Chapter Thirty-Four

Except when I got to River's room, I froze.

What the fuck was I supposed to do? Just throw the door open and jump his bones? Was I supposed to knock, even though I never once in my life knocked on any door? I didn't really want to spook him, as tempting as it was.

I took a deep breath, glanced down at ol' tiny down there, squeezed my eyes shut for a second and reminded myself that this could work. I just needed to relax. River was different. It wasn't like he hadn't seen me before, but then, he'd never really seen me erect, was the thing. It was weird when I wasn't feeling horny, but even weirder when I was.

Ugh. No. River was different. That was why we'd come so far. I trusted him. Never once has River given me a reason not to.

With that logic in mind and the faint whisper of anxiety reminding me not to get my hopes up, I just opened the door and walked into a dimly lit room. I stepped inside slowly, closing the door behind me as I turned and raised an eyebrow at what appeared to be a random cluster of candles all flickering in the darkness. But then, there were so many candles, it was pretty well lit once my eyes adjusted.

The smell of something woodsy and something sweet and floral like lavender. I had no idea where the smell was coming from until I came further into the room and saw there were little sprigs of lavender around the room. It was almost like the rose petal idea, except not nearly as cheesy and it smelled way better. I swung my eyes around the room and spotted the bathroom door cracked open and a steam cloud billowing out across the floor.

Oh shit. That was kind of fancy. How did he time that so well?

I swallowed and paused again before I got to the bathroom door.

He's not ready, Hades's favorite mantra, popped into my head. I stared at the door, stared at the rolling steam and I could hear the soft flicker of water, meaning the tub was full and River was in there waiting for me.

This was it.

I know we didn't have to do this. If I walked in there and told River I wasn't ready, I knew that he would accept that without hesitation and probably try and talk about feelings and shit, and that made me smile to myself. I covered my face with my hands, hid my mouth for a second to try and fight back the smile before closing my eyes and giving up.

Yeah.

I could do this.

I took a deep breath and pulled my shirt off over my head, dropping it on the floor by the door. I shimmied out of my pants and kicked them somewhere into the abyss, because by now, my brain was spinning. I was caught between terrified and excited.

I stepped in front of the door, hesitated with my hand over the handle.

"I hope you plan on coming in here at some point," River's voice said, making me blink and look up to see him watching me through the crack in the door with his eyebrow raised, his arm hanging out of the tub, "The water won't stay this warm forever." I was gonna pretend it was the steam making my face hot all of a sudden. Definitely not awkward. I cleared my throat and pushed the door open, keeping my back to River, but I could hear him moving around from the splashing in the tub. I kept my hands folded down in front of me, trying really hard to move them so they were at least at my chest and not over my fucking groin, but it was hard not to cover an area I wasn't used to people seeing out in the open.

It wasn't the naked part.

It was the my dick is clearly small, especially when it was erect part that made me nervous. Obviously I didn't care about that shit around Hades and the rest of the idiot family, but with River, it was completely different for obvious reasons.

"What's the matter?" River asked softly. I cleared my throat.

"Uh. Yup. Just gonna need a minute," I mumbled.

"Of course. Do you need me to do something?" River asked. I rolled my eyes. Gods, he was such a fucking sap. I shook my head and he went quiet to give me my space. I stood there for a second, staring down at the floor intently and trying to get my body to listen to my brain. I trusted River and I knew he wouldn't pressure me or anything. Logically I knew that, but it was almost like an ingrained survival instinct that my body stayed in this position. Probably because I'd spent a lot of my time at the compound usually hiding in the stalls or finding ways to duck out of sight in the locker rooms.

Yeah, I made dick jokes, but that didn't mean I was going to wave it around either.

Right, but it still worked. It's not like I was impotent. I just rarely got aroused, which happened to be a side effect of the ichor... Although, lately it was pretty easy with River, but it was probably the fact that he was an incubus, so that helped.

But it didn't help that I had no idea what I was doing.

He'd probably feel like a pedophile dating a dumb kid like me. Now it made sense why Hades always called me kid. Frustrated, I shut my eyes tightly and tried to focus on the task at hand. This was no time to fucking chicken out. I had been so pumped for this, actually since the day I met River, because even from day one, I knew there was something about him. It was why it was hard to leave him alone. It was why I'd been adamant about marrying River. Oh sure, I'd get the whole army and shit, but River was the main prize.

I took a deep breath.

"I won't hurt you," River said from the tub, making me blink and look up to see that this entire time he'd been looking at the reflection of myself in the mirror, "And I think you know that. But if you want to wait, I am completely fine with--"

"Nope," I said, realizing he'd been watching me in the mirror, having a full view of my erection and not saying a single thing or making a single joke. I should've fuckin' known River wouldn't care. I mean, I did, but something in me was afraid. I don't know. I didn't want to analyze it right now. I wanted to focus on River, who was sitting back in the tub with his legs stretched out under the bubbles, and he held his hand out to me.

I turned and reached out to take his hand and he helped me in the tub. I got down and settled in front of him, my back to his muscular chest, his hands gliding down my arms to both steady me and touch me. I breathed out a sigh of relief at finally being in the warm water, surrounded by bubbles, surrounded by River.

"Are you okay?" River asked me gently, reaching for something on a tray on the edge of the tub.

"Ah, yup. Totally fine now," I mumbled. River smiled and I felt his wet fingers pull the hair back from the side of my face and tuck it behind my ear. I shivered when I felt his lips brush the space under my ear.

"Tell me no if we do something you aren't comfortable with," River murmured, his wet fingers sliding up and down my arms, almost like he was trying to get me to relax. I smiled at that and sat back against his chest, tilting my head back to stare up at him and he looked down at me with a little smile.

"I was a little awkward earlier because, to be honest, I don't know what the fuck I'm supposed to do, so if you want this to work, you gotta direct me. All I know is eventually you're going to be inside me," I said, then paused as River cleared his throat and I felt him swelling against my hip, which made me smirk, "Sooner rather than later, I hope." River dipped his head down to kiss at my neck again and I sighed, because it was so comforting. It was such a weird thing to find comfort in. You'd think I'd be a little creeped out with someone burying their mouth against my neck like a vampire, but River was so gentle. His kisses were soft and sweet, lingering for a moment as he suckled, like he wanted the taste of me in his mouth so bad he couldn't wait.

River lathered up what he'd grabbed off the tray and started soaping me up.

"Didn't know I was gonna need a bath," I mumbled, biting back a moan as River reached my shoulder. For some insane reason, that was a good spot to feel those butterfly kisses. It reminded me of the way my wings felt when they fluttered on my back.

"I want to be as gentle as possible," River said against my skin. I didn't know what to say to that, mostly because I was so swept up in his kisses. I was so distracted by those that I didn't really notice that River's sudsing job was going down south pretty quick. It wasn't until he brushed my cock that I sucked in a sharp breath.

"Is this alright?" River asked against my ear. I trembled. I wasn't exactly scared of the sensation. It was just foreign, yet familiar all at the same time and I didn't really want to think about it too hard. I just know it was River touching me and that was all that mattered.

"Uh huh," I answered, watching River's hand disappear below the surface of the water again. I managed to bite down on my tongue to keep from making any noise the second time around as I felt River's fingers seek me out. I held my breath for a moment, waiting for River to feel me and disappointment to flicker across his face. His fingers traveled down my abdomen and trailed down further, walking the short distance across my cock to the tip of me. He pressed his thumb against the sensitive slit at the tip and I gasped at the sensation, immediately grabbing his wrist in a vice.

"Hey," River said against my ear, making me swallow, "Just say no."

"No," I managed and when he started to take his hand away, I shook my head, "No, I mean, no, don't... uhm, don't stop."

"Are you sure?" River asked. I nodded, clearing my throat.

"Y-Yeah. I just. I wasn't expecting it to feel like that. I wasn't expecting..." To like it, actually. I wasn't sure why I was expecting someone to just grab me. I didn't want to think about it. I focused on River's hand as he started to stroke me. My breath left in a gasp, of surprise, relief, and apparently my cock didn't work as well as I had hoped because I felt a tremor go through me and my cock spilled into the water, across River's hand. I panted for breath, feeling heat rising in my face.

Great. Not only am I useless at sex, I also apparently came at the drop of a hat.

"I love you," River breathed against me and I froze as he nuzzled against my neck and kissed me there again, "You taste exactly how I imagined."

"Fried chicken?" I managed. River blinked, then burst out laughing as I looked at him with a wry smile.

"Absolutely not," River assured, making me scowl curiously, "Sweet and salty. Sugar and spice."

"That sounds gross."

"No. You're everything sweet and everything spicy. You are strength and you are softness," he murmured, making me blink, then gasp a little as he dipped his hand down a bit lower, pausing to fondle my balls, "You are funny and you are real. You stand up even when everyone else remains seated. You are brave. You are beautiful. You are delicious. You are everything in this world to me, Four, and I look forward to spending the rest of our days proving that to you." I shivered as he started to kiss my neck again. His hands were just wandering now, stroking, touching, teasing, exploring, but he wasn't trying to put anything inside me yet.

If anything, the more he touched me on the outside, the more I started to ache on the inside. I tilted my hips back, arched my back a little, resting my head against his shoulder and he took a huge chomp out of my shoulder, without teeth, of course, but I felt the graze of his fangs against my skin, ever close, but not nicking me. I moaned as he suckled that place on my neck, his hand sneaking down the inside of my thigh, down between my legs.

There was gentle pressure at first. It didn't really feel all that great, actually, just kind of uncomfortable, and I managed a "mmph" of discomfort.

"Does it hurt?" River asked.

"Uh uh."

"Your face says otherwise."

"No, it just... Uhm, feels different," I muttered, trying to figure out how I felt about his finger being inside me, and it wasn't even all the way in. He probably only had it up to the second knuckle, but for some weird reason, my body was starting to tense up, almost like it was prepared to keep River out, but I didn't want that. I wanted River inside me. I wanted a lot more than a lousy finger, but I also didn't want to be in pain, so it was a hard choice.

"Relax," River said gently, stroking my shoulder with his free hand before he slid it under my arm and reached for my chest to start gently moving his thumb back and forth across my nipple, "Just take a big deep breath and relax against me." I nodded and tried to do what he asked. I let myself sink back against River, who held me against him while he delved his finger deeper inside me. I grunted and instinctively moved my hips away. River stopped moving as a response. I waited, clearing my throat and trying to find calm.

This was River.

I wanted this. I wanted this with River. I wanted a lot more than this with River, but if I couldn't get through the first part, how the fuck did I expect to survive the second part? Not to mention, I trusted River. He wouldn't hurt me. He was constantly attending to me, constantly taking care of me.

I grimaced.

"Did that hurt?" River asked.

"Ah, no, uhm. Just. Is there anything I can do aside from just lay here?"

"Turn around." I raised an eyebrow at what sounded like an order, but I guess River knew better than I did, so I obeyed. It gave me a slight reprieve from the ache in my ass where River's finger had been. I turned in River's lap so I was facing him. He gave me a little tug to pull me up closer and I moaned the second my cock rubbed against his. He also paused to savor the sensation, hugging me up against him, keeping us together.

"That feels good," I mumbled, moving my hips against him and River smiled, reaching out to take my hand, drawing it down between us. He wrapped his hand around mine and held our cocks together, which sent pleasure rocketing up my back and I gasped.

"That feels really good."

"Good," he murmured, and started to move our hands together up and down against our erections and I trembled, for some reason feeling the need to wrap my arms around him to hold his face against my chest. I felt his kiss press against my chest, down until he reached my nipple, which he traced with his tongue and I whimpered.

Oh wow, that felt amazing.

Oh, holy fuck.

Another sensation of pleasure rocketed through me. It started like a hot knot in my gut, heading south so fast that before I knew what was happening, I was coming, squeezing my cock against River's, moaning and tilting my head back so he had full access to my throat now. Instead of biting me, instead of hurting me, River leaned in and placed a kiss against my throat, which launched me into another round of gasping as I came.

"You're so lovely for having such a foul mouth," River said softly as I tried to catch my breath, "Your skin is so soft and it smells so good." I looked at him breathlessly, relieved to find I wasn't the only one on pins and needles. River's cock was hard as a rock, tall and proud, rubbing against mine that had softened a little, but only temporarily. It was like River immediately revived the hunger in me just by being here, which made sense, I guess, since he was an incubus.

"Shall we take this to the bedroom?" He asked me. I nodded silently. For once, I didn't know what to say, so I just let River scoop me up out of the water and hoist me out of the tub, carrying me to the bedroom in his arms like I was some kind of princess and normally, I would've made him put me down because I can walk my damn self... My legs felt like jelly. I was feeling a little too... puddingy. Was that even a word?

River laid me on the bed, brushing aside the lavender sprigs.

"I'm surprised you didn't opt for roses, isn't that what they do in the movies?" I asked as River climbed onto the bed with me, adjusting the pillows and blankets so I was comfortable.

"Roses are fine, but lavender is special to the Windstorm clan," River murmured, making me look at him curiously, "Lavender is what we use to express love and tenderness. Lavender is a hearty plant, but softly scented and delicate at the same time. It's beauty and strength and I could think of nothing better to represent us, not just the Windstorm clan, but you personally, us personally." I swallowed at that. Wow. Who knew I'd feel weepy over a stupid fucking flower? I fingered one of the lavender sprigs on the bed, then picked it up to twirl it in my face as River hovered over top of me with an adoring smile on his face.

"Do you really think I'm that beautiful? Honestly?" I asked, looking up at him. River plucked the sprig from my fingers and brushed his fingers through my hair, planting the sprig above my right ear in my hair.

"I have never in my life seen or beheld such beauty," River said, making me blink, then look at him doubtfully and he smiled, leaning down to brush his nose against mine, "Even with your colorful vocabulary and your awkward comments and your obscene jokes. Even with your direct tactless speeches. From the way you wake up in the morning with a cow lick on the back of your head to the way you scratch your ass when you watch TV. The way you go at a punching bag like it's personal. The way you walk around the palace and the gardens, taking in everything around you from the trees to the grass. You see everything with such a refreshing perspective that it still throws me off. I am used to the lies and pleasantries of the aristocracy. You don't play those games. You are honest and forward and truthful."

"You're kidding me," I managed, "That sounds annoying." River barked a laugh, making me scowl and pinch his nose, which made him chuckle some more as he took my hand away and pinned it down on the bed gently.

"In the beginning, yes. I will admit I found you absolutely repulsive whenever you opened your mouth," he admitted, making me smirk, "But from the moment I saw you, I felt a strange intensity here." He lifted my hand again and placed it over his chest, making me peer up at him shyly. He smiled.

"Four, even when I want to strangle you, my heart still aches for you and it will only be soothed by your presence," he said, making me swallow at that as he stroked his fingers across my hand against his chest, "I love you, forevermore. I will love you into the afterlife and into eternity. My soul was made for you. I hope I can make you happy forever. And yes, I guarantee we will fight, as we do from time to time, but I will take it all with great happiness just to have you in my arms every single night."

I stared at him, absorbing that.

No one had ever said anything like that to me. It was almost always complaints and bitching, or people just straight up trying to kill me without hesitation. The Mother had never smiled at me with this level of realism and understanding. It was almost like I felt something in me crack and shatter to pieces. The mentality that love was unimportant. Feelings were unimportant. The mentality that was I was nothing more than a dog to be called when needed. The compound, the training. Even the image of my bedroom that had once been a sanctuary, but now looking back on it... That was a prison.

It was such a cold little prison. I was all alone. I was always alone.

But not now. Now, loneliness was so rare, I realized. I didn't feel that ache in the pit of my stomach, that tiny part of me that was furious about everything. Why was I alone? Why was this happening to me? Why did everyone else have someone and I didn't? No friends, no family, no lover, nothing. That was such a scary thing to look back on now, but now I felt like I was seeing it through shattered pieces. There was nothing left of that dark and cold and lonely place.

When I woke up in the morning, I didn't dread opening my eyes to face another day.

I woke up and the first thing I saw was River's face beside me. His smile, his teasing, his nagging, his eloquent poetry. The way he stroked my face gently, tracing his fingers across my cheekbones, my jawline, brushed his thumb over my lips. He would lean in, trail kisses down to my nose, down to my lips. He took his time with me, almost like he was worshiping me. He wanted to enjoy me, and I found myself aching to enjoy him more.

I wanted more.

I wanted every last part of River.

He was mine.

And I was his.

And for once, I didn't mind belonging to someone else. Because this time, it wasn't a prison, but a new door to a whole new world, a world that beckoned to me in the form of a ruggedly handsome incubus with the kindest smile I'd ever seen.

"Sssh," came River's soft whisper, "You don't have to say anything, not yet. I just wanted you to know that I will have no regrets going forward from here on out. I will love you and cherish you for eternity, Four, in the way that you truly deserve." His lips came down against mine and I felt something hot and wet slide down my cheeks, his thumbs coming up to wipe it away.

"Let me love you, Four. For eternity."

"Yes," I managed, reaching up to cup his face in my hands and he smiled, placing a hand over mine, "Yes a thousand times. Yes. River, at this point, you don't have to worry about shit. My body is beaten and bruised and not perfect, but frankly, I think my soul was yours the moment I turned around and saw your face and your fancy fuckin' suit." River smiled.

"Eloquently put."

"Now if you don't fuck me, I swear to fuckin' god--"

"Oh, don't worry about that," River assured, leaning over to pop open the nightstand, "I am fully prepared." I cocked my head, watching him take out some kind of little tube of water based lubricant or whatever the bottle said. I didn't care anymore. I was anxious. I was anxious to feel River inside me. I was anxious to have my entire body around him. Even that felt like it wasn't close enough.

He soaked his fingers before squirting a stream down onto my cock and I hissed.

"That's cold," I managed, trying not to close my knees. River got between them to keep me from closing them and gave me a smile.

"Don't worry, things will warm up."

"What, the lube or the fuck-- Oh!" I gasped as River took my knees and opened the wide, revealing everything to his eyes. There was no hiding now, even if I did put my hands down there. I mean, maybe I could, considering I was small enough, but River wasn't having it. When I started to slide my hands down to hide myself, he moved them gently out of the way and leaned down, pressing his lips to the tip of me and I bit down on my tongue to keep from making a sound, but ended up biting a little too hard.

"Oh, Four," River groaned, pulling away from my cock to reach for a tissue off the nightstand and he put it to my mouth as blood trickled down over my bottom lip and down my chin, "Why did you do that?" I swallowed, not a big fan of the iron taste of blood in my mouth, but it ran dry quickly.

"Uh, I don't know. I didn't know what to do," I managed.

"Okay, I have an idea," River decided and he pushed his fingers against my lips, "Open up." I looked at him curiously, but obeyed and let him push his fingers into my mouth. He didn't thrust them in or abuse my mouth or anything. He just gently fingered my tongue, let me lick his fingers until they were wet. He dipped his head down again, leaving his hand up near my mouth so he could lean down to lick the tip of me again. I started to close my mouth, but River forced his fingers apart, which in turn forced my mouth apart and a long moan came out.

"Good," River purred against the tip of me, blowing gently and I trembled, arching my back, trying to close my mouth again, but River kept me open, "No biting. No fangs. Keep your mouth open. I want to hear everything." I wanted to make a smartass remark that he was going to regret saying that, but abruptly, something was pushing inside me. I gasped and grabbed onto River's arm against my chest.

"It's okay," River continued, speaking in a soft gentle tone as he started to move his fingers around inside me and I moaned around the fingers in my mouth, "Good, just do what feels good."

"Ungh, it feels really good," I mumbled around his fingers, slurring my words, "You taste salty."

"That's normal."

"Do I really taste sweet?"

"Indeed," River murmured and he was silent for a moment, making me glance down at him curiously, only to gasp as he took me entirely in his mouth without hesitation. And granted, it wasn't really an impressive feat given how small I was to begin with, but holy fuck, my dick definitely worked because I couldn't imagine it getting any harder now. River buried his nose against the crisp dark hairs nested around my cock, his fingers from one hand thrusting into my mouth and the other set of fingers delving deeper inside me. I arched my back with a moan, tilting my hips so I could take him deeper, and fuck, it worked. I felt his fingers ram into something inside me that made me see stars as I threw my head back and yelled, unable to contain the build up coursing inside me.

River kept his mouth firmly clamped around my cock, swallowing each pulse, each kick, until I felt like I'd been sucked dry. River removed his fingers, from both ends, and propped himself up between my legs on his knees.

"Oh wow," I managed, "You're really good at that."

"Thank you, I learned from the best," River said, making me blink, then scowl at him and he raised an eyebrow, "I just did what you did last time." I stared at him.

"Wait. Was... Was that the first blow job you ever got?" I asked. River flushed.

"Must we discuss this right now? We were having a moment."

"Okay, but you freaked me out for a minute."

"Hm? Why," River started to ask, then paused as he thought back to our conversation and his eyes widened a little, "Oh, no. Four. I've never, ah, how do I put this? Mmm... I've never had a sexual partner." I glared at him.

"You're a 600-year-old incubus."

"Yes."

"And you've never had sex with someone?"

"No."

"How the fuck--"

"As much as I hate reminding you," River said dryly, "My species reaches sexual maturity about this age. Anything before this would probably be considered illegal, as I would legally be considered a child." I stared at him.

"Am I older than you maturity wise?"

"You wish," River retorted, making me grin now, "You may have reached your sexual maturity before I did, but that certainly does not make you more mature or older than me. Now do we wish to continue or would you rather lay here and just discuss sex?" I snorted, then reached up to wrap my arms around his neck, yanking him down on top of me and pulling him close by wrapping my legs around his waist.

"You're the one doing all the talking," I said, making him smirk, "Now shut up and fuck me." River's smile returned, tender and gentle again, and he leaned in to press his lips against mine.

"Four, I won't be fucking you," he said softly, making me look at him curiously, "I'm going to make love to you until you can't walk in the morning. I'm going to make love to you until the sun rises. I will love you for eternity." I swallowed at that and pressed my lips against his. For a moment, that's all it was. Just our lips touching, just our bodies touching, just our hearts beating together, and it was so trippy to hear those heartbeats come together in time. It was like listening to the perfect background music.

"I'm going to put it in," River said softly against my ear, and I felt his hand slide down my thigh, his hand hiking my leg up, spreading me open, "Just take a deep breath and hold it for a second." I nodded and did what he said, inhaling deep and a second later, there was a sharp pressure and I grunted, sinking my fingernails down into River's skin as I held on.

"Wait, wait," I managed, "Wait."

"I hear you," River replied gently and I swallowed thickly at the intense pressure.

"It... it feels weird," I said after a moment, shifting my hips a bit and I grimaced as I felt him slide in even further and a second later, the intense pressure increased as River settled himself entirely inside me. I pushed on his chest a little, so I could look down, because there was no way River could fit that huge thing inside me like that without some pain. But it strangely didn't hurt. The pressure was certainly uncomfortable, but it didn't hurt.

But, fuck, that was kind of erotic.

River was completely inside of me. His hips were pressed flush to my ass, his cock buried in to the hilt, his hands finding my hips as he sat back a little on his heels to get comfortable and I stared up at him breathlessly. He moved his hands to the sides of my face.

"Are you okay?" He asked again. I nodded.

"I think... so? It doesn't... Uh, it doesn't really hurt."

"That's good."

"I thought it was supposed to."

"When done the right way, sex should never hurt," River murmured, making me blink and look up at him, "Together, I assure you, that our sex will never hurt. Should you ever, ever want to stop, you need to tell me no. I don't care if you are embarrassed or afraid, you have to tell me, do you understand? And I will stop, but you need to tell me or I won't hear you. Ah... As an incubus, I tend to get lost in the moment and I forget myself." I nodded, reaching up, though, to wrap my arms around his neck again and he leaned down over top of me, meeting my eyes as I felt his hands move to my thighs to grip me.

"What if I don't want to say no?" I managed, shifting a little and River trembled a little, ducking his head down for a moment to take a deep breath.

"Then tell me what you want, Four. What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to start moving," I moaned. River smiled at that and slid himself back, my gasp coming out startled because I wasn't expecting him to move immediately, which made my breath hitch even harder as he slammed back inside me and I cried out, grabbing onto River, who held me against him.

Somehow, a moment later, we found ourselves sitting up, with me firmly planted in River's lap, his cock somehow ending up deeper inside me and I melted against him, hanging on as he started to piston his hips.

"Aah! River, w-wa--"

"Are you hurting?"

"N-N-No, j-just," I broke off on a long moan, pressing my head against River's, "I-I-Fingers, put your f-fingers back in my mouth."

"Why?"

"B-Because I sound like-- hnngh-- a fucking little--"

"You sound beautiful," River said firmly, grabbing my face and pulling it back from his neck so we were staring at each other, "I want to hear you scream for me, Four. I want you to scream my name as you come, I want the whole world to know that I am yours." I trembled, melting in River's arms and giving up on trying to stay quiet, and I knew I was being fucking loud. I couldn't help it, because each thrust was an explosion of ecstasy, each whispered praise gave me goosebumps. Before I knew it, I was getting lost in this swirling sensation of pleasure. I could feel myself getting closer and closer to an edge, closer and closer to the brink of something huge and it was so close I could almost taste it. It was right on the tip of my tongue, literally my tongue had nowhere to go, except River's mouth as he covered my mouth with his.

The way his tongue tickled mine, touched the roof of my mouth, sent me over the edge.

My own cry was muffled as I rode River hard, grabbing onto his shoulder with one hand and plowing myself down on top of him, hitting that tender spot inside me over and over again. My whole body was buzzing with some kind of energy. I could feel it right down to the tips of my toes to the top of my head and along my back as my wings grew unsettled there. A second later, I felt them tear out of my back, blood splattering across the headboard of the bed as my wings shot up and knocked the bars of the canopy bed off to the floor. I could still hear my voice ringing faintly over the pleasure coursing through my veins.

But all I could focus on was River's sweaty face in front of mine, his breath leaving in gasps and groans of pleasure as he thrust himself up inside me, his hands going around my waist. I grabbed his face in my hands, touching our foreheads together as we seemed to reach the peak together and began to slide back down the hill together.

"You have a piece of me that no one will ever, ever have," I managed, making River look up at me with those intense orange eyes that swirled with a life of their own, "I'm not good with pretty words and I am not good at being romantic in the least, but I need you to know that. You say you belong to me, but fuck, River, I belong to you. When I dream of my future, you are always in it, River. You are always by my side. I feel like saying I love you isn't enough for me. I don't know how to tell you that we're meant to be together and I know that sounds fucking cheesy as shit, but I really believe that. I want to spend the rest of eternity with you. I don't care where we are. If we stay here at the palace, go to a cute place in the middle of nowhere like we wanted, or if... if..." I swallowed at the possibilities that laid ahead of us, because even with that vision I had waiting at the end of the tunnel, there were so many scary fucking things waiting for us along the way.

What if we didn't make it?

What if the Mother killed both of us?

What if--

"Eternity," River whispered, grabbing my hand and squeezing it, pressing his lips against my knuckles before holding my hand against his face, "We will be together. Even if we get lost, we will always find each other. Even in the darkness, I will reach for you until we are together again."

"Fuck, if you let me go, I'll kill you," I managed, reaching up my other hand so I was clasping his face. He smiled.

"Consider us fused at the hip."

"Fused at the soul."

"Fused at the soul," River whispered, "I like that." He drew one of my hands down over his chest and I used my other to bring his hand to my chest. He smiled at that, then leaned in to touch his lips to mine and I kissed him back with everything I had.

It was so weird how I had always felt this strange ache in my chest. Call it loneliness or confusion or whatever the fuck. It didn't matter anymore because it was gone. Now, the only ache came from a heart that was swelling, inflating. How strange. Had my heart simply been shriveled up and unused? There the whole time, but unworking. Like a toy put on a shelf and left there, waiting.

There was some stupid origin story that I'd heard a lot at the compound, weirdly enough.

Supposedly, when a soul was created, there were two halves to a soul. When the vessel was created, the soul was split into two and they were left to look for one another to fuse back together again. There was a bunch of dumb mumbo jumbo that came with it, but that was the jist of the story, and now as I lay in bed with River, our bodies entangled, I realized maybe that story wasn't so stupid after all.

Because that was the best way to describe how I'd felt this whole time.

I was an incomplete soul when the Mother brought me into being. The emptiness just ate away at me day after day, year after year, until I met a pair of flaming orange eyes and I felt it. I felt my other half in River.

River completed me.

And yeah, I didn't need someone to make me a whole person, but I wanted it and I felt it and I wanted more. River was the light at the end of the tunnel. Sure, we had a lot of fucking shit to deal with along the way. The Mother wasn't going to back down. And eventually the angels were going to rise up in protest at Hades and Lucifer leaving me alive. I still hadn't found the other two bastards who had tortured me.

But for once, it didn't feel like a heavy weight in my chest.

With River at my side, I felt invincible.

"How's your back?" River asked me softly as he stroked where my wings had busted through the skin, but had now retreated. It was a little tender, but him stroking it felt fucking amazing, so I just smiled and hummed as a response and he smiled back.

"Are you ready to spend the rest of eternity with me?" He asked after a moment and I smiled, snuggling in closer to wrap my arms around him and he held me in return.

"I am. I do. Yes. Whatever the fuck I need to say to keep you with me," I answered. River chuckled.

"Finally. The only time I will accept the word fuck coming out of your mouth."

"Oh really? What if I said I was kind of itching for a round two?" I asked. River blinked, then looked at me in surprise.

"Are you... ah, sure? You're probably a little sore," he added, reaching down to spread my cheeks with his fingers so he could poke around and I grimaced a little at the tenderness, but quickly shook my head at River's frown, kissing his chin.

"Not even kidding a little bit," I whispered and I watched River's eyes flicker and glow at that, "We get married in two days, sixteen hours, and... eleven minutes. I have a fucking coronation ceremony in less than twenty-four hours and I still gotta deal with the fucking clan, the Mother, and Hades."

"Why Hades--"

"If I talk about it, I'm going to kill any chance of my boner returning, now are you gonna satisfy your husband or are you going to keep yapping?" I demanded. River smiled.

"I can't fucking stand you sometimes."

"Yeah right. You could hammer a nail with that cock right now."

"Jesus Christ," River said, dropping his head to the bed and I laughed, then gasped as he suddenly pounced on me, rolling us over so I was sitting on top of him and he stared up at me, "How about you do the hammering this time?" I blinked, looked down and around to see how the position was going to work, shifted a bit to get comfortable, and River moaned as I rubbed the crack of my ass against his cock.

"Heh, get ready to scream this time, baby, I think I got the hang of this."