“If you wish to see my cock at full attention, you’ll need to apply yourself with a warm hand… or mouth.” He sat on the edge of the bed and opened his thighs in languid invitation. “Or sit upon it, if you prefer.”
His lips twitched in amusement. I could not deny there was a wildness about him that was alluring. His mouth was full and sensuous, framed by his beard. His teeth, revealed as he smiled, were sharp; teeth made for biting.
I felt heat in my cheek, though from my own thoughts or from the jarl’s forwardness I couldn’t have said. I drew my eyes away, stepping back. Whatever I was thinking, it would be a dangerous game to play. Eirik had told me that he’d shared women with his brother when they were younger. He’d think less favourably of it now, I believed, as would Asta. I’d no wish to take that path.
Gunnolf rose and, for a moment, I imagined him lifting me to the ceiling, breaking my back in a single twist. I’d no doubt he had the strength to do so.
It was with some relief that I saw him stretch and pull back the goatskins, lowering himself between them. His taunting demeanour was gone, the lines about his mouth set hard. I saw something I recognized—a certain heaviness of heart from the burdens he was obliged to bear. It wasn’t my place to speak, but the words escaped my lips before I thought to rein them in.
“Have you suffered long with these troubling dreams?”
His eyes narrowed.
It was impertinent of me to address him without him first speaking to me. I was no more than a thrall in his eyes, to be commanded or mocked. I felt sure it was only Eirik’s claim upon me that had, so far, deterred Gunnolf from treating me as he did the other women serving in his household.
“What a presumptuous wench you are. My dreams are no concern of yours.”
He seemed to consider raising his hand to me, but the moment passed, and he rolled his head wearily upon the pillow.
“Go fuck my brother,” he said curtly. “And leave me to my rest.”
* * *
Eirik would sleep as soon as his eyes closed, but he’d kept himself awake, waiting. A lamp burned on the shelf within his boxed chamber, the flame revealing his bare chest, in shadow and light, and the ridges of his abdomen, lightly coated in sweat.
He watched as I let drop my belt and unfastened the brooches at my shoulders. I stepped from each garment until I stood as naked as he, taking pleasure in his gaze upon my breasts and the roundness of my hips, down to the blonde hair of my sex.
Smiling lazily, Eirik pulled back the furs, revealing more of his body to me. His voice was low. “I need you, Elswyth.”
He drew me to him as I entered the bed, finding the small of my back, bringing me close. I curved to him, my belly to his. Hardness pressed to softness, his mouth met mine. His palms cupped beneath the flesh of my buttocks and I moaned as he reached lower, his fingers brushing my cunt from behind, coaxing me to open to him. I gave a whimper of desire as his cock nudged between my legs. It required only the smallest shift of my thigh for him to push and enter.
Slowly, he began, clasping me firmly as he thrusted, one hand creeping between my cheeks, encouraging me to open further, to allow him deeper passage.
I surrendered to his lovemaking, wishing to make him part of my own body. In this act, he was my master in strength but we were equals in our hunger for one another.
“Elswyth,” he murmured, trailing kisses down my neck. “My own sweet love.”
Already, my breath was quickening. I arched against his steady rhythm, my fingers curling into his hair, guiding him to take my breast, wanting him to suckle hard. As he pulled me onto his hot stream of seed, I tumbled into my own chasm of pleasure. When he kissed me again, it was with tenderness.
“Was Thor watching us?” I teased.
“He’s always watching. We give him something worth looking at.”
Easing his cock from me, he rolled away, but I’d no intention of letting him sleep. Warmed by what he’d given me, I wanted more.
Straddling him, I rested my sex upon the root of his fading erection. I knew he liked to see me so, with my hair falling wanton and my breasts above him, my skin glistening with perspiration. He rested his hands on my waist, appraising through half-closed eyes. I rocked lightly and saw his lips part, wetted by his tongue.
Impossible that Eirik would desire another with this burning passion. He would never forsake me for a marriage of convenience. I wouldn’t believe it. And yet, I recalled Helka’s warning to me. I wished to hear some promise of Eirik’s love, some proof of his depth of feeling.
I stroked the hair upon his chest, caressed his nipples.
“You wish to stir me again, my Valkyrie.”
I licked where I’d touched, letting my breasts brush him lightly. Between my legs, I felt the base of his shaft thicken.
“We shall always be like this, Eirik?” Kissing his abdomen, I moved downwards, tasting the sweat of our coupling. “You would never send me from your bed?”
I took my tongue lower and closed my lips over his cock-head. Though not yet fully erect, he was reawakening. “Of course not,” he murmured. “You please me better than any woman.”
