A/N: A prompt! Given to me by the lovely Raven Sinead. "Remember when Leliana was feeling amorous and loopy after she was injured in Forbidden Magic? Have them actually have sex, though without the painkillers." I was allowed any warden I wanted, but she challenged me to write in 1st-person POV, which is not my usual style (as evidenced by the fact that nothing I've published so far is 1st person). Let me know what you think! I don't think I have to tell you that the Mature rating is more than earned...

Blue sat at the door, looking up with those pleading eyes and whining softly. He was a good dog, bigger and heavier than me and yet exceedingly gentle. His big feet filled up my hands when he placed them there, and if I wanted to I could probably ride him like the humans rode horses. His jaws could break a grown man's bones with ease, and yet he only ever used the tiniest amount of pressure when my hands were near his mouth. Those of my clan would never believe that the humans could produce a creature so gentle. His viciousness in battle, they would believe. But his softness, his kind temperament, his devotion: none were things attributed to the shem.

"It's okay, boy," I murmured, coming to stand next to him. I scratched him behind his ear as I contemplated the doorknob. Would it be okay to venture in? What would I say? What could I possibly do to make things better? Leliana lay hurt because of my mistake, and Wynne was only just able to save her. What right did I have to go into that room?

And yet I felt compelled to. I needed to apologize… profusely. I laughed a little, shaking my head as I imagined how I would have scoffed at that idea months ago, before becoming a warden. Apologizing to a human?! The idea was preposterous.

But then a human saved me from that blasted mirror. He took me from my clan, yes, but he opened up my eyes, as well. At first I had thought him evil, dragging me away from my people. All I had wanted was to die with them, to spend my last days in my beloved Merrill's arms – even if our First had no idea that my love for her went beyond friendship. I had taken the chalice with hatred in my eyes, drinking the bitter blood and hoping I died, just to spite him, for he had assured me that that was not his intention.

But I had not died. I had awoken with Alistair and Duncan looking down upon me, and then I was given a crash-course in Grey Warden history. And I realized that Duncan had not been cruel; he had been exceedingly kind, like Merethari. Duncan had taken me and saved me in the only way that was available. He had introduced me to a proud Order with a proud history, trusting me, an elf, to represent them. He had trusted that I could do it, that my skills were worthy despite how his race thought of mine.

But I never got the chance to tell him that I forgave him his supposed crime. He died, along with every other warden in Ferelden except for myself and Alistair. And Alistair had not forgiven me the grief I had given Duncan, now that he was dead. We were grudging allies, but I was too proud to be the one to try to make peace first. I just… couldn't do it. We had settled on a cold professionalism, fighting well together and discussing warden business, but otherwise he left me to lead our motley crew, too afraid of responsibility to do more than argue if he didn't like a decision I made – but unwilling to actually lead.

It was too bad, really, because I could have used a friend. I was accustomed to being surrounded by people at all times, unless I was in the forest hunting; and even then I generally had Tamlen with me. But in one stupid act I lost both Tamlen, my closest friend since before I could remember, and then the rest of my clan. And then it was replaced by two humans and a dog. Morrigan's company was… caustic. I was not accustomed to someone treating me so. Alistair resented me, and while the dog was loyal company, he couldn't talk; he had no stories.

I missed the stories! Every night at home had been full of them. And music! So when Leliana, with her Chantry robes and her lute, asked to join us, I nearly jumped at the chance. I didn't even care about her supposed vision, or about the fact that a woman of the cloth apparently knew how to fight. I wanted the stories, and the music, and the friendly face – even if it was a shem's face. And I couldn't help but notice that it was a pretty face, though I kept that to myself. She was kind to me, and while she said a few things at the outset that made me so angry my ears turned red, she was quick to apologize. She then spent each night asking me for my stories, and telling me hers.

It was difficult to dislike her, and it was difficult to not become friends.

I honestly didn't know what to think of Sten. In some ways, his philosophy on life made sense: everyone had a role to fulfill, for the good of the people. But to not have an individual name, an individual identity? To not have preferences? To not have love? I could not fathom it. So I mostly left him alone, asking for clarification on something occasionally.

When Zevran joined us, I really wasn't sure what to think. I was unfamiliar with assassins, as the Dalish had no such thing. Really, I was entirely unskilled in the art of deception – what need for deception when out hunting deer? Clan cohesion hinged on us dealing with interpersonal problems swiftly and directly. Morrigan's acidity, Alistair's dislike of me and distrust of Zevran, Zevran's smile, which I knew hid all kinds of secrets underneath… I did not know how to navigate it all.

But Leliana helped. She taught me of the humans' world, and when I asked her how she knew so much of intrigue, she finally confessed her own secret. At first I was unhappy she had kept it from us, particularly me – weren't we friends? But then she pointed out that she had been on the run, and did not know who she could trust, that trusting someone had led to her capture and torture, and I realized that life had not been kind to her. I forgave her then, but asked that she not keep anything else from me; I needed one person I could trust, one person I did not need to put the mask on for.

Zevran did open up, though I'm sure he held his secrets close to his chest. He would flirt in a way I was unused to, and I would fumble with it, not knowing when he was serious and when he was joking. Leliana decided to take me under her wing, as she put it, and taught me how I might flirt back. It was fun with her, but with him I would freeze up and just become very serious in the hopes of shutting him off. I realized quickly that it was Leliana I wanted, and here she was pushing me toward Zevran. I finally told her I did not want him, and she stopped. But sometimes she would look between him and I with that look in her eye, and it would make my heart drop.

I knew she liked women. It was me she didn't like, at least not like that.

I could live with that, live with her friendship. I'd done it with Merrill. But then we rescued Wynne from the Tower, and Leliana had been so horrified that she had had nightmares for at least a week. The first night she screamed so loud that I was out of my bedroll and entering her tent with dagger in-hand, looking around wildly for her attacker. All I found was a sweaty, naked redhead with her blankets clutched up over her breasts, shaking and crying. The sight called to my heart, and in seconds I had her in my arms, wrapping her blanket around her and rocking her gently, letting her cry and cry.

It was the Fade she dreamed of. Her time in the Fade had been of her time with Marjolaine, and it plagued her that that had been the paradise the demon had chosen to trap her in. She enjoyed it, and it was her nightmare, and it got all confused in her head and heart and kept haunting her night after night. So I helped her sleep. I moved my bedroll into her tent, and when she would wake up I was there. She would fall asleep in my arms, and before long I realized I had not moved on from my crush, and in the process had fallen completely in love with her. A shemlen!

I hadn't had a lot of time to live with that realization before the bandits found us and attacked us, though. The heat in my blood when I saw Leliana's face, how the blood drained from it as she killed the man who said Marjolaine was after her… I saw red. And that was how we got to this point.

We went to Denerim, confronted Marjolaine, just Leliana and I. And in my anger, I didn't listen to Leliana and just ran in. Only the trap I should have triggered was instead triggered by Leliana; she ran after me, shoving me to the side and taking the blade from Marjolaine herself. I killed the bitch quickly – she wasn't expecting it, thinking herself victorious – and then carried Leliana, bleeding and unconscious, back to the inn, where Wynne was. And now Leliana lay sleeping upon the bed in my room, where Wynne had me put her.

Now I felt I had to say something, anything, apologize, try to make it up to her. But what could I do? That woman had haunted Leliana far too long. She was dead. Did Leliana even know?

The thought that Leliana didn't know provided the push to finally open the door and head in. Blue nosed his way in, too, immediately trotting over to the bed to find Leliana. Sniffing at her, he whined slightly, nosing her hand atop his head.

"Bonjour, Bleu," I heard her murmur, the hand moving of its own accord to stroke the dog's head.

"Leliana? You're awake?" I asked, quietly closing the door and making my way to the bedside. Her skin was only a little pale, her hair tousled. I reached down to push it back from her face. The blanket covered the rest of her, but she looked… small, in that large bed with all that bedding. But rather than making her look weak, it just made her look… inviting. Like she was approachable. My heart ached to see her in pain, and my gut clenched to realize that all I wanted was to crawl into that bed with her and hold her.

A slight cough before an affirmative answer. "Yes, I am awake." Another cough. "Dear Maker, but I hurt."

"I'm so sorry, Leliana," I gushed, taking the hand she reached out to me. It was warm, which gladdened my heart – she had lost what looked like a great deal of blood while I carried her. "I was reckless, barging in like that. I never should have done that, I know better. My clan would be ashamed of me-"

Her hand left mine, a single finger covering my lips. "Hush, Lyna. All is forgiven. But… is she gone?"

I nodded emphatically. "She did not see me, and I skewered her, Leliana. She is dead." I paused, looking down upon her sweet face. "She can't hurt you anymore."

Leliana seemed to sag with relief, her eyes closed and her shoulders releasing a tension I didn't know she was holding. I watched her face transform, her eyebrows relaxing and a smile of absolute relief and happiness forming slowly upon her lips. I had the sudden urge to kiss them. What was wrong with me? I'd never even kissed anyone before. How did I know I liked this woman so much with no experience to draw from?

That's a lie. You have experience with love. You loved Merrill.

That was certainly true. But Merrill was a far-off dream from another life now. My world was so much larger now, full of so many different kinds of people and customs. I no longer hated humans as a people, having realized that all races had their idiots, their racists, their scum – but they also had their beauty, their love, their laughing children and their faith in something larger than themselves. All this I had seen because I had left my clan, because Duncan had seen fit to have an elf as one of his order. My world was so different from what it had been, but I still stood with only the ghost of experience to inform me. And yet it was enough. I was totally and completely in love with Leliana. I lived to see her smile, and my heart soared that I had been the one to give her such relief, to make such a smile appear on her face.

"You should get some rest," I said, seeing how tired she was as she opened her eyes, the relief still there, but fatigue as well. She was physically and emotionally exhausted.

"Stay with me? Keep the nightmares away?"

I almost melted into a puddle. I knew I would hate myself for taking her nearness disingenuously, as something more than the friendship with which it was offered. And yet no one else could comfort her in this way she allowed me, so I obliged, slipping out of my leather armor and boots and sliding under the covers in just my linen shirt and trouser. Surrounded by her warmth, the comforting weight of her head on my shoulder, I sighed. Perhaps… this can be enough, I thought to myself. Chancing the smallest of kisses to her forehead, and breathing in her intoxicating scent, I settled in to sleep for the night.

I opened my eyes to an unfamiliar room. Rooms themselves were never something to which I was accustomed the few times we'd stayed in them, and neither were beds. I had spent my life sleeping in a bedroll in the aravel set aside for unmarried women. By the time I left, it had been just Merrill and I who shared that aravel, all the other unmarried girls much, much younger than either of us and still with their families.

But one thing beds had going for them – they were far more comfortable than any bedroll could hope to be. Closing my eyes again, I reveled in the feel of the bed swallowing me up, and it wasn't until I felt the mattress shift and heard a tiny whimper that I realized what had awoken me.

"Leliana?"

"It is all right, Lyna. I had to use the chamber pot. I was hoping to not wake you, but I obviously did not succeed."

I sat up with the hopes of helping her back into the bed, but instead found myself… very close. I could smell the slight sourness of her morning breath, could feel the heat from her body. I froze, unable to think clearly with her face so close to mine, the act of breathing her air making me incapable of thought for a moment. My hands halted on her sides, where I had intended to grip as I helped her, and my fingers blazed from the heat of her body. She wore only a simple shift, showing a great deal of her legs, and yet I did not see them, so captivated by those cerulean eyes was I. I felt I could get lost in them. At turns they were the blue of the sky, of the clear lakes and ponds of the forest, of the brilliant iridescent colors of the insects showing off their beauty to the world. And I found them fascinating whenever I saw them. Elves had no such hue to their eyes, at least none in my clan.

I found her hand upon my cheek. "Ma chérie," she whispered, and I realized her lips were closer than they had been. My heart went from being still to making up for lost time in an instant, and it was with my heart wildly racing that her lips touched mine. I inhaled sharply, ill-prepared for the yielding warmth, the wet heat against my lips, the soft yet firm grip of her hand as it moved from my cheek to the back of my neck. I didn't even do anything. I remained completely frozen, not knowing what to do with my hands or my lips. I just… watched her.

Her eyes were closed, the delicate red-orange lashes fluttering softly, so close to my own. Her lips sucked gently on mine, her tongue swiping out for a moment to taste my lip. I could feel all five of her fingers on my neck, in my hair, on my scalp. Her other hand pressed into the blanket, the mattress, making both of us lean a little to that side. Her body leaned over me slightly, her face tipped down gently while mine faced slightly up to reach her. Her hair curtained around us, filtering the dawn's light into the color of a bright, cheerful fire.

All of this I saw and felt in a single timeless moment. But the moment ended, and her lips were no longer touching mine. Her eyes were open again, searching mine. Her hand left my neck, her body no longer invaded my space. It had been a sweet invasion, but it left me breathless, and when she retreated I was finally able to exhale and take in fresh air.

With which I finally spoke.

"Don't stop," I breathed, my hands clutching at the shift she wore, willing her to not get too far away. It had been an invasion of my space, yes, but it now felt empty without her in it. I wanted her close to me again.

A small smile appeared on my bard's lips. Without a word she was on me again, parting my lips with her own, sucking lightly on my lower lip, wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me close. I had the good sense to close my eyes this time, and it opened a world of sensation along my body. But when I tried tightening my grip around her waist, she whimpered softly into my mouth, making my heart drop down into my stomach.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" I gasped, letting go and trying to pull back but unable to do more than break our kiss, as her arms were still wrapped tightly around me.

"It is… all right," she breathed, though a grimace touched her face. "I actually forgot for a moment…"

"I did, as well," I replied, moving my hands once more to her sides to feel the bandaging underneath. The wounds had proved difficult for Wynne, and in the end the mage had only the energy to heal the internal damage to Leliana's lungs, leaving the surface damage to heal on its own until the mage had recovered her strength. The blades had been poisoned, Wynne had explained, and the poison had sat for much too long. Feeling the bandaging underneath the light linen of Leliana's shift made my heart heavy with guilt once more.

"This is all my fau-"

"Hush," Leliana interrupted me, catching my gaze with her own. We were still mere inches apart. "You saved me, Lyna." She kissed me, all too briefly, and then inhaled once more. "You saved me."

The world tipped, and suddenly I found myself lying upon my back, Leliana settling in gingerly beside me. "There," she said, smiling over at me. "This should be a little better, don't you think?"

"Leliana, I…" I honestly did not know what to say. I like you seemed too little too late. I love you seemed far too much, particularly after I had killed the last person she had loved – who had betrayed her, no less. What else could I say?

"Shhhh, Lyna. I… fell for you a long time ago," she said, and I felt her hand wrap around my waist, encouraging me to move closer. I was happy to oblige. "I did not know if you felt the same, if the Dalish even knew of relationships like this – between two women – but it did not stop me from feeling." She paused, smiling and shaking her head a little. "Feelings have a funny way of happening whether you want them to or not."

I smiled for a moment, then knit my eyebrows as I thought about what had just happened. "So what… what made you finally kiss me?" I asked, somehow retaining my ability to think through the heady aroma of her breath, of her skin; the sight of her pouting lips so close to mine was doing torturous things to my stomach.

"You were so close, and… well, I've heard that near-death experiences can make a person seize what she wants." Leliana paused, searching my eyes once more. Her hand tightened around a fistful of my shirt, pulling me closer, causing my heart to go leaping into my throat. "And I want you."

I don't know who kissed who, because those words propelled me forward, where I met an equally enthusiastic Leliana. I had only had two kisses up to that point, but somehow it did not matter as I took in her scent, her taste, her warmth. I didn't care about my inexperience anymore, about whether or not I was doing it right – her taste and scent, her soft warmth, the wetness of her mouth all put me in the present like nothing else ever had. I wanted only to feel.

Her arm wended its way around my neck, cradling me almost possessively against her as her other arm wrapped around my waist. It felt… good, to be held so. I felt cherished, treasured, her hands gentle yet firm as her fingers dug into the fabric of my linen shirt. Yet, once again, when my own arm – only one, the other helplessly pinned between us – tightened around her waist, she again broke from me, gasping in pain.

"Dammit," she breathed, ending it with a faint growl of frustration. I, too, was frustrated, but more than that I was terrified of hurting her. I desperately wanted to feel her close to me, to satisfy the urge that seemed to be building within me, dampening the area between my legs. Yet we seemed doomed to not do so.

"We should stop," I said, pulling my head back as I disentangled my arm.

"No." This time the growl was more pronounced, and her blue eyes flashed electric. Wrapping her arms more tightly around me, she slid one hand along the arm I'd tried to wrap her in and moved it to be around her shoulders instead. "There," she smiled, "a simple fix."

And then she thoroughly laid claim to my mouth with her own.

It felt like being possessed, like I was territory for the taking. It was sweet, and it filled me with giddy excitement. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders as tightly as I could, my body moving almost without my direction against hers. I could feel her through our clothes, and yet it wasn't close enough – I wanted more. Without thinking, my hand trapped between us shifted and began to tug on the shift she wore, finding the hem and pulling it up before slipping underneath. I gasped into her mouth as I felt the hot skin of her thigh, her hip. She growled once more as she claimed my mouth with her tongue, her fingers digging into my hair and tightening almost painfully into a fist.

Then she was pulling my head back, exposing my throat to her mouth. She proceeded to lay claim there, as well, nipping and sucking and kissing her way to my collarbone, her other hand travelling down to cup my bottom, giving it a firm squeeze before she slipped her hand underneath my shirt. Her skin on mine was warm, rough with calluses, her fingers digging into my skin in places in a way that was almost too rough, yet moving on before truly hurting me.

I was… dazed, overwhelmed. Her hand fisted in my hair, dictating where my head could go made me indignant, and yet set my heart racing. Or perhaps my heart raced because of her lips at my throat, or her hand in the small of my back, or my own hand now tucked between the hot skin of her hip and the mattress. My other hand remained up around her shoulders, holding tightly to her shirt like my life depended on it. Perhaps my sanity depended on it? It was my anchor in the storm of sensation within me, reminding me that I wanted all of it, and could pull away and stop it at any time should I decide I didn't want it.

She gave another tug to my hair, yanking my head back slightly further, her hand leaving my back and drifting between my legs… I decided right then and there that I did not mind her dictating what I did and where I went. Not here. She knew what she was doing, if the tingle of electric pleasure that jolted through me from her fingers meant anything.

"Do you like that, Lyna?" she breathed in my ear, sending another jolt down my spine and wetness to gather between my legs.

"Yes," I gasped, writhing as she pressed harder, latching on to a spot just above my collarbone with her mouth. The pain was sweet torture, and before I knew it I found my legs tangling with hers, her shift up around her waist. My own hand wandered, trying to find that place between her legs. I couldn't breathe as I brushed against downy hair, my heart stopping for a moment as I hovered on the brink. She released my hair and throat just as I plunged in, capturing my lips with hers as my fingers were enveloped by her wet, slick arousal.

"Oh, dear Maker, Lyna!" Leliana sighed, pulling away from an all-too-brief kiss to whisper in my ear. "You certainly do like that! Is it the rough handling? Is that something you would like more of?" She punctuated that by raking her nails over my scalp, down the nape of my neck, and it was all I could do to whimper and nod. I had never known I would wish to be treated like this. In fact, I would have thought it was demeaning, especially coming from a human. And yet here I was, craving more. I did not feel demeaned. I felt wanted. In fact, she wanted me so badly that this was what it drove her to.

And it was exhilarating.

Leliana wasted no time in pushing past the waistband of my trousers, gasping into my ear when she found how wet I had become. "Oh, you dirty little thing, so wet and eager for me!" She dipped her fingers, curling and swirling in a dance that nearly drove me insane. "Tell me, am I the first to lay claim to you like this?" she purred, swirling her fingers closer my most intimate of places, getting ready to plunge her way inside of me.

"Yes," I whimpered.

She froze.

"What?" she asked, no longer purring, no longer whispering, her hand no longer moving.

"What's wrong? Are you hurt again?" Perhaps I moved in some way to hurt her? What else would make her stop? I pulled back, searching for her eyes in the partial light of the room.

Her eyebrows furrowed, her eyes searching mine. For what, I didn't know. "I just meant the rough…" She paused, took in a deep breath. "Have… have you been with anyone before, Lyna?"

I shook my head. "No. We do not… we marry before we go to each other's bed," I answered honestly. "And we do not marry like this, between women," I clarified, mistaking the look upon her face. I thought it a look of confusion. Her hand retreated from my trousers, resting loosely upon my hip. "Leliana, what is wrong?"

"Lyna…" She gently reached down, removing my hand from her own sex, tucking it between us once more. "Lyna, this isn't…" She sighed, kissing my forehead before touching her own forehead to mine.

"What did I do, Leliana?" I was honestly so very confused. This was not how I had imagined the next few minutes going. I didn't know what to expect, it was true… but this was not it.

"Oh you sweet girl, you did not do anything wrong," she assured me, wrapping me in her arms. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, avoiding her ribs once more for fear of hurting her. Pulling back, she searched my eyes again. I realized that the look upon her face before had been shame as she explained herself. "When you responded to what I was doing so positively, I assumed… that you had done this before. This… that is not how someone should be introduced to lovemaking." She gave a humorless laugh, adding under her breath, "I should know."

I knit my brows. "But… it felt good, Leliana. Was that not how it should be done? Not how it should feel?"

"I am glad it felt good," she replied, smiling as she caressed the back of my neck. "But I… there is time to explore that kind of thing. Let me… start over…"

Leliana kissed me again, parting my lips with hers. I returned the kiss eagerly, moving my body against hers the way I had done before. But where I had been met with a growling, possessive beast before, I was now met with a gentle, tender creature who moved with me, guiding my movements to flow like water.

She drank me in, then, like she was dying of thirst and I would save her. Her fingers stroked my body, lifting my shirt over my head to expose my skin, my breasts, my back and shoulders to the cool morning air. She kissed and sucked at my skin, her fingers squeezing and kneading and caressing every part of me she could reach without aggravating her injuries. My head was cradled in the crook of her arm, and I felt safe, and loved, and cherished and treasured all over again. How was it that her violent claiming of my body also had me feeling treasured? I would need to ask her about it later.

This time, when she pushed past my trousers, she breathed a gorgeous sigh into my ear. She called me beautiful girl, remarkable gift, splendid love, among other things in Orlesian I did not understand. She told me she loved me, distracting me from the agonizing ache her swirling fingers caused in my belly. I caressed her cheek with my hand, pulling her away from my ear so I could kiss her, trying to communicate what words could not – that I felt the same. Her arm tightened around my shoulders, her fingers ventured further between my legs, and then she was inside of me.

It was a pleasant sort of stretch. I gasped, lifting my leg slightly without really thinking about it. This allowed her further access, and I grunted into our kiss as she sank her fingers further inside of me.

"Oh Lyna, my love," she whispered, kissing me over and over as she worked me inside and out. A coil of heat started low in my belly, emanating from my rolling hips. I didn't know what would happen, but I definitely felt like we were building to something. I knew the basic concepts of sex between a married man and woman, how the man thrust inside of his wife until he spilled his seed. But nowhere in my education, brief as I knew it was, did they speak of a similar process for women. And yet I could not deny that my body was travelling toward… something.

"Lyna, I need you, too," Leliana breathed, breaking away from our kiss and staring pleadingly into my eyes. "Just give me your leg." I was puzzled until she clarified. "Between mine, love." I obliged, pushing my knee forward until her legs clamped down upon it like a vice. She began rolling her hips, and I felt her own wetness soak through the fabric on my knee – she wore nothing below that short shift. Closing my eyes in torturous bliss, I rolled with her rhythm, cherishing her soft pants and whispered devotions and returning them with my own underwhelming words.

I got lost in the sensations for a moment that was timeless, rolling and clutching at her shirt and kissing her sweet, sweet lips, never able to get quite enough of her taste. I was shocked back into the present, however, when another finger – presumably her thumb – circled over the sweet ridge of pleasure she had been playing with before. I nearly jumped, crying out and arching my back, rolling my hips hard into her hand. I was pushed up to the edge of that elusive Something, and after another moment I found out exactly what that Something was.

It was a cliff. I had been teetering at the edge, but now I was pushed forcefully over the side and was free-falling through the air. I didn't know what was happening at first, but it felt incredible, and it was an easy thing to surrender to the feeling. And it was sweet, sweet surrender.

It was not until I thudded to a soft landing, opening my eyes as I caught my breath, that I realized Leliana was riding her own Something out on my knee, writhing and whimpering softly into my face, bathing me in the scent of her sweet breath. I lay utterly boneless as I watched her come to her own landing, watched her eyes slide slowly open and find mine immediately, watched a smile spread from her lips to her eyes, eventually causing all of her to somehow glow. I could feel the answering grin upon my own face, crinkling my eyes and splitting the small chapped cuts I had upon my lips.

"That," she said, moving the hand she had removed from my core and placing it on my cheek, "was more like how one should be introduced to lovemaking." I blushed, which was utterly absurd given what we'd just done. "Did you like that, Lyna?" I nodded, somehow unable to remove my gaze from hers despite my embarrassment. "Would you like to do that again?"

I nodded again, yet also found my voice. "Yes, emma lath, I would. But… Can we… can we also try what we were doing earlier?"

Her laugh was musical. "Yes, sweet girl, we can. Just… let us wait for more mobility, yes? I'm sure I will heal quickly enough. In the meantime… I'm not sure I'm done with you just yet."

I nodded, smiling like a fool as she leaned forward to kiss me once more.