Chapter 593: Bonus - 61: Gold god and Pink Girl: Sugary Rose

"That only holds true in your world. Over here, Sir Ren is the inventor we know and love. He was once so vigorous that King Renard had to forbid him from making anything else, as it would attract the attention of demons."

Benjamin rolled the crystal cup, watching the dark liquid move.

"Demons, huh... I haven’t seen one before."

"I would not want you to meet one, Benjamin," she said, already selecting another thin slice of cake. "They are unsightly... Though you never fail to surprise us. You might just get along fine with one. And they might not all be evil, I suppose."

She paused, fork poised. "By the way, where is Heka? I heard that she was with you."

"We left her back at Eric’s mansion," Benjamin answered. "I didn’t want her to know we were going on a date. She can’t read the room perfectly, so she’d ask to come with."

Vaelora’s brows furrowed, the gold of her eyes still luminous.

"Eh? But I really do not mind. I would even like to share this cake with her and your hosts."

"No can do." He smiled and nudged the plate a little closer to her. "This is your evening, so enjoy yourself. No sharing required."

They stayed until the cakes were mostly gone and the dark liquid had warmed them both.

Afterward Benjamin led her to a quieter corner of the street where a vendor poured his favorite apple ale into simple wooden cups.

The ale was crisp, lightly sweet, and stronger than it first tasted.

Vaelora drank two. Color rose higher in her cheeks. When the cups were empty he took her hand again, and the street, the lanterns, the distant sound of the plays and the aquarium lights all folded away in a single smooth warp of space.

They reappeared inside his room.

Vaelora’s golden sandals touched the floor. She stood still for a moment, wings giving one small, unsteady flutter, then looked at him with an expression that mixed tipsiness and sudden boldness.

"Is master going to take me now?"

"Eh?" Benjamin blinked, momentarily taken aback.

"Ah... Ahaha! Forgive my manners!" Vaelora’s hands flew up to cover her mouth. The gold of her eyes widened in open fluster. "I seem to have drunk a bit too much..."

He looked at her for several quiet seconds. The room was dimmer now, the earlier orange light gone, only the soft residual glow from the window remaining. Then he smiled.

"It’s your evening. You can do whatever you want. C’mere."

He bent his head and kissed her.

The first contact was deliberate and slow. His mouth settled over hers with unhurried pressure, tasting the lingering sweetness of cake and the cleaner note of apple ale.

Vaelora made a small sound against his lips—a bit surprise, but very welcome—and her hands rose to the front of his tunic, fingers curling into the fabric.

He deepened the kiss by degrees, tilting his head, parting her lips with a gentle insistence that asked rather than demanded.

Her mouth opened for him. The kiss turned hotter, wetter. Tongues met, slid and explored. She tasted of sugar and that unique fairy taste, bright and somewhat candy-sweet.

Benjamin’s hands found her waist, then slid lower, palms spanning the narrow curve of her hips. He kissed her as if he had all the time in the world and intended to use every second of it.

When he finally drew back for breath, a thin thread of saliva still connected them for a heartbeat before it broke.

He did not give her long to recover. He kissed her again, harder this time, one hand rising to cradle the back of her head so the long pink curls spilled over his fingers.

Vaelora’s wings shivered openly. Her body pressed closer of its own accord, the soft give of her chest against him, the faint tremor that ran through her when his tongue stroked deeper.

He wondered, briefly, how she had become so good at kissing if she had only gained a vessel recently. The thought came and went; he decided not to ask.

Still kissing her, he bent and lifted. One arm slid under her knees, the other supported her back.

She made a soft startled sound into his mouth but did not pull away.

As he carried her the short distance to the bed his hand shifted, openly grabbing the soft curve of her ass, fingers sinking into the give of it through the thin gown.

She gasped against his lips, and the sound only encouraged him. He kept the kiss unbroken while he lowered her onto the mattress, following her down so that his weight settled over her in a controlled, deliberate press.

The bed dipped beneath them. Her pink hair spread across the covers.

Only then did he break the kiss.

He sat back just far enough to reach for the hem of his tunic and pull it up and over his head in one motion. The pale fabric dropped to the floor.

Soft, toned abs caught the low light of the room, the lines of muscle clean and defined without excess. Vaelora’s golden eyes moved over him, still luminous and wide.

Benjamin gave her only a second to look before he leaned down again and dove back into her literally delicious lips, reclaiming her mouth with the same unhurried heat as before.

His mouth left hers only long enough to find the soft line of her jaw. He kissed there once, lingering, then again more slowly, before the trail of his lips began its deliberate descent.

Warm open-mouthed kisses marked the side of her neck, each one held long enough to feel the flutter of her pulse beneath the skin.

He paused at the place where her throat met her shoulder, breathing against the sensitive skin, then continued lower—across the delicate hollow at the base of her throat, then down the center of her chest where the near-transparent fabric of the gown still covered her.