by D. L. Carter
Whatever Halidan had expected when the High Lord first announced his intention of taking her as his lover had not included waiting, nervous and alone, in a small room while he did who knows what elsewhere. Halidan’s thoughts whipped her emotions to such a froth that by the time the High Lord tapped on her door she rose from her bed and charged out past him in a flurry of skirts saying, “Finally!”
Her bravado lasted until she passed Eioth in the corridor, then it vanished as if it had never been. She turned to face him, her eyes wide and hands fisted in her skirts as she stared up at him – helpless and confused.
He must have read something of her terror of the unknown, her vulnerability in her wide eyes as he stepped close and cupped her face in his hands, his thumb brushing across her lips.
“I feared this night would never come,” he whispered, “and now that it has I pray it never end.”
Halidan’s hands rose to grip his wrists. “Do not release me. I fear I shall run if you do.”
One corner of his mouth lifted as he enfolded her in his arms. “I have greater faith in your courage than you, it seems. Come, then.” Holding her hand tight in his he guided her down the corridor through a small antechamber containing – which sent a blush to her cheeks – a narrow bed, then into the ritual chamber.
The hexagonal room must have been the highest point of the House as there was nothing to be seen through the four tall windows, but the sky, darkening toward night. Standing before each window were shelves and tables filled with the debris of a high level Elemental magician. With gentle, but insistent pressure, Eioth drew her into the room. Instead of taking her immediately to the center of the Ritual area he escorted her around the perimeter of the room, pointing out interesting books, naming some of the more unusual devices, pausing whenever something caught her attention.
Eventually he halted near the only fireplace that was in use. In front of the fire were three large tubs, two metal, one wood, each half filled with thick liquids. Halidan wrinkled her nose at the metallic scent rising from the tubs and raised questioning eyes to the High Lord.
“Wait for me here,” he said and departed back into the antechamber.
On any other day, Halidan might have directed her attention to the book weighed down on the reading platform, or admired the tools and strange devices on the tables. Likewise, she could not bring herself to examine the map laid out on the floor. All her attention was caught by the three baths and the question of what was to happen next.
She wrapped her arms about her body even though with the warm summer air and fire, the room was not chilled.
When Eioth returned, he had discarded his usual clothing for a simple bronze robe that reached from neck to knee. The V collar exposed his chest almost to his navel and as he walked the fabric shifted revealing flat nipples paler than her own. Halidan could feel a blush burning its way up her neck. Previously all she had seen of the High Lord was his face and hands –when he removed his gloves to eat – and they had been strong enough and fair enough to leave her breathless. She had not until this moment appreciated his height or the breadth of his shoulders. Or, her breath caught and she glanced away, or the size of the tented area over his groin. Despite her reading, she still had no understanding of the mechanics of intimacy and now that the moment was here, she wished she could remain in ignorance. She clutched at the neck of her shirt as Eioth approached. Her suddenly weakened and shaking legs refused to carry her away.
“Dear Halidan, be at peace,” said Eioth, halting a short distance away and extending a hand toward her. “There is nothing to fear here.”
“There is you.” Halidan's gaze flicked down toward his groin, then up again and Eioth laughed.
“I should like to think of my shaft as a friendly weapon,” he said and took a few slow steps toward her until he could grasp her hand and loosen it from her death grip on her collar. “Come, little one.”
Eioth turned fully to face her and taking both of her hands, raised them to his lips. Kissing first one, then the other, he inclined his head toward her.
“Dear Halidan, I wish to thank you. Firstly, for consenting to become my lover.” He smiled when a shudder ran through her body and rubbed the knuckles of her hand against his cheek. “I value the gift. We shall take pleasure in each other's bodies and comfort in each other's company.”
Halidan's blush deepened and she tried to look away, but Eioth caught her chin and held her up. “I promise to hold you in good care,” he continued.
Halidan forced a thank you through strangely numb lips.
“As for the second, I thank you for agreeing to assist me with this Ritual. It is more important than you know.”
This was an area Halidan was more comfortable with. Had she not spent years drilling silly girls in Ritual duties?
“I have no magic,” she protested one more time. “I am not bonded to an Element.”
“So you said before and again I reassure you, your presence is sufficient.”
“I reviewed a copy of the Rituals this afternoon, High Lord. I could not find any Rituals that involve . . . nakedness or . . . intimacies.”
Eioth grinned at her. “Firstly, Eioth is my name, particularly when we are alone, and you will use it. Secondly, do you really think that a description of a naked Ritual would be discussed in a young child's schoolbook of public Rituals?”
She bit her lip before replying. “Well, no.”
“As you say, no. It would not be. Such things are recorded in more advanced texts. As for tonight, your part is easy enough. Have you memorized the chant I sent to you?”
Halidan nodded, closed her eyes, and repeated the complex chain of High Elvish words in the loud, firm tones she had tried to teach her students. Her voice echoed through the chamber and she blushed at the noise.
Eioth nodded approval.
“Excellent. Remember, it is important that the chant not stop or change no matter what happens to your body, including pleasure.”
“What is going to happen to my body?” Halidan gasped, panicked.
“I will pleasure you.” Eioth did not laugh, but continued to watch her with an expression of complete seriousness.
She tried to move away, but his hand curved around her neck and held her still as he rubbed his cheek against her scalp. The touch sent shivers through her body. No touch or word they had exchanged until this moment frightened or warmed her more. His fingers moved over the naked nape of her neck as a gentle touch becoming kisses, brief and warm. Forehead, eyelids, neck, it seemed that no part of the skin of her face would escape his caress, and light though they were, she felt their effect throughout her body. She hugged her arms across her chest and clenched her eyes shut, but made no move to escape his touch.
Alone with him in these strange surroundings all Halidan desired was escape, and yet it was to Eioth that she turned for security and comfort. She pressed against the warmth of his chest, filling her lungs with the scents of him. Fresh soap, male flesh, and strange odors she did not recognize, but it was a combination uniquely him. His arms tightened around her and she breathed in a scent like an open field after a lightning storm and somehow she knew that this was the scent of power and magic.
It was probably an illusion, but she felt safe in the circle of his arms, enclosed by his heat. She had feared that she would be brought into this room, stripped and mounted with as much formality and adherence to Ritual rules as would be found at any Solstice festival, but Eioth’s hands were gentle and he held her and swayed with her, his face resting on her headscarf as if there were all the time in the world and they the only creatures living.
She closed her eyes and placed a hand over his heart as the swaying became a circling dance. He pressed soft kisses on her head as they moved through the chamber. His hands drifted along the curves of her waist to rest on her bottom. The touch seared her flesh through her skirt as each step they took made her aware of his arousal separated from her body by a layer of thin fabric. Halidan raised her fac
e to his, pressing kisses against his jaw and chin until finally he claimed her mouth. There was a low rumble in his chest as his hand burrowed under the fabric of her shirt to claim her breast. Halidan gasped and pushed away, both hands braced against his chest.
My little one,” he whispered, his hands rising to frame her face, then drifting down he took both wrists, gently, and moved them away to work at loosening the ties of her blouse.
“No,” whispered Halidan.
“No?” he repeated. “Dear Halidan, to begin, we must bathe you. For that your clothing is not required.”
“I took a bath,” said Halidan quickly, regarding the contents of the tubs with deep suspicion.
“Not enough.” Eioth turned her and pulled her blouse free of her sash. Halidan clutched at the fabric and tried to move away. “Halidan, if I listed the ingredients you would not know them. Many are rare and expensive. I could tell you their magical properties and you would not understand. I might put my arm in to prove the liquid safe, but that would defeat the purpose as the baths were prepared for you and you alone. Trust me the baths are a necessary part of the magic.”
When still she hesitated, he pressed his lips to her neck, touching the tip of his tongue to her frantically beating pulse. The shock of that small, hot contact almost brought her to her knees. Eioth felt her begin to sag and his arms came around her, winding about her body under her breasts and he held her up, moving his tongue along the curve of her neck and shoulders, behind her ears while fire raced through her veins.
And just as suddenly, he stopped.
“Courage, little one,” he whispered against her cheek. “In the Ritual, your pleasure will be more. Compared to this touch it will be as a firefly to the sun. Only let me bathe you and prove my words are true.”
He turned her to face him, one hand moving over the soft fabric outlining her body, the other supporting her head and pulling her closer. His mouth claimed hers with the same gentleness as throughout the processional for a mere moment, then he passed his tongue over the seam of her lips compelling them open to receive him.
Halidan tried to push him away with her own tongue, but the brush of flesh against flesh had her gasping and opening her mouth to receive more. She pressed her body against his, the thin fabric moving over suddenly heated skin. Eioth's hands left her head to travel over curves and valleys. She barely noticed that he was gathering up the loose folds of her skirt until he stepped back and drew it up and over her head.
When Halidan reached to snatch it back he threw it across the room and seized her wrist.
“Do you require my assistance or shall you remove the rest?”
Halidan could not force her hand to move and waited, unresisting while Eioth discarded the remainder of her clothing, then stood before her smiling.
“Dearest Halidan,” he whispered as his eyes traveled over her naked form, “you are more beautiful than I hoped.”
Despite the fire, the air striking her skin was cool. Her nipples tightened and furled and she trembled. The front of Eioth's robe tented up again and she tried, but found she could not look away.
“The scarf as well, little one.”
Her hands fluttered up to her head. “Must I?”
“You must be completely naked for the bath.”
Strangely, after all the other intimacies, she still hesitated to reveal her hair. Her fingers trembled as she reached under the back of the scarf to find the knot. Eioth’s gaze was transfixed by the sight of her breasts, thrust up and toward him and he made no move to aid her. Finally the knot gave and she pulled the fabric from her head.
Eioth’s breath hissed in as her hair was exposed.
She’d kept her hair trimmed short as her father directed. Since she’d had to cut it herself it was a shaggy pelt no longer than a finger joint over the front of her head, a little longer at the back. Eioth approached until she could feel his breath on her forehead, then he ran his fingers lightly over her head.
“Ash? Halidan, I had no idea. From which one of your ancestors comes this?”
“None. None at all. My father assures me that rarely a mortal woman has this hair.”
“Are you certain?”
“Completely. I have my family records back five generations on each side. I am mortal.”
Eioth nodded and reached out to run his hand over the short layer of hair, brushing it back and forth with his fingers.”
“I find your hair fascinates me. So soft and light and plush. I cannot see you without wanting to stroke and pet.” He raised a hand to stroke and ruffle her hair while the other brushed briefly across the apex of her thighs. “Ash white here as well. Why, Halidan, the secrets you keep. You cannot be less than half caste. The colors rarely stay true for lesser blood.”
“I am entirely mortal,” declared Halidan with some heat. “You have seen my papers and now you are seeing all of my skin.” She stepped back and held her hands out to her sides. “I am too pink to be anything other than fully mortal. My hair is an aberration.”
Eioth scanned her body again and grinned. “Whatever you are is entirely beautiful. For now,” he passed his hand over her hair again, “the first bath.”
Halidan shook her head.
“Would it help if I were naked also?”
“Not at all,” shot back Halidan, turning her back to him while he laughed.
Hands held crossed over her breasts – she didn't care what Eioth thought of her modesty – she lowered her foot, tentatively, toward the fluid's surface. It seemed to Halidan that the liquid moved away from her. It was the oddest sensation. Instead of sinking in, as with ordinary Water, the fluid shifted, yielded, outlining her shape, but her skin did not at first become wet. Halidan cast a worried glance toward Eioth who smiled his encouragement.
“It is safe. Be assured. I will permit no harm to come to you.”
Halidan made no reply as she lifted her second naked foot and stepped fully into the bath.
“Now, Halidan. I need you to completely cover your skin.” At her startled glance, Eioth continued. “Yes, indeed. Face, eyelids, scalp, even your lips and the tip of your tongue.”
The enveloping liquid made her shudder as she sank to her knees. It filled her intimate folds, sending shivers of chill, then heat through her body. Her belly trembled as the fluid ebbed and flowed over her skin. She leaned forward to splash it over her breasts and coat herself as far as she could reach. Eioth stepped forward to use a dipper over and over until her back was liberally coated and poured the last dipper over her head. At the last, with many false starts and her eyes screwed shut, she lowered her face into the bath with the tip of her tongue out. There was an odd metallic tang that was not unpleasant, but Halidan did not linger. She raised her face from the liquid, rubbed a handful through the short strands of her hair, blinked the last drops from her lashes and looked to Eioth for instructions.
“Rise and if you can, hold the first foot up to dry. This must not be toweled off.”
Halidan gave him an odd look, but complied, standing balanced with one foot in the tub. The strange liquid dried rapidly. Next she stepped onto the floor with her dry foot and took the other foot out and waited for it to dry. Despite being naked except for a thin film of bathwater she did not feel cold. The shivers passing over her skin were a result of Eioth's searching gaze. Her arms twitched, as if to cover her breasts again, but Eioth only quirked a smile at her and she stopped.
As if it made any difference now. He'd seen her naked. Was watching her; walking around her as if examining for flaws. For all she knew, he was looking for some defect that would interfere with the magic.
“Second tub, as before, Halidan.”
The liquid in the second tub was dark and gave off a floral, earthy scent. It moved as water should, wetting her skin. It tasted like dirt, which did not surprise her. Again Eioth ensured that her back and head were fully coated.
She paused beside the last bath, reluctant to proceed. Unlike the others, there was no scent
to this liquid. The fluid here was covered in a fog, similar to steam, that writhed in the breeze created by her movements, but when her toes touched the surface it was colder than the room. It took her three attempts to get her courage up enough to climb in. Shivers passed over her and her teeth chattered as she knelt and she cringed away as Eioth poured dipper after dipper over her back and head. Halidan watched as it pooled and slowly drained down her arms, droplet joining with droplet as if mating. The drops appeared to be drawn to each other, even over distances that made no sense to Halidan. She didn't know why it was doing this; she only knew she did not want this on her tongue.
It took no particular skill or intuition on Eioth's part to detect her reluctance.
“I swear to you, Halidan, it is harmless.”
Mutely, she shook her head, shuddering as she knelt in the tub.
Eioth sighed. “All else is pointless unless you complete the baths.”
Trembling with cold it took Halidan three attempts to gain sufficient courage to dip her face into the liquid and let it pass across the tip of her tongue. Her face twisted at the bitter taste and tears pooled in her eyes.
“I beg you, do not weep. It will change the potion.”
“Next time, you do the baths and I'll make ridiculous suggestions,” ground out Halidan, rising.
Eioth didn't comment. Again he walked around her as her body dried. Halidan studied her hands, fascinated. In the firelight there was a faint green sheen to her skin that faded before she could panic. She did not resist when he took her by the hand and led her to the center of his Ritual circle.
Halidan wrapped her arms about her chest and waited where he left her, standing beside a large map of the Empire spread across the floor.
Placing the book he carried throughout the preparations on a nearby chair Eioth walked the edge of the marked circle, invoking the Elements at the cardinal points, lighting colored candles and returning to stand beside Halidan.
