Madeleine nodded again and grabbed the front of Hæra’s shirt. Familiar shivers ran through her body. She’d trembled for Hæra ever since she’d lain half drowned on the beach, and she’d wanted it then too.

“You…” Hæra bent her head. “Need me.”

“Ye—” Madeleine began, and then gave the word’s last letter to the kiss.

This hadn’t changed either. When Hæra plundered her mouth, looking for treasure, she found it. Madeleine’s soft lips opened for her, and she pressed closer, begging for more without words. Her hips already moved restlessly against Hæra’s own.

Hæra grabbed her arse. It fit perfectly into her hands. So did all of Madeleine. Judging by how she groaned, Madeleine agreed.

Where to? The bedroom, of course, where they’d lay claim to each other again. Hæra gasped, “Let’s go.”

“Just a second.” Madeleine whimpered the words against Hæra’s mouth. “Oh please, I just need a second. Give me—give me your—” She grabbed the side of Hæra’s thigh. “This. Like before, when we were—outside, do you remember, like then⁠—”

She meant the alley, when Hæra had nearly had her beneath a window before someone had interfered. Hæra had been ready to murder whoever had pulled Madeleine from her arms.

Nobody was here to stop them now. She snarled, “I remember.”

Madeleine spread her jean-clad legs, and as she’d done on that night, Hæra wedged her thigh between them. Madeleine went up on her toes and rubbed her hips back and forth, making tiny noises in the back of her throat.

“Just for a second?” Hæra whispered. “You just need this for a little while?”

“Please—” Madeleine moved faster. She pressed down harder. Hæra met her by pushing her leg forward, and Madeleine groaned. “Just some pressure, just a little bit, please…and then…”

Hæra seized Madeleine’s hair, tilted her head back, and hissed in her ear, “And then you’ll be ready for my fuck?”

Madeleine grabbed Hæra’s shoulders. “Oh!”

“You’ll be ready for me”—Hæra grabbed Madeleine’s arse again with her free hand and pushed Madeleine forward—“to give it to you hard?”

“Ah!” Madeleine pressed her face against the side of Hæra’s throat and clutched her harder. “S-so crude⁠—!”

“Ready for me to hold you down on our bed.” Hæra was getting tunnel vision. Soon, Madeleine would be the only thing she could see. Thank the Great Mare, some things never changed—she could love, but she could hunger too. “To take you there, fill you up?”

She could see it now. Madeleine, naked and sprawled beneath her, hair tumbled over the pillow, her skin flushed and damp. Her mouth open as she begged for what she’d get.

Now, it had to be now. Hæra turned to the bedroom.