“Oh.” My mind was a whirlwind. “That is a generous offer.”
“Indeed. The guard commander said he thought to propose you receive the property as a gift for services rendered to the crown but knew you would decline.”
“He was correct. I need no cows or vegetable gardens for repayment for doing what I vowed to do when I bent the knee to King Aelir.”
“Such a proud, noble man. So, those are the offers awaiting my reply. If you do not wish to further our affair, I shall be crushed but will understand. My decision to stay or go will be mine with no reflection on our relationship status, so do not allow guilt to weigh down your decision.” His hand cupped my jaw. “What say you, my dear? Are you willing to face the scorn of the nobles while we lark about as proud companions, daring the aristocrats to scorn us for being as one—dark and light—in broad daylight?”
There was a lengthy pause as I opened my heart fully, the barriers sealing out any deep emotions cracking. There was a rush of fear that quickly dissipated when I looked into beautiful amber eyes.
“Or shall we say goodbye now?” His query was weakly spoken.
That made me smile. The final rock fell to the earth. “I would lark about the whole of the world with your hand inmine, Teryn. My love for you is…I’m unsure how to put it into words, for I have spent a lifetime trying to avoid emotional entanglements.”
“Hearing you say that you love me is poetic enough, my dear, for I love you as well.” He moved closer, wiggling like a worm, until his belly rested against mine. I could feel the heat of his body through his riding clothes as well as the ridge of his hard cock. “Show me how you feel when the words struggle to break free. Idospeak several tongues quite well.”
I moved to him with speed, plastering my mouth over his, moving him to his back as I pressed him into the soft green earth. His lips parted with ease. I groaned at the taste of him—red tea and spice, the heat of the desert on his tongue as it slipped over mine. We wasted little time stripping off our clothes. The soft sounds of the horses grazing nearby mixed with the song of the dark green crickets and bulbous toads on the shore of the pond as I took our cocks in hand, both rigid and leaking, to bring us off in unison.
Teryn nipped at my lower lip as we rocked into my fist, slippery drops of arousal making the slip and slide that much better.
“You are a glorious man. I would have you every night in my bed, curled about me, sheltering me from the cold winds that blow in this land.” He cupped my ass as we rutted, his teeth nipping at my throat.
“It is never that cold here in Celear,” I reminded him as I thrust harder, pulling a gasp from him as his cock swelled and then spewed. The hot wash of his spend coated our shafts, easing my frantic drives so well that I felt my balls tighten in warning. I lowered my mouth to his, inhaling his pants, as white-hot pleasure erupted through me. My cock kicked, adding my seed to the mix, both of us humping madly to create a froth of semen. I licked deep into his mouth, raspy with my release,before my arm folded. I collapsed to the side, my prick leaving a wet streak over his hip as the ground caught me with a firm hand.
“It will be…cold for me,” he mumbled, his chest rising and falling as we lay side by side staring at the heavens. “I will require a coat. I have never owned one before. Even now, I feel chilled.”
I chortled. “It can be a thin one. We rarely see snow here as we are too far south.” He sighed with pleasure, like a cat filled with cream, before moving closer. I pulled him to my side. He burrowed in like a badger in its den. “Are you warm now?”
“Oh yes, quite warm. I think you shall have to be in my bed every night from this moment on lest I freeze.” He kissed my pectoral and then rested his cheek on my chest.
“We cannot have that.” I pressed my lips to his sweetly scented hair. “I shall warm you nightly to ensure we have no diplomatic upheavals.”
If only ensuring peace and goodwill between all elves was as joyously easy as holding this man close…
Ten passes of the sun
LIFE HAS A WAY OF BALANCING THE GOOD AND THE BAD.
The good things—the laughter of twins in the royal maze as their ward guardian flies above them guiding them along, the smile of a lover in the small hours of the morning, the purr of a cat as it curls upon your lap—just some of many joys that fate can bestow upon the common elf such as myself. As a counterweight to those good experiences are the bad—the wails of a wife as she watches her husband being banished, the cries of the hungry in the streets, and the death rattles of a family member—are a few of the miseries we all face.
Today, gathered in a large suite with the sea winds blowing in and the caws of gulls kiting over the ocean, we were gathered in Grand Advisor’s Umeris Stillcloud’s bedroom as the elderly head of the House of Stillcloud lay abed calling for his long-dead wife.
Aelir, Raewyn, V’alor, and Merrilyn were seated in plump chairs alongside the massive bed as my cousin and I lingered by the open balcony doors. The laughter of the twins floated up to us from time to time, making the old man smile when the giggles hit his long, pointed ears. The head cleric had just left the room, leaving his bags of potions—tonics that had done little to ease the confusion in the Grand Advisor’s mind—and hisincense. The royals were quiet, whispering to each other as they took turns holding Umeris’s wrinkled hands.
“He always enjoyed the twins’ visits,” Raewyn said as she crushed the damp handkerchief in her hand. “They brought him such joy. There is no greater happiness for the aged than that of the family they leave behind. The legacy of the Stillclouds shall live on for centuries and—”
Umeris coughed up a yellowish ball of mucus, his sight flying from the ceiling to the king seated at his side. “Aelir!” Umeris barked, his voice stronger than it had been for several trips of the moon sisters. “Ihdos states that to join him in the vast halls of knowledge, an elf must purge himself of his sins against others, for only with a barren soul can an elf attain true and eternal wisdom. My boy…” The old elf drew in a wheezy breath, his fingers seeking Aelir’s hand, his blue eyes seemingly clear.
“Grandfather, you have spoken to the exalted cloisterer just this morn,” Aelir patiently replied, his hand held tightly by his grandfather. “He assured you that you may move onto Ihdos’ side with a clear conscious for all of your transgressions have been—”
“That toad would tell me that my arse is festooned with pink peonies if he thought it would earn him more tithes from the coffers,” Umeris barked, his reply sharp as a rapier. He seemed to be having a moment of clarity, his wanderings in the past temporarily gone. I gave my cousin a long, sad look that he sent back. Now the queen’s personal guard, Rolim had moved up the ranks well, something that I was pleased to note. “I told him what he needed to hear, but now…now, I tell you that there is a black mark that needs to be cleansed before I join his most holy in everlasting peace.” Umeris glanced around the room, his gaze touching on all gathered briefly before settling on Aelir. The old elf began to cry, tears catching in the deep grooves onhis face, his sight locked on his grandson. “Aelir, my delight. The purest-blooded grandson. I am sorry for my deception but know that he was not worthy to wear the crown.”
“Grandfather,” Aelir said gently, thumbing some blond hair from his cheek, his other hand grasped in a death grip by his grandsire. “You fret over silliness. There is no need to worry over who wears the crown. I do, and so it will sit on my head for—”
“Gah! No, no, no! When he is found, he will fight you for it, for it is his right, but no…no…he is not the one who should be monarch. Recall that even though…I wish…the sins must be purged, but…but his blood is tainted, unpure, the foulness of human blood mingling with the elitest of elven blood.” Those around the bed all glanced at Merrilyn, a human herself, to shake their heads to say they did not feel as the ancient dying elf did. “He had to be sent away. I had to ensure that the Stillcloud name be clean…”
Aelir looked greatly confused. “Grandfather, you are bound in the past again. There is no other to worry over. There is just me to carry on the name, and my children, so you may—”
Umeris sat up in a rush, silver hair falling forward, his soft gray bed robes slipping off one shoulder as he shouted in Aelir’s befuddled face.
