They all seemed so far away. The entire village, Tillicoulty, her homeland—it was all so far away. Right now, there was only being in Ravn’s arms, in this bed, in their house.
He kissed the side of her head. “Sleep. You must be exhausted.”
“I am tired, but it is a happy tired.” She paused and circled his left nipple. “A tired that is full of satisfaction, as though I have won in battle, or climbed a mountain, set my spear in the center of a target over and over.”
“I’d say my spear hit target.” He chuckled.
She looked up at him. “You say the most shocking things to a Christian woman.”
He laughed. “I speak the truth.”
She giggled and settled her head back down in the crook of his shoulder.
Soon, her thoughts were drifting and sleep encroached. An image of Thor’s big, stone face filled her mind. It merged into a fluffy cloud shape with dark, stormy eyes and a cross for a mouth. Soon, it dispersed and was blown away and in its place, her dreams were filled with the ocean and forest, birds, fish, and the arms of her husband around her.
*
Carmel slept onand on, a deep, restoring sleep that soothed away the weeks at sea and her nerves at lying with her husband. The warm, dark nothingness was a gentle healing balm.
When she woke, the light of the day pierced a few chinks in the wall with needles of sunshine. Haakon still slept at her side, his breathing steady and deep.
Gently, she stroked his chest, coiling her fingers in the hair there. It was thick and wiry and filled his sternum. He didn’t stirand she swirled a little lower, into the dip, before the start of his strong abdominal muscles and where the hair thinned slightly. It then thickened just before his navel and she touched him here too.
“My love,” he murmured, his grip on her tightening. “You are awake.”
“As are you, King Ravn.”
“This king slept as though dead.” He chuckled softly. “You wore me out, sweet wife.”
“I am glad you are not dead.” She kissed his cheek. “I should hate that.”
“Oh, no, right now, this moment, I am very much alive.” He flicked the fur that covered his legs and reached up to his belly. “And here is the proof.”
She gasped. His dark cock was erect and jutting upward. The end was glossy and his slit a deep ruby red. The sight of his arousal so sudden and unexpected had her stomach tightening and a rush of anticipation gripped her.
He took his erection in his fist and stroked up to the tip, smoothing his thumb over the slit.
“You are so hard,” she said.
“It is what happens when I wake beside a beautiful woman.” He paused. “And all the harder when that woman is stroking my body.”
She made a mental note of that and swirled the denser hair nearer to his cock. “Does that mean you want to fuck again?”
“I cannot imagine a time that I will not want to fuck you,” he said, his voice gruffer than before. “But right now, I have another idea.”
“You do?” She looked up at him, trying to read his expression. She could glean nothing.
“Ja, I wish you to return the favor.”
“‘Favor’?”
“Ja, takemeinyourmouth.”
“Ravn…but…I…” Surely, she’d misheard him. What was he talking about?
“There is nobut. I wish for your mouth to be around my cock, as though your mouth were your cunny.”
“You want me to…” Her eyes widened at the very thought.