Alex walked hand in hand with Searra, following her back to their room. She was warm in the cold halls, and he stayed close as she led him past the guard and into the cozy warmth of the fire.

She sat him in a soft, plush chair and went to the hearth to stoak the flames higher. She reached for a chain hanging from the fireplace, which worked a bellows built into its structure to feed the flames and bring them higher.

She heaved a sigh, and after a pause, turned, a brave smile stubbornly stretched over her lips. “Let’s talk about it then.”

He nodded, scooting over and patting the chair next to him.

She shook her head, giggling. “There’s not much room there.”

He looked at the spot next to him, shrugged, and patted the vacated spot once more.

“Ridiculous!” she laughed. But she joined him anyway, squeezing onto the chair, nearly having to sit in his lap.

Alex wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “Okay,” he said. “Let’s hear it.”

Serra took a deep breath, sighing it out in a burst of air. “I told you about meeting Lisril, following her. Well, I followed her all the way to the military academy. Our education isn’t important; what matters is-” She shook her head. “Lisril left the academy as a cavalry commander, I, her lieutenant, and we’d picked up Iiandere.”

“The two of us were rivals, competing for glory and Lisril’s attention, but it was an amicable rivalry. We were as much friends as competitors.”

“What happened?”

Serra paused, sucking on her lower lip. “It was around the time Eli was born,” Serra said at last. “We were engaged in a flanking maneuver around the side of an enemy force. The plan was that infantry would engage their front, and our cavalry would sweep them from the field. Only, the enemy wasn’t in the field. Instead, we encountered them in the woods where we had meant to lay in wait.”

“It was a catastrophe.” She shook her head. “The terrain was against us; the close trees hobbled our ability to maneuver ahorse, and our enemies were at no such disadvantage.”

“Lisril being- well, being Lisril, recognized the situation was intractable and ordered a general withdrawal. If we could get to open ground, we could at minimum escape.”

She closed her eyes. “I had liberty; Iiandere did not. She, and her unit, were surrounded. I-” Serra swallowed, “I could have rendered aid, but-”

She shook her head, and he took her hand, squeezed. “I won’t force you to talk about it.”

“No, I asked for this,” she said.

She took another steadying breath and pressed on. “I could have rendered aid. But I didn’t want to risk my women. If I committed them, there was every possibility we would have become mired too.”

She paused, and the sadness and shame on her face made his heart ache. “I left her to die. I could have helped her, should have; we were sworn comrades. But I didn’t; I abandoned her. She never forgave me.”

“So,” he said. “How come she’s still around, then?”

“Her unit was wiped out,” Serra said. “But she was taken prisoner; a couple of months later, Lisril received a ransom demand. She- Iiandere is of common birth; her family couldn’t pay the ransom, but Lisril could. She bought Iiandere’s freedom, reunited us. But it was never the same.”

“Shortly after that, Iiandere retired in disgust, and I in disgrace. Lisril took a commission with the palace honor guard and eventually helped me find employment in the archives.”

They lapsed into silence then. There it was, the whole shameful affair out in the open. They sat shoulder to shoulder, but the still air stretched between them; he tightened his grip on her, wishing he could somehow bring her closer.

Finally, his arm tightened around her, pulling her to his breast. “You did the right thing.”

She stared at him, shocked. “Alex?”

“It wasn’t your fault; just a bad situation, and you made the right call.”

She turned away from him, stared into the fire, lost in thought, or maybe memory. He could only guess what she was recalling. The chaos of battle, the smell of death, lost friends. The weapons changed, but violence didn’t.

“I shamed myself, my commander, and my subordinates.”

He shook his head. “It’s war, people die, sacrifices are made. Real shame would have been disobeying your orders, committing your people to a hopeless fight, maybe doubling your losses, and if you didn’t die then and there, earning yourself a firing squad, or noose, or however you do it on Nyx.”

“She was my friend!”

“She was a soldier,” he said coldly. “She knew what she signed up for.”

Serra squeezed her eyes shut, turning her face away from him. “I wish I could be so certain.”

He didn’t really know what to say to that. There probably wasn’t really an answer; he couldn’t make Iiandere forgive her, couldn’t make her forgive herself.

He kissed her cheek, squeezed her tightly to him. She turned, looking up at him through wet eyes. “You’re so kind,” she murmured. “Thank you.”

She buried her face in his shoulder, and he brought his hand up to rest on her head, running his fingers through long, raven hair. “I wish there was more I could do.”

She shifted, shaking her head.

“Alex?” she asked after a moment.

“Yes?”

“You’ve- you’ve been comforting Rosslln. Would you-”

She buried herself deeper into the crook of his neck, trying to hide from her own words, but he cupped her cheek, drew her from her burrow, and pressed his lips to hers.

“Let’s go to bed,” he murmured.

He stood, pulling her to his feet and into his arms. One hand wrapped around her back, exploring the defined muscles beneath her gown; the other went to hers, placing them on his hips, encouraging her.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

She tentatively licked his cheek, and he responded with a deep, passionate kiss. “You should have told me sooner if you needed this.”

He led her to the bed and pulled her gown over her head. He admired her vibrant, smooth, pink skin, and reached up to caress her cheek, his hand wandering down her arm and coming to rest on her hips, pulling her against him. “Beautiful,” he whispered.

Her arms wrapped around his shoulders and crushed him to her breasts, pulling him down into the bed. She pushed his jacket off his shoulders and eagerly unbuttoned his shirt, pressed her fingers to his bare flesh, leaned forward to lap at his jaw.

She trailed her fingers down, tracing the lines of muscle to his slacks, struggled with his buttons a moment before finally freeing him and leaning back to take in his nudity, eyes sliding up and down his body, and licked her lips.

He grinned down at her and slipped a hand between her legs, his other sliding over the taut flesh of her stomach. She gasped as his fingers probed her lower lips.

He ran his fingers up and down her slit, his other hand cupped one heavy breast, thumb circling the stiff nub at its cap. Her hips jerked, and he pushed one finger and then another into her, wiggling his digits, and found no obstruction to his intrusion.

He smirked and nibbled on her lip, tugging playfully with his teeth. “Has my surgeon been naughty?”

She tangled her hands in his hair, bathing his face. “You’re my first man,” she murmured.

He grinned; it wasn’t impossible, and either way, it didn’t matter. He pressed a quick kiss to her nose and curled his fingers, causing her to jerk beneath him.

“Ready?”

She nodded, casting her eyes down past the heaving mounds of her breasts to the junction of her legs, where he aligned himself with her entrance.

She closed her eyes, heaving an involuntary sigh as he eased himself into her clenching channel. He hilted himself without resistance and gave her a moment to adjust to the intrusion before easing himself back and hilting himself again in shallow thrusts.

Her arms wrapped around him, one hand resting in the small of his back, the other clutching his bottom, pulling him into her, urging him on.

He increased his pace and deepened his strokes, taking a breast in each hand and closing his fingers around her nipples. She gasped and released the breath as a long ragged moan, her legs coming up to close around his.

Her hands returned to his head, tangling in his hair, and she pulled him into a slow, passionate kiss as her hips began bucking up to meet his thrusts.

He felt the building tension in his core. He increased his pace, reaching down to roll the little button at the juncture of her legs between his thumb and forefinger, sending her tumbling over the edge, her climax triggering his own. He buried himself inside her, collapsing atop his lover, nuzzling his cheek against hers.

They laid together like that for a long moment before a low, husky chuckle broke them from their reverie.

They looked up and found Lisril standing by the door, smirking at them. “I was wondering where you’d gotten to when I found you weren’t in the archives,” she purred, “I’m glad to see you were safe with Serra.”

She sauntered toward the bed, shedding her clothes until she stood before them in her skintight silver armor. She looked down at him through lidded eyes. “Would you like to help me get a bit more comfortable?”

Alex looked up at her lush curves, almost more alluring for being covered, and licked his lips.

He stood, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her to his chest. “Is my wife in need?” he murmured, pulling the zipper on her back down and slipping the tightly fitting garment off her shoulders and down past her waist.

She kicked it away, took him by the shoulders, and pushed him down into the bed. She stood over him, hands on hips, displaying her tight, perfectly defined musculature; crossing her arms under the heaving shelf of her breasts, she crooked a finger at Serra. “Come here,” she said, “I’ll show you how to really get our man ready for some fun.”

Serra slipped out of bed, and Lisril wrapped her arms around her, pulling her into a tight embrace, their breasts crushed together. Lisril leaned forward, whispering in her friend’s ear; they glanced at him in unison, Serra blushing furiously.

“I don’t-”

“He’ll love it.” Lisril pulled her friend down to her knees in front of him; the display and anticipation of Lisril’s clear intent immediately reenergized his flagging shaft, and she grinned up at him. “See now,” Lisril said, “he likes what he sees.”

She leaned forward and smoothly swallowed him to the base. She pressed her nose to his pelvis for a moment before pulling back, taking him into her hand, and gently stroked him, offering his rod to Serra.”

She swallowed. “I don’t know, it seems sort of-”

“You don’t want to?” Lisril feigned a pout. “But you’ll love it when he returns the favor.”

“When he…” Serra trailed off, looking up at him, “when he-”

“Go on,” Lisril whispered loudly, “he’ll love showing you the benefits.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Serra stood and slipped onto the bed. As she did, Lisril wrapped her breasts around his shaft, licking the tip poking from the valley of her cleavage. He admired the view a moment before Serra straddled his chest.

He grinned up at her, took her by the hips, and guided her to his mouth. He kissed her outer lips, traced them with his tongue, and dove in.

He buried his tongue inside her, tasting the salty, tangy mix of their sex. Serra bucked against his face, her hands closing around his head; she threw her head back in a long moan, grinding her clit against his nose.

Beneath them, Liril massaged his shaft between her breasts, swirling her tongue around his glans on every downstroke.

Serra’s muscular thighs clenched around his head, and his hands came up, fingers sinking into her smooth, pliable flesh. He eased back, teasing her entrance before diving back in.

He slid his hands up her thighs, caressing her stomach and reaching up to massage her breasts.

Between his legs, Lisril had begun taking him more deeply, and he could feel his climax stirring in his core.

He gave Serra a long, deep lick, drawing his tongue out of her and circling it around her clit. She tensed, fingers clenching in his hair, legs squeezing tight around him, and let loose a long ragged moan.

She went slack and rolled off to the side, eyes glazed, chest heaving a moment later, his hips jerked, and Lisril pulled back, allowing him to release himself across her face and breasts.

He collapsed back onto the bed, spent, craning his neck; he looked down his body to see Lisril smirking up at him, the image of her flushed and painted with his seed almost enough to inspire one more show of vigor.

She licked her lips and crawled her way up the bed, pinning a still panting Serra and leaning forward to whisper in her ear.

Serra, blushing purple, captured his eyes with hers and silently leaned forward to lick her friend clean.

His cock twitched, and he groaned in frustration or need he didn’t know. “You two are gonna kill me.”

“Oh,” a newly clean Lisril cooed, “is my poor man tired?” She threw a leg over him, gently taking hold of his sensitive rod. “Let me take care of you.”

She guided him into her tight, wet, folds and set a slow, gentle pace.”

She leaned down, practically pressing her lips to his ear. “Imagine,” she murmured, tongue flicking over his earlobe, “all your women working together. Eli and I sharing your cock, giving Serra pleasure. And Rosslln.” She chuckled. “I’ve heard the filthy things that little slip of a woman whispers in your ear before bed, and I know you like it.”

He jerked inside her, eliciting a giggle and a moan, but she kept her pace slow, deliberate.

“You play dirty,” he gasped.

She grinned at him. “My husband deserves the best, and I aim to provide.”

He wrapped her up in a tight hug, kissing her. “I already have it.”

She smiled and increased her pace. She reared up, pressing her fingers into his chest, and began riding him in earnest, bouncing enthusiastically in his lap. He reached up, hands sliding up her hips, pausing to massage the sensitive flesh of her breasts and then up to her shoulders and down, taking her hands in his.

Their fingers entwined, and she pulled his hands up to her chest, over her heart.

She squeezed her eyes shut, her tight channel clenching around him, and ground her hips against his. He gasped, the sudden friction pushing him past his own peak, and collapsed back, eyes closed, panting and gasping for breath.

Lsiril’s weight settled on top of him, and he opened his eyes to find her smiling down at him. She gently bathed his face in small, light licks. “That was amazing,” she murmured.

Serra’s wound her arms around one of his, pulling herself against his side, breast pressing into his shoulder. “I’ve never heard of such a vigorous man.”

He laughed. “Well, you ladies certainly helped.” He gave Serra a side-eyed smile. “Your first man, huh?”

She and Lisril shared a long look, “women don’t count,” she said at last.

Alex laughed, and lisril licked his cheek. “You know, I’m happy to see the two of you making progress, but I am curious, what brought this on?”

He glanced at Serra, bit his lip. He had a feeling she wouldn’t want him airing her troubles.

Lisril reared up onto her knees. “What?” she demanded. She turned her gaze to Serra. “What?”

“It’s nothing,” Serra said, “Captain.”

Lisril’s eyes widened, narrowed, her fists clenched, and she leapt from the bed. “Lisril!” he cried, scrambling to his feet.

She snatched Serra’s gown from the floor and threw it over her head. “Stay here.” And with the force of a storm swept out of the room.