Greetings, everyone! Thank you so, so much for all the kind reviews that you guys left. They really mean a lot to me, and it's really thanks to you guys that this chapter came to be. I'm just very sorry it took me so long to get it out.

Anyways, as promised, please note the change in rating - while the sex is very vanilla, it is also very present and is not suitable for minors. This means that readers under the age of 18 need to turn back.

In any case, here it is. I hope you like it.

When he woke up the next morning, Vishnal did not expect to still be in the princess's room. Surely last night hadn't been real? There was no way his life could be that wonderful, was there? The warm breath ghosting along his neck and firm body tangled around him served as some convincing proof, but still he wondered if perhaps he were lingering in the sleepy remnants of a dream. It certainly seemed like it, with the pretty young woman heavy and relaxed in the circle of his arms, a position he'd never imagined he could have held in any version of his reality. He shifted against the princess, stroking her hair and hesitantly pressing a chaste kiss to the corner of her slightly parted lips, to which he received a response in the form of soft murmuring against the skin just below his ear as she nuzzled in deeper to his body heat.

"Princess," he whispered, "it's morning."

"Mnn. Noooo. I'm glad you're still here," she whispered back, "I'm glad you didn't leave. Just stay like this. I need a few more minutes." His chest swelled at the heady sleep-induced scratchiness of her voice and the slow smile that curled her lips as she cracked an eye open to peek at him. Her shirt was still absent and her hair, which she had neglected to remove from its style, was tangled and loosened around her shoulders. He felt his face grow hot and was sure she could feel it against hers.

He tilts his head down to kiss her sweetly again, and she responds clumsily with a throaty giggle and a hand that tangles into his hair.

There's a comfortable, warm moment of silence where his hand lightly roams her body a little, pausing at her arm for a short inspection of the damage there, and then travelling down to rest against her bare hip and drum at the soft skin there. Her eyes slip closed again.

As if he could have left before she woke up. How could he have passed up seeing the Princess this way? He had experienced waking her up in the mornings, of course, but he had never been an active participant in the wake-up proceedings as such. He also noted, with a sense of smugness even he could not suppress, how sluggish she was with him in her bed compared to mornings where it seemed like she hopped out of bed and flew out the door. She slotted herself against him more comfortably and made a soft, purring little groan as she stretched her limbs out. His hands shakily circled her waist again to cradle her against him as he moved in for another kiss, this time daring to dip his tongue past her top lip and trace her teeth, to which she responded instantaneously.

"VISHNAL!"

Volkanon's voice boomed from across the castle, startling the couple and causing them to leap away from each other. Vishnal snapped away from the warm body against him and rolled unstoppably from the edge of the bed to collapse in a heap of twisted blankets and pillows onto the floor with a resounding thud, while the princess launched into her closet in search for a replacement shirt after neglecting to locate one the night before for unsavoury reasons. Vishnal had also neglected to change from his coat the night before, and looked down in dismay as he realized his visible dishevelment.

Naturally there was nothing he could do about it now. He could hear doors down the hallway being opened and shut as he assumed the other butlers had gone looking for him.

Oh gods. Oh gods. Should he go out the back door and come in from the garden? Volkanon and Clorica sounded increasingly close to the Princess' bedroom door, if he left now he was guaranteed to run into them. But they probably expected Frey to already be out in the garden so would coming out that waylook more suspicious? Wait, were they even hiding this? What was this? He'd had her tongue in his mouth sure but did that automatically mean they were dating? Did she –

"So I'll find you later," Frey concedes, coming from the closet in a pink outfit he had never seen before, looking far more put together than he felt and sounding like she was finishing a statement he hadn't heard the rest of. She must have noted the panicked look on his face because her expression immediately softened into a bemused, smitten sort of grin. How absolutely Vishnal of him. She pecked him on the cheek, amused when he flushed like she had stripped for him again, and shoved a potted plant into his hands. She then scurried out the garden doors so she could get to work on her daily chores, leaving the flabbergasted young man to his own devices.

No sooner than she had left did the door to her bedroom fly open, revealing a displeased Volkanon and a purple head of hair just over his shoulder, a sleepy Clorica who had been unhelpfully trudging along behind the head butler in their search.

"Do you have any idea how late you are!?" he said, exasperated. "This is going to be taken into account for your score this week. What are you doing in here?"

"I-I- um... I... plant?" He could have hit himself. Clearly, his mouth and his brain were experiencing some disconnect. Perhaps it was a result of all those electrifying kisses he'd had the pleasure of experiencing; perhaps he'd fried a few vital cells? He chuckled to himself, but bit back the sound when he focused back in on the less-than-amused Volkanon now staring at him with a confused look rather than the frustrated one from before.

"Yes, well..." the elder cleared his throat, "you two head down to my office. I'm going to check in on the princess, I expect she's exhausted after her late arrival last night."

Vishnal swallowed hard and grabbed Clorica's hand on his way past the manly gentleman, dragging her after him in his haste to escape the situation. When they arrived and seated themselves in the chairs across from Volkanon's desk Vishnal braced his hands against his knees and panted to catch his breath. Clorica watched him sleepily for a moment before her lips curled upwards into a knowing smile. "You did it, didn't you?" she whispered.

"No!" Vishnal wheezed back, but he was pretty sure that the explosive reddening of his face was less than convincing, even if it was true.

The other butler leaned back in her seat, closing her eyes and wiggling until she was sufficiently comfortable. "You totally did. Congrats, I didn't think you had it in you."

If he was totally honest, neither did he.

Frey finished up in the fields around noon, an hour and a half later than she usually did, and promptly made her way to the throne room to get some last minute duties out of the way. Arthur met up with her, and the two deliberated on the efforts they should put forth on tourism as well as internal development. When Vishnal came in and saw her, she smiled pleasantly and he distractedly collided directly with a wall.

This went on for a few days. They'd steal kisses here and there between each of their individual work and then they'd soak up all they could of each in the hours after. Some nights he'd slip into her room and share warmth with her, other nights she'd sneak past Volkanon's room and climb into his bed to surprise him in the morning when he awoke to the blonde practically glued to his side. Initially they had agreed to keep their relationship to themselves, but stealthy they were not; people soon heard about the two of them and it got to the point where they could no longer walk down the street together without someone stopping them to make a comment or tease them. At first Vishnal was horrified by the attention, but when Frey started to flush and smile a sweet little smile and twirl her fingers around his in response he found that could live with it.

"It's so cute it's almost sickening!" cried Margaret, clasping her hands together and then diving for a quill to start scrawling on a crumply piece of sheet music. She had decided to host another one of her slumber parties and could barely contain herself to wait for the princess's boyfriend to leave after they kissed at the door. "I could compose love song after love song based on the way you look at each other alone!"

"Please don't, Meg," Frey laughed back. She pressed her lips against Vishnal's one more time, looping her arms around his neck and tugging him down, before sending him on his way with a dreamy look in his eyes. There was a murmur of laughter from the other girls in the room as the door swung shut. Margaret looked up from her parchment and winked playfully, before returning the nib to the sheet and continuing to scrawl notes messily. Inevitably, it seemed, conversation drifted to the boys about town. Especially since they now had an insider's opinion on one of them.

"So this is like... the first time you've gone to sleep without him, then? In how long?"

"I bet he's like a furnace in the sheets."

"Totally a cuddler, right?"

"Hn. You two seem very attached."

The questions kept flying, and the young princess did her best to keep track of and answer all of them as she could, but eventually she just pushed her red face into her palms and waited for the amused giggling by her friends to subside.

"You don't have to tell us," Meg said as the room got quiet and Frey's countenance had returned to a regularly rosy composure, "but we're dying to know. Is he good?" Her eyebrows waggled suggestively. "Because it seems like he would be all about 'serving' his partner to me, but how would we know, right?"

Immediately Frey felt warmth soak her skin again. "Good?" she asked in surprise. "I don't know, I guess? I mean, we've never done anything more than... touching, you know?" The room erupted into gales of laughter and Frey couldn't help but start to grin as her friends ooh'd and began to talk about anything and everything from there. She got over her bashful feelings as her friends didn't push her from there and enjoyed the rest of the night. Even stoic Dolce sported a pretty smile as instruments were handed out and they played together until the moon was high in the sky and they were all exhausted.

Meg scooted closer to her as she continued to speak to the group about her latest song as she strummed a harp absently, despite the fact that half the room was already asleep, and Frey couldn't help but tear up a little at how truly blessed she felt; blessed that of all the kingdoms in the world she had dropped from an airship into this one and met all of these beautiful people.

Though. . . as happy as she found herself, she wouldn't admit to it when she had a hard time falling asleep that night without the usual warm body next to and wrapped around her.

A few days went by. Snow flew and coated the ground in a shiny blanket and while days were shorter and there was less farming to be done, Frey found herself out an exploring much more now that she had the time to spare. Doug recovered from his injuries, as had she, and insisted she bring him along when she went, so she was finding herself spending a lot of time travelling and thinking. Mostly about what her friends had said to her at Meg's slumber party, much to her chagrin. Was it too soon in their relationship to proposition Vishnal about sex? Was he even interested in any of that? Sure she had thought about it before, she had thought that had been where they were headed that night when he fell asleep after the adrenaline of worrying for her had worn off after all, but what if that hadn't been what was happening? What if Vishnal was content with touching and kissing, and she made him feel uncomfortable by suggesting that she wanted more than that?

It wasn't as though he had made any move for anything else either. It was absolutely clear to Frey that he loved her and he loved having her close to him, but his warm wandering hands never drifted too far below her belt; he never asked. Did that have some profound meaning, or was he simply just as nervous as she was? She would never know if she didn't ask.

"Do you ever. . ." Frey cleared her throat one night after a long afternoon of spelunking, as she pulled her long pigtails from their ties and started brushing out her hair, "U-uhm. . . No, never mind me, it's fine." She scowled at her own cowardice.

Vishnal shed his coat and hung it in her closet before changing into the spare set of sleepwear he'd left in her room when he'd put laundry away that afternoon. It was perhaps a little presumptuous of him but he had more recently been spending nights away from his room since Frey's was more private. Walking past Clorica in his night clothing on his way to his girlfriends' bedroom had become increasingly embarrassing lately, especially since she had somehow learned of her misunderstanding of the events of his and Frey's first night together and had decide to tease him mercilessly for 'not following through'.

As he came back into the main room he saw Frey wringing her hands slightly, pouting and looking altogether troubled.

"'Do I ever' – what, love? Are you sure everything's alright, Princess?" he asked. She smiled softly, reciprocating naturally as he leaned in for a kiss and making a little noise of surprise when he dodged her teasingly at the last second. Vishnal slid by her and turned down the sheets of her bed out of habit, before catching himself and climbing into them. He was relieved to see the curve of her lips but still troubled by the tension she held in her shoulders. He gently patted the empty space next to him when she met his eyes again and Frey quickly dropped the hairbrush in her hands and climbed into the circle of his arms.

"Everything is fine. . ." she murmured, pressing her cold face into the crook of his neck and delighting in the way he held her closer to warm her winter-chilled skin. "I just. . . was curious about something. That's all."

"What a shock," he teased. "The princess thinking hard about some mystery? Unheard of." His tone was light but he didn't push her as she seemed to gather her thoughts.

She bit her lip, shivering as his warmth melted her. She wanted to ask, she really did, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to ask him for the right reasons? She had certainly wanted him before they began dating, but she never really felt rushed to do anything about it before; she much preferred to let her relationship with Vishnal expand and grow naturally as it was wont to do but for some reason she couldn't get this deviancy out of her head! Perhaps it was knowing that her friends were expectant of this? That was fine with her, but she didn't want to press forward and have Vishnal think she was only after his lower half.

"If you want to, you can tell me anything. You know that right?" he breathed into her ear.

She shivered, and kissed his clavicle.

"I know," she replied.

"Okay."

"Okay." They were quiet for a beat, or ten if she counted by the steady rhythm of Vishnal's pulse. "I wondered if you were attracted to me." She could feel the rumble of laughter in his chest.

"Oh, is that all? Of course I am, Princess. I care about you very much." His hands stroked her hair, tugging just slightly so she would tilt her head up to him and accept another slow kiss. His tongue traced her lip for effect, dipping in just slightly in a way that left her breathless.

She purred in response, low in her throat, and tried to fuse herself together with him, tugging gently at the collar of his shirt until he was hovering over her and propped up by the flat palm by her head and rubbing his thumb along her hip with those large warm hands. "I understand that, Vishnal," she replied. "I love you too. So much. But are you attracted to me?"

"W-w-what?" he said, face turning passionate. "I am, very much so. You're the most beautiful, wonderful woman I've ever met, I –" His face flushed bright red, seemingly shocked by her enquiries and worried by her apparent doubt, but cutting himself off as his embarrassment caught up with his mouth. Where was this coming from, was she doubting his affections or was this ultimately about something else? He stared down at her, this beautiful enigma who looked so good spread out beneath him. He searched her eyes, which dodged his when they met, and observed the subtle blooming of colour on her cheeks that he was sure matched his.

Staring at her underneath him, he could feel himself growing hot. He paused for just a moment to take her in, trailing his gaze from her face to her pale neck, mirroring her when she swallowed hard against a lump in her throat. She was panting lightly, and his eyes swept bashfully to her moving chest before he firmly planted a kiss at the base of her throat and sucked hard at the spot. "I'm so attracted to you I don't know what to do sometimes," he whispered.

Frey threw her arms around his neck, embarrassed by his declaration but so relieved she began to laugh quietly. Her hold on him was tight, but she felt so warm and loved inside that the tension in her body vanished and she was left with only a hot ball of want low inside her. "When you're ready," she cooed into his ear, " if you're ever ready, I'd very much like to have sex with you."

Vishnal's mouth went dry in response to her words, feeling hotter than before. Somehow it seemed like she always had the upper hand against him. She could always leave him speechless. She was always ready to initiate the next step – and successfully, despite whatever nerves she was facing. He truly was in awe of her.

He slipped his own arms under and around her, cradling her wordlessly against him and hesitantly letting the full weight of his body drop onto her so she could feel what she had done to him, without even trying. Her legs drew back and bent at the knees, accepting him as the puzzle piece that fit against her and crossing her ankles behind his back.

She gasped when she felt how his body was responding with arousal to her, and felt her own body respond favourably in kind. His voice was rapturous when he moaned in her ear. "I never did get to help you the other night. I was so exhausted, princess. . . but I'm awake now, and eager to please."

"Please," echoed Frey, rolling her hips upwards against him as he mouthed at her jaw and worked his way down to her chest. He slowly lowered the strap of her nightgown, eyeing her questioningly and checking her comfort levels only to be met with teary green eyes and hands that cupped his cheeks and forced him to stare into them.

"Are you saying yes to this?" she asked, toying with the hair at the nape of his neck. His clothed hips stuttered forward against hers, kissing her fiercely when she gasped sweetly again.

"Are you waiting for me to say yes?" he teased back, though he blushed fervently as her sweet scent invaded his senses and dizzied him, rutting against her more and creating a burning friction. "You want me to say yes, don't you, princess?" And she babbled in response, assuring him she would be okay to stop if he wanted to. He hummed a quiet moan softly as she cried out when his fingers dipped low into her cotton underwear and felt how wet and warm she was. He shivered, swallowing his embarrassment and focused on the way her eyebrows were blissfully scrunched up, or the way her mouth hung open as they moved together, or the way she tried to watch him but her eyes kept drifting closed under his ministrations. "I'm saying yes, princess. Yes yes, yes."

She deliriously tugged at his shirt until they managed to get it off somehow, and then they were all teeth, and touching, testing, teasing. . . She raised her arms so he could take off her night gown and let him escape her legs so they could draw off her panties while shedding his pants and leaving them exposed but completely comfortable in the others embrace.

One hand pressed her torso to his as their mouths and tongues met again and again, while the other explored her folds and stroked her clit. She reached for his length to reciprocate but he caught her hand and redirected it to rest on his shoulder where her nails immediately dug in as he applied more force to distract the young woman. Her thighs quaked. She squirmed violently, simultaneously trying to escape the intense pleasure that shot through her while trying to soak up more of it if she could. He feared if she touched him he wouldn't last long enough to finish this beautiful thing they had started tonight. He had barely been touched and he thought he might explode.

"This isn't. . ." she choked on her words slightly and allowed Vishnal to swallow a moan, "This isn't one of your 'duties', you know? I want to make you feel good too."

"I know that, princess. You feel so good. Oh, princess. . . Frey." his voice sounded strange to his own ears but his lover responded affectionately in his arms.

"Please. . . would you. . .I-Inside?" her voice came out in broken fragments, and Vishnal couldn't help the swelling in his chest when it struck him that he was the one who had made her so ruined, who had caused her to sound so utterly debauched, and at that moment the throbbing of his cock became so unbearable that he relented his firm touch and moved to reposition them both. He had to make an effort not to cum when she whined and spread herself wider as his fingers pulled away.

On Frey's part she felt embarrassed: the heat in Vishnal's eyes was unlike anything she had ever seen before. Especially not directed at herself. He was always sort of aloof; loving but sweetly naive; passionate, and yet cautiously gentle. Her heart raced when he pulled away from her and she found herself unable to stop the sounds that fell from her lips, but she eagerly moved to receive him. As he lined up their bodies and began to fill her, she convulsed backwards at the sensation. She had no frame of reference, but he made her feel fuller than she ever had before and he only seemed to keep moving deeper and deeper.

"Wait, wait!" she cried out, clinging to his shoulders where he leaned over her. Vishnal froze, and then kissed her face anywhere he could reach soothingly.

Her hands trembled as she cupped his face, before shifting her hips against his. He carefully pressed in slightly further, thrusting shallowly and continuing to kiss wherever he could. Frey could feel the perspiration starting to cover them both in a thin sheen, pressing her nose into his hair just behind his ear as his scent became more profound. His thrusts became more sporadic and harder, losing rhythm as they moved together, and his fingers came down to rub firmly at her pleasure point once again. Her nerves crackled under her skin. They tried to muffle their voices as they were not positive how their voices would carry through the castle, but Frey was vocal and hard to quell.

That is, until she suddenly became ghostly silent; her voice shrunk inside her throat and turned to quiet panting. He pulled away, worried she needed him to slow down again, but her arms ensnared him and her hips frotted fervently without sign of slowing.

"I-I'm so. . . P-pah-please, pleeease, ple-ase, Vishnal!" His named turned into a quiet mantra on her tongue. He pushed her sweaty bangs back on her forehead and kissed her deeply, until she let out a sharp cry that dissipated quickly in the heat of the room and her entire body shook. Her inner walls clamped down on his cock and instantly he was blinded by a white light that exploded in his vision and found himself shaking against her as well. They rode the wave of their orgasms together before the room darkened again and the only sound left was their hard breathing; their breath mingled but neither of them moved to speak.

Vishnal eased himself out of the smaller blonde, feeling her twitch sensitively against him and stroking himself to ease himself down more than anything.

"I love you," murmured Frey, kissing his chin. Vishnal stroked her hair and smiled fondly, responding in kind.

She rolled him over and looped her arms around him, fitting herself against his broad back, spooning him and running her hands along his arms as they basked in the afterglow. As he grew sleepier she pried herself away to get a washcloth, to clean them both up with before they slept. She shushed him when he tried to protest and get it for her and slipped her nightgown back on before stumbling slightly in the right direction.

When she came back with a cloth and a basin only half full, she found her loving boyfriend sitting up, on a set of different sheets while the other ones lay bunched on the floor. She opened her mouth to scold him, when he cut her off.

"Princess? Would you like it if I called you 'Master' in bed?"

Oh.

"I don't know," she replied. "Would you?"

The blush that immediately turned all of the skin she could see bright glowing red told her that she would definitely be trying that out in the future.

Practice safe sex.

Anywho, thanks again! / I'm sure I'll be posting something again soon, so, you know. Watch out for that.