Belonging [seraph soldier!Hyunjin]
Characters: Hyunjin, fem!OC
Rating: A/O for Adults Only
Content Warnings/Tags: mentions/depictions of war/battle, winged characters, explicit sexual content, inexperienced Hyunjin, switch Hyunjin, blowjob/facefucking (+swallowing), fingerbanging, multiple orgasms, back-to-back orgasms (f), cunnilingus, unprotected penetration, dirty talk/banter, hickey (m. receiving), raw male orgasms
Word Count: 10,575
Summary: As a member of the Misbegotten—an army made up of the angel Emperor’s bastard children—Hyunjin has long since accepted his status as cannon fodder. As casualties in the war with chimaera worsen, commanders from the Dominion army are sent to bolster the Misbegotten ranks. The last thing he expected was one of the Dominion to inspire him to dream of a different life.
Note: Based on the world of Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor.
Once upon a time, a soldier forgot what he was made for, and chose to love instead.
Seraph soldiers came in three varieties.
The first: The Dominion, the best of the best, soldiers that served under the Emperor’s brother and carried out the will of the royal family most directly.
The second: Aptly named the Second Legion, this force was what most people would call the standard military. For the most part, any angel who wanted to join the cause but was not truly exceptional was in the Second Legion.
The third, and final: The Misbegotten, a military force made up entirely of the Emperor’s bastards. It was drilled into their heads from a young age that they were not people, but weapons; they had no rights, only a purpose. Angels lived for hundreds of years, and the Emperor had sired thousands of bastards. It was said he had a harem full of women, and that he called a different one to him every night.
Hyun Jin could confirm that to be true, because he’d been born in the harem, and had witnessed the nightly ritual, the way women would be escorted out, and when they came back, they were exhausted at best and broken at worst. It was cruel, how Hyun Jin could remember the aura of fear in that place better than he could remember his own mother’s face.
Was his mother still in the harem, he wondered? Did he have other full-blooded siblings in the Misbegotten army that he didn’t even know about? Naturally, every Misbegotten was at least his half-sibling, but were any of them more than that?
Hyun Jin hoped none of them were. He hoped, at best, that his mother had been able to escape. He hoped, at worst, that she’d finally been allowed the mercy of death. He knew which was more likely.
Since new Misbegotten were conceived nearly every single night, this was the military branch that always got sent in first, and therefore the one that withstood the most casualties. Recently, they’d taken heavy losses against their chimaera foes. The war had started hundreds of years before Hyun Jin was born, and, being one of the Emperor’s many bastards, he was not allowed the luxury of an opinion on that matter. He would fight the chimaera until he died, or he would attempt to desert and be hunted for sport. His end would be the same no matter his choices.
Hyun Jin hadn’t been alive at the beginning of the war, and he likely wouldn’t be alive at the end of it, either. He’d been around long enough, though, to know that things were horribly wrong. The chimaera had always been a peculiar group of races, part or even mostly animal, but the chimaera they were fighting as of late . . . they were wrong. They had become hulking nightmare creatures that could not possibly occur in nature. Hyun Jin had seen and fought several; he wasn’t short by any means, but some of these monsters were nearly twice his height.
Suffice it to say, the Misbegotten were forced under the brunt of the assault, and had suffered heavy casualties.
When Hyun Jin found out that several ranking officers from the Dominion were being sent to bolster their ranks, he was shocked. Surely this couldn’t be the Emperor’s idea; he was just fine with using his bastard children as cannon fodder. No, someone must have talked enough strategy to convince him to do it out of necessity.
When the members of the Dominion arrived, the Misbegotten camp did their best to welcome them out of respect (or fear of insult). They didn’t have the resources for anything so fancy as a banquet, of course, so they determined to have a feast instead. They all had to eat, after all, so it allowed the Misbegotten to be respectful of their “betters” without being wasteful about it. Hyun Jin even volunteered to be on the hunting party. It was nice to do something that didn’t involve wading into an active warzone for once. Though he fought mostly with swords in combat, he wasn’t half-bad as an archer, and taking down game was much easier than taking down chimaera soldiers.
Hyun Jin mostly kept to himself during the feast, rarely venturing away from his team. He paid attention, of course, when the officers were introduced, and made his snap judgment of each. Most of them seemed as arrogant as he’d expected, and a few even seemed downright cruel. There were a few others, though, that didn’t leave much of an impression at all, and Hyun Jin prayed his team would be assigned to one of those relatively inoffensive individuals. For once in his life, the Godstars felt up to answering his prayers, because his team ended up with one of the milder-seeming officers, a female lieutenant named Da’el who, throughout the night, kept to herself and minded her business where many of her comrades contented themselves with antagonizing the Misbegotten at every opportunity. The latter treatment was to be expected; everyone who was in frequent direct contact with the Emperor was more or less a horrible person. Who was this seraph, that she’d managed to avoid the Emperor’s corruption?
He told himself he was reading way too far into it. Maybe she just had a lot of restraint or was a really good actress, and she’d prove herself to be just as horrible as the others when training started in the morning. After all, it was so much easier to be cruel with a blade in your hand.
At dawn, the Misbegotten rose, ate, and reported to their new honorary commanders. Hyun Jin tried to put the trepidation out of his mind, but it was difficult. When he saw their new commanding officer standing on their practice pitch, her wings glowing in the new morning light, he tried to get a better read on her. She had the same nothing-expression on her face that she’d had the night before. When he and his team lined up, as they were supposed to, he realized she was nearly as tall as him. She looked over the lot of them with eyes similar to her wings, which was unusual. Most angels either had blue eyes, like the Emperor and those he surrounded himself with, or dark brown eyes like the common folk that, for the Misbegotten, made up a majority of their mothers. Even green eyes were more common than hers, which looked like they were on fire, and Hyun Jin couldn’t decide if it was a trick of the sunrise or not.
“Pair off,” she said. “You may use any weapon you like. I want to see what I’m working with.”
They did as she said, and Hyun Jin belatedly recalled that his team was an odd number after . . . recent losses. He felt bad for the man that got stuck with the commander, a soldier named Lorn who was a few years older than Hyun Jin. Lorn looked terrified of the lieutenant, but, to Hyun Jin’s surprise, she didn’t react to that at all. He’d expected her to be at least a little smug.
Two at a time, they sparred, leaving Da’el and her unfortunate partner for last. Da’el fought with twin swords, while her opponent chose a pike. Hyun Jin knew Lorn’s fighting style, and the pike was not his weapon of choice. He often fought with a claymore, but perhaps, upon seeing what the lieutenant would be using, had chosen something with a faster fighting style despite being personally unaccustomed. Hyun Jin wasn’t sure that was such a good strategy here.
He expected the fight to be over quickly; he expected a member of the Dominion to act the way they always did, by making short work of their opponents, humiliating them in the process. Hyun Jin was stunned when that didn’t play out.
Instead of disarming Lorn promptly and berating him for his sub-par skills, Da’el checked her own skill level to just above his; he wouldn’t win, but he would get a good fight out of it. It was obvious to Hyun Jin that she was holding back, but he attributed it to his own skill with swords rather than an obvious telegraphing of her movements. Really, she was doing quite a good job of not embarrassing the soldier; she could have easily used her restraint to mock him. Hyun Jin really only knew the difference because he saw the openings he himself would have taken to disarm Lorn, and watched her pass them up.
Eventually, after letting Lorn put up a good fight, she disarmed him, and put her sword tips, crossed right over left, on his shoulders. The message was obvious: had this been a real fight, it would have ended with the soldier losing his head.
“Good,” she said, withdrawing her blades and replacing them on the rack. Hyun Jin hadn’t registered at first that those weren’t even her swords; they were regular practice blades. How much better was she when using blades weighted for her swing? Were swords even her weapon of choice?
“I’m pleased to see that a good many of you are adaptable, but a lot of you still need work. It’s my understanding that the Misbegotten have taken heavy losses recently. Why do you think that is?”
She asked the question in such a way that expressed actual curiosity, like she actually valued their opinion and insights. There was nothing patronizing in her voice or expression; she wasn’t trying to denigrate them by blaming them for their defeats. It was extremely unlike one of the Dominion. Honestly, even the Second Legion, whom the Misbegotten served alongside more often, didn’t really care what the Misbegotten thought and tended to mock when they did dare to express themselves.
“You could start with the fact that the chimaera are ten feet tall now,” answered one of the soldiers. Da’el looked thoughtful.
“That shouldn’t affect your results this much. Being large tends to slow a body down, not to mention you all have wings. It’s not as though you can’t reach their heads. What else?”
“They all fly now,” Hyun Jin said, surprising himself. She turned those burning eyes on him, and he almost lost his nerve for a second. He’d forgotten entirely for an instant that she was Dominion, and his current commander. She’d spoken like this was just a conversation between comrades, and he’d responded in kind without thinking. It wasn’t like him to forget himself in such a way.
“Was every victory in the past predicated on aerial superiority?” she asked him, directly. She didn’t move her eyes to include the other seraphim in the question.
“No,” he answered. She didn’t remove her gaze, prompting him to continue. “Not every victory,” he elaborated. “There have always been races of chimaera that can fly. We’ve never been wholly unchallenged in the air. But we’ve also never been this challenged.”
She nodded, and moved her eyes to the other seraphim. Hyun Jin nearly sighed in relief, which confused him. No Dominion had ever had the ability to rattle him before, and all she’d done was ask a question.
“What else?” she asked of the group.
“There’s a difference in tactics,” said Lorn. For an instant, the edge of Da’el’s mouth lifted toward a smile. Hyun Jin felt a peculiar stab like jealousy. He hadn’t gotten a partial smile for his answer.
“Different, how?” she asked, addressing only Lorn now.
“It’s like they know us, what we’ll do,” he said. “We’ve been fighting this war for hundreds of years, always had a familiarity with one another’s tactics, but this . . . It feels as though they know us personally.”
She gave one deep nod in response. “Excellent observation. Anything else?”
The rest of Hyun Jin’s team started to pipe up their experiences, too, anything they thought might help form a clearer picture. Now that they all felt they could speak freely without repercussions, they offered up everything they knew. She took every piece, built on every answer, asked clarifying questions to draw out extra details.
“After observing your fights today,” she said at the end, “I can tell there are several of you already internalizing these concepts, which is probably why you’re still alive.” She gestured to Lorn, the soldier she’d sparred with. “Lorn knew that his usual strategy—his usual specialty—wouldn’t be effective against me. I saw several of you make similar choices in your fights, as well. Lorn lost today, but he showed the adaptability necessary to overcome and win in the future. I’m going to teach all of you how to do that. Your current skills alone won’t save you, but they’ll provide the proper foundation for the new ones you’ll accrue. Think about where you’re starting from and where you wish to go. If you’re uncertain, ask me and I’ll help you. Any questions?”
Hyun Jin knew it was stupid, but he couldn’t help but take this like a personal reprimand. He’d chosen his usual swords for today’s spar, and in so doing, felt as though he’d failed a test. Did their commander think less of him now for his inability to consider creative solutions?
And, perhaps, more importantly, why the fuck did he care?
She dismissed them and told them to return after the midday meal with their new weapon of choice in mind. The team wandered off, and all of them seemed to be in various stages of bewilderment.
“She made it sound like she actually cares whether we live or die,” said one of the soldiers.
“I don’t buy it,” said another.
“What reason does she have to put up an act? I’ll bet the others aren’t.”
That, at least, seemed to be true. When they met up with a few of the other teams for lunch, they didn’t need to ask to know. Plenty of the other Misbegotten were sporting minor injuries, bruises and cuts that proved their new commanders hadn’t taken it easy on them.
But . . . that wasn’t the right language, was it? Hyun Jin didn’t feel as though he’d gotten off the hook easily. He’d still worked hard, and he was ravenous by the time he’d gotten his food. So, what, then? What was the difference?
At first, a few of the other Misbegotten teased them for their softer treatment. They asked who their new commander was, and upon hearing it was Da’el, several of them became confused.
“They were calling her the witch last night,” offered a woman from another team. “That doesn’t sound like the kind of nickname one gets by being merciful.”
“Perhaps they call her the witch because she’s the only person left in all of Astrae with a working brain in her head,” offered another. That drew laughter from most of the circle.
Hyun Jin kept his view of things to himself. Perhaps she was simply wise enough not to stress the things around her until they broke. The chimaera did plenty of breaking. What good was it to harm their allies when their enemy could do it just as well, or better?
That, however, looked a little too much like mercy, which was something seraphim, and those close to the Emperor especially, were not known to have in excess. So, how? So, why? How had she come to be one of the Dominion without succumbing to the ethos that thrummed from the very heart of the empire?
Hyun Jin was among the first to finish eating; he stood and turned to go. He still had no idea what to choose for his secondary weapon, and . . . he had the urge to speak with Da’el, alone.
When he made it back to the practice pitch, she was already there, sitting in the shade and eating her own meal. This struck him as immediately strange. He’d seen the pavilion where the other Dominion were eating together.
“Am I here too early?” he asked, testing the waters. She glanced up at him, but remained seated. Strange, incredibly so. With him standing and her sitting, he had the appearance of every advantage over her, and the Dominion valued their appearance very much. They wouldn’t be caught dead in the perception that they were beneath a Misbegotten.
“Not at all,” she said. “Did you need help choosing a weapon?”
“Yes, but . . .” But what? What else could he possibly be here for? He sat down across from her, and saw . . . something . . . flicker in her firelight eyes. “Why aren’t you with the others?”
She looked at him curiously. “They don’t suit my idea of companionship,” she said simply. He blinked at her, and she took another bite of her stew.
“Forgive me for speaking so plainly, but you’re not how I expected you to be,” he said before he could really think it through. She made a soft sound that might have been the beginning of a laugh, the edges of her mouth curving. Hyun Jin’s chest tightened, and he felt foolish for it.
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” she said. He nodded.
“I didn’t mean it in a bad way,” he clarified. “You’re just . . . not like the other Dominion I’ve known.”
“Thank you for noticing,” she said, smiling fully now. “They tried to beat it out of me, but that just made me more determined to endure.”
He wasn’t sure if she meant beat literally. Knowing the Dominion, she probably did.
“How is it you came to be where you are, then?” he asked, forgetting himself again. Talking to her felt like talking to a friend, or at the very least a comrade he’d known much longer than one day. “I thought the Dominion—the empire—valued homogeneity. How is it that you’ve risen to where you are if you refuse to act like them?”
“Because I’m good at what I do, and the Emperor has enough beasts to fight without creating new ones on this side,” she said. Hyun Jin felt like a bowstring released, her words triggering a vibrating resonance within him.
That . . . sounded almost like a threat. It sounded almost like dissent. The empire was the way it was, and one either fell in line or was disappeared. Da’el spoke as though daring it to try.
He must have been silent for too long, stared for too long, because she turned her attention away from him, back onto her food. If there was a double meaning there, his silence likely made it seem like he hadn’t caught it.
Hyun Jin could feel the crossroads of this moment, the fork his life could take. He could ignore what she’d just said, or he could say something just as crazy, just as risky, something to show that whatever she’d meant, he was on her side, that his heart could hold the same insane dream she’d implied to be in hers.
“Well, at any rate,” he said, willing his voice to sound light, normal, “what weapon would you recommend I learn to best dispatch opponents with wings?”
Her eyes seemed to burn brighter as she looked at him again, and he knew she’d caught the meaning, that he’d heard and echoed her correctly. Not chimaera. Not beasts. No, only opponents with wings. It could be anyone.
It could be his own father.
“I think,” she said softly, “you’d be best suited choosing a heavier weapon, like an axe or a claymore. That way, you might clip their wings for good with a single stroke.”
Da’el had not said the words explicitly, but it was all Hyun Jin could think about while he tried to sleep that night. All his life, his two choices had been laid in front of him with no deviation. Die fighting the beasts, or be killed deserting the fight. There was no option in which he might get to live or die for anything other than war.
Now here was a Dominion, silently proposing that he could turn his blade the other way, that he might choose to cut down those that foisted such an ugly, losing choice upon him. His crime was his bastard birth, and he’d never spent much time thinking about the unfairness of it, because what was there to be done about it, anyway? Nobody cared about the deaths of bastards.
But maybe . . . maybe others could be persuaded to care about their lives.
Hyun Jin had never had a secret before. He was one of a legion, a weapon with singular purpose, always training or fighting or on the move. There was no life for him to live, no attachments for him to form, and no chances for him to accrue secrets. But as the days wore on, he found himself in possession of not one, but two.
The first was his unspoken agreement to attempt a coup against the Emperor. Part of that involved feeling out his comrades, an attempt to determine who might be sympathetic to such a cause. Another part was Hyun Jin’s training with axes. He started out with a regular battleaxe, eventually expanding his horizons to the pole axe. Hyun Jin’s sword style had always relied more on speed than brute strength, and while his body had been honed muscle before, the frequent use of heavier weapons made his upper body a bit bulkier in a way he hadn’t thought to expect.
In order to further his training as well as keep himself on track with his new cause, he spent as much extra time as he could reasonably steal with Da’el. He would show up early to training, or linger late after. Occasionally, he would even find excuses to step away and eat with her. He learned more than just weapons skills from her, and from therein came his second secret.
Being one of the Misbegotten was a lonely lot. They had each other, of course, but since they had all been sired to be weapons and nothing more, they were not allowed to have homes or families of their own. Not to mention that, since every Misbegotten had the same father, it was impossible for any of them to form anything more than the bond of comrades who might die the next day.
Simply put, Hyun Jin had never developed feelings for another person like what he’d developed for Da’el. They consumed nearly every waking moment and even some sleeping ones. All this was compounded by the fact that they truly got along, that the more time they spent together the more at ease they were. She spoke freely of things she’d seen and experienced in the heart of the empire, and he answered her with the grueling alternation of training and battle that had been his life up until now.
Up until now. As though there was a neat demarcation to denote the time before Da’el had come into his life and the time after.
It took him a sizeable chunk of time for him to realize that what he felt for her was not just camaraderie or companionship. It took him so long because he didn’t have anything to compare it to. Ever since he’d been taken from his mother and placed into military training as a boy, fighting alongside his half-siblings was all he’d known.
Now here she was, someone who didn’t share his plight, and, much more importantly, didn’t share his blood. No, what he felt for her was beyond simple friendship. It was a stirring in his stomach when he saw her, and a tightening in his chest when he thought of her. It was the way she stuck in his unconscious mind, visiting him in his dreams.
It was the feeling of finally having something to look forward to.
This was so much more than an alliance, a plot, a burgeoning rebellion. This was everything Hyun Jin had never even thought to dream of.
The more time Da’el spent getting to know Hyun Jin, the more he started to seem like two people sharing one skin. Most of the time, he was the soldier she’d met on her first day amongst the Misbegotten, stoic and mostly silent, graceful and terrible to behold in battle. In training, he was a marvel, and in combat, he was a nightmare, especially with his newly acquired heavy weapons skills. She’d once witnessed him take a chimaera’s head off with the creature’s own battleaxe.
But in the times between, when it was just the two of them? In the quiet moments when he lingered after a dismissal, or during the meals they sneaked away to eat together? That Hyun Jin was a completely different person.
That Hyun Jin had eyes wide with wonderment, listening closely when she told him stories about the capital, or of the way she’d risen through ranks in the Dominion. That Hyun Jin bent his head close to hers, and had a bright smile and a warm laugh, and spoke with her like they were old friends. That Hyun Jin had a gentle voice and a gentler spirit, speaking animatedly about the bright spots in his life, his half-siblings in the Misbegotten whom he considered his closest friends and who made his life bearable.
That Hyun Jin, whose eyes would glaze over when he recalled that not all of those half-siblings were still alive.
That Hyun Jin, whom she wanted desperately to reach out and touch but wouldn’t dare to.
Sometimes, when she left her thoughts unguarded, she looked at him and all she felt was pure, unfiltered want. All seraphim were born beautiful, but Hyun Jin was a cut above. Whether he chose to wear his features with warmth or severity, he was breathtaking.
And that was just his face.
Long-limbed and nimble, he was a flawless blending of grace and power that commanded her attention, especially now that he had taken on heavy weapons. His swords had kept him trim, yes, but thanks to the hefty battleaxe and the unwieldy pole axe, his arms, shoulders, and back showed his effort in their new solidity. There was not a feature of his that didn’t stand out, that didn’t feel perfectly tailored to attract her.
She tried to put it out of her mind, and often failed.
So when they found themselves talking long after the sun had fallen, the soft glow of their fiery wings illuminating their faces, their heads bent near so they could keep their voices down, she did her best not to notice the softness in his eyes, the endearment in his smile. If she listened to his tender voice for too long or gazed into his unguarded face too often, she might swear she saw the same ardor in him as lived in her, and that . . . that simply could not be.
At least, it shouldn’t be. Of all the things that could complicate a budding rebellion.
But then, a lull in conversation, and his expression changed, turning serious. She let her eyes wander away from him, paranoid that she might stare at him for too long, or even that she may have already.
When he spoke again, though, her attention snapped back.
“Why do the other Dominion call you ‘the witch’?” he asked, his voice somber but firm, as though the thought of the Dominion insulting her stirred something in him. His expression, the way his gaze seemed to look into her, implied the same.
“It’s the eyes,” she said. He was already looking at her eyes, and his own narrowed a bit, trying to puzzle out the connection. “They look a lot like the eyes of the seraphim who live on the other side of the world. The Stelians. They say that every last one of them is able to do magic, the kind of magic that hasn’t been seen in the Empire for a thousand years.”
“Can you?” he asked. She tossed him a questioning look, and he clarified, “Do magic, I mean.”
This was a crossroads. She’d trusted Hyun Jin enough to recruit him to her cause, but this . . . Her deepest secret? Did she trust him that much?
She wanted to. Oh, she wanted to.
“Not as far as the Dominion know,” she said softly. His eyes widened slightly, immediately taking her meaning.
“Then, you’re Stelian?” he asked next, his voice softer now, which had the side effect of making him lean closer to her. He was too close. He wasn’t close enough.
“Officially? No. But I must have their blood in my ancestry somewhere . . . Though I couldn’t tell you how far back, or how it got there. I don’t really know anything. Only that I am what I am, and what I am is different.”
His eyes flitted away for a moment, his lips briefly pressing together. She paid far too much attention to the motion, and was glad for his averted focus. He looked like he wanted very badly to say something, but was putting much of his self-control into holding it back. She knew the feeling. And she wanted to save him from it.
“Can I burden you with one more secret?” she asked, her voice little more than a breath. In an instant, his eyes were back on hers, letting her take up the whole of his focus, his mental turmoil forgotten. It was that simple. Why did he let it be that simple?
“No,” he answered, his voice as low as hers, a volume that made her cant her head just a little bit closer to his, “but you can gift me with one.”
Hearing him like that, and hovering so close to him that they almost breathed the same air, the secret she meant to tell felt suddenly and utterly unimportant. She discarded it, at the very least to be told another day, and instead closed the space between them, and kissed him.
Whatever thoughts had remained in Hyun Jin’s head fell away when Da’el’s lips touched his. His hands rose of their own accord, wrapping around her upper arms and drawing her closer, needing her to know that this was all right, that he wanted this. He’d wanted it so badly, and felt delirious to get it, as though this were one of his dreams.
She parted her lips just slightly and he mimicked her, letting her mesh their mouths more closely, giving him the slightest taste. He made a soft sound—of want, of gratitude—and her hand alighted against his neck while she tipped her head, claiming him more ardently.
When she pulled away a few moments later, Hyun Jin’s breath was short in a way it shouldn’t have been given the brevity. He panted softly against her lips; her eyes watched him closely. They darted, distracted, when he swallowed, and he felt the beginnings of a flush in his entire body.
“Can I add one more secret to the collection?” he murmured. She nodded. “I’ve never done that before.”
“Did you like it?” she asked, barely a whisper, a question he wouldn’t have heard if he’d been any further away from her.
“Yes,” he answered, perhaps too quickly. She’d hardly completed the question before he’d already answered it. That little smile of hers pulled at her lips, and he couldn’t take it; he put his mouth back on hers, shifting them closer, heat to heat, body to body. She was practically in his lap now, and she did nothing to get away from him. In fact, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, her forearms brushing the upward curve of his wings, and he shivered.
This was all uncharted territory for him. He wasn’t stupid, of course—he knew what it was that amorous adults did when they disappeared together—but he’d never had the opportunity to experience it himself. It wasn’t conscious thought that made him grip her hips and grind her down where he needed her most, but rather instinct, and the resulting shock of sensation made him break their kiss with a moan.
For better or worse, that seemed to jolt Da’el to her senses. In hindsight, it was probably a good thing that one of them still had their wits, and it certainly wasn’t Hyun Jin.
She swallowed hard, and seemed to be putting very much thought and effort into holding herself back from him. He didn’t try to pursue another kiss—he knew then with certainty that he could never bring himself to do something she didn’t want, in any context—and instead simply stared at her. She was so fucking beautiful, and even when she gently removed his hands from her hips, he didn’t feel rejected. Her gaze swept around them, and he gradually became aware again that they were outside, that anyone could happen upon them at any time.
“We’ll figure something out,” she said as she shakily got to her feet, offering her hands to him to help him stand. “But we can’t do it here.”
He nodded, hope blooming in his chest. It wasn’t a rejection. He wasn’t losing her. But it would look horrible should they be caught, and according to the Empire, she was worth a lot more than him. In being so careful, in planning ahead, she was effectively protecting him.
He cast a quick glance around them to make sure the coast was still clear, then leaned in to kiss her one more time. She kissed him back without hesitation, but made sure to break it before they could get carried away again.
“Goodnight, Hyun Jin,” she said softly, and they parted ways.
Over the next few weeks, they were almost found out multiple times, and every single time was Hyun Jin’s fault. Why? Because he couldn’t keep himself from kissing Da’el every time he thought the coast was clear.
Being affectionate with someone was brand new to him, and awakened a host of emotions he’d never been meant to feel. Butterflies of nervous excitement whenever he knew he would see her, shocks of anticipation whenever he leaned in to kiss her, and finally, the warmth and tightening in his body whenever she kissed him back.
She usually kissed him back, and any time she pushed him away, he knew it was for his protection. After all, of the two of them, he was the only one breaking any codes of conduct and therefore would be the only one punished. Whether she returned his kisses or shied away to shield him, the end result was the same: Hyun Jin could feel how deeply she cared for him, and he only wanted to be with her more.
Things got a little easier when they were called into reserve and allowed to go back to the capital. This meant the Misbegotten barracks for Hyun Jin and Dominion officer’s quarters for Da’el. It wasn’t much more private than being in an encampment during active duty, but there were, at the very least, better places to hide.
Tonight, for example, they’d stolen away amongst the racks of weaponry. Few people would be training at the midnight hour, and even fewer would be milling about the armaments. Da’el had glamoured both their sets of wings invisible, ensuring their glowing light wouldn’t give them away. Hyun Jin’s hands were tight on her waist, holding her against his body while his mouth worked with hers, their tongues teasing. Her arms were around his neck, and when he moaned into her mouth, she made a soft sound in return.
His cock strained against his pants like it always seemed to when he was allowed to kiss her for more than a minute straight. She had to be aware of that, but she never seemed to acknowledge it directly.
Until today.
She slipped one of her hands between their bodies, rubbing at the imprint of his cock. He broke the kiss with a long groan, his eyes lidding halfway at the friction. He’d taken care of himself in the past, of course, but those jaunts were few and far between, given the way Misbegotten always bunked in groups. There were some people who were just fine relieving themselves where others could clearly see or hear, but Hyun Jin wasn’t the type.
To put it simply, opportunities for masturbation were few for him, and that was accounting only for his own two hands. He’d never been touched by someone else before, and it was like lightning through his whole body.
Da’el tucked her face into his neck, kissing the sensitive skin while she continued to palm his erection, drawing soft sounds of desperation from him.
“Hyun Jin?” she breathed against his neck.
“Yes?” he scraped out, prepared to do whatever she asked of him.
“Do you want me to take care of this?” she asked, gently squeezing the shape of his cock. He trapped another broken sound behind his teeth.
“Yes,” he said instantly, then thought to add, “please.”
She took his hand then, and they both turned fully invisible. He told himself to remember to ask later how she did it, how her magic worked, but right then, his thoughts were preoccupied.
He followed her to her lodging, unseen. Only once they were safely shut inside her quarters did she drop the glamour completely, their wings visible again, too. As a highly ranked officer, she didn’t have to share living space with others at all times the way Hyun Jin did, unless they were in the middle of a campaign.
She turned to look at him again, her expression gentle and open despite the heat in her gaze. She looked almost as starved as he felt.
“Have you ever been intimate with another person, Hyun Jin?” she asked him.
He shook his head. “I haven’t.”
She smiled then and squeezed his hand, motions meant to put him at ease. He appreciated it, but it wasn’t necessary; he already trusted her implicitly. After all, he’d never felt this way about anyone else; he only wanted her.
“Then, would it be all right with you if we took things a little slowly?” she asked.
“How slowly?” he asked almost suspiciously, and she chuckled. Clearly, his need was apparent.
“Not that slowly,” she assured. Then she opened her mouth and lolled out her tongue. The implication was unmistakable. Hyun Jin’s eyes widened a little, his cock twitching insistently in his pants.
“Yes,” he said. She put her tongue away, grinning now with mirth and mischief.
“In that case, why don’t you take those off and have a seat on the bed?”
He nodded, undoing first his boots, then his pants. She kicked off her boots, too, and let her hair free of its braid, shaking it out. He sat on her bed, as instructed, and she knelt between his thighs.
A needy throb went down the length of his exposed cock, and her eyes watched it with singular attention. Finally, she dragged her gaze up to meet his again.
“You’re sure?” she asked him, and her care struck him in the softest part of his heart. He brushed a stray wisp of hair back from her face and nodded.
“I want it to be with you,” he said, convicted, like he’d laid his beating heart out in front of her. She smiled at him one more time, and he knew his heart could not have found safer hands to hold it.
Then she touched him, and rational thoughts were pushed away to make room for the carnal. She wrapped her thumb and forefinger around the base of his shaft, then put her tongue to his underside. Just the slight motion, warm and damp, was enough to make him tense. She drew her tongue all the way up his shaft, and he shuddered.
“Good?” she asked.
“Good,” he breathed.
She went on licking him, coating him in saliva a little at a time, making him easier to work with. He couldn’t help fidgeting, but he did his best to hold still; he didn’t want her to think he was greedy, even if it was the truth.
But when she took his cockhead into her mouth, he couldn’t help the shuddering groan that escaped him along with a shallow thrust to get more of himself in her mouth. Thanks to her prior work, it was a smooth glide with little resistance. She hummed around him, and the vibration was extra sensation. He made a throaty sound of pure want.
She seemed to understand that, and started bobbing up and down his slick shaft, taking him a little more deeply with each repetition. He pushed her hair back from her face, coiling it in his fist to keep it out of the way. That only seemed to make her motions more rigorous until finally she was taking all of him into her mouth with every stroke, acquainting his tip with the back of her throat.
Along with the glide of her lips and the suction of her mouth, her tongue was hard at work, most times dragging along the underside of his cock with each motion, but occasionally drawing along the sides of his shaft or even stroking over his tip. He did his best to keep his volume down, but it was just so much sensation that he had no prior frame of reference for.
Then, as though that wasn’t enough, she pulled off his cock with a wet pop, seamlessly moving into jerking him off instead while she ducked her head to lick his balls. The bolt of pleasure was immediate, making him drop his head back and moan.
“Still good?” she asked between motions, her voice huskier now, likely thanks to the abuse of her throat.
“Still good,” he groaned, leaning his head to the side instead so he could continue looking at her. He could barely process it all. He realized she’d switched tactics so she could get her breath back, and once she had, she put his cock right back into her mouth, frazzling his brain yet again.
He found himself unable to keep still, the coiling of pleasure so tight in his body that he couldn’t focus on anything besides his cock in her mouth and how badly he wanted to come, to come for her, to show her exactly how incredible she made him feel. He bucked his hips along with the motions of her head, forcing his cock as far into her mouth as it could possibly go. She gagged quietly but didn’t stop moving, her hands tight on his thighs.
“I’m so close,” he whined, and she hummed in answer. One of her hands moved to cup his balls, massaging gently, and he was done for.
With a loud, desperate groan and several shallow bucks of his hips, he came into her mouth. He made himself keep his eyes focused on her, watching her take it, feeling her tongue working along his length to ensure she got every drop out of him. When he’d finally emptied, panting little moans the entire time, she pulled off of him, taking the entirety of his mess with her, and held his eyes while she swallowed it down. Hyun Jin groaned again, letting his head fall back. His cock twitched despite being spent for the time being.
“How do you feel?” she asked, getting up from her knees and joining him on the bed. He looked at her, dazed.
“Like the luckiest man in the world,” he answered, a little bashful in his honesty. She smiled and leaned in to kiss him, and he faintly tasted himself on her mouth.
When she pulled away, he met her eyes again, earnest and determined. “Now it’s your turn,” he said softly. She looked surprised, and Hyun Jin tried not to feel insulted. Did she really think he was so selfish as to leave her unsatisfied?
“You don’t have to,” she said. “I’m happy as long as you’re happy.”
“I’d be happier if you let me do this,” he insisted. “Teach me how you like to be touched.”
He saw on her face then what she must have seen on his a minute ago, which was her brain momentarily refusing to work. She stared at him, then heaved a ragged sigh.
“How am I supposed to say no to that?” she murmured, standing up and slowly stripping her clothes off, letting him get a good look while she did. Not to be outdone, Hyun Jin pulled his shirt off, too, leaving both of them naked.
She climbed back onto the bed with him and reclined against the pillows, spreading herself open for him. Hyun Jin sighed deeply, almost unable to believe she was this wet because of him.
“Give me your hand,” she said, and he obeyed.
If she’d thought Hyun Jin was beautiful while clothed, then he was a vision naked. His dark hair and dark eyes were perfect complements to his golden skin and firelight wings. He was the perfect combination of lean lines and hard-earned muscle, and his cock had almost been too much for her to comfortably fit in her mouth.
Simply put, he was perfect.
He gave her his hand, and she guided him to gently drag his fingers through her wetness, coating his fingers and her heat in the process. He had big, gorgeous hands; she’d imagined his fingers filling her on more than one occasion, and she could hardly believe she would actually get it.
“Start easy on me,” she said softly, and he slipped one finger inside her, making her sigh. She kept her hand loosely on his wrist in case she needed to make adjustments, but so far he was doing fine. There was a difference between being inexperienced and being clueless, and Hyun Jin definitely wasn’t the latter. He pumped his finger in and out of her at a leisurely pace, splitting his attention between her face and her cunt.
“Now curl it forward while you’re nice and deep,” she said, and when he complied, she shivered, an approving moan passing her lips. Of course he’d be able to easily reach her tenderest spot with fingers like his.
He didn’t speed up, but kept targeting that same spot, causing a slow build inside her. Perhaps too slow.
“I need to be fuller,” she said, and with a faint smile on his lips, he added a second finger. She groaned, letting her eyes fall shut for a moment. It was during that moment that she heard him shift, and then his mouth was on her breast. She gasped, eyes springing open to look down at him. His eyes were half shut while he sucked on her, sending bolts of pleasure through her body. All the while, his fingers kept moving, stroking her inner walls and probing that sensitive spot over and over.
Once she was able to move through the haze of pleasure, she realized Hyun Jin was starting to get hard again. She bit her cheek, choosing not to say anything about it right away. No matter how tantalized she was by the prospect of his cock filling her up, she didn’t want to pressure him or ask for too much too soon.
Besides, his fingers and mouth were plenty.
“Hyun Jin,” she gasped, writhing when he moved away from her breast only to take the other in his mouth. “Faster.”
He complied, ramping up the pace gradually until he was fucking her hard with his fingers, hammering that one spot repeatedly while she moaned her pleasure, unable to keep quiet. He refused to pull his mouth away from her breast, his tongue running over her nipple again and again. One of her hands viced tight around the bicep of his working arm, dizzied even by this minor display of his strength, while her other splayed across his broad back between his wings, fighting not to dig her nails into him too hard.
“Don’t stop,” she gasped, the build so intense she could feel her nearing end. It hit her hard, accompanied by a sharp cry and the arching of her body under his, open-mouthed gasps and moans following after. He did exactly as she said and refused to relent in his pace, though he did pull away from her breast just to watch her while she fell apart. Through bleary eyes she watched his face, his expression a perfect cross between blissful eagerness and darkened need. He was proud of what he’d done, but it wasn’t enough.
Thanks to the brutal pace she’d made him set, she came twice in a row on his hand, the second accompanied by an extra gush from her cunt, making a worse mess of both the bed and his hand. He made a sound that was part appreciative hum and part needy moan. Then, despite her lack of command, he removed his fingers from inside her and brought them immediately to his mouth.
She whined while she watched his tongue work, and much like she had, he held her eyes the whole time.
“I hope I tasted that good,” he murmured once his hand was mostly clean. She groaned, closing her eyes and nodding. She was still working on catching her breath when she heard him moving again, felt the bed shift with his weight. Her body jolted violently when she felt the long lap of his tongue up her dripping center.
“Fuck, Hyun Jin,” she hissed, looking down at him to find him already looking up at her. He went right on licking her, his eyes lidding with pleasure.
“It tastes good,” he murmured, as though his actions left any question as to his thoughts on the matter.
“I’m happy you like it,” she said breathlessly.
After a couple of minutes, he pulled away, wiping his mouth and chin on the back of his forearm. She bit her lip as he sat up and she realized he was fully hard again.
“It was my intention to clean you up,” he mused, “but I think I made it worse.”
“I don’t know how to tell you this, but most people are going to stay wet if the man they’re infatuated with insists on putting his tongue to their cunt,” she teased. At least, she meant for it to be teasing, but the effect was wholly lost on him thanks to her word choice.
“I don’t want you infatuated with me,” he said, frowning slightly. “That implies the feelings are going to end.”
His words struck her directly in the heart, and she sat up, rising onto her knees in front of him so she could take his face in her hands. He looked at her pensively, like he feared she might break his heart.
“That was the wrong word to use, you’re right,” she said, feeling it prudent to start there and alleviate the worry she’d caused him as quickly as possible. “I feel much more than infatuation for you. I feel wholly connected to you in a way I’ve not felt with companions in my past. You’re the man I want at my side as we remake the world, the man I want to spend my life with.”
His eyes were widened now, taking her in as though determining whether she could be lying to him.
“I want you with me, Hyun Jin, whether we escort peace into the world or die trying. You make me feel more alive than anything else has in years,” she said, drawing her hands gently down his neck to rest on his sturdy shoulders.
A smile pulled at his lips, and he asked, “More alive than magic makes you feel?”
“I think love is its own kind of magic,” she answered honestly, watching the way his eyes widened again when she used the word love. “I think we are our own kind of magic.”
He wrapped his arms around her middle, pressing close and kissing her, deeply, eagerly, over and over. She kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. She was wholly prepared to lose herself in kissing him, but as he tugged her body close, flush with his, she had to contend with his erection sliding between her thighs, rubbing against her already hypersensitive folds.
She whimpered against his mouth, and something in him snapped.
It was everything he’d ever wanted to hear, every feeling he’d ever wanted reciprocated. To know that he’d finally found his person, that she wanted to be by his side as badly as he wanted to be by hers. He couldn’t help himself after that; overwhelmed with emotion, he’d needed to kiss her again, to attempt to express it to her.
Then she made that sound, and he went half-feral as he remembered what they’d been doing before they’d paused to talk, that his cock was still aching with the need to be inside her. Her mouth had been its own kind of ecstasy, but he needed more.
Swiftly, easily, he pushed her down onto the bed. She didn’t fight him; Hyun Jin knew she could have if she’d wanted to, and the small rational part of his brain still operating understood this as permission. He went down with her, his body stretched over hers, the head of his cock dragging along her lower abdomen, the contact making him hiss.
She stared up at him, chest heaving. His right hand was clamped around her left arm, pinning it down, his left planted in the bed to keep his full weight off her. He lowered himself closer, grinding his cock between her abdomen and his. Moaning desperately, he let go of her arm, dropping his forehead to her shoulder while he rutted against her stomach. The friction felt good, but it wasn’t what he needed.
“Tell me what you want, Hyun Jin,” she said, her voice so soft and close to his ear that he shuddered.
“I want to be inside you,” he groaned.
He expected her to say yes, to give him verbal permission. Instead, she used her impeccable command of her body and knowledge of his to shift under him just enough that when he moved again, it was to enter her.
He made a choked sound, his mind going utterly blank for an instant. She felt so good, hot and snug and so fucking wet. He straightened up, gripping her hips as he desperately thrust in and out of her, watching his cock pounding into her repeatedly. She was making those little sounds again, whimpers and whines, her nails digging into his thighs as though she was afraid of him backing away, of him refusing to fuck her.
He couldn’t fathom the idea of either, not until they were both completely spent.
When he’d gotten his fill of watching himself sink into her, he became possessed by the need to go deeper. He’d seen her fight both in practice and for real, and knew there were few positions her body, strong and flexible, couldn’t withstand. He clamped his hand to her thigh, just under her knee, and pushed her leg back until her knee touched the bed. Then he leaned over her, hips snapping down into her with a nearly primal frenzy, the change in angle giving him exactly what he wanted, letting him embed himself deep inside her, splitting her open with every stroke.
He knew he was doing a good job because her sounds changed, going from soft whimpers to louder whines, breathless in their frequency.
Then she licked his neck, and his whole body seized, throwing off his pace. She gripped the back of his neck, keeping his body down and close to hers while she kissed the column of his throat, then nipped at his tender skin. He shuddered, his body threatening to arch, failing only due to her grip on his neck.
“I can’t focus when you do that,” he whined, his rhythm gone entirely.
“Then let me,” she purred, and he shivered from her voice alone. His cock twitched inside her, and her walls clenched around him in response, making him groan. He nodded, and she let go of his neck, allowing him to straighten up and pull out. Before he could complain about the lost sensation, she put him on his back and, without even using her hands, slipped his cock back inside her. He made a strangled sound as he bottomed out inside her, his eyes rolling back for a moment.
“How the fuck do you do that?” he gasped. She laughed, riding him hard, driving the thoughts out of his head to the point where he barely remembered he’d asked a question, rhetorical or otherwise.
“Fuck, Hyun Jin,” she moaned. “I had no idea you’d fill me so well.”
“Yeah? You like it too much?” he said, goading. He wasn’t going to last long if she kept fucking back on him like that, and he wanted nothing more than her voice talking him through his orgasm.
“I should have guessed when my jaw got sore earlier,” she said, pretending like she was complaining. “You’re lucky it all fits.”
“Not lucky,” he shot back. “I think you were meant to take it.”
She moaned, her face flushed from her efforts. “You’re right,” she whined. “I was meant to take your cock, and take it all.”
“Fuck,” Hyun Jin hissed, gripping her hips hard and bucking up into her. She made a sound that was almost a shriek, her nails digging into his chest. He’d felt her come on his fingers earlier, and he was suddenly desperate to feel it on his cock before he fell apart.
“Please, love,” he moaned, keeping up the brutal pace himself now, “I need to feel it.”
In the end, he didn’t give her a choice. He’d paid astute attention when she’d directed him earlier, and he knew the best angle to get her to come. With a broken cry, she nearly collapsed on top of him, shuddering while her cunt fluttered around his cock. He let up a little then, giving her a chance to ride out her newest high and get her bearings back.
He didn’t want to break her. After all, they weren’t finished yet.
She pushed her hair back out of her face, her bare chest heaving. Hyun Jin swept his gaze over the whole of her, body battered from multiple orgasms, his cock still sunk deep inside her. A pulse went down his length and she shivered, whimpered.
“Think you can take more?” he asked, needing to be sure.
She nodded. “Of course,” she said. “I said I could take all of you. That means your size, your stamina, and your semen.”
He groaned aloud, his cock pulsing again at her vulgar word choice. “How do you want it?” he ground out.
Gingerly, she lifted off him, leaving his cock soaked in her wake. Then she laid down again, her touch ghosting against his hip, coaxing him.
“I want to see you,” she said as he climbed over her again. “I want to be under you, surrounded by you. I want your body, hot and slick, all over mine. One last push, until you finally fill me the way you’re supposed to.”
He moaned, lining himself up and pressing into her slowly this time, watching her squirm as she took every inch.
“Think you can do that for me?” she breathed. He nodded, sweat dripping off his chin and onto her chest. She chuckled. “Off to a good start.”
She smoothed her hands up his back, and it was all the urging he needed to move. He fell into his rhythm quickly, understanding better now the way their bodies fit together. She held her thighs wide open for him, and he leaned over her, chest to chest while he snapped his hips into her, chasing his high. Her moans were right next to his ear, spurring his need. She drew her nails down his back and he moaned, too.
“I need it, Hyun Jin,” she whimpered. “I need you to fill me. I need you to do this for me.”
“I want to,” he whined, every muscle in his body wound tight from his efforts. Her hands ran along his thighs, his sides, his shoulders, and her touch was like fire. Every contact point between their bodies was slick with sweat, and despite how many times she’d already come for him, there was no shortage of slickness between her thighs, still just as aroused now as she had been at the start.
Her mouth was on his neck again, kissing and nipping while he moved. He groaned.
“Mark me,” he said, impulsive with need.
“Someone could see,” she protested, and he shook his head, his damp bangs falling into his eyes.
“I don’t care,” he said. “I need you to mark me, please.”
He didn’t care what excuses he’d have to make up, what he’d have to do to cover it. He needed lingering physical evidence that he was hers, needed something to remind him this hadn’t been a dream. He had no idea when they’d get to do this again, and that scared him most of all.
Her lips closed against his neck, sucking the sensitive skin, making him groan, a shudder going down his spine.
“Oh— Fuck—”
It was as she marked him that he came apart, moaning incessantly, over and over, spurring needy little bucks of his hips before he finally pressed as close as he could and stopped moving, letting each pump of his cum empty itself deep inside her. Despite using her mouth earlier, his orgasm wasn’t any less intense this time; he didn’t come any less hard. Her lips left his neck, tingles still shooting through his body while he panted, his high tapering.
He propped himself onto his elbows just enough so he could see her face, but he refused to remove himself from her, refused to pull out. Her hands rubbed his lower back, apparently in no hurry for him to move, either.
“You’re sure that was your first time?” she teased. He laughed, leaning down to kiss her.
“I’m a quick study when it counts,” he said. But then he sobered a little, watching her face, her eyes, the care and concern in her open face.
“What is it?” she asked softly, brushing his sweaty bangs back from his face.
“This won’t be the only time, will it . . . ?” he asked. They’d gotten lucky this time, that no one had caught them at the practice pitch or in the halls. Hell, they hadn’t exactly been quiet. He was praying at this point that nobody quartered near her knew him well enough to recognize his voice.
“Of course not,” she said immediately. “Even if I have to glamour us both and fly far away from here, we will do this again.” She paused, smiling, and gently touched his neck. “You’re mine now, remember? You’re not getting away that easily.”
His chest tightened at the word mine. Godstars, he’d always wanted to belong. He burrowed close to her, burying his face in her neck.
“I’m yours,” he confirmed, truly content as her arms folded around him. “It’s the only thing I want to be.”
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