But there was an upside. I could feel it pulsing in my veins now, the subtle, powerful shift of my own demonic magic. High-class, I had reached it as well! I broke through my own limits at the end of that fight!
The next time I sparred with Aunt Sona, she was going to be in for a shock! Maybe I should make another bet with her beforehand...?
Eventually, the exhaustion caught up with me and I drifted off as well.
When I woke, sunlight was creeping through the heavy curtains and dust motes floated in the golden beams. I was tangled in the middle of a full cuddle-pile, every woman in my peerage sprawled in various stages of undress across Narcissa's ridiculous bed. My head was pillowed on something warm and yielding.
I blinked, and realized-my cheek was nestled right against Lilja's bare breast, her pale skin flushed with sleep. Yeah, she had stayed last night as well, and I was honestly glad.
She looked so peaceful like this, red hair fanned across the pillow, mouth slightly parted, the Valkyrie-my Valkyrie-who had chosen to stay.
A smile tugged at my lips. She belonged here, with us, with me.
I pressed a gentle kiss to the soft curve of her breast, just above her heart, and felt her stir. Her lashes fluttered, and she opened those wild green eyes to find me gazing up at her.
"Morning, beautiful Valkyrie," I murmured, voice rough from sleep.
She smiled slowly, her eyes lighting up with the same fierce affection I'd seen last night. "Good morning, my Harry," she whispered, and leaned down to press a slow, lingering kiss to my mouth-a kiss that was soft, but laced with the promise of so much more.
We shifted quietly, careful not to wake the others.
The bed was a minefield of entwined limbs and tousled hair, skin against skin. Fleur had one leg thrown possessively over Gabrielle, her hand tangled in her sister's hair. Tonks was sprawled across Narcissa's lap, a sleepy grin on her lips even as she snored softly. Hermione was tucked close to my side, her curls wild and haloed with morning light, and both Lyra and Lyna had managed to wedge themselves on either side of me, each with a hand resting possessively on my stomach or thigh.
Lilja slipped out from beneath the sheets with feline grace, pausing to tug the covers back over Gabrielle, who mumbled sleepily in French and buried her face in Fleur's shoulder. I slid out after her, careful to disentangle myself from Lyra's grip-she whined softly but didn't wake-and padded after Lilja to the bathroom.
"...You're so fucking beautiful," I murmured thickly, eyes roving hungrily over Lilja's gorgeous naked body as steaming hot water cascaded sensually down her flawless skin.
She gave me a soft, amused smile, green eyes glimmering knowingly through heavy lashes as she tipped her head back, red hair darkened by moisture, clinging in silken ropes down her shoulders and back.
My gaze trailed down her throat, tracing the delicate droplets of water sliding over toned muscle and porcelain-pale curves, caressing the soft swell of her generous breasts. Her nipples were stiff from the chill of air meeting warm water, rosy and enticing atop the firm mounds that heaved gently with her breaths.
Lilja tilted her head, raising one elegant eyebrow in playful challenge. "Enjoying the view, Harry?" she purred softly, running her fingers through her hair, exposing even more of that impossibly smooth skin and the graceful lines of her defined shoulders.
"More than you could possibly imagine," I whispered hoarsely, unable to tear my gaze away from her mesmerizing figure. I let my eyes trail downward, lingering on her toned stomach, muscles shifting deliciously beneath that flawless flesh as she moved. Her narrow waist flared into wide, luscious hips, curving inward to form shapely thighs. My mouth watered, my breath hitching softly as I took in the seductive sight of her pussy-smooth, bare lips glistening wetly beneath the cascading water, the delicate petals already flushed pink with arousal.
Before my overheated brain even registered my own movement, I sank slowly down onto my knees in front of her, heedless of the cold tile biting into my skin. Lilja's eyes widened slightly, startled and curious as she watched me settle between her parted thighs.
"Harry?" she murmured breathlessly, her cheeks coloring faintly as her thighs tensed instinctively. "What exactly are you doing?"
I glanced up at her, unable to hide my wolfish grin. "Giving you a reward," I said, voice low and hungry. "For fighting beside me, for saving Jasmine. For being one of the most incredible women I've ever known."
Her breath caught. She rested a trembling hand against the wall, bracing herself as I leaned in. My gaze dropped to the slick, glistening lips of her pussy-shaved smooth, swollen already, pink and wet from the heat of the water and her own anticipation.
I could see the way her muscles fluttered with nervous excitement, a soft tremor in her thighs.
"And," I added, letting a crooked grin tug at my lips, "I just discovered Parseltongue yesterday thanks to Luna. Seemed like a waste not to...experiment with it."
She blinked, stunned, then gave a breathless, disbelieving laugh. "You're impossible, Harry Sitri. Completely mad."
"Maybe," I conceded, "but you're going to love it."
I dipped forward, pressing a slow, open-mouthed kiss to the delicate crease where her thigh met her hip, letting my lips and tongue linger. I felt her shiver under the touch-her breath hitched and she gripped my shoulder with her free hand, nails digging in for support.
Then I moved lower. My tongue traced the slick seam of her labia, savoring the taste of her-salt and skin and something entirely her own, something wild and sweet. I let the Parseltongue hiss vibrate through me, focusing that serpentine resonance into my tongue, flickering it along her slit with a careful, experimental hum.
Lilja's reaction was instant and dramatic. Her hips jerked forward, a choked, startled moan escaping her throat. "Oh-fuck-what is that?" she gasped as her head fell back against the steam-fogged marble. "Gods, Harry, that's... it's-!"
I grinned against her skin, then set to work in earnest. I used my hands to spread her wider, thumbs gently opening her, exposing the soft, trembling pink of her cunt to the cool air and the hot mist alike. The water from the shower ran down her belly, dripping over my knuckles and onto my tongue, mixing with the taste of her as I drew slow, languorous circles around her clit.
Encouraged by her reaction, I slid my tongue sensually along the length of her pussy lips, deliberately slow, savoring every intimate detail of her silky-soft flesh.
Lilja's entire body jolted violently at the unexpected sensation, her hands immediately sliding up to bury in my hair, gripping tightly as her knees trembled visibly. "Oh gods!" she cried out, breathless, hips jerking involuntarily against my face. "Harry-what the fuck-that feels amazing!"
I hummed smugly in reply, the vibration intensifying as I flicked my vibrating tongue rapidly over her sensitive clit. I tightened my grip around her thighs, pulling her more firmly against my mouth, hungrily devouring her dripping heat.
Her cries echoed loudly off the shower walls, each sound raw and uncontrolled, driving me on relentlessly.
"Fuck-oh fuck, Harry!" she gasped brokenly, head thrown back, eyes squeezed shut in blissful ecstasy. Her thighs trembled violently beneath my fingertips, her breath coming in ragged, helpless pants. "Don't you dare fucking stop!"
I had no intention of stopping...
I grinned into her, letting the vibrating tip of my tongue trace tight circles around her clit, teasing just below it, then up, then away, never giving her the full pressure for more than a heartbeat at a time. Each pass was accompanied by another hissed string of Parseltongue, my breath hot, the magic buzzing faintly in the air between us.
Her knees knocked together against my shoulders. The hand braced on the wall slammed flat against the tile like she needed to remember which way gravity worked.
"You-you bastard," she choked out, half laughing, half choking on her own moan. "That is not fair. That is-ah-Harry, I cannot-"
She cut herself off with another raw sound as I finally gave her what she wanted, flattening my tongue and dragging it firmly from bottom to top, past her entrance, up over her clit, the vibrating forked tip flicking directly over that little bundle of nerves.
Her whole body arched.
If I hadn't been holding her thighs, she might have actually gone down. As it was, she ended up half-sitting on my face, her weight bearing down, her cunt grinding against my mouth as every muscle in her tightened.
"Fuck," she hissed, and hearing that word in her thick accent, voice breaking apart on it, nearly made me lose it myself.
I answered by wrapping my arms all the way around the backs of her thighs and ass, dragging her in closer, locking her in place against my mouth. "I've got you."
She let out a low, helpless laugh that dissolved into another moan as I sealed my mouth around her clit properly this time, sucking gently, tongue flicking in rapid, precise little strokes that no normal muscle could have pulled off. Parseltongue turned every movement electric, the vibration transmitting through my tongue into her.
Her hips started to move on their own, grinding against my face in jerky, uncontrolled rolls. I let her, adjusting my grip to give her just enough freedom to find the angle she liked. She found it fast, of course-Valkyries do not waste time-and rode it ruthlessly, chasing the high with gritted teeth and wild eyes.
"Harry," she panted, head tipping back under the spray, wet hair plastered to her throat. "Harry, I-by the Norns, I am going-"
I slid one hand higher, cupping her ass, thumb digging in just above the crease, encouraging her movements. The other hand shifted to her front, fingers splaying across her lower stomach, feeling the hard clench of muscles there, then slipping lower, parting her lips with two fingers so my tongue could get deeper.
Then, when I felt her start to tremble in that particular way, breath catching, every inhale shorter than the last, I pulled back just a fraction and sank the tip of my tongue between her folds, right into her!
She was hot and tight around me, the inner walls fluttering, and the Parseltongue buzz turned my tongue into a living vibrator inside her. I curled it, dragging along the front wall, then pulled out just enough to circle her clit again.
She broke.
Her entire body bowed over me, a raw, guttural cry ripping out of her throat and echoing off the tiled walls! Her hand slapped the wall hard enough to crack a tile, the other fisted in my hair and yanked, drawing my face impossibly tighter against her as she ground down, riding my mouth through the orgasm like she was trying to fuse us together.
Her thighs quaked against my ears. Her stomach muscles jumped under my hand, clenched and trembling. I felt the rhythmic squeeze deep inside her around my tongue, like her body was trying to pull me deeper, drag something out of me.
I let her do it. I held on and kept my tongue moving, gentler now, riding the edge between too much and not enough until her cry dissolved into breathless, broken whimpers and her hips finally started to slow.
"Harry," she breathed, over and over, my name in that ragged, reverent tone that made something primal in my chest snarl with satisfaction. "Harry... Harry..."
Slowly, carefully, I eased my mouth away, pressing one last soft kiss to her oversensitive clit, then her thigh. Her hand slid out of my hair and landed, shaking, on my shoulder.
I looked up at her.
She was a fucking vision. Cheeks flushed deep pink, lips parted, chest heaving as she struggled to catch her breath. Water and sweat and aftershocks slicked her skin, little tremors still racing across her stomach and down her legs. Her eyes were wide and unfocused, pupils blown so big they almost swallowed the green. She stared down at me like she couldn't quite believe I was real.
"Worth the experiment?" I asked her.
For a moment she just looked at me, something soft and almost fragile flickering through that battle-hardened gaze. Then, slowly, she lowered herself, one shaking knee at a time, until we were both kneeling on the wet tile, the water pounding down on our backs.
Her hands came up to my face, thumbs brushing the slick corners of my mouth, catching the taste of her there. She swallowed, eyes dropping to my lips, then back to my eyes.
"That," she said huskily, "was not a reward. That was a declaration of war on my sanity."
I laughed, a short, breathless bark, and she surged forward and kissed me.
It was different from the frantic, panicked kisses last night. There was still fire, still need, but this one had a slow, drugged quality to it, like she was drunk on what I'd just done to her. Her mouth moved against mine lazily at first, tasting herself on my tongue, then with growing urgency as the taste and the memory stoked her back up.
When we finally broke apart from our kiss, the shower water still fell around us in heavy, steaming rivulets. She was breathing heavily, her cheeks flushed, her lips swollen from our passionate embrace.
The sight of her, breathless and trembling in my arms, sent another rush of primal satisfaction coursing through me.
I cupped her delicate face in my hands, gently brushing the damp tendrils of red hair from her eyes. Her gaze locked onto mine.
I took a deep, steadying breath, my thumb slowly tracing the flushed curve of her cheekbone, my voice low and thick with emotion.
"Lilja," I began softly, letting the heavy, intimate weight of the moment settle between us, "I don't want this to be temporary. I want you-not just here, not just for a night-but by my side, forever. Will you..." My voice cracked slightly with raw vulnerability, and I forced myself to swallow past the tight knot of anticipation in my throat. "Lilja, will you be my Queen? Stand beside me as the Queen of my peerage?"
Lilja froze completely, her entire body going rigid with shock. For half a heartbeat, silence stretched taut between us, broken only by the steady patter of water falling onto the tiles. Emotions flickered rapidly across her lovely features-astonishment, disbelief, joy, and something darker... a flash of worry, maybe fear.
Then, before I could say anything else, she gave a choked, incredulous laugh and threw her arms around my neck, pressing her trembling, wet body tightly against mine.
"By the Norns-Yes!" she breathed fervently, her voice a shaking blend of relief and elation as she held me even tighter. "Yes, Harry-I will be your Queen, a thousand times yes! I swear it, by the Gods themselves!"
