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Something settled deep inside of Maude as the last of their mistrust evaporated with the steam, something intangible that connected her to Herrick.

Leading him to the shallow end of the pool they were in, she ushered him backward until the water only came to his knees.

She only had one chance before they took it too far.

Herrick obeyed her silent guidance, the water falling around him, splashing her as she lowered to her knees in front of him.

Already hard as stone, Maude eyed Herrick's cock greedily.

On the tip, a small bead of moisture threatened to drip.

Before he could protest, Maude leaned forward and gripped him, pumping once before eagerly flicking her tongue over the small slit.

He tasted of the ocean and something purely male— salty and bright, but powerful.

Almost immediately, Maude clenched her thighs together as her blood became liquid fire.

"Gods above, Maude," he groaned as she pumped her hand again, rougher than before.

Herrick's fingers that had been weaving into her hair tightened as she wrapped her lips around him and sucked him in, slowly making her way down his long shaft.

She continued taking him into her mouth until the head of his cock touched the back of her throat.

Maude quickly realized she was nowhere near able to fit all of him inside her mouth, so she placed her hand on the base of his length and pumped him in time with her mouth.

She began to move in a punishing rhythm, swallowing Herrick into her throat as deeply as she could .

Every time Maude pulled back, she swirled her tongue over his head, the beads of moisture that she brought out in him spurring her on as her center became slick.

Herrick soon gripped either side of her head, gently considering the position she was in.

But Maude wanted him to let go, to feel everything she was offering him.

So when she withdrew this time, she grazed her teeth gently on the soft underside of his cock, and she squeezed him with her hand.

Any restraint Herrick had snapped, just as Maude had hoped.

"Fuck," he bit out between his clenched teeth.

He thrust into her mouth at a demanding rate.

The air seemed to slip from her with each breath, less and less of it replenishing her lungs, but she didn't care.

She eagerly took Herrick's pleasure as her own as he lost himself in her.

A moan slipped from her chest as Herrick's thrusts became sporadic and uneven.

He was close, and Maude was just greedy enough to want to spur him into his climax.

Reaching with one of her hands, Maude cupped Herrick's balls from where they had been knocking into her chin and gave them a gentle squeeze. The throbbing between her legs had become almost painful as she brought Herrick to the edge of sanity.

There was a certain power in bringing a man to his climax with just one's tongue and teeth.

Maude basked in it, the ability to pleasure Herrick in a way that no one else had before.

Their couplings had been intense in the past; their fates aligned in a way that ensured that.

But Maude preferred to take matters into her own hands when it came to Herrick.

She knew their chemistry did not come from the Norns but rather from a mutual understanding of the pleasure they could bring to each other from experience and love.

Gods, she needed her own release soon. Before she knew what she was doing, Maude reached down into the water and between her legs.

Herrick came with one last powerful thrust, the evidence of his pleasure pouring down her throat in hot rivulets that Maude eagerly swallowed.

But his moment of bliss didn't last long when he looked down to see that Maude had reached for herself, her fingers only just beginning to slide through her wetness as she —

"Oh no, you don't," he growled as he pulled himself from Maude's mouth and disentangled himself from her hair. "Your pleasure belongs to me."

Before Maude could finish swallowing the evidence of Herrick's climax, he was pulling her up by her wrists. Without pausing for breath, Herrick invaded her mouth, surely tasting himself on her tongue.

They each battled for dominance over the other, their struggle to infiltrate each other's very flesh making them flush with exertion.

Maude tugged on his hair, the growl in his chest reward enough for her, but the action spurred Herrick on.

His hands, which had been roughly tracing every curve of her body, made their way down to her hips and behind her to cup her ass before he lifted her to the edge of the pool, placing her down on the edge.

He did not break their kiss until he was running his teeth and his tongue down the side of her neck while easing her down onto her back.

When her heated skin touched the cave floor, she expected it to be hot from the springs below them, but in her rush of vexation and now lust, the stone was cool.

Herrick reached for her ankles, lifting them from the water to rest on the lip of the bath before he gently urged her knees to the side, displaying her center to him.

He picked up one leg as he ran his tongue down the sensitive flesh of the inside of her thigh.

She didn't notice when he rested her leg on his shoulder, didn't notice when his attentive ministrations shifted to her other leg, didn't notice that he had would have bared her to anyone who would might slip past her barrier in front of the cave.

Maude had become all sensation and feeling, aware of only the breath sawing in and out of her lungs as Herrick teased his way to her center.

She wanted him to taste to, to possess her so thoroughly that the rest of the world fell to ruin.

The longer he went on paying close attention to her thighs, his breath teasing her heated core, the more frustrated she became.

"Beast," she moaned as her fingers reached down to wrap around his curls.

He smiled against her thigh."What was that, minn eldr ?"

Maude groaned as her hips twitched forward, her center aching .

"You know what I want to hear from you," he continued, his breath whispering against her cunt, making her pulse with desire.

She bit down on her bottom lip, her teeth drawing blood as she tried to resist. But she was like clay in his hands—malleable and entirely in his control.

"Please," she breathed, giving in to what he was baiting her for.

"You are so delectable when you're begging."

Gold eyes flicked up to meet her emerald ones, the mischief in them clear, before he lowered his mouth to her and started to feast.

From the first touch of his tongue, Maude felt waves of lightning followed by molten fire moving up her core and straight to her head, making her pliant to him and his command.

Hands gripped the swells of her hips as they started to buck against his mouth before he moved to grip her waist as he moaned against the most sensitive part of her, the vibrations of his own pleasure igniting Maude further.

Before she could grasp what was happening, she fractured under the skilled movements of his tongue, her core liquifying as her orgasm ripped through her.

Herrick sat back as she came down, placing scattered kisses and dragging his teeth down her thighs until he surged forward and wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her off the stone floor to press against his front.

Her wine-colored hair cascaded over her shoulders in long waves as she righted herself against the man she swore she would never love.

His eyes traced the movement of her tresses as they settled into the water they were crouched in now.

She could feel Herrick's cock pressing against her stomach as he quickly captured her mouth again, the taste of her sex muddling the thoughts in her head.

She lowered herself to her feet without breaking their kiss.

They stood this way for a few moments before Herrick brought his lips to her cheek, and then her throat, before making his way down to her fatemark.

Kneeling in the shallow water, he placed a gentle kiss on the tattoo of Yggdrasil , his tongue tracing the gentle swirls of the Valkyrie wings that outlined it, making her heart race.

When he reached the five burning red runes that Aeric had revealed when she was in stasis, Herrick paused.

Crouched before her, his hands gripping her hips so intensely that a kiss of pain radiated from his hold.

The air between them grew still. It felt as if the entire world had halted as he took in her fate and what it meant for them.

One hand released her hip, and the rush of blood flow to that spot was almost painful. Maude didn't notice; she only saw Herrick trace the rune that lay directly underneath Yggdrasil's roots with his fingertip. Gebo . The rune that had made her flee Dagsbrun so hastily.

Sure that he was going to pull away, Maude tensed.

But Herrick surprised her by placing a gentle kiss on the rune once, twice, before pulling away and looking up at her.

On his knees before her, Maude could only get trapped in his presence.

The air that had stilled seemed to swirl and weave around them as if the Norns were watching this particular private moment in real-time.

She could drown in him, she realized. Would die happily sinking into the golden brown depths that seemed to become molten when he looked at her. Her lips parted with a soft gasp as it became clear that there would never be anyone else for her. He had ruined her, thoroughly and efficiently.

Herrick watched this play out on her face, his supple mouth slowly picking up in the corners until he smirked fully at her. Before she could respond to his rapid change in demeanor, he moved as fast as lightning.