Safania's POV
I woke up the next morning to sunlight streaming in on my face. It took me a moment to remember where I was and what had happened the night before, but once I did, I realized that Cassius was no longer next to me.
I sat up and found him sitting at a table, reading while nibbling on a piece of bread. Hearing me stir, he glanced at me and smiled.
"Good morning beautiful," he said. "Come get some breakfast."
I sat down at the table and looked at the food in front of me, realizing that I was starving. The selection was significantly more varied than at the camp, but for some reason all I wanted was the syrup off to the side. Slightly self-conscious, I drizzled the syrup over everything – bacon, eggs, oranges, bread. I saw Cassius raise his eyebrows, but thankfully he didn't say anything.
Cassius watched, amused, as I devoured the plate in front of me. "Safania?" he said finally, causing me to look up. "You had mentioned in one of your letters that it was going to take you longer than normal to train, and that you would explain the next time you saw me."
I sighed. I had completely forgotten that I still had to tell Cassius what I had learned about my marks.
"Well...marked women, first of all, don't refer to themselves that way," I told him. "They call themselves elementalists because they...we have control over the five different elements. The marks on our backs show which ones we control. Most can control one. My mom can control two, fire and air. And two women at the camp can control three. That was the highest number of elements a single person could control...until me. I can control four. Fire, earth, air, and water." I looked up at him, nervous to see his response to the news.
Cassius didn't react immediately. "You can control four elements?"
I nodded.
"And as far as the women know, you're the only one in the world who can do this?"
"I'm the only woman they're aware of who has ever been able to do it," I told him.
He nodded thoughtfully. "So you need more training because you have to learn each element."
I nodded.
"Saffy, that's incredible."
"Really?"
"Of course," he answered easily, as though it should have been obvious that he would react this way. "You're special for so many reasons, but to be the only one in the world capable of something...that's amazing."
I looked down at my plate. "I was worried you would be upset about having to spend even more time apart."
"Well, I'm not thrilled about that part. But this is important. You told me awhile ago that me being king was my destiny. This is yours."
He grabbed my hands. "Like I said Saf, we are going to make this world a better place. Both of us."
I looked at him and mustered a weak smile. He was so encouraging, so understanding. But I knew that our challenges were far from over.
"Do you need to go check on your mother?" he asked me, changing the subject.
I shook my head. "Not yet. She shouldn't be up until noon."
"Noon?"
"It takes a lot of energy to fly Cassius," I pointed out.
He smiled. "I suppose it does. Can you do that?"
"Gosh, no," I said quickly. "Controlling air requires a calm mind, which is not my strong suit. I can produce as much air with my abilities as you can by just blowing on something."
Cassius smiled again and stood up. "Is that because you're distracted?" he asked me in a mischievous voice, walking so he was behind my chair.
"It certainly doesn't help," I told him.
"I too, have found it very difficult to concentrate recently," he told me as he toyed with my hair. "Ari actually beat me at sparring the other day."
"How humiliating," I murmured, turning to look directly into his seductive gaze.
"It was very humiliating," he agreed, gently brushing his hand along the top of my breast. I felt myself inhale sharply.
"Is there anything I can possibly do to help?" I asked innocently.
"I can think of a couple things," Cassius answered with a wicked smile.
With that, Cassius pulled me up from my chair to him. No matter how many times we kissed, every time still left me breathless. His lips were warm and sweet, but also commanding and powerful. I completely gave into him.
Cassius broke the kiss to abruptly lift me into his arms. Surprised, I let out a small gasp and then laughed as Cassius carried me to the bed. He gently laid me down on it and climbed on top of me, kissing me again.
As we kissed, I slipped a hand under Cassius's shirt, feeling the rugged contours of his muscular chest. Cassius squeezed my breast over the dress I still had on. Feeling a slight discomfort, I let out a small yelp.
"Are you okay?" Cassius asked. "Are they more tender now?"
I nodded.
"We probably shouldn't," Cassius said, moving away. "I should be gentle with you."
"But...I don't want you to be gentle with me," I responded quietly.
Cassius turned back to me with a dangerous smile. "Then what do you want, my love?" he asked, leaning down to softly kiss my neck.
"You," I whispered, simply.
Cassius kissed me again. "Then you shall have me."
Cassius undid my dress easily, pulling it off and throwing it aside. I pulled off his shirt, and he helped me remove his pants.
Intimacy in the early morning sun was so different than the cliffs of Abree at night. I could see the definition of his abs, his brilliant blue eyes, and some scars I assumed were from training or battles. I felt him looking over my body as well, now able to see every bruise, every scrape, every scar.
"You are so beautiful," Cassius whispered. He kissed my neck gently, then trailed kisses down my body. Each one felt like it was permanently scorched into my skin.
He moved back to my mouth, skillfully swirling his tongue around mine. Distracted, I didn't notice his hand moving toward my center until I felt his fingers pressed against my clit, rubbing wickedly pleasurable circles that made me gasp.
I closed my eyes as Cassius continued to stroke and kiss me, relaxing into the blissful sensations. I blindly reached for Cassius's cock, gently running my fingers along his length. Cassius inhaled sharply, which I took as a sign to keep going. I wrapped my hand around him and began to stroke his cock.
Cassius's restraint seemed to disappear shortly after that. In an instant, I found myself pinned underneath him, his length prodding at my entrance. I tensed slightly. God knew how badly I wanted him, but I wasn't sure I was ready.
But apparently, Cassius wasn't planning on entering me just yet. Instead, he replaced the fingers still stroking me with his cock, moving his length against my slit. I moaned as the soft skin of his shaft made contact with my sensitive bud.
I became even more slick as Cassius continued to grind himself against me. Once I was more than ready, my arousal pooled between my legs, he teased me a couple times – positioning himself as if he was about to enter me, then just going back to rubbing his length against me. I groaned each time he did this until I couldn't take it anymore.
"Cassius, for the love of all things holy, can you please –" I began angrily, but he chose that moment to thrust inside of me, cutting me off.
Bastard.
My frustration immediately faded though, as he buried himself in me, giving me the kind of relief only he could.
I realized he took my request to not be gentle seriously. His thrusts were hard, deep, and fast. It was desperate, animalistic...entirely different than our first time.
Yet despite his roughness – maybe even because of it – I found myself rushing toward my climax. Within moments, I felt myself come undone. I gripped Cassius's back, feeling as though I were about to fall apart from the overwhelming sensation, as pleasure flooded every nerve in my body.
Cassius continued to move in and out of me at a rapid pace. I bucked my hips against him, rising to meet his thrusts. The fullness I felt, the sweet friction, it was all simultaneously too much and not enough.
"Cassius," I whimpered, wrapping my legs around him.
Cassius uttered something in a language I didn't recognize - probably a swear. He finished shortly thereafter, trembling as he released inside of me. Gently pulling himself out of me, he flopped down on the bed.
"How was that?" he asked, turning to look at me.
"Like you don't already know," I replied.
"It wouldn't hurt to hear you say it."
I smiled. "Yes Cas, you're the best I've ever had."
"I'm the only you've ever had," Cassius said, narrowing his eyes in confusion.
I shrugged, giving him a playful smirk. Cassius rolled his eyes at me stubbornly refusing to compliment him, then pulled me to him to spoon.
We laid there holding each other for a while, Cassius gently tracing his fingertips along my marks, until I felt something hard pressing against my lower back.
I flipped over to face him, looking at him accusatorily.
"What?" he asked innocently.
"We literally just had sex," I told him, exasperated.
"Did you honestly think that one time was going to be enough?" he asked in an amused, yet dangerous tone.
I blinked.
"It's not my fault that my future wife is so sexy," he said, kissing my shoulder. "It's not my fault that I've been deprived of her company for most of this long, miserable month," he said, moving his kisses to my neck and causing me to close my eyes. "And it's certainly not my fault that I want to ravage her in every way possible."
He nibbled my earlobe, sending a rush through me. "Cassius," I whispered in surrender. Grinning in victory, he pulled my legs, sending me onto my back.
Cassius took me two more times. Our first time in Abree had given me a false sense of his stamina. He had an insatiable hunger for my body that I seemed unable to permanently satisfy. If I hadn't pointed out that it was getting close to noon, he almost certainly would have been eager to go again.
Next time I would have to think more carefully before I told him not to be gentle with me. Though the soreness from our lovemaking was far more enjoyable than the soreness of the days of intense training I was used to.
We bathed together, which Cassius claimed was to save water, but I was fairly certain was just a ruse to keep me naked next to him. Then, after dressing, we walked to Ari's place.
As we left the tent, I saw the guard outside glance at me and then look away quickly.
"Cassius, I think he heard us," I said, embarrassed.
Cassius laughed. "Of course he heard us. You weren't exactly being quiet."
I froze.
"What?" Cassius asked.
"Everyone is going to know–" I began.
"That a woman had sex with her fiancée? Oh, the scandal," Cassius said sarcastically, teasing me.
"I didn't realize I had an audience," I said bitterly.
"I know that you're very private," Cassius said gently. "But you're marrying into royalty Saffy. Having people around us is necessary to keep us safe."
I nodded begrudgingly, knowing he was right.
"Besides," Cassius said cheerfully, "if you're really that upset about it, I can just threaten to kill him if he says anything."
"What? No!" I exclaimed.
"I'm just saying it's an option."
We walked past the soldiers, who were up and doing their drills. But as we walked past, they started calling after me.
"Lady Safania!"
"How are you feeling?"
"It's so good to see you!"
"The soldiers were very worried about you," Cassius told me.
"Really?"
"People like you, Saffy. You seem to underestimate that."
We reached Ari's house and knocked on the door. Ari opened it almost immediately and welcomed us inside. "Your mother is still sleeping," he told me. Sure enough, she was passed out on a cot in the corner.
"That's fine," I replied. "We came early because we owe you some explanations."
The three of us sat down in awkward silence. I took a deep breath, summoning my courage to tell yet another person a secret I had fought to hide for so many years.
"I'm marked," I blurted out finally.
"What?" Ari asked.
"I'm a marked woman," I repeated.
Ari glanced at Cassius to see if I was joking. "You mean like in the legends?" he asked, looking back at me.
I nodded. "I had heard rumors of marked women living in the West, which is how I ended up in Peria in the first place. Then on our way back from Abree we sort of just stumbled across them. I've been there the past three weeks training to use my abilities."
Ari stared at me, stunned.
"This probably goes without saying, but if you tell another soul I will personally dismember you," Cassius told Ari. Ari looked to Cassius, horrified.
"I would never do that to Safania," he said quickly. "Are you done with your training then?"
I shook my head. "I still have a lot more to learn."
"Then why did you come back? And why in the middle of the night?"
I looked to Cassius, who nodded, encouraging me to keep going.
"I'm pregnant," I told Ari. "I came back to tell Cassius the second I found out."
Ari's eyes grew even wider than they already were. "That's...wow...that's amazing," he said, a smile spreading across his face. "I'm so happy for you both. Who else knows?"
"No one right now," I said.
"And we would like to keep it that way," Cassius told him firmly.
"Of course. I won't tell anyone. Emalina is going to be furious that I found out before she did though," he said as an afterthought.
Emalina. There had been so much going on that I hadn't even thought to try to find her. "Cassius, I need to see Emalina," I pleaded, suddenly desperate to see my best friend.
"Of course, my love. But first we need to decide what we're going to do next," Cassius turned to Ari. "Safania needs to keep training. But I'm thinking we should go back to Peria to get married first."
"What?" I said aloud. I hadn't really thought about what was going to happen after I came back to the fort.
"Cassius is right," Ari said immediately. "As soon as the other princes find out about your pregnancy, they are going to do anything they can to delay or stop your wedding."
"Why?" I asked.
"If the child is born while we're unmarried, it is technically a bastard. They wouldn't be entitled to any legal protection, a title, or inheritance rights," Cassius explained.
"Not to mention as soon as Safania gets married she'll be entitled to her own protection. She can have guards of her own, not just yours that you assign to watch her," Ari added. Cassius nodded in agreement.
"What do you think, Safania?" Cassius asked.
"I really need to train," I said reluctantly. "How long would it take?"
"We could do it in a month, I think," Cassius said. "That's how long it took for Alterius's, even though that was mainly because he was worried about Celine's family backing out."
"And then we would come back?"
Cassius hesitated. "We would discuss," he answered finally.
"What does that mean?"
"It means that I'm not thrilled at the idea of being separated from my pregnant wife while she pushes herself to her physical limits on a daily basis," Cassius replied pointedly. "But I'm open to negotiation."
That was fair. We had promised to make our decisions together, so I trusted Cassius when he said we would discuss. But we could sort out the long-term plans after we dealt with the short-term ones.
"Okay," I agreed. "My mom is not going to be happy though."
"Why am I not going to be happy?"
The table looked to the cot where my mother had been sleeping. Now she was awake, sitting up with her arms crossed, glaring at us.
"What's going on?" she asked.