Torgan Wine Ch. 07

Many thanks to Todger65 for helping me with editing!

*****

Isonei bolted from the bath giggling. Draeseth had put his clothing back on with the exception of his outer tunic and belt. Those she had put on and grinned impishly at him, but she hadn't tied the belt well. He'd pulled it free and held it in his hands making the doubled belt snap with a wicked grin.

Following her out still grinning, Draeseth had just stepped over the threshold into the bedroom where she was perched on the edge of the bed with his tunic pooling around her, when they heard the pointed throat clearing.

"I asked not to be disturbed." His grin faded quickly as he turned.

"I insisted on having breakfast with you, brother. What in Mezaldir's seven hells happened this morning?"

"That was entirely my fault!" Isonei called from the bedroom. Climbing from the bed sheepishly, she wrapped her arms around Draeseth's waist from behind. "I was being childish and-" She stopped as Draeseth wrapped his belt around her wrists and laughed softly.

"It seems to be contagious," Burgath snorted.

"If you're offended, you may leave. I am in good spirits. I have my wife returned to me, and recognized as such by the Daga." Draeseth stroked her hands keeping her wrapped around him.

"Our journey to Torga has been extended? I was informed when I made inquiries into the noise." Burgath's curiosity was more pronounced than his annoyance.

"Yes, I'm to serve as my Daga's Keran. He's seeking a match with Daga Gildith's daughter. When the match has been finalized, we can continue."

"How long will that be?"

"A month, perhaps more. But my Daga is going to make arrangements that may make the delay worthwhile." Isonei wasn't sure what they would be, but Daga Liadith was a clever one. She trusted that Burgath would be well seen to.

"What arrangements?" His tone was dubious.

"My Daga will speak to you, and I advise you strongly to remember what I said in the garden." Straightening herself up behind Draeseth was pointless but she tried regardless.

They began conversing in Torgan and after several patient moments she wriggled her way around to his side. "As amusing as it was when you tied my hands, my playful husband, I'm getting bored of being your belt."

"I have not tired of it." Draeseth stroked her hair and smiled. "You may stay out of trouble this way."

"You are a wicked horrible man." She tried to suppress a smile and poked her fingers into his side.

"I am your beast, woman." His smile turned back into the wicked grin from the bath as he began to pinch and tickle her with both hands, turning her to his front.

Laughing and shrieking, unable to get away, she tried to drop to her knees. He pulled her back up and kissed her. "You will be my belt until I decide otherwise, woman."

"I can think of a half a dozen more pleasant ways to spend the time that would keep me just as close." Isonei beamed up at him.

"Is one of them breakfast?" Burgath asked wryly.

"No, but I suppose breakfast would be nice." She buried her face in Draeseth's chest. Looking up as her hands were untied, she noticed Krouth appearing more sour than usual. "Is something wrong, Krouth?"

"My brother's presence has not stopped us from being affectionate, he disapproves of rudeness." Draeseth answered for the man.

"Nonsense." She gave Draeseth a frown. "How can we be rude if we're being affectionate in our own rooms? An uninvited guest can't dictate his host's behavior."

"You gave me some very kind advice, Lady Isonei." Burgath sounded peeved. When she looked at him his eyes were narrowed and he looked like he wanted to slap her. "Don't ever say that of royal company."

As if noticing her confused look, Krouth informed her in a cool and careful tone, "My Lady, there are different rules for royalty."

"That baffles me, it seems like common courtesy." Taking a breath she put on a cool, practiced smile to hide her dismay. "Forgive me for trying to impose Aran views. I hadn't realized how unwelcome they would be. If my Daga hasn't sent any clothes for me I will retire to my room to dress. Enjoy your breakfast, your Highnesses."

"I will not have my wife walking the halls of this place in my tunic." Draeseth's good spirits seemed to have vanished. He snapped something at Burgath in Torgan.

"If she is so prone to unhappiness with you-" He stepped back as Draeseth advanced on him snarling in Torgan.

"Lady Isonei, I have a dress for you in the bedroom." Krouth kept his voice low, ushering her hurriedly into the other room. He closed the door, blocking out the voices and pointed to where her dresses had been kept with Draeseth's tunics. "I had a dress and undergarments fetched while you were bathing. I put them away not expecting you would require them so early."

"Thank you, Krouth." Isonei started toward the clothes and then turned with a look that apparently surprised him. "Would you say that your people are courteous?"

"Yes, Lady Isonei, but courtesy has very clear rules." The faintest of smiles crossed his face. "Arans seem to find rules distasteful."

"Not at all, Torgans just seem to be needlessly strict with some things." She sighed and shook her head turning again to fetch the clothes. Inside the closet, she ran her fingers over Draeseth's tunics looking for a dress.

"That they are both princes should mean they are equals but his brothers don't always see it that way." Krouth frowned at her from the door of the small room as if she were compelling him to confess to something against his will. "I believe it to be one of the reasons he chose to embrace our religion where his brothers did not. In the eyes of Ganas, all men are equal." He paused and then pointed, "Your dress is at the end, and your things are hung inside it."

"Thank you. Andnaeuth said our religions weren't so different at their cores." Isonei offered him a smile.

A speculative look crossed his face, "Perhaps, if his Highness pleases, you could be introduced to our religion."

"I would like that. I don't know much about it, from what I understand you only have two Gods?"

"Two?" Krouth looked baffled.

"Ganas and Mezaldir?" Isonei blinked as the man made a strangled sound and fled. She took the heavy dress and carefully carried it out where Krouth stood facing the still closed door. "Was that wrong?"

Krouth turned his head slightly with a bitter frown. "Yes. Who said Mezaldir was a God?"

"No one but... what is he if he isn't?"

"I feel like I'm speaking to a child." He covered his face. "My Lady he's the embodiment of evil, not to be worshipped or revered like a God. Ganas is the only God."

"You have only one God?" She tilted her head with a smile. "But how could only one God give birth to the world or-"

He cleared his throat cutting her off, "He created it, molding it from his own flesh. A priest might be a better choice for this conversation."

"Perhaps, but I appreciate that you corrected me." Isonei gave him a warm smile. "I want to learn more about the things important to my Draeseth."

"As a good wife should." Krouth was staring intently at the door as if he wished to burn his way through it.

Laying the dark grey dress out she began to unpack it, all of the undergarments for this dress were black. She stepped back to the overdress running her fingers lightly over the black embroidered flowers trailing down the bodice and ringing the high neck. "He really did choose beautiful dresses. But they're so heavy, how can Torgan women stand to wear so many layers?"

"They find it scandalous you wear so few, Lady Isonei. You will become accustomed to it."

Sitting on the edge of the bed facing away from Krouth she began to dress without yet taking off the tunic. There was so much space... She tried to put the long black chemise on inside the tunic, surprisingly it worked. The underskirt was not a problem. Looking at the long sleeved black shirt with the lace on the collar and sleeves, she wondered if she could put that on inside the tunic as well.

The door jerked open startling her. "My brother will not be joining us for breakfast after all." Draeseth spoke quietly to Krouth in Torgan before the man stepped aside allowing him into the room. "My jewel, are you... dressing inside my tunic?" His lips twisted with amusement.

"I didn't want to make Krouth more uncomfortable than he already seemed to be, and there is a great deal of room inside it." Isonei held it out from her sides.

"I like you in Torgan gowns, wife. And I like you in my tunic." He rounded the bed and kissed her as if she'd been gone for days. "For the moment I want you in just your stockings." Draeseth pulled the tunic off over her head and untied her underskirt.

"And what will you be wearing, my flower wine?" She couldn't help but tease as he tugged the chemise up to her hips.

"My clothes." His wicked grin was back.

"If I'm stripped down to my stockings, I insist you be stripped down just as much my wicked beast." She wrapped her arms and legs around him making it impossible to take off the chemise.

"What do you suggest I wear, woman?" He crawled onto the bed as she giggled, clinging to him.

"A belt would do." Kissing and nibbling at the base of his throat, she squeaked in protest as he pinned her with his weight.

"I have a belt, a pretty blue and silver one. I'll wear it as often as my wife lets me." Draeseth kissed the side of her neck.

"As your wife," she broke into a fit of giggles as he made a delightful growling noise and slid down putting his head under the chemise to kiss her breasts. "As your wife, I say you can wear it until time to get ready for lunch but only as long as you wear it against your skin."

The way he took his time suckling and slipping his hand down to rub and tease her into readiness before replying should have been annoying but his touch was too delicious. Isonei pulled his tunic up part way, until her stocking feet were getting no traction on the smooth leather of his pants.

Finally, he pulled back and stripped himself to the waist looking down at her hungrily, "A good husband listens to his wife."

She helped him pull her chemise completely off and tugged open the fasteners of his pants. Rising to her knees she kissed his shoulders and back as he removed his pants entirely, "My beautiful Draeseth."

The look on his face as he turned and pushed her down on the bed was one she recognized. It made something in her belly flutter. Purring in Torgan he spread her legs and kissed the black silk of her stockings from the top of her foot to the band.

The words were very familiar and she blushed thinking she understood; he wanted her to tell him where she belonged. "I belong in front of you with my fine legs spread. For you, husband, I am willing and wanton." Isonei breathed the words, reaching for him.

He was inside of her in an instant, wrapping her legs around himself and murmuring lovingly in his language. His indecipherable words sounded like poetry. She was half moaning, half whimpering from the angle and the depth of him, so unbearably tight inside her and so urgently driving himself forward. Clinging to him, kissing his muscular shoulder she tried to soothe his insistent need, "Slower, not so nnmm not so rough my beautiful beast." Isonei felt him hesitate at her words. "I love the feeling of you against me, inside me, but you're so impatient my magnificent Draeseth."

He purred into her ear something she didn't understand but his movements became more deliberate, smoother and more gentle. "Yes, mmmmn my-" her words cut off in a pleased gasp of surprise as he moved a hand and curled it around her throat, not squeezing, merely holding.

She could feel herself bearing down on him and his groaning growl in response made her squeeze him with her legs. His pace stayed steady, deliciously smooth and undeniably powerful, until she was panting out her release and gripping him with her quivering thighs. The brief squeeze of his hand at just the right moment made stars explode in her vision.

Draeseth groaned something softly in Torgan before murmuring, "That you are mine, so perfectly... there is nothing more I could ever want."

Isonei kissed his head and stroked his black hair as he rested on top of her. If she hadn't been made to promise, he would have her swearing to be his before they ever reached Torga. She didn't know whether to be thankful or to be angry that she'd agreed to the restrictions so readily. They hadn't seemed like restrictions when she'd agreed she needed to remind herself. They had seemed like common sense.

"What are you thinking of my jewel? You're not falling asleep as I expected you to." Draeseth lifted his head and kissed her face.

"That the promises I made had seemed so reasonable, and now they feel like terrible restrictions." She kissed the pleased curve of his lips.

"Andnaeuth read my letters to you. He knows that you were mine; that you agreed to be mine for as long as I am yours." He gently shifted himself off of her and pulled her close against him.

Curling contentedly against his side, Isonei sighed, "I wish my brother had given them to me. I missed you; hearing from you would have been such a relief."

"You believe he gave them to your brother to give to you?" His tone said he still didn't and she pressed soft kisses against his skin.

"Andnaeuth can be called many things, but not a liar."

One of his growling grunts answered her and she smiled rubbing her face against his dark grey-green skin. "Other than not marrying me, what other promises did you make my perfect jewel?"

"To take my silphium daily without fail. Not to promise to stay in Torga, to return for the festival even if I have to walk back from Torga to do it," that made him snort. "I'm also supposed to write to my father once a month when I get his letters, and to send one to Andnaeuth when I do." The letters hadn't truly been promised, but Andnaeuth in his last letter had made it clear he wanted her to write and the priestess had done the same concerning her father's letters.

The Torgan's muttering didn't sound polite.

"My flower wine?"

"He thinks he can have you write to him when he did not allow you to even read my letters?" He lapsed back into Torgan and struck the bed on the other side of himself.

"Are you talking about my father or Andnaeuth?"

He growled and then sighed, "Both of them."

She pressed closer to his side and kissed his skin comfortingly. Her stomach grumbled but she was starting to feel too sleepy to want to get up for breakfast.

"I should make sure you get fed, my jewel. If I starve you, I cannot blame them when you leave me." Draeseth turned and half rolled on top of her. "Why would you make those promises?"

"Because they seemed reasonable," Isonei touched his face lightly tracing his scar and the lines that formed from his frown. "I wanted to put their minds at ease and they weren't wrong. You could probably persuade me to do anything you wanted if you looked at me the right way. I adore you, husband."

His face softened and he leaned in to kiss her with slow burning desire, hooking her leg back around his hip. "After breakfast, we will discuss it further. I am going to insist on wearing my belt at the table."

"Mmm, we can't take a nap after breakfast?" She laughed and struggled, trying to get away as he began to tickle her, keeping her half pinned.

"We may go back to bed." He was grinning wickedly.

"This from the man who-" Shrieking as he rolled her forcefully and tickled her until she couldn't breathe, Isonei was giddy and giggly as he pulled her out of bed and wrapped her legs around his waist. She entwined her arms around his neck, holding him tightly as he carried her out of the bedroom.

The small table was set for two but Draeseth sat carefully with her wrapped around him. Isonei started to try to disentangle herself to face the table and he began to grin keeping her in place. "You said I could wear my belt until time for lunch." He kissed up and down the side of her neck playfully. "Will you let your wicked, loving husband feed you?'"

"I will. If he promises not to make me eat any of that awful brown-" she didn't even get the words out before he began to laugh, almost bouncing her off with the force of it. The joy and amusement on his face was breathtaking.

His laughter stilled and he stroked her face, "Woman, if you keep gazing at me that way you won't get to eat at all."

"We'll have lunch eventually." Isonei felt him stirring again under her and kissed his fingers with a smile. Her stomach growled insistently despite her words.

"Food. Then I will show you how much the adoration lighting your exquisite face pleases me." Draeseth pulled her face close pressing his forehead to hers.

The knocking on the door made his sweet face sour. "Ask Krouth to send whoever it is away. I'm not ready to unwrap myself from you yet, my Draeseth."

"Krouth." He raised his head.

The slim Torgan was already moving to the door. "I will send them away, your Highness." It was very obvious that he was avoiding looking directly at them.

Draeseth leaned toward the table, reaching for something behind her, but he was looking at her as if she were about to be on his plate. It made her flush with anticipation.

The Torgan argument from the doorway spoiled the fun. Under his breath Draeseth grumbled, "Burgath." He raised his voice and she marveled at the difference in the way he sounded.

Leaning close and kissing his shoulder she murmured, "Your language sounds so lovely and poetic when you speak it to me in bed. It sounds so different when you speak to your brother."

He gave her a growling grunt as he ran his hands up her back. "I noticed you like to hear me speak it."

"I do. You sound-"

"Draeseth, we need to discuss..." Burgath's annoyed voice so close startled her and she snapped her head to look. He and Draeseth began arguing in Torgan as she saw Krouth step from behind the other prince, his hand cupped, trying not to bleed on anything.

"Did you strike him?" Isonei interrupted them. "Burgath, did you-"

"Prince-"

"Very little stands between you and being thrown out of my Daga's house." She snapped sharply. "Did you strike him?"

"He was preventing me from-"

"From entering the chamber of a daughter of Liadith in a state of undress, at the command of her husband. Perhaps little is expected of you in Torga but you are in Leria, in my Daga's house, and you will listen when you are told to wait." Pointing imperiously at the doorway she watched him bow and leave without another word.

Krouth nodded curtly and continued into the bath.

"I will see to him." Draeseth gently disentangled himself. "Eat. When I've finished I want to have the daughter of Liadith and her sharp tongue to myself in the bedroom." He kissed her deeply.

"If he needs anything servants can be summoned."

Tilting her chin up, he smiled down at her. "Eat."

Isonei sat on his chair and nibbled on a few of the small rolls. Manirel filled some, as she suspected the horrible brown spread filled others, and there were the usual sweet compote filled varieties. She'd finished and was contemplating fetching her chemise when a thin blanket was draped over her from behind.

"Wife, have you finished eating?" Draeseth wrapped her hair around his hand and tilted her head to the side, bending to kiss her neck.

"Yes, I was waiting for you to come back." She couldn't help but smile at the way he purred at her in Torgan.

"Perhaps, before you reward her for her patience, your Highness, I might thank her?" Krouth's dry tones sounded more as if he were performing a task than feeling grateful.

"There's no need to, Krouth. You were doing what had been asked of you, he had no right to strike you."

"Still, it was gratifying." It almost looked like the man smiled. "You haven't made a friend of him."