Chapter 20

20

H akon offered his hand to Aislinn, helping her use the blocks the stonemasons had brought as steps. She gave him a grin of gratitude, but the true gift was, with her back turned to the gathered crowd of guilders, the flash of trepidation across her face.

She trusted him with her fears, and Hakon would do the utmost to vanquish every one.

He clasped her hand and nodded, stepping back when she turned to face the guilders.

My brave mate.

Standing three blocks up, she was high enough for all to see. The two dozen or so guilders watched on in silence, anxious to see what their heiress would say.

As they lay in bed together the night before, Aislinn had confessed her worries over this meeting to him, how she wished to gain their support and respect. He assured her they would listen; she had worked with all of them before, and her plans for the bridge were not only sound but magnificent.

She'd blushed when he used that word, making him think for a moment that he'd gotten it wrong. He was coming to realize, though, that his pretty mate was unused to praise.

It was perhaps surprising for a noblewoman; Hakon would've thought all manner of people had showered her with compliments and flattery, so much so that she would expect it. Aislinn was just the opposite, and Hakon had to wonder if it was because of a lack, or because she mistrusted it.

Whatever the reason, he was determined now to praise her whenever he could, enough that she would finally start to believe it.

"Good morning," she began. "As you can see, construction on the south bridge is scheduled to begin in spring. Today, I wanted to demonstrate the dimensions I had in mind and offer the chance for input."

Hakon's chest swelled with pride to see how the guilders gave her their attention, how she commanded them not with orders or fear but competence. She had nothing to fear; these craftspeople hadn't woken early to come hear her speak for lack of respect.

She outlined her plan in a speech she'd practiced with him over several afternoons as he manned his forge. Hakon watched as some nodded, others scribbling notes onto notebooks.

Using gestures and the demonstrative blocks, she described her ideas for the bridge. Although it was early, she, Hakon, and several staff had arrived to hammer stakes into the ground on either side of the river and tie ropes between them, showing the planned dimensions of the construction. Stonemasons had arrived next with sample blocks of local limestone, showcasing the planned graceful fa?ade.

It didn't take her long to have the crowd riveted, and Hakon watched, just as enchanted, as she used words to help them imagine the elegant triple arches of the bridge, the wide lanes, and how the bridge would benefit everyone of Dundúran.

When Aislinn finished and asked for questions or concerns, several stepped forward—not to challenge her but instead ask over supplies to be sourced and labor projections. Already they agreed to her plan, whether or not she realized it, and were quick to inquire how they could help make her ideas real.

They love her.

How could they not? Gentle, kind, and brilliant, all of them could see what a leader she made. She greeted them with patience and good humor, offered a detailed, thoughtful plan, and ensured everyone would benefit not only from the bridge itself but the work of constructing it.

It would make asking her to step down as heiress all the harder.

The more time Hakon spent beside her, the more he doubted he could. And yet…

I love her more.

The love of her people was certainly something to admire, but he could love her better. He could give her everything else. He'd give her himself, be her mate in every way, her husband if she wanted it. Without the title of lady, she could have everything.

When it was time to show her drafts, Aislinn stepped down from the blocks. Hakon offered his hand again, and she took it with a grateful smile. She looked a little pale from having to stand up and speak before so many, and he hated to see the strain around her eyes.

It will be for the best. She could still help her people, could still draft and imagine and work—just without the worries and pressures of being heiress. He would give her a home, a family, a life so full, she'd never miss her castle or position.

He'd do anything to make it happen, anything for her.

My mate.

O n nights when Aislinn couldn't slip away to his bedchamber, she at least managed to meet her blacksmith in the baths. She'd taken to joining his nighttime ritual, showing him the secret way to open the grate that separated the sides of the baths.

She needed to rise early again the next morning for another day of receiving each of the guild-masters individually to discuss orders and labor costs, but she could at least steal an hour with Hakon.

Floating along the surface, her head propped on his shoulder and her fingers playing through the steam rising from the mineral water, Aislinn let the stresses and worries of the day seep away. They'd long since finished washing each other, taking opportunities to run their hands greedily up and down their slippery skin.

Limbs lax and head delightfully muzzy from the orgasm that still sent little sparks of pleasure through her body, Aislinn didn't know if she'd ever been so relaxed. Certainly never so much after a day of public speaking and negotiating with guilders.

Hakon's big hands were pure magic as they massaged away what felt like years of strain, that charming purr rumbling in her ear. Her eyes slipped closed as they floated, so warm and content, it defied belief.

In the fortnight since first laying with him, she'd come to not only crave her blacksmith's touch but need him in a way she hadn't anyone else before. She went to him with her worries and problems. Some afternoons they spoke of nothing but forging or gardening or old orcish legends. Not everything was about sex—not every meeting led to a liaison; although, those were often the most exciting. She enjoyed spending time with him, whatever they did.

There were even times when…when he pulled her back from the brink of a fit. Overwhelmed with her duties, exacerbated by the fractured state of her relationship with Brenna, frustration and anxiety had nearly gotten the better of her twice now. Each time, she made it to Hakon, and somehow, he made it all right.

His calmness, his caring, his patience, it all helped soothe the worst edges of her panic. Enough that she could get hold of herself.

As if her body didn't crave him enough, she sought him out whenever she could. For comfort, for pleasure, for reassurance. He was quickly becoming her favorite person, and Aislinn wasn't sure if she was more pleased or terrified of this.

Such thoughts were far from her mind tonight, though. After a long day of meetings with guild-masters, negotiating and writing contracts, a bath with her blacksmith was a luxury she couldn't help indulging in.

"Have I told you today how beautiful you are, vinya? " His lips whispered across her cheek, scrawling the words on her damp skin.

Aislinn blushed. "You haven't."

"An unforgivable oversight. You are more beautiful than the moon in the night sky. More beautiful than the purple mountains at dawn. More beautiful than every pearl in the sea and all the jewels in the ground."

Her grin was wide listening to his praise. His Eirean vocabulary had certainly improved leaps and bounds.

"Every single one?"

"Every. Single. One." He punctuated each word with a kiss along her shoulder, and his questing fingers made looping patterns down her back.

She hummed in pleasure, reaching back to trace the inhuman point of his ear. "Why do you call me vinya? "

"Because it's what you are to me. My rose."

Her eyes opened, staring up at the stone ceiling of baths. The stalactites had been smoothed, minerals glittering along the conical slopes.

"I'm like a rose?"

" Vinya, yes."

It took her a long moment to push out her next words, and she nearly let herself be distracted by the slow, warm kisses he lavished down her neck.

"So I'm delicate and fussy?" She tried to make it a joke, but she heard how her voice caught on the words. She couldn't help thinking of her mother's roses, so easily out of control without careful pruning, their stems riddled with hidden thorns for protection.

Without stopping his ministrations, he purred his answer in her ear.

" Vinya aren't your garden roses. They are the mountain roses that bloom along the slopes of Kaldebrak. They defy the mountain, clinging to the rocks." His hands slid up her body to cradle her breasts, his fingertips sinking into the plush flesh. "They are hearty, determined. They weather every storm, only to bloom brighter after the rain. That is why you are vinya —you are all this and so much more."

Aislinn's lips parted in surprise, her heart thump-thumping heavily in her chest.

Flipping over to face him, she found him gazing at her with such softness, such affection.

She didn't have the words to…did he understand how beautiful…could he really think…?

Throwing her arms around his neck and her legs around his thick waist, Aislinn molded their bodies together. Her mouth sought his, and she held his strong jaw in her hand, keeping his head still to receive her fervent kisses.

Fates, no one had ever said such things about her.

His purr deepened into a lusty growl as her hand traced down his body to take hold of his cock. She guided him into her body, and with a smooth stroke, he slid deep inside her.

Sealing their mouths together again, Aislinn kissed him greedily, swirling her tongue along his short tusks and nipping his lower lip. She kissed him with a frantic sort of need, a counterpoint to the unhurried rhythm of their hips.

The water lapped gently at them, hardly disturbed as she held his face in her hands and he held her hips in his, guiding their lovemaking. When climax finally came, it was no less devastating for its gentleness. Aislinn clutched him to her in every way she could, holding on as she came apart in every way imaginable.

Cracked open, he put her back together with his kisses and his care.

" Vinya, vinya, " he chanted to her, as if she were a goddess of old to be prayed to.

With his cock pulsing inside her and her love for him growing in her heart, she felt divine then. A woman who could do anything, one who had everything she could ever want.

Him. I just want him.

H akon was quickly learning that his mate liked games. The thrill of a challenge was always sure to get her blood running hot and her cunt dripping slick.

He was the luckiest of males.

Aislinn waved to him through one of the open smithy windows, just out of sight of Fearghas, working on the opposite side. Her smile was all mischief as she used hand-talk to tell him to meet her in the rose garden at luncheon.

There and gone again, she slipped away through the bailey, leaving Hakon hot under the collar and the morning to crawl by. His skin itched all over, and it was more work to keep his cock under control than to shape and hammer spearpoints. He nearly smashed his thumb and nailed his hand before he stopped and took a breath to refocus himself.

It wouldn't do to show up with bloodied, bruised hands. He needed them for much more pleasurable work.

Hakon waited for Fearghas to leave for luncheon with impatience. Once he was gone, Hakon pulled out a bone to keep Wülf occupied and banked his forge fire.

He mopped at his brow as he strode for the rose garden, hoping he wasn't too dirty or sweaty. Although, his mate seemed to delight in it, never turning him away even with grime smudged across his face and sweat sluicing down his chest.

The wooden gate had been left unlocked, and after taking a furtive glance around, Hakon slipped inside, closing and locking it behind him.

The garden was bright and fragrant, despite the burlap covering the tall bushes for winter dormancy. The air held a chill, the promise of winter to come, but Hakon felt nothing but a deep, consuming need for his mate.

He looked upon her with something akin to awe as she sat waiting for him on the marble bench, the breeze picking up locks of her golden hair. Her lovely face turned when she heard him coming, and she smiled up at him in welcome.

Hakon fell to his knees before her, overcome.

If he thought his beast would go silent when he finally gave in, he was…partly right. Without the conflict between them, the beast was far quieter; although, Hakon was always aware of it, a sharpness between his ribs. The purr in his throat was all the beast and all for her.

"How are you today, my darling?" she asked, her smile brighter than the summer sun.

Hakon took both her hands and kissed each palm. "Far better here with you."

Leaning forward, she drew him closer so their faces were near. "What if I told you I had ideas of seducing you right here in the rose garden?"

"I'd tell you it wouldn't be difficult."

Her laughter filled him with warmth, a brightness that reached all the cracked, battered parts of him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and bore him to the ground, a cascade of flaxen waves and green skirts and gold, sparkling eyes. Her mouth found his in the flurry, and Hakon settled onto his back, more than content to let his vinya do whatever she wished with him.

Especially when what she wanted was to take him for a noonday ride.

Clambering down his legs, Aislinn straddled his knees as she worked his belt and trou loose. When that playful gaze flicked up to him, Hakon smirked and folded his hands under his head.

He wasn't so calm when she reached into his trou and pulled out his hardening cock. Her soft hands pumped him with deliberate strokes, and Hakon's mouth fell open when that golden head dipped and those rosy lips stretched around his cockhead.

A moan fell from his own lips, and it took effort not to buck and shove his cock into her throat.

"Shh," she hummed around him, "someone might hear."

Gritting his tusks against his gums, Hakon rumbled with frustrated hunger. So this was her true game. Test his control, his patience as she played with him.

She could play as long as she wished; he wouldn't break, not when holding tight to his building climax meant more swipes of her wicked tongue and pulls of that talented mouth.

Unable to fit more than half of him in her mouth, she worked his lower shaft with her hands, wringing beads of spend from him, and skated her fingers across his sensitive bollocks. Hakon nearly choked on his roar, clenching his jaw so tight he heard a pop .

He couldn't help shifting beneath her, but he stayed like that, prone and receiving her attentions for as long as she wanted.

It felt like a long while before she had mercy on him, swirling her tongue one last time around the cockhead and across the slit before crawling up his body. His greedy hands were there to meet her, helping her gather her skirts so she could grip him to guide into her weeping cunt.

"Fates," he hissed as her soft flesh kissed his cock, "you burn hotter than my forge."

Her thighs trembling, spread wide across his waist and hips, she lowered herself onto him. With little circles of her hips, she worked him deeper until, with a mischievous bite of her lower lip, she let herself fall the rest of the way. She bared her teeth to hold back her moan as she impaled herself on his throbbing cock.

His hands dug beneath her skirts, needed to feel her skin. He grabbed hold of her plush thighs, matching the steady rhythm her hips set.

It took effort to hold back, to not just flip her over and rut her into the soil, but Hakon kept hold of himself as he held her, watching in awe as she rocked above him.

"That's it, vinya, " he praised, "take everything you need."

She rewarded him with that mewling noise she made as her peak mounted.

Hakon slid a hand up her thigh to run his thumb over the pearl of her clitoris, swollen and glistening. It stood in relief against her spread cunt, and a dark, satisfied growl rumbled in his chest at the sight.

"Look at you stretched around me. What a sight you make, vinya. "

He teased his thumb across the hood, making her shudder and lose her rhythm.

"Do you know how it feels to have you like this?" she asked him breathlessly. "To have such a big, strong man beneath me?"

"Like the goddess you are."

She smiled wide. "Exactly."

Seeing her flushed with hunger and confidence was what finished him. Head thrown back across the grass, Hakon bit down on his growl and rasped his callus against her clitoris mercilessly. He needed to bring her with him with a desperation that bordered on pain.

With a gasp, her cunt clenched him tight as a vice. Hakon thrust his hips up to meet her, needing as deep inside as he could be, needing to be a part of her now, later, always. He spilled inside her, her slick and his spend dripping down his cock.

Her nails dug into the leather of his jerkin as her body quaked with release. Hakon held her through the throes of climax, devouring the sight she made, shining in the midday sun. She was more glorious than he could express, and the way she looked down at him as her cunt pulsed with aftershocks broke him apart.

A soft moan escaped her lips as she melted onto his chest. She pressed her ear to his chest, where she had to hear his heart thundering, all her doing, all for her.

His cock began to soften, but still she didn't move nor try to pull away. Hakon held his mate there in the garden, warmed by the sun and her affection.

"One day soon," he told her, "I'll have you do that to me on my land."

She lifted her head to prop her chin on his chest, grinning dreamily. "Oh?"

"We should visit it," he said, trying to keep his voice light. He wanted her in all ways, but most especially to hear her screams of pleasure echoing through the trees. He wanted to fill her with his seed, see it spill out of her with her slick to soak the soil. It would be their land, their home.

"That would be nice," she said.

"In spring, I'll lay you down in the flowers there and take you under the full moon."

Her cheeks darkened with a blush, and she buried her face against his chest. "Is that a promise?"

Hakon ran his hands up her legs to fill his palms with her backside. He squeezed and kneaded, earning him a gasp of interest.

"Most definitely," he answered her. "You know I keep my promises."

She squirmed on his chest as his cock began to harden again inside her.

Hakon grinned, heart almost painfully full. He would promise her everything if she was ready to hear it. He intended to give her everything, too. Their life together was nothing but promise, full of possibilities, and he awaited it with impatience.

For now, though, he would be content to claim his mate amongst the rosebushes.