Tana was above him, pumping. The friction alone was enough to make any normal man explode into quivering with ecstasy. She was wet, aroused, ready. She had gorgeous blue hair that fell around Ephraim's neck, glorious, pale breasts that shone with a sheen of excitement, sapphire blue eyes that could melt the sternest heart. Ephraim had always heard the eyes were the windows to the soul, and this held true for Tana as much as anyone. She was an ocean, generous in spirit, infinitely loving and startling in her depths, at once calm and passionate. Her hips undulated back and forth and her breathing, her whispered words of adoration, hitched and lovely and sensual and oh so close to the verge of coming, should have been enough to arouse a eunuch.

But Ephraim just wasn't feeling anything, and hadn't for the last month they'd been dating. On this, the night of their hurried engagement, brought on mostly by Innes' and Eirika's announcement the day earlier, he was trying as hard as he'd ever had to become aroused by Tana. But it just wasn't working.

In desperation, he started trying to imagine that he was beneath other girls- maybe, if he fantasized hard enough, he could make himself come for her. He'd had a fleeting attraction for L'Arachel, with her cute, flowing, blonde, almost greenish locks, and earnest silver eyes, her assertion, and dedication to her goals- not to mention the adorable way she'd completely freaked out at him when he'd removed his armor to show her his battle scar. There were times between them when Ephraim had been overcome with a nearly uncontrollable desire to push L'Arachel up a wall, to penetrate her with his fingers until she was wet and begging and undone, and then-

Ephraim was breathing hard now, and the vision of the things he would have done to L'Arachel- who cared who in the army would have seen them, let them pleasure themselves to the sight of the two of them going at it, for all he cared- nearly pushed him over the edge.

But then he remembered L'Arachel's stubbornness, her constant belief that she was superior to everything and everyone, her stupid need to always be right, to be proper, her endless chattering, and he remembered why L'Arachel wasn't the one rocking above him right now, infuriatingly attractive as he might find her to be.

God, but Tana's enduring, Ephraim thought, his mind wandering back to the present moment. He didn't know how long it had been since she had started, but she was biting her lip with the exertion of trying not to come, holding herself out until Ephraim came. She'd refused to come every night they'd had sex, claiming she couldn't enjoy it until Ephraim was there with her.

He wanted so badly to come for her. His mind wandered back over all of his previous flings- of course he'd orgasmed before, no matter how much not being able to come for the goddess above him threatened to convince him he wasn't heterosexual after all- but although all of his previous women had been gorgeous, they'd also been empty or shrewish or he'd just inexplicably been unable to connect with them.

Ephraim had just started to wonder whether he had an actual medical problem when Tana's features blurred. Her hair became a lighter blue, her eyes more piercing. Even her legs seemed to become a little slimmer, her kisses on his neck a little softer. Ephraim couldn't pinpoint the features, but he could feel his body reacting to it, suddenly exploding in response to Tana's body. He'd never had such an intense orgasm before. His fingers fisted desperately around Tana's hair as he rocked back and forth, unable to control the seed that exploded inside her.

Tana came in what must have been a microsecond later.

"Yes, yes, Ephraim- ohh my god, yes!"

Ephraim managed to pass off his derisive snicker at Tana's obviously exaggerated response as a cough.

She spent several minutes laying on top of Ephraim's chest, obviously exhausted from her exertion, but Ephraim didn't mind. He was too busy recovering from his own experience.

What the hell had that been, anyway?

It felt like both an eternity and way too short a time when Tana finally spoke to him again.

"Ephraim, that was- I don't have words for how amazing that was. I've never felt that way with anyone in my entire life." She blushed. "And it's not like I'm inexperienced," she said shyly.

There were many things he could have said next, had he stopped to think about it. But about twenty seconds later, Ephraim would come to realize that he chose possibly the worst words he could have possibly said.

"I don't love you."