I beamed at him, and for a moment we were just staring at one another. Then Khell blinked and took in the room around us, lips parting. He twisted, forcing his shoulders through the narrow opening of the stairs, and then stepped the rest of the way up, turning in place. He hadn't dressed at all, and he looked huge and wild against the dark backdrop of my newly painted walls—one of my illustrated beasts come to life in front of me.

"Your imagination is even more impressive than I realized," Khell purred. He stopped and moved forward, hunching to study a canvas.

"It's not just kinky fantasies up here," I said, tapping my head with the end of my brush.

Khell was busy examining my art. It was the piece with the golden monster reaching out from the blinding light. He took a quicker look at a few nearby canvases before straightening and studying the room again.

"Girls and beasts in the woods," he said.

"I don't know if it's a metaphor, or a product of reading too many old fairy tales growing up, or—"

Khell's arm reached back, hand open, and I grabbed on, allowing him to draw me to his side. "It's you, petal. Your wonder and your hunger. I like them very much."

I pressed my face into his side to hide my blush. I'd tried to keep my illustrations sweet and pretty, welcoming, and left my darker work for my own personal enjoyment. Fusing the two was a relief. Another part of myself integrated fully. And as much as it wouldn't have changed my mind, it was a warm relief for Khell to like them.

Khell's arm tightened around me, his hand rubbing the threadbare cotton of my robe against my back. "Do you have more work you want to do?"

I shook my head, stroking my cheek against that velvety texture of his skin, my eyes falling shut and my lungs filling up with the rich, earthy scent of my orc.

"Are you hungry, little mate?"

"Not yet," I said. I wrapped my arms around his waist and pressed my hips into his thigh, tipping my head back until I found the sharp light of his eyes glowing above me. "I couldn't decide whether I wanted to stay in bed this morning or come up here. Somehow, being able to walk away made this feel…more real. Less like another…"

"Appointment," Khell said, nodding and looking around the room, his lips curving up.

Khell's easy smile certainly was new and delightful. It was no less precious now for being granted frequently.

"Does it not feel real now?" he asked me, gaze glittering.

"Mostly real," I said. A little too good to be true, I added privately.

Khell twisted, pressing his half-hard cock against me, his hands circling my neck gently to hold my head. "What about now?"