Chapter 18

Entering the main room, I found the women seated on hides around a low table. Grams smiled as she spoke, her voice warm and grandmotherly, filling the space with an easy sense of comfort. Serah sat with effortless poise, as though this was exactly where she belonged. Ashlara looked… not relaxed, exactly, but at least settled. Mirri lit up when she saw me.

I set the kettle down, and Mirri scooted over so I could sit between her and Ashlara. The orc stiffened for a moment when I sat, then eased, her shoulders relaxing a breath later. Grams emptied the mortar into a pot, added water from the kettle, and continued chatting with the girls as the tea steeped.

The tea was an herbal blend unlike anything I’d ever tasted - lightly sweet, tasting somehow like late spring. It seeped into me, easing the tightness I hadn’t realized I was carrying.

As we drank, Mirri launched into a retelling of our adventures. She told Grams how she’d been captured by Hek, and how Ashlara and I had saved her. She told of rescuing Serah from the necromancer. And though she politely skipped over the dragon part, she told the story of how we’d finally beaten Hek, and how I’d become Miralis’ champion.

She painted us as larger-than-life heroes. Every time I tried to correct her, she waved me off, insisting it had happened exactly that way. And maybe, from her perspective, it had. Ashlara was larger than life - the things she’d done bordered on the unbelievable, and I made sure to add my voice when praising her. I didn’t let Mirri sell herself short either - she’d saved us more times than I could count, wielding her magic with courage and skill.

But me? I was just… me. A man who made poor choices and survived largely because of luck. A man who was alive only because these incredible women sat beside him.

Grams invited us to stay the night. By goblin custom, she could grant us, and Mirri in particular, one night’s shelter within the village.

She cooked us dinner, and it became immediately obvious where Mirri had learned her skills. Fresh-baked herb bread, a medley of vegetables, and spiced chicken filled the table. It was all mouthwateringly good, better than anything I could remember eating. For dessert, she brought out an assorted fruit pie with homemade whipped cream.

Later, Mirri convinced me to play a song for her Grams. I didn’t know much music from the sixties, but ‘Brown-Eyed Girl’ was one I’d sung to Jennifer when we first met. I stumbled through it, but not too badly. Grams didn’t recognize the tune, but she seemed to enjoy it, and that felt like enough.

As the night wound down, we prepared for bed. The door to the left led to Grams’ room and a small guest room, which she assigned to Mirri and me. She brought out linens and converted a small loft into another sleeping space for Ashlara and Serah.

Once we were alone, Mirri and I sat on the bed in silence. A tight, restless energy settled in my chest, refusing to let me relax. I didn’t know where to put my hands, my eyes, or my thoughts, and that made my stomach twist. The weight of everything unspoken pressed down on me - partly because it was the first time we’d share a bed, partly because Grams was just on the other side of the wall, and partly because I knew what expectations hung unspoken between us.

“We can still take it slow,” Mirri said gently, breaking the silence.

“Mirri,” I said, “your Grams told me about… about you being an outcast. About how you can’t come back unless you have kids. I want to help, I really do, but I-”

She pressed a finger to my lips. “Shh. Don’t stress about it,” she murmured. “It’ll happen when it happens.”

“Is there magic that could help? A healer? A goddess of fertility or something?” I asked.

“I haven’t found anything,” she admitted. “Though I never really thought to ask the gods. But I don’t think we’ll need that.”

“But if you can’t… then how are we supposed to-”

Her finger pressed against my lips again, her smile calm and confident. “You let me worry about that.”

Her lips brushed mine, brief and tentative, as if she were testing the moment. She drew back just enough to search my eyes. Was she as nervous as I was? The thought felt absurd - Mirri was confidence given form.

She answered my doubt by kissing me again, longer this time. Her mouth opened, her tongue teasing my lips, and when I answered her she slid her arms around my shoulders, the kiss deepening with quiet insistence.

When we finally parted we were both breathless. I rested my forehead against hers, lost in her eyes, seeing nothing there but want and warmth and a certainty that stole my resolve. She leaned in again and I caught her, pulling her into my lap as our kisses grew hungry. She moved with practiced ease, and when we broke apart for air she tipped me backward, rolling us so she lay beneath me, drawing me back into her embrace.

Her hands slipped under my shirt and tugged it free, breaking the kiss only long enough to pull it over my head before I found her mouth again. She fumbled with my belt and I sat up to help, and the moment I did she shed her clothes quickly and without hesitation. I froze, struck by the sight of her. My breath caught in my chest as my heart stopped.

Her gray skin was smooth and unblemished, luminous in the low light, broken only by the deep charcoal of her nipples, drawn tight against small, delicate areolas. Her breasts were modest in size but perfectly shaped, high and firm - the kind that fit naturally into the curve of my hands - beautiful not despite their size but because of it. Her waist tapered elegantly before flaring into gentle, feminine hips, every line of her body flowing with effortless grace. She was hairless between her thighs, her sex fully revealed, glistening softly with desire, intimate and impossibly inviting.

Her dark hair was slipping free of its braid, strands falling loose to frame her face in a wild, untamed mane. Those bright emerald eyes watched me without shame or hesitation, glittering with warmth, confidence, and a beauty that left me momentarily breathless.

“Wow,” was all I managed, and her answering smirk kickstarted my heart.

“Need help with that, hero?” she asked, her gaze flicking pointedly downward.

I sprang to my feet and nearly tore my pants off before dropping back down to her, capturing her lips again. She met me eagerly, arms and legs wrapping around me as our mouths collided. When we broke apart for air, I traced kisses down her neck and along her shoulder, my breath coming fast and uneven. She loosened her grip as I moved lower, taking one of her nipples into my mouth, teasing it with a slow lick and a gentle nip. Her back arched, a soft moan slipping free.

I lingered there, lavishing attention on her breasts, moving from one to the other - kissing, licking, sucking, tasting her reactions as her breathing grew heavier. The air around us filled with the scent of her arousal as I continued downward. I kissed along her stomach, over her mound, then along the inside of her thigh. She whimpered, restless with need, as I switched sides and finally returned to her glistening sex.

I paused just long enough to draw a shaky breath before letting my tongue tease her gently. Her breath hitched. Encouraged, I pressed in, drawing a slow, deliberate lick through her folds. She tasted sweet and clean, intoxicating. When my tongue brushed her clit, her hips jerked and her moan grew louder, unrestrained now.

This was something I understood. I might have lacked confidence in many things, but this I knew how to do. I paid close attention to her body, adjusting to every sound, every movement, letting her reactions guide me. Her moans and gasps told me more than words ever could.

I kept at it, shifting my rhythm and pressure as her body began to tense beneath me. Her breathing turned ragged, her hands clutching at the sheets as I worked her closer and closer, never letting her quite tip over the edge. When her moans turned **** and her movements frantic, I finally pushed her past it.

Her body surged, lifting from the bed as she pressed herself against my mouth. Warm wetness spilled over my lips and chin as her moan rose and broke, her whole body locking tight in the aftermath of release.

Long moments passed before she finally collapsed back onto the bed, her breath coming in ragged gulps, her hips still twitching with the fading echoes of her release. Before she could fully recover, her hands slid into my hair and she dragged me up into a deep, hungry kiss.

“Hero,” she breathed between gasps, “if you don’t put it in me right fuckin’ now, you’re not leaving this room alive.”

Her mouth claimed mine again, her tongue taking control as her hips rolled beneath me. I guided myself to her slick entrance and pressed forward slowly, parting her folds inch by inch. She didn’t let me take my time. Her legs snapped around my waist, pulling me deep inside her in a single, forceful motion.

She moaned into our kiss and held me there, her body locking me in place as her tight walls clenched and rippled around me. Her hips still twitched, milking me as she adjusted to my size. I kissed her softly, giving her a moment, moving only when she loosened her grip.

The moment she did, she set a fast and hard pace.

Her thighs tightened again, dragging me deep within her before easing just enough for me to pull back. I followed her lead, driving into her again and again, the rhythm fast and **** as her cries grew louder, sharper, more urgent.

When my strength began to falter, she flipped us with surprising ease, straddling me and taking control completely. She rode me hard, slamming herself down again and again, forcing me as deep as I could go. The familiar pressure built fast, a sharp, insistent heat spreading through me as my climax surged closer.

She felt it. Her voice broke into screams, unrestrained and wild, echoing through the room.

There was no stopping it. My release tore through me, thick ropes of cum erupting deep inside her, filling her as her screams cut off mid-breath. Her body locked tight, shaking violently as her head fell back, her face twisted in raw ecstasy.

I thrust up into her through it, holding her close, burying myself as deeply as I could as my vision narrowed and every nerve burned. For long seconds there was nothing but her wrapped around me, heat and pressure and sensation overwhelming everything else.

When it finally faded, my body sagged, spent. She stayed frozen atop me, still clenching, still trembling, her hips twitching in aftershocks that refused to stop.

Carefully, I rolled us onto our sides, keeping myself inside her as I adjusted us into something softer, more comfortable. It took time before her body finally relaxed, going limp as she drew in a long, shuddering breath.

“Holy fuck,” she gasped, then laughed weakly. “That was… gods, that was good.”

She wrapped herself around me again, the movement making her hips jolt and drawing a low moan from her throat. I held her close, my breathing slowly evening out.

“We’re definitely doing that again,” she said firmly. “Just… maybe not tonight. I don’t think I can feel my legs right now.”

She grinned up at me, exhausted and radiant, before curling up and nuzzling against my chest. Moments later, her breathing slowed as sleep claimed her. Not long after, I followed - my body heavy, my mind quiet, lighter than it had been in years.