Chapter 322: Queues and Gossips (2)

Kessa stopped pacing and leaned her forehead against the wall beside the doorframe, ears flat.

"When it is my turn, I am going to make sure the elves in the next courtyard learn my name."

Griselda’s mouth twitched.

"They already know your name. They just prefer not to hear it at this volume."

Misha finally pushed off the wall, expression composed in the way that usually meant she was rewriting schedules in her head to restore order to the universe.

"Morning rotation stays as agreed. Thora had tonight. The rest of us take the next available window once the system confirms he can survive it. No door-kicking. No ’accidental’ entrances. No setting the sheets on fire in protest." She glanced at Sira. "That last one was for you."

Sira raised both hands.

"I make no promises if she comes a fourth time."

Inside the room, the sounds had begun to ease from frantic to spent.

Thora lay sprawled across the wrecked sheets, dark hair a tangled spill across the pillows, body marked with sweat and the evidence of everything Kane had taken and given back.

His release leaked from her in an unmistakable trickle, down the soft skin of her inner thighs, onto the sheets already past saving.

Her chest rose and fell in deep, uneven pulls.

The usual hard edge of her expression had been fucked into something looser and thoroughly destroyed.

She turned her head on the pillow just enough to look at him, eyes dark and half-lidded, and did not bother closing her legs.

Kane stood at the edge of the bed, still catching his own breath, brace scuffed, residual bruises standing out against skin flushed from effort.

He looked down at her with an unapologetic pride, the particular satisfaction of a man who had come home half-broken and still managed to leave his first woman dripping and speechless on the sheets.

Thora’s mouth curved.

"You’re standing there like you won a war."

Kane’s smile was slow and thoroughly unrepentant.

He looked down at Thora, dark hair wrecked across the pillows, body marked, thighs still open, his cum still leaking from her in a slow, unmistakable trickle, and the pride in his expression only deepened.

"I did win a war," he said.

"Just a small, very specific one. You surrendered. The bed lost. I’m taking the victory."

Thora’s eyes narrowed, but the usual edge was still half-melted under exhaustion and aftershocks.

"You’re going to pay for that smile when the others get through the door."

"I know."

Kane leaned down, braced carefully on his good arm, and kissed her once, tasting the salt on her mouth.

"Sleep. You’re done for tonight. If anyone kicks the door in before morning, tell them I said the rotation stands."

Thora made a wordless sound that might have been agreement or a threat for later, and let her eyes fall closed.

Kane pushed off the bed, found a discarded cloth, and cleaned himself up enough to be presentable by the lowest possible standard.

The brace was scuffed.

Fresh bite marks stood out along his good shoulder.

He looked exactly like a man who had spent hours fucking his first woman through a wall and had no intention of apologizing for it.

He left her sprawled and dripping, pulled on light trousers and an open shirt that did nothing to hide the evidence, and stepped out into the corridor intending to find a bath and then food.

He did not get far.

Four figures were still clustered in the dim stretch of hallway outside the main bedchamber like a very poorly concealed ambush.

Misha had claimed the wall again, arms folded, eyes sharp even in the low light.

Sira was sitting on the floor with her back against the opposite wall, orange hair a disaster, expression stuck between suffering and murder.

Kessa had gone back to short, restless pacing, striped tail lashing.

Griselda stood a little apart with her usual composure, though even she looked like she had been enduring the auditory siege for longer than dignity preferred.

They all froze when the door opened.

Kane stopped, took in the entire tableau, and the tired, post-sex satisfaction on his face broke into an open, incredulous laugh.

"You’ve got to be joking."

Sira pointed at him immediately, as if the laugh itself were an act of war.

"Do not start. We have been out here for hours. Hours. Do you have any idea what that sounded like from this side of the door?"

Kane leaned his good shoulder against the doorframe, still smiling, and made no effort to look apologetic.

"I have a reasonably clear idea. She wasn’t quiet."

Kessa’s ears flattened.

"She was doing it on purpose. Every time it got loud enough to carry to the next courtyard, she got louder. That is psychological warfare, and I am going to return it with interest when the rotation reaches me."

Misha’s voice was cooler, but the tension under it was unmistakable.

"The agreement was sequential claims. Thora drew the first night. That does not mean the rest of us were required to stand in the corridor and receive a full performance report through the wood."

Kane’s grin widened.

"And yet here you all are. Guarding the door like someone might try to steal her. Or me. I’m flattered, but you do realize there are chairs in this manor? Food? Actual beds that are not currently destroyed?"

Sira scrambled to her feet, orange hair swinging.

"We tried chairs. Then she started making that noise she only makes when you hit the exact angle, and we all lost the ability to sit still. Kessa nearly put a claw through the wall. Misha started rewriting the entire morning schedule in her head hard enough that I could hear the ink. Griselda just stood there, being calm and horrible about it."

Griselda inclined her head slightly.

"I suggested food twice. No one listened. The auditory evidence was... persistent."

Kane dragged his good hand down his face, still laughing under it, and pushed off the doorframe.

"I’m going to bathe. Then I’m going to find something to eat that is not broth. If the four of you want to keep haunting the corridor, that’s your decision. If you want to stop looking like a rejected assassination squad and come get food with me, that is also an option. Thora is asleep. The door is closed. Nobody is getting through that door tonight without answering to her first, and she is in no condition to answer anything politely."

Kessa folded her arms, tail still moving.

"You look disgustingly pleased with yourself."

"I am. And I’m gonna be for the next four days."