The Lion Princess

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

When Reanna had fallen asleep, she had been half underneath Aurelius. His body had been laid out long hers; holding her close, his face buried in her hair. Most of his weight had been held off of her, but the pressure that remained was comforting in an odd sort of way. Though they had been nude, freely visible under the stars, with only her discarded dress to protect them from the ground, neither of them had cared a wit.

Now it was morning and the half body of her much larger lion lover was suffocating her.

His warmth was pleasant, as was the softness of his fur. However, he weighed considerably more and the loving hand that had been on her shoulder the night before was now a heavy paw that was kneading like a common house cat. Except his claws were much more painful and, though he wasn't breaking skin, Reanna could feel him bruising it.

Groaning, opening her eyes at the pain, she grimaced as she attempted to push him off of her. He was such a large weight though that he didn't even wake from sleep.

"Auri," she called out, pulling on a tuft of his mane.

He didn't stir.

"Auri!" She jerked harder.

"Wha-?!" He jumped up quickly, animal instincts putting him immediately on the defensive. The same paw that had been kneading into her shoulder slammed most of his weight against her body as he jumped up. This time, his claws did break her skin. Just enough to draw a single drop of blood from each point and elicit a punctuated cry of pain from her.

"Rae!" Aurelius flinched back before leaning over her. "Oh, my...I'm so sorry. Are you all right?"

"I'm okay," she groaned, pushing herself up slowly. Wiping away the specks of blood. Honestly, the weight of his jump had been more painful than his claws. She could feel it bruising already.

"Oh, Rae..." His ears flattened against his head as he lowered himself down, nearly putting his head in her lap. "I'm sorry. You startled me, and I-"

"It's okay," she assured him with a smile. She scratched around the side of his head. "You're such a big oaf though. I thought you were going to crush me."

He rubbed his head along her nude stomach. His fur tickled her navel and the peaks of her breasts. She smiled at the sensation, wondering how long she could get away with remaining nude.

Not long. It was daytime now. Though people were still avoiding her lion, they were becoming less afraid as he proved himself more tame. There would also be servants coming around towards the tower and gardeners to tend the courtyard. Reanna would really rather none of them have a story about finding their future queen naked with a lion.

So, she stood and quickly got dressed. Doing her best to cover her shoulder. The strap of her dress wasn't nearly wide enough to hide all of the prick marks. Nor the dusting of the purple bruise that was gradually appearing around them in the shape of his paw.

The guilt in his stomach was heavy, even when he didn't have the human features to properly convey the emotion any longer. His ears remained low, his tail still and tucked close.

"Forgive me, my lioness," he repeated.

Reanna touched the abused skin gently. Then shrugged. "I'll be fine. It was an accident."

She kissed his head gently and promised him she'd be back. She went to bathe and change into a clean dress. She dressed the marks on her shoulder herself then picked something with long sleeves so it would cover up the bruising. Not that it particularly hurt that much any longer. She just didn't want anyone seeing a paw print bruise on her body and blaming Aurelius for it.