Thus concludes the dinner party. Plot forward! Okay, mostly smut. But plot, too!
Here's my smut disclaimer: I'm Ace spec. Sometimes it can be tricky for me to write the stuff but I do it because it's good in the plot for the characters when it makes sense for them, and I know many of y'all like the intimacy of it. I do my best to write it as realistic as possible because I am aware that some fanfic readers are young and exploring sexuality. I don't want to be one of the author's that misleads those readers.
-17-
Isolde
She was standing in the kitchen, starting on the leftover mess. Rebekah had handled a lot of it while dinner was being prepared and Isolde was grateful.
Theon had made half-assed excuses not to help clean up and then dragged Rebekah off for some kind of surprise he didn't elaborate on. If Isolde had to guess, she figured he would be introducing his soul bond to his own people who'd arrived in town that afternoon.
Isolde left Dáinn with his descendants, sans Rebekah, all locked in an animated conversation in Old Norse and Isolde felt exceedingly happy for them all. Elijah had looked ecstatic to find he had more family, and a powerful Shade at that. Kol was intrigued and asked dozens of questions. Finn had even vaguely remembered his Great Uncle and seemed completely over the moon.
And Isolde knew Dáinn was happy to finally be able to talk to his family after a thousand years of being told vampires weren't to be trusted.
Nailah, her first Shade and friend from childhood, had asked for a private audience and Isolde had her come inside for it. The others, Belial, Batibat, and Kija had returned to duty after a brief introduction to Isolde's new bonds.
As Isolde began rinsing dishes and filling the dishwasher, Nailah rested her hip against the counter with folded arms. "What orders do you have for Samael?"
"Do they text yet?" Isolde answered with another question.
"They do, we all do." Nailah affirmed with a sharp nod.
"Great." Isolde smiled and scrubbed at a burned bit of squash from the inside of a pot. "I'll write my personal number down, please pass it to the six of you. Tell Samael to update me on any further movements Mr. Salvatore makes, especially if he tries to flee. And let them know I'd rather they not engage, unless it is to protect one of my bonds."
"You think he will flee?"
"I'm hoping I gave him enough information and that he's just smart enough (or dumb enough, I suppose) that he does something I've lead him to do." Isolde's smirk was sadistic before she went back to the dishes. "What else do you wish to speak of?"
"I have news from the capital, and from the Legatus Legionis." Isolde nodded for her to continue. "There are mutterings in the Shadowed Halls that some ambitious Senators are staging a coup d'état, questioning the wisdom of leaving Yasu-chan in charge for over five decades. Legatus Antonius confirmed this with me, he wanted you to know that one of the Tribuni lead them."
A Tribuni was a senior officer that held command as one of the five officers over an entire Legion, only Mark or Isolde themselves had the power to stand against someone of that rank. And it sounded as though there were five of the same legion who wished to stand against Isolde. Meaning it was likely that a legion of six thousand Hidden were staging this coup.
Mark couldn't stop them, not without Isolde's official backing.
Politics in the capital were something Isolde missed, and also loathed. But as she told Rebekah and Elijah the other day; do not create if you cannot lead.
"What else?" Isolde asked calmly, feeling her ire begin to build as she set another dish in the dishwasher.
"The Senate has managed to strong arm their way into the capital's finances and have raised taxes on the laymen, as well. They've begun to hold lavish parties with humans and are making back door deals. Yasu-chan has done everything in her power to stop them for decades but they've finally worked around her as of three years ago. The people are beginning to feel the effects and jobs are harder to come by. Many businesses have had to scale-back staffing whilst the overall population has had to budget tighter."
Meaning some of Isolde's people were on the brink of homelessness and/or starvation in the streets of the capital, with winter just months away. The glass Isolde was holding in her hand shattered over the sink as her eyes flashed gold.
"I see." She stated, rinsing the blood from her hand under the tap.
"From Legatus Antonius." Nailiah produced a letter with Mark's stamped seal on it and slid it across the counter while Isolde dried her rapidly healing hand. "He instructed me to ask you to read it alone as soon as you could. Please, allow me to finish with the clean up."
Isolde swiped the letter off the counter, thanking Nailah and heading to the basement as she opened it. The letter was written in a coded language that only her family and each of their most trusted Legatus' knew. Upon seeing the code, Isolde's brow snapped together.
She felt as though she'd swallowed a small pebble. With each sentence she read, the pebble grew until there was a heavy weight settled in her stomach that had her sinking to the couch. As Theon had said earlier that night, it was rare for Isolde's people to turn against her, but some did attempt to every now and again.
Isolde should've recognized that most ranked Hidden would never see a soul child as a legitimate heir, and thus would rail against Yasu's command, even with Mark's unending support.
Yasu should have told Isolde she was struggling to maintain her authority over the capital in her mother's absence, but Isolde figured her child wanted her to have the vacation she'd asked for. This was the first one she'd taken since long before Yasu was found.
The bottom line was that Isolde had been selfish; and now her people were suffering.
On weary legs, she took the letter and pulled a lighter out of her desk drawer, carefully setting it on fire over the waste bin. Theon was around and Shade business was not Incubi business, she couldn't afford for him to know what was happening within her walls. At least not yet.
Isolde knew that by mobilizing forces, she was all but telling the Hidden she was ready to return. Anyone old enough to recall the last time she took an extended holiday would know that it typically took her a year to return once she announced her intentions. The traitors would make their move before she returned, settle themselves into a powerful new regime to force her hand. If they had the support of the people before Isolde returned, things would get far more complicated, legally.
She still needed to help the Mikaelson's wrap up what they were doing before she could return. But Isolde had to go back; soon. Before winter.
'A month.' Isolde told herself as she sunk back onto the couch, staring at the black screen of her television. 'I will ensure all of the Mikaelson's current and most pressing issues are taken care of in the next month and then I will return to the capital.'
The basement door opened and closed. She looked up and Kol was at the bottom of the steps, leaning against the doorway with raised brows. "Started a fire, love?"
She glanced over at the bin, fire still licking at the metal, and snuffed it out with a shadow. "Just for a moment."
Kol pushed off the door frame and closed the distance between them, crouching between her and the coffee table. He rested his hands on the outside of Isolde's thighs, looking up at her face. His eyes darted between hers, expression twisted with concern.
"What's the matter, darling?" He rubbed slow circles on her legs where his thumbs rested. "Bad news, is it? I'll bash heads in wherever necessary- just point me in the right direction."
Isolde let out a puff of air and smiled, but it was strained. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his neck. Kol used his position to slide his arms up to her waist and lift her so he could lower himself to the couch with his back against the arm and hold her to his chest.
"Where's everyone else?" Isolde changed the subject, letting her cheek settle against Kol's collar bone, one hand detangling from around his neck to lay against his chest.
"Your last scout left after finishing the dishes. Elijah and Finn are escorting our long-lost Uncle to the manor. They're both quite taken with Dáinn." Kol said, running the fingers of one hand up and down her spine while the other hand moved to cradle her head against him.
"And you're not?" She raised her head and smiled against his throat.
She felt his breath hitch as her lips ghosted over his neck with the movement. "You've trusted him for over a thousand years, that's enough for me. I'm more concerned with Nik's reaction to one of Mikael's kin coming into the picture. And two more, evidently. Dáinn said we have cousin's in the Berserker forces."
Isolde understood why Kol was worried over Klaus' response, since Klaus wasn't biologically related to Mikael, but the hybrid had nothing to worry about from Dáinn in that regard. She would have to speak with Klaus about many things in the coming days, she realized.
"You do. Ivar and Inge. They're good men, Emeric likes them. All will be well." Isolde consoled, snaking her free arm around his torso and burying it between him and the couch cushions. "I'll talk to Klaus and Dáinn both separately."
Kol didn't say anything to that. Isolde assumed he wasn't sure she'd be successful with Klaus, which she wasn't even sure of herself. They both fell silent for a bit, content in each other's arms, the only sound in the room coming from their breathing.
"I've got a month and I need to return to Italy." Isolde said, breaking the silence. "There's trouble brewing among my people and I must see to it."
His grip on her tightened slightly. "I hope you don't think you're going alone, love."
She smiled against him, pressing her lips against his neck. His breath hitched again. "Well I wasn't going to force anyone." She felt his cock twitch where her hip was and dropped a few butterfly kisses up to his ear, licking the lobe. His length was hardening against her, now. "But I would like for you to join me, after your more pressing affairs are settled here in the States."
"Pressing affairs, you say?" Kol's voice was deeper than it had been a moment ago and his hand trailed like fire back down her spine until it settled over her ass and squeezed. Isolde squirmed against him as pleasure shot through her and he let out a soft moan. "I have a pressing," he pushed his hip against her to emphasize his hardness, "affair we could see too immediately."
Isolde hummed, rolling over so she could straddle him. His hand on her ass moved up to grip her hip and push her down against his length. His hand in her hair tightened and she watched as his eyes rolled back with a throaty moan. A wave of pure pleasure wracked her body as his hardness brushed against her in the most delicious way.
"I did promise later." She lowered her lips back to Kol's throat, eliciting another gasp and moan from him as he bucked against her. Isolde kissed up his jaw until she hovered over his lips, daring him to take what he wanted. As if sensing her intent, Kol's dark eyes snapped open and he surged forward, melding their mouths together and taking the lead as his tongue slid between her lips. She moaned at the throb of need in her and ground against him until he also moaned, surging his hips upward to give her more.
His hands both met at the bottom of her shirt, fingers just barely making way underneath the fabric before he pulled back from the kiss with a questioning expression. She smiled, leaning down to peck his lips before she raised up, reaching down to pull her shirt off for him.
Kol's warm hands slid up her back, maintaining eye contact with her as his hand ghosted over her bra clasp. His roguish grin made Isolde's heart flutter. "It's been a while, darling. Fashion has changed in the last hundred years, I'm not sure how to remove this but if you're willing then I can't say I wouldn't enjoy it immensely if this-" he wiggled his fingers under the stretch fabric, "-were gone."
Isolde laughed, reaching back to unclasp it. "Such a wordy way of telling me you don't know how to get rid of it."
"I could get rid of it easily, love." Kol's composure was lost as Isolde sent the bra flying elsewhere in the room and his dark eyes smoldered upon seeing her half-naked for the first time. His adam's apple bobbed as he fought to speak. "I just didn't want to ruin the brasserie in case you liked it." He continued, hands moving around her front to grasp at her breasts. She moaned as he ran a thumb over a nipple.
Kol's hands left her breasts and wrapped around her, pressing her tightly to him. Without warning, he switched their positions so he was now hovering over her, reaching down to grab a decorative pillow that had fallen to the floor.
Isolde's heart ached and she choked down a shock of tenderness and affection she felt for him when Kol gently raised her head and placed the pillow behind it so she wasn't lying against the arm of the couch. She slid her arms down his sides until she reached the bottom of his shirt. He smiled at her and helped remove the fabric.
Kol was indeed a beautiful man, Isolde realized as he lowered his mouth to her neck and began to press open mouth kisses to just the right spot that had her gasping beneath him and lightly scraping her nails across his back.
"You didn't have to tell me you were a goddess for me to believe it." Kol whispered deliciously as he moved from her neck down to her collar bone, pressing kisses down her chest until his tongue circled around one nipple, teeth lightly scraping against it as his other hand wrapped around the opposite breast, giving it a gentle squeeze. Isolde's hands found his hair as she gasped, feeling like her body temperature had just climbed five degrees. "You're the most beautiful thing to ever happen to me. How could you be anything but?"
Isolde was speechless as he left her breasts, planting slow open mouthed kisses down her stomach, swirling his tongue over many scars without asking why or how they were there as he went. Kol's hands fell to the waistline of her leggings and he looked up to her, once again asking for consent.
"Don't stop." The words left her and she was rewarded with his wide grin as he carefully pulled her pants and panties off in one go. He planted kisses across her abdomen after the offending fabric was gone, hands sliding up and down her hips and waist.
"Should we talk about boundaries or do you want to just…" Kol asked, and Isolde found it so incredibly attractive that he stopped to ask her that she brushed a hand through his hair and urged him up with another hand. He pushed himself up on his knees and brought his face back to her. She captured his lips in a searing kiss.
His cock twitched through his jeans against her thigh and she wrapped an arm around his broad shoulders to pull him close, threading fingers through the hairs at the bottom of his neck. Her tongue darted out to flick at the spot on his neck she knew set him off earlier and his hips rutted against her in tandem to his groan.
"I am alright with most things. I will tell you to stop if you do something I'm not comfortable with. My hardest limit is degradation. I won't tolerate it, in bed or in life. What are your limits?"
Kol lowered his mouth to hers in a searing kiss, keeping their fire going even through their discussion. When he pulled back he wore a soft smile. "I don't respond well to pain, I instinctually react as though I am under threat. Light pain, like fingernails scraping or digging into my skin are alright, a love bite or two is fine. Anything harder and I'll involuntarily hurt you."
Isolde nodded, moving her hands to his chest and brushing her fingers over the smooth ridges of his abs before they settled at the button of his jeans. He captured her lips again before removing himself from the couch all together so he could stand and shuck his pants off.
'A beautiful man, indeed.' Isolde thought as Kol climbed back onto the couch and knelt between her open legs. She moved one leg off the couch, quickly adjusting to make more room for him.
She leaned up enough for her hand to reach down and brush over the smooth head of his cock, thumb swirling the bead of precum that had gathered at the tip and Kol's breath hitched. One hand he'd been using to hold himself up found its way to the apex between her legs and stopped. Isolde throbbed, and throbbed, and pushed her hip upward to make his hand brush against her.
Kol's mouth lowered to her throat, he breathed harshly as her fingers brushed the underside of his cock, her other hand setting against the back of his neck to keep his mouth against that perfect, enticing spot on her neck. "Tell me what to do."
"Fingers," Isolde cried, not caring a bit how feral the word sounded, "inside."
A finger brushing through slick folds and Isolde thrust her head back into the pillow with a sharp gasp. "More."
Two fingers now pressing inside and his thumb circled her clit and Isolde's back arched. She wailed, mewling pitifully and thrusting her hips to force him deeper but it just wasn't deep enough and she released a frustrated groan.
"Fuck," she cried, grappling at his wrist and stopping him. He pulled his hand away immediately. "Not enough. You. I need you. Now, inside."
Kol's lips ripped away from her and she cried out in protest but Kol's hands were at her hips in an instant, gripping at her. He dragged her down the couch into a better position in an instant, like her weight was nothing to him, and he lifted the leg she'd rested off the couch to his hip.
"Fuck. You're exquisite." Kol gasped, staring at her from his position above her. His impossibly dark, gentle eyes raked over every inch of her and burned with want. It made her throat constrict and her core flutter with anticipation. He raised his head to meet her eyes, a hand ran down her hip and over her thigh, then dipped to grasp himself. "You have no idea what you've done to me tonight."
Kol lowered his hips to her and rubbed the head of his cock up and down up and down and swirling along her clit. Isolde's hands flew to the only thing she could easily reach- his thighs, nails digging into them because fuck it was so good and she needed it. She needed him.
"I've never met a woman who could brutally dispatch her enemies with such poise and refinement." He continued and his words elicited a flutter in her heart just as he lined his cock up with her opening and pushed just the tip inside. "I am in awe of you."
Isolde cried out, desperate for more but Kol pulled back out again, returning to slide his cock over her clit once again and Isolde was panting with desire.
"You put us all to shame, darling. Do not mistake my intentions, angel; I am yours." He lined his cock up once again and this time when he dipped his head into her folds he made eye contact as he continued his declarations. "I'll follow you anywhere. I'll give you anything."
And then he surged forward and filled Isolde with such force that it moved her body up the couch to slam against the pillow he'd set out for her. The hand he was using to hold her leg around him flew to her clit and circled it fast, rabid movements, his other hand moving to press against her pelvis, effectively pinning her hips to the couch cushions as he shoved himself in and out of her in a frenzy of motion.
Isolde whimpered and cried out, hands reaching around her to grasp at anything she could for purchase as Kol drilled into her. Her whole body spasmed and she forgot to breathe for a second, then her whole world went white for a few moments.
It was different from orgasms' she'd had in the past. There was another quality that had been missing before and Isolde wasn't sure if it was the rightness that came with solidifying one of her bonds in a romantic sense or if she'd just developed real feelings for Kol in the past few days that made it so different.
Isolde released her white knuckle grip on the back of the couch and she dug her heel into Kol's back to continue, riding this out a little longer.
Kol had noticed that Isolde had reached her peak. He removed his hand from her pelvis and wrapped it around her, pulling her up so she was straddling him as he thrusted into her. Even as he continued to thrust, his arm wrapped tightly around her while the other settled against the back of her neck.
Isolde started giggling through the shudders that wracked through her body as Kol's forehead pressed against hers. His hot breath ghosted her face as he panted, his roguish grin was more hot in this moment than it had been earlier as he smiled at her.
It was three, four, five more thrusts and he shuddered too and Isolde had to bite her lip because by the gods did Kol look even more impossibly gorgeous when he came.
For a moment, they just breathed in the aftermath. Then his eyes met hers, searching for something that made her heart constrict. Her hands moved to cradle his face. "It's good you've decided to follow me." She smiled at him with a small laugh as his eyes softened on her face. "I'm never going to let you go, lovely Kol."
He leaned forward and caught her by the lips, his kiss this time more desperate, his hands in her hair and around her back a little stronger, as if he were worried she'd try to get up and walk away despite her words.
When she broke the kiss, he moved them so he could get off his knees, sitting on the couch properly with her straddling his waist. Isolde guessed that the only reason he'd been able to hold that position for so long was because he was a vampire.
"Will you stay here tonight?" Isolde asked, letting both of her arms wrap around his neck. She didn't mean for it to sound so seductive but her breasts were pushing up at his face with the movement and by the way his eyes seemed to glaze over she knew it had been exactly that.
He nodded- quickly, breathlessly. "I'll stay forever."