Page 8

A week had passed since our wedding night when Tarrak first approached me about learning to ride one of the huge stags, I shook my head and said, “Oh, no.

Absolutely not.”

“It’s too far to try to ride double with someone all the way to the Dokkalfar territory.

It will tire out the stag too much.

It’s much better for you to have one of your own.

I have arranged some lessons for you, and you can get started right away.”

“No.

I’m afraid of those things, and they roll their eyes at me and grunt when they see me.”

“You merely have to show them who’s boss.”

“No.

I don’t want to.”

“You don’t have to be afraid of them.

They’re intelligent animals and I’ll have a word with the one I choose for you.”

I smiled despite myself.

“Oh, and you think that will do it? You having a word with him?”

“Of course.

I’m his king.

He wouldn’t dare disobey me.

Though, in the meantime, I’ll have someone come by to get you in the morning so you can begin your riding lessons. Just in case you forget or try to hide from me. You have a couple of weeks before we leave, so you have plenty of time to learn.”

“How is two weeks plenty of time to learn how to ride and get one of those huge beasts to go where I want him to go? What if I can’t get him to go the right way?”

“You’re riding him, Pavel, he’s not riding you.

He already knows what to do and where to go.

All you have to do is hold on.

Now put on your coat and come outside. On second thought, it’s best to start your lessons right away.”

I glared at him and he laughed, patting my shoulder.

He left and I put my coat and hat on, preparing to go out.

I opened the door and Lord Juul was passing with another councilor.

He stopped, leaned over to murmur something in the other man’s ear, and then came over to me.

“Where are you going?”

“Tarrak wants me to learn to ride one of those beasts of yours.”

He smiled and fingered a strand of my hair that had escaped my hat.

“I think it’s a good idea.

It’s a long way to the Dokkalfar territory and too far to ride double.

You’d have to change riders frequently, and I don’t like that idea.”

“Oh, you don’t?”

“No.”

He pulled me over to brush his lips against mine, but a quick kiss turned into something much more as he deepened it and then devoured my mouth.

I clung to him helplessly until he pushed me back in my room and against the nearest wall, stripped my trousers off me in record time, even for him, and pulled me up to straddle his hips and ride his cock.

I guess he was intent on making sure I got all the “rights”

I had coming to me as Tarrak’s consort—or maybe he was trying to cram a lifetime of them into just seven days.

I didn’t feel sad about my impending doom.

I didn’t believe I was doomed, really.

I made my bargain with the king, decided on a course of action, and now I was determined to give the king a potion to make him fall in love with me so I could change his mind about giving me so cavalierly to the Dark Elves.

With the help of the love potion, as powerful as I could make it, I would be able to prevent this madness and find my way back to my home. I couldn’t allow myself to dwell on what would happen if my plan failed.

Much later, after Juul had left and I cleaned myself up, I went outside to the courtyard to find it full of soldiers and their stags.

They had saddled them up to go on some training exercise or other, as they did most mornings since I’d been there, and were preparing to leave through the main gates.

Tarrak’s army was exceedingly well-trained, and they should have been, since they spent all their time either training or hunting or fighting some incomprehensible battle with the other denizens of this world.

Some days it was rampaging goblins, or other days, it might be a raid by a band of crossroad demons, or maybe banshees or another incursion of the ogre army of Tarrak’s disgruntled half-brother.

So many to slay, so little time.

Tarrak and Juul were there in the courtyard as I arrived, standing near the bottom of the steps.

They looked up at me as I came out, and though I blushed so hard at the sight of Juul that my cheeks burned like fire, he stared at me as calmly as if he hadn’t just minutes ago had me up against the wall impaled on his cock, leaving my legs wobbly and my heartbeat still not back to normal.

Juul was holding the reins of a huge, shaggy-haired beast of a stag with twelve-pronged horns, and he gestured toward it.

“Here is your new stag, Pavel.”

“You can’t be serious,”

I said, taking a quick step backward up the steps.

The king came over to me and took my hand to pull me down beside him.

“He’s a perfect choice.

He’s not too young and won’t have his head turned by some pretty young doe.

All you have to do is show him who…”

“Who’s boss.

Yes, yes, I know your theories.”

I took a deep breath and went over to stand beside the massive animal.

We stared at each other for a long moment, and the creature himself broke the standoff by making a huffing noise at me and opening his mouth to show me his teeth.

I jumped back nervously, and the king sighed.

“I seem to remember you bragging to me that you were able, by means of…what did you call them? Oh yes, ‘secret charms.’ By means of those you could convince all creatures to do as you say.

How did that go? Ah yes, ‘all creatures living beneath the sun, all creatures that creep or swim or fly or run.’ Well, then,”

he said, crossing his arms.

“Show me.

Demonstrate to me your awesome, wizard-like powers.”

“First I’d need my pipes,”

I said, putting my nose in the air.

“By all means.”

He signaled one of the soldiers guarding the door.

“Please go and retrieve the consort’s instrument.

His servants will show you where it is.”

The soldier hurried off, and I continued to glare at both Tarrak and Juul, who returned my look with composure.

When the soldier returned, he handed Tarrak my panpipe and Tarrak turned to me with a flourish and a slight bow.

“Here you are, Pavel.

Now, please demonstrate for us these secret charms. I confess I’m agog to see them.”

One might think that I’d already “demonstrated”

for Tarrak, after my song and my playing of the pipes had healed him and all his soldiers wounded from the ogres’ arrows, restoring him and others to good health quickly.

But he hadn’t actually seen me playing with his own eyes, and he kept insisting he hadn’t been that hurt anyway.

Elves, particularly Quendi, were known to be a suspicious and non-trusting lot.

I had discovered since I had been with them that they really believed only what they could see or touch. And while the king was mostly teasing me, there was also a challenge in his tone. If I did happen to possess the power I’d bragged about, I would be quite the asset to him. Maybe enough to make him think twice before handing me over to the Dokkalfar king.

I closed my eyes and began to play a little tune I used to play for my grandmother’s sheep when I brought them in from the field.

There was a legend my grandmother had told me once about an ancient god who once blew on his reed pipes, and out came a tune so wild and yet so coaxing that the birds hopped down from the trees to come near and listen.

The squirrels came running from their holes, and the very trees swayed as if they wanted to dance.

The fauns laughed aloud in joy as the melody tickled their furry little ears, and anyone who heard it thought it was the sweetest music in the world. I concentrated on what that tune must have sounded like as I walked around and around the huge stag, who rolled his eyes at me as I moved, playing my panpipes.

I deliberately turned my back on him and began walking toward the gates in the courtyard to see if he would follow, and at length I heard a slight sound behind me.

Hoping it was the stag following the sound of my pipes, but not wishing to embarrass myself in case I turned around and he wasn’t there, I closed my eyes and made the tune even louder and sweeter.

I put everything I had into it, and I was concentrating so hard on the music that I believe I fell into a kind of trance.

I actually felt like that ancient old god, coaxing the birds down from the trees. I only snapped out of it as I came up against the closed gates and bumped right into them, banging my forehead. I ended the lilting little tune abruptly, and it was only then I became aware of all the shouting and commotion going on behind me.

I turned in confusion to find that not only had my stag followed me, but so had every stag in the courtyard.

They were milling around behind me, some fifty or more of the big beasts, and all stomping their feet and trying to press closer to me.

I began to think—belatedly, I admit—that I might be in some danger if they decided to crowd in any closer or God forbid, try to charge me.

Then I saw Juul wading through the herd, shoving them aside, slapping their flanks and telling them to “Get by,”

in a loud, commanding voice.

The other soldiers were fanned out behind him, searching through the crowd for their own animals and pushing and shouting at the others as well.

Now that the music had stopped, a few of the stags were looking around as if wondering how they’d gotten there in the first place.

Juul reached me and swung me up into his arms, carrying me out of the crush like I was a bride. I was embarrassed and shoved at his chest to be let down.

Naturally, he ignored me and carried me back over to the steps of the palace to plunk me down on my feet.

“What were you thinking?”

he shouted down in my face.

“You led them deliberately to a closed gate and then stopped playing your pipes.

You could have been trampled to death!”

“I-I wasn’t thinking.

I just closed my eyes and concentrated on getting my stag to follow—not all those others.”

Around us the soldiers were pulling their stags back across the courtyard, casting me long, frightened looks.

One of them brought the huge stag the king had chosen for me back over and handed the reins to Juul with a bow before he cast me one more look and backed quickly away.

“Why did he stare at me that way?”

I asked Juul wonderingly.

“Is he afraid of me?”

“No doubt he is.

That was quite the display you put on.”

“But the king challenged me to see if the stag would do as I said and follow me.

I never meant for all of them to do it.”

“Oh, so now you’re blaming the king.

Looks to me like you need to work on your control.”

I was glaring back at him as Tarrak arrived from herding some of the wayward stags.

“I confess I didn’t truly believe you, but you do seem to be quite a powerful wizard.”

I admit I preened a little.

“Just as I said.”

The king smiled down at me.

“Yes, just as you said.

Very well, make friends with your beast then.

I’ll send someone over to instruct you on how to ride him. In the meantime, perhaps you should put those pipes away.”

I did as he asked and after he and Juul went away, Juul casting me looks that promised none of this was over, I spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon “making friends,”

as Tarrak said.

It became much easier after a soldier brought me a small bag of dandelions, aster, and violets for my stag to munch on.

He particularly loved the violets, so that’s what I decided to name him.

By the end of the day, I managed to be able to climb on his back and even ride him passably well. Mounting and dismounting continued to be problematic, but I still had several days to practice.

I petted Violet’s head, finding that he liked me to rub extra hard on a spot at the base of his horns.

I promised him I’d bring him some jewels to decorate his antlers the next day, and then went back inside to find myself some food.

Of course, it wasn’t that easy.

Juul came by to shout at me about how reckless I’d been—and push me up against the wall again to have his wicked way with me.

He felt so strongly about it in fact that he reminded me vigorously how reckless I’d been two or three more times that night.

It was usually up against a wall, or with me bent over a table, when we had a perfectly good bed right there in the room.

And all with the king’s blessing.

I couldn’t get over how odd these people were, with their deranged ideas of bargains made and accepted.

****

We left for the Dokkalfar territory about two weeks later, as promised.

Riding in a long column on the narrow trails, as was the Elven custom, I was fourth in the group, behind the king, Lord Juul, and another of the king’s councilors, Lord Talbert.

I had decorated Violet’s antlers with red and green jewels and a few strands of braided ribbon.

He was very handsome, and I think he knew it.

I didn’t think the king had actually had a talk with my new stag, but since the day I’d played my pipes for him, Violet hadn’t tried to bite me, which I thought was a huge step forward in our relationship.

I noticed a few of the soldiers giving me sidelong looks, but they were too frightened of the king and of Juul to say anything.

It was common knowledge around the palace that Juul was sleeping with me, and it seemed to be perfectly accepted.

Again, these people were not at all like us mortals. Oh, they gossiped just as badly, but they weren’t at all offended by the things that would scandalize a mortal, and heartily offended at something we wouldn’t even think twice about.

Fairies were even worse.

I’d once heard of a spiteful farmer who tried hard not to spill a drop of milk as he carried his pails in from the barn because spilled milk was something the fairies considered a treat.

When this went on for several years, the fairies got fed up and punished him by taking the man’s child from his bed one night and putting a changeling in his place.

I was trying hard not to think about the fact I might be riding to my death, but the trail was long, and with no one to talk to, my mind wandered there again and again.

We rode the whole of one long day, stopping only to rest the reindeer and let them feed at midday.

When we stopped, Juul came to sit next to me, and we ate huge quantities of the food I was beginning to get used to.

It was delicious and filling, and Juul had told me it was necessary in the icy cold weather for the soldiers to eat a great amount of food to “keep up their strength.”

I thought again that if I lived here with these people for long, I’d grow much too fat and lazy.

If I lived that long, that is, what with the king or the other Lords always making mad bets and bargains that probably included slaying dragons or going on impossible quests, maybe using me for my wizarding skills and expecting me to tag along.

When we finally stopped for the night, it was growing dark, and I looked around myself nervously.

It looked like just more of the endless white forest, only with much more whirling snow.

It was bitterly cold, and the dark pine trees covered in snow stretched endlessly in every direction.

The sky did hold the gleam of stars overhead though, and the river—the one we’d been riding beside most of the day—was frozen solid, shining black as glass.

The soldiers set up camp quickly, and before long, there were warm fires built to help keep the cold at bay, and temporary dwellings consisting of wooden racks or thin curved poles, covered with deer hides and furs.

I shouldn’t have been amazed at how quickly they’d been built, though I was becoming so accustomed to their magic that this hardly even qualified as such.

It seemed to me they only used their magic on practical things for themselves, like building fires and structures like these.

Before long, the soldiers were all casting dice and eating and drinking heavily.

As some of the fires they built died down, they took coals from them and buried them under a thick layer of dirt they dug from the frozen ground with sticks on top of that dirt.

Then they placed their thick furs on top of these buried coals and the beds they made were surprisingly warm.

Afterward, we ate our evening meal.

Juul brought it to me with his own hands and sat down beside me to eat.

Again, the meal consisted of cold meats and cheeses, along with many bottles of the blood red wine the Quendi seemed to favor.

After we’d eaten, the king stood up and looked out toward the frozen river, rubbing his hands together. “Juul,”

he called over to him.

“It’s a beautiful night for ice skating.

The moonlight makes it almost as bright as day.”

“That it does,”

Juul replied.

“Pavel, would you like to go skating with us?”

I knew about ice skating, of course, but I’d never had the time for anything like that, even as a boy.

I’d seen the children of our village out on the frozen lakes and ponds, with the metal runners tied to their shoes.

It looked like fun, but I knew it was much more difficult than the skaters made it look.

“I would, but unfortunately I don’t have any skates with me.”

“Not a problem,”

Tarrak said, laughing.

“Because we’re not using any.

We’re just going to slide across the surface.”

Juul laughed at the expression on my face, and I was so charmed to see the rare sight, even if he was laughing at me, that I smiled at him and let him pull me into his arms.

He was so seldom amused or happy about anything.

Tarrak had told me it was just his way, but I used every chance I could to make him smile because it lit him up from inside.

There was a great deal of laughter and shouting as many of the soldiers came with us to the river to slide across its slick surface. I knew the Elves had proper skates with metal runners to cut the ice, but I supposed they obviously wouldn’t take them along on a trip like this one, where they might be expected to do battle. Instead, they eagerly slid and glided on just their boots or even their backsides across the smooth, frozen expanse of the river and seemed to be having a wonderful time judging by all their laughter and loud shouting.

Juul assured me over and over of the ice’s thickness and the impossibility of falling through.

I was glad of the moon going behind a cloud though, because I’d looked down at my feet and had seen the black water moving silently and sluggishly underneath the thick ice.

Or at least I fancied I did, and with my imagination, that was just as bad.

I clutched Juul’s arm even tighter and held onto him for dear life. I wasn’t nearly as graceful as the Elves.

After a while, when nothing happened and no one fell through, Juul coaxed me into easing up on his arm and simply holding his hand.

I grew more confident because it really was fun, and Juul went nice and slow for me so I wouldn’t fall.

Then the king came gliding over, stopped in front of us with a flourish, and held out his arms to Juul.

“Let’s dance, Juul!”

he shouted, and laughing, he grabbed Juul and spun him away from me into a wild dance on the ice.

Their faces were fierce as they laughed out loud, yet beautiful in that uncertain light.

I made my way back over to the shore and stood watching them twirl and slide with abandon.

It looked a bit more like they were in some athletic competition than dancing, but they were both so beautiful it was something to see. I pulled out my pipes to play a little polka for them, and they looked over at me and laughed even harder, redoubling their efforts. A few of the other soldiers joined in dancing together on the ice or watching and clapping their hands from the shore in time to the music.

Soon there were perhaps ten couples out on the ice.

Around and around the dancers spun, their long coats flying around their legs and fanning out behind them.

To and fro, up and down the frozen river they went, and I’d never seen anything like it.

They were all so beautiful with the moonlight shining down on them, and I put back my head and looked up at the stars, shining like diamonds in the sky above us and glistening on the surface of the river below. I knew this was a moment I’d remember all my life. My song ended, and they stopped dancing, holding their sides, out of breath from their exertions. Juul took a running slide toward me and swept me into his arms to pick me up and twirl me around. We fell down laughing in the snow, and he kissed me until we were both beyond breathless.

Juul finally helped me up and took me to the tent we’d be sharing with the king and the other councilor, Lord Talbert.

He made me take off my clothes, though I felt self-conscious to lie so close to Juul with the king nearby.

He said we’d stay warmer if we shared body heat, so I did as he asked and dived under the heavy furs.

Juul pulled me into his arms and held me close when he finally crawled in beside me.

“What’s the matter?”

he whispered in my ear as I stiffened when he wrapped himself around my naked body.

“Are you shy? No one can see you, and both the king and Talbert are perfectly aware that we sleep together, Pavel, and of the other things we do together.”

“I know.

But it’s embarrassing.”

“It doesn’t embarrass me in the least.”

“Not you,”

I hissed at him.

“It’s embarrassing for me.”

“Oh.

I don’t see why.”

“No, I’m sure you don’t.

But trust me, it is.”

He gave a heavy sigh against my ear.

“Mortals,”

he said in a disgusted tone.

But he pulled me up closer and buried his nose in my hair.

“But don’t worry.

I won’t hold it against you. Well, I’ll hold some things against you,”

he said and laughed softly as he ground his hips on me.

“Go to sleep now,” he said with a sigh.

“Stop tempting me.”

“Me?”

I whispered furiously.

“It’s you, who…”

“Yes, yes, go to sleep now, Pavel.

We still have a long way to go tomorrow and you need your rest.”

****

The next day dawned clear but exceedingly cold.

I did possess a few skills, but unfortunately enduring the cold wasn’t among my accomplishments.

I had been raised in a cold climate, but I always had indoors close by and a warm fire in the winter to huddle around.

I didn’t tolerate the cold too well, despite my heavy furs. By the time we stopped for the day, the sun had gone down behind dark clouds and the snow had started up in earnest. I was beginning to shake so violently I was afraid I would fall off Violet. Juul came up beside me and peered down into my face.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“I’m f-freezing.”

He pulled off my gloves and chafed my hands between his and then took me over to where one of the fires had been started.

“Sit down next to the fire and get warm.

The tents will be up soon.”

“Is this where the Dark Elves live?”

“No,”

Juul replied, leaning over to brush his lips against my ear.

“But we’re on their lands now.

Do you remember passing through the Ice Poles a way back?”

“Yes, of course.”

“That was the Quendi boundary.

We’re on Dokkalfar land.

We’ll stop here for the night.

We’ll be there maybe in the morning before midday.”

King Tarrak came over to us and to my surprise, he sat down next to me, pulled me into his arms, and kissed me soundly.

Then he put his face down close to mine and murmured to me when I tried to push him away.

“We’re no doubt being watched.

From now until we meet the Dokkalfar, we need to convince them that you are, indeed, my beloved consort. Whenever we’re outside in the open, you will conduct yourself as a proper, loving consort.”

I turned my head to look up at him, and his beautiful, otherworldly face was close enough to kiss.

He must have thought mine was too because he lowered his face and brushed my lips with his, sending a tingle all through me.

His lips had been surprisingly warm…but they weren’t Juul’s lips.

I glanced over at Juul to find him watching us closely with absolutely no expression at all.

Later, we ate our dinner and the king fed me tidbits off his own plate.

After a while, the king got up and held a hand out to me.

I took it, glancing over at Juul, who was staring into the fire and wouldn’t look at me.

The king took my arm and led me over to where his men were drinking around a huge blaze. It was already as tall as I was, so they were no doubt using some of their magic to fuel it, and it was sending out great blasts of heat and plumes of smoke.

Juul suddenly came up beside me.

“Tarrak wants to make sure they know we’re here.”

I looked up at the towering fire.

“That ought to do it.”

I bumped his side and whispered to him.

“I missed you at supper.”

“It looked like Tarrak was taking good care of you.”

“You know that’s not what I want though.”

He glanced over at me, but the king came to put an arm around me and led me toward our tent.

The nearby trees were still rimmed with frost and coated in ice.

I shivered and he smiled down at me.

“Does the cold bother you so much?”

“I’ve never liked it.”

“Then I must keep you warm and wrapped in furs.”

I looked up at him, and he stepped closer, crowding me against a massive tree trunk next to the tent.

“Shhh,”

he whispered.

“Don’t look toward the trees, but we’re being watched.”

My breath caught and I nodded, dying to look but heeding what he was saying.

“We must give them a show, Pavel—something they can take back to their king.”

I looked up into Tarrak’s face, made nervous and shy by his closeness, knowing what was coming yet still surprised and uncomfortable when his mouth came down on mine, gently at first and then more fiercely as the kiss deepened.

He pulled me against him and ground his hardness into me, and after the first shocked moment, I tried to push him away, but his chest was like stone.

He wrapped his arms more closely around me, and I was trapped, unable to move against his rock-hard embrace.

All I could think about was whether or not Juul might be watching, and what was he thinking? Would he be angry? Or was I ascribing the mortal feelings that I had to these Elves? The king fastened his lips on mine and pried them open with his tongue, turning the kiss into a passionate mauling, but one I didn’t enjoy in the least.

Meanwhile the assault on my mouth continued.

He invaded with his tongue, pushing me farther back against the tree.

I gasped into the kiss and he put his other hand on my ass, pulling me flush against him.

I could feel his hard ridge of flesh even through the furs. I didn’t think that erection was for me in particular. Tarrak was young—or young for an Elf—and still vigorous in body and spirit. I think all the kissing had aroused him, but it was no more than that.

I had only been kissed like this before by Juul, and I had to say I much preferred Juul’s attentions.

My previous encounter with a man had been rushed and never lent itself to more than those few and comparatively chaste kisses.

The king dug his fingers in my hair, knocking my cap to the ground, and pulled my face up to look into those blue, icy eyes.

I felt his hand under my clothing, insinuating itself down into my new trousers.

I pushed him then and the hell with any onlookers.

He stopped his assault immediately and grinned down at me.

“You can’t fault me for trying, can you? I’ve decided you’re very pretty after all, Pavel.

Despite the black hair.”

“I understand the need for playacting, Your Majesty, but that doesn’t give you the right to…do whatever it is you’re thinking.

You gave those rights to Lord Juul, you may remember.

Fairly offered and…”

“And now you throw my words back in my face.

Oh, very well.

Juul does seem rather fond of you, and he’s my very good friend, as well as my chief councilor.”

We were still in each other’s arms and a casual observer would think we were making love talk between us.

“Perhaps we could go into the tent now, sir.

It’s bitterly cold out here.”

“Yes, of course, we’ll go inside—we’ve put on enough of a show for tonight.”

We both ducked inside the fur-covered tent, and he left me to go over to his own bed, while I sat on top of the furs that Juul and I used, waiting for him.

King Tarrak was making preparations to sleep, but he called softly to me.

“You should get some sleep now.

We’ll be here with you, so there’s no need to be afraid of anything.

Try not to worry about what’s going to happen tomorrow.

I’m going to talk to Juul, and we’ll make our plans.”

“First, sire, you should drink my potion—the one you promised you would.”

He looked confused for a moment, but I knew he was a good actor, and I didn’t let him off the hook.

“You promised, Tarrak.”

“Oh, very well.

Though I really don’t see the need.

I can act sorrowful if I need to.”

I gave him a long look and he caved in, though.

“All right.

But I’ll take it in the morning.

It will work just as well then.”

“Just remember, you’ll fall in love with me, but the feelings will be false.

Try not to act on them until we’re in front of this other king.”

My plan for him wasn’t complicated.

In the morning, if the potion I gave him seemed to be working, then I’d strongly suggest to him that this was all way too dangerous, and we should just turn around and go back to the palace.

And I’d pray that he’d do as I asked, and that his “love”

for me would be stronger than his silly notions of honor.

After that…actually there was no after.

I hadn’t exactly planned that far ahead.

But I’d figure something out—some reason for him not to take the antidote until I was already safe at home with my newfound wealth.

As for Lord Juul…well, I had no idea what to do about Lord Juul. I couldn’t even stand to think about it now. I decided I’d think about it later.

First things first, though.

I had to save my own life.

Even though I’d only had one glass of the wine at the evening meal, I found myself to be incredibly sleepy but determined to wait up for Juul.

While I waited, though, I thought about my plan.

I had no doubt that Tarrak meant what he’d said and would try his best to save me, even though he was the one surrendering me up in the first place.

But I also knew that King Tarrak, this Dark Elf King, and even Lord Juul would follow whatever insane rules governed their settlement of a debt of honor among the Elves. I imagined impossible quests were meant to be involved and maybe an epic war or two. And I’d still be just as dead at the end of it all.

No, I’d be much better off if my plan worked.

By the time the king retired to his pile of furs, it was growing late, and I wondered where Juul could be.

I was ready for whatever would come in the morning, and all I could do was hope my plan would work.

I needed Juul’s arms around me though to help calm my fears.

Not for the first time, I was aware of how uncomfortably close we all had to sleep, even though this was the largest tent.

In a few minutes, both Juul and Lord Talbert would arrive and though the extra body heat helped, I still longed to be back in the palace, alone with Juul.

I yearned to tell him my plan, but he was very much an Elven Lord, and I just couldn’t trust him with the knowledge.

It took only about five minutes for Juul and Talbert to arrive, and I found that Juul, though he acted the same as always, couldn’t or wouldn’t meet my eyes.

There was only one torch inside the tent for us to be able to navigate, and soon, Juul had doused it and crawled under the covers with me as Talbert found his own bed.

I lay next to Juul, aware that he was still awake, as I think he was aware of every move I made.

Still, I waited until I could hear the soft snores from the other two before I turned and snuggled up to him.

“Nothing happened except the kissing,”

I whispered to him.

“It might have looked as if it did, but nothing happened.”

“It’s all right, Pavel,”

he whispered back fiercely.

“The king is still your husband.

He is the king.

He can command and do whatever he…”

“No,”

I interrupted, just as fierce as he was.

My mouth was against his ear and I was trying desperately not to wake the king.

I had no desire to offend him, but I had to be clear.

“He does not have the rights to my body. He asked you to be his proxy, and besides, I gave my rights to you. Freely given, Juul.”

He lay still for a long moment and then I felt a shudder travel through his body.

He turned and clasped me in his arms.

I groaned when he slipped his hand beneath my clothes and put it on my cock, which was suddenly as hard as one of the ice poles, though not nearly the same temperature, and I surged toward him, wanting him to know I belonged only to him.

He murmured his approval in my ear as he pulled me even closer and fumbled with the clothes I was still wearing. He soon had my trousers off and swallowed my cock down, moving his tongue deliciously over the head and along the prominent vein. The suction of his mouth was loud in the small space, but it made me shiver from head to toe, and I pressed my mouth against my fist to keep from crying out.

He used the tip of his tongue to trace a thick vein on the underside of my cock, and his other hand reached up to cup my balls, testing their weight and then teasing them with just a touch of pressure.

His scent was delicious, sweet and spicy and exotic.

“I need to taste you,”

he moaned.

I was feeling swept away by his passion.

Breathing in the stuffy air inside the tent, loving the hard feel of his muscles and this feeling of being completely overpowered and at his mercy, not because he was forcing me, but because I had never felt passion for another person like this before.

I’d never felt anything like this before.

I wanted everything he was doing to me and though I wasn’t in charge of any of it, I wasn’t afraid.

I wondered if he’d mesmerized me somehow when he came to get me from my father’s house, because I should have been frightened out of my wits by him, but even then, I wasn’t.

In his own way, he was kind to me back then, wrapping me in furs and holding me close in front of him to share his body heat.

But I knew it wasn’t any kind of mesmerism he was using on me or had ever used.

He valued his honor too highly for any trick. His mouth and tongue stroked and sucked my cock as adoringly as if I were the first and last man to ever receive such a gift. He sucked me completely down his throat and made the most glorious moans I’d ever heard. I was glad of the furs that helped muffle our sounds, but I still wondered if we had awakened the king and the other Lord.

His hands dug into my ass, holding me in place.

With some unknown Elven language pouring from his lips like sultry music, he worshipped me.

His eyes raised to mine, and I expected them to darken with arousal, but they were no longer an icy blue, but a dark, flinty gray, nearly all hints of ice gone.

He gently squeezed my balls, and I began to spill my seed, groaning and begging him to never stop.

He murmured to me, almost humming the words, and I wanted him more than anything.

We’d been together before, but this feeling inside me now was something new.

Something out of the ordinary.

This was magical. I knew he’d stop if I asked him to, but I never wanted him to stop.

He turned me gently over, and slowly teased and filled me with his fingers while he lavished kisses on the nape of my neck.

He stroked me and murmured to me until I was groaning and begging him for more.

I felt his cock press against my buttocks, but he was mindful of my pleasure, and he didn’t try to breach me without any oil to ease his way.

Instead, he thrust himself between my thighs and reached around for my softened cock to move his hand in time to match the rhythm of his hips. I hadn’t thought I could get so hard again, but I did, almost immediately.

And through it all, his impossible, incomprehensible love words kept filling my ear so sweetly.

His thrusts seemed to go on and on, until he suddenly came so hard against me that he groaned aloud in my ear.

I began to follow him again, and he had to cover my mouth with his hand to muffle my screams.

He made gentle shushing noises in my ear.

For a long moment afterward, we lay there, tangled together and breathing hard, with me still trembling all over.

What filled me most with amazement was that he was trembling too.

Juul pulled me gently back against him, spooning me and holding my softened member in his hand, still stroking it with one hand while he gently kissed my shoulders, my ears, and the side of my neck. He tenderly rearranged the furs back over us.

“Are you all right? Did I hurt you?”

he whispered softly, and I shook my head.

“No, you didn’t hurt me.”

I looked up into his eyes, and I thought to myself, not yet anyway.

When I have to leave you…that’s when the hurt will come.

But for now, at least, I was in his arms.

I wouldn’t think any further than that. He snuggled me against him, and I soon fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.