Midwinter Celebration

MIDWINTER CELEbrATION

" B elladonna."

I shoot a smile over my shoulder at Rusalka. "Just a moment. I'm checking on them." I crack open the door and peer through the gap to where our children sleep in the large bed they've occupied since we arrived at the little village in the mountains to celebrate Midwinter.

Cara is sprawled out just like she always does, taking up more than half the bed despite her only being six. Calix is curled into a tiny ball around their favorite stuffie, a hellcat that Zhenya sewed for them when they were a baby. We had a long, full day of festivities and celebration and they're out cold.

I slip away from the door and take Rusalka's hand. They've changed into a long black dress that's slit high enough to flash their hips with each step. It clings to their torso and sets off their breasts in a way that makes my mouth water, ten years later.

We pad quietly down the stairs and exchange smiles with the old incubus smoking on the porch. She'll keep an eye on the kids and ensure they don't go wandering if they wake up while we're gone.

Some Midwinter events aren't suitable for children.

We walk through the town square, the snow piled high and bright colored from the day's activities. The air is crisp and cold enough to make me shiver. Rusalka loops her arm around my shoulders. "The fire is just outside the village. It will be warmer there."

Warm enough to…

I shiver again, this time from desire. The first year we came up here, I wasn't sure what to expect. My horizons have expanded dramatically since arriving in the demon realm, but it feels different when it's not with our inner circle. Now? Now, I know exactly what's coming and I can't wait.

There are other people on the streets with the same destination. Singles and couples and small groups. And, in the distance…drums.

It's the most natural thing in the world to match my pace to the steady beat of the drum. Rusalka sighs happily. "It's been a good day. A good trip."

"Yes." I lean my head on her shoulder. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

Rusalka laughs, throaty and low. "Why do I think you're about to seduce another child out of me?"

Something almost like guilt, but without the teeth, lands in my stomach. I have been thinking about more children. Calix is seven and Cara four. I understand why people have children close together, but that hasn't been our path. Raising children as a collective is an interesting and enlightening experience, and while it does seem to make parenting easier than I had witnessed growing up, it doesn't change the fact that it's exhausting . Exhausting and phenomenal and downright magical in a way that has nothing to do with the magic that permeates our lives.

I swallow hard. "That's not a decision to be made on a night like tonight."

"I know." She presses a kiss to my temple. "I'm just teasing. Did you see Cara's family portrait?"

"She's petitioning for a little sibling pretty intensely." I laugh, though it doesn't quite sound as carefree as I'd like. It doesn't matter how many years we've spent together; there's still a lingering fear that this is the one subject that could cause a conflict that might break us. It almost did earlier in our relationship, and if we're in a significantly different place, some fears run deep.

"Belladonna." Rusalka slows and tugs me into a small gap between houses. They press me against the wall and kiss me hard enough to make my head spin. When they finally move back, we're both breathing hard. "I was joking, love. I've been thinking about more, too, now that we're out of the disaster years with Cara. It must be all the sleep we're getting." They nuzzle the sensitive spot beneath my jaw. "You know you can talk to me about anything."

"I know." My voice is too breathy, but I don't bother to try to cover it up. "I guess I still have some stuff…" I shiver again. "I'm sorry. I should have told you I was thinking about it. Or at least not tried to dodge the conversation just now."

She uses a single finger to lift my chin so she can meet my gaze. Her eyes are sympathetic and understanding. "I know your scars as well as my own. I spoke in jest, but if you want to talk about it now, we can."

I open my mouth to brush them off, but have to pause and reevaluate. Honesty is the best policy. It always has been. "I've been thinking about another baby. I think three is my limit, but…three would be nice. If you think it would be nice."

Rusalka smiles, slow and seductive. "Three is a beautiful number." She leans down and kisses me. "Maybe we have fun trying. Maybe we have a lot of fun trying…starting tonight."

"That sounds good," I manage.

"Then it shall be done." They tangle their fingers with mine and tug me back into the street. "Come on, love. We'll miss the start of the celebration if we linger too long."

My steps feel lighter as we begin moving again. I hadn't realized how tangled I'd gotten up seeing my desire for more children represented in Cara's drawing today. It's silly. It's all so silly. I should know better by now to just talk to Rusalka about the things threatening to weigh me down. These conversations always make me feel better.

Within a few minutes, we leave the village behind and follow the stream of people down a path through the trees to a wide clearing with a large bonfire in the center of it. A small band is set up on; they're a foursome with two holding drums between their knees and two pipes. The beat is increasing, a clear call that we're about to begin.

Rusalka gives me a fierce grin. "Are you ready to begin?"

In every way. "Yes."

We take up a spot halfway around the forming circle, incubi and succubi laughing and swinging their hips as they prepare. The first time I entered a circle like this, I thought I'd be sick with fear and the certainty that I'd mess up the steps…only to discover that the steps are more suggestion than concrete rule. Joy is the primary goal, and joy is have in surplus.

There's no announcement to begin. The drums pick up, a quick beat that rises and falls almost as if the drummers are synching to our heartbeats instead the other way around. The pipers weave melody over and under the drums, teasing our bodies into motion. A stomp. A sway. Rusalka's hand in mind as we begin to move around the fire in a counter clockwise format.

With each rotation, the daily thoughts and worries and stresses falls away and there is only this moment, Rusalka's hand in mind. My blood heats, my skin warms until the slide of my dress against my body is almost unbearable. Others around the fire seem to be feeling the way. On the next time around, more and more clothing is discarded. Rusalka's dress slides off in a move that tells me it was designed for that kind of ease, and they kick it off with a flick of their tail.

It takes a few more times before I manage to make the same choice, tugging my dress over my head and tossing it into the trees. The fire feels like a physical touch against my skin, and I close my eyes, trusting Rusalka's touch to lead me where I'm meant to be.

Right into her arms.

Sweat slicks our touch, our bodies sliding against each other as her arms come around me and her claws prick the curve of my ass. The drumbeats increase and increase again, and then her mouth is one mine and there's no space for anything but feeling .

We don't leave the warmth of the fire. Someone tosses out blankets and then Rusalka is pushing me down onto the soft fabric and kneeling between my thighs. She strokes her hands up my legs, pushing them wider yet. The fire reflects in her dark eyes. Not just from the bonfire, but also from the fiery wings bursting out from the succubi among our group. Within seconds, Rusalka joins them, a lacework of flame wings that puts her face in shadow. "Tell me what you want, love."

"You." I bend up and hook their waist, pulling them down on top of me. I can't stand the thought of distance between us. Not when I need them so desperately. Their breasts press to mine and I wrap my legs around their waist. "Now. Please."

"So impatient." She smiles against my lips. "I love you."

"I love you, too." I dig my fingers into her hair. It's always like this—still, forever. A frenzy that I cam't get enough of.

Rusalka slides down my body. I have a moment of protest, of wanting them pressing me down, of needing their body holding me close, but then their mouth finds my pussy and I forget about everything but the next slow swipe of their tongue. The dance was foreplay enough, but Rusalka never does anything halfway. They hold my quivering thighs wide and work me with their mouth until I'm whimpering my way toward a phenomenal orgasm. "More!"

"Greedy little thing." She sounds so approving that I almost come on the spot. There's warmth on my pussy as she wreaths her hand in her flames and molds it into a familiar shape. She's smiling so wildly, I can't help laughing a little in response. "Good thing for us both that I'm feeling greedy tonight, too."

Then the fire is at my entrance, pressing deeper, one inch at a time. Rusalka's hand on my stomach keeps me still, her expression a mask of concentration. "Hold still, love. We're almost there."

The fire dildo shifts inside me until it's the perfect size and shape to get me off as soon as we start moving. Rusalka shifts me partially onto my side and straddles my thigh. I watch their expression as they sink onto the dildo. Their eyes slide partially shut and their sharp teeth flash in pure pleasure.

I reach up to pinch the nipple closest to me. "There you are."

"Here I am." Their breathing has gone ragged to match mine. "There's no holding out tonight, love. Not with the drums…"

"I don't want you to hold out."

"Good." She starts moving, each descent of her body pushing the dildo deeper into me, rubbing against my G-spot, her thigh creating delicious friction against my clit. I was already close from dancing, from her going down on me, but I explode on the second stroke with a violence that draws a shriek from my lips. Rusalka's laugh rolls over my body. "Too fast, love. You have another one in you." She angles to the side without missing a beat and the fire licks at my clit the same way her tongue did earlier.

Heat. Slickness. The hard thrust of her inside me.

Rusalka .

This time, when I orgasm, they are right there with me, their wings shining even brighter over their shoulders. Rusalka collapses on my chest and kisses me, soft and slow, even as their fire dissipates from our bodies.

Distantly, I become aware of moans and cries of pleasure all around us, of the soft slap of flesh against flesh, and the wet sounds of sex. I shiver and kiss Rusalka harder. "I love you."

"I love you, too." They exhale hard. "But we're getting too old for this shit. I think there's a rock permanently embedded in my knee."

That startles a laugh out of me. Especially because my body is starting to register the aches and pains that come with having sex outside on the ground. "There's a stick in danger of, well…" It's so silly to blush now. "You get the idea."

"Let's go to bed." She hefts herself to her feet and tugs me up with her. "Come on." She sweeps me into her arms and starts picking her way around the copulating people toward the path that will take us back to the village.

"I can walk myself."

"I know." She hugs me closer. "But I like carrying you. Indulge your spouse, Belladonna."

It's impossible to argue with them when they put it like that. My legs are feeling particularly wobbly…and I do like it when they carry me. "Well, when you put it like that, I suppose I can allow it."

"Good girl." Rusalka presses a kiss to my temple and picks up their pace. Within a few minutes, we're nudging our way through the door and back into the house where we're staying. They take the stairs up two at a time to our bedroom. After all this time, I don't have to ask what that means, what their intentions are. Rusalka is insatiable…just as insatiable as I am.

They lay me down on the bed and settle between my thighs. "I was thinking…"

It suddenly feels very silly that I was tangled in my feelings earlier. I know exactly what they're thinking. I'm thinking it, too. I cup their breasts. "That we might start trying tonight?"

"A midwinter conception means an early fall baby." They arch into my touch, their tone going a little thready. "Spaces the birthdays out with Cara in spring and Calix in summer. What do you think?"

I nudge them onto their back and move to straddle their hips. "I think that sounds like a really lovely idea."

Rusalka catches my hips, their crimson eyes intense. "You're sure."

"I am. Are you?"

"Yes." They smile and throw their arms around me. "Have I mentioned today that I love you?"

Giddiness makes my brain bubbly. "Maybe once or twice."

"Not nearly enough." She kisses me and then kisses me again. "I love you, Belladonna. I wouldn't want to build a life with anyone else."

"You make so so fucking happy ." I press them back to the mattress, so delighted that I'm having a hard time keeping my voice low. "Now be quiet or you're going to wake the kids up and then all our baby-making plans will have to wait."