Page 26 of Where the Shadows Land (Garden of Hope #1)

MAIRUK

M orning light filtered in through the window and painted the room in a brilliant pale gold.

Astoria’s soft red hair gleamed like fire, her body just as warm.

Mairuk cradled her sleeping form against their chest and watched her breathe.

Each steady breath brushed over the growths over their chest and pushed more warmth into their spirit.

Mairuk had not held anyone like this since Incandescent.

They enjoyed sex as much as anyone else, but the gentle comfort of sleeping with someone in their arms was better.

Mairuk never allowed themselves to miss this until Astoria fell asleep in their arms. Now, they could not tear their eyes away from her.

Her soft, bare skin over theirs and the way she curled around their body captured every ounce of their attention.

The night the two of them shared still didn’t seem real despite the clear evidence.

If not for the scent of their combined pleasure and the slight burn from their healing cap, Mairuk would have sworn they dreamed the entire night.

Astoria fit perfectly in their arms and the weight of her eased forgotten, long-held tension from their muscles.

They slept only in brief stretches, too focused on the delicate human in their arms who carried scars that matched their own.

Astoria hummed into their chest and stretched.

Her pretty green eyes fluttered open and Mairuk braced themselves for harsh words.

She promised not to run again, but that did not mean she would not have regrets about what they did in the dark in the truth of the daylight.

She threw her arm over their shoulder and nuzzled in closer.

“Morning,” Astoria murmured.

“Sun’s greetings.” Mairuk ran their hand down her thigh, gently tracing their fingers over her skin. “How are you feeling?”

“Tired. A little tender, but nothing hurts.” Astoria smiled at Mairuk.

Not the dazed, drunken smile she gave them while she was under their influence, but a real smile.

One of warmth and satisfaction. It fell once she recognized the tension radiating off of them.

She sat up, and her long red hair curtained over her speckled shoulder. “Are you alright?”

Mairuk huffed and closed their eyes to gather the strength they needed.

They took one of her hands in theirs and tried to balance honesty with gentleness.

A thick fog of regret clung to their throat and silenced the words before they could as much as think them.

Perhaps they should have left before she woke and saved themselves from this conversation.

It would have happened anyway, but they would have had more time to gather their thoughts.

Talking about what happened between them opened the door for the peace to leave them and Mairuk did not know if they could tolerate sleeping alone again.

If they could take another rush of angry words and screamed insults.

Mairuk stared down at their joined hands and rubbed over her knuckles. “We are waiting for you to run. For you to shout malicious words at us.”

“I promised you I would not hide again.”

“Yes, but you did not promise kindness. ”

Astoria’s brows furrowed. Mairuk tensed further and closed their eyes, preparing for the bite of her venom.

Her thighs spread over their waist and she straddled them.

Her soft, warm hands cupped their jaw, and she planted a soft kiss on either side of their face.

“I have no regrets about last night, Mairuk. None.”

“You are certain?” Mairuk opened their eyes and every one of the Twelve who Made them stood at attention in their awareness.

“Yes,” Astoria said. “I feel changed, different. Perhaps the Goddess truly released my soul and I am free to live as I wish to, or perhaps I feel this way because this is the first morning in two years where I woke up happy. Whatever the reason, the fog that I’d lived under since I lost Damien has cleared from my eyes.

I’m sorry for how I treated you. I’ll show you the kindness you deserve from here on out. ”

“We do not blame you, Astoria. Our grief is older than yours by many years, and we have adjusted to it. We simply prepared ourselves in case your grief took you again.” The tension in Mairuk eased with each gentle stroke of Astoria’s fingers across their face.

“We forgive you. Allowing us to hold you while you slept was one of the greatest kindnesses we have received in many rotations.”

“What will happen with our blood oath now that I broke it?” she asked.

“By the magic that binds us, your blood and your life are ours.” Mairuk leaned into her touch. “We do not want to harm you, Astoria. All we want is a companion, and as long as you aren’t more than a mile or two from us, you will be safe. Even if you do not want us in your bed again.”

Astoria sat up, and her heavy breasts jiggled with the motion.

Her rosy pink nipples pebbled in the cold air and Mairuk’s fingers twitched as if they could pinch them.

She took their hands and placed them on her waist. “I won’t again.

I want more of you. To feel you inside me again. Touch me any time you’d like, Mairuk. ”

“What if we always want to touch you?” Mairuk ran their palms up and down her sides, squeezing the soft fat there before reaching for her breasts.

They pinched her nipples and both of them moaned.

“What if we want to feel your pretty little holes squeeze our shafts all day long? What if we want to drink your desire each time we smell you?”

“I promise I will tell you if I need a break, as long as you do the same.”

‘She desires us enough to think that we will need a break from her body?’ Seventh sent a heady wave of desire through the system and Mairuk’s twin shafts throbbed. ‘We will have to show her she cannot tire us.’

“We agree to your terms, our vixen.”

“Excellent,” Astoria purred. She leaned down and kissed them first on their lips, then trailed her kisses slowly down their neck. “Tell me if you want me to stop.”

Mairuk swallowed as she moved down their body.

Astoria’s soft lips sealed around the blue ring at the base of their neck and sucked.

Their gills and shafts twitched wildly at the unique sensation.

Their hands stayed on her, touching whatever they could reach as she moved further down.

Her soft hands brushed over the tall blue and pink cluster that housed Fourth.

Fourth preened under her gentle touch, the growths curling into the space between her fingers.

Astoria’s other hand explored the small lilac and plum round-caps that made Third and Fifth.

Third sent the system’s heart into a frenzied beat, and for the first time in many years Fifth hungered for something beyond sustenance.

She kissed each growth on her way down their torso, and her short but thick tongue danced between the fibers of their skin.

Mairuk’s fibers swelled with the building desire in them, lost in the sensation.

None of their other partners ever took the time to explore them so thoroughly.

Astoria’s gentle, curious touches left their shafts writhing and dripping with desire.

They did not move or try to direct her in any way, though.

The only guidance they gave her were soft, pleasure-filled growls and soft pants.

Any more than that might have taken her attention away from the soft petting and licking that woke every one of the Twelve who Made them.

Each touch offered new levels of bliss. She moved slowly, running her fingers through the waxy growths on their arms. All physical and spiritual aspects of Mairuk hummed under her sweet exploration.

Her pussy brushed up against their soaked shafts, and they moaned.

Instinctively, they bucked up into her, but Astoria kept her holes out of reach.

Sinking further down, their shafts rubbed against the soft skin of her stomach.

They throbbed and leaked all over her, but Astoria only hummed.

Their cocks slipped in the space between her big, squishy tits and they moaned.

Her small, soft hand wrapped around their upper shaft and Mairuk fisted the sheets.

She slipped between their spread thighs and wrapped her other hand around their lower shaft, then gave both a squeeze.

“Astoria,” Mairuk moaned.

“Yes, darling?” Astoria’s grin was feral, her green eyes gleaming in the morning light.

Her red hair spilled over her shoulders, wild from their night of fucking and sleep.

The soft freckles on her face reminded them of constellations, and they wanted to map and name them all.

Dressed in nothing but morning sunlight with her hands wrapped around their shafts, Astoria was by far the most beautiful human Mairuk had ever seen.

“ Fuck ,” Mairuk groaned. “Let us feel your mouth.”

Astoria tutted and stroked them with a firmer grip. “Where are your manners?”

“Please?”

“Please what? Tell me what you want.”

Spirits and sprites , she wanted to hear them beg just as they made her beg last night.

Their shafts writhed in her tight grip and their throat closed.

They did not need to speak the words aloud, but she deserved to hear them like they heard her.

“Astoria, please take our olctae in your pretty mouth. Please ! ”