Tenara was surprised Havitharon allowed her Aunt to touch him. He was stiff, but not as wrathful as she thought he might have been when they first met. Maybe a romp had softened him a little where women were concerned. Maybe he thought more women were like her?
“What is a sheep?”
Tenara laughed softly.
Lelana’s wicked smile grew amused. She stroked his arm once. “He’s adorable, Tenara,” she said, as if Havitharon were a puppy Tenara had adopted off the street. “A sheep is an adorable creature that we strip of its… fur… while it’s alive, and make clothes from it.”
“Auntie,” Tenara scolded. “Sheep grow wool, and they need to be sheared or the wool grows too heavy to be healthy. We do make clothes from it.”
Lelana continued to appraise Havitharon, touching him lightly here and there, running her fingers down his back. Tenara bit back a twinge of jealousy at the hungry look growing in her eyes.
“Tenara, I’m not understanding the problem.” She turned her grin on her niece.
“I think the problem is, if anyone takes the sword away from me, I’ll bleed out.”
“Well, yes. I guess that’s inconvenient. Can I have the sword when we’re done? He’s quite nice to look at.”
Tenara bristled a little. “Absolutely not.”
The Princess and the Blade
-
Emora Deen
- Avatar of War
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Soran Nightblade
- Avatar of Hope
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- Joined: Tue Jul 19, 2005 4:45 pm
- Location: NJ
Re: The Princess and the Blade
The strange woman's touch made his skin squirm. His body wanted to reject the company of everyone except Tenara, but that didn't feel like a good enough reason to snub her family.
He bit back the instinct to lash out at her for appraising him so casually in front of his Yurivis. These people didn't understand such rules. Certainly, no Yurivis in his world would permit their Ivis out of her quarters during a rut, let alone allow other Yurivi to touch him. He was not blind to the excitement Lelana was beginning to show towards him. He found himself unsure what to do, what his Yurivis wanted. He studied her from the corner of his eye, trying to see if his response was right.
"Can I have the sword when we're done? He's quite nice to look at."
Havi's calm facade splintered. He stopped breathing for a second, motionless, assessing.
"Absolutely not."
There was a faint edge of possessiveness in the words, or maybe he just wanted there to be. Havitharon's hand closed over Lelana's and lifted it off his skin. He released her immediately, drawing his arm back in a stiff movement. He'd lost his focus.
He bit back the instinct to lash out at her for appraising him so casually in front of his Yurivis. These people didn't understand such rules. Certainly, no Yurivis in his world would permit their Ivis out of her quarters during a rut, let alone allow other Yurivi to touch him. He was not blind to the excitement Lelana was beginning to show towards him. He found himself unsure what to do, what his Yurivis wanted. He studied her from the corner of his eye, trying to see if his response was right.
"Can I have the sword when we're done? He's quite nice to look at."
Havi's calm facade splintered. He stopped breathing for a second, motionless, assessing.
"Absolutely not."
There was a faint edge of possessiveness in the words, or maybe he just wanted there to be. Havitharon's hand closed over Lelana's and lifted it off his skin. He released her immediately, drawing his arm back in a stiff movement. He'd lost his focus.
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Emora Deen
- Avatar of War
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- Joined: Tue Jul 19, 2005 12:41 am
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Re: The Princess and the Blade
Tenele knocked on the door and breezed into the room.
Lelana sighed. "All we need is your Daddy, and then we can discuss how to remove your connection to the sword."
Tenara felt her heart skip a beat. She wasn't certain she wanted to be disconnected from him. She wanted more time to think about it. To understand what the consequences for him were if she wasn't connected to it.
Tenele stepped up to her daughter, brushing a hand across her cheek. "I see you got the chains off him. He's looking well for someone who seemed near-death to you earlier." She heard the skeptical tone in her mother's voice. She, like her father, thought Havitharon was manipulating her.
"The chains eroded a binding spell on him. Once the chains were off I..." Tenara tried her best to keep a straight face. "...nursed him back to health."
"How does one nurse a creature such as he?" Lelana asked, grinning. There was a playful twinkle to her aunt's eye.
Tenara glanced at Havitharon. "It's difficult to explain."
Lelana sighed. "All we need is your Daddy, and then we can discuss how to remove your connection to the sword."
Tenara felt her heart skip a beat. She wasn't certain she wanted to be disconnected from him. She wanted more time to think about it. To understand what the consequences for him were if she wasn't connected to it.
Tenele stepped up to her daughter, brushing a hand across her cheek. "I see you got the chains off him. He's looking well for someone who seemed near-death to you earlier." She heard the skeptical tone in her mother's voice. She, like her father, thought Havitharon was manipulating her.
"The chains eroded a binding spell on him. Once the chains were off I..." Tenara tried her best to keep a straight face. "...nursed him back to health."
"How does one nurse a creature such as he?" Lelana asked, grinning. There was a playful twinkle to her aunt's eye.
Tenara glanced at Havitharon. "It's difficult to explain."
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Soran Nightblade
- Avatar of Hope
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- Joined: Tue Jul 19, 2005 4:45 pm
- Location: NJ
Re: The Princess and the Blade
Soran Nightblade:
Havi's frowning stare offered Tenara little assistance in explaining what had happened between them to her family. He was struggling to keep up with the double meanings behind the two new females' questions. The door swung open again, and Vladimir Dracul swept into the room impatiently. The vampire's scarlet gaze assessed Havitharon like a batch of spoiled fruit. "Clearly on death's door," he rolled his eyes as he crossed to Tenara's side. Vlad's mood was never spectacular right after a morning at court, and today it was worse.
"What do you make of him, sis-in-law," he asked, crossing his arms. "If you need blood samples, I'm sure it can be arranged." His razor grin was positively feral.
Havi fought the need to hit him. Not only would his Yurivis be displeased, but he was fairly sure it could do real damage if he struck in his current state. The rut boiled through him like a persistent surge of adrenaline. Everyone in the room felt like an enemy, and he wasn't convinced it was just because of his rut.
Emora Deen:
Tenara edged a little closer to Havitharon, giving her father a warning look. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, her aunt chimed in.
"None from him," Lelana said, the hint of a frown o her face. "Honestly, you're all lying to yourselves if you haven't acknowledged what needs to be done. I'm sure Sinead did and, like you, avoided the solution like the plague.
"Out with it," Tenele said.
"If you want to separate Tenara from the sword, you have to complete the spell. There's a sacrifice that isn't dead."
Soran Nightblade:
Vlad cast Lelana a long-suffering look. "Dear sister, I know you aren't suggesting we murder my daughter." His attention rolled to the tall creature next to her, and he actually startled. Tenara's pet alien was glaring at Lelana with eyes like twin gas lamps, their harsh glow actually affecting the air in the room.
"Is it me, or is something wrong with Spiky today?"
Emora Deen:
At her father's words, Tenara looked up at Havitharon, and seeing the fire in his eyes, placed her hand on his arm. "She doesn't mean it."
"I do," Lelana went on unfazed. "You're trapped to it because your part in its creation hasn't ended. I'm not saying we kill you for good. Just... for a minute. Tenele can bring you back."
"I don't resurrect people. I knew calling you was a mistake."
"It's the only way, otherwise she's stuck with your son-in-law over there."
"We are not killing Tenara!"
"Even if the plan worked, Havitharon is staying. I'm not giving up the sword, connected or not. Besides, Havitharon and I are bound in other ways now. Can we shift our focus from trying to be rid of him?" Tenara's injured hand had moved to Havitharon's chest, looking very much like she was holding the alien back now.
Soran Nightblade:
Vlad's eyes narrowed fiercely on Havi. "What does she mean, 'connected in other ways'?"
Havi ignored his outrage. "I saw the spell that summoned me in that man's tome. The outcome of the spell was to be a sentient weapon. That was all. Tenara wasn't intended to survive." He clutched at his chest, the need to fight them all throbbing through his veins. "Finishing the spell would mean sacrificing her soul to the weapon. It would not.... get rid of me..," he struggled.
His breath came harder with the effort of staying still. He honestly had no idea how the spell truly worked, or if what he was saying was true. But if they harmed her, he could be certain that someone in this room would die before he did. He's make sure of it.
The warmth of her fingers on his chest muzzled him, at least for now.
Emora Deen:
Tenara grew increasingly concerned by how strained Havitharon looked. He looked like a frayed rope ready to snap.
"There was a binding keeping him... stable. Papa's chains eroded it. On his world, males can become unmoored, and wild. Feral. They're called Ivis. They need a female to tame them. She is called a Yurivis. The chains eroded what kept him from turning into an Ivis. He needed someone to become his Yurivis before he hurt people, I suppose."
"You suppose?" Tenele asked. "Do you know for sure? Do you even understand what it is you agreed to become?"
Tenara frowned. "It doesn't matter if I don't fully understand. I trust him."
Soran Nightblade:
Havi felt a chill down his center at Tenara's explanation. She had tamed him so naturally that it was easy to forget that she had very little understanding of what had happened between them. Her lack of knowing what she'd done was supposed to make the sting of his compromised values hurt less. After all, she couldn't abuse a power she barely understood. A fake Yurivis. A bond of convenience.
Did she really accept him because she presumed he would go on some sort of rampage without her? 'Feral'. He was the one who condoned that descriptor. "The bond is temporary," he assured her scowling parents. "She hasn't become anything that will not wear off."
The words were vinegar in his stomach.
Vlad didn't seem appeased. "Explain exactly what you've 'temporarily' done to my daughter," he snarled, snapping Havi up by the collar and hauling him down so they were nose to nose. Havi glared right back at the vampire.
"Says the one who entertains 'temporarily' killing my Yurivis?"
"Want to try saying that again, Spiky?" Vlad's nails slid through Havi's shirt like paper.
Emora Deen:
Tenara didn't understand why the explanation of their bond stung. Temporary. Nothing that won't wear off. Was she really so unimportant to him as that? She was so distracted by the ache in her belly she didn't realize her father had approached until he grabbed Havitharon's collar. "Daddy, stop!" Tenara tried to wedge herself between them.
Her mother stepped up. "Vlad!"
"Whatever was needed, I gave freely," she told her family.
"What was given?" Tenele asked, tugging on the other side of Vlad.
"It doesn't matter."
"It does."
"I'm not a child. I'm capable of choosing who I'm with."
"We're well aware. Look how well that's turned out for you," Tenele said, gripping Vlad's arm.
Tenara flinched. Her grip on her father loosened a fraction. She had wanted someone to be mad at her, hadn't she? She just hadn't expected it to be her mother. "Please leave," Tenara whispered.
Soran Nightblade:
Vlad paused, his clawed hand still gripping the shreds of Havi's ruined shirt. He'd heard the pain in his daughter's voice, and it sobered his temper. Forbidden romance wasn't exactly a foreign topic for him and his wife. That didn't make it easier to swallow the choices she was making.
"Fine," he said. "Lelana, you're coming with me. No more talk of killing my daughter until you explain what the hell you're thinking."
"None of you will harm her, Period." Havi's voice was barely language at all, deeply underlain by a rolling snarl.
"If you don't want her harmed, don't take advantage of her when she's traumatized and suffering."
Havi snarled, pain snapping through his chest. Had he harmed her? The idea was physically agonizing. It made for the perfect torture that he might need to stay away from his Yurivis in order to protect her. He suddenly remembered her command. 'Please leave.' Had that been meant for him too? He didn't know what to do for her. He pulled back, freeing himself from Vlad's grip. He looked at her and bowed his head. "Direct me to leave, and I will," he told her quietly.
Emora Deen:
Hearing her father speak to Havitharon jolted her further. Was she traumatized? Was she suffering? Was that what pushed her towards Havitharon?
"Direct me to leave and I will."
Order him? No. That was something a woman on his world would have done.
"Please, stay," Tenara told him, unable to look at her parents. One was angry with her, the other viewed her as poorly reassembled china. Havitharon saw her as something else, though she wasn't certain what that was now.
Temporary.
She hated the ache spreading through her like fissures.
"Tenara..." her mother tried.
"I'll see you in the morning," Tenara whispered. "I'll have a better answer in the morning."
"If it helps, we only have to trick the sword into thinking you're dead," Lelana smiled sympathetically.
Soran Nightblade:
Her request for him to stay made all of his muscles relax at once. It was a dizzying feeling. This was the power of a Yurivis and the rut. But it felt like more. Like being called home for a warm meal. He shivered and resisted an impulse to kneel and press his head against her waist. She seemed hurt... more hurt than he'd seen her since she confronted her whore.
Vlad sighed. "Let's give her space." His eyes swept to Havitharon, whose company she apparently preferred at the moment. "The guards are nearby," he said, both as warning to Spiky and reassurance to his daughter. If he brought her comfort right now, Vlad wouldn't try to make them separate. The protectiveness the creature just flashed at him, he had to admit, actually did appear genuine. Regardless of whatever motive might lie behind it, Spiky wasn't planning to harm her... for now.
He took his wife and sister by the elbows and pulled them toward the door.
Emora Deen:
When the doors shut and the room was quiet, Tenara deflated. All she had wanted for so long was to be with her family, and she'd just asked them to leave. What was wrong with her?
She glanced up at Havitharon. Temporary. Of course. Whenever this wore off, he would go back to distance and bitterness? She rubbed her chest, as if she could rub out the ache. what did it matter? They weren'nt in love. She wasn't sure what they were other than sword and woman. Ivis and Yurivis.
"Am I temporary?" Tenara asked softly. Her face betrayed her, conveying the hurt she was desperate to hide.
Was he just using her? Would she ever be more to someone than what she could provide them? Rami had wanted a throne or money. What did Havitharon want?
Soran Nightblade:
Havitharon looked down at her. It was hard to tell what she was thinking, but she seemed sad, and he honestly wasn't sure which answer would make her feel better. In that moment, he felt willing to grant her anything she asked. How would he feel tomorrow, when the rut passed? Knowing to expect these instincts and actually feeling them were two completely separate things.
"Do you want it to be?" he asked her. He touched a strand of loose silver hair and wound it gently behind her ear. He could tell her how to do it... how to attach him to her permanently. But fime minutes ago, they'd been discussing how to separate her from the sword. "If you think you need to tame me to prevent a massacre, you're incorrect. I can weather the rut if left in privacy. In fact, even bonded, I can become violent toward the people around you. A moment ago, I nearly..." He didn't bother finishing. He knew she'd noticed it.
Emora Deen:
Tenara's eyes misted a little. Did she want to be? She thought about an hour ago, when they were locked together, the way he held her. The tenderness with which he treated her, cleaned her. Reverence and care.
She couldn't ask him to make her something she wasn't. Whatever instincts he had, pulled him to want her, and she'd given him an answer to that longing willingly, fulfilling a desire she'd harbored - magic-born or not. What did she want of him beyond tomorrow?
Her heart said she wanted tomorrow to be like today. That he wanted her, truly. Her mind said that when whatever was happening to him passed, so would the look in his eyes that made her feel like the only star in the sky.
"I want to matter," she whispered. "To someone. To you..." How could she ask to be loved. It was silly. Wrong. "I don't want you to forget me." Forget this. Regret this. She didn't want to be another man's temporary plaything.
Soran Nightblade:
Havitharon dropped slowly to his knees in front of her, putting his eyes below hers. He wrapped his arms softly around her and hugged her against him. Arms looped securely under her hips and lifted her against his chest.
"Tenara," he said quietly, looking up to meet her eyes. "Do you see the gold ring on my horns?"
The thin bands that had been glowing at the base of his scalp that morning had stabilized from ember-bright to the cool lustre of polished gold. Above them, countless similar ridges could be made out on close inspection, all along the long, curved arches of the horns' length.
"When an Ivis rides out a rut unaccompanied, the flame burns itself out from the inside, and the new ridge blackens." He took her hand and gently guided it to his horn, placing her fingers at the very tip. "My entire life," he explained, running her fingers along the blackened horn. "And you," he narrated when she reached the gold ridge. He looked up at her with tenderness in his gold eyes.
"I can never forget or regret you. If the sword spat me back into my own world tomorrow, I'll likely never grow another gold band as long as I live. It is yours." He blinked awkwardly. "I may not make any sense to you..."
Emora Deen:
Tenara's gaze followed his guiding touch to the gold band. Her gaze drifted to his strange black and gold eyes, feeling as if her heart was swelling.
She curled her hand around his horn and kissed him softly, before he could finish.
She wasn't entirely certain she understood, but she understood enough. Tenara did not know what would happen when this moment for him ended, but at least she understood where she stood now.
"I don't want to be temporary," she murmured against his lips. "When you need a Yurivis again, I will be it. Whenever that might be. This world, or another."
As the promise left her lips, she wasn't sure how she'd keep it. She had never liked the idea of being a queen, or all the trappings that came with it. But, it had always seemed like an unavoidable fate. One she hadn't chosen for herself, but was born into, or wed into.
But, if there was someone more bound to their fate, it was Havitharon. He had no body to return to, at least any they knew of. He was here. And so was she.
Soran Nightblade:
Havi's eyes rolled shut, soaking in the sweet taste of her mouth on his, the light hand holding his horn steady as surely as a sailor would guide his ship in a storm.
What was she saying? Why did he want to badly for her to mean it? How could she mean it?
He wanted to believe her. Despite everything in his life telling him otherwise, he wanted to believe this sense of rightness and belonging could always be his. No manipulations, no violent games or twisted punishments. A kind, guileless woman he could honor and serve, and...
He swallowed. Was he able to believe such a thing? Could he let himself hope for it?
"I am yours right now. When your family had made you safe... When your options are clearer to you... if you still choose me, then mark me as yours."
It came out like a plea, despite his intent to pose it as an offer. His heart beat in fits and starts as he realized what he just admitted to her. To himself. The one thing he swore he would never want or accept.
Emora Deen:
Tenara brushed his horns with her fingertips. The plea in his voice tugged at her heart. Tenara's mind told her to be wary of the need to have him and be his. Was it the sword pulling them together? Their souls were tangled. But Tenara thought it was more than that. She wanted him. The broken, distrustful alien. The one who fiercely protected her, even when he didn't trust her, or know her, or like her. She wanted to believe she could have something like what her mother was lucky enough to find three times.
Tenara pressed a kiss to the gold band on his right horn. Hers. Forever hers. She did the same to the left. Daringly, she let her lips trail the strange surface of those horns. Learning and exploring, understanding they were sensitive to her touch.
She dragged her tongue lightly over the ridges of one horn and then pressed her face into his hair.
Hajarans believed there was power in threes. Perhaps that was why it was easy for them to accept their king's unconventional marriage. She curled her arms over him, then a hand on one of his horns. "Have me again," she murmured into his hair. "Tear off this gown. Take me to the bed, and have me again."
Tenara didn't know how to fix what felt broken with her parents, and she didn't know how to become Havitharon's Yurivis forever, but she knew how to be his now. She knew this, the language of it. The meaning. The promise.
"I'm yours," she whispered. "I want to be yours." She knew this. They could figure out the rest later.
Soran Nightblade:
Havi shivered, his breath coming thicker. Her soft commands tugged at things low in his body. The feel of her hands,, her--was she licking him? He huffed out a moan, arms tightening around her.
His warm fingers pulled at her gown, obeying. He found the closure at her back and loosened it. Beneath the fabric, her skin felt cool and impossibly soft. He burrowed both hands beneath the fabric, spreading it wide as his hands slid over her back and sides. The dress caught briefly at her hips, then pooled to the floor.
He lifted her up against him, their hips pressed together. His eagerness to fulfill her request ground firmly against her belly as he carried her to the bed and lay her out beneath him. "Tenara," he groaned as he covered her body with his. He kissed her cheek, a bit less confidently. This kind of affection was less common where he was from, but it made his whole self tingle when she'd done it earlier.
Emora Deen:
Tenara held his face in her hands and admired his strange eyes, dipping her head to press feather-light kisses along his jaw.
He felt like a blanket of heat pulled over her, and it felt so wonderfully safe, so oddly right. The sensation made her eyes burn, and so she kissed him again, drinking him in. Thanking him.
Don't leave. Don't regret. Don't forget. But he'd promised he wouldn't, and the promise lay in the gold ring beneath her hand.
Tenara slipped her knees up at either side of him, so that he rested in the warmth of her inner thighs.
They could figure out the rest of their problems tomorrow. They were safe. She was safe. He was here, and so was the sword.
Tenara's hand around his horn tugged his head up so she could taste his throat, her injured hand trailing the clothes at his back, pinching and tugging impatiently at the fabric.
Havi's frowning stare offered Tenara little assistance in explaining what had happened between them to her family. He was struggling to keep up with the double meanings behind the two new females' questions. The door swung open again, and Vladimir Dracul swept into the room impatiently. The vampire's scarlet gaze assessed Havitharon like a batch of spoiled fruit. "Clearly on death's door," he rolled his eyes as he crossed to Tenara's side. Vlad's mood was never spectacular right after a morning at court, and today it was worse.
"What do you make of him, sis-in-law," he asked, crossing his arms. "If you need blood samples, I'm sure it can be arranged." His razor grin was positively feral.
Havi fought the need to hit him. Not only would his Yurivis be displeased, but he was fairly sure it could do real damage if he struck in his current state. The rut boiled through him like a persistent surge of adrenaline. Everyone in the room felt like an enemy, and he wasn't convinced it was just because of his rut.
Emora Deen:
Tenara edged a little closer to Havitharon, giving her father a warning look. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, her aunt chimed in.
"None from him," Lelana said, the hint of a frown o her face. "Honestly, you're all lying to yourselves if you haven't acknowledged what needs to be done. I'm sure Sinead did and, like you, avoided the solution like the plague.
"Out with it," Tenele said.
"If you want to separate Tenara from the sword, you have to complete the spell. There's a sacrifice that isn't dead."
Soran Nightblade:
Vlad cast Lelana a long-suffering look. "Dear sister, I know you aren't suggesting we murder my daughter." His attention rolled to the tall creature next to her, and he actually startled. Tenara's pet alien was glaring at Lelana with eyes like twin gas lamps, their harsh glow actually affecting the air in the room.
"Is it me, or is something wrong with Spiky today?"
Emora Deen:
At her father's words, Tenara looked up at Havitharon, and seeing the fire in his eyes, placed her hand on his arm. "She doesn't mean it."
"I do," Lelana went on unfazed. "You're trapped to it because your part in its creation hasn't ended. I'm not saying we kill you for good. Just... for a minute. Tenele can bring you back."
"I don't resurrect people. I knew calling you was a mistake."
"It's the only way, otherwise she's stuck with your son-in-law over there."
"We are not killing Tenara!"
"Even if the plan worked, Havitharon is staying. I'm not giving up the sword, connected or not. Besides, Havitharon and I are bound in other ways now. Can we shift our focus from trying to be rid of him?" Tenara's injured hand had moved to Havitharon's chest, looking very much like she was holding the alien back now.
Soran Nightblade:
Vlad's eyes narrowed fiercely on Havi. "What does she mean, 'connected in other ways'?"
Havi ignored his outrage. "I saw the spell that summoned me in that man's tome. The outcome of the spell was to be a sentient weapon. That was all. Tenara wasn't intended to survive." He clutched at his chest, the need to fight them all throbbing through his veins. "Finishing the spell would mean sacrificing her soul to the weapon. It would not.... get rid of me..," he struggled.
His breath came harder with the effort of staying still. He honestly had no idea how the spell truly worked, or if what he was saying was true. But if they harmed her, he could be certain that someone in this room would die before he did. He's make sure of it.
The warmth of her fingers on his chest muzzled him, at least for now.
Emora Deen:
Tenara grew increasingly concerned by how strained Havitharon looked. He looked like a frayed rope ready to snap.
"There was a binding keeping him... stable. Papa's chains eroded it. On his world, males can become unmoored, and wild. Feral. They're called Ivis. They need a female to tame them. She is called a Yurivis. The chains eroded what kept him from turning into an Ivis. He needed someone to become his Yurivis before he hurt people, I suppose."
"You suppose?" Tenele asked. "Do you know for sure? Do you even understand what it is you agreed to become?"
Tenara frowned. "It doesn't matter if I don't fully understand. I trust him."
Soran Nightblade:
Havi felt a chill down his center at Tenara's explanation. She had tamed him so naturally that it was easy to forget that she had very little understanding of what had happened between them. Her lack of knowing what she'd done was supposed to make the sting of his compromised values hurt less. After all, she couldn't abuse a power she barely understood. A fake Yurivis. A bond of convenience.
Did she really accept him because she presumed he would go on some sort of rampage without her? 'Feral'. He was the one who condoned that descriptor. "The bond is temporary," he assured her scowling parents. "She hasn't become anything that will not wear off."
The words were vinegar in his stomach.
Vlad didn't seem appeased. "Explain exactly what you've 'temporarily' done to my daughter," he snarled, snapping Havi up by the collar and hauling him down so they were nose to nose. Havi glared right back at the vampire.
"Says the one who entertains 'temporarily' killing my Yurivis?"
"Want to try saying that again, Spiky?" Vlad's nails slid through Havi's shirt like paper.
Emora Deen:
Tenara didn't understand why the explanation of their bond stung. Temporary. Nothing that won't wear off. Was she really so unimportant to him as that? She was so distracted by the ache in her belly she didn't realize her father had approached until he grabbed Havitharon's collar. "Daddy, stop!" Tenara tried to wedge herself between them.
Her mother stepped up. "Vlad!"
"Whatever was needed, I gave freely," she told her family.
"What was given?" Tenele asked, tugging on the other side of Vlad.
"It doesn't matter."
"It does."
"I'm not a child. I'm capable of choosing who I'm with."
"We're well aware. Look how well that's turned out for you," Tenele said, gripping Vlad's arm.
Tenara flinched. Her grip on her father loosened a fraction. She had wanted someone to be mad at her, hadn't she? She just hadn't expected it to be her mother. "Please leave," Tenara whispered.
Soran Nightblade:
Vlad paused, his clawed hand still gripping the shreds of Havi's ruined shirt. He'd heard the pain in his daughter's voice, and it sobered his temper. Forbidden romance wasn't exactly a foreign topic for him and his wife. That didn't make it easier to swallow the choices she was making.
"Fine," he said. "Lelana, you're coming with me. No more talk of killing my daughter until you explain what the hell you're thinking."
"None of you will harm her, Period." Havi's voice was barely language at all, deeply underlain by a rolling snarl.
"If you don't want her harmed, don't take advantage of her when she's traumatized and suffering."
Havi snarled, pain snapping through his chest. Had he harmed her? The idea was physically agonizing. It made for the perfect torture that he might need to stay away from his Yurivis in order to protect her. He suddenly remembered her command. 'Please leave.' Had that been meant for him too? He didn't know what to do for her. He pulled back, freeing himself from Vlad's grip. He looked at her and bowed his head. "Direct me to leave, and I will," he told her quietly.
Emora Deen:
Hearing her father speak to Havitharon jolted her further. Was she traumatized? Was she suffering? Was that what pushed her towards Havitharon?
"Direct me to leave and I will."
Order him? No. That was something a woman on his world would have done.
"Please, stay," Tenara told him, unable to look at her parents. One was angry with her, the other viewed her as poorly reassembled china. Havitharon saw her as something else, though she wasn't certain what that was now.
Temporary.
She hated the ache spreading through her like fissures.
"Tenara..." her mother tried.
"I'll see you in the morning," Tenara whispered. "I'll have a better answer in the morning."
"If it helps, we only have to trick the sword into thinking you're dead," Lelana smiled sympathetically.
Soran Nightblade:
Her request for him to stay made all of his muscles relax at once. It was a dizzying feeling. This was the power of a Yurivis and the rut. But it felt like more. Like being called home for a warm meal. He shivered and resisted an impulse to kneel and press his head against her waist. She seemed hurt... more hurt than he'd seen her since she confronted her whore.
Vlad sighed. "Let's give her space." His eyes swept to Havitharon, whose company she apparently preferred at the moment. "The guards are nearby," he said, both as warning to Spiky and reassurance to his daughter. If he brought her comfort right now, Vlad wouldn't try to make them separate. The protectiveness the creature just flashed at him, he had to admit, actually did appear genuine. Regardless of whatever motive might lie behind it, Spiky wasn't planning to harm her... for now.
He took his wife and sister by the elbows and pulled them toward the door.
Emora Deen:
When the doors shut and the room was quiet, Tenara deflated. All she had wanted for so long was to be with her family, and she'd just asked them to leave. What was wrong with her?
She glanced up at Havitharon. Temporary. Of course. Whenever this wore off, he would go back to distance and bitterness? She rubbed her chest, as if she could rub out the ache. what did it matter? They weren'nt in love. She wasn't sure what they were other than sword and woman. Ivis and Yurivis.
"Am I temporary?" Tenara asked softly. Her face betrayed her, conveying the hurt she was desperate to hide.
Was he just using her? Would she ever be more to someone than what she could provide them? Rami had wanted a throne or money. What did Havitharon want?
Soran Nightblade:
Havitharon looked down at her. It was hard to tell what she was thinking, but she seemed sad, and he honestly wasn't sure which answer would make her feel better. In that moment, he felt willing to grant her anything she asked. How would he feel tomorrow, when the rut passed? Knowing to expect these instincts and actually feeling them were two completely separate things.
"Do you want it to be?" he asked her. He touched a strand of loose silver hair and wound it gently behind her ear. He could tell her how to do it... how to attach him to her permanently. But fime minutes ago, they'd been discussing how to separate her from the sword. "If you think you need to tame me to prevent a massacre, you're incorrect. I can weather the rut if left in privacy. In fact, even bonded, I can become violent toward the people around you. A moment ago, I nearly..." He didn't bother finishing. He knew she'd noticed it.
Emora Deen:
Tenara's eyes misted a little. Did she want to be? She thought about an hour ago, when they were locked together, the way he held her. The tenderness with which he treated her, cleaned her. Reverence and care.
She couldn't ask him to make her something she wasn't. Whatever instincts he had, pulled him to want her, and she'd given him an answer to that longing willingly, fulfilling a desire she'd harbored - magic-born or not. What did she want of him beyond tomorrow?
Her heart said she wanted tomorrow to be like today. That he wanted her, truly. Her mind said that when whatever was happening to him passed, so would the look in his eyes that made her feel like the only star in the sky.
"I want to matter," she whispered. "To someone. To you..." How could she ask to be loved. It was silly. Wrong. "I don't want you to forget me." Forget this. Regret this. She didn't want to be another man's temporary plaything.
Soran Nightblade:
Havitharon dropped slowly to his knees in front of her, putting his eyes below hers. He wrapped his arms softly around her and hugged her against him. Arms looped securely under her hips and lifted her against his chest.
"Tenara," he said quietly, looking up to meet her eyes. "Do you see the gold ring on my horns?"
The thin bands that had been glowing at the base of his scalp that morning had stabilized from ember-bright to the cool lustre of polished gold. Above them, countless similar ridges could be made out on close inspection, all along the long, curved arches of the horns' length.
"When an Ivis rides out a rut unaccompanied, the flame burns itself out from the inside, and the new ridge blackens." He took her hand and gently guided it to his horn, placing her fingers at the very tip. "My entire life," he explained, running her fingers along the blackened horn. "And you," he narrated when she reached the gold ridge. He looked up at her with tenderness in his gold eyes.
"I can never forget or regret you. If the sword spat me back into my own world tomorrow, I'll likely never grow another gold band as long as I live. It is yours." He blinked awkwardly. "I may not make any sense to you..."
Emora Deen:
Tenara's gaze followed his guiding touch to the gold band. Her gaze drifted to his strange black and gold eyes, feeling as if her heart was swelling.
She curled her hand around his horn and kissed him softly, before he could finish.
She wasn't entirely certain she understood, but she understood enough. Tenara did not know what would happen when this moment for him ended, but at least she understood where she stood now.
"I don't want to be temporary," she murmured against his lips. "When you need a Yurivis again, I will be it. Whenever that might be. This world, or another."
As the promise left her lips, she wasn't sure how she'd keep it. She had never liked the idea of being a queen, or all the trappings that came with it. But, it had always seemed like an unavoidable fate. One she hadn't chosen for herself, but was born into, or wed into.
But, if there was someone more bound to their fate, it was Havitharon. He had no body to return to, at least any they knew of. He was here. And so was she.
Soran Nightblade:
Havi's eyes rolled shut, soaking in the sweet taste of her mouth on his, the light hand holding his horn steady as surely as a sailor would guide his ship in a storm.
What was she saying? Why did he want to badly for her to mean it? How could she mean it?
He wanted to believe her. Despite everything in his life telling him otherwise, he wanted to believe this sense of rightness and belonging could always be his. No manipulations, no violent games or twisted punishments. A kind, guileless woman he could honor and serve, and...
He swallowed. Was he able to believe such a thing? Could he let himself hope for it?
"I am yours right now. When your family had made you safe... When your options are clearer to you... if you still choose me, then mark me as yours."
It came out like a plea, despite his intent to pose it as an offer. His heart beat in fits and starts as he realized what he just admitted to her. To himself. The one thing he swore he would never want or accept.
Emora Deen:
Tenara brushed his horns with her fingertips. The plea in his voice tugged at her heart. Tenara's mind told her to be wary of the need to have him and be his. Was it the sword pulling them together? Their souls were tangled. But Tenara thought it was more than that. She wanted him. The broken, distrustful alien. The one who fiercely protected her, even when he didn't trust her, or know her, or like her. She wanted to believe she could have something like what her mother was lucky enough to find three times.
Tenara pressed a kiss to the gold band on his right horn. Hers. Forever hers. She did the same to the left. Daringly, she let her lips trail the strange surface of those horns. Learning and exploring, understanding they were sensitive to her touch.
She dragged her tongue lightly over the ridges of one horn and then pressed her face into his hair.
Hajarans believed there was power in threes. Perhaps that was why it was easy for them to accept their king's unconventional marriage. She curled her arms over him, then a hand on one of his horns. "Have me again," she murmured into his hair. "Tear off this gown. Take me to the bed, and have me again."
Tenara didn't know how to fix what felt broken with her parents, and she didn't know how to become Havitharon's Yurivis forever, but she knew how to be his now. She knew this, the language of it. The meaning. The promise.
"I'm yours," she whispered. "I want to be yours." She knew this. They could figure out the rest later.
Soran Nightblade:
Havi shivered, his breath coming thicker. Her soft commands tugged at things low in his body. The feel of her hands,, her--was she licking him? He huffed out a moan, arms tightening around her.
His warm fingers pulled at her gown, obeying. He found the closure at her back and loosened it. Beneath the fabric, her skin felt cool and impossibly soft. He burrowed both hands beneath the fabric, spreading it wide as his hands slid over her back and sides. The dress caught briefly at her hips, then pooled to the floor.
He lifted her up against him, their hips pressed together. His eagerness to fulfill her request ground firmly against her belly as he carried her to the bed and lay her out beneath him. "Tenara," he groaned as he covered her body with his. He kissed her cheek, a bit less confidently. This kind of affection was less common where he was from, but it made his whole self tingle when she'd done it earlier.
Emora Deen:
Tenara held his face in her hands and admired his strange eyes, dipping her head to press feather-light kisses along his jaw.
He felt like a blanket of heat pulled over her, and it felt so wonderfully safe, so oddly right. The sensation made her eyes burn, and so she kissed him again, drinking him in. Thanking him.
Don't leave. Don't regret. Don't forget. But he'd promised he wouldn't, and the promise lay in the gold ring beneath her hand.
Tenara slipped her knees up at either side of him, so that he rested in the warmth of her inner thighs.
They could figure out the rest of their problems tomorrow. They were safe. She was safe. He was here, and so was the sword.
Tenara's hand around his horn tugged his head up so she could taste his throat, her injured hand trailing the clothes at his back, pinching and tugging impatiently at the fabric.
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Soran Nightblade
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Re: The Princess and the Blade
Havitharon sighed out a dizzy breath and stretched his neck where her hands pulled him. Her firm hand on his horn and the slickness of her tongue on the burning skin of his throat was like a drug. He found himself sliding his hands beneath her thighs, drawing close against her. His merciless erection pressed into her through his clothes. He debated removing them, but couldn't bring himself to break away long enough to do so. He barely spared one of his hands to reach down to his fly and free himself enough to slide against her. His hot, velvet-smooth length lay full and heavy on her belly.
"If you invite me like that, you may find me unable to properly control myself," he whispered beside her ear. It was hard to tell without seeing his face if he was being coy or giving her honest warning.
"If you invite me like that, you may find me unable to properly control myself," he whispered beside her ear. It was hard to tell without seeing his face if he was being coy or giving her honest warning.
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Emora Deen
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Re: The Princess and the Blade
Tenara whimpered at the promise in his words and shivered at the feel of his lips on her ear. "I want you, control or not," she murmured into the crook of his neck. Was this too soon? She felt his excitement, the weight of it on her belly. The idea of him slipping into her again pulled everything tight, and she almost groaned. He wanted this, too. He wanted her.
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Soran Nightblade
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Re: The Princess and the Blade
He blew out a hot breath across the top of her hair. His body twitched in anticipation of her, but her grip on his horns kept him too high to align what he wanted. A soft curse fell from lips, equal parts frustration and ecstasy. He needed to be inside her in some way before he went mad. His long fingers slid under the hem of her underwear and grazed over her slick center. The feel of her was too much. His whole body throbbed with the need to enter her. "Tenara," he huffed. "You have me."
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Emora Deen
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Re: The Princess and the Blade
Tenara moaned softly at the feel of his fingers brushing over her. She burrowed into him, wiggled her hips and ground herself against the feel of his fingers. "Please," she whispered. "Please." She wiggled, freeing his horn long enough to tug at the small fabric still left between them. She tugged them down as much as she could, rolling partially onto her belly as she reached back to his horn and drew him over her.
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Soran Nightblade
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Re: The Princess and the Blade
Havitharon wasn't even aware of how he ended up pressed over her, his hands drawing her legs wide while he found his way unguided to her entrance. He had just enough clarity to wonder if he'd hurt her if he pushed in all at once. It hadn't been that long since they'd knotted. Would she still be relaxed enough to take him? He pictured what it would be like to enter her in one thick stroke, thrusting deep until her body stopped him.
He could have sworn it was just a thought. But an instant later, he was connected with her. "Hnngh!" he pressed his face into her neck, already fighting back an orgasm. "How are you possible?" he groaned. It was half worship and half complaint.
He could have sworn it was just a thought. But an instant later, he was connected with her. "Hnngh!" he pressed his face into her neck, already fighting back an orgasm. "How are you possible?" he groaned. It was half worship and half complaint.
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Emora Deen
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Re: The Princess and the Blade
Tenara cried out, her hand tightening around Havitharon's horn as she felt him drive into her. She had pleaded for it, and even though she'd had him before a few hours earlier, the shock of his size burned through her. "Gods," she panted against the sheets, relishing the weight and heat of him pressed against her back, the feel of him buried impossibly deep.
"How are you possible?"
She felt her heart swell to burst, and tears pricked her eyes. Tenara wanted to be the possible impossibility. The thing he'd always wanted and feared didn't exist.
She braced herself with one arm and shifted forward, then back against him. "Ah..."
She wondered if the males on his world were ever given the control to be as they wished, or if even love making was dictated by the whims of a woman. While she liked the idea of pinning him down on his back as she'd done before, she wanted him to have a taste of control. A taste of a female submission. Embracing the strange, half-face down position she'd pulled them into meant he'd have that. It also meant he felt even deeper than he'd managed to be earlier, which she knew had to be impossible. But the feeling. Gods the feeling.
Tenara tugged the horn to pull his head until she could press her cheek to his. She tilted her face into him as she released his horn and guided one of his large hands to the bend of her hips. She thrust back against him again, letting him understand how he could guide her, pull her, drive her. She choked out a cry at the sensation of him striking the part deep inside that was like a bolt of lightning through her center. "Take me," she huffed into his ear as she grabbed his horn again, commanding and pleading. "Claim me."
"How are you possible?"
She felt her heart swell to burst, and tears pricked her eyes. Tenara wanted to be the possible impossibility. The thing he'd always wanted and feared didn't exist.
She braced herself with one arm and shifted forward, then back against him. "Ah..."
She wondered if the males on his world were ever given the control to be as they wished, or if even love making was dictated by the whims of a woman. While she liked the idea of pinning him down on his back as she'd done before, she wanted him to have a taste of control. A taste of a female submission. Embracing the strange, half-face down position she'd pulled them into meant he'd have that. It also meant he felt even deeper than he'd managed to be earlier, which she knew had to be impossible. But the feeling. Gods the feeling.
Tenara tugged the horn to pull his head until she could press her cheek to his. She tilted her face into him as she released his horn and guided one of his large hands to the bend of her hips. She thrust back against him again, letting him understand how he could guide her, pull her, drive her. She choked out a cry at the sensation of him striking the part deep inside that was like a bolt of lightning through her center. "Take me," she huffed into his ear as she grabbed his horn again, commanding and pleading. "Claim me."
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Soran Nightblade
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Re: The Princess and the Blade
Havitharon's thoughts jumbled. Claim his Yurivis? It sounded strange, but was it? She's asked it of him, which made every fiber of him want to give it to her. His claim. His need. His pleasure. His strong hands spread over her hips, nearly large enough to encircle her small waist. He leaned forward over her and pressed his full length into her in a heavy thrust, his weight pushing her flush against the mattress. Again, the position felt strange to him. But her hand was still tight around his horn. She could guide him if he did the wrong thing... or at least he thought she would.
His long fingers spread across her smooth tummy, holding her as he built a slow, but mercilessly deep, rhythm inside her. His pulse jumped. He could feel himself moving inside her beneath his fingers. It was absurdly arousing. He pressed his mouth over the back of her neck and sucked at her skin in deep, open-mouthed kisses. The memory of how it tasted to lick her someplace else entirely drove a pang of need through him. He wanted to be everywhere in her at once. It was a mad thought, brought on by the rutt.
"Is this how I claim you?" he asked, laving his tongue over the back of her right ear. He drew the tip between his lips and sucked on it.
His long fingers spread across her smooth tummy, holding her as he built a slow, but mercilessly deep, rhythm inside her. His pulse jumped. He could feel himself moving inside her beneath his fingers. It was absurdly arousing. He pressed his mouth over the back of her neck and sucked at her skin in deep, open-mouthed kisses. The memory of how it tasted to lick her someplace else entirely drove a pang of need through him. He wanted to be everywhere in her at once. It was a mad thought, brought on by the rutt.
"Is this how I claim you?" he asked, laving his tongue over the back of her right ear. He drew the tip between his lips and sucked on it.
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Emora Deen
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Re: The Princess and the Blade
Tenara rocked with the feel of each thrust, barely able to breathe or think. Each strike deep inside became a spark, burning and brilliant and wonderful. She huffed, making a soft, sharp moan each time he drove in.
She clenched her hand over his horn, thankful to be holding onto something solid, feeling as if she could die from the growing abyss of pleasure pooling within. "Y-yes," she moaned at the question, the feel of his lips and teeth on her ear. "Oh, Havi."
She clenched her hand over his horn, thankful to be holding onto something solid, feeling as if she could die from the growing abyss of pleasure pooling within. "Y-yes," she moaned at the question, the feel of his lips and teeth on her ear. "Oh, Havi."
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Soran Nightblade
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Re: The Princess and the Blade
Her voice was like hands sliding over every inch of his body. Contentment at her pleasure set all his normally uptight nerves at ease, which made it that much harder to keep the sensations from running away with him.
"Oh, Havi," she cried for him.
He hesitated for a moment at the new nickname. Only his family and a few overzealous Yurivis courtiers had called him by it. He stared down at her curiously.
"Oh, Havi," she cried for him.
He hesitated for a moment at the new nickname. Only his family and a few overzealous Yurivis courtiers had called him by it. He stared down at her curiously.
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Emora Deen
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Re: The Princess and the Blade
Tenara felt his hesitation, and was torn between relief from the complicated tangle of pain and pleasure his ministrations offered and the terrible disappointment they weren't continuing. She released his horn slowly, bracing herself against the bed to twist and look back at him—as much as she could. Her face and lips were flushed, her eyes heavy with desire. "Are you alright?" concern and want hung in her voice. Perhaps he was tired. This was their third time in a single day. She suddenly felt silly for having even asked this of him... "We... we can stop if you need to."
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Soran Nightblade
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Re: The Princess and the Blade
His chest buzzed at the sight of the look on her face. He could feel his knot starting to swell, threatening to set off a chain reaction inside him. He wrapped his arms around her and drew her up to her knees, her back flush against his stomach. "So I won't crush you," he murmured, licking the nape of her neck as he supported her.
He slid smoothly in and out of her, no longer bruisingly deep. This angle gave him more control, and he thought he knew which spot had made her cry out like that. He slid in quick, firm movements, relentless against the same spot. "Please call me again," he huffed beside her ear. He was barely keeping it together.
He slid smoothly in and out of her, no longer bruisingly deep. This angle gave him more control, and he thought he knew which spot had made her cry out like that. He slid in quick, firm movements, relentless against the same spot. "Please call me again," he huffed beside her ear. He was barely keeping it together.