Trinket (Reverse Harem)

A ****GOOD**** KISS. NO SLACKING.

"What? You grubby—"
"I am your consort. Surely the others have tasted you."
"I haven't actually had sex with any of them," I said primly.
He sat up straighter. "What?"
I shrugged.
"That's surprising, but not really relevant. I didn't ask for sex. I just want a kiss."
This horseyfish. He's still doing better than Asund, though. He hadn't outright rejected me. He was a cocky bastard, though.
But in a room that also contained Korr, Ethat, and Itek... you can't really be shy. That's how you end up a horseyfish sammich.
And not the kind of meat sammich I had in mind.
"Fine," I told him. "This all started a few months ago when I entered the Churn."
He settled back, comfortable and patient. "Is this a long story?"
"Sort of. Why? You have somewhere else to be? Groveling at your aunt's feet, perhaps?"
He grinned, heedless of the way the cut across his cheek trickled a few drips of blood as he cracked the scabs. "No. I think she's hit me enough today."
"I was... involved with... a wolf shifter named Tynne. He was the scion of the local noble family. I was a foundling. We'd been sweet on each other for over a year, and one day he said we should enter the Churn."
"Your relationship was public knowledge."
"Yes. Yes, I realize now why he wanted to go into the Churn. I didn't realize it then. I was stupid. I was a kitchen maid. What did I know? Well, turns out we didn't have the same Trinkets. His perfect match was there though. Asund was there too. I tried to convince him we had the same Trinket. He rejected me. Was pretty nasty about it. The usual why would I want to be with a foundling, a mutt shifter, you're delusional, and so on. He left. That was that."
"So and so forth."
"So I left the enclave," I said. "I walked towards Haven. I caught a ride with a water-cart—do you know what those are?"
"I presume a cart that hauls water."
"So clever. There's a drought topside, and water is very valuable. Putrid or not."
"Water is rare?"
"It doesn't rain in the interior."
"So water is rare."
"And what there is is usually putrid and not drinkable. Don't you know this?"
"Why should I know that?"
"Because it's kinda a big deal? Like... if you were going to send a sea-horse—"
"We are not sea-horses. I am not capable of being pregnant. I do the impregnation."
"Keeping it classy."
He glared, and it reminded me of a horse pinning its ears back. "You know what I meant."
"I don't assume anything anymore."
"To be clear: I am not a sea-horse. I am a hippocamp—"
"Horseyfish."
"...and the males of my species do not get pregnant, nor do we have brains the size of the head of a pin."
"Are you sure about that last one?"
"I could make a very crude comment about at least I know my species—"
I don't need to kick his ass. I'll just tell Korr and Ethat and Itek. Even ASsund might want to get in on that ass kicking.
"—but I won't. So what exactly is a water-cart? Beyond obviously a cart that hauls water."
"This guy has a cart that he fills with water from whatever secret sources he has and sells the water back and forth. He gave me a ride to Haven. And water so I didn't die."
"You must be very grateful."
"Not really. He liked to jerk off while staring at me."
Ormiss scowled. "Exactly the sort of degenerate behavior I would expect from a land-dweller."
"I'm glad that's all he wanted," I said coldly. "Anyway, I got to Haven, and the Ravens were interested in me right away. But Korr and Ethat and Itek appeared and claimed me as their new pet. I hid my Trinket because I decided it was all bullshit and a farce. One thing led to another, they found my Trinket, they reveal they've got Trinkets just like Asund's and yours. I thought Itek and Korr were consorts, but they aren't, because Korr is Ethat's brother and they've all got matching Trinkets."
"How very clever of the gods," Ormiss said amused.
"I told them about Asund. So we went to my old enclave to track down Tynne and find Asund."
"And?"
"My enclave is gone," I said softly. "It's been gone for centuries."
Ormiss stilled. He shifted, head tilting slightly, and a crackle of magic twists over his hands, up his wrists, across his muscled forearms.
"Asund had told me the enclave he was from, so we went to that enclave. It was there. And we found Asund and the brother he had told me about. Asund recognized me instantly. He remembered when we'd met in the Churn, except for him, it'd been a dream. He'd told his brother about it. For me, it'd been real. Korr and Ethat think the Pantere Priestess is the one who can tell me about Asund's dream and... whatever I'd had."
"So the gods have left you crumbs," Ormiss said.
"Crumbs?"
"Crumbs so you know you aren't insane or misremembering anything. Tells. Things so you know what is real from what is not. What is true versus what is merely a coincidence."
"If the gods wanted to tell me something, why not just tell me?" I said, annoyed.
He shrugged.
"So that's why we want to go see the Priestess. Think she'll grant me an audience with that story?"
"She's a Pantere. You never know what they'll do. They love being inscrutable. If you think hippocamp are insufferable, ah, you are in for a rude surprise. So. The ocean."
I tell him about the horrible bugs and the overrun town on the southern beach.
He touched one particular trinket around his neck, and said, "Yes, we know about that town. It's where we used to come ashore and trade. Hippocamp that wanted to live on land would live there."
"What happened to it?" I asked.
"An attack of some kind," he said, shaking his head. "Strange stories came out of it from the hippocamp that managed to escape home. Very strange."
He dropped his trinket, and shifted across the couch. Suddenly, he was just there next to me, his thigh along mine, very close, so close I saw the red flecks in his dark eyes, which were not actually black, but a deep vermillion. "Now. The third part of our deal."
His fingers trace mysterious patterns under my chin.
"You only want a good kiss," I remind him, shaky and unsure.
"A good kiss will do for now, yes. I expect improvement with practice."
I rolled my eyes at him, then shifted closer so I could meet his lips with mine. A charge flickers over both of us, and a crackle so painful I flinched as it felt like it zapped and constricted my heart. He held still, lips slightly parted, jaw soft. What is a good kiss? Isn't a good kiss where both kissers are doing the kissing?
Lazy jerk.
I brushed my lips against his, pretending that he's actually doing something (which he wasn't, the sack of douches), and I hated how my body heated just from tasting him. He tasted like silk and salt. I touched my tongue to his lips, tasting him, then dipping between his lips to sample the rest of him, as he tensed and held very, very still, too still. I touched the tendrils of long, silky hair at his ear. His hair is like fine strands of silk, and it felt glossy. How can anything feel glossy? My fingertips pushed backwards behind his ear, feeling the delicate shape and skin, and his skin feels glossy too. Not quite human. Not quite anything. So strange. I pull my finger down his neck, across his shoulders, down his arm. He quivered like a fly-stung horse. I could trace the lines of his muscle and bone. He's dense and firm, but lithe and so quick.
Ethat and Korr and Itek all feel strong. Korr and Ethat were like stone and power, while Itek felt like sleek and powerful, but Ormiss felt swift and deft and powerful, like nothing would ever hold him, or he could escape any net or anyone's grasp.
He still wasn't kissing me, but I didn't care, because I was enjoying the power of kissing him, and knowing how hard he was trying to not kiss me back.
I darted my tongue between his teeth one last time before pulling back. My heart raced, my breasts felt heavy and my nipples ached for him, all of me ached for him, but nyah, nyah. That'd teach the horseyfish to (not) fuck with me. I looked up at him through thick lashes, and said in my most dulcet tone, the one I'd practiced for Tynne's parents, "Are you satisfied, Lord Hippocamp?"
He snapped out of the spell and a sharp vermillion-and-onyx gaze focused on me, as sharp as any blade. "You minx."
"Hmm." I glanced down at the bulge in his crotch. "I would measure that as a good kiss."
"I assure you, I am better than good," he growls, shifting to adjust himself.
"You do realize my other consorts are two dragons and a gryphon, right?" I asked sweetly. Of course he'd make this about cock size. Not that it would seem Sir Horseyfish there has any inadequacies in any area except his personality.
He laughed. "If you've been taught that the largest cock in the best cock, I am going to re-align your perception of reality, humiliate your other consorts, and degrade them for their laziness."
"Fine, but you made me a promise."
"Yes, yes, I did. Would you like to see them now?"
I jump to my feet. "Yes!"
He offers me his crooked elbow. "This way then. As long as you promise to not be horrified by a prison."
After everything I'd seen? A prison sounds like a nice stop on the way. "I'm no tender creature. Let's go before you change your mind or your aunt eats them for dinner."

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PEEEPPPSSSS....

Remember that sack of flour I posted a picture of months ago? We ate our way through it. About to go cruise over and get another one. XD I think I fed most of it to my sourdough starter, LOL. Which is now ruthlessly strong and tries to crawl out of its jar with each feeding, so it lives in the fridge and only gets fed during daylight once every few weeks and I mostly use it for squishing paneer between two plates because I do not have the proper gizmos for making paneer so it's two plates and a mason jar of starter and a bunch of papertowels.

I know. I'm terrible. I think I just have to accept that at this point I make paneer frequently enough I need to just do it proper.

What's the most obscure/specialized kitchen gizmo you own? Right now it's probably my super-fine foam skimmer for making ghee. I'm hoping someone comes out here with "ELEGANT FIVE BLOCK TOFU PRESS" or something to make me feel better about my increasing number of kitchen gizmos because GUYS, I DON'T ACTUALLY LIKE TO COOK SO WHY DO I HAVE 2 TOTES OF SPICES, 7 TYPES OF SALT, AND ASSORTED GIZMOS?????

~ Merry

(Oh dear, what am I cooking now pantster...)

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