Heirot

Havi blinked at her and cleared his throat. Fuck. Just hearing her ask how to Bond him had woken his body to full attention. What was he doing? She'd asked a serious question. "To literally prove I'm unbound, I would have to respond to another female or refuse your command. Neither is going to happen unless I'm in rut, and I'm not. I am notorious for scorning women and for rejecting proper male instincts. They may not believe I am bound, but they won't prove it."

"As for whether you can bind someone against their will, it's not possible. Bonds are always given willingly. That said, bonds can only be sealed during a rut, when an Ivis possesses almost no sense of self-determination, so his will can be bent."

He traced his fingers over the back of her hand lightly and tried to forget the heat between his legs. "You cannot Bond me right now, because I am not aflame, but I can teach you the method, if you wish to be ready."

His words had brought some measure of comfort to her. She had thought any woman could force him into her servitude, but it seemed much more complex than that.

Tenara's gaze followed his fingers tracing her hand and she held in a shiver, swallowing tight. "If you would want me, than I would like to know."

It took a minute for him to realize the meaning of her words, and another for them to register as real. She would consider bonding him. Even more shocking, he was condoning it. He waited for panic or shock to make him regret it, but looking up at her, the second thoughts never came. If anything, he felt more worried about her readiness than his. Even after all she'd been through, she was considering claiming him.

He cupped her hand between both of his, like he was sheltering a bird from the rain. "First, you will claim my seed," he murmured. Slowly, he lifted her fingers up to his lips, and then up to his chipped horn. He slid her hand to its base, where his single gold ring gleamed in the lamplight, and wrapped her fingers around it. "When I am knotted within you, you will restrain me, like so," he rumbled softly. His eyes met hers. "Then, you will say, 'Ivis, I am home to your flame.' You may choose your own words if you prefer, or even use none... but while I am bound both above and below, you must place your Mark."

It took a minute for him to realize the meaning of her words, and another for them to register as real. She would consider bonding him. Even more shocking, he was condoning it. He waited for panic or shock to make him regret it, but looking up at her, the second thoughts never came. If anything, he felt more worried about her readiness than his. Even after all she'd been through, she was considering claiming him.

He cupped her hand between both of his, like he was sheltering a bird from the rain. "First, you will claim my seed," he murmured. Slowly, he lifted her fingers up to his lips, and then up to his chipped horn. He slid her hand to its base, where his single gold ring gleamed in the lamplight, and wrapped her fingers around it. "When I am knotted within you, you will restrain me, like so," he rumbled softly. His eyes met hers. "Then, you will say, 'Ivis, I am home to your flame.' You may choose your own words if you prefer, or even use none... but while I am bound both above and below, you must place your Mark."

"First, you will claim my seed," he said, and Tenera felt heat burn her cheeks at the words. She put up a wall inside herself, holding back thoughts that pounded against it like the waves on the ship hull once had. Instead, she chose to focus on Havi's explanation intensely, as if they were life and death instructions. She allowed him to guide her hands gently to where they needed to be.

"What kind of mark?" she asked, her voice raspy as it fluttered into the air.

Havi's throat worked. Her tone was making his reaction to her stronger, and from his angle kneeling in front of her, he could swear he smelled the scent of her being excited for him. He didn't trust his senses when his imagination was running wild, so he did his best to keep his explanation calm. "A permanent Mark on my body. Each Yurivis claims their harem differently. Cera's Ivie wear a piercing on their left ear as a sign of prestige. Kishva brands the back of the hand. A cut or scrape... Any wound is effective. It will remain without healing over."

Tenara looked Havi over, as if she were scoping out every inch of him to decide where she would mark him, or how. Then, she frowned and said. "I don't want to hurt you. An earring sounds... less painful. If a knew how to tattoo or had the ink and needle..." Tenara realized that she was contemplating making Havi where some sort of mark, and on her world that was only something slavers did. "Are you sure?" she asked, touching his face. "You said I'd never bond you. I would be happy to be with you as we have been, if that's what you would prefer..."

But there would always be this thing between them. This knowing that, while Havi was with her, he didn't want to be tied to her anymore than he already was.

Havi twitched as her words jogged his memory of that night. It was hard to concentrate with her hand around his horn, but he could recall the tone he'd used, and the bitterness in his heart as he's spoken them. His mouth set in a grim line. Of course she would be worried about it, after what he'd said. "I should not have spoken to you so," he shivered. "At the time, I did not understand why you'd asked me to-... I did not recognize it as a test. In this place, the purpose of such a command could only be to humiliate, or to force-break a bond."

He frowned, his eyes casting down as much as was possible with the moon shining before him. "What of your feelings? Was my response the one you needed?" He felt foolish even asking. He'd disobeyed her outright, even lost his temper. Surely that wasn't the result she tested him to find. He shook his head. "I'm sorry. Of course it wasn't fitting behavior for an Ivis. I just kept thinking that if I struck you, I would never be worthy to face you again, and I..."

He trailed off, language failing him. 'I did not want that' hardly felt adequate to describe the loss he'd anticipated in that moment.

"I thought I was your Yurivis then. I worried that you really didn't want me..." She looked down. "The way it was explained to be—what a Yurivis was—I thought I had enslaved some part of you, and that it was compulsion that made you accept me, not..." Love was the wrong word. "Not fondness." She hesitated, placing a kiss on his forehead. "I don't want to rule you, Havi." Then, she added with a smile. "Not as they would, at least."

Her gaze went to where her hand was still locked around his horn. She traced lightly up to the shortened edge.

Havi stared up at her and shivered under her touch. A realization started up cold in his gut. "You want to Love me," he whispered, as if grasping it for the first time. He took several deep breaths, trying to follow the flicker of understanding and digest it.

Finally, his eyes returned to hers. "When I said the bond is always made willingly, I meant it. In that instant, there is unconditional affection and desire. The Yurivis accepts the Ivis at his most vulnerable, and every fiber of the Ivis's being craves to be bound to that beauty and security. He cannot undo it, and he will not regret it."

He hesitated, head spinning and throat knotting, and tried to choose his words very carefully. "But your kind do, don't they? You have no Bonds to reassure you or guarantee permanence. There is no one specific moment of acceptance and sacrifice...so the affection must be strong enough to be renewed at any time, felt in every moment. It must be Always. That is what you call 'Love'?"

Tenara's eyes watered, her gaze meeting his. She felt this knot in her throat then, and wondered if she could even speak. The way he'd described it... Love was such a complex thing, so hard to define, express, or find—true love that is. "Yes," she finally said, nodding. "That is love, Havi." She swallowed, thinking about telling him that there was a way to bond on her world, but talking marriage felt a little early. She smiled at the thought, almost laughing. He was talking about permanently binding himself and his soul to her, and she was nervous about telling him that—occasionally—humans put rings on each others fingers as a promise to not abandon one another.

A ring.

She pulled the silver cockring from her pocket and showed it to him. She glanced at his hand, and back to the ring before frowning. "I don't know what good this is. It is too big to go on a finger and seems too small to fit over a man's wrist. Maybe its a woman's bracelet," she said, and attempted to slip it over her hand.

That was love. THAT was real love. That was what she wanted from him... and he couldn't give it to her if he was bonded. He was relieved beyond measure that he'd somehow figured it out... and yet the disappointment surprised him. He'd never wanted a bond before, so abandoning the idea shouldn't be difficult.

Havi's thoughts were spinning so quickly that he just stared at the item she was trying to squeeze over her hand, blankly waiting for his brain function to resume. Why was she trying to put that there? What did it have to do with his primordial grasp of love?

She was comforting him, he suddenly realized. Cheering him up with her own odd humor. "That bracelet is certainly not for women," he chuckled, feeling some of the confusing negative emotion dissipate at her silliness.

Tenara frowned, pondering the object. She had access to so few things to use if he went into rut, and she didn't want to be left with an option that would be painful or wound him in a way that would never heal. "If it fit on your wrist, it could be your mark." She took the ring and placed it near his slightly curled hand, gauging the size. "Maybe its some sort of weird magic talisman..."

Havi's mouth trembled as he stared at her. After the stress of the last few weeks, her words cracked him. His frown cracked, and he doubled over laughing. "Perhaps I am not enough man for you, Tenara," he wheezed, "If you expect my cock and wrist to match in size."

Tenara blinked at him, innocent confusion knotting her brow. She was experienced in sex, but had never experimented beyond the base needs, so it took her a moment to parse his words or why he was laughing as he was. Then her eyes widened. "Oh," she said, and dropped the silver ring into her lap like it had suddenly turned white-hot.

Then, her hand shot up and covered his mouth, muffling the laughter that had rung through the room like sweet music. He laughed so rarely. She wanted to hear more of it, but... "I am supposed to be punishing you," she hissed a warning, but her lips quirked with the edge of a smile. After a minute, Tenara released his mouth and looked down at the thing in her lap. "So it... goes on..." Her nose scrunched for a second. "Like jewelry?"