As soon as Dylas left, Avani sighed, then turned to me. “Do you have work to do today? Or do you want to do something together?”
“Well… I really should work on that translation….” I said, hesitantly. She looked so disappointed, though, that I grabbed her hand and pulled her firmly to me, saying “On the other hand, you’re irresistibly adorable. As you wish, My Lady—what did you have in mind?”
She looked up at me, her eyes half-closed, and ran her fingers through my hair, trailing them deliciously down my spine as she whispered, “The dungeons in Idra Cave.”
I pulled back in astonishment, then burst out laughing. “So here I’ve placed my body entirely at your disposal, to do with me as you will… and you want to go fight monsters?” I teased.
“Oh come on, you know you want to!” she grinned up at me. “That’s one of the things that I love about you—we both love the thrill of danger and adventure. Dylas is much more cautious—he’ll never understand that part of me, and it’ll always worry him and make him fuss over me. But I don’t even need to try to explain it to you, because you get it.”
I caressed her cheek affectionately, saying, “I suppose you have a point there. I dread boredom more than anything. And many people are just… dull. Until they’re teased, that is.”
“Hmmm, is that why you tease me so much?” she asked, looking up at me through her long eyelashes. “Do you find me boring otherwise?”
I swept her up in my arms, nibbling along her neck as I carried her to the bed. “Far from it,” I murmured into her ear as I laid her down and reached for the top button of her blouse. “I find you more and more exciting every day.”
**************
Standing at the mouth of Idra Cave, I watched in amusement as Avani scowled at Arthur, hands on her hips as she stared down the elegant, poised young prince. “What do you mean, you don’t have better armor? You’re a prince! How can you not have better equipment than… than this?!” she scolded him, gesturing scornfully at his rudimentary equipage.
He took her berating good-naturedly, just shrugging with a smile. “Well,” he replied, “since I specialize in commerce, not combat, I’ve just not needed anything better before now.”
Avani sighed. “I suppose that’s true enough… and I suppose I should have checked and not just assumed. But honestly, Arthur, you should invest in some better equipment. These are dangerous times in Norad, and as a prince, you could be a potential target. So promise me you’ll see to that, okay? Because if you don’t… I’ll find out.” she said, in her scariest voice.
“Ahh, Avani, you’re kind of making me nervous,” Arthur said, drops of sweat beading on his brow as he looked down at her.
“Good!” she said, suddenly cheerful again. “Then maybe you’ll follow through! I just don’t want you to get hurt, okay, Arthur? So please promise me?” she looked up at him with such a meltingly adorable look of concern that she had me shaking with suppressed laughter, as I knew it was all an act—she certainly knew how to turn on the charm when she wanted to. However, Arthur didn’t realize that, and he blushed bright pink and stammered out a promise to upgrade as soon as we returned.
Satisfied, Avani turned and peered into the dark cave.
**************
After we’d made love, I gave in to her wish to go adventuring, even agreeing with a sigh when she said she wanted to bring Arthur along for some training. I’d been looking forward to possibly exploring those caverns with her… in ways that precluded additional companions. Some other time, perhaps, I thought regretfully to myself. But I extracted a promise that, in return, we’d do something afterwards that I wanted to do. She’d blushed so adorably at that—obviously drawing her own conclusions as to what I might have in mind—that I almost dragged her back to bed right then. But instead I followed her downstairs to the storeroom where she kept armor and weapons.
We grabbed our things and tracked Arthur down in his offices. He quickly agreed to Avani’s proposal, and remembering the way I’d caught him looking at her that night in Porcoline’s restaurant, I thought that perhaps I’d need to keep an eye on this one. But then, I thought to myself, that could be said of all the young men in town—and even some of the ladies, remembering Amber’s exuberant displays of affection and Margaret’s recent mania for writing love songs and her nervous blushes whenever Avani was near.
**************
“All right. Arthur, since you’re so astonishingly ill-equipped for serious combat, I want you to keep to the rear. Stick to spells, and I’ll rely on you for healing, too. But most of all, observe us and learn from us. Okay?” Arthur nodded in agreement, and she continued.
“Leo, I’d like to see you work on improving your spear skills. Also, your defense isn’t as well developed as I’d like, so I want you to work on that, too. Unfortunately, the only way to get that kind of experience is to just get in there and fight. I won’t let them kill you all the way, though, I promise.” I grinned at her, and she grinned back at me before turning back to the cave opening. She pulled out her dual swords, and in a flash she was off and running into the first level of caverns.
The first level was by now relatively easy going for us—just a warm-up, really. Nevertheless, by the time we reached the rearmost cavern with the stairs to the second level, I noticed Arthur was already out of breath and falling behind. I caught up to Avani and warned her that the prince couldn’t keep up with her pace. “We’re supposed to be helping him get stronger, Leo,” she replied, although she slowed down and glanced back at him as she spoke.
“Yes, but not if it kills him in the process, My Lady,” I said with a smile. “Let’s take a break before the next level, so he can catch his breath.”
She looked dubious, so I called back to Arthur, “Hey, Arthur, we’re going on down to the next level. We’ll wait for you there. Take a break, catch your breath, and have some food and drink—you don’t look too well. You’ll be perfectly safe in this cavern, monsters never come this far back.” He nodded as he paused for breath, too fatigued to speak.
I grabbed Avani’s hand and pulled her, laughing in spite of herself, down the stairs. I looked around the cavern, and decided that the adjacent cavern would best suit my requirements.
I pulled her through the narrow passage connecting the two caverns, then turning to her, I gave her a wicked grin. “Alone at last, My Lady.”
“Mm-hmmm… and…?” she replied, sidling up to me and wrapping her arms around my neck. “Now what?”
I lifted her up and carried her over to the smooth wall of the cavern, then set her down and pushed her gently up against the wall. “Guess,” I said, bending down to kiss her neck.
“Leo… what if Arthur follows us here?” she said, running her nails lightly down my spine, making me shiver with pleasure at the sensation.
I nipped her neck, sucking on the soft skin near her throat as she gasped and dug her nails into my back. “So what if he does?” I whispered throatily as I kissed and nibbled her ear. I reached a hand down and flipped up her skirt, then slid her panties down until they fell to the ground. She was already wet with anticipation, and I knew this wasn’t going to be one of our longer lovemaking sessions.
I unbuckled my pants and let them slip down to the ground. Then I lifted her up and lowered her down onto me as I held her by her thighs, pressing her back against the wall for support as I began to thrust. She broke free of our kiss with a gasp, and within just a few moments began to moan and gasp my name as she neared her climax, her legs tightening around my waist and her fingers tangled in my hair. I kissed her neck, then nibbled and sucked at it as her moans turned into breathless cries as she climaxed, squeezing tightly around me.
I felt an intense wave of heat surge through me as she shuddered and moaned in my arms, and with a few more deep thrusts, I reached the peak. I buried my face in her neck, nipping at her and groaning her name as I overflowed into her. After a few slower thrusts, she kissed me and slipped down to the ground, leaning against the wall for a minute to catch her breath. I released her, pulled up my pants and fastened my belt. Then, with a wicked look at her, I quickly reached down and snatched up her panties before she could retrieve them.
"H-hey!" she exclaimed with a laugh, reaching for them. "Give those back!"
"Hmmm," I said, holding them up just out of reach as I pushed down on her head to keep her from jumping up to grab them. "I think I'll just hang on to these for now." I grinned down at her as she began to squirm.
"Leeooo!" she cried, looking alarmed and wriggling a little, "Please! I-I'm dripping! It's running down my leg!"
I laughed at her, saying, "Think of this is your punishment for inviting someone else along." Just then we heard Arthur calling for us as he came down the stairs. I quickly crammed the bit of silky pink fabric into my rucksack and grinned at her discomfiture.
"Oh! You…! I'll get you for this!" she declared, giving me a black look as we went to join Arthur in the other cavern.
"I’ll be looking forward to it," I replied, grinning even more broadly at her.