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Maximilian was clearly not used to snow. She treated it as though it were some spectacular phenomenon and not an utterly ordinary display of cold-weather precipitation.
Riftan could not say that he saw it the same way she did. Paxias was the season of starvation, of sickness, and of exposure. It was the season which had always marked a culling of the lower classes, the very elderly or ill falling first before its icy grip laid claim to anyone else who was too poor to stay warm. Riftan had little reason to be grateful for his time as a blacksmith’s apprentice, but at least it had always been hot as hell in the smithy. Even as an adult, though, Paxias posed all sorts of logistical difficulties, and coin was harder to come by unless one was exceptionally unwell in the head.
The deeper, animal part of his brain simply associated the cold with danger, and that had always been reason enough not to care for the season much. Perhaps it didn’t need any further explanation.
However, Maxi had no such reservations. She leaned precariously on horseback to catch falling snowflakes and delighted in every icicle dripping from the castle’s eaves. He even caught her standing in a desolate corner of the garden once, distracted and flustered like she’d been doing something wrong just for taking the air. Of course, Riftan gave her the usual warnings about taking care not to spend too long out of doors so she wouldn’t fall ill, but Maxi seemed to not pay it much mind.
He should have warned her more thoroughly about the ice. It had been an act of supremely unfortunate timing that he’d found her roaming the castle grounds just in time to watch her foot skip across a patch of slippery stone and go careening into a snow drift. Riftan had just about flown to her side, plucking her off of the ground in a heartbeat and stealing her back into the castle. She protested weakly, but he could tell she was too embarrassed to do much more than duck her head and hope nobody else had borne witness to her tumble.
“I’ll have to have a word with Ludis. She should have been with you,” he muttered under his breath. Maxi went stiff in his arms and shook her head.
“I-I… I told her I’d rather be by myself… really, I’m a-alright.”
“For that matter, the steps outside should have been cleared. You could have broken something—”
He stopped abruptly at the feeling of her fingers digging into his forearm, her knuckles white. He hadn’t realized his voice was so loud until he stopped talking and silence filled the air in its place. Riftan narrowed his eyes at Maxi for a moment, a hundred more arguments on his tongue, but couldn’t bring himself to reprimand her further when he saw the look on her face. It was that same expression he’d seen too many times before, the one that made him feel vaguely monstrous and overbearing. He sighed.
“...what’s done is done, I suppose,” he relented, and then was silent all the way back up to their room.
o0o
The first thing Riftan did upon entering their chambers, naturally, was strip Maxi down.
She squirmed and squeaked about it like a rabbit caught in a snare, but Riftan held her firm all the same.
“Your clothes and hair are wet,” he pointed out. “They’ll only keep you from warming up faster. Besides, I need to check for injuries.”
“I… I-I didn’t fall far! I’m certain that I’m f-fine,” she insisted. “I’m just a little sore, t-that’s all.”
“Humor me.”
Maximilian rolled her eyes. It was a habit of hers — Riftan wasn’t entirely sure Maxi herself was aware of, but he found it both infuriating and charming all the same. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he dropped her cloak to the ground and then worked her kirtle up and over her head. She stood before him in just her chemise, stays, and woolen stockings, her hair dripping icy water down her shoulders and turning the linen sheer.
“This is q-quite good enough,” she mumbled, hunching over herself.
Riftan gave no reply, just plucked at her chemise so that the cool air passed between it and her skin. She shivered and looked up at him in defeat, her mouth turning down.
He swiped the thick fleece off of their bed and tossed it down in front of the hearth where a fire was at full blaze, then forced her to sit down in the little nest he’d built. He set to unlacing her stays, and when that was done he peeled her stockings off. He slid his hand up her leg, lifting the hem of her chemise, and frowned when he saw a dark blotch forming on her hip.
“Maxi.”
“I-It looks worse than it feels,” she told him, placating. Her hand came to rest over his. “I’ve always been p-prone to bruising…”
There was something in her voice that made Riftan’s neck prickle, something he couldn’t place. When he looked up at her she was smiling, but it didn’t reach her eyes. He shook his head, uncertain what to make of her strange expression.
“We’ll get a poultice on it. It should at least help,” he replied. He lifted her chemise higher, ignoring the way her body was revealed. He hoped it would be better to focus on her in pieces — a patch of purple skin, the gooseflesh on her arms, small scars on her knees and a scrape from today’s tumble. It would not be useful to focus on, say, the way her waist flared out to round, soft hips, or how the rosy tips of her breasts had pebbled from the chill. Not useful at all.
Riftan coughed, hoping to dispel the gathering heat in his chest, as if such tactics had ever worked before. He rubbed his hands over her skin and frowned at how cold it felt in contrast to his. He dutifully worked on warming her up, rubbing out the tightness in her shoulders and carefully noting every sore spot and the forming bruises on her flesh. He was not satisfied until she felt soft, warm, and pliant beneath his fingers. Maxi had remained mostly silent through his ministrations, only sighing and whimpering here and there, but she looked up at him as his hands slowed.
Her wide grey eyes sparkled in the firelight, and her cheeks were tinged pink. The heat must have been getting to her, too, for a dewy line of sweat beaded along her hairline.
Oh, hell, Riftan thought suddenly, the sight of her knocking him momentarily breathless.
He always intended to let her be, to fuss over her and allow her to rest and be at peace. It utterly baffled him that after spending the majority of his life completely celibate, he was all at once incapable of controlling himself around her. It was as though he’d been dammed up for those long years, waiting for her to pull him apart, and now he couldn’t stop himself from rushing to her.
“Goddammit,” he muttered, then leaned forward to capture her lips with his.
Maxi squeaked in surprise, the sound muffled by his mouth, but in seconds she had melted into his embrace. His hands cupped her jaw, thumbs stroking her cheeks; she gripped his forearms to anchor herself and parted her lips. He pushed his tongue into her mouth, hot and wet, and moaned under his breath at the taste of her. She was so sweet, as delicate as a blossom in spring, so good he wanted to stay locked in her arms for an eternity. The ache in his groin was already growing unbearable, but he ignored it in favor of tasting her tongue, sucking her lower lip, drawing it between his teeth over and over until she was panting.
When they parted, her gaze had gone cloudy, eyes lingering on his mouth. He drew his thumb over her plush bottom lip, still wet from his kiss.
“Riftan,” she whispered, her voice tremulous. If he had to choose just one word to hear from her lips for the rest of his life, it would be his name for the way she caressed it, breathed it like a prayer. He leaned his forehead against hers, trying to breathe slowly instead of taking great gasps of air through his mouth like he was dying. He still did not understand how she turned him into this heaving, trembling animal with just a word and a look, setting his blood on fire in seconds. He only knew that nobody else was capable of making him feel like this, that Maximilian had absolute control over his body and its urges.
Slowly, he pushed her down to lay against the fleece. The fireplace crackled and popped beside them, little flashes of heat bursting forth and ramping up his desire. He took a moment to survey her beneath him. Her body was flushed all over, healthy and beautiful and full of life. Her hands locked together over her heart, gripping like she was afraid she might unravel, but it did nothing to cover her from his gaze. He took her soft, full breasts into his hands and kneaded them gently, watching the flesh pillow beneath his fingertips.
“I… I think those are unharmed,” she murmured. It took Riftan a moment to even realize she’d spoken, he was so distracted, and another moment still before he realized: his wife had made a joke.
“I suppose they are,” he laughed, caught off guard, before giving them a final squeeze and sliding his hands down her waist. She inhaled sharply at the sensation of his grip swallowing her up, her back arching involuntarily. Riftan pretended to be inspecting her here, as well, but it wasn’t long before he’d moved on to part her thighs.
She hesitated for a moment before letting him pull her open, her face turning a deeper shade of red as she did. Riftan was hit with a sudden bolt of masculine pride at the sight of her sex, already flushed and dewy. He glanced back up to watch her expression change from shy to anticipatory. She bit her lip and looked up at him through hooded lids, subtly shifting her hips from side to side.
Riftan drew his index finger down the seam of her folds, wetting it, then sunk in up to the first knuckle without any resistance. He groaned, pulling back and watching his hand come away shining with her slick. For good measure, he added his middle finger next and pushed inside of her. That, too, she took without issue.
“Maxi,” he hummed, slowly pumping his fingers in and out. “How’s that?”
She exhaled shakily, bearing her hips down against his hand. He considered that a more than acceptable answer to his question. Pleased by her reaction, encouraged by the wet sounds her body made as he fucked her with his fingers, he lay down and propped himself up between her thighs.
“O-oh,” she suddenly stammered, her hands flying down to nestle in his hair, “you don’t have to—”
The words trailed off in a whimper as his mouth closed around her clit. Riftan hummed against her, savoring the way that she tasted as though he hadn’t had her for a decade and not, realistically, the space of a few hours. He plunged his fingers deeper into her, curling them inside her as he’d learned she liked, all while suckling at her flesh. She gripped his hair tighter, pulling at his scalp enough to sting pleasantly. Her breath came in little hitching sobs, urging him onwards. Without thinking he ground his hips down against the blanket, desperately seeking stimulation even through his trousers. He knew he’d have to stop or he’d climax like that, fully clothed and with his face buried in his wife’s cunt, but he also wasn’t sure that would be such a bad thing.
Fortunately, she came first. Maxi convulsed, her voice high and desperate as she clenched around his hand. He slowed enough to allow himself to feel each pulse of her sex, the jumpy movements of her muscles as she came down from her peak. When he pulled off of her, his whole chin was wet, and fluid coated the inside of her thighs. She looked up at him, dazed and breathless, her curls crushed beneath her and stuck to her sweaty forehead. Riftan hauled himself up over her and pressed his lips to hers, swallowing her scandalized gasp as he did.
Maxi’s hands grasped at the shirt on Riftan’s back, and without parting for more than a breath or two he pulled it over his head and pressed their bare skin together. She was good and hot now, her skin damp with a fine sheen of sweat, her limbs relaxed. He felt her heel dig into his lower back, like she was trying to get his trousers off without asking outright. Riftan chuckled into her mouth and fumbled to free his length from its confines. The moment he was able to, he lined himself up against her and pushed into her warmth.
The world seemed to tilt around him, blurring at the edges. The only thing that felt important was the melting feeling in his gut, the sound of Maxi whimpering in pleasure, and the way their bodies slid together like they’d been made to fit one another. He drew back slowly, feeling her tighten around him, then sank back in; such things had become almost second nature over the last few months, but no matter how many times they made love it astounded him that it could feel this good. He gasped against her lips, trying not to crush her beneath him, trying not to slam his hips into hers, trying not to bruise her delicate flesh with his grip.
“ God,” he snarled against the rising desperation. “Not so tight, Maxi. It’s too much when you squeeze me like that.”
“R-Riftan,” she breathed again, twisting a lock of his hair around her finger. “Please… I can take it, so…”
Ah, he thought to himself, the only coherent thing left in his brain, the little minx does know what she’s doing to me.
Riftan pushed himself up, his hands fisting in the fleece beside her head. His abdomen clenched at the new angle; suddenly having more leverage only forced him deeper inside of her and gave him a better view of her beneath him, her eyes squeezed shut, damp hair haloing around her head like scarlet flames. Every thrust pushed her whole body up the blanket and forced her breasts to bounce enticingly, before she gripped his wrists and pushed herself back down to meet his next thrust. That was what did him in, more than the sight of her lost to desire or the sound of their bodies meeting and parting. It was the knowledge that she was choosing to push back, that she wanted to feel the full force of his body against hers. That she wanted him .
Riftan groaned at the sudden onset of his orgasm, blindsided by its intensity. He rocked himself to a shuddering halt, his pulse throbbing in his temples and his groin clenching along with it. He’d meant to last a bit longer so he could tease another climax out of her first, but it couldn’t really be helped. After what felt like an eternity, he opened his eyes again to look down at Maxi.
Her expression was so earnest, eyes wide with awe. Riftan felt an overwhelming rush of affection for her and maneuvered himself to lay beside her, their bodies still connected. Maxi burrowed into his arms, pressing her face to his chest and sighing. For a little while they rested together like that, drifting in and out in the haze of pleasure and listening to the fire spit and pop behind them. Slowly, though, Maxi’s fingers crept up Riftan’s back and settled on his shoulders and her lips sought his collarbone. She kissed him there, soft as a petal, but the effect was instantaneous. A jolt went down his spine and his cock stiffened again, jumping from its slightly softened state inside her. Maxi wriggled, pleased.
“Not finished?” he asked, knowing the answer. She only smiled coyly as though she were too proud to put it into words, and would rather he puzzle it out himself. “Good. I wasn’t either.”
Riftan rolled to his back, pulling her on top of him. Maxi settled into a familiar rhythm, rocking her hips back and forth over his. It was far gentler than the frenetic pace from before — Maxi couldn’t quite keep that up when she rode him, opting instead to take him slowly — but Riftan didn’t mind in the slightest. She was as beautiful as an angel this way, with her cascade of curls and soft, bowed lips. When her strength flagged and she lost her pattern, Riftan took her hips into his hands and guided her up and down on his shaft. When he did, her fingers drifted down to their joining and slid past the dark red curls to circle her clit.
He watched, dumbstruck, as she took her pleasure. Her breathing started to hitch again, suddenly coming in high gasps. The first flutter of her walls triggered another, then another, and she tipped forward, catching herself on her hands and pressing herself down against Riftan’s body as if she didn’t have the energy to keep herself upright as she came. He pulled her hair over her shoulder and kissed her neck, just below her ear, sucking a mark into the pale flesh. Despite the gentle pace, the sound of her whimpering his name sent him right back over the edge. They held each other through it, clinging to one another until at last it came to an end.
Maxi pushed herself up onto her elbows after a while. Riftan could tell from the bleary look in her eyes that she’d been seconds away from falling asleep and had stopped herself. He smiled.
“Stay inside for a while,” he told her gently, the command softened by his own suddenly sleepy voice. “I’ll take you outside if you really want, but just… stay here for now.”
Maximilian nodded, her eyelids drooping. Riftan wondered if she was even entirely aware of what she was agreeing to, but soon she’d dropped her head back onto his chest and had fallen asleep.