It was a good evening throughout. They ate downstairs, which meant there were certain things they couldn't talk about, and that ended up keeping most of the talk cheerful. Though they did end up talking about the trials of the Wyrmway, if not about what had happened after them.
Karlach, as Wyll had kind of expected, did say of the Chamber of Insight, "Of course you struck down Suelto. Her view was the worst of the three; I'm not going to argue with that. But I didn't exactly like what Stedd was saying, either. Seriously, that trial just expected you to shrug off the possibility of the people suffering, because you let a bigger country take yours over?"
"It is something a lot of leaders overlook," Wyll conceded; that had bothered him, too, even there. "And you're right that that's wrong of them, and it was wrong of the one who set the trial up. Though honestly, I don't think I'd ever want to agree completely with someone who tested me for good leadership, anyway. I'd worry they'd just be saying what I want to hear. Only mostly agreeing with them is more to be trusted."
"You would have made a good leader," said Jaheira, "and a good Duke. But you are certain of your decision."
"I am," said Wyll. "Please believe me when I say I didn't make it lightly." He'd been constantly thinking about it since his father's death, about the responsibilities he now had, and how best to carry them out. He did intend to have a long conversation with Counselor Florrick when he next had the chance. He might have to spend enough time in the city to throw his weight behind her, even. But his lessons on how to actually run a city had stopped when he was seventeen, and she had a lifetime of experience with it. It was better to speak words to those in charge he knew would hear them, than to try to do things himself.
For the first time in a while, in fact, Wyll felt completely settled and committed to himself. It was a good feeling, and what he'd needed after recent days. And when he looked at Karlach throughout that dinner, he knew that he had, at last, come to the right moment to take the one he loved to bed.
So towards the end of the meal, he said, and he managed it with only a little blushing, "There's one more thing I'd like to ask for tonight. If Karlach and I could have Duke Stelmane's room?"
"Ah, finally!" Karlach exclaimed, delighted. A couple of people echoed her, which Wyll thought was a little less called for.
Sara just grinned, and said, "Absolutely. Though both of you make sure you get enough sleep. You know already what happens tomorrow." That was, of course, as much as she could say downstairs, but it was still pretty much confirmation of what they had, indeed, already realized.
And then Halsin said, "If you're not going up there right this minute, would either of you object if I made the place look a little nicer, first?"
Wyll had to seriously consider that one. "Just leave the bedclothes themselves untouched?" he finally asked, exchanging a look with Karlach, who nodded.
They stayed there about fifteen more minutes. A couple more people left them, giving the ruder kind of encouraging words on their way out. Jaheira, whom they were pretty sure would be accompanying them back into Wyrm's Rock Fortress the next day, repeated Sara's words about them getting sleep. Those who were left gave them a final "Huzzah!" when they finally exchanged another look, then rose together.
And then it was just the two of them, walking up the stairs, headed for a moment Wyll had visualized in his head countless times, all the more, probably, because he'd waited so long for the time to be right for it.
For most of his teens, when he'd thought about it a lot, there'd been an number of assumptions attached to how it would go. He'd always wanted it, of course, to be his wedding night. Until he'd been disowned, that would have meant a fancy feast and a fancier boudoir, all of it so inevitable he'd never even given much thought to whether he wanted that or not. Wyll did think, now, that he liked the current setup better.
It had also seemed unlikely, back then, that his partner in this would be someone like Karlach. It would be expected they would be high-born, very possibly sheltered, though hopefully well-educated, with a very real chance of being as virginal as he. He could've gotten away with defying those expectations, maybe, but if nothing else, life would've been difficult for his spouse then. He'd also been aware they might not even be someone he'd chosen himself. He'd dreamed of marrying for love, of course, but he'd been prepared to be open to his father's recommendation, or accept it if circumstances ended up dictating his marriage even outside of that.
It was partly because of all of that that he'd made a private pledge, one that had remained in place, maybe especially so after he'd gone from being the Duke's son to the Blade of Frontiers, and all his thoughts of these matters had just turned more romantic. He'd sworn to himself that regardless of how this happened, or who it happened with, their background, their education, their level of experience, or even whether they'd been his own choice, he'd be kind, he'd be respectful, he'd be communicative and keep an open mind, he'd give as much affection to them as he could find within himself, and he would do everything he could to make that night, and every night they shared after, as good a one for both of them as possible.
That he might take a lover who was likely to be dead within days was not a situation he had anticipated. But, he told himself, it changed nothing. If anything, it just meant he should try to be even better to her.
Another thing he hadn't anticipated, maybe, was this all taking place in a newly formed flowerbed.
Halsin had complied with their request to leave the bedclothes alone. They were all perfectly in place on the elegantly made bed, and they looked pretty fresh. The rest of the bed was covered in flowers. No roses, which Wyll felt oddly relieved over. A number of lilies, though, mostly hanging over the bedposts. Clumps of wildflowers Wyll didn't know the names for hung over the front board. The backboard had a criss-crossing pattern of flowering vines.
There was a collection of new plant life on the floor as well. Though he had at least thought to leave them a path to the bed, one with little pink blossoms on either side.
Wyll could work with that. Stepping down the path, he turned and offered his hand to Karlach with a, "Come, my lady."
For a moment, Karlach looked like she wanted to laugh, but she just smiled. She took his hand, and let him lead her to the bed, then stood there with him as he tenderly kissed her. The kisses remained light and sweet for maybe half a minute, before she pressed in harder, and Wyll himself kissed harder, deeper, feeling the anticipation build with every passing moment, the sound of his heart hammering and their mouths against each other seeming to say, This is it, this is it.
It wasn't the first time they'd gotten hot and heavy like this, so he had a little knowledge of what to do next. Karlach liked it when he kissed underneath her ear, when he scratched lightly at the bottom of her scalp. She moved to kiss the spot on his neck he hadn't even known was sensitive before her. They both knew not to touch the other's horns; hers were apparently a little too sensitive for this.
Also the big fear of his young years, that he wouldn't know how to get his bride, or possibly even his groom, unlaced, wasn't there. He tried to be seductive, though, as he slid the sides of her vest down her arms.
She moved her arms to help him do it. But as he did, she asked, "How much do you know about this?"
"I've read plenty about it," he replied. "And I might have asked some of our friends for advice in recent days." Here he blushed hard, but continued on, "I know the basics. I also know women vary in exactly what they enjoy, so feel free to tell me what you want."
"We might have a bit of a problem there," she sighed. "I'm not a virgin, but I haven't done this all that much, either. And those times I have, well, it was nothing special, or anything that led to me finding out about anything I liked in particular."
"I'm sorry to hear that," said Wyll. Remembering a suggestion from Lae'zel, who, surprisingly, might have had the most advice when it came to sex, he asked, "What about things you might like to try instead? Maybe thought about a lot?"
"Go down on me, maybe? Noone's ever done that."
"Wow, really?" Wyll knew enough to be very dismayed. "Absolutely, I'll do that."
It was the perfect addition to what he had already imagined doing at this moment. With Karlach's upper half now bare, he started with kisses to her shoulder blades, before slowly moving around to her front. The heat coming off her chest was a lot; indeed, it made him grateful when she reached down to pull at his shirt, though he was sorry he had to take his hands off her long enough to get it off. He may have now touched her breasts more than once, but with his head in front of them, he looked up, and she took his head in her hands and guided him to them. The feel of them in his mouth, and her moans as he sucked, lit his spine up and fueled his desire, as did her hands clutching at his bared back.
He kissed her stomach, too, and moved all around her hips as he drew her pants down, and got to his knees before her. "Tell me what does and doesn't feel good," he whispered up to her as he nudged her thighs apart, his breath catching as he beheld the most intimate parts of another person from up close of the first time, and ones that were hers.
She liked his tongue lapping at her clit, though they quickly discovered he should keep that light. She liked it when his fingers stroked her, up and down, before he put them inside. She was even hotter there, of course. For a moment Wyll worried about burns. It might be just as well, he thought, that he probably wasn't going to last long once he got inside her. He wasn't even sure he could bear to get in her at all, but he wanted to try at least that much.
Karlach's moans turned to whimpers as her thighs pressed hard against his head, and he worked his fingers faster. "Oh, fuck yes, oh please, please, fuck, yes..."
This was another often-thought about moment, when he would make someone else come for the first time. But no imaginings could have prepared him for how it would feel to have Karlach crying out her ecstasy as she clenched around his fingers and his head. He couldn't hold back a moan of his own, just from what that did to him.
"Oh, gods, that was incredible." Karlach summed up his own thoughts, before panting out, "Stand up, Wyll. I want to look at you after that."
Wyll obeyed, taking her in at the same time. Here was a magnificent sight, with all her muscles bared and just about glowing, even when covered with sweat. There was a lewd grin on her face as she took her time gazing at his chest, then down to the bulge in his pants where he was achingly hard.
"C'mere," she said, and pulled him to her. Now it was her turn to touch, to kiss, to rake her teeth lightly down his chest, and Wyll was happy to let her. He let out gasps as she found spots with which he thought she might drive him crazy, and when she put her tongue on one of them his knees very nearly gave way.
He wasn't sure when his belt got undone, or when they started grinding against each other. It was some time before they fell back onto the bed together, which was when he started doing it harder. She moved with him, letting him press against her groin as if he was trying to fuck her right through the cloth still covering him. Maybe he was. He could go as long as he wanted to this way.
Or at least as long as he could last. Alas, it wasn't too long at all before Wyll felt his balls start to tighten up, and reluctantly pulled back. At her dismayed noise, he panted out. "Too close, I'm not sure I can..."
To which she grinned again, and asked, "Think you can get it up again? Maybe then fuck me at your leisure?"
Gods, he wanted to so badly, especially when he saw the fire for it in her eyes. But he had to be honest about this. "I think I probably could get it back up," he said, because he actually did. "But I don't know how long I can be in you. I'm afraid you might be hotter than I could do without it getting painful, or worse, if I was for too long."
That did indeed hurt; she didn't quite hide that from him. But she put a determined face on, and a moment later she had flipped him over. "I want you to come on my hand," she said. "We'll figure it out from there."
And so Wyll found himself naked underneath her, and she wasn't done exploring him yet. Karlach took the time to kiss and bite at his thighs, to tease his cock with her fingers and then with her tongue. Wyll started to think he actually might starting begging her, until, at long last, she reached down and wrapped one overwhelmingly hot hand around him.
Wyll moaned for her. He writhed for her. He rode the bliss of that hand stroking and squeezing him for as long as he could. "Gods, Wyll, you look gorgeous like this," he heard her say, and she was still hungrily looking into his face when he came for her.
But the bliss faded fast when, barely after he had come down, Karlach started sobbing.
"Karlach?" Wyll moved to hold her, and she let him, at least. "I'm so sorry," he said. "I'm so sorry."
"It's not you who should be," she said through her tears. "I don't even want you to suffer terrible pain or burn your dick off just to have it in me. But I hate that I can't even have that. It's so little to even ask for, when this night might be the only time I ever even get to truly make love to someone, but even here I can't escape this...this..." The noise that came out of her then, of grief and frustration, was nearly a scream.
"I don't even have hope anymore," she added, after a few more moments of just crying. "I suppose the rest of you still might, but I can feel my time ending. It's too late to find a miracle now. I'm going to die, just when I want to live more than I ever have, I already didn't want to die so badly..."
This might not have been the timing either preferred for it, but Wyll was still a little relieved. Karlach had held this in for far too long. And at least now he could continue to hold her, murmur tender nothings to her, stroke her face and hair, give her love in every way he could.
He was briefly tempted to tell her, then, the true reason he had chosen to become the Blade of Avernus. Oh, everything he'd told Sara and the others had been true enough. Fighting devils and demons was certainly a worthy thing to do with his life; he would never had committed to doing so otherwise. And he did very much hope that Mizora would be among those who fell by his hand. He would be glad if he was the last, or at least among the last, youth ever to fall into her clutches, and especially if his father was the last loved one to be killed because one of her servants had defied her.
But more than that, he hoped Karlach would be willing to return to Avernus after all, if he went with her. That he could convince her that the two of them, together, were now strong enough to fight back against Zariel, possible to even take her down as well. He and she had long been willing to die for each other, but now, Wyll wanted for them to both be willing and able to live for each other instead.
But he was afraid of what would happen if he said that to her at the wrong time. If she might react badly enough that she would refuse to listen to him ever afterwards. He didn't dare take that risk when she was this level of upset.
He had to hope the right moment to ask her would occur before she died. That, he supposed, was the new right moment he was waiting for now.
Though this moment didn't have to end here, he also told himself. He'd let Karlach have her cry, and maybe they'd sleep a little, but if they woke up with time enough for it, they could still go for a second round. He could use his fingers in place of his cock, work them both up, and maybe still try to get in her right before the end.
This would all have to be enough, he supposed. Even though he feared that none of it could possibly be.