21. Everything Beautiful

21

Everything Beautiful

Safira Chastain

R iding Celyn wasn't anything like riding a flesh-and-blood horse. I'd never been a very good rider, not often having the chance to do so, but Celyn knew how someone ought to move on his back, and he could put my body in the right position. The oddest part about that was that it didn't feel like being puppetted. My body simply moved into the right location, and my mind filled in a reason why I was there. It was comfortable, I had better balance, my tailbone wasn't slamming into Celyn's backbone—but it was him, and it all gave me the same heart-aching joy as breathing his water did.

Celyn had me. He protected me, watched over me, and he always, always let me go. Like an abused animal who'd escaped into the woods, I came back to his gentle hand again and again. Maybe I'd always test to make sure that his hand would stay gentle—but I didn't think so. I had years at Barixeor, and as far as things went, he had forever. Surely one day my fear would run out. The wizard hadn't even had me for a year once we'd wed. Surely one day the horror would run out, leaving me only with the freedom of racing through the mountains on the back of a water-horse.

We caught up with the swans. We surpassed the swans, Celyn's hooves flashing beneath us. He ran with his ears perked and tail flagged, faster than any horse ever foaled. The wind tore at my hair, leaving my ears aching with cold and skin stinging. At last he brought us home, dancing across his waves—then crow-hopped up and plunged beneath them.

I shrieked his name in protest as he dove down, falling into his waters with laughter on my lips. A moment later Celyn had his arms around me and his mouth on mine. I kissed him back, bright with joy, my body warming despite my sodden clothing. He helped my undress, his clever fingers undoing toggles and zippers until I'd wriggled out of everything, the two of us sinking towards the deepest part of the lake with clothing drifting down alongside us.

"Safira," his voice said while he kissed me, the bright clarity of his taste singing into me. "I would carry you every day if you asked it of me. Every hour. Every second." His tongue slid against mine as he moaned from his throat, strong hands sweeping down my body with possessive fervor, leaving heat in their wake. "I cannot even imagine what you could ask of me that I would not give."

I moaned for him, unable to speak and unwilling to be silent. My fingers buried themselves in his loose hair, tangling in his dark waves. I raked the fingernails of my other hand down his spine to the base of his tail, then slid my fingers beneath, to the soft skin on the underside of his tail.

He lifted it for me with a low groan of pleasure, his fingers digging into my sides as he clung to me. Months into having sex, and none of it had grown old for me. The sounds he made still send heat blazing through me the same as they had the first time I'd heard him. My pulse pounded through me, my core clenching with pleasure in anticipation of having his thick shaft inside me.

Celyn had a perfect body, tail and all. I never could seem to stop looking at him, or to stop touching him. My fingers wandered his powerful form as he gripped my hips—then raked up his back as he picked me up, planting his mouth on my sex with a groan of enjoyment. Pleasure streaked through me at that contact, my core contracting as he started devouring me. Underwater, I had no need to worry about position. I simply threw my head back and gripped his hair in one hand, floating in place, held by the lake with his hot mouth against me.

One finger slid into me, then a second, curling up towards my navel with demand. I groaned again, clenching down against that pressure. Bright pleasure coiled inside me, winding tighter, but Celyn didn't let it break. His dedication to learning showed itself, because he seemed to always be able to tell how near I was to coming, and could keep me teetering on the edge. I whined, grinding down against him, and he slipped me a third finger, spreading me wider.

Water slid into my body in the gaps between his fingers, cool contrast to the heat of his body, but one benefit to fucking a water-horse was that he could keep his water from sweeping away the slick of arousal. I had no reason to fear the invasion of my body, so I welcomed it, moaning my pleasure for Celyn as he finger-fucked me.

"Shall I bring you to your pleasure like this?" Celyn asked, his voice wrapping around me as he looked up at me, his eyes vivid blue beneath the waves. "Or would you like to come on my shaft? I ache for you."

"Ooo," I moaned, the closest I could come to saying "you" underwater. He seemed to understand, though, because a moment later he slid up along my body, blocking my view of the sky with his beautiful face.

"Then you will have me," he said, and sheathed his cock in me.

My back back bowed from the sudden pleasure of it, the heat and pressure driving out thought. He was so thick , the blunt, angled head of his shaft pressing me open without mercy. Gods, I loved the feel of him inside of me. I hadn't had many human lovers, but I didn't think I would ever want to go back. How could men compare to a water-horse?

I held onto him, my fingers digging into the muscle of his back as he drove up into me. Every thrust into me sent pleasure streaking up into me, and every stroke backwards dragged raw need through my core. His warm fingers circled on my clit, as demanding as the hard heat inside of me, driving me towards ecstasy. I fell into that desire, letting him have his way with me, held in his water. Celyn , I thought as I moaned my pleasure deep in my chest, the coolness of the water in my lungs such a contrast to the heat of his body and the searing pleasure of his shaft buried deep inside me. Celyn, Celyn—

He made a sharp noise, his body bowing around mine. With a sobbing cry, Celyn slammed himself into my depths, his shaft throbbing as his seed flooded into me. But he didn't stop, unwilling to finish without my satisfaction, driving himself into what I knew had to be hypersensitivity. Celyn fucked me with desperation, the heat of his come dissolving into the waters around us, and I came with what would have been a scream in the air above us.

Heat throbbed inside of me, flooding through my whole body like a firestorm. My whole being focused on the perfect drive of Celyn's body inside mine, my core clenching down in waves, every new moments of tension sending another wash of bliss through me. I forgot everything else, claimed by the ecstasy of orgasm, my legs wrapped around his waist and my fingers in his hair.

Celyn kissed me as I came down, as much passion in the movement of his lips as had been in the movement of his hips. I kissed back, my whole body going lax against him. He didn't pull out of me, but I liked the feel of him inside me, even as he grew softer. There was an intimacy to it; an extension of the closeness of sex that turned even the most vigorous fuck into something affectionate.

"You called my name," he said, breaking the kiss and nuzzling along my nose. "I was not prepared for the joy of such a thing. I will do better next time."

My brows pulled together, confusion gathering as my mind settled back into place. I couldn't speak underwater. How...?

He smiled and kissed me sweetly, his hand cupping my cheek. "As I can speak to you, so you can speak to me," he said, all warmth and affection. "Beneath my waves, my water will carry your thoughts to me, if you care to share them with me."

I raised my brows, surprised, and earned myself another smile.

"Will you try?"

I nodded, then closed my eyes, furrowing my brow. Like this? I thought, trying to imagine the words floating out from me.

"Just so, precious gem," he said. I opened my eyes to find him giving me a look of all-surpassing affection, an expression that lodged beneath my heart, stealing my breath. "One day it will be simple. But for now, I am grateful you found your voice, and I shall never forget the sound of my name thought with such pleasure wrapped around it."

I grinned at that, keeping myself from laughing only because it made my ribs ache beneath the waves. You've gotten very good at sex, holly tree, I thought back at him with focus, earning myself a wicked smile in turn.

"I have a patient instructor, and a great deal of enthusiasm for the lessons," Celyn replied, running his hands down my body, caressing my curves. "It is as if I lived in a world of quiet darkness, but when you touch me I see every bright and beautiful thing for the first time. You have given me the world, Safira Chastain."

I've given you orgasms, Celyn Lake, I replied, amused by his floweriness. I kissed him on the nose, then on the mouth, relaxing into his warmth.

"I do appreciate the orgasms." He sounded as amused as me as he combed his fingers through my hair, pulling out of me at last. "But even without them, I would crave your presence. It seems you have made me a social animal. A troubling thing, were it not so pleasant."

Despite myself, I giggled, enjoying his maudlin self. Though he spent a great deal of time with me, I couldn't really imagine Celyn doing things with the others. The image of a card game popped into my mind, and I had to cover my mouth as I laughed, ribs aching from the effort of moving water. Marin just inside the Spire, a card table straddling the doorway, eight-foot tall Bash hunched over the table, and Celyn stark naked, frowning at the cards. Wouldn't that be a sight?

He hummed, clearly enjoying my levity. "Your laughter means more to me than even the rain," Celyn said with a kiss. "I want to hear it forever."

In that moment, I thought that maybe he would.