Page 67 of Wateredge

“You do?” Lark’s tone was a little breathy, disoriented. Her eyes were focused on the fingers and the bra strap.

“I do. No matter where you are, my eyes find you. In town, at the Tavern, at the Brew. And there’s this line.” Seren’s finger accompanied her words, tracing from the edge of the shoulder all the way up to where it met the long neck. “This line has two spots, one is right here.” Seren’s lips lowered, touching the skin on the shoulder and neck junction, licking and sucking, biting tenderly, then harder.

As her tongue came out to soothe where she had bitten, Lark all but dissolved in her arms. Seren smiled against her skin.

“That’s the first spot. The second spot I always look for is this one,” Seren said as she traced her fingertip from the now almost certain rise, up toward where the neck met the sharp line of the jaw, and placed her lips right there, making Lark tilt her head, letting it fall on Seren’s shoulder.

“Yeah, those two spots drive me wild. You are so breathtakingly beautiful, Lark. I keep cataloguing everything about you, thinking surely this is Lark at her prettiest, and then… nope.” Seren popped the P in the word, then sucked on Lark’s pulse point, making her tremble so hard, Seren wondered if she’d come apart at the seams. “No, this one is. Or this one. And this line, or this line.” Seren kept kissing, kept sucking small bruises along Lark’s shoulders. Lark moaned, her eyes slowly closing, her head thrown back.

She gasped out loud when Seren unclasped the bra, and her hands closed over the small breasts. Small, round, they fit in her palms, as if made for her.

“Everything about you is perfect. Like this.” Seren squeezed, her fingers trapping the hardened nipples between the knuckles. Lark’s exhalation was almost pained, her hips bucking, her behind pressing into Seren’s groin impatiently.

Seren gave her shoulder a quick bite.

“Everything about you, Lark, is amazing. Even how impatient you are.”

“I… ah… I want you.”

“Then let me take you.” Seren’s hand moved lower, pushing the simple cotton underwear down, exposing Lark fully in the dim light of the bedroom. She bit her lip, eyes roaming the body in front of her.

“Perfect, just absolutely perfect.” She could see tears pool in Lark’s eyes and felt more well within her own. How had they found each other in this immense world? How had they come to be like this? Seren felt gratitude and love fill her heart. Gratitude and desire.

“You destroyed me earlier, Lark.” Seren’s fingers parted Lark’s lips, slowly, carefully, gently. Lark’s eyes watched their every move. “Nobody has ever affected me like this before. Not a soul, not a body, no one. Just you. When you asked if you were bad, I had no words to tell you that you are the one. The one who has made me feel incredible, wanted, desired. You gave me so much. So much pleasure. Only you.”

Seren went on kissing every inch of skin in her reach, even as her fingers found Lark’s clit and zeroed in, drawing small, tight circles around it, growing tighter and tighter. Lark moaned louder, jerking in her embrace, and Seren pinched her nipple, driving her hand to scramble up and tug on Seren’s hair, bringing their mouths together as her hips moved in rhythm with the caresses. When those hips stuttered, Seren swallowed her cry as she slid one finger inside.

“You’re absolutely perfect. You’re wonderful. The prettiest woman in the world, Lark. The most beautiful.” She did not dare add a second one, as Lark was so tight and already so close. Seren focused on thrusting deep and steady as her palm rocked against the clit on the slide down.

Lark kept tugging on her hair, kept demanding kisses with those tiny whimpers and rough pulls. Seren didn’t mind. She was entranced. How had she put it earlier? Ensorcelled? She was more than that. Bewitched did not do it justice either. Watching herself and Lark, naked, tongues sliding against each other, Seren’s finger three knuckles deep, thrusting steadily… Seren felt herself clenching around nothing, wanting Lark’s fingers back. Wanting so much more and knowing they had all the time in the world, all the days and all the nights.

The joy of a future, the promise of many nights like this, fucking in front of the mirror, in her bed, christening every inch of this house with their bodies, made Seren giddy, made her want to howl with laughter. Instead, she focused her efforts on Lark. Her finger hooked upward with every thrust, and Lark’s face was pure shock, jerking at every sensation, skin already revealing all the bruises from Seren’s mouth, all the kisses and bites, all the marks that Seren had left, all the ways Seren had claimed her.

“Yes, Lark, just like that. Look at you. Naked and marked. Taking me so well. Taking my finger, pushing into me, so fucking wet for me. So wet and hungry.”

“I can’t, Seren… I don’t know what is happening… Is this…” Lark sounded confused, a touch desperate, her eyes wide and wild.

Seren understood. She tightened her arm around her torso and slipped her finger out, focusing only on the clit, flicking it rhythmically over and over and over, until⁠—

“There you are, Lark, baby, mine, there you are, come for me.” The words were probably unnecessary, as the fingertips felt the clenching, the hips moving against the rhythm, erratically, even as Lark opened her mouth in a silent O. A second, five, ten, and Lark slowly pushed Seren’s hand away and just stayed there, watching the two of them in the mirror. Then she smiled, her smile broad and bright, almost blinding.

“Well, what do you say if we go again? And again?”

Seren’s mouth fell open, and Lark laughed as she tackled her back onto the bed.

Everything was quiet again. Seren always found the soundless quality of the Crow House to be ethereal. She wondered if someone in previous generations had placed wards to ensure sound did not disturb the occupants. Despite the proximity of the Cliff and the ocean battling, eternally against it, the Crow’s domain held a piece of that silence.

And now, it held a piece of Seren’s happiness. It was magical. She wrapped her arms tighter around Lark, who was dozing on her chest, and felt the long lashes flutter over her collarbone.

“I thought you were asleep?”

Lark kissed the skin closest to her mouth, drawing a smile from Seren. She was fairly certain it was completely dopey. She didn’t mind. Lark made her silly. Made her joyful. Made her happy. Seren kissed the top of Lark’s head and allowed herself to fall back on the rapidly cooling pillows.

The room held the scent of singed candle wicks. It was comforting. She should get new ones—the light did amazing things to Lark’s skin, the shadows candles cast over it bringing a golden hue to it. Lark looked amazing in candlelight. Lark looked amazing in everything.

Smitten. Totally smitten.

Seren almost laughed at herself.