nophica and Halone weren't so at-odds as so many myths would have you believe."

Estinien hummed in response - and that was the only warning Iridia received before he hooked his ankle around hers and kicked upward, using his hand around her waist to turn her so that her legs laid over his lap. "Interesting, that. Though I have to wonder if you had something else on your mind." While his left hand kept her steady above the water, the other rested comfortably at her hip.

"Maybe I was..." The weight and warmth of his hand on her hip was devasting, so close yet so damned far from anything she'd been desperate for him to touch for weeks as they went about this song and dance. Even now, he still kept his hands in safe, familiar places - probably because they both knew this would simply escalate. So she swallowed her hesitation and reached for the hand on her hip, guiding it to rest just above the opening between her legs.

Iridia would give her permission; it was on Estinien now to consent to the offer.

She heard the sound of a hard, thick swallow from his throat just before his lips cashed into hers, teeth grating and tongues groping for purchase before they finally figured out the angle. She pulled her arm out from behind his back to wrap it around his shoulders, digging fingers up through the roots of his hair and beneath the loose bun to keep him as close as possible even when they came up for breath.

"Iridia..." Estinien sighed her name in one such space between kisses and finally allowed his fingers to slip between her thighs. "Teach me. Show me what pleases you."

"But... what about you?" She'd been pulled closer by this point, the small of her back settled on one of his thighs. It didn't take much movement for her own thigh to brush against Estinien's growing need, hot and hard against her skin.

But Estinien shook his head. "No... for now, nothing would please me more than to know you."

"...For now?"

He huffed a laugh, the sound dripping with affection. "Aye, all right. For now."

Pleased with that answer, Iridia placed her left hand over Estinien's right hand once more, overlapping her fingers with his and guiding him far more minutely than before. She urged his fingers to curl and push and pull, repeating motions that she'd found brought her relief when she had no choice but to handle her frustrations with fingers still warmed by his touch. But as his fingers slipped inside her and his thumb drew circles around her clitoris far more deftly than she could ever manage on her own, she clawed at Estinien's arm and bucked her hips, urging him deeper still.

And he mercifully obliged, long and roughened fingers discovering sources of pleasure she hadn't even known existed. The pleasure she felt heightened every other sense; the steady arm behind her was unbearably hot, the fingers digging into the side of her breast were sources of beguiling pain, and even the water lapping at her hardened nipples as her back arched against the pleasure felt like some cruel tease.

"Esti-- oh, gods..." Her body jumped as his fingers brushed against a particularly sensitive spot, and she curled in towards him, her head settled in the crook of his neck. "That feels so... Nn!"

"Good, I hope," Estinien all but growled, his voice low and gruff right next to Iridia's ear. He kissed her forehead, and then her nose, drawing her face up until he could finally claim her lips.

Iridia moaned into the contact, but as his fingers kept rubbing and circling around that same spot within her, she soon lost the ability to think or do much of anything but chase that pleasure. The kiss fell apart, but she kept Estinien's face close with a hand around his nape. She nodded, over and over, but her eyes never left his.  "I'm s-so... ah, almost...!"

His fingers picked up speed as he watched her react to each thrust, learning and memorizing exactly what and where would get her to moan most sweetly. In Iridia's haze, she saw a hunger in Estinien's eyes, and that glimpse pushed her straight to the edge. She squeezed her eyes shut, desperate to finally find that sweet release.

What finally did it was the low, throaty chuckle that vibrated like a growl just above her; she dug her nails into Estinien's skin, one hand just under his nape and the other right against his chest, as her own voice shook with release. Estinien's fingers guided her back down in a slow and agonizing wave as they continued to move against her in a fading rhythm. She moaned and sighed through it all, her grip on Estinien tight until she finally got control of her breathing. Estinien took that as a sign, slowly removing his fingers and allowing Iridia to relax against him.

She chuckled faintly as her strength returned to her... and opened her eyes just in time to watch as Estinien placed the fingers that had just been inside of her in his own mouth.

"Wh-What are you...?!" She watched in awe as he ran his tongue under his middle finger and licked it to the tip. There was a slight glint of mischief in his eyes as he looked down at her.

"You heard me before, didn't you?" His tongue flicked out over his lips and he placed his clean fingers down by her hip, pulling her close. His breath hitched slightly as her thigh brushed against his still very erect penis, but he otherwise paid little attention to it at the moment. "I would know you - everything there is to know."

That hunger from before flashed in Estinien's eyes again, and the look went straight to the pit of her stomach. It summoned something equally primal within her, and she rubbed her thigh against Estinien's heat, trapping it between her leg and his stomach. "Then you'd best do me the same courtesy."

"Well, far be it from me to deny you." His voice was breathy and hoarse, and he swayed his hips slightly against the friction Iridia was providing. "But first..." He carefully moved Iridia off of him and back down onto the seat before lifting himself out of the bath to sit on the edge.

He hissed softly as he settled onto the tile - it wasn't cold, necessarily, but it certainly wasn't as warm as the water - and motioned for Iridia to take his hand. As he led her to the space in front of him and between his legs, her gaze fell unflinchingly on his sex. She settled herself into a kneel on the tiled seat and drew her hands up his legs and over his knees, watching in equal parts fascination and amusement as it twitched.

"So..." she swallowed thickly as she leaned forward and her still sensitive nipples brushed against the tile at the edge of the bath. "Why the show?"

Estinien let out a broken sigh at the feel of her breath against his tip. "The show is an added bonus, truthfully... I felt it was common courtesy not to overly sully the bath."

Iridia blinked a few times as she processed his answer. Then, she laughed and leaned against one of his knees. "Well, I certainly wasn't expecting that particular answer. But I agree, we should... retain as much common sense as possible."

"Now that we're of one mind--" Estinien took Iridia's right hand and brought it closer. He looked at her with a questioning glance, and she sat up straighter in answer. With a hum of relief, he curled Iridia's fingers around his shaft, guiding her thumb to rest just below the tip. "Move for me. I'll guide you, just as you did me."

So she did, taking heed of when and where he applied pressure to her touch, or of how long she should keep her thumb rubbing playfully on the underside. But Iridia hoped to do something a little different for him as well, so she gingerly brought her left hand underneath to cup his scrotum as she began to increase the pace with her right. It seemed to work; Estinien gasped at the touch before humming in guttural pleasure, encouraging her to continue with a surprisingly gentle hand through her hair.

Iridia glanced up at Estinien as his eyes fluttered closed. But it wasn't enough. Something inside of Iridia was still desperate for more. There was yet a throbbing heat in her core, yes, but that wasn't what was driving her right now. It was something else - something deeper.

"I would know you - everything there is to know."

She was driven to know him. To claim him. Perhaps he was driven by a similar need, too. She sighed, mouth slack as this hunger heightened her carnal desires, and leaned forward to take him into her mouth.

The change in demeanor was almost immediate. Estinien all but lurched, and Iridia had to use one hand at the base of his thigh to keep him still as she lowered herself further still. As she swayed her tongue back and forth on the underside, he let out a moan unlike any sound she'd ever heard from him. And when she pulled back just enough to open her eyes and stare up at him through her lashes, she saw equal parts surprise and hesitation.

"You needn't... hah, force yourself to--"

Iridia's hum cut him off entirely, and he slammed a hand to the ground in a vain attempt to control himself. He also made to remove the hand that yet remained tangled in her hair, but Iridia instead brought the hand on his hip up to cover it, pushing it against her scalp as she swallowed him whole once more.

"A stubborn one, you are...!"

She removed herself from his sex for what she intended to be the last time, a string of precum hanging from her lip. She flicked at it with her thumb and licked it off. "What happened to not denying me what I wanted, hm?"

He certainly couldn't deny that look in her eyes. Teasing, commanding... yearning. That she continued to run her fingers up and down his dick did very little to help his state of mind, either. He shook under her touch, and the look of pure lust in her eyes when his fingers tightened around her hair in her barely recognizable bun nearly pushed him over the edge then and there. So he pulled her head closer, testing how serious she was to relinquish this control, and finally gave in when he saw the way she grinned up at him, all hunger and possessiveness.

"...You'll get what you're due later."

Her soft laugh transformed into a moan as he dragged her mouth back around him, and he sighed into the sensation. Iridia felt his other hand cup the other side of her head as he began to guide her movements; he was hesitant at first, but as the movements of her tongue and fingers on him began to unravel him, instinct took over. She followed what cues he gave for speed and depth until it became too much, and he doubled over on top of her, clinging to her head as she took over the reins.

The air around Iridia was stifling and hot as he created this closed space around her, and if pressed she would claim to feel faint. But this wasn't altogether a bad thing when she could inhale his thick musk with each breath and taste his excitement for her.

It was suffocating, and she would be quite the flatterer indeed if she called the taste pleasant, but... gods, if his desperation didn't make her desperate for him in turn. Something resembling a laugh resonated deep in her throat, and Estinien gasped at the extra sensation.

No wonder he didn't hesitate to taste the proof of my pleasure. It's so... gratifying.

"Iridia...! Ngh, Fury take me, I can't... hold back any longer...!" His entire body shook as a hot liquid spilled over into her mouth, and she pumped him one, two more times with her hand at his base to help him along the way. Her mouth she kept locked around him, swallowing his seed as best as she was able. A line of white slipped out the corner of her mouth, and when Estinien sat up and sighed in release, she pulled away from him and thumbed the liquid away.

"Might I ask--" Estinien ruffled Iridia's hair, and she squawked in protest "--what brought that on?"

She looked defiantly up at him. "Well, you did say you didn't want to sully the bath. And besides..." Before Estinien could protest the pedantry of her answer, she made a show of licking his seed from her thumb. "I wished to know everything about you."

There was a moment of silence as he blinked, followed by a booming laugh that echoed off the walls of the bathroom. He immediately reached for Iridia, pulling her out of the water and messily onto his lap. She was struck equally dumb as she let it happen, but then she melted against him as he threw his arms around her and buried his forehead in the crook of her neck. His laugh subsided into a long sigh as he squeezed her tight, and she reciprocated by nuzzling her cheek against his hair.

"Perhaps," Estinien was the first to speak, a note of amusement in his tone, "when we are better behaved, we can enjoy ourselves another bath."

Iridia giggled and pulled away to look at Estinien. "With a good drink and some snacks?"

"Mm, I'd quite like that. The wives of some of the Radiant Host's new lancers have treated me to their local take on dried squid."

"Incorrigible."

"Hmph. You're no better, what with your recent fixation on dried loquats."

They simply sat in each other's arms for a while, decompressing from all that had just occurred. When the conversation naturally faded to a comfortable silence, Iridia gingerly removed herself from Estinien's lap and reached a hand out to him. He accepted the help, but once he was on his feet he pulled her in by the selfsame hand and leaned in for a kiss.

It surprised Iridia how quickly that initial chaste touch developed into something more, and she couldn't say who truly initiated it. Regardless, the next thing she knew, Estinien's tongue was in her mouth and she had her hand at the nape of his neck, keeping him close. Moans and sighs were the only sounds either cared to hear for as long as they had breath - and by the time they pulled apart, they were both panting.

"There's, er... more pent up between us than I realized." Iridia knocked her forehead against Estinien's left shoulder and shook her head with a faint laugh.

"We did this to ourselves," he whispered near her left temple, carefully brushing his lips against the scar he knew hid behind her hairline. "All those careful discussions and confirmations, only to spend weeks doing no more than lying in the same bed at night."

Iridia turned enough to get a look at him with her good eye, brow furrowed not in frustration, but in anticipation. She ran a hand down his chest and over his stomach before allowing it to rest at his hip. "Can we...?"

Estinien picked up the hand at his hip and kissed her palm. "Mm. Grab a towel - dry yourself off. I'll deal with the bath and meet you in my chambers."

--

When Estinien walked into his chambers, hair pulled out of its hair tie and towel draped over a single shoulder, he found Iridia near the edge of the bed, towel hanging around her neck. Her hair was similarly removed from its bun, and strands of hair lied messily down her back or over the towel. Based on the way she walked over to the table on the other side of the room and reached for the pitcher of water, she hadn't yet noticed Estinien's return.

"You're looking quite comfortable." Estinien leaned against the door frame, arms crossed and a smile on his face.

Iridia let out a small "oh" of surprise as she turned around. After downing her glass of water, she pulled the towel off of her shoulders and hung it over the chair. She picked up another glass, presumably for Estinien, and took her time walking towards him. In the light of his chambers, and away from the opaque water and steam of the bath, they each got a far better look at one another's bodies... and both were currently quite enjoying it.

"I'll admit," she mused, handing the glass to Estinien, "that I feel far more at ease than earlier." She gestured to the bed with a tilt of her head, and Estinien pushed himself out of his lean to follow her. After putting his glass and towel down on the nightstand, he gestured for her to sit at the head of the bed. As she scooted herself over, legs lightly crossed and hands resting on her ankles, Estinien sat at the edge. He leaned back on a single hand as one corner of his mouth curved upward into a lopsided grin.

"What?" Iridia narrowed her eyes at him and leaned forward. Strands of her hair were pulled over her shoulders at the motion, and as she leaned back again they followed the curve of her breasts, slyly aiding in her modesty in a way that nearly made Estinien shiver.

"You'll not begrudge me a moment to take in the beautiful sight before me, would you?"

She huffed, uncrossing her legs to kick lightly at Estinien's thigh. But as he laughed in response, he grabbed her foot and pushed himself further onto the bed. He used his other hand to lightly push Iridia back and down onto the pillows behind her, and then grabbed her other foot.

"Already? Not that I'm complaining, mind..." Her voice trailed off as her gaze wandered.

But then Estinien leaned down, arms curved through and around the space left by her bent knees. "Oh, no. I'll be getting my revenge."

"Revenge?" She felt his hands slide up her hips and watched as they grabbed her waist, keeping her steady. And then, she remembered.

"...You'll get what you're due later."

"Wait, Estini-- ohh, gods!" His hot tongue slid over the throbbing in her groin she'd been attempting to ignore, and her back arched into the sensation. He ran the surface of his tongue over her in full before bringing his lips to her clitoris and gently sucking, seemingly testing her reaction. Iridia curled her fingers around the sheets, tossing and turning her head when Estinien's strong grip at her waist prevented her from squirming either into or away from the pleasure.

As he continued, changing his intensity or moving up or down based on her sighs and cries, one of Iridia's hands unfurled from the sheets and reached for Estinien's. He clasped it, and as he laughed through his nose he could feel Iridia shiver through her moan. He guided her hand much the same way she did earlier, clumsily threading her fingers through his hair.

She gripped for dear life, and he grunted against the pulling sensation at his scalp. His lips pressed against her entrance as his tongue dived in, gladly savoring her taste far more directly than he could before. As he found a pace that elicited broken cries, Iridia brought the hand that wasn't entangled in Estinien's hair to her chest, lazily rolling one of her nipples between her fingers.

But as all coherent thought slipped away, and Iridia was content to simply roll her hips against Estinien's face... he stopped.

Iridia cried out, pure frustration and confusion, as Estinien sat up and pulled her slack hand from his hair. "You... bleeding whoreson." She picked up the safest object in her vicinity - the towel Estinien had placed at the bedside table - and threw it at him. He raised it as if in thanks and used it to wipe down his face.

"You want release that badly, do you?" He tossed the towel back toward the head of the bed as he shifted to his knees.

Iridia groaned again. She desperately wished to rub her legs together to ease the burning need he left her with, but a steady hand on her knee prevented her from doing even that. "Must I dignify that with an answer...?"

The hand on her knee slid down her thigh as he shuffled in closer. "Was I mistaken to think you were hoping for something a little more substantial, then?"

"Substa--? Ohh, mm..." She felt his hard, hot dick slowly slide over the outside of her entrance before she had the wherewithal to see it. He was fully erect, and he sighed as he pushed himself between her thighs. "How are you, ngh, already so hard again?" She sat herself up on one elbow and reached down to run her fingers over the length, lingering ever so slightly at the tip.

"Well, you've got yourself to thank for that. If I'd kept going, I don't doubt I could have come to your moans alone."

The thought sent a shiver up Iridia's spine. Her fingers twitched against his length, and she leaned over just a little more to slide her fingers beneath and guide the tip toward her entrance. Estinien's breathing grew heavy as he watched, the muscles of his hips clenched against the instinctual urge to thrust himself against her. But their proximity alone was enough to allow the first ilm or so to slip inside her, and Iridia's cry of want very nearly brought Estinien's good sense crumbling down.

"I'm so tired of waiting..." Iridia's voice trembled as her hips desperately attempted to welcome him further inside. But without any movement from Estinien, she wasn't afforded much in their current positions. She swallowed, her voice a low growl as eyes glistening with possessive lust glared up at Estinien. "You're mine. I need you... Please."

Estinien's control faltered just long enough for his hips to buck forward, and Iridia fell back with a broken moan. "You ask for... unrestraint, on our first night?"

She nodded. "We can... share in gentle touches and sweet nothings when we're both far less pent up, I should think."

"Hah! Ngh, then know the beast you keep." Estinien lifted Iridia's hips, careful to keep what meagre connection they had established, before deepening it in the space of a single, forceful thrust.

As his skin laid flush with hers, Iridia gasped at the sudden feeling of fullness in her lower abdomen and the sheer heat radiating into her core. She brought shaky legs up and around him, squeezing him around his waist in a desperate bid to close what little space remained between them. Estinien responded to her movements, leaning over her so that he could feel the radiating warmth of her body on his. Once he found his balance, he claimed her lips, entwining their tongues and indulging in the familiar as her body grew accustomed to his presence within her.

When she finally reached upward, curving one arm behind Estinien's shoulders and sliding the palm of her other hand over his chest, Estinien took that as a sign to move. He slid one of his own hands up her torso, fingers cupping her soft breast as his thumb brushed over her hardened nipple, and pulled his hips back. Iridia broke from the kiss, sighing at the loss, until he pushed himself back against her with even more force than before.

"More..." she whispered, brow furrowed as she tried to rock against him. "Don't you dare hold back."

"Oh, I'm long past that point." Estinien punctuated that last word with another thrust, and then his pace quickened. His breathing hitched as he felt himself melt into her burning embrace, the painful pricks of her nails into his back the only thing grounding him.

Iridia tried to keep up, rocking and twisting her hips in search of release. She finally found it when she leaned slightly toward him, pushing her hips forward and giving him access to her deepest locus of pleasure with every thrust.

"Ah! Right there...! Nn, Estinien, you feel so good..."

"Right here?" Estinien brought his hand down to steady her hip and shifted on his knees, slowing down his pace to gauge her reaction. When she threw her head back and began moaning Estinien's name near unintelligibly, Estinien felt a surge of painful heat at his core. His pace quickened once more, but the sight of Iridia unravelling beneath him began to make his movements more erratic. "You're beautiful... and you've ruined me."

Another shiver ran up Iridia's spine. She ran her hands over Estinien's skin, drawing red lines with her nails, until they reached his neck. She cupped his cheeks, urging him to lean closer. "Do I turn you on?"

Estinien growled in response, bending both of their bodies so his forehead could rest against hers. They moaned in unison and shared a lazy, open-mouthed kiss. "Everything... about you. You've long had me in your grip, so...be mine. Be mine, Iridia!"

"I am... Oh, gods, I am...!" She strengthened her grip around Estinien's head as their bodies swayed together toward climax. "Look at m-me... Ah, hah, look at me when you come. Let me... s-see... Estinien...!"

"Ngh...! Augh, Iridia..."

Her brow furrowed as tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. Her body tensed as a wave of pleasure washed over her, shaking up from her core and down her every limb. But her eyes were locked onto Estinien, who looked down with a pained expression as his hips jerked against her, his body twitching and shaking erratically as he released his seed inside her. The added heat sent another pleasant shiver through Iridia, and their bodies continued to rock together until they came down from the peak.

Estinien leaned forward and slipped his arms beneath Iridia, one at the small of her back and one behind her shoulders. Iridia wrapped her arms around him just as tightly, guiding his head to lie at the crook of her neck as she leaned her cheek against his hair. With Estinien's elbows against the bed beneath her, he'd practically lifted her up; and since she'd managed to maintain the grip of her legs around his torso, she was happy to still feel his heat inside of her.

But as she attempted to speak, she felt something else flowing through her. It entered her body from every ilm of skin connected to Estinien, flowing through her like a dense liquid. It pooled at the center of her chest, filling her so fully that it weighed on her lungs. It coiled around her mind before sublimating into her body, summoning the violet trails of aether to her skin.

"Esti.. nien... Ahh, hahhh..." Her body shivered with a different kind of pleasure than before, but it was so overwhelming that she couldn't hope to process it. Her fingers dug into the skin of Estinien's back as if to claw him open. She wanted to crawl inside of him - to claim him as her vessel and live alongside his soul - but she didn't know why she suddenly felt this desire to release these emotions bubbling within her. She turned away from them, simply focusing on Estinien's physical touch. "I love you... I love you..."

Estinien sighed in response, his hold around her somehow tightening. In her haze, Iridia noticed the mottled skin where Nidhogg's eyes had once been embedded into his body glowing in a vibrant red and black pattern. "I love you, too... Now and always, Iridia..."

They remained in each other's embrace for a while longer as this new sensation faded, and once it did Estinien collapsed to his side, pulling Iridia with him. She released the grip her legs had around his waist, giving Estinien the room to finally pull himself out of her. They both shivered at the overstimulation and gave each other a moment to collect themselves. Once their breathing evened out, they naturally shared a weak laugh.

"Are you all right?" Estinien ran a hand over Iridia's forehead, pushing strands stuck to her skin behind her ear. In so doing, he noticed the change to his own skin. "Though it seems I may need to worry about myself as well."

Iridia ran her hand over the marks on Estinien's skin and studied both his marks and her trails with her aethersight. The aether she saw was recognizably hers and his, but there was something about them that struck her as odd. "I doubt we're in any danger. I think we can relax."

"Good, because I'd like to do just that." He shot a gaze toward the bathroom with a laugh. "Shall we have a proper bath this time?"

"An impeccable idea. And then a good, long sleep..."

Iridia filed her aetheric observations in the back of her mind with the intention of following up on them later. For now, she would bask in this moment.

--

Some few nights later, after Iridia spent her free time helping Radz-at-Han's alchemists and joining Zero for dinner, Estinien summoned Iridia to his chambers once more. Upon entering, Iridia found Estinien sitting on the bed and pinching the bridge of his nose.

"...Is something wrong? You look distressed."

"Ah..." He shook his head and invited her to sit next to him. "I've some potentially distressing news, but I request you listen to the end."

Iridia's eyes briefly widened in surprise, but then she earnestly nodded. "Of course."

"To start with what may be the most initially distressing news... Vrtra spoke with me about our union."

"About our...?" Her voice faded away as the implications of why Vrtra might approach Estinien hit her all at once. She ran her hands down her face and doubled over.

"No, no, lest you worry, Vrtra had long made arrangements to ensure any rooms we Scions may use for our discussions would remain impenetrable from the outside, my chambers included. It was... not an issue of noise."

That was a relief, at least, but the questions still remained. She thought back to that night, a light blush on her cheeks as she did, but nothing about the act itself seemed particularly odd or worrying. Except...

"Was it our aether...?"

Estinien nodded, a self-derisive smirk on his face. "Mine, more like. I yet struggle to control these things when my emotions are heightened, and I may have inadvertently roared that night. So he... spoke to me of his knowledge on how his kin bond and mate with their partners."

"O-Oh. Are those issues... pertinent?" Iridia was more confused than ever, but she could at least claim to feel more positively about the whole thing now. And when Estinien nodded, she felt something shift deep inside her.

 "As you know, dragons mate for life. We've seen it ourselves, if you'll remember."

"Mm. Tiamat, and Hraesvelgr..."

Estinien nodded again. "If Vrtra's explanation is to be believed, those bonds are often aetheric, rather than strictly physical - if indeed they are physical at all." Here, he began to hesitate. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Their eyes are a source of aether they can give and take at will, but in using the aether, they mark it as their own. And it is in the exchanging of aether that dragons mark another as their mate...signaling to others that they have been pair bonded."

Iridia's mind began spinning. She placed a hand to her chest, the pleasant weight she'd felt after consummating their relationship still very much present. And then she recalled what she saw that night, and took off her glasses to look at her arm. The aether was, as always, recognizably her own. But if she studied it very carefully, she could see flakes of blue among the violet flow.

"You... pair bonded with me...?" She took in a shaky breath and snapped around to look at Estinien. But he averted his gaze, his eyes focused on the floor.

"I apologize. I felt so... overwhelmed that night." He exhaled shakily. "Feeling the way you made me feel, and watching the way I made you feel... I wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of my days with you. But this is no easy thing to reverse. Even if I hadn't meant to bond myself to you, I should have done more to understand--"

Iridia stood in front of Estinien and shoved him down to the bed. She crawled over him and straddled his waist, leaning down to kiss him hard. He blinked up at her in surprise as she licked at his lips, but he immediately opened his mouth and leaned into the kiss. As their kiss continued to deepen, Iridia channeled the feelings she'd been so terrified of that night and gave into them. She slipped her hands around his neck, cradling the base of his head, and released the now suffocating weight in her chest down her arms and through her fingers.

"Ah... Iridia, is this... your aether...?" His body shook as she poured herself into him. He breathed in deep as his eyes glazed over, and he swallowed hard against the wave of emotions gripping at his heart.

"You're mine..." Iridia trembled as a similar wave of emotions swept through her, begging for release. "Tell me I'm yours."

"You're mine. Forever mine..." Estinien dragged her head down to kiss her once more, but this time it was far more languid and reverent. When they pulled apart, Iridia leaned back to look at Estinien's aether and now saw flashes of violet intertwined with his deep azure.

"I'm no dragon, but I know what it means to reside in all things, living or nonliving. And now, I reside in you, too."

"Bonded..." Estinien murmured, equally in awe of his lover and of his own joy at the prospect. "For life."

Estinien reached up to cup her face. She leaned into the touch, kissing his palm as her hair spilled over her shoulder. In her blue eye, he saw himself basking in endless affection; in her violet eye, he saw himself shackled by the weight of her love.

And she smiled, as if she saw the very same reflected in his eyes, too.