Chapter 66: Chapter 66

Feeling Riftan’s knees push into her skirt, Maxi shuddered lightly.

“You can do as you wish,” he mumbled, gently sucking on her lip. “So please, don’t look at me like that.”

His pleading tone brought a lump to her throat, but she resumed her protest.

“Y-You f-flew into a t-temper.”

“Forgive me. It won’t happen again.”

His large hand continuously stroked her back as if he were trying to pacify a small, fearful creature. She could feel the texture of his rough hand through her thin chemise. Slowly, she felt the tension in her body dissipate. She burrowed her face in his neck and felt a faint shiver run through his body.

“Maxi…”

“Y-Your skin is cold. W-Were you outdoors th-this whole time?”

“I wanted to cool my head…”

As Maxi began to stroke his broad chest, his voice trailed off like a candle sputtering out. Feeling his arousal pressed against her thigh, she blushed. She wondered if she was being too bold, but seeing that he did not object, she pretended not to notice and rubbed her nose against his chest.

“B-Because you were a-angry with me?”

“It wasn’t you I was angry with…”

His voice shook. After hesitating briefly, Maxi reached down to touch him over his trousers. His face grew taut with desire.

Maxi felt the heat rise to her head. She was sure that spending half the day in distress had done something to her, for she was overcome with the desire to see Riftan come undone. She slid her hands inside his tunic and caressed his slim, finely muscled waist. Riftan sucked in his breath as though he had been kicked in the gut.

“Maxi…”

Ignoring the agitation in his voice, Maxi traced the chiseled lines on his abdomen with her fingers. His abdomen grew tense and hard as a rock. Fascinated, she tried pressing on the muscles before moving down to tease the flesh around his navel. A stifled moan escaped his lips.

“Do you know what you’re doing to me right now?”

Maxi looked up. His face was full of longing. A deep line had appeared on his forehead, and his lips were quivering.

She raised her head to peck the corner of his mouth. Riftan stiffened, then began to paw at her hungrily. Maxi moaned as his hands slid through her hair, and she tugged at his tunic pleadingly. He grabbed her fumbling hands and guided them down. When she felt the heat of his bulge, a burning flush crept up to the tips of her ears. Riftan’s breath grew ragged as he impatiently pressed himself into her hands.

“Ah…”

Hearing his shuddering moan, Maxi felt her ears tingle. She cautiously began to move her hand. When she stroked the bulge beneath his trousers with shaking hands, his jaw quivered slightly. She was enraptured by the sight of her burly husband trembling like a wounded beast under her touch.

“A-Are you in p-pain?”

“Yes… It’s killing me.”

Riftan pulled her into his arms and muttered something inaudible. Summoning up her courage, Maxi began to undo the straps of his trousers. She felt ragged breaths above her head. Riftan made no attempts to stop her. After a moment of hesitation, she began to touch him as gently as when he had touched her. He was so surprisingly smooth and warm that she found it hard to believe that this was the part of him that had caused her agony so many times.

“M-Maxi…”

Riftan trembled lightly and grabbed Maxi’s shoulders. Spellbound, she looked up at his face. It was clouded with desire. His body quivered longingly, and his breathing grew hot and labored.

Maxi felt her eyes prickle with the realization that she may have started something she could not contain. Unsure of how to proceed, she sat blinking.

“Don’t stop…. Just a little more, Maxi…”

“W-What should I d-do?”

Riftan pressed the back of his hand to his forehead as though he was lightheaded, then guided her hand down until it was wrapped around him.

“Move your hand up and down… Slowly… Yes, just like that…”

His face was flushed with excitement. Maxi gazed into his feverish eyes and began to stroke him gently, her heart pounding painfully inside her chest. His muscular body quivering beneath his rumpled clothes, his flushed cheeks and uneven breaths… It was all too much to bear.

All thoughts of shame had disappeared. Maxi kissed his Adam’s apple and began moving her hand a little faster. Riftan caught his breath. Having reached the limits of his patience, he quickly removed her hand and positioned himself between her legs.

Maxi readily opened herself to him. In one swift movement, he pushed her chemise up and thrust into her.

“Ah…”

Joined together, their bodies quivered. Maxi gasped; it was difficult to breathe under his weight. Sensing that she was not ready, Riftan slid out of her.

But her relief was short-lived. He soon thrust into her again. Her thighs quivering, she held onto his arms for support. She felt as if she were embracing a ball of flames.

“R-Riftan…”

She saw the muscles around his eyes twitch. Droplets of sweat trickled down his forehead and soaked his long lashes.

Riftan could carry her up multiple flights of stairs or ride for hours at a time without breaking a sweat, yet she had driven him into a frenzy. Greed and wicked, sensual pleasure began to stir within her.

Her eyes wet with tears, she drew him closer. He released a moan, and with his body pressing down on her, he began to move with greater urgency. Soon, all she could feel was pleasure sending shivers down her spine. She moaned softly and dug her nails into his broad, sweat-slicked back. Her sweat-soaked dress clung to her skin, and their bodies, pressed together, pulsated wildly like a pair of drums. Her body burned feverishly.

She rocked her hips, beseeching him to give her a more intense pleasure. Riftan had the look of a half-crazed man. She was ecstatic to see him more frenzied than she was, to see him so urgent with need. She wanted to bind him to her body so he could never again say that he did not need her or turn his back and leave her.

With overwhelming desire surging through her, Maxi clung to his shoulders. She felt his body tremble before he drew her in by the neck to hungrily claim her lips, trying to devour her.

“Maxi…”

He rubbed his tongue against hers and gasped for air, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. His look of anguish puzzled her. She was the one who felt tormented by the possibility that he might one day grow tired of her and leave her. Why, then, did he look so pained? Why were his eyes so full of sorrow?

“You’re driving me crazy.”

Mumbling to himself, Riftan thrust more deeply into her. He had already filled her completely, yet he drove himself in deeper as if he were still unsatisfied. Maxi could no longer comprehend his words. The sharp pleasure raking her insides had overwhelmed her senses. Curling her toes, she wound her legs around his waist.

His body trembled as he entwined his wet tongue with hers. There was a faint taste of blood in her mouth, but she simply ignored it and closed her eyes.

***

Something cool touched the skin between Maxi’s legs. With a jolt, she opened her eyes and saw the outline of Riftan’s chiseled face. He was wiping the swollen flesh between her legs with a wet cloth. She released her breath and muttered sleepily.

“It’s still dawn. Go back to sleep.”

He gently dried her with a dry cloth before covering her back with a blanket. Only then did Maxi realize that he was already dressed. It was already morning. As she blinked at him in a daze, he swept her hair back from her forehead. She looked up at him, her eyes heavy with sleep. As always, his face betrayed no emotion, as though nothing had happened the night before. It perplexed her that he could look so collected after such an intense encounter. Growing anxious, she hastily got out of bed.

“I-I should g-get up…”

“I told you, you should get more sleep.”

His stern tone made her look up. Was he still angry? Riftan’s lips twisted into a bitter smile as if he had read her thoughts.

“As I said, you can do as you please. So don’t look at me like that.”

“B-But…”

“Though why you’re so bent on learning something so useless is beyond me…”

Maxi’s shoulders slumped. It seemed that Riftan had not taken her seriously when she had told him that she wanted to be of help. He finished tying his boot laces and continued.

“But I suppose it would be useful if you knew a few defensive spells. Of course, I would never allow anything to happen that would require you to use them… But it can’t hurt.”

“I-I…”

Maxi clenched her mouth shut. She was about to tell him that she wanted to learn magic not to protect herself, but to help him.

But she knew that she had done nothing to suggest that she could be depended on or that she could become a capable sorceress. He had, after all, only seen her faint or tremble in fear when faced with danger. Asking for his confidence seemed too much to demand.

Riftan appeared to be pacifying her the way he would a child throwing a tantrum. Trying to hide her disappointment, Maxi nodded. Permission was a start. She was certain that he would think of her differently once she became a skilled sorceress. Before that day came, all she could do was study and train harder.

“Th-Thank you f-for letting me s-study magic.”

Riftan wore an ambiguous expression that was neither a smile nor a frown. He planted a kiss on her forehead, then rose from the bed.

“Tell me immediately if Ruth tries to drag you into strange experiments.”

“Y-You shouldn’t worry a-about that. H-He’s been a g-good teacher.”

She had intended to reassure him, but his face grew dark. Maxi felt her body tense out of fear that she had said something wrong, but Riftan left the room without another word.

Maxi lay in bed and listened to his fading footsteps. The faint light of morning was streaming in through the window. With a sigh, she pulled the sheets over her head.

Everything should be all right now. Shouldn’t it?

She closed her eyes, overcome by fatigue.