Chapter Text
The storm caught them unawares.
They were further inland, without a view of the horizon, when the wind kicked up without warning and sent Lhel's hat flying. She scrambled to retrieve it before it went tumbling into the river, surprised yet again when G'raha's hand on her arm called for her attention, leaning in close to be heard above the gale.
"I think we need to hurry back to shelter," he said, pointing to the line of dark clouds bearing down over the island, visible now through the swaying trees. The scent of rain was thick on the wind.
They worked in tandem to shove tools and pouches of forage into their bags. The wind was thankfully at their backs as they began to jog towards camp, urging them along. G'raha yelped as the first droplets of rain spattered his ears.
And then the sky itself opened up, a proper tropical downpour that had them soaked in seconds and turned the ground treacherous underneath their feet. For a mercy, it was a warm rain.
With her satchel clasped in one hand, Lhel grabbed G'raha's free hand with the other. He immediately gripped back, firm and unwavering, as they ran full-tilt. It didn't take long until she lost her hat for good. More than once, it was only their hold on each other that kept one or the other from going sprawling in the mud.
It was exhilarating in a way she hadn't felt in ages. Rain pelted and stung her skin, harmless adrenaline coursed through her veins, lungs filled with petrichor, and G'raha's hand clung tight to hers the whole way.
Finally, they clambered up the cliffside path to her cabin, ducking under the shelter of her porch, bags dropped in a heap while they stood drenched and catching their breath.
Lhel eventually leaned back against the warm siding, letting out a breathless laugh as she tried to push her bedraggled hair out of her face. "Were these the types of adventures you'd dreamed about?"
Expecting a reply, she looked to G'raha. His eyes were fixed on her, on every ilm of clothing now plastered to her skin, and she swore his gaze left warmth in its wake with the way she heated under his regard.
"Only in my best dreams," he finally said, voice lower and rough at the edges. He met her gaze steadily from beneath a fringe of wet hair, pupils dilated and cheeks flushed.
He was a vision in his own right, his tunic near transparent and hugging the soft muscles of his torso, shorts clinging to his thighs. Standing on her porch, dripping water and mud into the floorboards, he should have looked like a drowned couerl. In her eyes, he was beautiful — he was always beautiful, handsome, a kind and intelligent man she'd mourned and celebrated thrice over.
And now, he was just a man, the both of them soaked and panting from their run, the air electric between them with something other than the storm lashing around them. A man she'd admitted to having feelings for, who returned them. The pounding rain had tuned out from her ears, replaced by the drumming of her heartbeat. The whole situation made her feel wild and reckless.
So she seized it.
Lhel arched her back as she combed her fingers through her hair, feeling the draped white cloth of her top pull and stick, gooseflesh racing over her skin despite how warm she felt. "What else happens in these dreams of yours?"
He took a measured step towards her. His hands came to rest at her waist, and she lowered her arms to drape them over his shoulders, their bodies still ilms apart. G'raha's eyes were dark with some emotion she couldn't yet name, gaze dropping to her lips. "If you would permit me, perhaps it would be best if I showed you."
"Permission granted," she murmured as she leaned in to kiss him.
The clever miqo'te was a quick study on how Lhel preferred to be kissed, his lips working over hers with a new confidence that thrilled her. When she teased her tongue along the seam of his lips, he parted them immediately to let her in; he was sweet, the taste of freshly picked apples lingering on his tongue. His hands did not stay idle for long, thumbs stretching upward to swipe over her ribcage, encouraged by the way she pressed into him. Lhel toyed with his braid, working the sodden tie out absent-mindedly. The soaked fabric of her shirt wrinkled and rubbed under his touch, and she felt him pull back from the kiss by degrees as his thumbs brushed the underside of her breasts. He made a soft, questioning noise in the back of his throat.
Her lashes fluttered as she opened her eyes, taking in his blushing face, the way his own gaze made a circuit to her eyes, her lips, and further down. With a smile, she picked his hair tie free. "Yes, Raha."
A gentle sweep of his thumbs over the points of her nipples made her shiver. Her cross-body shirt was open in the front before it tucked into a wide belt, leaving a deep vee of skin exposed. With a gentleness that almost surprised her, G'raha began to peel away the soaked cloth from her flesh, pushing it to the sides. Goosebumps rose on her skin from the cooling air on her wet flesh and his rapt attention as he unwrapped her like a nameday gift. The chill was quickly banished by his warm palms cupping her breasts.
She ran her fingers through his hair, carefully unwinding his braid. "Raha," she repeated, and guided his mouth back to hers.
Lhel swallowed another of his noises as he caressed and explored how she liked to be touched, almost too gentle, until she tweaked one of his ears and he pinched her nipple in reaction. It was his turn to swallow a sound of pleasure from her.
"Oh," he murmured in return, and then he was crowding her back against the cabin, fingers dropping to the ties and sash at her waist, intent on removing her top entirely.
She smiled against his lips, her own hands hitching his tunic up his back as she explored the flexing muscles there. "What happened to going slow?" she teased.
"I find myself conceding that I was foolish at the time."
A full-throated laugh burst out of her, distracting G'raha as he fought with the waterlogged knots. She contented herself with touching his exposed back — the controlled muscles of an archer had broadened into one who wielded sword and shield, and she very much approved of both — until she felt her belt loosen. With a firm tug she pulled his shirt up, and he was forced to let go and help pull his arms free. While he was impatiently pushing his wet hair back out of his eyes she unwrapped her own top and let it drop to the floorboards, their eyes locking once more.
She had never seen him outside of his robes while he was Exarch, and had no idea how far the crystalline corruption had spread when she'd arrived on the First. Of course, there was no trace of it here on his original form from the Source. Standing before her now was a man at his peak, the skin of his upper body only occasionally marked with scars, muscled in a way that looked inviting to touch. Lhel wanted her hands back on him, fingertips nearly itching with the urge.
She wanted him inside the cabin, where she could finish undressing him, touching him. His eyes were roaming over her as well, and she could guess he had the same desire. There was just a small nuisance in the way of her goals, and the warrior of light was nothing if not a problem solver.
"Shoes off," she declared as she stepped towards the door, and bent to wrestle off her mud-covered boots.
Lhel left the door open behind her as she retreated inside, working at the belt and fastenings of her shorts when G'raha's stocky form filled the frame. Deliberately putting an extra shimmy into her hips, tail swaying in counterpoint behind her, she wiggled out of the wet denim and her pantalettes at the same time as she walked backwards, watching him all the way.
He closed the door behind him without looking, popping the button on his own shorts as he followed; unerringly drawn back to her, his eyes gone dark with dilated pupils as he took her in. "Lhel," he said, full of yearning and desire. "Your real beauty puts my dreams to shame."
She felt a flush instantly flame over her face, a flustered retort on the tip of her tongue — lost to an undignified squeak when he suddenly bent and gripped her thighs, and then she found herself deposited on her back on the couch, staring up at a very smug G'raha.
Lhel hooked a finger under the cord of his necklace, reeling him down to her. Her fangs dug into his lower lip as she bit down, lightly, testing, pleased by the groan she received in response. Finished kicking off his shorts, he settled a knee carefully between her legs as he braced himself above her, bracketing her in even as she spread out below him.
The feel of G'raha's skin on hers was a revelation, their kisses the culmination of years of longing. This had been a long time coming, and yet now was perfect, with the world at peace, allowing them this time to indulge in each other. She wondered, drunk on the joy of it, if he could freeze them in this time, forever wrapped in each other.
When they next broke for air, he began a journey downwards, from her jaw to her throat, which she happily bared to give him further access. Her hands did not stay idle and wandered where she could reach, delighted to touch and explore to her heart's content. As much as she wanted more, she let G'raha set the pace.
G'raha trailed kisses along her collarbone, as if he meant to make constellations of the pale golden freckles that dusted her skin. A kiss to the dip between her clavicle was placed like a benediction, her name breathed out quietly. His hair, coppery crimson and unbound, slipped over his shoulders to just barely tickle her, cool with rainwater and making her curve up into his mouth. He rolled his eyes upwards as he dragged his lips over the swell of one breast, past the faint tan lines left from when she bothered to wear a swimsuit.
The touch of his tongue to her pebbled nipple had her catching her lower lip between her teeth. G'raha watched her, gaze intent, as he fixed his lips around her nipple and sucked. It was her turn to breathe out his name, her fingers twining in his hair to cradle him close. The calluses on his hands made a pleasant counterpoint to the soft heat of his mouth, and he worked them in tandem as he lingered over her breasts. He seemed intent on cataloguing all of the reactions he could draw from her, until she was squirming and arching her hips into him, seeking relief from the warmth racing through her.
No, she wasn't warm, she was hot, burning under his touch. The damp left by the rain was already being replaced by a faint sheen of sweat over both of their bodies. Her hands wandered his skin as far as she could reach, and her fingertips dug in briefly when he oh so carefully bit her nipple. She wanted to flip him onto his back, to tease and explore as much as he was doing to her, to ease the ache building between her thighs, if he wanted to go that far—
And then he was kissing his way down, lingering over a slicing scar that curved over her ribs, down to the softness below her navel that no amount of fighting could work off. G'raha's hands bracketed her hips, holding without restraining, his eyes searching hers.
Oh, gods. She barely had any higher brain function left, and seeing G'raha Tia between her thighs and looking at her like that nearly obliterated what thoughts remained.
Lhel let her legs fall wider, one dangling off the side of the couch while the other pressed against the back cushions. She could see G'raha's throat work as he swallowed, fingers tightening on her hips. "Yes, Raha, please."
His hot breath wafted over her mound as he laid a kiss there, nudging one muscled shoulder beneath her leg to give himself more room. Another kiss, more tentatively, as his gaze flitted up her body and his tongue darted out to taste her. Lhel's teeth sunk into her lip again as she held back from tipping her hips up and chasing his mouth. She felt his fingers stroke over her, parting her folds and then he kissed her where she was hot and wet and wanting, and a moan spilled from her.
"Is this all right?" he asked, and she swore his hands would be wringing if they weren't occupied, and she wanted to laugh, or maybe growl.
"G'raha Tia I swear to the Twelve— don't stop."
With a twitch of his ears, his head lowered once more and he set to work, growing bolder with her encouragement, a man starved for the taste of her.
Lhel learned, in that moment, that she'd had further to fall under the spell he was weaving. The build of pleasure low in her body grew under G'raha's tongue and lips and hands, guided by her gasps of there and yes, like that. An eager student, his reward the cries of his name drowning out the sounds of the storm, his brows drawn together as he concentrated. Her hand sought his where it pinned her thigh to the sofa, fingers grasping until he tangled them with hers.
Her grip on his hand was almost as tight as it was during their headlong race through the rain, needing more contact and something to ground her, her mind washing away under the intoxicating deluge. G'raha's eyes opened, searing her with the heat in them. Her hips rocked under his mouth, and she saw now that his hips ground against the cushions. He was caught in her feedback loop, just as desperate to chase this pleasure together.
The thought crossed her mind of dragging him back up, tasting herself on his mouth and swallowing his gasp as she guided him into her, of sharing that peak together for the first time. Clumsily, her other hand landed on his head, trying to find purchase on the damp strands, her voice struggling for the half-formed words in her head.
G'raha took this as urging him on. He redoubled his efforts, his tongue an instrument of magic that made her spine arch and the last vestiges of thought flee her head. Lhel's lips parted, breathless as the storm within her roared and built and swelled.
And broke, G'raha's name a choked thing in her throat as the thunder of climax rolled through her, legs shaking around his head like the leaves of the rain-battered trees. Their hands crushed together as he groaned into her flesh. It was consuming, and imperfect, and messy, and perfect.
Lhel tried to run her fingers through his hair as she came back to herself, levin skittering in her veins, and her muscles relaxing into the couch. His breath gusted hot over her thigh, flushed cheek pressed to it, a dazed look in his crimson eyes.
"Raha?" At her rasp of his name, he shifted and winced, making to get up before freezing. "Are you alright?"
"Never better. I should be asking you that very question."
She pushed herself to sit, pulling him with her as they rearranged themselves in a tangle of damp limbs, G'raha awkwardly adjusting his briefs. Cupping his cheeks in her hands, she immediately drew him in for a kiss, over his mumbled stammering. His half-hearted protests died as she kissed him, thorough and sweet, tasting herself on his lips.
He melted into her. Grinning against his mouth, her hands slid over his shoulders and down his chest to his stomach, her intent now clear. G'raha's hands fumbled to clutch hers.
Lhel blinked at him as she leaned back a little, unable to catch his eye as he ducked his head, cheeks burning.
"Raha..."
"It's— you don't have to trouble yourself."
She twisted her hands to twine her fingers with his. "Please tell me what's wrong. I want to give you pleasure, too."
The red banner of his tail thrashed behind him as his ears flattened to his skull. He cleared his throat. "I... already..."
Another blink, and she glanced down, and then her own ears flicked in realization. "Oh! Oh, Raha, it's fine, I promise." She brought their joined hands up to dot kisses over his knuckles. "I'm very flattered, actually. No, really."
He finally met her eyes with a disbelieving glance from beneath disheveled fringe.
"We can take whatever pace you're comfortable with." A smile bloomed on her face, and G'raha finally relaxed, slumping forward into her. They fell onto the couch, Lhel giggling with G'raha's head pillowed on her breasts.
As her laughter died down he shifted to tilt his gaze up towards her. "Would you mind if we cleaned up a bit?"
"I'm sure we could squeeze two in the shower, if you're alright with close quarters."
His ears swiveled upwards, setting her off into another fit of laughter.
The storm's fury had subsided by the time they were clean, with their belongings sorted and hung to dry. With a yawn, Lhel took G'raha's hand once more and led him up to the loft, climbing between the sheets of her bed. She patted the space beside her with a smile.
He joined her, and they settled in together for a well deserved nap, her head tucked into the crook of his shoulder and his arm wrapped around her. Rain pattered on the roof above them, the drops steady, lulling them into a peaceful sleep.