Redemption - Fourth Wing

59. Epiphany (~)

Chex's Pov
The nightly lovemaking was as obvious as buffeting winds under one's wings.
~~~~~~~
Aifos' clothes were pooled on the grass, and their hair brushed the expanse of their back, past their shoulders.
My breath was hot against their skin, and their thumb swept on the small scar on my snout. I purred, inhaled their smell of leather and pinewood and smoke.
-I saw the silver waterfall,- I murmured, my teeth skimming on the hollow of their collarbones, -Wished to taste the drops of water on your skin.-
They tilted their head, their neck now accessible, "Arget adurna burthr datia und draumr dunei"
(Silver water births mist and dreams of love.)
-Their tongue curls sweeter in your presence, Chex- said Ronny, and they inhaled sharply when I blew a hot breath on their earlobes, my eyes seeking out the older dragon.
Darkness blended around his great frame, starlight falling on the jagged scar across his snout, and on the empty spot of his spikes, on the juncture between neck and shoulders where he got usually saddled.
The saddle laid hastily on the ground against a tree.
My grin was slow, -Have they ever ridden you bareback, Ronny?-
-Once.-
-Huh,- I said, then I dipped my head and shoved my snout between Aifos' legs, their scent feminine and thick, -Show me how you rode him, then.-
I flat-tongued licked them, and Aifos clung on my scales.
-Mgh,- they grunted, -Barbed tongue!-
Fuck, I had missed their taste, their groans.
Why the fuck had I flown away?
-His scales were harsh between your legs, I'm sure,- I purred, and curled my tongue again, now skipping on both sexes. Their inhale was broken, and their hips swivelled once.
I nuzzled the line between their inner thigh and their heat, -Sit down for me, my mate. I want to ride you tonight.-
"Oh ..." They breathed, and their fingers flexed on my neck, and Ronny's voice was rough with interest, -The night is his to lead, baby. Do as he says.-
They hesitated, then slowly they sank on their knees and bowed their head, their hair skipping on their cheeks.
It was curly and thick and I brushed it off with my snout, and lovemaking felt like home.
Like taking flight after years passed in a cave, every gasp and whimper old winds greeting the membrane of one's wings.
Their skin was warm and soft and pliant, and my heart was bashing in my ribs.
-Mine,- I growled, before adjusting and finally sinking in their heat.
Their hips were mine to command, and they clenched and arched their back, their muscles tensing and the veins in their neck popping up. Ronny's eyes were fixed on us, pupil-narrowed and great, and I slowed my rhythm.
"Gh, ah!"
-I missed your songs,- I purred, and Aifos choked on my name.
My chuckle was entirely pleased, and they liked it, and Ronny's nostrils flared picking up the hazy sweetness of their scent, -You have grown into a fine dragon, Chex.-
-The absence of sex does that to you.-
His chuff was rumbling, -You move our mate around with a new awareness of you both. You must've sought out your Name.-
I snapped my hips, and Aifos groaned and gripped the soft grass and tugged, and I half splayed my wings, -They are my mate,- I growled, -And your partner of heart and mind.-
-Tell us your Name.-
But I couldn't, not fully, so I picked up my pace until it was rough and slightly burning, and tears slipped on Aifos' flushed cheeks. I started whispering to them both my Name, which made my silver scales gleam as a fresh-dreamt Swordtail, as a fresh-hammered Elvish sword.
But when I came halfway, the pleasure I was giving and taking made my words stutter, and I willingly choked on it and tightened my muscles and found my peak.
Aifos came soon after, sweaty and limp-bodied, dirt licking on their tights.
I stepped off, and rumbled purrs and nuzzled Aifos' chest until they gulped a breath and placed a hand on my snout, -Give me five minutes.-
I nipped their palm, -Would you really make the oldest dragon in Alagaesia wait?-
Ronny's grumble was half agitated, half amused, and when he raised up I took his place in the shade, and admired how pleasure twisted Aifos' lips again, the flush of their Elvish eartips.
They were beautiful, and when they cried out their pleasure, I admired Ronny's flex of muscles, his abs contracted.
Then, Aifos rolled their head back, and the dragon's grunt was rough when he, too, found his release.
~~~~~~~
Both of them gasped in breaths before Ronny shuffled away, and I smiled at Aifos limping their way to me.
I spread my wing, and they dropped on the ground, their hair sticky on their temples and neck.
-We missed you,- they murmured, their throat raw and an arm flung on their eyes.
-I did so too,- I murmured, and closed my wing around them and watched Ronny laying next to me.
My eyes skimmed on his old scar, on the dullness of his scales.
-I saw Belgabad's bones,- I said, -Walked among Vroen'gard ruins.-
For a moment, none of us spoke, until Ronny lowered his gaze and his large shoulders rose with a slow breath, -Fate is already rushing up on me. I'll pay for my crimes soon enough.-
I set my teeth, tightened my wings; perhaps, perhaps if I told him, he'd look at me and hope would give him back the youth he'd been stolen from; hope would give Aifos the horizon I wanted to fly them towards, or the depth of the ocean.
Both of us started the same sentence, -I/-
A flash of golden eyes, shifting scales, and my sister stepped out of the darkness, her scorpiontail flicking a branch off her path.
Whichever admission Ronny was about to whisper to me remained stuck in his throat, just as mine, caught between my ribcage and lungs.
My mate pressed their warm, small back against my flank, and I snapped my teeth, -Don't you dare take a step forward, Andarna.-
Her scales rippled a darker black, its hue similar to Tairn's, -You left us.-
-I had to.-
-Why?-
-It has nothing to do with you,- I said, sharply, -Do not pry on affairs which don't belong to you.-
She stomped her claw, and her golden eyes narrowed, -But you're my brother, and I'm the head of your Den!-
I tightened my wing around my mate, and held her eyes.
There was a time in which I would've screamed her name in joy and tackled her in a hug, and we would've fallen in our old scuffles.
But my Name had been unknown to me, in those days.
-My halfblood frees me from your Den,- I said, -And you're the youngest dragon of their kind. You aren't the eldest, nor of them, nor of me.-
Her snarl was sharp, -But I am! I have been such all our lives!-
-Life follows pattern just as the winds do, and we never fly the same sky twice.-
She drew her head back, and I tipped mine, -I am sorry, Andarna.-
Then, she twisted her head and fired up a tree, which popped and blazed so suddenly and so sharply Aifos got jolted out of their sleep, and Ronny jerked back and away.
My sister's roar was harsh, and I hastened up on my feet and shouted back at her, to which she drew her head back. Then, my jaws snapped shut, and even if we were both young I was taller than her by a couple of inches, and surprise flared in Andarna's eyes.
Except that we had been younger.
She tightened her wings, and for a moment I remembered we had hatched together, flown together.
They were days past.
-What happened to you, brother?- she asked, -What did you see?-
I hesitated, because how could I tell her?
She bore love only for her Rider, any for her unknown mate.
Aifos' feet shuffled on the grass, and I twisted my neck and lowered my head. I gingerly placed the tip of my snout atop their hair, and I breathed them in, and when I met Ronny's eyes, I saw relief in them.
The same relief Belgabad's parted mouth reminded me of,  with the same late jolt of any epiphany.
Silence stretched, heavy and thick, until Tairn's voice rushed in our minds, and his great body blocked out the stars in the sky, blacker than any night.
-A horde approaches from the east!-
Bells pelled from Riorson palace, and the sky was split with the wingbeats of every dragon. Andarna spread her wings, followed her guardian.
I swung my head to Aifos, saw the softness of their neck, the gentle melancholy in their eyes when they held Ronny's.
Neither of them spoke, because how could they, when they had met each other a decade before me and he had taught them the way of the sky?
My heart clenched, and the ending of my Name of Names curled like whisps of smoke twisting up from my nostrils at my anger, tightened around my ribs like fire building up in my chest when gathered up.
And between the youthful, flowing sentences of my Name and the possibility of its continuation hovered another Name, whispered to me by the rock of Kuthian.
But Aifos' eyes were too large, and the battle too close.
I hoped I'd make the right decision, should Fate rush tonight.
Above us, a dragon roared, and the stars were cloaked from our sight.