moonlitscholar | for favoredheir

for favoredheir

"Well. You'd think a place called the Valley of Scribes would have more information to find within it. And that it might be a valley."

Briona and Eskander had just spent the past two days wandering through a seemingly endless expanse of stinky, muddy wasteland, all in search of an ancient monument that she'd read about in one of her books. The book talked it up as a historical marvel, a ritual site that was supposed to hold the secrets of the ancient elves, the usual kind of thing that Briona got excited about. The princess was often to seek out such places when they were near, since she had Eskander along for the ride anyway, and he may as well have to work to earn his keep. And work he did, through an incredibly dangerous "valley" full of things that wanted both of them dead.

And after all that, when they finally found the monument, it turned out to be nothing more than a pile of rocks with a mild magical current running through it. Certainly nothing Briona hadn't seen before, and not worth all the hassle. She honestly felt a little bad for putting Eskander through all that, though he would have his reward, as usual, once they were back in civilization.

When they finally, finally reached the inn, Briona saw to the room arrangements and let Eskander get the door. She set her traveling satchel down on one of the two beds, then sat down on the edge.

"I apologize that it wasn't what I hoped," she said. "You're not hurt, are you? Need I heal you at all?"

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"Begging for it," Briona scoffs. "If I'd had half a mind about me I'd have told you to pull out." Her fingers tighten around his. "I thought you'd prefer that. Just imagine how pretty my back would look with your seed across it."

She's not actually all that miffed about it, in retrospect. There's something weirdly appealing about the idea of him pouring his seed into her, though heaven only knows how to explain it.

She decides she'd rather not burst his bubble on the concept of elves and humans cross-breeding... as she had the answer to that on good authority. The timing was off in any case, and she certainly doesn't feel like explaining that to him. Nor getting him all jumpy about the prospect.

"Well," she sighs, "now that I've let you fuck me, we've opened a whole new way for you to be insatiable. I can't say I'm not a little excited, actually."

"I've seen how pretty your face is with my seed all over it," he replies with a low, self-assured laugh. Although, he has to admit, she's right. There's something appealing about seeing her body covered in his come, whether the elegant curve of her spine and rump or the plane of her belly and the swell of her breasts. It's... oddly dominating in a way. He shivers and buries his head against her hair with another little laugh.

"Look, now you've got me thinking about how much I'd love to mark you..." He grumbles with no real venom, "Minx. Seducer of men. Leading me into sin, you are..."

Which has no real bite to it, because he jumped into it with both feet and they both know that.

"Excited? What exactly are you excited for, Bri?" He's genuinely curious and he shifts his weight, his cock finally slipping free of her and trailing a smear of their mixed fluids against one of her thighs.

"What do you want us to get up to next, hmmm?"

"Yes. That's me. The elven harlot, preying on innocent sellswords for some dark purpose." She mocks an evil little cackle, and leans her head back to gently bump into him behind her. "You're doomed, Eskander."

Ugh. Why did she have to tell him she was excited? Now he'll be begging like a puppy in her ear until she answers him in lurid detail.

"Oh, I don't know," she says with a shrug. "It's not that you neglect to reciprocate when I take you in my mouth or my hands. But there's something to be said for efficiency. We've never both come this quickly before, have we?"

He can go on and interpret that as 'I love human cock' if he feels like it, she decides.

"And I'm sure you've already come up with half a dozen different ways you'd like to fuck me. You're creative that way."

Well, she seems to know Eskander's personality fairly well. At least when he's not drinking or in a foul mood. He gives her a little nudge with his chin as he listens to her, smiling. He is definitely interpreting that as 'I love human cock'. More specifically his human cock, so excuse him while he feels a little proud of himself. Which probably isn't super fair, but that's that.

"Maybe not quite half a dozen," he replies lazily and starts to stretch himself out with a muted yawn, "But a few. I wonder how flexible you are..."

He's going to let that speak for itself.

"I imagine you've had at least three since the day I met you," she teases. Probably since before she proposed their partnership and its unusual method of payment, if she may be briefly unkind.

Oh, dear. Flexible?

"Is that a challenge?" She glances over her shoulder at him as best she can from this angle. "I'm as flexible as I need to be. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, at least," he murmurs in reply, "You're cute. I like cute."

Maybe more beautiful, but she's also short and petite and that lends itself more towards "cute". He makes a low noise against the curve of her ear. His hand starts to stroke in idle little circles against her belly as he considers.

"Just curious. I want to know what I can invent that we can actually do."

He can think of a few things. Some of them involve ropes. Or other things. He arches a brow unseen.

"...or, uh, tolerance for being a bit uncomfortable. I've known a few people who have interesting ideas about what you can do with one another," He continues, thinking aloud, "I don't know everything that gets you going yet. We're mostly on my schedule, after all."

She pats his hand appreciatively as he starts rubbing her again.

"Well," she says after a moment of thought. "I can tolerate quite a bit of discomfort, if that's what you're getting at. I can't say I've ever... well. I should say that I'm rather adventurous."

She purses her lips in thought. "It may shock you that I have not had much in the way of exotic sexual experiences. There isn't much of a tolerance for experimentation back home."

"I should emphasize the fact that I consider a human 'exotic' as a case in point," she adds under her breath.

"Mmm. More that I'm trying to figure out what you'd be comfortable experimenting with..." Eskander is a lot of things, but he is not a completely inconsiderate bed partner. Means he can get repeat partners, if nothing else. Call it enlightened self interest.

He rubs his hand against the plane of her belly, fingers curling to draw his nails against her skin as he thinks, "Like... tying someone down, for instance. Being helpless."

"Oh." Briona thinks about that for a moment. The answer comes to her, but she makes a face when she thinks about actually saying it, as it means an inferred compliment to Eskander.

"I can see how that would be uncomfortable with someone I don't trust," she says at last. Here she goes, giving him an even bigger ego. "But I'd be willing to try it." Implying that she trusts him.

Well, she'd better. What else is she paying him for but to keep her safe?

"I see," he replies and there's no hiding the delight in his voice. He is quite happy to keep on snuggling up to her for as long as she'll put up with it. He's still thinking about what to do with her next.

"I've done some experimenting before. It can be... interesting. I just don't know if our arrangement extends to that kind of thing. Or if you're even interested."

"I originally said I'd service you however you liked in exchange for your protection." Briona pauses briefly and shudders in his arms. "The wording of which horrifies me now, seeing some of the other sellswords I could have approached."

"But you've always been quite respectful of my boundaries, and I don't believe you'd try to cross the line on purpose. Even if you do push your luck." That's said with an accusatory finger poking him in the shoulder. She could have ended up in a dire situation indeed had she not picked out a fairly honorable man to hire. For a given definition of honorable, sure, but she didn't feel like she had anything to fear from Eskander, in any case.

"So, I suppose what I'm saying is that I'm willing to experiment with you, personally." The poke turns into a teasing little circle of her fingertip. "Let's say you've earned the privilege."

Eskander snorts. Yes, he's met others in his line of work who were a lot worse than he was and that still managed to be a bit horrifying. He rolls onto his back, finally giving her a little bit of space as he starts stretching himself out and working out a few kinks in his back, wincing only slightly when she jabs him in the shoulder.

"Well - in that case, I'm honored. I'll have to come up with something that will excite you just as much as it does me..."

Now he's thinking. Uh-oh.

Briona looks aside as he rolls away from her, but only coincidentally. Certainly not to avoid him seeing the color on her cheeks. Once she's fairly sure it's faded, she stretches out herself, reaching up over her head to stretch her back and shoulders. She's probably an inch shorter after the pounding Eskander just gave her.

"Just to be clear, there will be no bending me over a table in the common. Or doing anything else in the common, or in public," she adds. "But I am willing to hear you out on most anything else."

Whether she's shorter or not, Eskander is quite content to laze around in bed with her for a while, still feeling horrifically lazy. They just got back from a trip, had a hell of a fuck, and now he's going to just sit and do nothing, because he deserves it. He glances over at her and then reaches out to give her cheek a little caress, grin turning a touch cheeky.

"Are you sure...?"

Then he laughs and shakes his head, "But don't worry, I won't. Wouldn't do that to you. Mostly just like to get you wound up. That's all."

"Oh, believe me, I know," she sighs. "I'm onto you by now, I'm afraid."

A little cold without him splayed out all over her, she curls in a little bit closer, facing him on her side.

"Luckily, you're generally cuter than you are infuriating." Her hand finds its way to his face, and her fingertip finds its way to his beard. "I know it might disappoint you to hear that."

"Oh, incredibly disappointed. My reputation for being a brute will be gone before I know it," he murmurs and leans over to plant a kiss against her forehead. She looks a little chilly, so he offers her his side, arm open for her to curl against him.

"Don't tug too hard on my beard, though. I think it looks fetching on me."

Briona is on that offered arm like a kitten seeking a warm spot, rolling into close contact again. Still petting his beard though, like it's a kitten by itself.

"It does," she agrees. "Elves don't grow beards. I thought yours was quite the novelty when we met." It's still a novelty, when he ends up rubbing it against her skin when he kisses her.

"Between your height, your cock, and your beard, you're just a novelty all over, my dear Eskander."

"Well, that's better than what some people have called me," He laughs, face splitting in a white-toothed grin. Much better than "kin-slayer" or "murderer". Or even the more common "bastard whore's son". Opinion on him tends to be a bit divisive, unfortunately.

"But really, no beards? That sounds strange. Seems... I don't know. Like you're all almost children or something close to it."

Which is another topic of conversation he should probably detour around, honestly.

That remark earns him an eyeroll. "We're nothing like children. My baby brother is twenty years older than you," Briona replies. "We're just..."

Well. It's hard to describe in a way that won't be wholly insulting to humans. Elves have enough of an image problem with the "holier and wiser-than-thou" stereotype, and Briona has always tried very hard not to embody it.

"Smoother," she offers. "Human men are more rugged. Hairy. Brawny. Elf men are just... not."

"So, you just like 'em bigger then, huh?" Eskander teases affectionately. He's not going to hold it against her. He just likes winding her up a little from time to time (read: at all times).

"Your secret is safe with me, princess. Don't worry."

"Ugh." He earns another eyeroll for that. "I don't need any commentary about it from you, thank you very much. Just be grateful my tastes have expanded since leaving home."

Just to punctuate it, she gives his beard a light tug.

"And that's not an opening to comment about other parts of me expanding, either."

"I wasn't going to say anything," Eskander says with an air of perfect innocence, "But you are small and I'm... big. At least compared to you."

Look, if he can't be a smartass, he has nothing left to live for.

"Oh," she says, deadpan, "I noticed, thank you."

With that, she tugs his beard once more. "So. Have you come up with any compelling ideas for me yet, your bigness? I'm getting cold over here."

"Maybe a few," He replies with a laugh, letting her tug away, "But they'll have to wait for a little bit."

He lifts a finger and taps it against her lips with a little grin, "But if you're cold, you can curl up to me. I'll keep you warm."

He does have ideas. He's just sorting them out in his own head. He makes a low 'hmm' noise as he wraps her back up in his arms and tugs her against his chest, nuzzling against her shoulder and neck, "...actually, have one that doesn't require anything but a bit of self-discipline from you."

"You're one to challenge me about self-discipline," she teases. Then she lets him draw her in closer, and will never actually admit that she finds it quite charming when he wants to hold her like this.

"Dare I ask?"

for favoredheir

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busy weekend!

I feel that.

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