Page 75 of Whisper Woods

Rafe’s arms are locked tight with tension, and I realise what a monumental idiot I am talking about my ex while Rafe’s cum is still all over my stomach from our epic frot session.

“Oh.” The single word is dripping with tone. Fuck. “Are you—do you still?” Rafe can’t seem to get the words out. It sounds like he’s choking. In another situation it would be funny, since he’s always so smooth.

My hands grip his arms tight, and I crane my head back to look him in the eyes. There are no promises between us. Nothing but stolen moments outsideof our lives, like little bubbles of unreality.

“No. No. I care about him. But that’s not it.” It is a cruel twist of fate that the two men my spirit longs for can never be mine to keep.

It’s one of the many secrets I keep locked away in the imaginary tower in my mind.

Rafe relaxes underneath me, but not by much. I’ve really fucked it. There is something in his eye that’s more shuttered now. I’ve torn the protective circle around us just a little, allowing the outside in.

His fingers stroke the patches of skin they are holding, more for his comfort than mine I think. I sink back against him and press my ear to his chest, listening to the thumping rhythm of his heart.

“There isn’t anyone else.” I whisper and his fingers flex against me before resuming their gentle strokes. “Not like this.” Not likeyou.

Sometimes I wish I was human, free from the intense instincts that come with being a being. Then I could just take the risk and jump. Say all the things that Rafe and I never say. To claim this connection between us. But that instinct forces me back. It knows what my dumbass heart doesn’t, and it physically holds me back from asking the questions that could ruin everything.

Rafe presses another kiss to my hair, inhaling a deep breath, like he’s savouring my scent. He doesn’t make a promise, and I’m glad. Either option is really fucking depressing.

“Tell me about where you’ve been.” I ask after a while, when I feel him relax once again. He perks up, scratching his back on the tree he’s leaning against. It means I have to readjust too, so we take a second to get comfy again before he sighs melodramatically.

“I have not had any trips quite as interesting as my time in Alluyes, I’m afraid. But I did spend some time with the mages to the south of Ulydessia, in the mountains.”

I shuffle back tighter into the warmth of his arms. It may be spring, but it’s early in the season and the nights in the Woods are still bitterly cold. Rafe pulled a blanket out of Gods know where to wrap around us as we made out like horny teenagers on the grass of this random clearing. How we managed to runinto each other here, I have no idea. I don’t even know where I am.

“And what did you do there?”

My fingers play with the light dusting of hair on his arm around my waist. He starts talking, but I’m not really listening. It’s not that I’m trying to be rude, it’s just hard to keep my eyes open. I’m just exhausted, I couldn’t sleep last night and then a whole day of work... Wrapped up like this is like being in a safe, warm cocoon.

My eyes drift shut and I listen to Rafe’s stories about the mages who’s skills with water and air have them controlling the ice and snow and the fantastic auroras he witnessed from the glaciers.

“Perhaps one day, you’ll get to see them, too.” He murmurs against the crown of my head. As I fall into my sleep, I breathe a prayer to the Gods that if I do get to see them, it’s by his side.

Seff

Like this place. Pretty. Wolf is pretty easy to please at the best of times, but it’s nice to know Tathys has his seal of approval. Though he could just be talking about Rafe’s bedroom. Or the bed in particular. I agree with him, though—about all of it. There is something about Tathys, like coming here has felt like coming home. I don’t know how to explain it.

And being with Rafe? Being with Rafe feels like the part of me that’s been lost in the world has finally been returned to my spirit.

Wolf rolls, allowing a stretch to take over his body until we’re twisting in the empty sheets.

Where’s Rafe?Wolf snaps to attention, nosing around the pillows to inhale as much of Rafe’s scent as possible. Then, for good measure, he burrows beneath the sheets to roll around in them too, ensuring the scent is all over him while marking that spot as his.

Wolf shoved his way through overnight, getting a little restless, and I’m trying not to listen to that shitty little voice in my head that is trying to tell me that Rafe waking up next to a surprise wolf is why Wolf and I woke up alone.

Time to give it up, buddy. I warn, trying to push my way back to the surface. We need to pee and I don’t exactly want to piss off Rafe’s housekeeper with Wolf taking a leak on the balcony plants like he has planned. Wolf pushes back, and for a moment there is a battle of wills until he finally relents.

The magic surges through me, reshaping my body. It’s electric, intense. And at the end I’m curled, naked and panting on the plush, emerald green rug on the floor. Goosebumps ripple over my skin, my body flushing hot and cold while the adrenaline leaves my body and my body and spirit realign.

It’s a fuckingrush.

But my bladder is calling so I make my way to the bathroom, enjoying the pleasant ache in my body and running a finger over the coloured glass inlays on the chest of drawers as I go. I take a leak in the surprisingly Mundane toilet and wash my hands in the crazy ornate basin. It’s made of some kind of pearlescent shell like thing for the bowl with a fancy brass faucet. Thank the Gods they use faucets and not some fancy magic to call on the water like they do with the lights, otherwise I’d be screwed.

On our way back from the dragons yesterday, Brydon and I took a deep dive into how Tathys is built. Not, like, the magic side of things—though that’s a giant part of it, obviously—but once I started asking things like how they built the stacked up buildings in the town centre and how the plumbing worked, we’d gone down the rabbit hole together. The water flows directly from the hot springs and aquifers and cycles back through once used.

Magic is used to direct the water through the earth to the homes—which is where things are going wonky now. The water is not always flowing. The plumbing discussion then obviously led to questions about sewage and water purification but Rafe cut us off before we could get into it.

The basin is not even the nicest thing in the bathroom, not by a long shot. Because, just like the rest of the house, no expense has been spared. Small chandeliers hang from the tall, domed ceiling—the ceiling decorated with an insane seascape mural with sirens and mermaids and other sea beings worshippingViestra, one of the Gods named by the Orun.

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