A/N: So... I hope this doesn't disappoint. Do I really need to put a warning in my stories anymore? This chapter earns it its M rating.
Raven's heart sped back up, ramming into her ribs just as Diana's lips parted from her own. She could see her breath as she exhaled, could feel the huntress's skin shift against her own, could feel the detail of the woman's small breasts, perky nipples pressed into the princess's stomach because Raven was so much taller than the other woman.
Diana's hands disappeared from Raven's hair, her skin disappearing from Raven's right along with it. "I… I'm sorry, princess, I…"
"Don't," Raven breathed, finally moving, wending her arms around Diana's waist and pulling them flush against each other once more. "I am Raven to you, Diana," she whispered, before pressing their lips together again, not thinking, merely doing as her body commanded.
Raven had always felt sloppy in her kisses with Elliot. They were full of too much saliva, too much tongue, his hands groping in too many different places she didn't want them. Honestly, she had always wondered what was so great about kissing, and would always be the one to cut short Elliot's kisses so she could drag him off to practice swordplay, or to explore the empty rooms in the castle. His lips felt okay, but the hair coming in on his face was rough, especially after he was old enough to shave it. His hands were clumsy, as were her own, and the whole thing made her uncomfortable and… she just felt wrong.
Diana felt all kinds of right. Her lips were soft, molding to Raven's like they belonged there. Raven's hands seemed to know just what to do, tightening her grip around Diana's waist, her fingers studying the muscles along the huntress's back and sides. Diana's arms immediately wrapped around Raven's neck, holding tightly to her, as if afraid the princess might let go.
Raven would not be letting go, not if she had any say in the matter.
The hot water had felt amazing, but paled in comparison to the feeling of Diana's wet, warm skin pressed against the princess. Buoyant in the water, their breasts slid past each other as they shifted slightly. Their stomachs pressed together, as well, sending jolts of electricity straight down to settle between Raven's legs, robbing her head of what power she had left to think with.
Their lips parted once more – though nowhere else did their contact cease – this time panting heavily, their breaths visible between them.
"I… I do not know what comes next," Diana breathed after a seeming eternity with their foreheads pressed together, breathing each other's air and holding each other's gazes.
Raven shook her head lightly, smiling bashfully. "Neither do I. But I am more than willing to figure it out if you are."
Diana's answer was to lift both legs and wrap them around Raven's waist, putting all of her weight in the princess's arms. "I am yours, my princess," she whispered. "My Raven."
"And I am yours, Diana," Raven answered, smiling as she closed the mere inches between them. Their lips met once more, the huntress's legs cinching tighter, Raven and the water the only things holding her up. Sinking into the warm water, Raven slowly began to move backwards until she got shallow enough that she could sit, the huntress in her lap.
Then she tried it, finally thinking that maybe now, with someone she so obviously, actually desired, she might enjoy it. Slowly, tentatively, as their lips moved against each other, Raven slid her tongue out, probing hesitantly against Diana's lower lip, on which she had been lightly sucking. The response was immediate: with a sharp inhale through her nose, Diana's mouth opened, allowing the princess full, unhindered access. Groaning lightly, she plunged forward, a little awkwardly, it was true, but Diana did not seem to mind. Raven was met with enthusiasm, and soon they had a rhythm going that had the princess's blood humming.
Diana tasted salty, and earthy, and somewhat like the tobacco that her grandfather liked to smoke. She smelled of leather and furs and wool, the same earthy tobacco smell joining in to make a scent that was uniquely Diana. Her mouth was hot, and fast, and wet, and understated, just like the rest of her. And Raven could not begin to get enough of it.
Hot, too, was the woman's skin, soft and wet, sliding against her own. She could feel the tickle of hair between the huntress's legs against her own belly, making her heart race even faster. Diana's fingers were now firmly embedded in the princess's hair, gripping nearly too tightly, again as though Raven might let go. In fact, all of Diana's body language – the grip in Raven's hair, around her neck, and around her waist – said one thing: don't let go.
But it soon became clear that they could not stay in this spring. A pitiful whimper from Dax, who had not entered the water, caught their attention. Pulling apart, panting, they both looked in his direction. He was visibly shivering. "Dammit Dax," Raven mumbled. Sighing, she added, "He needs to go inside. He'll freeze to death if we stay here."
Diana whimpered, her breaths washing over Raven's face, making her regret ever having the damn dog…
"There is somewhere we can go. I… I spend the night there when it is warm enough and I need the privacy."
"Brilliant!" Raven exclaimed. She loosened her grip, and Diana reluctantly parted from her. Even in the hot water, her skin felt cool where the huntress was no longer touching her.
But they did not part fully. Diana took her hand, kissing its knuckles before standing, finally showing her body off in the moonlight. Raven was surprised to find that the dark skin did not continue unadulterated, but got patchy on the huntress's torso. Several large, pale spots decorated Diana's stomach, wrapping around her ribs in one place to spread onto her back. On the huntress's lover belly, the pale skin disappeared between her legs, bleaching a good deal of the hair covering the woman's sex.
Letting her eyes reach the conclusion of their ascent at the huntress's beautiful face, she saw a look of concern, of embarrassment. "This is all of me," Diana said simply, clearly worrying of some sort of judgment of her body.
Raven smiled, squeezing the hand that she held and standing up herself, letting the water drip from her in the cold air. "And this is all of me. Now let us move all of us so we can stop bloody freezing out here," she said, smiling as Diana actually laughed. The princess had been hoping that would alleviate the other woman's worries.
Diana let go of Raven's hand as they hurriedly gathered up their clothing, but then took it again, leading Raven farther up the same path they had used to get to the hot spring. The only concession to the cold they made was to slip on their boots, as a walk through the snow was required. The air bit at her naked skin, but her blood was near to boiling at this point, and she knew soon they would be sheltered once more.
In the distance, Raven saw a lone wagon. "Is that where we're headed?" she asked.
Diana nodded. "It's been abandoned for years. I sleep there sometimes in the winter when we camp here, when I want some time alone with my thoughts. Tonight, however, I want time alone with you."
Raven felt a shiver that had nothing to do with the cold travel down her spine at the slight growl in Diana's voice.
They entered the wagon, surprisingly clean, with bedding against the far wall. It even had a small stove and a small stack of wood. "I take it you came here recently?"
"I… spent a lot of nights alone after Mother and Father died," Diana explained, her eyes downcast. "I didn't start sleeping in Sabine's wagon until you came, actually. I… wanted to protect him." Her eyes shot up, a guilty look crossing her features. "I did not know you then how I know you now."
"Well," Raven said with a smirk, coming close, purposefully pressing herself against the huntress, whose eyes closed, her body shuddering at the contact. "I'm glad I could change your mind."
"God, I want you," Diana murmured, her hands reaching up, dragging her nails down Diana's back.
"You have me, Diana," Raven cooed. "But it is still bloody freezing in here. Set out my coat for Dax, and I'll get a fire going, alright?"
Diana whimpered as they separated, but dutifully took Raven's things and made a small bed by the stove for the dog so he would not attempt to sleep with the two of them. Then she settled into the bedding along the far wall, watching intently as a very naked – but only slightly self-conscious – Raven stacked wood inside the stove. Then, not feeling like doing things the traditional way, she concentrated a moment, sending a small blast of flame directly into the kindling from the palm of her hand. She had a fire going in seconds. Closing the stove's door partway so as to give them some light, she turned to find Diana all covered up, sitting amid the blankets they would be sharing momentarily.
Kneeling before the huntress, her lips quirked up at the corner, she spoke. "May I join you, my lady?"
Diana gave her a sardonic look, throwing back the blankets to reveal the entirety of her naked body in the low light from the open stove. "If you do not stop joking around, Raven, I very well might say no to that question."
Raven didn't respond. She was far too busy drinking in the sight of Diana's body up-close. "Honestly," Diana mumbled, before reaching out and wrapping her arms about Raven's neck, pulling her forward so she spilled over across the naked huntress. Warm skin seared across her own, and then her back was covered with a woolen blanket.
Dark eyes seemed to stare right through her, into her very soul. "Shut up and make love to me, Raven."
Unable to think of a single good response to that, she merely covered Diana's mouth with her own, letting the warmth and her lover's taste and scent surround her until she was lost in a heady haze.
Her attention was brought crashing to the fore when Diana's hands began to wander, however. Her fingers trailed up Raven's ribs, her palms following, tracing the outlines of muscles as they moved up onto her back and shoulders. Raven attempting to do that same, but Diana's mouth had moved and was now trailing kisses down her chin and onto her throat, distracting her entirely.
"God, I think I love you, Diana," she moaned, not knowing what she was doing but just trusting that she wouldn't do or say anything too stupid. And anyway, as soon as the words were out, she knew they were true.
She could feel Diana smile against the skin of her throat. "I think I love you, too, Raven," she murmured between kisses, her tongue darting out and lancing fire right through Raven's chest and down into her lower belly. It felt like she was building toward something, an urgency forming in her gut she had no idea what to do with.
Somehow in all of the kissing and groping, Raven found her leg between Diana's, and almost without thinking they were moving together. Undulating, panting, moaning, groping at each other's breasts, kissing every bit of skin they could reach. Raven noticed that her thigh was covered in something slick, emanating from between Diana's legs. A moment of concentration told her that the area between her own legs was just as slick, and she moaned into Diana's mouth as she realized just what this might mean.
As a young teenager, on the day her courses came to her for the first time, she was given a single lesson on sex. She was told that if the man she married did a good enough job, she would become damp, allowing him inside of her, where he would deposit his seed. She couldn't even look at Elliot for an entire week after that. She had thought that the slickness would be bloody just as her courses were, and she could not imagine having to be sweaty and naked with him on top of her, urinating inside of her as she bled all over him.
She figured out in time that that was not true, that a man's seed was different, and that it really could be pleasurable. Indeed, she had even insisted last summer to see Elliot's member, curious to see what it was all about. It had been entirely unappealing, and after helping him achieve climax, she had never agreed to look upon it again. She could not imagine that having it inside of her would be pleasant in the least.
Now, though… Now she wanted Diana inside of her, wanted to rub against the woman, press into her until their skin dissolved and the two of them melded together to form one being. Murmured declarations of love escaped their lips as their rhythm became faster and faster, sweat sprouting upon their skin as the friction between them heated them to an almost uncomfortable degree.
Suddenly, Diana's legs clamped around Raven's like a vice, and her eyes shot open, a look of shock on her face. Briefly, Raven saw fear there, Raven's name forming silently on her lips. But then Diana was shouting something unintelligible, her whole body bucking against Raven's, concentrated where the princess's knee pressed between Diana's legs. All Raven could do was hold her, trying desperately not to remember Elliot's bit-off cries in the garden behind the palace. She at least knew what was happening to Diana, though, that she was climaxing, and tried to coax her through it, using a soothing tone as she encouraged her to "keep feeling good, my darling girl."
A seeming eternity later, Diana stopped bucking, going utterly boneless in Raven's arms.
"Diana? Are you alright?"
Diana merely opened her eyes a little, a lazy smile appearing on her lips. "I think I just died a little."
Raven chuckled. "It looked like a great deal of fun."
"Give me a moment to not be dead, and we can try it for you, as well."
"I think that's more than fair," Raven murmured, hugging the boneless woman tightly to her and burying her face in the huntress's throat. She found it difficult not to keep moving against her, however, as her own blood was still past boiling, every point of contact with Diana blazing with heat. Having the huntress so fluid in her arms, a puddle of warm skin and delicious breath washing over her, made it very difficult to keep her head.
"There is a saying," Diana murmured, beginning to move with Raven, her hands exploring along the princess's back once more, stoking coals into flames and generally causing all sorts of mischief.
"Oh? And what is that?" Raven breathed, closing her eyes as Diana nipped and kissed at her throat.
"That royalty was not gifted the virtue of patience," Diana whispered, tilting her head up and capturing Raven's mouth in a kiss. Raven immediately met her, dancing their tongues together, tasting wet heat infuse across her tongue.
Pulling apart, Raven lifted a brow. "Is that so? And what of all the patience I have learned at your knee, out on the hunt?"
"That is an entirely different hunt from this," Diana crooned, moving her hands languidly along Raven's arms. Suddenly, Raven's wrists were caught in a vice-grip, and the world tilted. She yelped, letting out an "oof" as her shoulders hit the bed. Then Diana was atop her, grinning down at her, eyes hooded in an extremely enticing way.
"This is a hunt, is it?" Raven teased, testing her hands against Diana's. The huntress held fast, her eyes flashing as she dipped her head down to start nibbling gently on Raven's neck.
"I certainly plan to try to make a kill tonight," Diana purred, switching to pin both Raven's wrists with one hand. "A small one." Her free hand drifted between them, exploring the hair between Raven's legs a moment before trailing lower, lower, lower…
"Ah!" the princess cried, looking down sharply into Diana's lazy grin. The huntress had slipped a finger inside of her, and it felt… "God, that feels amazing, Diana!"
Diana pushed herself up to kiss the princess. "I am glad," she said as their lips parted. "I don't quite know what I'm doing, but I thought I'd explore a little and see what happened."
"Can you… can you try more?"
Diana's eyes flashed again, and then suddenly Raven felt… fuller. "God, yes, that, right there. Keep doing-" She bit off a cry, not finishing her request as the huntress pushed up inside of her with two fingers again, finally releasing Raven's wrists. Raven immediately wrapped her arms around Diana's shoulders, pulling them tight against each other as she brought their lips crashing together.
She bucked her hips to Diana's rhythm, pushing herself further onto the huntress's fingers, trying desperately to take Diana deeper. The very thought itself nearly stole from Raven her ability to think, causing her blood to pound between her legs against Diana's hand. She wasn't quite sure what she murmured between kisses, but it couldn't have been much, for Diana's tongue was almost permanently embedded in her mouth. Which was fine by Raven – she still couldn't seem to get enough of the huntress's taste and scent.
She pulled back suddenly, however, when Diana's thumb crept to a particular spot. "What…?"
"Is it good?" Diana asked, worry in her eyes as she slowed a little. "This is what felt so good earlier…"
"I… God, yes, don't stop! Something… something's happening…" Raven bucked a little harder, forgoing words entirely as she kissed her lover again. A wave was cresting inside of her, and it was all she could do to merely hold on as it overtook her entire being, centered at Diana's hand.
She let out a cry as that wave broke, throwing her head back as Diana buried her face in the princess's throat. Her whole body then seized, and wave after wave of pure, unadulterated pleasure coursed through her, playing an undulating rhythm of colors behind her eyes.
Then she, too, collapsed, unable to move as she panted, catching her breath. Diana's hand disappeared from inside of her, prompting the princess to whimper until that wet hand wrapped around her, pulling her to the huntress's shoulder.
Snuggling in, Raven whispered, "I love you, Diana," once more before she drifted off to sleep, cocooned by the scent and warmth of her new lover.
"I love you, too, Raven. More than I ever could have known…"