Page 73 of Sun Elves of Ardani

The penis may also be stimulated with the hands or mouth. Hold the shaft with one or both hands and rub in an up-and-down motion. Oral stimulation allows natural lubrication via saliva. A pleasant sensation may be achieved by rubbing the tongue and lips over the head of the penis, and a combination of manual and oral stimulation is recommended for best results. Ejaculate may be taken inside or outside the mouth, and may be swallowed or spit out, depending on personal preference.

She squinted at the passage, scanning it again to make sure she hadn’t misread it. Surely no one really swallowed it. That sounded unpleasant.

There were so many things in this book that she’d not considered before. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t known about most of these things, in theory. But the book made it sound like they were all surprisingly commonplace. Like she might be expected to know about these things, and to do them, and to be good at them.

She had no idea what she was doing. And she hated not knowing what she was doing.

Before, she had never had much reason to think about sex. It had never seemed very important. But lately, she was finding herself thinking about the topic quite a lot.

She flipped back to a previous section she’d bookmarked—one with illustrations. She did not consider herself a very romantic person, but this drawing looked romantic. She couldn’t quite imagine herself in the place of the woman in the illustration, but she liked looking at it anyway.

One participant sits cross-legged while the other faces them, straddling them. This position maximizes body contact and allows easy clitoral and breast stimulation during penetration—

“What’s that?”

Kadaki jumped. The book went flying from her hands and hit the floor.

Neiryn stood behind her, eyebrows raised. Somehow, he’d entered the library in complete silence. Or perhaps she’d just been so absorbed in the book that she’d tuned him out until he spoke.

“Nothing,” she said tightly. She stepped in front of the fallen book.

His eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Nothing?”

“Just—just a normal book.”

His eyes flicked toward the book as he came toward her. “A normal book,” he echoed. He bent, reaching for it. Panicked, Kadaki shifted to block him, putting her hands on his chest to push him back.

“It’s nothing. Really. Please.”

“Then why are you hiding it?”

“It’s nothing you need to know about.”

Impatient, he took her by the arms and started to push her aside. He didn’t have to put much effort into it, even as she struggled to hold her ground. She had expected him to be stronger than her, but the ease with which he brushed aside her efforts was startling. She slapped his hands away from her. “Don’t do that!”

The blow was hard enough that he stopped to look at her in surprise. “Don’t do what?”

She took a breath and lowered her voice. “You know that I could throw you across the room if I weren’t wearing this collar. It’s not fair for you to start pushing me around now. Your people imprisoned me in this thing so they could control me. But not you. You’re the only one I trusted not to take advantage of my captivity. So don’t use it against me. I couldn’t stand it if you started finding ways to… to benefit from this.”

His hold on her softened. He glanced down at the book once more, but didn’t try to pick it up again. “All right,” he said slowly. “Then, as long as we’re trusting each other, tell me what you were doing. If you’re planning something—”

“I’m not planning anything,” she sighed. “There is nothing to concern yourself over.”

He looked at her for a long moment, then tilted his head. “It’s a dirty novel, isn’t it?”

She scoffed. “I don’t read things like that.”

“Come on, now. Everyone likes a dirty novel, even if they won’t admit it.”

His lips tilted into a mischievous smile that made her heart feel fluttery. Suddenly her mind was filled with flashes of their meeting the other night. His hands were a warm weight on her arms, and she could imagine them moving down over her chest, his mouth covering hers…

“I don’t,” she said. “I don’t like fiction. I don’t understand the point of reading about things that are made up.”

“It’s for fun.” His hands moved down to her waist, pulling her closer. She drew in a tense breath as her body pressed against his. “Am I being too presumptuous in assuming you understand the concept?”

She glanced toward the door, wondering what she’d do if someone walked in on them like this. It had already happened once. “I know about fun.”

“Oh? What do you do? For fun, that is. Aside from your work. Academic work and magic don’t count, either.”

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