Chapter 183: The Promise and the Refuge
Kellar was still contemplating his attribute interface when the crunch of dry leaves in the courtyard announced a nearby presence. Helga approached with slow steps, her copper-brown hair tousled by the evening wind and her eyes shining with an intense light.
"Did something happen, Helga?" Kellar asked, closing the system display and resting his war club back over his shoulder.
"Nothing," she replied, closing the distance between them without hesitation. "I just wanted to make the most of the time. It’s rare to get you alone, so I didn’t want to be away from you."
Helga wrapped her arms around Kellar’s neck and pulled him down into a warm kiss that instantly melted away the lingering reek of gunpowder and battle blood. As she pulled back, she rested her forehead against the shaman’s chest, feeling the steady thud of his heart.
"How has the fortress been holding up? Have you run into any trouble?" she whispered, keeping her hold tight around him.
"None, everything is moving forward smoothly," Kellar answered stroking her back. "We’re clearing the streets to reorganize the entire city based on the blueprints you gave me."
Helga looked up, furrowing her brow in doubt.
"Though I feel like it’s a waste of space," she admitted. "We could build the houses closer to one another and save room. The city is small as it is, since we can’t expand further out, and the Ash Valley region makes it impossible to move in that direction as well."
"I understand why you think that about the space, but trust me," Kellar reassured her with a calm smile, brushing his thumb over her cheek. "When you see how those wide roads allow supplies, artillery, and people to flow smoothly, you’ll understand why it has to be this way."
Helga sighed, tightening her grip on his tunic. The professional edge in her voice faded away, replaced by a raw vulnerability she rarely permitted herself to show around the new recruits.
"I’m scared, Kellar..." she confessed in a low, trembling whisper. "I’m terrified that one day someone will come up to me and say you’re dead. You have to be more careful; you shouldn’t be charging on the front lines. When I saw that giant eagle almost cut Ignis in half... I felt my heart stop. You can’t be this reckless. You are the Shaman of this tribe; if you die, no one else can guide us. Please, promise me you’ll be more careful."
Kellar looked down into her eyes, cupping her face in his hands with firm tenderness.
"I will be more careful," he told her softly. "But... I can’t just stay behind, can I? Everyone else fighting to the death while I hide in the back? That’s something I can’t accept. I belong on the front line; the best main support has to be right in the teamfights."
Helga stared at him, bewildered, blinking in confusion at the unfamiliar words.
"Sorry, just a thought that slipped out," Kellar corrected smoothly with a subtle, mischievous grin. "What I mean is that a commander needs to be on the front line; that way he can make split-second decisions and mitigate errors on the fly."
"I understand that, but you don’t have to throw your life away like that," Helga pressed, locking her intense gaze onto his as her hands slid down toward his waist. "At least fight from a safe place."
Kellar let out a low rumble of laughter, pulling her hips flush against his surging warmth, feeling the fierce woman soften against him.
"I’ll try... but tell me, how safe does that place need to be?" Kellar whispered into Helga’s ear, making her catch her breath as his hand slipped beneath her leather armor. "How about right beside you while I slide it inside you? Is that where you expect me to command the troops?"
Helga let out a soft laugh that vibrated her chest against Kellar’s. Far from being embarrassed, her eyes sparkled with a teasing flirtatiousness as her hands slid down firmly to mold around the shaman’s lower back.
"If you want, I can always stay by your side," Helga whispered, leaning in to nip at his earlobe. "Being fucked during combat doesn’t sound too bad, honestly."
Kellar raised an eyebrow, taken aback by her bold display. He hadn’t expected his commander to be quite this brazen.
"Looks like a few days of solitude made it so you can only think about my dick," Kellar said, pressing his hips against hers to make her feel the growing hardness beneath his trousers.
"It didn’t take days," Helga replied without hesitation, her eyes locked onto his lips as her breath hitched. "Minutes after watching you leave, I couldn’t think about anything else."
Kellar framed a slow, mischievous grin. He slid his hands beneath Helga’s leather tunic, caressing the warm skin of her waist down to the curve of her hips.
"Oh, tell me what you were imagining," Kellar whispered, pressing his lips to her neck and leaving a trail of warm kisses that made her shiver. "Maybe if you tell me, it will come true."
Helga let her head fall back, exposing the line of her neck as Kellar’s fingers dug into her hips. A warm, hitched breath escaped her lips at the relentless press of his body against hers.
"I imagined being trapped against the war table," Helga whispered, digging her nails into Kellar’s back as she arched flush against his hardness. "I dreamed you came back victorious, covered in dust and mana, and without a single word you ripped the laces of my vest wide open. I imagined you lifting me right up, shoving my clothes aside to ride me down, pushing it all the way deep inside while maps and reports crashed to the floor."
Kellar let out a low growl into her ear, tightening his grip on her waist to the fine line where pain bled into pleasure.
"And what else?" Kellar hummed, kissing along her jaw with fierce hunger as he felt the damp warmth beginning to soak through her undergarments.
"I imagined Lennis or Grok knocking on the door to deliver a battle report," she continued, panting openly with her cheeks flushed red with arousal. "And instead of stopping, you clamped your hand over my mouth and pounded into me even harder, forcing me to muffle my screams so they wouldn’t hear how you were using me right on top of the territory map."
Helga bit her lower lip and locked eyes with Kellar, her pupils blown with raw desire.
"That was just part of it," she added in a raspy breath, sliding her own hand down to stroke the thick bulge pressing against her belly. "Now tell me, Shaman... are you going to make it come true, or are you going to leave me wanting right before the funeral?"