Afterstory: The Warmest Winter in the World (9)

Cold sweat gathered on Theorad's forehead.

If someone asked whether he wanted to make love to his wives, of course he did. His work had kept him away from them lately, and he missed their closeness as much as they missed his.

But what he longed for was simple. He liked to talk with one of them, exchange a kiss, and let their affection grow naturally from there. It was the sort of quiet intimacy he considered fitting for a husband.

He had spent his life trying to live with restraint and dignity. To surrender thoughtlessly to desire seemed to betray those principles, and he was afraid he might later resent Ashley and Linea for something he himself had done.

“…If you don't answer, may I take that as a yes?” Ashley asked.

The trouble was that the choice before him had very little in common with the quiet evening he imagined.

As she leaned closer, he backed away a step. Looking at her flushed face and the revealing neckline of her nightdress, Theorad struggled to gather his words.

“Ashley. This doesn't seem right.”

“Who gets to decide what's right?”

“That…”

“Theorad, Linea and I both want this. It took us courage to ask. Do you have any idea how embarrassed I am right now?”

Ashley had grown up as the youngest daughter of one of the empire's foremost noble families. Since childhood, tutors had instructed her in manners, scholarship and propriety. Proposing something she had always considered indecorous was hardly easy.

She was trying to appear confident, but her thoughts were in turmoil.

Part of the decision had come from desire, and she knew it. Yet she had also persuaded herself that her husband might welcome a chance to be with both women he loved.

“Still…” She drew back her hand and stepped away, disappointment plain in her face. “If you truly don't want this, I won't make you.”

It sounded like an offer to let him refuse. Yet the burden of declaring that he disliked something his two wives had brought him with such hopeful faces weighed heavily on him.

Linea was watching as well, expectation shining in her red eyes.

There seemed no easy way to refuse.

Theorad found himself thinking that this was partly his own doing. If he had found more time for their marriages, perhaps they would not have reached this point.

And, beneath his embarrassment, he couldn't pretend the idea itself repelled him.

He sighed, trying to reconcile his conscience with the wishes they had voiced.

“I never said I disliked it. I'll go wash first. Could you both wait for a little while?”

The words were finally spoken.

Ashley and Linea had hoped he would agree, yet hearing him say so made them both suddenly nervous.

“Y-yes,” Ashley answered.

“Of course. We'll wait,” Linea added.

Theorad excused himself and left to bathe.

Silence settled over the room. The women had won his agreement, but none of the three had ever shared an evening like this. Now that the prospect was real, neither seemed quite certain how to proceed.

Linea's cheeks were hot. After looking down for a while, she turned toward Ashley with a new concern.

“But… shouldn't we decide who goes first?”

Even in this unusual arrangement, the order suddenly seemed terribly important.

---

When Theorad returned from his bath, he wore only a loose robe. He sat on the edge of the bed, while Ashley and Linea came to kneel before him, as though they had agreed on what to do in his absence.

“Well, then…” Ashley glanced at Linea. “May I go first?”

Linea nodded, though she was far from pleased.

While Theorad had been bathing, they had settled the question with a simple game. Linea had chosen the game herself—and lost. She had no grounds to complain about the result.

Ashley gave her a small, triumphant smile and reached for the ties of Theorad's robe.

Her hands loosened the fabric, exposing his body. Theorad still felt awkward about the three of them being together like this, but he had agreed to stay, and he did not pull away from her touch.

Both women watched him with nervous anticipation.

He was not yet physically aroused. Ashley breathed out slowly and slipped the straps of her silk nightdress from her shoulders. The fabric slid down, revealing her chest.

She cupped her breasts and looked up at him shyly.

“Would it be… more pleasing to look at me like this?”

Theorad couldn't help noticing how her body had changed since giving birth. Her breasts seemed a little fuller, their color deeper than when they had first married. Nothing of it had been so apparent beneath her dress.

He cleared his throat and nodded.

“You really have become rather shameless.”

His teasing words delighted her. From another man's mouth, such a remark would have humiliated her. Spoken by the husband she loved, it felt almost like praise.

“I'm happy you think so, Theorad…”

Ashley lowered her head with a bashful smile and began to caress him with her mouth.

Theorad's body responded gradually. Ashley glanced up at him from time to time, her face flushed, as if checking how he felt.

Linea watched with mounting irritation.

That's unfair…

She had conceded the first turn. She had not meant to concede every kind of intimacy to Ashley.

Ashley, however, was absorbed in Theorad. She brushed her lips against him, then took him more deeply into her mouth, adjusting her hand and tucking stray hair behind her ear.

It took effort, but she did not withdraw. Her movements became steadier as she found a rhythm.

“Theorad… Is it…?”

He gave a low, involuntary sound, then managed an answer.

“…Yes. Very much.”

Encouraged, Ashley continued.

Even now, with her hair coming loose and her composure forgotten, Theorad found her dear rather than vulgar.

Linea could bear being overlooked no longer.

She tugged at Theorad's right hand with a small, resentful sound.

“I can do that too…”

“I know. You don't have to prove—ah!”

He flinched when Ashley's teeth accidentally grazed him.

Looking down, he found her staring up with wet, reproachful eyes. She seemed to be asking why his attention had wandered. He gave a small nod to reassure her, and she resumed.

Theorad's breathing grew uneven. He was fast approaching the point where he could no longer keep his composure.

Linea rose from her knees. If Ashley would claim his attention below, then she would find another way to be near him.

She slipped an arm around his neck and drew him into a kiss.

“Mm… I want to…”

Theorad opened his mouth to hers. Their kiss deepened, the sudden closeness making it harder for him to think.

Ashley continued her attentions while Linea held his face between her hands. Caught between them, Theorad felt the restraint he had clung to slipping.

Almost without thought, he reached up and cupped Linea's breast, stroking her.

“Ah…!”

Linea startled at the unexpected touch but did not draw away. She caught her breath and let him continue, remaining close enough that their lips met again.

Theorad could no longer hold back. He reached his climax while Ashley was still attending to him with her mouth.

She flinched in surprise, then shut her eyes and swallowed. When she finally drew back, she took a moment to catch her breath and wipe her lips.

Ashley looked up at him, flushed with a shy sense of accomplishment. She had expected some word of praise, even a simple acknowledgment that she had pleased him.

None came.

Linea was still holding Theorad's face and kissing him, leaving him no chance to look down.

Sister…

Ashley narrowed her blue eyes.

Linea must have known how close Theorad had been to finishing. Had she deliberately kept him occupied to prevent Ashley from receiving his attention?

I see how it is…

Ashley hadn't intended to turn this evening into a competition.

But if Linea was going to behave that way, she couldn't simply stand by.