She took this time to watch him in his environment, to admire the way his world reacted and worshipped him. The trees seemed to bend toward him as he passed, the air sparkled with an iridescent haze. He was like a god amongst devoted patrons, adorned by Light and revered by all of creation.
He turned over his shoulder in a silent query, wondering why she wasn’t following. But she was too invested in the scene of him against the backdrop of lush wilderness. He passed a hand through his hair, combing back the length so it fell down his neck. The motion pulled her stare to the sharp points of his ears. His eyes were a bright contrast under the shade of the branches, intense and consuming as he returned her appraisal.
“Is everything all right?” he asked.
She nodded and stepped closer, basking in his attention. Where the world seemed to bow to him, he looked only to her. “Aye,” she answered quietly. “I was just admiring the view. You are beautiful,elskan min.”
His jaw clenched as she neared him, her hand slipped beneath his heavy cloak to feel the rigid muscles of chiseled stone under his shirt. “Do you mean it? When you call me yours,” he asked.
“I’ve never called anyone that before.”
“But is it genuine?” he breathed. “Do you want me to be yours?”
She lifted her stare to meet his own. “With everything I am, Vali.”
He leaned forward and kissed her gently. A single, sweet kiss that when broken left her longing for more. “I have an idea,” he said with a raspy quality, “if you’re up for a side adventure.”
“What do you think?” She winked, having an idea what this detour would entail.
A deep sound ripped from his chest before pulling her past a line of trees, where the canopy was so thick above, the only light came in the form of sunbeams filtering through the small spaces between branches, forming spotlights on the forest floor. After pushing far enough into the woods, he stopped, turning to her.
“I know we haven’t had much private time since we arrived,” he said, his hands returned to her hips. “And those curtains in the hospital wing beds don’t exactly keep out intrusive stares.”
“We’ve had fun, though,” she reminded him, sliding her own hands up his chest and over his shoulders. “I’ve enjoyed learning more about you on a deeper level, Vali, and your hands can be quite stealthy when they need to be. But…”
“But?”
Ailsa smirked. “But I cannot wait until we have a bed behind a door so I may know youmore.”
“Perhaps you don’t have to wait,” he said, smiling. Vali let go of her to reach both hands to the ground, where he mumbled whispered words of an unknown language.
The ground beneath his palms streaked with gold, veining across the earth like a web of a light. New green ivy burst from the dirt, covering the root mottled ground with soft foliage. A bed of soft leaves and crawling vines, and each layer wove together to create a thick blanket of greenery. Each strand of vine was illuminated by a vein of golden light, until Vali stood and disconnected himself from the earth, and the woods darkened once more.
Ailsa felt her cheeks grow hot as she stared at the bed he made from the earth itself. The elfin watched her, assessing, trying to gauge her feelings on the matter through her reaction alone. He said, “If you don’t feel comfortable, we don’t—”
“Take off your boots, Vali.”
He did so with little hesitation, and a wild grin stretched wider across his lips as she did the same. She stepped in front of him, deliberately positioning herself between him and the grassy bed, and fingered the cloak off his shoulders, letting it fall to the earth behind him. His face leaned down to snatch her lips, forcing their eyes shut as he blindly felt for the laces of her tunic, her pants, anything that bound her from his sight or his touch.
She snatched her hands in his hair as he undressed her slowly, as she could force herself to do nothing but focus on the trails of his fingertips against her bare skin. Leather and flax slipped from her body, allowing the cool woodland air to engulf her, chill bumps running down her skin. His hands immediately transitioned from her top half to her pants, sliding them free as he traced the curve of her spine all the way down, gripping her ass on the way up. The only barrier she wore were the white undergarments he was rubbing against his palms, creating an agonizing friction, but not where she needed it most.
“Gods below, Ailsa,” he breathed against her mouth. “You are fucking exquisite.” She loved the way he said her name, how it sounded so rough in his throat. But his hands—those large, persuasive hands—just kept tracing her body and pooling heat lower in her stomach.
“Your turn,” she murmured, kissing the corner of his mouth. Her nails caught the bottom of his shirt and ripped it over his head, tossing it to the side. Her fingers were greedy, reaching for the waistband of his pants until he stopped her. Those sweet hands now the enemy. The smile fell from her lips as she made a sound of defiance, only amusing him with her frustration.
“Not me, not today,sváss.I will not have you in that way until I’ve tasted you, until I have earned that privilege,” he declared. Vali leaned forward and muttered in her ear, “Now, get on your back and let me adore you.”
“This isn’t fair,” she groaned, even as her traitorous feet followed his command, retreating to the mossy pile of layered ivy.
“Punish me for it later. But for now, do as I say,” he said. When her brow arched in a warning, he added, “Please. Do this for me, please.”
She let her body relax on the soft earth. Ailsa couldn’t hide the way her skin shivered as he watched her, the slightest shift made his eyes dart to the movement. And she could have sworn his golden gaze was glowing, that it couldn’t have been a trick of the light now that they were sheltered beneath the thick canopy. He regarded her like a feast, the way he licked his lips and surveyed every inch of her, as if wondering which part he would savor first.
“Vali,” Ailsa whimpered, growing impatient, feeling suddenly very bare and alone without his heat around her. “What are you waiting for?”
He finally climbed on top of her, claiming her mouth and silencing any complaint still fresh in her mind. Her thoughts were muddled as he settled between her legs, kissing her with an intensity that made her ache for him all the more. Desperate to relieve the tension, she bucked her hips against his hard body, finding friction anywhere she could.
He broke their kiss to slam her hips back into the ivy. “Badsváss.Did I tell you to seek your own pleasure? Do you not trust I will take care of you?” With his hands so close to that hot place at her apex, she thought he’d finally relieve her in some way, but instead, his hands drew up her stomach, ripping the band covering her breasts. An approving groan ruptured from him as they hardened, exposed to the woodland air.