Celebrating

Marcus returned to Kozzala the next morning to share his decision. He entered her study where she bent over stacks of documents with frustration. When she heard the door, she looked up and, seeing him, smiled widely, he could see the hope in her eyes.

"So, have you decided? Should I call you friend or fiancé?"

Marcus gave a warm smile. "Well, I'm planning on calling you wife." He said. "But fiancée will do for now."

She jumped out of her seat and bounded over to him. He took her hands in his.

"I know we've only known each other for a day but I can tell you are someone I agree with on a lot and who will challenge me, just as I'll challenge you. I won't profess love, not yet."

"It'd be bloody strange if you did." She replies with a chuckle. "Lets start with mutual respect. If something grows from our marriage, great. Otherwise, give me an heir and I'll leave you be."

"And be out of my child's life? I don't think so. You're stuck with me, Kozzala." He says with a smile which she shares. "Your plan is insane, risky and likely impossible but... I like it. Just know we'll both face pushback on our union. Your people will resent you marrying a non-dwarf. My family will resent me for not marrying a cousin."

"Bah. Your family will hate you soon anyway if they rise against you and you fight back." She waves off the concerns. "Our engagement announcement and wedding will give me a chance to weed out rebellious elements. I'll make sure they're plucked before I send you off with my army." She says with a sinister smirk. "With that in mind, I want to get married before you leave. Considering everything, we'll just sign some papers, consumate it and have a feast for people who might cause trouble. If you want a big celebration, we'll do it when things are settled."

Marcus couldn't help but smirk at how efficiently she was thinking. Truthfully, he hated the idea of a big performative wedding but things like that serve a purpose, the people loved it.

"Agreed. There is one thing you should know before any consumating though..."

"Oh gods, you're not limp are you?" She asked, frustration playing on her brow. He quickly calmed her with a chuckle and placing his hand on her cheek affectionately.

"Oh no. The opposite in fact." He says, causing some confusion from Kozzala. "You aren't the only one who's had a blindfolded visitor. Mine didn't give me a weapon..." He couldn't help but laugh internally, he was packing something of a weapon now. "The gods gave me fertility powers and not much more to go on, only that I have to save the empire."

Kozzala looks at him intently, trying to find any sign he was joking with her. She couldn't find any. If this was true, she truely had picked the perfect man to give herself to.

"So we both had an angel come to us, without giving us much to go on. Now we're on our impossible mission..?" Kozzala mutters, her eyes widening. "We're going to succeed, I know it! We have the gods, both human and dwarven on our side!" Her excitement was contagious and, as much as Marcus had been trying to keep a rational and pessimistic view of everything, he couldn't help but feel relief in the idea that they would succeed because they were meant to.

A day later:

The wedding itself is a small rushed event. They sign documents while a dwarven priest and his mother read rites in each of their traditions. His sisters serve as his witnesses and two of Kozzala's friends as hers. The two dwarven women eye Marcus hungrily through the entire event, whispering excitedly to each other. When they share their first kiss the size difference become all the more obvious. He is 6'4" to her 3'5" so he has to bend over while she tiptoes up. Still, he had to admit, sharing his first kiss with a woman on the day he marries her is an odd feeling but a unique one.

The evening they hold a feast for anyone of significance in Krazkhuraz. The tone is polite but only the truely extroverted or overly drunk have much to say to the human they'd never seen before. Those that do so were jolly and celebrated the queen, they mostly wanted to get to know Marcus, asking him about his accomplishments, the empire and the surface. Only one drunk approaches with open hostility. Marcus finds out after the fact that the man was spewing dwarven slurs for humans at him but he didn't understand the meaning so shrugged him off. He is removed forcefully and, Marcus knowing Kozzala's plan, knew he'd be 'removed' at some point in the next few days.

During the celebration, Marcus notices the servers are keeping an ear on conversations, occasionally reporting to Kozzala's aide who waits patiently in the corner of the hall. Marcus ignores the scheming and simply enjoys the moment of celebration in the midst of all the recent stress. He has his family, his friend Aine and his new wife. All that is missing was Amelia and his siblings in the imperial core. If they have a real celebration, he'll be sure to have them all with him.

Dwarven cuisine is... an acquired taste, Marcus realises. There is only so much that can be done with mushrooms, a few vegetables that can be grown here and a strange stringy meat he'd never had, apparantly it's from some kind of beast of burden they use. The spices he was used to are nowhere to be found, instead mushroom is very much the majority of the flavor palette. The ale though, is exquisite and makes the food significantly more bearable.

"Let's leave for the fun part." Kozzala says quietly leaning towards you with lust in her eyes.

Marcus smirks. "Lead the way, wife."

The evening:

The newlyweds arrive at Kozzala's private quarters. She sits on a countertop so she was closer to his level and gestured for him to approach. The two kissed deeply. Not the chaste kiss from the wedding but a deep lustful kiss, their tongues twirled against each other, tasting each other. Eventually she pulled back, looking at him seriously but with lust eating at her.

"I hope you don't mind that I'm..."

Author's note:

Art will hopefully be added to the next scenes soon. There's still a few quirks to work out. The last poll suggested most want AI art even if it takes a little tweaking so hope you don't mind. I didn't want to put off pushing these chapters though while I waited for the art.