Suddenly, she had grabbed him by the back of his neck and pulled him into her, her lips covering his, stealing his breath away. As she embraced him he could feel a calm salve spreading through his body, sponging away the pain and making him whole again.
Still, she didn’t let him go, and soon he was melting into her, his arms around her waist, the softness of her body pressed hard against him. He remembered their night together, and realized again how badly he wanted to repeat it. His body reacted and a tension rose between them. He could easily give himself completely to this woman.
It was at that moment that she broke away from him, pushing him back to arm’s length, her expression intense and her eyes sparking.
“There,” she said. “There is how you can convince me. Show me your true emotions, your true self, as you just did.”
He took two more full breaths before he could say anything to her. “Is that what just happened? I thought we were starting something in that moment.”
She smiled at him, her hands going to the neck of her robe. “We did, my Lord Prince. It was a moment that just saved your life.”
In a move that must have been practiced, she stripped the robe up and over her head and cast it aside. Proudly, she stood there, naked to him, her breasts firm and tight and her nipples tight and peaked. She stepped back closer to him, her hands exploring his body and slipping his clothes off a piece at a time.
“I could have killed you, easily. I could have reformed you into anything from a dragon to a newt, and left you like that for the rest of your life.”
When he was naked too, he felt his cock stiffen and rise to the occasion she was creating. It was invigorating.
Temani stepped into him, her body barely touching his, skin brushing teasingly against skin. “I could have done anything to you,” she said in a low whisper. “I think, instead, that I will love you.”
It was then that Estogan gave himself over to her. He felt it when the last parts of his old life slipped away. He was the failed prince of the Kingdom of Rikketh no longer. He was instead something new, something that Temani had molded and shaped. She may not have changed him physically, but she had changed him inside just as surely as if her magic had done its work. He supposed that in a way, it had.
“Lay with me,” she said, her lips quivering against his cheek.
He let her pull him down to the hard floor, let her body cushion his as he lay into her and her legs wrapped around the back of his to draw him in tightly.
Sinking into her liquid heat was an ecstasy worth changing his life for.
Estogan groped her body, finding her breasts with his fingers and playing with her nipples. She moaned in response. This time would be different. He would be with her for love, for eternity, for her pleasure; not for his pleasure, his ego, and his control.
Temani moaned as he continued to play with her full breasts. He moved his tongue over them, hardening under the light pressure.
Estogan slowly began to rock inside her, making sure that his hard shaft pressed hard against her clitoris. She yelped in pleasure as he lightly bit her tender, swelling breasts. He kept his pace slow and steady, unwilling to let this moment just pass him by. While continuing his pace, he explored her body, kissing her neck, shoulders, ears.
He interrupted his exploration to whisper quietly his desires into her ears. She responded with a whimper and increased movement. She thrust Estogan deeply inside of her, causing him to arch back.
“Slower,” he pleaded with her. “I want this to continue forever.”
“Oh, but it can,” Temani said, her hands roaming over his legs and buttocks. “We have forever together if you desire.”
Estogan picked up his speed just a little and grabbed her hips, pulling them deeper into him. This was how lovemaking was supposed to feel. Her body. Her needs. Her beauty and strength.
Later, when they had both satisfied each other to the fullest, they sat staring at the five eggs in their nest.
“What now?” Estogan asked.
“Now the real work begins. When these eggs hatch, the dragons will need our help to mature to a point where they can take care of themselves. There are still many peoples that will try to sneak into these hills and steal away these magnificent creatures for their own desires.”
“Like I was going to.”
Her hand settled on his knee. “Yes. But you aren’t that man anymore. This won’t be easy.”
“Is there anyone to help us? Besides your order, I mean.”
“A few. Are you anxious to meet them?”
“No,” he told her. “I’m in no hurry. If you have something else in mind.”
Her hand slid lower, down toward his crotch. To his surprise, he found himself growing stiff again, even this soon after what they had just done.
“I have a lot of things in mind for us, my Prince. Let me show you a few of them.”
CRYSTAL ELVES
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
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Crystal Elves
Chapter 1
The vast expanse of the Iron Hills spread out before her on what had become a perfect summer day. The hills were covered in tall grasses and wildflowers that waved in warm breezes that caressed the bare skin of her arms and her cheeks.
Melodielle stood with her face lifted to the sun, her eyes closed, a small smile playing about her lips. Her fair skin and blonde hair were not well suited to long exposure in the sun, but she couldn’t help herself. It felt so good.
At the age of nineteen, and as Princess of the Crystal Elves, she shouldn’t have come out here alone. She was unarmed and the attacks by the Red Goblins had increased to a terrifying number of late. Her father had given her a guard for a reason, after all.
She was still very headstrong, however. She had wanted to spend some time by herself before tomorrow. And besides, her honor guards were easily slipped. Too easily, actually. Ever since she was ten she had made a game of slipping away from whichever soldiers her father assigned to protect her. Most of them had been easy to sneak away from.
Some had been…harder. Like her current one. She felt his presence now, watching her.
“Found you,” he said from a respectful distance.
Melodielle sighed. She fisted her hands into the skirts of her light blue gown, the one that left her shoulders bare and emphasized both her waistline and her pert chest. This morning she had wondered why she chose this particular dress.
Then, when she’d seen Tolan’s face before they’d set out this morning, the answer had come to her in the form of her own beating heart. She had wanted him to see her in it. More than that. She had wanted him to be captured by the sight of her.
Not exactly fitting for a young woman about to be married.
Unless that young woman wanted no part in her own wedding.
“Princess,” Tolan said to her now. He cut an imposing figure in his leather vest that left his arms and chest bare. “We really need to get back to the others. Your father would have them all strung off the outer walls of the castle if they lose you. Again.”
She humphed quietly. “My father should know better than to send an escort with me. I can take care of myself. I’m nineteen now, Tolan.”
She turned to him as she said it. Did he even notice that she had grown into a woman? It was hard to tell from the expression on his chiseled face. His eyes were a steely gray and never wandered where she wanted them to. At least, not when she was looking.
Of course, she wasn’t fully a woman yet. She was still, in most people’s eyes, very much a child. Her people, the Crystal Elves, were a long-lived race. Longer even than the Elves. Her father was only at just 304 years, young still in mind and body. So at nineteen, she had all of the desires and dreams of a woman, but not yet the experience of one.
Tolan was something more than a hundred years old himself.
He was one of the youngest warriors her father had ever put in charge of her protection detail. He was taller than her and had broad shoulders and strong arms and the points of his ears tipped at an angle just so to poke through his brown hair.
She’d had several dreams about him wrapping himself around her in a warm embrace and doing…certain things to her…she squeezed her eyelids shut as memories of those night fantasies replayed themselves. Feeling the heat rising in her cheeks, she turned away from him again so he wouldn’t see her blush.
Defile the sun, she swore to herself. How could she stand to be this close to him knowing that her feelings could overwhelm her at any moment?
“Come, Princess,” he said. “It’s time to go back home.”
“I will not be called to heel like a stray mutt!” she snapped at him over her shoulder, and immediately put her hands over her mouth. Why had she said that?
But to her surprise, Tolan laughed. When she turned, he winked at her. “Just like your mother.”
It was one of the few times she had seen him laugh, and the first time she had ever made it happen. She lowered her eyelids and thrust out her chin. If that was what he appreciated, then she could play at being the haughty royal just as well as her mother ever had.
“I insist that we stay here, Censor Tolan. We will rejoin our group when I say so.”
His laughter turned to a smirk at her use of his rank. “Well. If you insist, Princess.”
His left ear twitched. Was he annoyed at her? Amused? What? Oh, why were men so hard to understand?
Now that she had him standing next to her, gazing at the expanse of the Iron Hills here on the banks of the Bluestone River, she felt foolish. What should she do? What should she say to him?
She should start with how she didn’t want to marry Prince Estogan, she decided. Start there, and work up to her feelings for Tolan. Men were like prize horses. All the good ones spooked if you came at them directly.
“Tolan, I—” Her voice cracked and she ground her teeth and swallowed before trying again. “I have something I need to tell you.”
“You don’t want to marry Estogan.” He didn’t say it as a question.
Surprised, she stared at him. “How did you know?”
“You haven’t exactly made it a secret. Oh, I suppose you’ve done a good enough job at fooling your father and his advisors. He wants this union between us and the Human Kingdom of Rikketh so badly that he’ll overlook anything. But for those of us who really know you, the signs are easy to see. You avert your eyes every time Estogan’s name is spoken. You avoid your studies like the Creeping Plague, and you insist on making fools of the soldiers assigned to protect you.”
“Yes,” she said, a smile tugging at her mouth. “But not you. How is it I can never slip away from you, Tolan?”
He shrugged as if the answer were obvious. “Because I know you, Melodi.”
A shiver went down her spine as he spoke the familiar form of her name. Now, she said to herself. Tell him now!
“Tolan,” she said softly, stepping closer, daring to put her fingertips lightly against his strong forearm, “I—”
“Censor Tolan!”
It was one of the other soldiers who called to Tolan. He continued, “I’m so glad we found you. Goblins. There are Goblins coming our way. At least a dozen.”
Tolan was instantly alert, hand going to the short sword on his back and pulling the blade free. “Are they Red or Brown?”
The other soldier fisted his hands to keep them from shaking. “Red, sir.”
“Maker protect us.” Tolan had Melodielle by the elbow and was pulling her away before she could even speak a word.
She could not believe this. The moment was gone, now, and she wouldn’t soon be able to get it back, either. No sooner had she let that thought form than she was cursing herself for thinking of her little girl emotions while their lives were at risk. Red Goblins were a scourge, a race of thieving and murderous creatures who enjoyed the taste of raw flesh. Especially Crystal Elf flesh. They would have to survive the Goblins first if she was ever going to be able to do anything about her feelings for Tolan.
But, defile the sun and the stars, she had been so close to confessing her heart to him!
Tolan led her out of the meadow and over the rise of the hill to the other side where he had left his horse next to hers, and where the other soldier—Bek was his name, she thought—had left his as well. They were up on their animals swiftly and spurring them into motion.
“Have they seen us?” Tolan asked Bek as they rode.
“We think so.” Sweat poured down Bek’s sharp face, and not from the heat of the day. “One of our scouts came racing back just a little while ago with the news that the group of them was riding our way. The other scout hasn’t come back at all.”
“Can we outride them?” Melodielle asked them both.
“We can,” Tolan assured her. “If we’re quick about it and if the Maker smiles on us this day.”
They were back with the fourteen other warriors of their group in no time. She noticed in passing that Bek had been right. One of the scouts was missing. No doubt killed by the Goblins. The fourteen others were already mounted and when Melodielle was with them again they turned west without a word, and rode on.
They kept a tight circle around her, their attention everywhere at once. It wasn’t easy for them. Even at just this little distance from the Iron Hills the trees had already started to close in around them, and they were soon on the trail that led them through the lesser part of the Shadesthorn Forest and back home.
Melodielle was just entertaining thoughts that they had outran the Goblins and that all of their haste was for nothing when the arrow zipped by in front of her face. It was close enough for her to smell the taint of the poison tip.
“Protect the Princess!” Tolan called out loudly, reaching over and slapping the rear end of her horse, spurring it on faster with a snort and a terrified eye roll.
Crystal Elves ahead of her and behind her produced bows and pulled arrows from quivers at their hips. They aimed them at the woods around them, directing their mounts with their knees.
There were no targets, though. Goblins were adept at hiding in shadows and places where a normal person could never fit. Melodielle tried to look everywhere at once, frantic now, scared and knowing there was a reason for her fear.
Tolan’s horse suddenly whinnied and dropped to the ground with him still on it.
Everything stopped. Melodielle’s company halted, reining their horses in, circling their fallen commander. Even the wind died down, every sound in the forest ceasing. No birds. No insects.
Nothing.
Until the Goblins roared in their guttural language and came leaping at them from the branches of the trees overhead.
Crystal Elves
Chapter 2
The Crystal Elves reacted as one, in uniform purpose. Swords and knives clashed with war hammers and maces and other devices of combat held fiercely in the hands of the Red Goblins.
The creatures were ungainly to look at, with their overly long limbs and their misshapen muscles and their long heads on scrawny necks. Their eyes glowed green or sickly yellow. Their uneven, jagged teeth flashed in mouths with thin lips and long tongues. Melodielle could barely understand their language. What she did understand, she wished she hadn’t.
The fighting raged on around her. She crouched down low across the neck of her horse, pulling a long knife from the side of her saddle and slashing at any of the red-skinned brutes that came too close. She saw Goblins dying, black ichor flowing from wounds inflicted by her soldiers. But she saw Crystal Elves fall to their deaths as well. Her horse turned this way and that trying to escape the carnage.
A Goblin grabbed her ankle and pulled hard, twisting her leg and unseating her from her mare. The horse took the opportunity to run away screaming.
Melodielle wished she could do the same.
She thrust her dagger up, only to have the Go
blin slap it away from her hand. It had her down on the ground now, pushing her down by her shoulders, its sharp fingernails digging in. She yelled at it and struggled with it and only succeeded in making it grin a vile, mocking smile. Its long tongue lolled out of its mouth and quivered just over her lips. Melodielle twisted her head away as far as she could, little whining noises stuck in her throat.
An arrow sprouted out of the neck of the Goblin.
She pushed the thing away as its strength left it and it died. Bewildered, she looked down at the Goblin and tried to make sense of what had happened. Had one of her people shot the arrow? Another Goblin fell, just as it was about to bite into the exposed neck of one of the others. Then another died as multiple arrows smacked through its lumpy skull. Then another went down. And another.
Until the only ones standing were the Crystal Elves left alive.
What in the name of the Maker?
People began converging on them. The Crystal Elves held their weapons ready. They had been ambushed once already. When they were surrounded, Melodielle let out a sigh of relief.
These were Humans. Human soldiers wearing brown leather armor and silver chain mail and the crest of the House of Rikketh on both shoulders. Estogan’s people.
“Hold!” Tolan called to the six of his warriors left alive.
The others were dead, Melodielle realized. All those good men and women…dead.
From among the ring of impassive Human soldiers stepped an average man with hair black as a raven’s wing and eyes just as dark. His smile was condescending. His hands were clasped behind his back.
“I’m glad to see we could be of help to your people, Censor Tolan,” he said. “They were obviously outmatched.”
Estogan. Melodielle gaped at him. She had only met this man a handful of times and each of those times had left her with a less than favorable impression.
He wasn’t supposed to come to their Kingdom until their wedding…
Their wedding. It was tomorrow. She’d forgotten all about it, with the Goblin attack. She wished she could forget about it altogether. But here he was, smiling and waiting for someone to say something to him.
The Far Realm Chronicles Anthology Page 4
