“Oh, I forgot,” Caliane murmurs, sitting on her bed by my side. “Did you get your ring back? Sam ate it,” she explains for my benefit.
“Oh no,” I whisper, stroking my daughter’s hair. “Has it come out yet?”
Nisha shakes her head, but she doesn’t seem too distraught. “I can wait. I have a lot of rings. Aunt Tasha helped he sort them, and I picked out three to wear tomorrow.”
“You like jewelry, don’t you?” Caliane says with a smile, then frowns. She hesitates a moment before asking, “Hey Nish, haveyou maybe seen a silver brooch with an orb? No precious stones, just a pretty orb with some engravings. It’s really unique.”
Nisha fidgets a moment, looking at Caliane, then me, and yawns. She blinks a few times, seeming far sleepier now. I shoot my wife a quick look, and she shrugs. “It was worth asking. Are you ready to sleep, honey?”
She nods, and Caliane lies down by her side to scratch her back. I sing her an old lullaby, one my mother used to sing to me when I was little. It doesn’t take her more than a few minutes to fall asleep, and Caliane rolls out of her bed with a yawn.
“Bed for you, love,” I decide, then yawn, too. “Bed for us all.”
The others are already in our chambers. Raduna spits out toothpaste and rinses out his mouth, then leaves to kiss the kids goodnight. Arvi is soaking in the bath, his eyes open but unfocused, and he’s unusually still. Khay braids his hair in front of a mirror. He likes to wear it wavy these days, and sleeping in braids is the easiest way to achieve that.
“Someone please brush my teeth for me,” Caliane whines, leaning on me when we enter the bathroom. “I’m exhausted, and all I did today was sit on a council meeting.”
Khay looks up, and I just catch his grin in the mirror. “Share who rode you so hard, my lady.”
“Gah, don’t sound so smug about sucking my life force out of me.”
Even though I reach for her toothbrush to help her, she snatches it out of my hand and does it herself. I bend my knees, which is easier on my back than bending at the waist, and kiss her temple.
“I could brush your teeth for you, darling. Or any other part of you. I could braid your hair, and not just on your head, you know.”
I give her my best seductive smile, and Caliane bursts into giggles that sound a tad hysterical.
“You’d braid… my nether… hair? Oh Magnar. You come up with the oddest things.”
“Anything to spend more time down there, sweet wife.”
She hits my forearm just under my elbow then washes her face. Arvi gets out of the bath, and I lean over it to wash my armpits. Good enough, since my dick sadly won’t be needed tonight.
When Caliane’s dress drops to the floor, I wait for it, because it always happens. A hush falls over the room, everyone slowing what they’re doing. Arvi stares, a little slack jawed, then presses his thumbs to his forehead in silent prayer. I don’t even know if he’s become sincerely religious or if it’s just a joke that’s run so long, it turned into a kind of truth.
Khay ogles Caliane without shame, and Raduna, who’s come back from the children’s chamber, smiles as he discreetly adjusts his trousers. My wife sighs from exhaustion, oblivious to the effect she has on us, and grabs a nightshirt off the back of a chair. It’s one of the sexy ones, made of cool silk that clings to her curves. I catch Khay’s eye, and he points at himself with a smug expression. So he’s the one who laid it out tonight. I give him a nod of approval.
It should be surprising that seeing Caliane naked for what’s probably the thousandth time makes us so excited, but it’s not. We’re simple men—we see tits, we drool. Even if they are the same pair we’ve seen over and over, sometimes swollen from milk, sometimes suckled by our kids, sometimes tired and droopy.
They arehertits. And that’s enough.
When she climbs in bed, I follow, pressing myself to her back. Khat rushes in to claim her other side, but Raduna stops him with a shake of his head, silently pointing at Arvi. I hum in agreement. Yes, it’s my and Arvi’s turn. Khay clicks his tongue in disappointment, but he lets Arvi take his place in front ofCaliane, then climbs in after him. Raduna blows out the candles and joins us, the mattress dipping by my side.
“Mmm, you’re plotting something again,” Caliane murmurs, wiggling in my arms as she searches for the most comfortable position. “You think people don’t see the way you communicate in that stupid code of looks and grunts, but we do. And one day soon, I’ll find out what it all means.”
She yawns, and I kiss the top of her head. Arvi has his arms around her, and I embrace both her and him, my foot brushing against Raduna’s. We lie in a tangled heap, covered with only a thin blanket. It’s chilly after the rainy day, but we share enough body heat not to need much in terms of bedding.
“Each of us likes to hold you,laruna,” Arvi murmurs, sounding sleepy. “We take turns so you don’t have to agonize over choosing favorites.”
“Turns.” She sighs, reaching back blindly until she finds my ass, which she pats with affection. “I suppose it’s inevitable. Come to think of it, I had Magnar and Raduna by my side last night. Hmm. Magnar twice in a row? I guess he has husband privileges.”
“I have unfucked privileges,” I explain with a quiet laugh. “It was actually Khay and Arvi’s turn, but Khay had you today, so that moved him to the end of the queue. Don’t worry your pretty head about this. We have a whole system worked out for this. Your men know how to share.”
Usually, I mean. Sometimes we forget. Sometimes someone gets jealous or insecure. But Caliane is good at sniffing out those sticky situations and deals with them quickly, giving the needy party the attention and love they need. Or sometimes a lecture. I’ve received two from her so far, and both were quite invigorating for my libido. I can’t help it—haughty, patronizing Caliane makes me hard. Well, all versions of her do.
My cock tries to rise, and I press closer to my wife, breathing in the scent of her hair. I told her the truth: I can wait. After all, I waited a whole ten years for her.
Next morning dawns bright and golden. I hump my wife with my morning wood until I wake up properly, at which point I stop and disentangle myself from various limbs and locks of hair. Khay ended up with his feet on the pillow somehow, and Caliane is curled into a tiny ball, her hands fisted in Arvi’s shirt. Arvi drools, the pillow wet underneath his cheek.
