Page 79 of Into Orbit
‘I’ll take that bet,’ Willow said, and kissed her.
Elswyth whimpered at the sight, her fingers tightening under mine. I lifted her hand to my lips and brushed a kiss over her knuckles. ‘Is all well, Lady?’
‘I didn’t know,’ she whispered. She rubbed her free hand across her chest. ‘I didn’t know howrightthis would feel.’
Willow growled as Maeve hooked her legs around his hips; Elswyth and I watched as he thrust home.
Maeve’s eyes closed and her teeth sank deep into her bottom lip. ‘Fuck,’ she moaned.
Willow always knew exactly where to touch, exactly where to kiss, exactly how to move. I knew what it felt like to be under his hands. But seeing him with Maeve was something else entirely. His hips rolled, smoothly and unhurriedly, and with every forward thrust Maeve cried out. He dipped his mouth to the hollow of her collarbone, tasting her skin before moving lower, mouthing at one hard nipple. Her knees tightened around his hips and she panted, hooking her feet over his back as he swapped between her hard peaks, licking and sucking and nipping until she was chanting his name. When Maeve dug her nails into his back so hard I could see the green shadow of blood, he took her wrists and pinned them above her head. A moment later, vines grew down from the wall and wrapped around Maeve’s wrists, leaving her open and fully pliant beneath him.
‘Green gods,’ Elswyth whimpered. She tore her gaze away, looking down at me. ‘I, ah,’ she started hesitantly, ‘I don’t think I’m ready yet. But do you think maybe one day you would want that? With me? If Maeve is all right with it?’
‘You don’t – need my – permission,’ Maeve gasped, as Willow thrust into her. ‘He’s – ours. Mine. Yours. Willow’s. Do whatever – you want.’ She paused, then moaned, then bit her lip. ‘With – in – reason, and with – ongoing – consent, of course.’
I reached up and touched Elswyth’s cheek. ‘Whatever you want. Whatever you need. Whenever you need it. I am always yours to command.’
My Hamadryad pressed a kiss to my palm.
Maeve moaned. ‘Willow. These burls – are – something else.Willow. That. There.Yes,’ she hissed, and Willow snarled as she arched her back, coming with a scream.
Willow’s back muscles clenched, and he swore as he emptied himself inside her, collapsing sideways and pulling her with him once he was done, swapping their places so that Maeve’s head was pillowed on his chest.
‘Oh,’ Elswyth said breathlessly. ‘Idefinitelywant that.’ She bit her lip. ‘Maybe sooner than I thought.’
‘Well,’ Maeve said a few moments later, once her breathing had calmed. ‘That was nice.’
‘Nice?’ Willow growled.
‘Satisfactory,’ Maeve said, her taunting grin a flash of white in the darkened room. ‘Pass level. Three stars –’
She shrieked as Willow dragged her down the bed and buried his face between her legs.
Elswyth laughed and snuggled into my side. I pulled her closer, my hearts feeling so full they could burst. ‘I amnotgoing to be the one washing the sheets,’ she said into my chest.
I kissed her head. ‘Next time we should do this in the Forest,’ I murmured. ‘Much less to clean up.’
‘Under my heartree,’ she said with a shiver, beginning to glow. ‘Yes. In the Forest, where we belong.’
EPILOGUE
Ifyousquintedabit and didn’t mind that the ocean was the wrong colour, Natare looked a bit like Earth. The landmasses were smaller and seemed to be grouped into archipelagos, which explained why Willow had mentioned there wasn’t much agriculture. He said the cephalopods practised mariculture instead, farming kelp and fish and other sea creatures.
Tessa is somewhere down there.
The Captain had confirmed that the ship Tessa had left Earth on had landed on Natare two weeks ago. I’d chafed at the wait –surely we can land now?I’d begged several times – but because ofdiplomacywe had to wait until we were officially invited to land. The Queen of Natare was tardy on the invite, which made me anxious, and when I got anxious, I got all kinds of annoyed.
Ashton and Willow took turns fucking me to try and make me calmer, which I wasn’t sad about. That kind of reward wasn’t exactly giving me an incentive to change my behaviour.
‘All good?’ Ashton murmured, taking up position next to me. His hair was braided back, showing the patch on one side where it had been shaved. He wore his official First Guard uniform, a forest-green tunic embroidered with gold thread over leathers. He looked all kinds of delicious, and for a moment I considered skipping the landing party entirely and dragging him back to the bedroom. The look he shot me – all hunger and arrogance – said that he was thinking along the same lines.
‘Don’t you dare,’ Willow said, standing on my other side. ‘Maeve has come across multiple galaxies for this moment.’
‘Spoilsport,’ I muttered, pouting. He was in uniform too, his wavy hair brushing his shoulders, and he looked so beautiful that my insides went all melty. ‘Where’s Elswyth?’
‘On her way,’ he said, studying the ocean from the hangar viewing platform. ‘She couldn’t decide what to wear. She’s the Captain’s daughter and our Hamadryad, after all, and she wanted to look the part.’
I smiled. ‘I can’t believe she puts up with us.’
