The sound of hooves against stone marked the departure of the maid along with the carriage Ceres had come in. Her luggage had been placed in the guest room by me while she restlessly sat upon the sofa in the living room under the gaze of my two wives.

Deimos was the first to crack and with an excited squeal, she glommed onto the startled girl, rubbing her cheek against hers. “You’re so cute, ya. You have such pretty eyes. People tell me I have huge eyes but yours are like half your face. Master said you don’t see very well, ya? Don’t worry we’ll find a way to fix it as soon as we can. Then you won’t have to hide them behind ugly glasses, ya.”

I walked up to them and chopped Deimos on the back of her head to curb her excitement. She let go of Ceres and looked up at me with teary eyes.

I sighed helplessly as I rubbed her head and the back of her ears as I apologised in her stead to the still jittery Ceres. “She is my wife, Deimos. She might not seem like it now, but she is really introverted in the company of strangers. It seems finding someone with poorer social skills than hers brought out her inner extrovert.”

“H-hello. Nice to meet you.” Ceres said in her soft voice as she bowed to Deimos.

Turning to Phobos, she bowed to her as well. “Nice to meet you too.”

Giving her a warm smile, Phobos bowed back. “Welcome to the family. I’m Phobos. I hear you are named Ceres? We shall be bond-sisters henceforth. Let us get along.”

Ceres seemed to relax slightly. “Thanks.”

Phobos hinted at Deimos with her eyes and Deimos regretfully drew away from my palm. “Well, we were going to have dinner a bit early today since it is a special night for Master and Ceres," causing her to blush at the implication of her words. It seemed that the books she had read had covered topics related to nightly activities. She wasn’t that innocent.

"Can I call you Ceres-chan? It somehow seems fitting to address you with Shogunate honorifics… hmm… must be the dress.” Recovering from her mutterings, she winked at Ceres. “You, Phi-Phi and master set the table, I’ll bring the food.”

As she went to the kitchen, the three of us busied ourselves with setting the table. Today, we were using fancy plates and ceremonial silver cutlery. It was a brand-new set Deimos had rushed to buy in preparation for Ceres’ arrival.

Ceres tried to join in but after nearly dropping a plate after fumbling it, she stopped trying, dejected. Curious, Phobos asked, “Where are your glasses?”

Ceres blushed with embarrassment, “Uuu. Mother took them away before I came. She said something silly about clumsy girls being cute.” She bowed her head, “Sorry for being so useless.”

The corners of my mouth twitched. The Duchess was seriously…

Deimos came back with steaming plates of food, Phobos served the dishes and all four of us sat down to eat around the rectangular table, my wives resigning the seat beside me to Ceres, taking the ones opposite to us.

We generally ate in silence, specially Deimos who hated interrupting her meal, but today, inspired by Ceres’ presence, she was pretty verbose, regaling her with stories about us while I and Phobos sometimes chimed in, making the meal an extremely lively affair.

When we came to the final course, Phobos uncovered the dish revealing four rolls of fried flour filled with a stuffing of sweetened semolina soaked in milk. It was a sweet called patishapta, a specialty dish served traditionally during weddings.

She served one which was set aside specially to me while distributing the rest to herself, Deimos and Ceres.

When I bit in, instead of sugar, I tasted salt. Looking up in surprise and seeing no change in the expression of Deimos and Ceres, except for pleasant, enjoyable ones, I realized that this was aimed at me.

Locking gazes with her, I deliberately ate the rest of the salty confectionary as nostalgia assaulted me. The night of our engagement, Phobos had similarly cooked this dish for us and in her nervousness, switched sugar with salt. Then too, I had tried my best to soldier on through the taste without letting it show on my face.

This was a message from her. No matter how many wives I had, she had come first. With my eyes I tried my best to convey silently that I knew.

Her eyes softened and she passed me a glass of water before serving me another one she had kept hidden.

This time, it was sweet.

After the early dinner, Deimos drew all three of us to the bedroom. Looking down at her feet, Ceres followed bashfully.

Entering the room, I was stunned as nostalgia struck once again.

The décor was a spitting image of the one in which I had consummated my relationship with Phobos and Deimos on the night of our engagement.

By the time I had recovered my wits, Deimos had dragged Phobos to the door and was pulling it open to leave.

When I made to speak, she shushed me and looked at me seriously, “Master, you’ve always felt guilty for being so harsh on us the first time. So, I wanted to give you a chance to remedy your regret. Tonight, is a night for two people. Treat Ceres-chan well, ya?”

I was moved. She cracked into a smile, “Don’t make that face, ya.” She hugged Phobos. “Phi-Phi will be enough for me tonight.”

Before I could stop her, she was gone, locking the door from the outside. I sighed. Truly, the girl was like the wind. I couldn’t help but smile and shake my head.

The room was silent except for the sound of our breathing, mine, the intensity of bellows at a forge, hers the susurration of wind through leaves.

We sat side by side on the bed, her shoulder brushing against my arm as the mattress caved under our weight. Through the ephemeral contact, I could feel the tension in her muscles. She was nervous and truly, I was too.

So, I did the only thing I could: I waited. Like a fisherman awaiting his catch, I let my mind wander, letting time soothe her nerves. I was rewarded by the halting touch of her fingers against mine where both of our hands rested on the bed.

Responding slowly, I spread my fingers apart, letting her mesh hers with mine. Through them, I could sense the tension slowly draining away from her as she grew more comfortable in my presence, until her shoulder leaned against my arm and her head was resting on my shoulder.

We sat there, immersed in the pulse of the others’ blood through their body, feeling our rhythms synchronize as the markings on our feet grew warmer upon our skin. The smoky mana divided within our mindscapes grew restless with the desire to become one again. The infinitesimal separation of our clothes was a distance too far.

We turned, synchronized by our need for closeness, her watery gaze touching mine. Cupping her chin, I raised her face bringing my lips down upon hers. After a panicked widening of her eyes, they fluttered closed as she gave in to the intimacy and responded on her own.

It was a halting, exploratory touch, her soft lips exploring mine as I held still and let her. Her inexperience was tempered by her bookish knowledge of the lustful arts as she soon grew emboldened by my acceptance and correspondingly more adventurous.

I felt her tongue slip out and lick my lips, hesitantly at first, then with more vigour, until she pried them apart, inexpertly exploring my mouth.

I enjoyed every moment of her explorations as she tasted my teeth and ran the tip of her tongue over my gums. At one point, she even tried writing letters on them, making me wonder what kind of literature she had been perusing.

In the course of our extended kiss, she supported more and more of her weight on me until her chest was pressed against mine while one of her hands clutched my clothing over my shoulder. The other still entwined with my hand.

Aroused by the softness of her body, I was pushed past the limits of my patience when the little vixen finally tried to pry apart my teeth. I had given her enough time to play. It was my turn.

Reversing my grip on her hand, I locked it behind her on the small of her back, crushing her body against mine as I grasped the nape of her neck with the other, preventing her escape. She had willingly entered the den of the beast. Now, she would pay the price.

Her eyes snapped open at the sudden reversal of offensive as my tongue trapped hers within my mouth. I tasted her flavour: smoked cinnamon. A spicy taste that was reflected in the scent of her mana as her incense flame responded to her mood, her lust.

Invading her mouth, I showed her how it was done, scoring lines on her palate with the tip of my tongue, causing her to shiver with each movement, clutching me ever tighter.

After a long moment I drew back, leaving her red lips mildly swollen from the rough touch. She gasped for breath during the momentary reprieve as she supported her weight on me. I let go of the nape of her neck and pulled out the pin in her ceremonial bun, letting her silky reddish brown, almost black hair cascade down her back and over my arm. With finesse born of years of practice with Phobos, I entwined my fingers in her hair, careful to cause it no harm.

Pulling her head back by her hair, I laid my lips upon her neck and for the first time during our intercourse, she moaned. The sound was ethereal, soft, dreamlike. I didn’t like it, I wanted it to be more visceral, more real.

I wanted the pleasure to drag her out into reality. I was aroused and my member responded to my call.

Feeling its hardness against her stomach through the impediment of the layers of clothes, she stiffened slightly before relaxing into my grasp. It was all the permission I needed.

Standing and pulling her up with me, I let go of her hand and swiftly tugged my shirt over my head, throwing it away, baring my torso. Staggering at the sudden movement, Ceres nearly fell back onto the bed before steadying herself by latching onto my arm.

Stepping close, I grabbed one end of her obi and pulled, tugging the sash off, causing her kimono to fall open.

There was nothing underneath, except a bellyband and a loincloth. Her mother had been thoughtful. I had no idea whether I would have been able to keep her wedding attire whole if it wasn’t so simple. Soon, she was naked, her porcelain skin on full display as she shyly hid her chest with an arm and obscured her crotch with a palm and her tails.

There was a red flush of embarrassment clearly visible through her un-sunned skin that began at her cheeks and ran all the way between her moderate breasts.

Pulling the drawstrings of my pants, I let them drop, releasing my lower half and she took an involuntary step back at the sight of the erect member she had only read and fantasized of through her books. The real thing had matched her expectations and then some.

Unfortunately for her, stepping back caused the back of her knees to hit the edge of the bed and she fell backwards with a soft squeal, her hands flying apart to brace her fall. Instead of having the intended effect, all it did was reveal her to me, and cause her breasts to bounce as her back hit the soft mattress.

I leaned over her, pinning her wrists to the bed, preventing her from covering herself as I bent down and stole her lips again.

Moving down from her lips, I trailed kisses down her cheek, chin, neck, clavicle, and chest till my lips closed over her right nipple, eliciting a moan. I licked her nipple, each caress of my tongue causing it to harden until I was able to lightly bite down upon the nub of flesh.

That elicited a much stronger response, her moan transforming into a surprised squeal. Good.

Repeating the process for her other nipple, I moved downwards, trailing kisses down her soft, flat stomach.

She shuddered and squirmed from the embarrassment and stimulation but my hands were iron hoops around her wrists, shackling her to the bed.

Her protests grew more vocal as my lips found her lower ones. Then my tongue found her clit and she grew incoherent.

I kept an eye on her face as I continued my ministrations. Watching her expressions change from mortification to confusion to lustful abandon was extremely arousing for me and my penis was rock hard.

I felt her body respond, growing hotter as she grew moist, her breathing more and more erratic, resembling a gale through a forest. As her body shivered under the storm of her newly awakened lust, I noticed her eyes squeezing shut.

Standing up, I stepped forward, lined myself up and entered her in one smooth motion. I felt momentary resistance and then I was through.

Her eyes flew open in shock as a gasp escaped her and her insides clamped down upon me belatedly. Her wide eyes met mine as her chest heaved and I let go of her wrists, grasping her hands instead.

She slowly settled down and a single tear trailed down from the corner of her eye as the pain slowly faded. Leaning down to lick off the tear, I felt the salty taste on my tongue before straightening and slowly withdrawing from her.

She hissed and winced slightly from the pain as I drew out of her. There was only a smidgen of blood, a long cry from the bloody horror that was Deimos’ deflowering.

Sighing in relief, I smiled at her as I left her and walked over to the headboard, using the prepared white adsorbent cloth there to wipe off the blood and sexual fluids.

Folding the cloth, I walked up to and invested it into the ornamental brazier on the stand in the corner of the room, the smoke from it mixing into the air, declaring our bond to the world.

Throwing the window open, I let the smoke escape before extinguishing the smokeless torch and turning back to the darkened room.

The shadow mana in my mind boiled over, suffusing my eyes, making my view of the room unimpeded. Ceres had raised her upper body, propping herself up on her elbows as she tried and failed to follow my form in the dark with her widened eyes.

I smiled as I strode up to her and lifted her into a princess carry eliciting a soft squeal before falling into the bed and drawing the light blanket over our naked forms. Spooning her and pressing her back against my chest, I held her to me by an arm around her stomach, my chin resting on top of her head as my other arm pillowed her face.

Unable to find release, I was still hard but I didn’t want to demand more from her on the first night. I didn’t want to hurt her.

We lay there in silence for a time, feeling the other’s heartbeat and warmth till her soft voice cut the silence.

“I-is it over?”

“Yeah.”

Pushing her backside softly against my erection, she said, “You must be uncomfortable. Umm. I can still go on… you know?”

Her cheek felt hot against my arm and I chuckled, “Worry not.” Hugging her tighter, I said, “We have a lifetime together ahead of us, there is time for that yet. A lot of time.”