CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Iliana~
She was alone when she woke. Memories of the night rushed back. Jareth had shown her the difference between making love and rutting. She had enjoyed it. More than enjoyed it. But she could not see how she was going to get a baby without drilling. But this blissful feeling was too wonderful to regret.
She felt too good to complain – much. If she had to be a mortal and belong to a man, she was glad it was one like Jareth who was kind and knew many tricks of bed sport. He seemed to like her new body with its small breasts and jiggly flesh more than she did. That was fair. She liked his hard new body with all those extra muscles. Even if he did tower over her now.
The sleeping costume veiled her and made her pale skin looked flushed and rosy. Enticing. Of course he had not actually seen her in it. Last night he had pleasured her through the garment. In truth she had not been cold. This house was deliciously warm at all times. And Jareth her own personal fireplace. Possibly Anna and Lexi had known that.
If she could only find her sister, she would be perfectly happy. However, she had many blessings already: her soul, a husband, and the prospect of never again spending a night in an icy stream. Jareth had promised her a warm home and a baby. And they had shared something special last night. And perhaps would again. She must not be greedy.
It was unlikely she could have all this and also get her sister back. How could she expect even a dragon lord to defeat Rán? And yet now that she had a soul, it seemed she longed ever more ardently for Myst. More fully remembered their sisterly love for one another. All these new feelings were very strange and disturbing. She went to breakfast resolved to rejoice in what she had rather than sigh for what she had not.
Jareth and Theo had eaten and gone on some mysterious errand. So much for their mystical bond. Lexi showed Iliana that Sofie had learned to clap with her feet. She let Iliana hold the babbling infant while Sofie demonstrated her new skill. She clapped her soles in time with the songs being sung to her.
“What a clever baby,” cooed Iliana.
Sofie cooed a string of nonsense back and blinked her large blue eyes.
“What a flirt she is,” Jareth had come in without Iliana noticing. He sat beside Iliana and kissed both her and the baby briskly before helping himself to coffee. “What would you like to do today?”
She froze. She wished to look for a house. But that seemed a rude request before their hostess. Iliana smiled nervously. “I am not sure.”
“You need a ring,” declared Jareth.
“Do I?”
“Oh, yes.” Jareth drained his mug. He seemed extraordinarily cheerful this morning. “It’s traditional for married people to wear rings. And it is usual to give a woman a ring to indicate an engagement.” He opened a small carved wooden box. Several rings were jumbled in it. Including the ring she had tempted him with.
Jareth picked it out and showed it to Lexi. “Is it still enchanted?” he asked.
Lexi shook her head. “Does it feel bespelled to you?”
“No. Would you like to wear it?” he asked Iliana.
She shook her head. “It is for you to wear.” She held out her hand for it.
It was as Lexi said. Her love charm had evaporated. However, she could feel the value of the stone and sense the emotions of all the people who had ever touched it. “It feels different,” she said. “But it has more history than I had realized, if that makes sense?”
“Perfect sense,” said Jareth. “It is very old – at least by human standards. And dragons can feel the antiquity and history of precious objects.” He gulped and squared his shoulders. “I will wear it if you wish me to.”
He didn’t want to be claimed by her after all. “It’s too small,” she pointed out. She handed Sofie back to Lexi so she could look at the rings in Jareth’s little box without worrying about the baby eating one.
Jareth held out his left hand. “If you place it on my finger, it will grow to fit it. Another talent of dragons.”
“Are you sure?”
“It would be my honor to wear your ring,” he said. “Although I will have to take it off when I am on active duty with the Navy.”
She slid it onto the finger he held out. The wrong finger. As he had said, the ring expanded to fit. “Surely it should go on your forefinger?” she worried.
“That is another custom that has changed, Iliana,” Lexi said. She held up her left hand where a pair of rings gleamed on the third finger. One had a diamond as large as her fingernail. She rose from the table smiling. “This one needs a fresh diaper.” She slipped away.
Jareth leaned over and kissed her passionately. “Thank you,” he said. “Now you choose one for yourself.”
There were so many. “Where did these come from?” she asked.
“They belonged to my mother and grandmother,” he said.
“And you just happened to have them with you?” Iliana asked.
“I sent to Lind Island for them,” he said. “One of my cousins brought them this morning.” He tapped a large creamy pearl surrounded by small glittering diamonds. The wide band was silvery bright. “Do you like this one?”
She did. It seemed somehow prettier than the others. She began to try it on. He covered her hand. “Let me,” he said. “Unless you would prefer another one?”
“I like this one.” The others did not call to her. She didn’t know why.
He slid it onto the fourth finger of her left hand and murmured a few words as he kissed it and her knuckle. It was very valuable. The band not made of silver, but platinum. She touched it nervously. “And now we are married?”
He was startled. “Not at all. We are now formally engaged to be married. We will have a wedding ceremony with all my family in a couple of months. I will wear my dress uniform and you will get to wear a beautiful dress. We will exchange other rings. Afterward we will feast and dance.”
Her warm feeling vanished. “Oh. I thought we were married. That I already belonged to you.”
“It would be more accurate to say that we belong to one another.”
That was a new way of putting it. An evasive way. “What does that mean?”
Jareth hugged her and kissed her again, long and thoroughly. “It means that as long as we both live we are bound to each other. That we will be faithful to one another and always try to make each other happy.”
“I can do that.” Another doubt chilled her blood. “Will you have bed slaves?”
He choked. “No. Never. Being faithful means we sleep only with each other. And make love only with each other.”
She kept her eyes on her ring as she asked the question in her heart. “And drilling?”
“Drilling?”
She put her lips to his ear. “When you put your cock in my pussy and make a baby.”
He lifted her from her chair to his lap. She could feel his thing – his cock – pressing against her bottom and thighs like the great borer of a hero in a saga. “Are you worried because we did not have intercourse last night?” He spoke softly against her head.
“What is this intercourse?” she whispered back.
His entire body stiffened. He held his breath and then released it in an explosive laugh. He hugged her more tightly. “It’s just a fancy word for what you refer to as drilling. Sometimes when we make love we will have intercourse. Last night was about giving you pleasure and showing you that sex doesn’t have to hurt or be hurried.”
“Oh.” She thought. “I did like it. And it didn’t hurt.” She poked his chest. “Don’t laugh at me.”
“Can I laugh at myself?”
“I suppose,” she said suspiciously.
“I thought last night had shown you that our souls share a bond.” He tapped her ring. “That is supposed to signify our soul-deep connection.”
“What about yours?”
“It means the same. I belong to you, as you belong to me. Always and forever.” He kissed her. A claiming kiss. The kiss of a warrior home from a long and dangerous voyage.
Did that mean he loved her? As she loved him. She wished he would say. “Oh. And then we’ll have a baby?”
“If you aren’t careful you’ll make me think you see me just as a sperm donor.” He kissed her hard.
She had no idea what he could mean, but she angled into his kiss. She had to trust that he would not want to make love on the breakfast table. But they could always return to her room.