Void System: Every Heroine Makes Me Stronger

The broker dragged a hand over his mouth. "Because Voss is the registry name. Market side, they use another name for the same man. I never got it."

Severin watched him for another beat.

The man’s shoulders were tight, his fingers still stained with ink, his eyes already looking for the next question before it came. There was fear left in him. Fear could loosen a tongue.

Pushing harder could just as easily buy Severin a name shaped for the room.

"That’s enough."

The broker blinked. "What?"

Severin pushed his chair back and stood.

Nyra rose from his right without asking why. Her smoke-black ears stayed angled toward the broker, but she didn’t settle into the hard concentration Severin had learned to recognize before Deception Trace.

Alicia was already watching the loading-yard door.

The broker wet his lips. "So I’m done?"

"For today."

Relief touched his face and died before it could become comfort.

Severin turned toward the door. "If something you personally handled comes back to you, be ready to answer when I return."

The broker swallowed. "Right."

Nyra gave the man a last flat look and followed. Alicia fell into place behind Severin as they crossed the brokerage and stepped back onto the side street.

The carriage waited where they’d left it.

Once the door shut behind them, the warehouse clatter dulled to a wooden rumble outside. Alicia took the forward bench beside Severin. Nyra sat opposite, her shoulder bag against her hip and her tail curved close along the seat.

The carriage started moving.

Severin turned his right palm upward.

Dense black mist welled between his fingers and covered his hand. A Stellar Gold coin came out with it, yellow-white metal bright against the last black strands as the mist thinned.

Nyra’s eyes dropped to it.

"Your fee."

He held it out.

She looked at his face before taking the coin. "No speech?"

"You finished the work. I pay for finished work."

"Huh. Efficient."

She turned the coin between her fingers, checked the edge, then opened her bag. A plain purse came out into her lap. She dropped the Stellar Gold inside, tied it, and put it away.

Only then did Severin say, "There’s more."

Nyra’s ears twitched. "Of course you do."

"Handlers. Keep following the people behind the market. You choose which sources are worth approaching. I pay for each piece of work before you accept it."

"No advance?"

"No."

"Good."

Alicia glanced across the carriage. "You don’t like advances?"

Nyra rested an elbow against the window frame. "I don’t like money that grows a leash after I spend it."

Alicia’s tail flicked behind her skirt.

Severin said, "Then don’t take one."

Nyra looked back at him.

The carriage rolled over a rough join in the road. Leather creaked beneath them.

She opened her bag again, took out the purse, and weighed it in her left palm. Then she put it away and closed the flap.

"There’s a condition."

"Say it."

"When the handler work is finished, if I decide I’m done, I walk. Alone." Her eyes stayed on his. "You don’t send her after me." A small tilt of her chin indicated Alicia. "You don’t send hired men. You don’t decide I need to be dragged back because the answer annoys you. And you don’t punish me just for leaving."

Alicia’s ears tipped back briefly.

She didn’t interrupt.

Severin considered Nyra instead.

He wanted her useful and close, with the same sharp suspicion that had kept her alive long enough to sit here arguing terms with him.

He could lock the gate and keep her here. Then every answer she gave him afterward would be shaped by the locked gate. He wanted better than that.

"When the handler investigation is finished," he said, "if you choose to leave on your own, I won’t send anyone to bring you back, and I won’t punish you merely for leaving."

Nyra went very still.

Her thumb stopped against the seam of her bag. The focus in her amber-brown eyes hardened in the same way Severin had seen at the gate and in the brokerage.

Wheels rattled beneath them while Nyra held that focus.

Then the tension at the base of her tail eased.

"Nothing deliberate," she said.

"You sound disappointed."

"I sound careful."

"You sound a little disappointed," Alicia said.

Nyra looked at her.

Alicia smiled sweetly.

Nyra’s mouth twitched despite herself. "You get bolder when he’s sitting beside you."

"Master is sitting beside me," Alicia said. Her smile widened.

Severin almost smiled.

Nyra’s gaze caught on his face for a fraction longer than necessary before dropping to the clasp of her bag.

"Fine," she said. "Handlers. Separate jobs. Separate prices. I choose how I reach the sources."

"That’s the work."

"And when it’s finished, the door is still a door."

"It is."

Her ears settled. "Then I’m working."

The west leaf of Greycross manor’s south gate was closed when the carriage arrived.

The driver gave the signal.

A short while later, Marienne appeared on the inside with the matching key. She opened the west leaf wide enough for the carriage and remained inside the wall while it passed.

The moment the wheels crossed the boundary, the Perimeter Ward tugged at the edge of Severin’s awareness.

A familiar pull marked the carriage crossing inward through the south gate. Nothing resisted.

Marienne closed the gate behind them and kept the key.

When Severin stepped down, Alicia followed. Nyra came last with her bag and knife still on her, the new Stellar Gold already mixed with the rest of her own money.

Marienne looked at the 3 of them.

"Did the broker survive accounting?"

"He survived questions," Severin said.

"Less dangerous, then."

Nyra gave her a sideways look. "You say that like you’ve met accountants."

Marienne’s expression barely changed. "I’m one."

Nyra paused.

"Right."

Alicia laughed under her breath.

The carriage moved away toward the manor’s usual yard. The rest of the afternoon went to housework and messages.

By night, the house had quieted.

He crossed the north upper landing with Alicia beside him. The secured records-room door stood closed nearby. Nothing in the corridor had changed since the last time he’d climbed beyond the Material World.

Alicia stopped with him.

Her blue eyes moved over his shirt cuff. She reached up and straightened it with quick fingers.

"There."

"You found a crisis."

"A small one, Master. I handled it."

"Hold the landing. Stay close enough to answer if you’re needed."

Her ears dipped.

"Yes, Master."

She went through the neighboring doorway and lowered herself into the padded chair, keeping both the stair and landing in sight.

Severin crossed the remaining distance alone.

The ascent took him out of Greycross.

The next step landed on warm stone instead of wood. Manor air gave way to something cleaner, carrying the faint scent of flowering branches beyond the walls.

Maerith was in the west reading room.

She stood beside the long table with a book open beneath her hand. Cream-gold silk fell loosely from her shoulders to her ankles, tied at the waist. Her hair was down, she wore no crown, and no angel waited nearby to turn a private room into ceremony.

Her green eyes went to his empty hands.

"No paper tonight."

"A name."

"That sounds worse."

She closed the book.

Severin crossed to her.

Maerith met him halfway.

Her left hand settled on his chest before he could say anything else, and she kissed him.

It wasn’t a greeting she rationed. Her mouth opened under his, familiar and warm, and the hand on his chest slid higher until her fingers touched the side of his neck.

Severin held her waist and kissed her back until the thought of Voss stopped sitting at the front of his mind.

When Maerith drew away, she stayed close enough that her breath touched his mouth.

"Now," she said. "What followed you upstairs?"

"A registry man called Hadrin Voss."

Her eyes sharpened. "Called by whom?"

"The broker carried sealed routing slips to him. At records intake, he knows the man as Voss. The market won’t use that name for him, and the broker never learned the other one."

"What did the broker personally do?"

"Handed the slips to Voss at the registry desk."

"What does that prove?"

"That the handoff happened if his account holds. Not what was in the slips. Not who Voss works for. Not whether Voss is the end of the chain."

Maerith nodded. "Better."

"You expected worse?"

"I expected you to arrive annoyed enough to make the missing name feel guilty for existing."

"It should."

Her mouth curved.

Severin continued, "The registry is something I can check. The other name isn’t, yet."

"Then you already know which fact has a door."

He looked at her.

"That wasn’t an answer for you," Maerith said. "It was an observation."

"Careful. Wisdom is getting defensive."

"Wisdom married you. Precision is self-defense."

He caught her chin and answered with his mouth, cutting off whatever she meant to say next.

Maerith smiled against his mouth when he released her.

"Nyra?" she asked.

"Paid."

"And?"

"Working the handler side. Narrowly. She chooses her sources. Each job gets its own price."

Maerith’s fingers remained against his chest. "Still free to leave?"

"After the handler investigation is finished, if she chooses."

"You agreed to that."

"I did."

A small silence settled between them. Maerith’s fingers stopped moving against his chest.

She closed the last inch between them, cream-gold silk brushing his trousers.

"Do you want her to stay?"

"Yes."

Her gaze held his. "Quick answer."

"I know what I want."

"Apparently."

Severin slid his hand around her waist. "Jealous?"

Maerith’s lips parted, then closed again. For a heartbeat, her expression went carefully still.

Then the restraint eased.

"A little," she said. "Another woman has become important enough to follow you into my room without being here. I reserve the right to dislike that."

"Reserved."

Her eyes narrowed with quiet amusement. "You’re not supposed to sound pleased."

"I like my wife wanting me."

"And the other woman?"

"I want her too."

Maerith’s fingers pressed against his chest.

Severin didn’t soften the answer.

"But I won’t lock a door to make her stay," he said. "If the only answer I can get from Nyra requires taking the choice away, the answer is worthless."

Maerith studied him for a long moment.

Then she exhaled through her nose.

"You’re becoming inconveniently sensible about other women."

"Only where it benefits me."

There was the faintest lift at the corner of her mouth.

"Good. I was worried Wisdom had ruined you."

He pulled her against him.

"Done with Nyra?"

"For tonight."

"Good."

This time, Maerith closed the distance and kissed him.

Severin’s hand slid from her waist to the curve of her ass beneath the silk.

She made a quiet sound into his mouth.

The book stayed closed on the table when they left for the bedroom.

The bedroom door shut behind them.

Maerith turned in his arms before Severin could take another step. Her fingers caught his collar and pulled him down into another kiss.

The kiss had less patience.

His right hand closed around her jaw, then moved behind her neck. His left hand tightened at her waist and pulled the full warmth of her body against him.

"You brought work into my evening," she murmured against his lips.

"And came up alone."

"That improves your position."

"Only improves it?"

Maerith’s answer disappeared when he kissed down the side of her throat.

"Mmh..."

His left hand slid up the front of her nightgown and filled her right breast through the thin silk. Her nipple tightened under his palm.

Maerith’s fingers moved over his chest, opened his collar, then worked lower while his mouth returned to hers.

Severin untied the nightgown.

The silk loosened.

He pushed it from her shoulders. Maerith turned enough to free the fabric from her right arm, and Severin’s hand closed around her bare ass.

He squeezed.

Her breath caught.

SLAP!

His palm struck her right cheek.

Maerith jolted, then pressed back into his hand instead of away.

"Husband."

"Yes?"

Her eyes met his over her shoulder. "Don’t pretend you misunderstood that sound."

"I didn’t."

He squeezed the reddening flesh again before stripping the nightgown down her hips. The thin underlayer followed. He folded both pieces on the west bench.

Severin shrugged out of his coat and shirt, pulled off his boots, then stripped away his trousers and underclothes. His clothes went onto the same bench in a separate stack.

Maerith watched his cock with an expression too intent to belong to the Goddess of Wisdom.

He sat on the bed, then stretched out on his back with his head toward the north headboard.

"Come here."

Maerith climbed onto the mattress.

She moved between his thighs and lowered onto her stomach, full breasts pressing softly into the bed as she settled. Her left palm braced beside his right thigh. Her right hand wrapped around his cock.

Maerith stroked him slowly.

Severin’s abdomen tightened.

Maerith kissed below his navel.

Then lower.

Her lips brushed the inside of his thigh before her tongue touched the underside of his cock.

"You kept me waiting," she said.

"For what?"

She looked up at him.

"This."

Her mouth closed over the head.

Wet heat swallowed him.

Severin’s breath deepened.

Maerith drew back with a soft suck, tongue circling the swollen head before she took him again. Her right hand worked the base in time with her mouth.

Slurp.

Her lips slid lower.

Severin slid his right hand into her hair and gripped her at the nape.

"Deeper."

Maerith opened wider.

He guided her down.

He guided himself beyond her tongue until her throat took the head.

"Mmph..."

Her left hand dug into the mattress. Her throat tightened around him.

Severin held her there for a beat, feeling the reflexive squeeze and the wet drag of her tongue along the underside of his shaft.

Then he pulled her back for air.

Maerith gasped, lips wet, a thread of saliva stretching from her mouth to his cock.

She licked it away.

"Again," she whispered.

He gave it to her.

His hand controlled the descent. Maerith took him until her nose nearly touched his lower abdomen, then swallowed around the pressure.

"Nngh... mmph..."

Pleasure pulled hard through Severin’s hips.

His left hand braced her shoulder and upper back, keeping her stable as his hips began to move. He started with short strokes. Then went deeper.

Maerith followed the rhythm, mouth slick around him, right hand working what he didn’t push into her throat.

Ghk.

She pulled back with a cough, sucked in air, and immediately opened for him again.

Severin’s jaw tightened.

"Good wife."

Her eyes warmed even while they watered.

He pushed deeper.

"Mmph!"

Her throat contracted.

The pressure snapped something tight inside him.

Severin’s thighs hardened around her shoulders.

"Take it."

Maerith stayed down.

He came into her mouth and throat.

His cock pulsed against her tongue. Maerith swallowed through the release, throat working around him while his hand held her steady.

"Nnnh..."

The final pulse weakened.

Severin loosened his grip and drew her back.

Maerith sucked the head clean before letting him slip from her mouth.

Saliva shone on her lips.

She wiped the corner of her mouth with her thumb.

"Satisfied?" she asked, voice rough.

"Not close."

Her smile was immediate.

"Better answer."

She crawled up his body to kiss him.

Severin tasted himself faintly on her tongue and didn’t hesitate. His hand slid along her back, down to her ass, and pulled her closer until her breasts pressed against his chest.

Maerith kissed him harder for it.

He rolled her onto her back.

A folded fresh linen lay at the foot of the bed. Severin caught it with his left hand, spread it across the lower-middle mattress, then shifted Maerith diagonally until her pelvis rested over it. He settled beside her on her left.

His left arm slid under her shoulders. His palm held the right side of her jaw.

"Look at me."

Maerith did.

His right hand moved down her stomach.

She was already wet.

Severin spread her pussy with his fingers and pushed his right index and middle fingers inside.

"Ah..."

Her hips lifted.

His thumb found her clit.

He kissed her while his fingers curled inside her.

Wet sounds gathered beneath his hand.

Maerith’s right hand tightened at his nape. Her left held his arm near the elbow.

"Mmh... deeper."

"Not yet."

He drew his fingers almost out, then pushed them back slowly and curled against the place that made her breath break.

"Ngh... Severin."

He let her head settle back and drew his left arm out from beneath her shoulders. His hand closed over her left breast.

He squeezed the heavy flesh.

Maerith arched into his hand.

SLAP!

His palm struck the breast, open and controlled.

"Ah!"

The flesh bounced under his hand. Her pussy clenched around his fingers.

Severin caught the breast again. His thumb circled the hardened nipple, then his mouth closed over it.

"Hah... yes..."

His fingers kept moving, curling deep before drawing back through the wet heat. Maerith’s hips began following him.

Her right hand left his nape and gripped the sheet near her right hip. Her left hand stayed around his forearm.

"Don’t slow down."

"You haven’t earned faster."

Her eyes flashed.

Then his thumb bore down on her clit.

Maerith’s answer broke into a moan.

"Ahhn... husband..."

A sudden gush spilled over Severin’s hand and struck the linen beneath her.

SPLASH.

Maerith jerked, thighs opening wider.

He didn’t stop.

His fingers worked through the reflex while his mouth stayed on her breast. He changed the angle, pressed deeper, and felt the muscles inside her begin to pulse without fully locking. When her hips started to climb, he lifted his mouth and brought his left forearm across her lower abdomen.

"Severin... wait..."

"No."

Her gaze snapped to his.

He covered her mouth with his before another word came.

His fingers drove into the slick heat again.

Maerith cried into his mouth.

Another gush burst over his wrist.

Her body locked around his hand.

"Ahhh...!"

The next contraction tore the rest of her voice apart. Her thighs shook. Her hips lifted hard enough that Severin pinned her lower abdomen with his left forearm while the fingers of his right hand stayed inside through the contractions.

Her left hand tightened around his forearm while her right stayed twisted in the sheet.

When the strongest pulses finally eased, she lay breathing against his mouth, eyes half-lidded.

"You look pleased with yourself," she whispered.

"I am."

"Of course you are."

"Still married to me."

"Very much so."

He kissed her until the smile left both their mouths.

Then Maerith rolled onto her left side.

Severin moved with her, turning onto his right. They faced each other on the lower-middle mattress, her pelvis still over the wet linen.

Maerith lifted her right leg and hooked it over Severin’s left hip.

His left hand closed around her right hip.

His right arm slid behind her upper back and neck.

She guided him close with her right arm around his left shoulder. Her left forearm rested between their chests, palm against his right shoulder.

Severin positioned his cock at her entrance.

Maerith was swollen, slick, and hot enough that the head slipped in with a controlled push.

"Mmh..."

He entered deeper.

Her mouth opened against his.

"Ah... yes."

Severin pushed until their hips met.

Wet skin struck wet skin.

CLAP.

Maerith’s right leg tightened around him.

He drew halfway out and drove back in.

Her pussy dragged along his shaft, gripping harder on the return.

"Ngh..."

Severin kept her hip anchored in his left hand. He held the strokes short at first, their hips sliding together without breaking the hook of her leg, then drove deeper until the same spot pulled a broken sound from her.

"There," she breathed.

He did it again.

CLAP.

"Ahhn... there."

Her right arm tightened around his shoulder. Her left palm pressed into his right shoulder between their chests.

Severin kissed her between thrusts, sometimes catching only the corner of her mouth when her breath broke too hard.

The bed creaked beneath them.

Wetness spread across his inner thigh and the linen.

Her measured speech kept breaking apart. Her breathing sharpened.

"Harder."

Severin’s grip tightened at her hip.

He changed the angle and drove deeper.

"Ah!"

He drove into her again.

"Severin..."

The next thrust landed at the same angle.

A hot gush broke from her before the rhythm did.

It ran over their joined hips and struck the linen below.

Maerith shuddered hard, but the tension in her body didn’t break.

Severin kept moving.

"Not yet," he said against her mouth.

"I know."

"Do you?"

The nails of her right hand pressed into his upper back.

"Make me regret answering."

He almost laughed.

Then he drove into her hard enough to cut the sound off.

CLAP!

"Ahh!"

The next thrust came slower and deeper. The following drive landed faster.

Severin kept her right hip fixed while Maerith met him with the pressure of her hooked leg and the roll of her pelvis.

Her pussy tightened in scattered pulses around him.

Control pulled taut through Severin’s abdomen, and his rhythm shortened.

Maerith’s eyes opened wider.

"Inside me."

Severin kissed her.

"Come for me."

His left hand pulled her hip into the next thrust.

Maerith broke.

"Severin!"

Her body clamped around his cock.

Another gush spilled hot between them as her orgasm hit, soaking the linen and their thighs. Her right leg locked around his hip. Her voice cracked into breathless sounds against his mouth.

"Ah... ahhn... husband..."

The contractions dragged Severin over the edge.

He drove fully in and came there, deep inside her.

His abdomen locked. His cock jerked against the tight contractions of her pussy while she kept clenching around him.

Maerith kissed him through it, messy and breathless.

Neither of them moved apart when the strongest release passed.

Severin stayed buried inside her.

Her leg remained around his hip. His right arm held her upper back while the contractions softened from hard pulls to smaller tremors.

Maerith’s forehead touched his.

"You’re still thinking," she whispered.

"About you."

"Acceptable."

He kissed her slowly.

Only when the sensitivity changed from sharp pleasure to a warning edge did Maerith lower her right leg.

Severin kept his left hand on her right hip and his right arm behind her upper back as he withdrew carefully.

A warm line of semen and her wetness slipped onto the linen beneath her.

Maerith exhaled and closed her eyes for a moment.

Severin reached for the water on the east table, drank, then held the cup to her.

She took several swallows before giving it back.

"Done?" she asked.

Severin set the cup down.

"No."

Her eyes opened.

A tired smile appeared.

"Good."

He moved her onto her back again, lower on the bed. Her legs opened without being told this time, but Severin caught each inner thigh and set them where he wanted them.

Then he lowered himself between them.

Maerith’s breath caught when his mouth touched her pussy.

"Mmh..."

Severin started by licking slowly through the swollen slit, tasting the mix of her release and his cum. His tongue flattened over her clit.

Maerith’s hips jumped.

"Hah..."

He held her left thigh open and sucked her clit into his mouth.

"Nnnh!"

Her right hand buried in his hair.

Severin’s tongue worked in short strokes, then circled. He let the rhythm settle before sliding his right index and middle fingers back inside her.

Maerith’s left hand seized the sheet beside her hip.

"Severin..."

His fingers curled.

Her back arched.

He sucked harder.

"Ah... ahhn...!"

Her voice broke faster now. Her thighs trembled against his shoulders.

Severin kept the pressure steady instead of chasing every movement.

His left hand left her thigh and settled over her lower abdomen. His tongue kept working while his right fingers curled deep in her.

Maerith pulled at his hair.

"Husband... please..."

He didn’t stop.

Her pussy tightened around his fingers.

A sharp contraction hit. The next held.

Maerith cried out and came again.

"Severin!"

Her hips lifted, but his left hand held her pelvis down while his mouth stayed on her clit through the strongest wave. Her body shook beneath him. Hard contractions clenched around his fingers while her thighs trembled against his shoulders.

Severin eased off when her grip in his hair turned weak.

He kissed the inside of her thigh, then climbed back up her body.

Maerith caught his face in both hands and kissed him before he could say anything. She tasted herself on his mouth, tongue moving slowly against his.

"My husband," she murmured when they separated, "has become very thorough."

"You object?"

"Ask me again when I can think properly."

Severin laughed softly and kept her against him until the trembling in her thighs eased. Her breathing slowed against his neck.

Only then did he lie back against the pillows.

Maerith pushed herself up and moved between his thighs on her knees.

His cock was hard again.

Her gaze dropped.

"That’s almost rude."

"You said you weren’t done."

"I said good."

"Same answer."

"Not remotely."

She bent over him anyway.

Maerith cupped both breasts and pressed them around his shaft.

Soft flesh closed around him.

She drew her chest upward.

Severin’s breath roughened.

Maerith repeated the stroke.

The slick head appeared between her breasts, then disappeared as she pressed them together and slid back down.

"Fuck."

Maerith looked up, pleased.

"There. That’s a better sound."

"Keep going."

"Yes, husband."

Her breasts moved around his cock in short, wet strokes. Severin’s right hand slid into her hair and held the back of her neck. His left squeezed her right breast, thumb pressing into the nipple.

Maerith leaned lower.

She released her right breast and wrapped that hand around the base of his cock while her left kept the other breast pressed close.

Her tongue flicked over the head.

"Ngh."

She licked the slit, then took the upper shaft into her mouth with a slow suck.

Slurp.

Severin’s hand tightened in her hair.

Maerith drew back and returned both hands to her breasts, pressing them around him again.

She worked her breasts up his shaft and back down, the heavy flesh sliding around him while her nipples dragged against his skin.

Severin’s thighs tensed.

Her gaze flicked to his tightening thighs.

She leaned in for another wet suck, right hand stroking the base.

"Close?"

"Keep your mouth there."

She obeyed.

Her lips sealed around the head. Her tongue moved beneath it while her hand worked the shaft.

Severin’s left hand filled her right breast.

He pulled it tighter against his cock as she sucked.

"Mmh..."

The vibration went through him.

Pressure climbed fast.

Maerith’s green eyes stayed on his.

Severin pushed shallowly into her mouth, keeping her on the head and upper shaft.

Then he came.

A pulse filled her mouth.

Maerith swallowed.

The next spilled across her lower lip and the upper curve of her breasts when she drew back just enough to breathe.

Another streak followed over the soft skin between them.

"Nngh..."

Severin’s abdomen tightened through the last pulse.

Maerith caught the head between her lips again and sucked gently until his cock stopped throbbing.

She swallowed what she’d taken.

Then she looked down at the semen across her breasts.

"You made a mess."

"You volunteered the surface."

Maerith looked back up.

"That’s not a defense."

"It wasn’t a defense."

Her laugh came out breathless.

Severin drew her upright against him and met her mouth.

The kiss slowed as her body settled against his, her palm resting on the side of his neck.

They stayed quiet together for a while.

Then Severin reached for a clean cloth.

He wiped the semen from Maerith’s chin and breasts, using a fresh fold when the cloth became slick. He cleaned her thighs and pussy more carefully, avoiding the swollen clit when she flinched.

"Sensitive?"

"Extremely."

"Good."

"You’re enjoying this too much."

"You married me knowing that."

"I did."

Maerith laughed again and took the other clean cloth.

She cleaned his cock, thighs, and lower abdomen with slower strokes. When she finished, she tucked her damp cloth against Severin’s and the soaked linen.

Severin drank from the cup and handed it to her.

Maerith finished what remained.

They dressed without hurry.

Severin pulled on his underclothes, trousers, and shirt. Maerith tied the cream-gold nightgown around her waist and left the thin underlayer folded on the bench.

They returned to the west reading room.

Severin took the left side of the low couch against the west wall. Maerith settled close on his right and folded both legs along the cushion. Her left hip touched his right thigh. Her shoulder tucked under his right arm.

His left hand rested on her knee over the silk.

Maerith’s left palm settled against his chest. Her right hand rested loose in her lap.

She tilted her face up.

Severin kissed her again.

Slow this time.

When the kiss ended, she stayed against him.

"The registry name," she said. "And the market name you don’t have. Which do you check before the other?"

Severin’s thumb stroked her knee.

"The public registry," he said. "Voss has a desk. I can check a desk."

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