Is it Wrong to Have a Harem in DxD

I couldn't sleep. Three days of training with Ddraig had put bruises on top of bruises and my body had settled into a baseline ache that never fully went away, and every time I closed my eyes I started cycling through future events. Riser. Kokabiel. The Hero Faction. Canon timelines I'd been reshuffling since the day I woke up in this body, trying to figure out which ones I'd already altered and which ones were still coming unchanged.

Asia was asleep across the hall. Her breathing came through the wall if I held my own.

The water stain on the ceiling still looked like a dog.

I was staring at it when the room turned red.

A crimson magic circle bloomed on the floor at the foot of my bed, Gremory sigils rotating in concentric rings, casting shadows across the walls that shifted and turned. The air smelled like ozone and flowers. I sat up.

Rias stepped through.

She was wearing a white nightgown. Silk, thin, ending above her knees. Her crimson hair was down, loose to her thighs, and her feet were bare on my floor. She wasn't wearing the heiress face. The composed mask, the one that made her look ten years older than she was, was gone. She looked like a girl who'd gotten out of bed and made a decision she couldn't take back.

The magic circle faded. The room went dark again. Moonlight through my curtain, and Rias standing at the foot of my bed.

"I'm not here to recruit you," she said.

I waited.

She stood there. Her hands were at her sides, fingers opening and closing, and she was looking at me with an expression I hadn't seen on her before. Her jaw was tight and her eyes were bright and her chin was up and she was trying to be brave about whatever had brought her here.

"There's an engagement," she said. "Between my family and the House of Phenex. Riser Phenex. The third son. It's been arranged since I was a child."

I knew. I'd known since the day I opened my eyes in this body with four seasons of anime burned into my memory. Riser Phenex, the arrogant immortal with a full peerage of women he treated like accessories. The Rating Game. Issei's first real power-up. I knew every beat of it.

I said nothing. She needed to tell it herself.

"The wedding is approaching," she said. "Months. Maybe less. My family has been pressing. The Phenex side is getting impatient." Her voice was steady. Her hands weren't. "I've been building my peerage to fight him in a Rating Game. That's the escape clause in the contract. Win the match, break the engagement. But I don't have enough pieces. I don't have enough power. And I'm running out of time."

"Is that why you wanted me in your peerage?"

She flinched. It was small but I saw it.

"Yes," she said. "At first. A Longinus wielder would change everything. You'd be enough to shift the odds."

"And now?"

She looked at me. The moonlight caught one side of her face and left the other in shadow, and her blue-green eyes were steady and wet.

"Now I don't know what I want from you. I know what I came here for." She took a breath. "I don't want to think about Riser tonight. I don't want to think about the engagement or the peerage or the Rating Game. I came here because I want to feel like someone chose me. Not the Gremory heiress. Not the Ruin Princess. Just-"

"Rias."

She stopped.

I got out of bed. Crossed the room. She was taller than me and I had to look up slightly, which I hadn't had to do with anyone in this body before, and her eyes tracked me as I closed the distance. I stopped in front of her. Close enough that the warmth off her skin came through the silk.

I brought both hands up to her face. Cupped her jaw, thumbs against her cheekbones. Her skin was warm and softer than I expected and her pulse was beating fast under my fingers where they curved behind her ears.

"Then stop asking me to be your Pawn," I said, "and let me be the guy who chose you."

I kissed her.

She kissed back. Hard, immediate, her hands coming up to my chest and then sliding to my shoulders and then into my hair, fingers gripping, pulling, and her mouth opened against mine and she tasted like the red tea she always drank. She kissed like she'd been holding it in for weeks, the composure and the careful distance collapsing at once, and her whole body pressed into mine and she made a sound against my mouth that was between a gasp and a word.

I pulled back an inch. Her eyes were closed. Her lips were parted and wet. Her chest was rising fast.

I slid my hands from her face down her neck, over her shoulders, down her arms. The silk nightgown was thin enough that the heat of her skin came through it, the shape of her underneath. My fingers found the straps at her shoulders and I pushed them down, one side, then the other, and the silk slid off her body and hit the floor with a whisper.

Rias Gremory was standing in my bedroom in nothing.

Her body was unreal. That's the only word I had. Pale skin catching the moonlight, full breasts that were heavy and round, tipped with pink nipples already tight in the cool air. A narrow waist that curved into hips my hands wanted to grip. A flat stomach that moved with her breathing. Legs that went on too long for the height she had. Her crimson hair fell across her shoulders and between her breasts and down her back. She was shaking.

I wasn't.

I'd done this before. Another life, another body. Rias hadn't done this, and it showed. Her hands didn't know where to go, her shoulders were pulled slightly inward, and her eyes were on my face, watching for a reaction, needing to see what I thought before she decided what to feel.

"You're beautiful," I said. Because it was true and because she needed to hear it from someone who wasn't a contract or a title.

Her eyes went wet. She blinked. "Ise."

I kissed her again. Slower this time. My hands found her waist, fingers spreading across bare skin, and the heat of her against my palms was startling, hotter than the silk had let through. I guided her backward until her calves hit the edge of the bed. I lowered her down and she went, lying back against my pillow, crimson hair spreading across the sheets, and I pulled my shirt off and climbed over her.

She was taller than any girl I'd been with in my old life. Longer limbs, longer torso, more of her under me. I pressed my mouth to her throat and kissed the skin there, open-mouthed, tasting salt and the faint floral scent I'd been catching since the fountain. She arched her neck and her hand came up to the back of my head and a sound slipped out of her, soft, bitten back because Asia was across the hall and the walls in this house were thin.

I kissed down her throat. Slow. Her collarbone, the hollow at the base of her throat where her pulse was hammering. The skin between her breasts was warm and flushed pink and when I turned my head and pressed my mouth to the inside curve of her left breast her breathing went shallow and fast through her nose, trying to stay controlled.

I found her nipple. Took it into my mouth. Sucked, circled it with my tongue, felt it harden against me while her back arched off the mattress and her thighs pressed together underneath me. Her hand tightened in my hair, pulling. I scraped my teeth across the peak and she jerked.

"Nn-"

I switched to the other side. Kissed the underside of her breast, the sensitive skin there, then drew my tongue up to her nipple and sucked harder. Her hips shifted against my stomach and the heat between her thighs pressed through my shorts, damp warmth against me. I was hard. I'd been hard since the nightgown hit the floor and her body against me through the cotton was making it worse.

Her hands found my shoulders. Her nails dug in.

And at the tips of her fingers, crimson light crackled.

The room smelled like ozone. The Power of Destruction sparked at her fingertips, tiny arcs of dark red energy jumping between her nails and my skin, warm and sharp, and she snatched her hands away from my shoulders like she'd burned me.

"I- I'm sorry, I can't always control it when I-"

I looked up at her from between her breasts. "Should I be worried about that?"

She stared at me. Then she laughed. Short, breathless, her hand coming up to cover her mouth, and the tension in her shoulders let go. "No. It's- it only happens when I lose focus."

"Then I'll try to make you lose focus."

I kissed her stomach. She stopped laughing. My mouth moved lower, across the flat plane below her navel, and her breathing changed, faster, shallower, her chest rising in quick pulls. My hands slid down her sides to her hips and I settled between her thighs and she went rigid, her legs pressing together against the sides of my head.

"You don't have to-"

I looked up at her. She was propped on her elbows, her hair a mess, her face flushed pink from her cheeks to her chest, and her eyes were wide.

"Rias." I pressed my mouth to the inside of her thigh. The skin there was softer, warmer. "Shut up."

She shut up.

I kissed up her inner thigh, slow, letting her feel my breath on her skin. She was already wet, glistening in the moonlight, and the scent of her was warm and close and real. When my mouth reached her pussy and I pressed my tongue flat against her she jolted, her thighs clamping around my head, one hand slamming the headboard behind her hard enough that the wood cracked against the wall.

"Ah- oh-"

I licked. Slow, flat strokes from bottom to top, finding the shape of her, learning what made her hips buck and what made her go still. She was slick under my tongue, getting wetter with each pass, and the taste was salt and warm. Her clit was swollen and when I circled it with my tongue she made a sound that was too loud for midnight.

"Nn- Ise- you can't just-" Her hand slapped across her own mouth. Her face was crimson. She was aware of Asia across the hall and she couldn't help how loud she was getting and the embarrassment and the arousal were fighting each other on her face.

I sucked her clit into my mouth and the hand over her face didn't help. The sound came through her fingers, muffled and broken, and her thighs locked around my ears and her hips rolled against my face. Her pulse was hammering through her thighs. Her free hand found my hair and held on.

I slid a finger into her. She was tight and wet and hot inside, her body clenching around me the second I was in, and she gasped and her back arched off the bed. I was so hard it hurt, my cock straining against my shorts, aching from her sounds and her body clenching around my finger and the wet heat of her around my finger.

"Right- right there- don't stop- don't-"

I curled my finger inside her, found the textured spot on the front wall, and pressed while my tongue worked her clit. Her hips started grinding against my mouth in a rhythm she wasn't controlling. Her moans were getting shorter, higher, more desperate, coming on every exhale now, "ah- ah- ah-" matching the rhythm of her hips.

The wet sounds were obvious. Slick, audible, my mouth and her arousal and the movement together filling the quiet room. Her face went redder and she pressed both hands over her mouth and her hips kept moving.

Crimson light flickered across the ceiling. The Power of Destruction, crackling along her fingers and the headboard and the air above the bed, red-black energy that pulsed in time with her breathing. The sheets beneath my hands were warm.

Her left hand dropped from her mouth and grabbed a fistful of sheets. Her chin turned to the right.

She came with her back arched so hard only her shoulders and heels touched the bed. Her thighs clamped around my head and her pussy clenched around my finger in waves, tight rhythmic pulses, and the sound she made was my name, "Ise," pulled long and cracking in the middle. The Destruction energy flared bright enough to throw red shadows across the room for a full second before it died. Her whole body shook, hips jerking against my mouth, riding it out, and I held my tongue against her clit through all of it until she flinched and pushed my head away because it was too much.

I stayed where I was for a second. Kissed the inside of her thigh. Her legs were trembling against my ears and she was breathing like she'd run a mile, her chest heaving, one arm thrown across her eyes.

I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and moved up over her. She pulled her arm away from her face and looked at me and her expression was wrecked. Her blue-green eyes were glassy. Her mouth was soft and open. Her whole body was still shaking in small aftershocks, her stomach twitching.

"How-" She swallowed. "Where did you learn to do that?"

"Previous life."

She didn't know what that meant. She didn't ask.

I kissed her. She kissed back, slower now, tasting herself on my mouth, and I felt her hips shift under me, pressing up against me. Her hand slid down my chest, down my stomach, and into my shorts. Her fingers closed around my cock and I exhaled hard against her mouth. Her hand was warm, her fingers longer than I was used to, and she was tentative for a second before her grip firmed and she stroked and my hips pushed into her fist.

I pulled my shorts down. She let go long enough for me to get them off and then her hand was back. She was looking down between us, at where she was holding me, and her eyes went wide. Her grip shifted, adjusting, and she moved her hand slowly, watching her own fingers wrapped around my cock.

"Ise."

"Mm."

"That's..." She trailed off. Her hand moved. Slow. Her thumb ran across the head and I twitched in her grip and my breath caught and she looked up at my face with wide eyes and a mouth that couldn't decide between a smile and a bite of her lower lip.

I settled between her legs. Her thighs opened and I positioned myself and the head of my cock pressed against her. She was soaked from what I'd just done, slick and swollen, and the heat coming off her was intense. I held there, just the tip against her, not pushing in.

"Ready?"

She looked at me. Her hands came up to my face, cupping my jaw the way I'd done to her. Her thumbs against my cheekbones. Her blue-green eyes inches from mine.

"Yes."

I pushed in. Slow. The first inch was tight, her body resisting, and she gasped and her fingers pressed into my jaw. Then she opened around me and I slid deeper and her eyes went wide and her mouth fell open in a silent gasp. She was hot inside, slick, gripping me so tight the world narrowed to her body around mine. I stopped halfway. Her breath was coming in short pulls through her nose and her jaw was clenched.

"You okay?"

"Mm." Her eyes squeezed shut. "Give me a second."

I held still. My forearms were braced on either side of her head and her crimson hair was everywhere, caught between my fingers, spread across the pillow, smelling like her. I pressed my forehead against hers and waited. My cock ached inside her, the tight heat making me want to move, to push, to bottom out, and I didn't. I waited.

She opened her eyes. They were wet. She nodded.

I pushed the rest of the way in and her mouth opened and her legs came up and wrapped around my hips and locked. All the way in. Full. She was tight around the base and the heat was everywhere and her body was pulsing, adjusting to me, and her heels dug into my lower back.

I held there for a second. Two. Let her feel it.

Then I moved.

Slow. Long strokes, pulling back until the head nearly slipped out, pushing in until our hips met. The wet sound of each re-entry was loud in the quiet room and Rias's face went pink again and her hand came up to cover her mouth. But her eyes stayed on mine. She needed that. Eye contact. To see me seeing her. To know that I was here with Rias.

"I'm here," I said.

Her hand dropped from her mouth. "Ise." Quiet.

I moved faster. Her hips started answering, rising to meet me, and the rhythm built and the wet sounds got louder, slick and rhythmic, and the bed frame creaked under us. Each thrust was smoother than the last because she was getting wetter, her body responding, opening, and the friction eased into a slick drag and my thoughts went flat.

Her moans were coming through now. She'd given up trying to muffle them. "Ah-" on each push, bitten off, strained, and her nails bit into my shoulders and the Destruction energy flickered at her fingertips again, warm pinpricks against my skin. Her breasts moved with each thrust, heavy, and the slap of our hips and the wet sound of me inside her and the creak of the bed frame were all too loud for midnight and neither of us was stopping.

"Ah- Ise- it's- nn-" Her sentences were falling apart. Her heels dug into my back and her hips tilted and the angle changed and I hit deeper and she choked on air and her eyes rolled for a second before they found mine again.

Under everything, a current. Her demonic energy, flowing through every point where our skin met, warm and heavy, leaking into me through her fingertips and her thighs and everywhere she pressed against me. It seeped into my muscles and my chest and settled there, hot and dense.

On my left arm, the dormant Boosted Gear's gem pulsed. Once. A dim green glow in the dark room.

Ddraig stirred. A single pulse of awareness, alert and focused. She said nothing.

I was close. Building at the base of my spine, the tightening, and I slowed my strokes and focused on the angle that had made her choke. Long, deep, grinding at the bottom of each stroke, and her hands flew to the sheets, both fists twisting the fabric, and her chin turned to the right.

There it was again. The sheets. The chin. She was close.

"Ise- I'm- ah- I can't-" Her words were gone. She was making sound on every thrust now, "ah, ah, ah," and her body was tightening around me, her pussy gripping me harder on each stroke, and her breathing caught and held and her back started to arch.

I dropped my mouth to her ear. "Let go."

She came. Her pussy clenched around me so hard I couldn't move and her back arched against my chest and her legs locked and her mouth opened. The sound she made was my name broken in half, "'I-se-'" wrenched out of her throat, and crimson Destruction energy crackled across the ceiling in a web of red-black light. Her body shook under mine, rhythmic, clenching, and her fingers dug into my back hard enough to draw blood and the room smelled like ozone and flowers and sex and her.

The energy transfer surged. Hot, heavy, pouring into me through every point where her skin pressed against mine. My vision went white at the edges. My chest felt full, packed with her power flowing into me, and the Boosted Gear's gem flared green on my arm, bright enough to cast its own shadow on the wall.

I came inside her. Three more strokes, hard, deep, burying myself to the hilt, and the orgasm hit me like a wall and I came with my face in her hair and her name between my teeth and her legs locked around my hips. The warmth spread through me, mine and hers mixed together, and for a second everything was simple. Just heat and her body and the smell of her hair and my cock pulsing inside her and her pussy still clenching around me in slow aftershocks.

For a while there was just breathing.

Hers, mine, tangled together. Her chest against mine, rising and falling. Her heartbeat through her ribs, fast and gradually slowing. Her hair was in my mouth. I didn't move it.

I pulled out of her slowly and she made a small sound, a wince, and the wet warmth between us was on her thighs, on the sheets. I rolled to the side and she rolled with me, staying close, one leg thrown over mine, her head finding my chest. Her crimson hair spread across me, across the pillow, across everything. Her hand rested flat over my heart. Her fingers were still trembling.

Neither of us spoke.

The Boosted Gear's gem glowed faintly on my left arm, a soft green pulse that matched my heartbeat, then faded into dark.

Asia was asleep across the hall and hadn't heard a thing, or had heard everything and was pretending she hadn't. Either way, the world was different now.

I looked at the ceiling. The water stain still looked like a dog.