Chapter 117: A Chain Chosen Freely

"Inside the Guild records office."

Severin let the answer sit for a moment.

The lamp beside Marienne’s abandoned working place had burned low enough to leave the corners of the records room dim. Across the table, Nyra watched him without fidgeting. Her bag remained beside her left ankle. Alicia stood 1 step behind his right shoulder, quiet and alert.

A name would have been easier, and far more dangerous. He might have moved too soon.

"Then we don’t touch the Guild tonight," Severin said.

Nyra’s ears shifted forward. "Good."

"Voss stays watched. Nobody pressures him, nobody lets him know the route is burned. If your sources bring anything before morning, they bring it to you first."

"And if any of them panic?"

"Keep them alive and quiet. Don’t promise them anything in my name."

Her mouth pulled sideways. "There you are."

Nyra bent, caught the strap of her shoulder bag, and lifted it onto her shoulder. The utility knife stayed at her waist. She rose, but instead of heading for the records-room door, she looked at Severin.

"Come with me."

Beside him, Alicia’s tail went still for a heartbeat. Her ears turned toward Nyra, then the tail flicked behind her calf.

Severin turned his head. "Keep the east service side close tonight. If a message comes through the gate, wake me before anyone acts on it."

"Yes, Master." Alicia’s eyes returned to him. "I’ll keep it quiet."

"Good."

Severin rose.

"Lead."

Nyra opened the door herself.

They crossed the quiet central hall and took the stairs up. Alicia stopped at the upper landing. Nyra continued toward the spare room near the far end of the south passage without looking back to see whether Severin followed.

He did.

At the door, she glanced toward the landing. Alicia was already gone from sight.

Nyra entered first.

The room smelled faintly of clean linen and the cold night air leaking around the west window. A narrow table stood beneath that window. The bed sat against the south wall, its headboard against the plaster. The door remained behind them.

Nyra slipped the bag from her shoulder and set it on the floor beneath the table by the west window.

Then she unbuckled her weapon belt and laid it on the table with the sheathed knife still on it. She closed the door.

The latch clicked.

She didn’t turn the key.

Severin watched her hand leave it.

Nyra noticed.

"Don’t," she said.

"Don’t what?"

"Make that face like you’ve solved something."

"I haven’t said anything."

"Your face is rude."

He almost smiled. "And yours is nervous."

Her right ear twitched.

"My face is fine."

"Your ear disagrees."

"Traitor."

Nyra rubbed the base of the offending ear, irritated, then dropped her hand.

Neither of them moved.

Nyra had explained a murder route with less visible discomfort than this.

That interested him.

Nyra exhaled slowly. Her tail moved behind her legs, then went still.

"I came back because I wanted to," she said. "The work was only part of it."

"You did."

"And if I do this, I don’t get to obey only when I like the answer. I know that."

"Good."

Her mouth tightened. "I’m still telling you when you’re walking toward a knife."

"I expect you to."

Her mouth flattened at how little he was giving her.

Severin waited.

She stared at him for another breath.

Then her knees bent.

Nyra lowered herself onto the floor in front of him.

Her back stayed straight. Her smoke-black tail swept left and settled along the floor beside her thigh. She looked up at him, jaw tight, ears forward despite the color warming her cheeks.

"I hate how much I want this," she said quietly.

Severin stepped closer.

"Say what you came here to say."

Her throat worked.

"I want to belong to you."

He put 2 fingers beneath her chin and tilted her face higher.

"Then you do."

Nyra’s jaw loosened. Her right ear dipped, and the breath she’d been holding left in a soft rush.

’Deception Trace.’

Severin’s thumb moved across her lower lip.

"Open."

Nyra obeyed.

He pushed his thumb into her mouth just far enough for her tongue to touch it. Her eyes stayed on his.

"Mmh."

"Good."

Her lips closed around him for a moment before he withdrew.

"Stand."

Nyra rose immediately.

He caught the front of her cloak and drew her into him.

Their mouths met hard.

Nyra made a surprised sound against his lips, "Nnh," then kissed him back hard. Her hands caught his shoulders. The next kiss went deeper, her mouth opening under his.

"Mmh..."

Her tail struck lightly against his calf.

Severin broke the kiss only long enough to pull the charcoal cloak from her shoulders. Nyra helped free her arms. He folded it and laid it on the window side of the bed near the headboard.

She watched where he put it.

Of course she did.

His own coat came next, then his shirt, both folded on the opposite side near the headboard.

Nyra’s gaze dropped over his chest and abdomen.

"You’ve been hiding that under clothes all evening?"

"You knew it was there."

"Knowing and looking aren’t the same thing."

Her voice was still dry.

Her ears weren’t.

They leaned toward him.

Severin caught the hem of her travel shirt. "Arms up."

"Yes."

She lifted them.

The shirt came off over her head, exposing the full weight of her breasts. Nyra sucked in a breath when the cooler air touched her nipples.

"Hah..."

Severin filled both hands with her breasts.

Soft flesh pressed between his fingers. She was athletic beneath it, waist defined, body built for quick movement rather than delicacy, but there was nothing slight about the weight in his palms.

Nyra’s lips parted.

"Mmh... Severin."

He squeezed harder.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Liar."

Her eyes narrowed. "Careful. I have a professional reputation."

"Not in this room."

That shut her up for a beat.

Then he bent and took her left nipple into his mouth.

"Ah!"

Her hands caught his shoulders again. Severin sucked slowly, tongue circling the stiffening point before drawing it between his lips.

"Nnh... ah..."

He switched sides, licking across the right breast before closing his mouth around the nipple.

Nyra’s hips shifted closer on their own.

"Mmh... that’s..."

He bit lightly.

"Hah!"

"Finish it."

"Annoying," she breathed. "That’s what it is."

Severin lifted his head.

His right palm struck her left breast.

SLAP!

The soft flesh jumped.

Nyra gasped, eyes widening. "Ah! Gods..."

He caught the breast immediately afterward, squeezing the heat under his palm.

Her tail snapped behind her.

"Again?" she asked before she could stop herself.

Severin smiled.

"No."

Nyra stared at him. "That’s cruel."

"You’ll survive."

"Hmph."

He kissed her before she could recover the dry tone.

This time she melted into it faster.

Severin stripped the rest of her clothes from her while keeping her close. Her trousers and underclothes landed in a single pile against the south wall just west of the bed. Her boots came off next and stood side by side just north of the pile, clear of the open foot.

Nyra glanced down at herself, naked now, then back at him.

Her cheeks had darkened.

"You’re enjoying this."

"No."

"Of course not."

Severin pulled her into another kiss and walked her back only until her calves neared the bed. His hands slid down her waist, over the round fullness of her hips, then settled on her ass.

Nyra inhaled sharply.

"Mmh..."

He squeezed.

"Soft."

"You sound surprised."

"I’m appreciating it."

Her mouth twitched. "That somehow sounded worse."

He kissed the corner of her mouth, then her throat.

Nyra’s head tipped back.

"Ah..."

His lips moved lower. He sucked her breast again, licked the underside, then dragged his tongue slowly over the nipple.

"Nnh... Severin..."

His fingers spread over her ass and pulled her firmly against his thigh.

Heat and wetness met his skin.

Nyra froze for half a heartbeat.

Severin looked down between them.

"Very professional."

"You had to say it."

"You’re soaked."

Her ears flattened.

"I noticed."

"Good."

He kissed her again, hard enough to cut off the next reply.

"Kneel."

Nyra dropped to her knees without hesitation.

Severin removed his boots and set them side by side east of the bed, clear of the door. His trousers and underclothes followed in a single pile against the wall behind his boots.

Nyra watched his cock spring free.

Her eyes widened despite herself.

"Huh."

"Problem?"

"Ask me after."

That got a quiet laugh out of him.

He stepped in front of her.

"Use your mouth."

Nyra wrapped her right hand around the base and looked up at him.

"Like this?"

"You’ll learn."

"Confident."

"Start."

She did.

Her tongue dragged slowly along the underside before circling the head. Severin’s abdomen tightened.

Nyra saw it.

Her eyes sharpened with immediate interest.

"There," she murmured.

"Don’t get distracted."

"I’m gathering evidence."

"With your mouth."

A breathy laugh escaped her. "Yes."

She took him between her lips.

SLURP!

Warm suction closed around the head.

Severin’s breath roughened.

Nyra hummed around him. "Mmmh..."

She worked lower, using her hand where her mouth couldn’t reach. Her tongue stayed active against him.

SLURP! SLURP!

The sound was wet and shameless in the small room.

Nyra pulled back just enough to breathe. "You like that."

"Keep going."

"Thought so."

She swallowed him again.

Severin caught the back of her head with his left hand. Her smoke-black ears shifted around his wrist as he began controlling the pace.

Nyra’s eyes lifted to his.

He pushed deeper.

GULP!

"Mmh!"

Again.

GULK!

Her throat tightened around him.

Severin’s thighs tensed.

Pleasure pulled hard through his abdomen, sharp enough to make his fingers tighten in her hair.

Nyra noticed that too. The interest in her eyes sharpened.

He drove deeper.

GHK!

"Nghk!"

Her eyes watered, but she kept both hands on him and stayed where he put her.

He eased back enough for her to drag in a breath.

"Hah... gods."

"Again."

Nyra looked up at him, breathing hard.

Then she opened her mouth.

Severin pushed in.

GGK!

Her throat worked around him.

"Mmmgh!"

The pressure nearly broke his rhythm.

His jaw tightened.

’Fuck.’

He pulled out before pleasure could tip him over.

Nyra coughed, swallowed, then wiped the corner of her mouth with her thumb.

"Hah... didn’t finish."

"No."

A strange little satisfaction showed in her eyes. "Good."

"Why?"

"I want to know what you look like when you do."

That answer went straight through him.

Severin caught her under the chin and kissed her, tasting himself on her tongue.

Nyra moaned into his mouth. "Mmh..."

He drew her up.

"To the bed. Face the headboard."

Her breathing changed.

She went.

Nyra stopped at the open foot of the bed facing the headboard. Her feet stayed on the floor, set apart for balance.

"Bend over."

She placed both hands on the mattress and lowered her torso over the open edge.

Her breasts hung free beneath her. Her ass lifted toward him.

Her tail flicked uncertainly behind her.

Severin caught it near the base without pulling and moved it left, out of the line between their hips.

Nyra looked back over her right shoulder.

"Practical."

"Very."

Her lips twitched.

He put his left forearm across her lower abdomen and left waist, supporting her against the bed. His right hand settled on her right hip.

Nyra’s knees flexed slightly.

Severin ran the head of his cock through the wet folds between her thighs.

SQUELCH!

Nyra shuddered.

"Ah..."

He did it again, coating himself in her wetness.

"Mmh... Severin."

He positioned himself at her entrance.

Nyra’s fingers curled into the sheet.

"Wait."

Severin stopped.

She looked back at him, ears angled low.

"No man’s done this before."

The words came quieter than any field report she’d given him.

Severin tightened his left arm around her waist.

"I know now."

"That’s all you’re going to say?"

"Do you need a speech?"

Nyra stared at him for a heartbeat.

Then a strained laugh escaped her. "No. Please don’t."

"Good. Face forward."

She obeyed.

Severin pushed in slowly.

SQUELCH!

Her body resisted the initial pressure. Severin eased in a little at a time, holding her steady while she stretched around him.

Nyra gasped.

"Ah... ah, wait..."

He went still inside her.

Her thighs trembled.

"Hah... that’s... bigger than my brilliant plan accounted for."

"Breathe."

"I’m breathing."

"Badly."

"Hah... rude."

He waited until the tightness around him eased.

Then he pressed deeper.

Nyra’s breath broke.

"Nnh! Severin..."

Another careful push.

Her body stretched around him, hot and impossibly tight. The sensation dragged a low groan out of him before he could flatten it.

Nyra heard.

Her ears lifted.

"There," she breathed. "Found another."

"Another what?"

"Thing that affects you."

Severin pushed the rest of the way into her.

"Ahh!"

Nyra’s hands clenched hard in the bedding.

He stayed buried and let her adjust.

Only wetness shone where their bodies met.

Her breathing came quick and shallow beneath him.

"Hah... hah... Severin."

"Still thinking?"

"Unfortunately."

"I’ll fix that."

Her tail jerked left.

"That sounded like a threat."

"It was a promise."

Severin withdrew partway, then drove forward harder.

CLAP!

Nyra cried out. "Ah!"

Her breasts swung beneath her with the impact.

He did it again.

CLAP!

"Ngh...!"

The bed frame knocked the wall.

Severin drove hard and deep, his hands keeping her exactly where he wanted her. He never gave her a clean rhythm to hide inside.

CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!

"Ah... hah... Severin!"

Nyra’s fingers dug into the mattress.

Her pussy tightened around him on the next thrust.

Then again.

"Mmh... don’t... slow down."

"I wasn’t going to."

His right hand left her hip.

He slapped her right ass.

SLAP!

The cheek jumped under his palm.

Nyra shouted, "AH!"

His hand returned to her right hip immediately.

Her body clenched around him so hard his breath caught.

"Again?" she panted.

"Later."

"Gods..."

Severin fucked her harder.

CLAP!

"Nnh!"

CLAP!

"Ah... ah..."

Severin drove deep enough that the impact made her entire body jolt forward over the mattress.

Nyra cried out, "Severin!"

Wet heat burst around him.

SQUIRT!

Her pussy contracted in hard waves.

"Ahh! Hah... hah...!"

The orgasm shook through her. Severin’s left arm kept her waist anchored while her knees trembled.

He kept thrusting through it.

"Nnh... too..."

"Take it."

"Yes..."

Her answer barely made it out.

The contractions around his cock dragged his own pressure sharply upward.

Severin’s jaw locked.

Nyra squeezed again.

His rhythm faltered for a stroke.

She noticed.

"Mmh... there..."

"Quiet."

Nyra gave a breathless little laugh that broke into a moan when he thrust again. "Hah... yes."

He drove deep, held her tight against him, and the pressure finally broke.

SPRUTT!

Severin came inside her.

His fingers bit into her right hip. His abdomen tightened hard as hot pulses emptied deep into her, and a rough sound escaped his throat.

"Ngh..."

Nyra’s eyes squeezed shut.

"Ah... warm..."

Before the last pulse had fully faded, Severin was moving again, still buried inside her.

Nyra’s head snapped up.

"Hah! You’re still..."

CLAP!

"Ah!"

"Yes."

"Gods..."

Her thighs were already shaking from that climax. The fresh wetness and semen made every stroke slicker, louder.

SQUELCH! CLAP!

"Nnh... Severin..."

Her body kept tightening around him in little desperate squeezes.

Severin’s left forearm stayed firm across her lower abdomen, holding her where he wanted her. His right hand remained at her hip, controlling the angle.

He drove deep again.

Nyra’s back arched.

"Ahhh!"

Her lower belly jolted against his left forearm.

"Too deep?"

She shook her head against the mattress. "No. Again."

He did.

The next deep thrust made her cry out as wetness burst down her thighs.

SQUIRT!

"AAH! Severin!"

The next orgasm hit harder.

Her pussy squeezed him in rapid waves. Both knees threatened to soften.

Severin’s left arm took more of her weight before she could slide.

"Stay up."

"Trying... hah..."

"Do better."

Nyra made a sound halfway between a laugh and a sob. "Gods... that’s cruel..."

She pushed her hips back into the next thrust anyway.

Severin gave her no rest.

CLAP! CLAP!

"Ah... ah... nnh!"

Her breasts swung beneath her with every hard impact. Her ass rippled against his hips. She was so wet that each drive made a slick, obscene sound.

"Mmh... can’t think."

"Good."

"Gods... that works too well."

"You can hate it tomorrow."

"Hah... yes."

He pushed her into another brutal rhythm.

Nyra’s voice climbed with it.

"Ah... Severin... ah!"

Her internal muscles tightened again and again around him.

Severin felt every squeeze.

Pleasure built back through him, slower after the earlier release but heavier now, drawn out by her wet heat and the way she kept trying to meet him despite trembling legs.

His right palm left her hip again.

His palm cracked against her left ass.

SLAP!

"AAH!"

His hand returned to her right hip.

Nyra’s tail snapped against the left side of the bedframe.

"Severin... I’m..."

"Not yet."

"Hah... what?"

He shortened his strokes, keeping her close to the edge without giving her the deep strike she was chasing.

Nyra groaned into the bedding.

"Nnh... that’s unfair."

"Then endure it."

Her ears flattened, then lifted again.

"Yes..." Her voice broke around the word.

Severin drove deep.

Her whole body jolted.

The hit shoved her forward, her forearms sliding against the sheet. "Ah... feels like you’re touching my womb..."

SQUIRT!

Nyra screamed. "AAH! SEVERIN!"

The orgasm that followed tore through her.

Her arms almost gave out.

Severin took more of her weight against his left forearm before her torso could fold into the mattress. She gasped, eyes half-lidded but tracking him when she turned her face right enough to find him.

"Hah... hah... still here."

"I can see that."

"Barely."

"Stay with me."

"Yes."

He kept fucking her.

Not as fast now, but every stroke remained hard and deep.

"Nnh... ah... Severin..."

CLAP!

"Hah!"

CLAP!

"Mmh... ah..."

Her pussy squeezed him weakly, then hard again.

That final contraction dragged Severin over the edge.

His breath stopped.

His right hand locked around her hip.

SPURT!

He came inside her again.

Pleasure clenched through his abdomen and thighs as another heavy series of pulses filled her. His forehead dipped for a moment between her shoulder blades while he held her firmly against him.

Nyra gave a thin, broken moan.

"Mmh... full..."

Severin stayed inside until the last pulse faded.

Only then did he withdraw.

Wetness and semen immediately began leaking down the inside of Nyra’s thighs. She shivered at the empty feeling and made a soft sound.

"Ah..."

A thin red streak showed at the outer edge of the wetness, from a spot rubbed raw late in the hard rhythm. The streak stayed small, already thinning rather than spreading, though Nyra still flinched when her thighs shifted.

Nyra’s knees weakened.

Severin’s left forearm remained across her lower abdomen and left waist. His right hand held her right hip, taking enough of her weight to keep her braced at the open foot of the bed.

Her tail hung left and twitched against the floor.

She trembled hard, but her eyes stayed open and tracked him when he shifted his grip.

[Skill Copy successful.]

[Skill Grade: D — Developed Skill]

[Skill Name: Deception Trace]

[Void Imprint recorded.]

Severin left the new Copy untouched.

Nyra breathed against the mattress until the tremor in her shoulders eased a little.

Then she turned her face enough to look back at him.

"Hah... did you get it?"

"Yes."

Her eyes closed for a moment.

A tired, dry curve touched her mouth.

"Good." She swallowed and drew another shaky breath. "You’ll hate it."

Severin’s hand tightened at her hip.

"Tomorrow."