The Princess and the Blade

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi's pulse sped up as Felicity read the story. He was trying to think of it academically, but he kept picturing Tenara in the Dragon Queen's place, and soon he could barely concentrate on her finger as it ran along the text.

"This... is love?" he asked her a bit shakily. "But he is being so aggressive with her..." He barely noticed the drink she set between his fingers.

[Emora Deen]

Felicity twisted in the seat, coming up on her knees next to him. She tipped the glass towards his lips. “Women like a little aggression every now and then, especially if it’s someone they trust to not actually hurt them,” she said. “Some men like a little aggression too…” She smiled at him. “The sorcerer was steadfast on a goal, and refused to let the dragon queen into his heart. But her stubbornness and her challenging of him unwittingly caused him to fall for her. She held that challenge until her own feelings could no longer be denied. Love takes many forms. For them, one had never been defied and the other had never been conquered and each needed that from the other.”

She tipped the glass to his lips again. “Each love is different, this is one… Some loves are epic, some are as short as an hour.” She set the glass down. “I can show you one way, and if you like it, I can show you another, and another, and another,” she whispered, her finger tracing the collar of his shirt. She leaned in and kissed him softly, her tongue darting along his lips, tasting his drink. “You had spilled brandy. It’s bad luck to let it go to waste in a rich man’s home,” she said.

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi's rising tension snapped like a spring the second her lips touched him. There was no space left to retreat on the love seat, leaving him cornered. The brandy glass crashed forgotten on the wood floor as his hands shot up, took her by the shoulders, and forced her to arm's length. Somehow, he kept enough presence of mind to avoid injuring her. "What are you doing?" he demanded. His expression, along with his tone, had iced over.

[Emora Deen]

Felicity smiled, “What you asked for. You want to lose your virginity, right? Want a woman to teach you how to love someone?” She angled her gaze to his grip. “You’re strong. Are you going to be aggressive with me? I don’t think I’d mind… Laurius liked to be aggressive too. I can show you the same tricks I taught him when he was younger.”

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi slunk back until the cushion wouldn't give any further. "No, not unless you force me to be," he warned. "Get off. This was not my goal."

[Emora Deen]

“And what is your goal? Reading smutty books and asking for someone to teach you about love implies you want more than reading, my alien friend…” She tried to twist out of his grip. “Why don’t you ask the Princess—a woman engaged to another man, I might add—who keeps giving you those pretty doe eyes. I’m sure she’d happily teach you.”

[Soran Nightblade]

Since she seemed to be trying to move back, Havi let go of her. He grappled with a pang of self-doubt. It wasn't just Felicity... Tabetha had chosen these books, and Merry had recommended Tabetha as an expert. "You are saying that," - he gestured to the book - "and this," - he glanced at her half-dressed form posed seductively over him, "This is seriously what love is?"

He forgot his anger. He was so confused. Was this what Tenara wanted from him?

[Emora Deen]

“A form of love. It has many faces,” she said. “Love can be physical and emotional. I like the physical…” She slipped onto the sofa next to him, facing him, not far away enough to be unthreatening. “Love can be sex. Sometimes it can be wanting to die for someone and live for them all at the same time. It can also be sacrifice, and comfort, and trust, and belief, and service. I’m very good at service. I could show you…” Her hand rested on his thigh and slid up and grabbed hold of him. She whimpered. “Let me teach you. I promise it will be worth it.”

[Soran Nightblade]

Felicity's grip sent a chill through Havi's spine. He snapped up her wrist and jerked her backwards off the edge of the couch. He followed her onto the floor the way he would an opponent in a duel, kneeling on her and pinning her fiercely to immobilize her.

It wasn't the first time he'd ever harmed a Yurivis, but it felt just as awful as it did every time. He gritted his teeth as he abused his instincts and forced her still, and all the while his head was swimming. Nothing she said made sense to him. He didn't understand. Tenara was right. He really couldn't understand. What if he actually couldn't love her?

She said she didn't need it. She will understand. It will be okay.
But she'll never have the life she wanted. How is that okay?

He shook the thoughts from his freshly pounding head and glowered at the woman pinned beneath him.

"Miss Felicity," he addressed her coldly, "I no longer require reading lessons. Thank you for your efforts to train me."

[Emora Deen]

Felicity trembled a little, wincing with pain. “You could just say no!” The words wheezed out of her as she fought to take a breath under Havi’s crushing weight. “What do you… want to know about love, anyway? It’s a feeling. Love can’t be learned, but making love can. Have your pretty princess teach you the difference.”

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi's gold eyes flashed at her words. Ah. I see.

"I need the other kind," he said bitterly. "The kind that can't be learned." He rose to his feet and pulled her upright, scanning her smaller form for any signs of lasting damage. Then he turned for the door. "Goodnight, Miss Felicity."

[Emora Deen]

Felicity rubbed at her chest, glowering after Havitharon as he left.

Tenara lounged in the steaming tub with her hand around the sliver of horn Havi had cut for her. It felt so strange to hold it. It was a part of him she had, always. It was simultaneously the most beautiful and awful thing to her—awful because she remembered how bloody and hurt he had been afterwards.

But she thought of the look in his eyes when he saw her wearing it—a sort of feral, possessive beauty had hadn’t seen in him before. It had burned its way into her mind and tightened everything low in her body. She sighed, dipping lower in the water. What did it mean?

She hoped his lessons were going well. She tried not to feel jealous of his pretty tutor, or the fact they were likely curled near each other reading by the fire. Would he like her voice?

And again her mind drifted to his face when she touched the horn, and she knew she hadn’t anything to be jealous of. She doubted he would look at Miss Felicity like that.

She hoped.

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi's angry posture loosened once he was down the hall and away from the library. He took a right at the end of the corridor, into the empty dining room. The staff had all gone to rest for the night. The plates and food had been set away, and the lights in the room were off. Havi closed the door behind him and dropped into a chair. He needed a minute to get his bearings.

That story had been unlike anything he'd ever heard of before. He could sort of imagine it in the reverse, but for the male to be that forceful... to even speak that way with a female... He was a bit mortified, but despite that, his imagination had placed Tenara in the scene, writhing under him, begging him...

He shivered. Thank god Felicity's advances had subdued his body's excitement by the time she touched him. If he'd still been hard when she grabbed him, that would have been a disaster. He wiped at his mouth in disgust, kind of wishing he had that brandy now.

After decompressing for a few minutes, he felt mostly settled again. He hadn't really decided if he should give up or continue to study on his own, but it felt like a question that could wait for tomorrow. He finally rose and made his way back through the huge estate to his quarters. He noticed as he reached them that Tenara's door appeared to be fixed. Would she be in his room, then, or her own? He opened his door quietly, in case she was inside and asleep.

[Emora Deen]

A rushing sound of water came from Havi’s bathroom, drowning out the sound of the door opening. Tenara set the pitcher down and combed fingers through her soaked hair before she sat up on her knees and reached for a towel.

She wasn’t sure why she’d come to his room, or why she was using his bath. She had just… come in. Like they shared the same space—his room was hers and hers was his.

She had thought it through poorly, though. She had intended to stay here with him, but hadn’t bothered to get her own night clothes. She needed to sneak back across the hall… She grabbed his robe, all black, warm velvet. It felt deliciously soft against her damp skin.

She exited the bathroom a moment later and froze at the site of him. “Havi… I, ugh… I wanted to sleep here but when I got into bed, I felt dirty and the maids had just changed your sheets…” Her hand fiddled with the horn at her breast. “Did your lessons end?”

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi stopped in his tracks. "No more lessons," he said. Half his brain answered her, but the rest of him was fixated on staring at her. "You're wearing my robe," he mused. His gaze drifted to the place where the fabric crossed in a V over her breasts, and her fingers playing with the pendant just above. "...and my horn." A rivulet of water dripped from her hair and cascaded over the contours of her chest before sliding beneath the fabric.

He murmured a curse in his language, and hoped his pants didn't look as tight as they suddenly felt.