Still

[Lovely]

Jan 14, 2010
Devhano Palace


He stood in her way, almost smiling.

Elisabeth shoved him back.

"Ooo... apparently you're still upset."

"Not still.. again.. or maybe until.."

He grinned. "So every glance, every whisper, every scent in passing...until... will be the sweetest torture I could ever hope to endure."

She made a face of annoyance and displeasure as he grinned. "You can say that... you have the easy end of the deal.. You have to give up nothing, you sacrifice nothing. You go on as you have with every pleasure and indulgence you could want. I however have an exceedingly unpleasant burden to tolerate... until.."

He leaned to whisper to her as if the walls leaned with him to listen. "Unless he finds sweet peaceful death sooner than any could expect. Poisons and magicks have their place but by the moons I've uttered no such suggestion."

"It's good that you haven't because they would immediately suspect me and my head would roll before you could utter a word to prevent it." She shifted away from him, after her response was whispered back to him and she went in search of a glass and some wine.

"Then you see why I cannot simply dispatch him without in turn destroying you. I mean to make you come undone in every other way than that.. when the time does come. If it's a drink you're after, come with me. Come riding with me, in fact. He is too weak to allow you that joy, please allow me?"

"I never said I didn't understand why.." She started to snap and then tossed her hands out to the sides in a gesture of surrender, her eyes closing at the rest of his words. Did he know how much it hurt her for him to say such things.. to have to wait to touch him or kiss him.. did he know how she longed to devour his lips and run her fingers through his hair? Elisabeth sighed softly and nodded her head. "A ride sounds lovely.. it might even cheer me up." She sort of laughed, though it wasn't much of one.

"Then we'll ride together... apart... for now," he teased wickedly still. "You wish for a drink? Come into my chamber. A few moments away from these furnishings... these .. entrapments.. perhaps will ease you?"

"I'm not sure anything will ease me short of becoming a widow.." She sighed again, whispering the statement partly under her breath as she nodded once more. "The drink was something to occupy me, to numb me if I could be so lucky."

[Lovely]

"Something to merely occupy? I can offer many more suggestions on how one might spend her time away from her... worries. First, the drink? A breif respite from here. No one will know, I promise you," he said, inviting again for her to follow. His intent was to return her just as quickly should any of her ladies be looking for her urgently.

"Well perhaps if I have time away from my worries, someday... you can give me your suggestions." She made no move to follow him or to leave her chambers or approach the secret passage that connected their rooms. "I'll know.. you'll know.. and everything will remain as it is. There is no difference from here to there."

"Then, if there is no difference, there is no difference in being there, rather than here, hm? A moment of your time and a chance to breathe clearer and see this place from a distance? I grant you, it is only a few feet," he conceded. The distance was not far but the principal was the same - an escape, if only a small one.

"No." She said softly, simply as she turned to pace to the window, folding her arms around herself. "It seems I am still upset.. " She sighed, closing her eyes briefly and then opening them to gaze out the window. "..and I can not risk it. I have already lost one of my ladies, I can not afford to lose another."

He hadn't heard or perhaps he'd forgotten, being too wrapped up in his own thoughts. He watched the door though it was her own back to it, not his, feeling a different chill creep through him than usual. Rhain moved silently like fog, coming behind her, daring to offer the weight of his hands and what little warmth he could to her shoulders to ease her. "I did not know of the loss. A terrible error on my part not to know it. I am sorry, but I ask of you," his whisper was nearly pleading. "What -is- worth such a risk, if not what we yearn to have?"

"You know well of the loss." Her voice was clipped and she tried to shrug his hands off her shoulders, the tone of his voice making her want to give in to her feelings for him once again. "You are the one who took her from me." She reminded him in a voice that betrayed her inner turmoil and wavered with emotion. "It is highly unlikely I will ever have what I yearn for and you know very well I can not even come close to having it in my current position. You risk so little, sacrifice nothing and yet continue to ask me for more? You are not the one who is a prisoner here, you are not the one who gave up her future to ensure that the man she loves will get the throne which is rightfully his."

He lowered his hands into fists as he backed away. How right she was, and how wrong. There would be a way and he would find it. Was it not his own sacrifice on some level? He felt it was true, however not as stark as the reminder that sat on the throne now, or near it in his sick bed. "As much a prisoner," he muttered, looking at the door again then back to her window. He could not risk being seen at the window or chance the door being opened to find him here in whispers with her. He only had a few more moments before the guard would check on her. "I will go then and arrange the ride, hm? Perhaps by some great grace if he decides to join us, his own horse might cause an.. untimely.. end?"

She moved away from the window and folded herself down on the chaise. "You are not a prisoner at all. You can come and go freely, you can speak with and consort with almost anyone. I can hardly leave this room. The ride is a lovely thought, but I doubt he will allow me to go. I don't think he would risk being seen out with me either. He has not let it be known that he's taken another wife. I was supposed to be yours.. he can hardly announce to the kingdom that he has stolen me." She shook her head, reaching up to brush a tear from the corner of her eye.

[Lovely]

"You -are- mine," he spat quietly, trying to find a way to fix what had been done. Beyond the king's death, there really was no alternative. "You are and will be mine once it is done. The moons and their voracious appetitite for this absurdity... by their light that feeds us, I will see it happen, Elisabeth," he swore.

It was the moments like this, when he spoke so passionately of her and made promises she wanted to believe, that she was reminded of why she'd agreed to endure this misery for him. She rose from the chaise in a swift movement that brought her to him, she reached for him to bestow a kiss full of her desire and love for him alone.

Her kiss was like a delightful wave in the heat of a cloudless three-moon summer night, and just as steam-filled as he embraced her and held her kiss. Nothing more, he reminded himself, though he could scarcely keep from slipping the knots free on her bodice or kissing the cool skin above her knees. "I will free you," he promised against her lips.

She clung to him as if he was what gave her life and in a way he was, his kiss breathed fire into her, giving her spirit a lift and her a reason to keep enduring. Elisabeth longed to topple him to her cushions, to share her bed with him but it was a risk they could not take, even just this kiss was a great risk for them. His mouth was forbidden fruit, which tasted sweet with his promise.

Rhain pulled himself away, however reluctant, but aware that any moment he could be discovered. "This moment keeps us.. and -that- remains as it is. I love you and will keep you, Elisabeth," he said, stroking her cheek lightly.

Her eyes fluttered closed at his gentle touch and she tilted her cheek into his fingers, slightly. "I love you, Rhain." She whispered in return, opening her eyes and looking into his so he would see the truth of her words.

The future eternities and chapters with only the two of them looked out from the depth of her gaze. He believed her and he knew she believed he would turn this foul situation right. The finger on her cheek strayed to her lip, seeking a sharp and hidden point beneath. A mark hardly noticeable, but enough for the barest of starts, a small present for her if she chose to bite softly down for a drop.

Her gaze searched his as his finger strayed and teased softly at her lips and then slightly deeper, did he offer what she thought he did? The only way to find out was to accept the offer, which she did, catching the tip of his finger with the sharp edge of her tooth. Her lips wrapped gently around the digit as she suckled a few precious drops of his essence before licking the slight tear closed. She released his finger and slowly lifted her hand to him, offering him the same taste of her.

Ever so slight a bond, it was all that could be afforded between them. He took her hand and turned the palm upward, kissing her fingertip and piercing ever so slightly as if she'd simply ran into a needle in her sewing. He tenderly bathed the scarlet drop away, holding it on his tongue a lengthy moment to savor its sweetness. The hole was nearly gone of its own accord but he ensured it was dry with another light kiss. "My promises are sealed with you," he whispered, holding her hand still and sweeping his gaze over her, though not quite to her eyes that he could scarcely peer into without being tempted to stay dangerously long. "It is time I should go before my own absence is noticed let alone my presence here. Place something before the tapestry, cover the passage, do not so much as look at it or give away any hint," he smiled. Of course she wouldn't, but he'd appreciate the challenge of trying to bypass a clattering blockade to reach her just the same.