The silence that had begun with the closing of the door to their room had grown thick, pregnant with expectation. The weight of everything that had happened in the last two days added to that heaviness, tying her tongue as she cycled through any number of things to say. None of them seemed the right thing but the quiet, disrupted only by the crackling of the fire behind Dimitri, squeezed against her. She felt small and insignificant. She hated feeling this way, but it lingered more often than not since yesterday.

He turned toward the fire, chin low and eyes downcast. His shoulders rose and fell with his breath and she could see his fingers flexing and curling at his sides. "I…" he shook his head. Whatever he'd intended to say changed. "I am sorry, Byleth."

Of all that she thought he would say, this was the last thing she expected. She hesitated to respond, hoping that he would continue to expand on what he was thinking. When he did not she asked, "What are you apologizing for?"

A wry laugh huffed out of him. "Which should I begin with? There was the abyss that I failed to protect you from. My feckless ability to lead the lords of my kingdom and the loss of your memory that we've not even begun to address." As he spoke, he raised a hand to his forehead, rubbing his fingertips against his brow. "This was not what I had imagined our reunion to be."

She peered at him, still confused by the guilt she could plainly hear in his voice.

"What kind of King commands so little respect that the idea of seizing the queen could take root?" His fingers dragged across his brow to curl into a tight fist, squeezing so hard that his arm shook.

"It is unthinkable!" The fist at his forehead slammed against the marble mantle with such speed that she hardly saw it, but the sound of its impact made her jump. Convinced that he had broken his hand, she pushed up from the door to move quickly toward him. Oblivious to her, he raked that hand through his hair and as she neared him she could clearly see the tension tremoring through his arms.

A stray glance to the mantel piece found cracks spidering away from the hollow left by his fist with a prominent single break running through the stone. Clasping his forearm, she tried to pull his hand down to inspect it but as she did his attention snapped to her and as if he'd just noticed her.

His wild visage caught her by surprise and his hands closed, vicelike, around her arms before she could say a word. Her stomach leapt into her throat and she instinctively tried to back away, but he held her tightly in place.

"If anyone had so much as touched you..." What had begun as a low growl erupted into a shout and it took every ounce of control she had not to wince away from the rage burning hot in his eyes.

"I should have killed him at dinner for his impudence alone. I should have beaten his skull to pieces and have his corpse paraded about the kingdom!" The fury within him pitched and the throes of his rage twisted his face. The pupils of his eyes had dilated in his delirium and her voice caught in her throat, refusing to respond to her. Dimitri released his grip on her with such force as she launched himself toward the chamber door that she stumbled.

"I will drag him screaming to the courtyard and tear him to pieces, beginning with his tongue!" he bellowed, hurling a chair from out of his path. The sturdy piece shattered as it collided with the stone wall of the room.

"Dimitri stop!" she ordered, straightening and squaring herself toward him. She must have retained enough of her power as his professor to give him pause because he obeyed with a jerk.

"Why should I?" he roared as he turned to face her. "They think I am weak? I will show them how wrong they are!"

Byleth's eyes narrowed. "You are too angry." She had clearly overestimated the control he exhibited at dinner. He had not mastered his anger but rather pushed aside to bide its time and overwhelm him when provoked.

"Haven't I the right to be?" Her heart softened at the sound of his voice as it cracked under the weight of his anger.

"Yes."

She surprised him with her complicity and it was enough to startle him out of his consuming rage. A faint smile spread on her lips as she realized he had expected her to disagree. Didn't he know that she could never deny him?

"I couldn't understand how you restrained yourself before. The things that the Margrave said are unforgivable."

He filled her vision and her body moved of its own accord toward him, drawn by a need to touch him. He watched with wide, uncertain eyes. Goddess did he think she was tricking him?

"You once told me to bide my time and I did. I am telling you now to let this fire cool and discover what remains when it does." She was so close that she had to tilt her head back to look into his face. She could smell his skin this close, the musk and salt-smell of having worn his armor all day mingled with the outside earthy scene. Breathing deeply, his scent made her legs weak. He was so still that he could have been made of stone. All except his eyes. She could almost hear the argument happening behind them.

Reaching up, she brushed his hair back from his face to clear a space for her palm. His eyes shut lightly at her touch and he turned into her hand, but his chest continued to rise and fall in an irregular rhythm.

"I wish I knew what to do," he murmured as his fingers closed gently around her wrist. The feel of his fingertips brought heat to her cheeks and his breath sent shivers up her arm. No matter how often she reminded herself that they had been married for more than a year, being this close to him still felt new and forbidden.

His fingers tightened around her wrist, holding her hand in place as he pressed his lips to the heel of her hand. Her stomach knotted at the feel of his teeth sinking into her skin to graze heavily without breaking the skin. The heat in her cheeks blazed red-hot and she discovered there was no longer a gap between their bodies as he captured her other wrist.

"I am sorry," he was saying softly in the space between kisses placed on her fingertips. "I lost control of myself"

Byleth tried to swallow the emotion welling in her throat but the sensations racing through her arm at the sight of his head tilted as he planted a kiss on her palm, then her wrist gave her voice a mind of its own.

"No."

The blue of his eyes blazed to life as he looked at her. She met them, and her illusions of control fractured.

"It is a part of you and I mean to have all of you."

She watched as a wide breadth of emotion cycled like lightning across his eyes. It happened so fast that she could not name them, but his mouth moved forming small soundless words and his fingers tightened around her hands. In a sudden rush of boldness, she rolled up onto her toes to catch his mouth with her own. His breath hitched before she felt him press down to meet her. Breathlessly, she pulled away and he leaned forward to pursue halting only when she spoke.

"I am ready to see all of you."

Surprise melted to disbelief on his face and he swallowed audibly. His jaw muscles worked, betraying his clenching teeth. Despite the nerves swelling in her stomach she continued to meet his gaze evenly, schooling her face to calm. She was certain if she looked away he would doubt her resolve and sincerity.

Soundlessly and suddenly, he released her wrists and grabbed her waist to pull her against him with a harsh jerk. Her eyes widened in surprise, but he continued to watch with an expressionless face as though he were evaluating her. Testing her word. She did not recoil or pull away.

Again, he tested her, eyes keenly fixed on her face as he snaked his arms about her frame with a brazen disregard for his strength. Byleth gasped, her breath driven out by the crushing power of his arms and the feel of his fingers contracting along her back. Images of the crack in the marble mantle flashed through her mind and she suddenly felt as though she were about to be devoured.

Uncertainty sprang into his eyes and he loosened his hold on her. Before he could drop his arms entirely, before he allowed his doubt to take hold, she clamped her hands to the back of his neck. Forcing him to focus on her face, her steady eyes. Silencing the small voice of caution within her, she said "I am not afraid."

"I am," he whispered, lowering his face to her neck. Her skin sizzled at the heat of his breath and the timid brushes of his lips.

A heavy sigh parted her lips and she tilted her head, lengthening the column of her neck for him. "What are you afraid of?"

Either his confidence was returning or his appetite for her further whetted because she felt his fingers flex on her back and his tongue against her skin. Her eyes fluttered shut as he dragged his lips up to take her earlobe in his teeth. "I don't want to hurt you."

His voice made her shiver.

The tip of his tongue dipped into the curve of her ear sending tingles rushing through her legs and down her spine. "I trust you." Her voice trembled as his breath rushed into her ear.

"I may not be able to recover myself," his voice trembled too but for a different reason than she.

Frowning, Byleth pulled her head back to peer up into his face. Shame clouded his eyes and embarrassment colored his cheeks. Placing her hands on his chest, she could feel the strong, rapid heartbeat beneath. "Have you forgotten who and what I am?"

He blinked at the question and his brow furrowed as though he were seeing her clearly for the first time. Perhaps they had grown so comfortable together that he had indeed forgotten. His lips parted but no words came. Surely, he'd been told his whole life that his strength was dangerous and must be controlled.

"Come. Show me what you've been hiding."

Hesitation played on his face while, lurking just behind, she could see the sparks waiting to ignite. The gentle kiss he placed on her lips was at odds with what she knew he wanted to do. She realized as she faithfully returned his tenderness that he may need time to adjust to the idea of baring himself to her in this way.

Perhaps sooner than she'd anticipated, his chest billowed beneath her hands with a deep, shuddering breath and he deepened his kiss. She tilted her head to welcome his tongue with her own, rolling it across his, finding it wet and warm and greedy. His breath hitched, and he ground his lips against hers, the hair on his upper lip and chin scratched her face.

His hands began to move, one up to cradle her neck in his palm, making her skin prickle beneath his touch. The other descended over the small of her back to rest on the round, cheek of her ass to squeeze and knead the ample flesh there. Her hips rolled at each flex of his fingers, grinding against his pelvis. She could feel his arousal filling beneath his trousers. The contact drove him to push his tongue pushed further into her mouth as he rumbled with pleasure. He squeezed again, and she rocked against him but instead of releasing her, he sank his fingers harshly into her muscle until she flexed involuntarily.

Byleth gasped at the shooting pain forking through her hips but curiously it stoked the adrenaline already buzzing in her limbs. Her sex pulsed in response. She ground her lips up, matching the demanding, ravenous pace of her lover. His sound of surprise was muffled and instantly devoured by their soft pants and moans as their lips and tongues wrestled. He released his claw like hold on her but did not permit her distance from his groin and thighs.

His long fingers groped their way up her neck to tangle in her hair to tangle boorishly tearing through the pins and braid. Water gathered in the corners of her eyes from the pinching, sharp pain shooting through her scalp. He remained unaware of her discomfort, his eyes were closed, and he knew nothing but the feel of her body against him and the taste of her tongue in his mouth.

Then he was moving, stepping quickly and twisting her along as he did. She stumbled along awkwardly and blindly trying to keep up. Perhaps it would have been easier if she'd gone limp and allowed him to drag her.

With just a glimpse from the corner of her eye and a breath of a moment to brace herself, her back slammed against the wall. The force of the impact would have whipped her head back if he'd not secured her head in his hand. The air pushed out of her rushed into his mouth which had not left hers for a moment during his maneuver. He pressed against her in an instant, pinning her with the bulk of his body. With no further need to hold her in his hands, he released her ass and pulled his hand from her hair to grope at her side.

With one arm supporting him against the wall, the other was free to rake up her ribs and across her breast before his palm closed atop her breast. He was so tall. Taller than she remembered, and his supporting arm easily arced over her head. His touch was rough enough to feel through the padding of her tunic. She was sweltering in the thick riding clothes and yet his touch spurred her to arch into his hand as best she could with so little space between the wall, herself and Dimitri.

At last he abandoned her mouth and she gasped for air. Her panting soon carried her moans as well when he decided down her throat. His mouth felt like a brand on her neck where he'd latched, lapping at her frantic pulse with a thick tense tongue. She could not tell if it was sweat or saliva she felt dripping down her neck, nor did she care. Her breath heaved, and her toes flexed in her boots as pleasure coursed through her limbs. Her core ached and his own sex, now prominent even under his clothes, seemed to throb in time with her own.

With a shuddering breath, his lips left her neck and his forehead pressed against her temple. She turned into him, desperately searching for his lips again but, pinned as she was, he took hold of her chin to turn her away, leaving her jaw free for the taking. Feather-weight kisses tickled her jaw and she leaned into his lips. He released her chin.

"Am I hurting you?" Byleth quivered as he spoke. The sound of his voice so close to her ear, low and thick drove every coherent thought from her head. Her eyes shut at the sound of him. "Answer me."

Byleth wetted her lips. She needed time to tame her breath enough to speak. "No."

His next breath expelled a short, pleased laugh then he was pressing the flat of his tongue to her jaw and dragging it up to her ear. "Of course not." His voice remained thick, rasping from panting breaths. "I underestimated your strength these years, my beloved."

She could only whimper in response. Her legs wobbled and had he not been supporting her, she'd have fallen to the floor. His praises whispered to her as his knee shifted to part her legs ignited her blood, she felt as though she were melting. Soft laughter rumbled in his chest.

"Should I release you?"

"No."

"So quick to answer."

She could feel him take her hands in his. Their fingers intertwined and clung together, palm to palm; intimate and connected. He shifted her arms, pulling her hands along until they were over her head. A single hand was all he needed to hold her about her wrists as though she were shackled to the wall.

He pushed his leg further until she straddled him, his thigh spreading her to press up against her slit. The pressure against her prompted a slow rocking of her hips to grind against him. Pleasure shot through her core with each grind of her hips and her teeth clamped down on her lower lip, holding back the moans she felt threatening to breach as she exaggerated her movement. She rolled her hip purposefully against his cock, now fully engorged and bulging prominently against her. He was not so coy, as he picked up the rhythm of their laborious, rocking dance. Lusty sounds wrung out of him accompanied each hitch in his breath.

"I can feel your heat through your clothes," he murmured. "I wonder. Are you wet for me too?"

Her toes wiggled in her shoes and her pulse surged to beat in her ears. She wanted him to touch her so badly that she was near begging. Her core pulsed painfully in anticipation of him. It was with agonizing slowness that he slipped his hand beneath her tunic to loop a teasing finger past the line of her pants. Her stomach quivered at his touch. She was sweltering beneath her clothes. It took only a moment for his knuckle to hear from her skin. Then, he took hold of the band below her navel and pulled.

The stitching at the seams on her hips gave way, popping and ripping with minimal effort from him. With a torturous drag of his thigh, he pulled it from between her legs which allowed the fabric to fall forward. Her undergarments were scant beneath the thick riding pants and the cold air rushed in against the damp fabric between her legs where her arousal had pooled. She shivered and squirmed against his hand still anchored to the wall above her head though she was not inclined to escape.

He watched her face with keen interest as his free hand trailed lightly along the top of a thigh. The fine hairs on her leg raised beneath his touch. His sigh was heavy with satisfaction as he teased her. Her lips parted with her breath and soft moans, anticipation mounting within her as he traced the slit between her mound and her plush thigh. Once again, he exhibited his knowledge of her that outpaced her own. She loved when he did that.

Byleth thought she would burst if he teased her any longer and pulled against his restraining hand, testing his strength but he held tight. Her frustrated huff dissolved into a moan as he fanned his fingers one by one along the crotch of her small clothes until she felt the flat of his palm press up to cover her opening. He tested and prodded through the cloth. Dimitri hummed as his breath spilled from his nostrils, warming her cheek where he had pressed his own.

"You are positively dripping." His voice was so close to her ear and his hold on her sex sent heat raging like fire across her skin. She writhed helplessly in his hands. Her breath hitched and tumbled out of her as he pushed the wet sopping crotch of her under clothes aside and pushed his index finger between her swollen outer lips. He dipped then dragged the finger along the length, brushing past her clit as he did so.

Again she writhed, nearly swinging from his hand above her head. He paused to glance up at her hands as she watched him from behind half lidded eyes. "Wiggle your fingers."

She did as she was told.

"Good girl."

His grin was pleased and he loosened his hold around her wrists slightly but she still couldn't pull herself free. His grip was like steel. He leaned closer and kissed the corner of her mouth, resisting her as she tried to turn and capture his lips. His free hand was once again at her hip, and his fingers beneath the band at her hip. He pulled and the seam at her side gave way instantly. The leg hole of the other side remained untorn and the now loosened fabric whispered down her leg to gather where the inseam of her pants remained suspended between her legs.

His fingers raked through the tuft of hair atop her sex and she shivered. Her inner walls contracted and her hips bucked as he neared the valley between her legs. She could hear nothing but her breath and the blood in her ears.

"Ask me."

She looked at him through her lashes and found him staring at her, his eyes like ice despite the red in his cheeks and the rapid rise and fall of his chest betraying his arousal. In the haze of her distraction she couldn't understand what he'd asked her.

"What?" she panted.

"Ask me," he repeated.

Color blanched on her face and her stomach twisted along with her hips. The thought of asking him and the pleased response she'd receive from him thrilled her in a way she'd never known. Swallowing her pride and wetting her lips she met his gaze.

"Please," she stammered "Please touch me."

Humming again, he pressed his lips to hers, a brief reward, and the relief of connecting was instant. She melted against him parting her lips for his tongue even before prompted. He raked through the curled hair atop her sex one again and then parted her lips with confident fingers. Byleth twisted her lips against his as he pushed two fingers through her engorged lips to breach her. He promptly added a third, stretching her wider. Her head rocked back, pulling away from his lips which twisted into a cock-sure grin.

She rocked her hips, driving his fingers further into the depths of her, grinding against his hand which he'd secured against her mound like a glove. Sweat began to bead on her face as he curled his fingers inside of her, stroking along her pulsing walls as she chased her pleasure against his battle-hardened palm. She writhed, suspended by her wrists against his hand between her legs. He was so tall. Had he always been so tall?

His breath puffed against her face, his excitement heightened and evident by the size of his erection that bulged and pulsed long against her hip. Her legs wobbled and her teeth sank into her swollen bottom lip.

"Seeing you undone in my hand…" Again his breath spilled out of him as he reveled in his control. "Beloved, it's so hard to wait."

And then he sealed his lips to that spot on her neck. She'd only discovered it the day before but he knew it too well. Her eyes snapped open, nearly bulging they were so wide as lightning forked down her neck to join the storm in her stomach. She could feel her insides swelling around his fingers then clench inhibiting his movements each time he sucked at her neck. Faster she rocked against his palm and when she teetered on the edge ready to plummet he stopped abruptly. Panting, she looked at him with wild, pleading eyes.

He sucked his upper lip between his teeth as he pulled his hand from between her legs. Her slick glistened on his fingers up to the second knuckle as he raised them to his lips. She watched, transfixed. Her body continued to hum and burn and ache. She gulped at the air and he watched her through half-closed lids. He breathed deeply of her scent before his tongue appeared to lick them clean.

"You're ready," he said almost to himself and he released her arms. She felt ravenous, driven mad from hunger and thirst. She must have looked wild with her hair torn partway from her braid and her clothing ripped but the moment she could she threw her arms around his neck to kiss him again as if she were an animal freed from a cage. He caught her about the ribs and lifted her with no effort allowing her the satisfaction of assailing his mouth with her lips and tongue.

The next she knew she 'd been tossed and landed with her back on the bed with a bounce and he was standing before her taking his belt off. She swung her arms wide, knocking pillows off the bed in a frenzy to make room and was then trying to roll what remained of her pants off her legs. Much to her frustration, they stopped at her boot tops.

Before she could try to undo her boot laces, she saw Dimitri's hands close on the remaining inseam of her pants. Byleth laid back and he tore them apart. Her legs were free now, though still clothed in tatters and she swung them wide expecting him to crawl up after her. Instead, he grabbed hold of her booted ankles and pulled her to the edge of the bed with a jerk.

With legs dangling over the edge of the bed she propped herself up on her elbows to see him clearly.

His mane of hair, freed from the tie at the back of his head, obscured part of his face accentuating the bestial way he was looking at her. Curiously, he was still fully clothed except for the front of his pants which he'd undone to pull himself free. His cock was fully erect and magnificent, supported at the base of the shaft with his hand. He pumped his hand absently, pushing pre-come out to glisten at the tip before beading and falling in shimmering strands.

He was close enough to touch, nearly hovering over her. She'd been restrained long enough and her fingers ached to feel his skin beneath them. In a frenzied rush, Byleth pushed herself up and took hold of his hips before he could take hold of her again. He sucked his breath through his teeth at the feel of her fingers on his skin. He watched her roll up his shirt and press her lips to his stomach, just below his navel. The salt on his skin made her lips tingle so she tilted her head to press the flat of her tongue to him, licking his skin which quivered delightfully under her tongue.

With a trembling hand, he laced his fingers through her hair to push her firmly against his skin. Another long draw of her tongue nearly bent him over with a jerk, she placed her hand atop of his to take his place at the base of his cock. The girth was almost too much for her hand to close fully around but she managed with a squeeze that ripped a strangled sound from his throat.

The feel of him in her hand was overwhelmingly intoxicating and she turned to press her cheek against him so that she could look down to observe the weight of his sex in her hand as she stroked down the length of him. His skin was so smooth and soft, almost delicate but roped with strong, prominent veins along the shaft. When she reached the base of the bulbous head, she had to loosen her grip enough to pass over it. He jerked as she did. If her breath had not been so labored, she might have grinned to herself as she pushed her hand back up to the base.

The bestial sounds of his groans and the contracting of his fingers in her hair with each stroke she made was hypnotic. His fingers tightened in her hair, clutching her, pushing her head against his stomach. His free hand grabbed at her breast again kneading through the thick tunic. Frustration sounded, mingled with his increasingly shameless moans and he began to move his hips in time, slowly thrusting into her hand as she worked.

After having been restrained for so long, the feeling of control she felt as she pumped her hand up and down his length was exhilarating. Each time his stomach flexed and his chest jerked forward at her motions widened the grin on her face. His fingers tightened in her hair and another growl sounded in his chest as she squeezed and twisted her hand along the head of his cock, her palm sticky from his ejaculate. With that final twist, he could take no more. He tore his hand from her hair pulling strands with it in his sweaty fingers as he did eliciting a hiss from her.

She released him as quickly as he'd begun to move with shocking speed for someone who could barely form words only moments ago. Moving like a predatory animal, he grabbed the neck of her tunic and pulled to rip it open from top to bottom, another grip at the neckline of her undershirt pulled down followed with a grip from his other hand at the centerline of her brassiere and another pull down and the seams gave way. [Peeling her clothing with the ease that someone might use to unpeel a ripe fruit] In a flurry of motion she was left breathless by the speed and deftness of this but before she could recover, he'd gripped her by her waist and tossed her back onto the large bed.

The mattress dipped with his weight as he crawled up to join her. Raised up on her elbows she watched as he moved on his hands and knees. His eyes were partially obscured from beneath his loose hair and his erection bounced, heavy and intimidating between his legs. Not for the first time since they stood near the doorway, Byleth's mouth ran dry and she felt as though she were about to be consumed.

Without a word he pushed her knees apart, splaying her on the bed. Sitting up on his knees, his eyes examined her body, lingering on the most sensitive parts until she could stay still no longer. She waited with bated breath, begging him silently to touch her again. Her nipples hardened under his gaze and she squirmed without thinking as desire and need filled her under his scrutiny. How she must have looked, her arms and calves still clothed and surrounded with the tatters of her ruined clothing.

Whether he was toying with her or oblivious to the need filling her to burst she didn't know, but Dimitri moved with agonizing slowness to take one of her marbled nipples into his mouth. A long, unabashed moan accompanied her exhale and her insides clenched to feel his tongue against the sensitive flesh, rock hard in his mouth. Her other breast was not to be neglected, his palm closed at her, kneading and toying as he sucked at the other.

His fingers closed on her nipple, pinching lightly at first but increasing the pressure until she cried out despite herself. Raising his head, he pulled back on the other until the suction released with a pop and then rested his cheek against it to watch his fingers play with the other. A pull and snap back had her arching her back. A twist and she writhed, raising her arms over her head to press her face to her sleeve. Her nipple, already red from desire was soon purple from use.

The quivering and shaking that ravaged her was now incessant. Her toes were numb in her boots from flexing against the leather confines. The need for him inside of her felt like it would overwhelm her at any moment.

"Forgive me my indulgences, my beloved." He lifted himself over her and her hips raised off the bed, an invitation, a pleading to be filled to quell the burning ache inside herself. He smirked at her eagerness. "You have been so good."

His cheeks were red and his eyes expectant. Byleth licked her dry lips watching his face, his eyes were locked on her own, departing just long enough to position himself. She felt the push of the head of his cock at her engorged entrance. He rocked his hips, pushing forward past the lips of her sex. She winced and breathed deeply, trying to relax, willing herself to open wider to accept him. His arms trembled on either side of her and his eyes shut as he pushed slowly forward.

Their breath hitched in unison, Byleth as she stretched to accommodate his girth and he at the pressure of her slick, tight pussy squeezing against him. While his progress was slow, it remained steady without retreat. The veins on his neck began to show as he pushed, filling her, forcing her to part for him. The pressure and pain of taking all of him was exquisite and her fingers clutched at the bedding beneath her.

With a grunt and final drive forward, his hips met her thighs. Filled fully and completely, with each panting breath she heaved she felt herself close around him inside her. He jerked against her in several short bursts working split her even further. A heavy satisfied groan tore out of him and he lowered his face to hers. She raised both her chin and her hips to accept his mouth and invite him deeper inside her.

Hips and mouth ground down against her and Byleth gasped into his mouth. His hair surrounded her, a golden screen separating them from the world around them. His tongue assailing her mouth occupied her so fully that she didn't realize how her body had stretched to accommodate his sex within her own until he gave a quick, shallow in and out as though testing her readiness.

His mouth twisted against her and he withdrew his tongue. Her eyes opened and met his just inches away, hovering above her and hazy with arousal. "Ready?" he mumbled, giving another more prominent draw and pump of his hips with a lewd slap against her thighs.

Her reply was obscured completely by her breathy, gasping groan as he filled her again.

"Good girl," he growled.

And then he'd pulled completely out of her and before she could recover from the exquisite friction against her insides he took hold of her ankles and lifted first one leg and then the other to positioned them on his shoulders. The pull and burn of her muscles as they stretched provided a brief relief from the building pressure within her.

Seeing first the boot and what remained of her pant leg and then the other with tatters of pants and the remnants of her under clothes, she felt an embarrassment creep from her gut up to her face. She looked like she had been mauled by an animal and, in a way, she had. He had torn her clothing from her body with little thought or care besides exposing what he wanted and she, ashamedly, had reveled in it. And now, here she was, nearly doubled in half moments before he would assuredly fuck her into oblivion.

Lips parted with heavy breath, his own pants pulled below his knees he'd taken only what he needed from the confines of his clothing. He grasped her hips, his hand sinking into the curvy flesh of her hip, holding her in place. "Ask me," he growled through clenched teeth. His cock, still shining with her slick rocked against her slit, heavy and thick. She quivered and whimpered in response.

Byleth attempted to raise her hips, to push herself against his cock and fill herself if he would not oblige. His eyes narrowed but the toothy grin that spread across his face gave away the playful satisfaction beneath his display of displeasure.

"Ask me," he repeated and sank his fingers into the flesh of her hip, digging his nails into her.

She was fretting her upper lip and her body trembled with urgency, the pain from his fingers at her hips made her try for a second time to buck her hips forward but to no avail. The cold air in the room broke her skin out in goosebumps as sweat began to bead on the surface.

"Beg for me."

Again, the humiliation of her predicament agitated the fire in her stomach. Even through the burning on her cheeks she met his gaze evenly. Yes, her tongue would beg but she would meet him head on the best she could through her unsteady breath. "P… please," she managed. "Please, Dimitri."

His brows furrowed at the whimpering sound of his name and a tremulous sighed shook out of him. "I'll comply." With a brutal thrust of his hips he plugged past her lips, forcing his way into her.

Her eyes shot wide and her mouth gaped soundlessly as her breath caught in her throat. He sheathed so tightly inside of her, she flexed against him and spikes of pain and pleasure rolled through her like wildfire. She heard him clearly over her panting, a strangled groan as he hit her innermost wall. He released her hips and fell forward to support himself with an arm on either side of her hips. Her own pelvis rolled with him, pushing her thighs as far back as her ligaments would allow. Dimitri turned his head and sank his teeth into the meat of her calf as he rolled further into her.

Having caught her breath only to lose it again with a wail of ecstasy as he marked her, Byleth threw her arms up to thud against his back. She dug her nails into the fabric of his shirt, balling it in her fists as she held on for dear life. With a shaking breath he pumped his hips back and then thrust forward again with similar speed and force. Byleth cried out again as he split her again and again, releasing him to fall back against the bed where she threw her face to the side, rutting into the blankets that had gathered around her.

At last her body adjusted to his assault and he could move freely in and out of her. With renewed vigor, he thrust and rolled and ground against her as her legs bounded against his shoulders. His own sounds were all grunts and groans and growls as he mercilessly drove into her. The scrunched concentration on her face gave way to immense intense pleasure at each slapping beat of his hips against the back of her thighs. Her lips while parted with her panting breath, curved up into a joyous smile at being ravaged and enjoyed by him. Her body shook and jolted with the force of each driving thrust. It felt like the entire world moved with his strength.

"Look at me!"

His rasping, growling voice hardly sounded like him and it jarred her out of her stupor. Her eyes sprang open and looking up she found his face had softened though his pace remained unchanged. She struggled to remain focused on his face as her body shook and jolted with the force of his driving thrusts.

"Please," he managed between thrusts and catches of breath. "Smile... at me."

Her eyes widened at this unexpected turn then melted as the request sank in. She reached up to push his hair back from his face with her hands, collecting the strands in her fingers and pressing her sweat coated palms to his blazing cheeks. With his face unobscured, their eyes met. Her adoration and the feeling of him inside of her merged into a soft beautiful smile. How could she have ever existed without him? At the sight of her beneath him, his face softened and he turned to kiss her palm affectionately.

All she could hear was her blood pounding in her ears and their breath mingled with glorious pleasure, straining as they pursued one another's climax.

And then the sounds they made shifted, tightened into strained moans and cries and gasps. She rocked her hips in time with his grinding rhythm between thrusts as her insides twisted and tightened.

They rolled together in time and it was not difficult to smile again, seeing his face beaded in sweat and flushed with building pressure. She gasped as her inner walls clamped around him, stifling his movements. Her spine arched and her arms flew out against the bed as every muscle in her body locked. Dimitri looped a forearm under her lower back and ground down with such force that she thought she would snap in half.

Byleth screamed his name as light exploded across her eyes and her body convulsed in his arms. Resisting the hold of her orgasm, he continued to rock against her, pushing as much as he could as his own breath hitched and his body tightened. Again his name was torn from her lips as another spasm shook her.

No sooner had her orgasm rushed through her then shouted. A wordless, strained sound that seemed ripped from his soul. His hips bucked against her as she filled her with wetness that seeped out to drip and pool beneath her. With heaving breaths, he released her and she parted her legs to clear the way for him to collapse on top of her.

She felt at once an overwhelming relief. Her body hummed and tingled all over and she raised an arm to stroke a hand down his sweat drenched back. He shuddered again, whether from her caresses or an aftershock she couldn't tell. With her other shaking hand, she pushed strands of hair back from his face.

After a moment of respite, he shifted to pull out of her, groaning as he did and rolled over off of her. She stared at the ceiling, the fire light danced on the stone above and she recalled where they were. Only now, things didn't seem so bleak. She groped for his hand. Their fingers brushed together and then closed around the other.

She was surprised to hear him speak in such a level voice after such exertion. "I broke a promise to you."

Blinking, she crashed back to reality from her euphoria and turned her head to look at him. Dimitri sprawled on his back, his hair fanned out, his cock still engorged and swollen resting out along his stomach. His eyes were fixed on the ceiling though his gaze seemed to go beyond it.

"I swore to you that I would protect you. I swore this to you no more than a day ago and I have already failed you."

Byleth pushed herself up onto her elbow to see him more clearly but he did not shift to meet her gaze. "There was nothing you could have done."

He shook his head "I saw you start down the hill but I couldn't do anything but stare at it. I saw you running but I was powerless. If Felix hadn't…" he stopped abruptly and squeezed his eyes shut against what he did not want to say.

She reached to him, taking hold of his arm as though to pull his attention back to her but he did not budge.

"I should have been the one to catch you," his voice shook with passion and self-loathing. "But I was too weak of mind to save you."

Warmth spread through her chest as a gentle smile appeared on her lips. "Dimitri," she placed her fingers on his cheek and turned him to face her. Anguish and shame shone in his eyes. "I wanted to fall. I didn't say so earlier because I didn't want to worry you but I heard that music and the pull was so strong... If you hadn't reached out to me… if it had been anyone but you…"

He looked at her, eyes wide with disbelief.

"So you see. You did save me."

After an inordinately long, silent moment he covered her hand with his. "My beloved… All of this time I've been swearing to stay by your side when what I really wanted to ask was that you stay by mine. Please. Promise me that you will never leave me." He plucked her hand from his face and pressed her palm to his heart.

The longer she gazed at his face and felt the beating of his heart beneath her hand the softer she became. How could she ever deny him anything?

"Yes." She nodded. "I will never leave you, my heart. My beating heart."

He lifted his chin and she leaned to meet his mouth sealing her promise with a kiss. When they parted they gazed at each other each drinking in the other and the quiet of this shared movement.

Finally, she could no longer hold back a jaw cracking yawn. The spell was certainly broken when he too yawned and stretched. "I hope that you brought extra clothing," he said with a chuckle.

Byleth looked down at the tattered rags still clinging to her arms and at her boot tops.

"I don't know that those can be mended."

She smirked as she twisted to remove her ruined tunic. "Do You think Margaret would allow me to do otherwise?"

"I supposed not. I can't say that I am sorry for the trouble."

"I don't think I will have any trouble sleeping tonight." She tossed her tunic and undergarments into a heap on the floor then turned her attention to her boot laces.

Sitting up behind her, she felt him gently brush tendrils of hair from her shoulders and brush his lips across her skin. "That is if I allow you to sleep."

She shivered and smiled to herself. If anything were to keep her awake, at least this would be a welcome distraction. Well worth the exhaustion she would face tomorrow.