Page 21 of Lady Elinor’s Elf

Late November, Tylwyth Teg Abbey

The Bedchamber of Sir Caleb Howell and his wife, Lady Elinor Howell

A huge sigh emanated from beneath the thick bedcovers.

“Are you well, Lady Howell?”

“Mmmm.”

“Are you sleeping?”

“No. Just catching my breath.”

Caleb chuckled, sympathising with his wife, since he was experiencing much the same thing. Every night since their marriage less than a month before, Caleb had taken Elinor to his bed and showed her everything she’d ever wanted to know about passion, desire, and the joys of love.

She’d embraced it all willingly, and given him back so much pleasure that sometimes when he looked at her, he had to pinch himself to make sure it was all real.

She stirred, and a bare arm appeared above the quilt. “Caleb?”

“I’m here.”

“Sometimes I find all this hard to believe,” her head appeared, gold curls tangled over the pillow.

He reached over to run his hands through the silk, smoothing out her hair. “We make our own magic, Elinor, just you and me. But perhaps sometimes a little of our friends’ magic leaks out and touches us?”

She sighed. “You may be right. After everything we’ve seen, I have no doubt that Tylwyth Teg now has some abilities we may never understand or see, but perhaps we feel them…”

Caleb pulled her close, loving the feel of her bare skin against his. “D’you think they’re happy? Settled?”

“Yes, yes, I do,” she replied. “We may not see them, but there is a sweet sort of lightness to the air around us. Have you noticed?”

“Well, it’s not raining as much, and the cellars are dry,” he observed.

Elinor sighed. “It’s more than that, trust me.

Perhaps when you’re outside in the new garden, just take a moment to stand there and feel the air.

” She paused for a moment. “You know, I really would like us to write that novel. Just as a straightforward fanciful novel, of course, but also to feel as if we’ve kept some of the story of the Tylwyth Teg alive for the future. Would you agree?”

“I do, love. I think that’s a wonderful idea. And since I know a good publisher...”

“Yes, oh yes, that’s right…” Elinor chuckled as she snuggled close. “You know, husband, I’ve been meaning to ask you...there’s one scene in chapter four of My Lady’s Servant …”

Caleb’s laugh rang out through the bedchamber. “Ohhh, darling. Yes, I know that scene” And he took his time proving the truth of that assertion, rendering Lady Elinor barely conscious after being very well loved indeed.

“If we have a child, my heart…?” he paused.

“Yes?”

“Will he or she inherit the gift, d’you think?”

“I don’t know, truly I don’t. And we may never know. I had no clue Papa had an elf friend. And such an important one, too.”

“I have to wonder if there will still be that gift for our descendants, since all’s been set right for the Tylwyth Teg. But it would be nice to think that someone in the future will have that strange link between our world and theirs.”

Elinor smiled. “Wouldn’t that be lovely?”

Caleb turned to her and cupped her face in his hand. “Almost as lovely as you.”

Then he kissed her again, and her mind emptied of everything but the pleasure she felt at the touch of her husband’s lips.

Before he finally slept, Caleb’s thoughts once again drifted to the future. A descendant, carrying parts of both himself and Elinor…what wonders would they see?

Then his mind settled, he tucked the covers round their shoulders, and turned to hold the woman who had claimed his heart. The future could take care of itself, he thought, as he drifted into sleep in the massive bed that they’d claimed for their own.

Right beneath the carved emblem of the Howell family... Libertas Est Omnia – Freedom and Home .

In the other Tylwyth Teg…

“Aelwyn, where are you?”

Bronwen slipped through a dewed spiderweb and found her mate sitting quietly amidst the flowers in the garden the elves had created. “What are you doing?”

“Just thinking.”

“May I join you?”

“Of course, love. Sit.” He moved over a little, and she saw the thick moss, which had created a lovely seat.

“Are you happy, Aelwyn?”

“Indeed yes,” he sighed. “Look around. We are home, our people are back where they belong.”

“And will we still keep watch over them ?” She nodded at the house, where few lights shone now, since it was past midnight.

“We owe them so much,” he answered quietly. “I cannot, in all fairness, even think about cutting that tie.”

“I’m so glad,” Bronwen leant on her husband’s shoulder. “Their firstborn will have much to learn.”

“Indeed.” Aelwyn sighed, “I cannot say for certain, Bronwen, but I can predict an interesting future lies ahead. For all of us.”

“I couldn’t agree more. Oh, by the way? I think…I’m not absolutely certain yet, but I think there might be a little surprise for us as well.”

Aelwyn straightened, looked at Bronwen in stunned silence, then swept her into his lap. “A new life? To be born here at Tylwyth Teg? Oh, Bronwen , miracles do happen, don’t they?”

She glanced at the house in the distance where her best mortal friend and her husband were sleeping, and smiled. “Yes. Yes, indeed they do…”

The End