Page 46 of Zel
For all the turmoil of this night, Zel did not hesitate to take hold of Ulrich’s left hand and bring it up beneath his skirts to his bare knee. “If you truly want me despite knowing my deceptions all this time, I wish to withdraw my first request of you and ask you to take me to bed tonight.” Zel kissed him with an upward surge and coil of his tongue.
Sober and seated now, it was no less thrilling than their first kiss. Ulrich returned the embrace, lips and tongue moving against Zel’s, and his hand crept up to the start of Zel’s thigh.
Then he paused.
“Zel, are you certain—”
“Please, Ulrich, let me have this. For me. BecauseIwant it. If you do?” Zel blinked past the lingering moisture in his eyes and waited for Ulrich’s answer.
He was stunning, and whatever terror he could evoke in others, when they were alone, Zel saw only Ulrich’s beauty. “I do.”
Zel huffed a laugh at the apt wording he’d prompted, and in the parting of his lips, Ulrich licked his way between them again. Now that they were home, sober, and bared open to one another, this kiss felt different, heated but tentative. Ulrich hadn’t known another’s kiss or touch in centuries. Zel hadn’t known either from anyone other than Rudy. And because Zel’s magic couldease Ulrich’s pain, it made him feel special in a way he had never truly embraced before.
Ulrich’s cursed hand plumped to life with a brush of Zel’s braids, while his other hand stole higher up Zel’s thigh. Self-perseveration honed from deflecting Rudy still made Zel feel like he needed to redirect the advance of that hand. But not this time. Not with Ulrich. Zel could allow the slow ascent and push of fabric, lifting the layers to reveal his calves, and knees, and thighs, which Zel parted to permit Ulrich’s hand to move center.
Again, Ulrich paused.
“May I?” he whispered. “May I touch you where no one else has?”
“Yes.”
While it was the left hand with sharp nails, not claws, that found Zel’s hardening length, Ulrich was still careful with their points as he curled his fingers tight and stroked with the base of his thumb up the shaft.
“Oh…” Zel moaned at the first tantalizing tingle. It was so different from touching himself, and without meaning to, he began thrusting into Ulrich’s strokes.
Ulrich grabbed Zel’s hips with his blackened arm and tugged, upending him onto the chaise. With Zel laid out, Ulrich lifted his skirts fully, up past the bob of his cock that he continued to stroke. The pad of Ulrich’s thumb pressed the deepest and circled Zel’s slit.
“Ohhh…” Zel moaned louder, head falling limp upon the pillow. There wasn’t room to lie side by side, but Ulrich climbed atop Zel and straddled his knees.
He waved the fingers of his cursed hand, and several strands of Zel’s hair floated out of his braids, causing some of the cornflowers woven there to fall like apple blossoms in the spring. Ulrich conducted the strands as he did during their daily routine, commanding the ends of the loose locks to wrap aroundhis wrist. His claws were only as sharp as the other hand’s nails when Zel’s magic held the curse at bay.
Reaching between Zel’s legs with his right hand then, Ulrich cupped and fondled Zel’s sac while the other hand hastened its strokes. It was everything Zel had envisioned but never believed he could have with another, let alone with the sorcerer in the wood. He was soon set to panting, breaths coming shallower and far too constricted.
“U-Ulrich… I need this corsetoff.”
It popped as it unlaced with another wave of Ulrich’s fingers.
Much better.
Zel’s outer bodice was loosened as well, and though the layers remained, they gave way to the ascent of Ulrich’s currently healthy hand dragging up beneath them along Zel’s skin, higher and higher past his navel and ribs.
Nethers exposed under Ulrich’s heated stare, Zel had never felt more seen. He heaved heavier breaths, nodding frantically when Ulrich paused.
“More?” Ulrich asked.
“Please.”
“I would see your golden locks unbound around you first with fewer layers to hide your body from me.”
“Undress me then!” Zel demanded. “You can loosen my braids as easily as you did my bodice.”
“Youcan.” Ulrich took Zel’s hands, beginning a familiar motion, as if to remind Zel of the magic he could employ. “Unbind the braids yourself, while I savor your unveiling.”
Zel’s hair had already started to lift, but when Ulrich released him to begin the final unlacing and removal of his clothing, Zel hesitated. He had never controlled his magic entirely on his own.
“You can do it without me,” Ulrich coaxed. His fingers, matching in appearance with some of Zel’s hair still wrapped around his cursed wrist, were enthralling to watch. Pulling at thecords holding Zel’s bodice together. Sliding the bodice from Zel’s shoulders. Removing Zel of his petticoats.
“Y-you distract me,” Zel said.
