Chapter
Seven
NORA
“ I t’s so small!” I gasped out.
I slapped my hands over my own mouth too late to stop the words from coming out.
I couldn’t believe I said it like that! The piece of meat that jutted out from between his legs was by no means small. He was at least seven inches, and I was certain that if I wrapped my fingers around him, I would find that his girth would be more than satisfying.
The thing is, I was expecting something more than the length of a baseball bat and the girth of one of my legs.
His kind were rumored to have the kind of anatomy that would literally tear someone apart.
"How big did you think it would be?" he asked, lifting an eyebrow.
His wings stretched even wider, catching the sunlight that was coming through the window as the golden light glimmered off the edges of his beautiful white feathers.
My eyes darted around, from his large but still doable maleness, to his chiseled and gorgeous body, which I was desperate to touch, to the soft shine of his impressive wingspan.
My cheeks burned. "As big as a mushroom."
“You have heard the rumors,” he grinned, and my anxiety at the thought that I had just offended him fluttered away along with my fear of having to figure out how to take a monsterdick.
“Are they…” I cut myself off, realizing I was about to ask him if the rumors were true, and he was just the angel who fell short of expectation.
I felt a flush rush over my skin that had nothing to do with his nudity or my glorious relaxation from my massage.
There was so much I wanted to know, but at the same time, I was rapidly re-evaluating the situation.
The man was hung, he was royalty, he was chill with not knocking me up, and if we clicked in the bedroom, I was likely going to be set for quite some time.
I was definitely attracted to him. When I said no earlier, the word was a surprise to me, brought out by the sudden slash of fear that rushed through me at the thought of being bent over the table and destroyed by a piece of oversized bodily equipment.
I knew I was being mercenary about this, but I knew what I wanted.
He was an opportunity for a good time.
“Are the rumors true, and am I just on the small size?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I didn’t say that,” I said as my skin felt so hot I could fry an egg on it.
“We spread those rumors on purpose,” he said. “They are not true.”
Relief that I wasn't just being an ass to him burst free from me in a sudden laugh.
“Why?” I asked.
“Disinformation is an important tactic of war,” he said.
“Overt lying, subtle lying, misdirection, presenting truth as lies - those are all methods to confuse and disrupt the enemy.
When someone lies repeatedly and publicly, it's because they believe you are their enemy.
My people have carefully crafted a lie that has withstood the centuries. "
"But why?" I asked again. I couldn't for the life of me think why
"Those of Order value bodies like a commodity.
What young you can breed, what labor they can squeeze out of you.
Our lie makes us less valuable as women with channels so cavernous they won't hold the seed of others and men with members too large to be safe with anyone else - we decrease one part of our value to them. "
I opened my mouth to say how ridiculous that was, but then I shut it.
I'd deliberately smeared dirt on myself to avoid attention when I went to the commons for food.
I made myself filthier and disguised my scent to avoid attention.
There was only one Aetheriani at the school, and his wings had been bound by the magic that bound everyone else.
Here was a city, a country, a community of people who were unbound by the constraints that tied down everyone else.
They had kept themselves separate, isolated, and removed from the system that trapped others.
If spreading rumors about themselves was one of the ways they sustained that, there was no judgment to be had.
"Now, you have preened - would you like to rest?" he asked. "I can show you your chambers."
"You're really going to let me live here and not give anything back?" I asked, blurting it out.
There had to be a catch. He wasn't going to force himself on me, either physically or with coercion. He wasn't going to push past my hesitation, even when he had proved my fears were misguided.
There was no way he was going to just offer me safety and security for nothing in exchange at all.
"You will give something back," he smiled.
Ah, there it was, the catch.
"When you feel safe and settled, when you have gotten to know my people and found your way around the city, you will find the joy inside of yourself that you wish to offer to others," he said.
"You're joking," I said.
"You are an intelligent, strong, hard-working woman," he said. "You will find a place that brings you happiness, and you will make my city and my people better for it."
"Is that how you really feel?" I asked.
"Yes," he said. He stepped forward and reached out as if he was going to place a hand on my shoulder, and then hesitated.
He was being respectful.
I reached out and caught his hand as it dropped, lifting it up to put it on my shoulder. His hand was warm and huge, and he gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze. He cleared his throat before he continued speaking. "You are safe. You are free. Anything you wish, it is yours."
"Your people think I'm here to give you an heir," I said, bringing us back to the one flaw in his generosity. "What happens when they find out that isn't going to happen?"
"What goes on between the two of us is none of their business," he said. His thumb traced a lazy circle over my collarbone, just like it had done when it was on my thigh, and that same heat clenched deep in my core. He had been about to eat me out, and I had stopped him.
I deeply regretted stopping him.
I opened my mouth to tell him I'd changed my mind, yet again.
"This has been a lot," he said. "Let me show you to your own space, where you can spend some time by yourself and process."
I closed my mouth.
He was right.
He let go of my shoulder and picked back up his robe, putting it back on.
I followed him out of the room and down a hallway so large he could fly in it if he needed to, though no one else could pass him in midair.
He stopped in front of an arched doorway, the wooden door carved and painted with winged women throwing winged children up into the air.
"Where is your room?" I asked him.
He pointed at the door across the hall from mine.
"Your inner sanctum is so close to mine," I murmured.
"You are welcome in my space at any time," he said, his eyes intent with the meaning behind his words.
"Any time at all?" I asked.
"Yes," he said. He hesitated as if he wanted to say more, desire flashing across his face like a fire that was burning him. He turned away from the heat and vanished through his door.
I followed suit, stepping into my own room.
I stopped, stunned by the sight in front of me.
The walls curved upwards, creating a vaulted dome of space with huge windows that let in the sunlight filtering through the green leaves of the tree branches outside.
In the center of the room stood a bed that was an immense platform hewn from a single heartwood slab, its headboard flaring up like outstretched wing bones.
The mattress lay high, piled with what looked like down-stuffed silks, colors of sunrise golds and rosy reds, a sunset of color that matched the cushions on the perch that jutted out from under the highest window.
I wandered across the room, my bare feet padding on a thick woven carpet that covered most of the floor, protecting my feet from the soft wood of the tree.
I pushed open a door on the opposite side of the room and entered a bathing chamber, with several pools filled with water that ran from one to another in a staggered cascade.
At the top of the stacked pools was one made out of gleaming copper, and the water in it had the soft scent of steam rising from it.
This room was thick with plants in woven pots that seemed to grow from the walls, their broad leaves dripping down with the slight shimmer of water as they caught the condensation in the room.
I turned and left the room.
The doorway on the other side of the room led into a huge closet with hangers on the large pole that wrapped around the room, and built into the wall dressers with drawers that slid out smoothly at the slightest touch.
On one wall were several white and gold robes that matched the 'proper' garment for royalty.
Thankfully, there were other garments of a variety of colors and styles, off-the-shoulder or one-shoulder dresses.
I gasped as I found a drawer filled with trousers. I held one up to my hips. It might fit?
It had been forever and a day since I'd last worn pants, as I wasn't allowed to wear them at school.
I'd missed them.
It was the pants that did me in, the feeling of them as I slid them on to discover they were perfectly my size, fitting around my larger rear end without digging into the softness of my belly.
I let out a trembling gasp as tears pricked in the corners of my eyes.
I stood in front of the huge mirror in the back of the walk-in closet, sliding my palms over my legs as I turned this way and that to examine myself.
I blinked them back, refusing to let them go as I carefully took off the trousers, folded them, and carried them back over to the drawer.
I clenched the fabric so tight in my fists, my heart pounding in my chest as the intensity of my emotion overwhelmed me.
If this place was a trick, if there was a catch lying around the next corner waiting for me to discover things weren't as good as they seemed, I didn't know if I could handle it. I wanted so badly for this to be real.
I wanted so badly for him to be real.
I released my deathgrip on the trousers, setting them down in the drawer.
I smoothed them out gently, my palms running over the soft fabric.
I could wait.
I could wait to see what would happen, to see if he was a man of his word, to see if this was all real or just another horrible trick like I had discovered during Orientation, my first day of school.
I could wait to see if my fragile hope would be shattered, never to be put back together again.
Except, I had spent years like that - working and waiting for my chance to escape.
I hadn't had fun. I hadn't gone to the school parties or done anything other than work and study.
I hadn't been living, I'd been waiting for my chance to live.
I bit my lip as I reached up and took a dress off the hanger that would have been borderline inappropriate for going clubbing in a big city.
I slid it on, feeling the soft fabric molding to my body, showing off every curve.
I looked at myself in the mirror, seeing the strong lines of my muscles, the soft bulge of my belly, and the rounded edge of my rear.
I was gorgeous, feminine, and strong.
He wanted me as I was.
I didn't want to wait to find out if this was all a lie.
I wanted to have my fun, take my pleasure, and if my heart was broken afterwards?
I could live with that.