Completed A Promised Encounter

[Nairth San'Seya]

The winds of change were blowing more recklessly with every passing day. Events that threatened to shake the lives of Spring Fae, and in particular the life of one particular Duanann, were fast approaching. Life is beauty. Those were the words that he'd lived by for ages, generation after generation he was fueled by his love of life, the beauty that it created on this planet that all beings roamed. Nairth San'Seya was a being of incredible strength, to be sure. However, that strength meant nothing without the air that filled his lungs with every breath, without the grass between his toes and the sun at his back. He often wondered why his Fae brethren were so insistent on spending all of their time making paltry deals with mortals, politicking amongst each other, and vying for things as fickle as power. Nairth needed none of it, he need only be at one with the world around him to find a semblance of peace.

Now though, the free-spirited soul of Nairth San'Seya was due to be set along a very specific path. He spoke often and passionately about his love for Arethil, and now the fates had sent him a trial through which his love would be tested. The tall, silver-haired Fae was perched so precariously on a thick branch protruding from just one of the many trees that surrounded the nature-filled thicket that he called home, a cacophony of sounds-- chirps, calls and barks alike, echoed underneath him as the children of his grove lived without worry of pain or death by the tip of a blade or arrow. His bare feet dug against the bark of the limb, perched precariously near the edge. Nairth enjoyed balance exercises; if one could control their breathing, they could remain perfectly motionless, taking only a single breath every minute. It was a difficult skill to learn, but San'Seya found it to be relaxing. Something co calm his nerves was what he needed...

It had only been several fortnights since he had attended that ball, the first of many events his King had sent him on in his stead. At the time, all had seemed well. Nairth had deemed it to be Oberon's attempt to encourage Nairth to be more proactive within the Fae. However, reading the tome that now rested in his arm and cradled like a child over and over again, it was dawning on the Duanann that it had only been the beginning. The High Omnia had delivered these to him, rather than Oberon, and that had perhaps been the most damning evidence of all...

Nairth San'Seya would soon be expected to seize the crown.

It was all happening too fast, even for a being such as he, who lived for generations. First that fascinating human, visiting his grove and speaking words of rebellion into his ear. Then there was the increase in violence among the lesser Fae whom he allowed home within his forest, attacking without reason. Then whatever role the enigmatic, unpredictable Isiell played in all of it. There had been a time when Nairth did little more than bask in the peace of his grove, letting the sun bathe his skin, the water cleanse him of his darker thoughts, and nature to soothe his loneliness. When he had dared to stare out at the world beyond his forest at last, it stared back at him with a gaze most piercing.

Closing the tome, the nude figure of the Duanann would hold it aloft, whispering silently into the wind as he lifted one muscular leg off of the branch. A shriek would tear through the air, as a mighty hawk, larger than any that could possibly be natural, swept down to clutch the massive tome in it's gargantuan talons, carrying the important document to the ground safely as Nairth allowed himself to tilt, plummeting off the side of the branch, closing his eyes and exhaling for what seemed the first time in hours as he hit the water of the lake beneath him, sinking beneath the crystal blue surface so that the water may wash away the stress of his morning exercise.

Stress. When was the last time he felt so stressed?

Isiell

 

[Isiell]

Isiell had been unsure if she'd take Nairth up on his invitation to visit his grove, sometime after the solstice masquerade. But then she'd realized that a special holiday was coming up in the Dawn Court, and it had made her think of him.

Locating his grove had not been too terribly difficult. It was as beautiful as she'd expected, perhaps even more so, but as she invaded its outer barriers and stepped into the protective magic that came from Nairth's presence. It had resisted her, a little, at first. She was chaos and fire, after all, and nature especially abhorred fire. But she'd won it over.

She took her time wandering deeper and deeper into the grove. It was peaceful in a way she rarely experienced in her life, but today... today there was an undercurrent of chaos on the wind. Not one that she had generated. And as she meandered, she slowly sipped at that delicious chaos, replanting little seeds of it along the way.

Stirring up an ant pile along the path. A toss of the breeze to throw a bird off course--not with any injury or death, though. Nairth had made her curious, and she knew he would not tolerate certain things in this grove. Running her fingers through a spider's web.

Isiell was just drawing near lake when she felt Nairth's whisper on the wind. It was nearly impossible to hide her elemental alignment with fire, but her alignment with air as well was one she didn't advertise as much.

She looked up as she heard the cry of a raptor overhead, and couldn't help but grin at the sight of the massive hawk soaring over the treetops. Turning to follow its path, she broke through the tree line just as the hawk retrieved a large book from Nairth's grasp, and silently watched the fae fall back off the tree branch that jutted out over the lake, sinking into the water with a splash.

Isiell grinned again. Normally, she would have thought that Nairth would know as soon as someone stepped into his grove. But now... the chaos the radiated off of him, through rippling water... she wondered if he was too distracted to have noticed her arrival.

With the lightest of footsteps, Isiell approached the lake shore and crouched at the water's edge. Her gown was almost as scandalously short as the one she'd worn to the masquerade, made of thin, diaphanous layers--silver against her skin, blue in the middle, and teal on the outer layer--that teased around her thighs. Her long, black hair fell loose down her back, but whenever she moved a teasing glimpse of skin was visible, the back of her dress open nearly down the entire length of her spine. The neckline was a little more demure, resting just below her collarbones. She wore a few rings on her fingers, but otherwise there was nothing else to her garb. Not even shoes.

She tilted her face up, enjoying the warm kiss of sunlight on her skin for a moment, and was struck once more with the odd juxtaposition that a fire-aligned fae would be born with a lunar alignment rather than a solar. But perhaps that was part of the origin of her chaos.

Then she looked back down, and reached out to gently trail her fingers through the water before her.

Whenever Nairth returned to the surface, he would see her crouched there, splashing playfully in the water.

"Good morning," she would greet him, an impish smile on her lips. "It seems you are troubled today. Delightfully so."

Nairth San'Seya

 

[Nairth San'Seya]

The barriers and wards that surrounded the perimeter of his grove were there primarily as a deterrent to ordinary folk and lesser beasts. Nairth was capable of very strong magic, but to sustain a barrier powerful enough to deter a duanann for very long constantly around his grove was beyond even his ability. No, folly to even try it.

That wasn't to say the odd human didn't occasionally find a way to get to him; Fraeya had endeared herself to him enough to be invited through the barrier, and another odd case had been the use of a significantly powerful staff to temporarily dispel a small section of it.

The cool waters of the lake slowly washed away every ache and pain his morning routine had put on his body, what small accumulation of sweat had built in the valleys of his form were banished by the comforting flow of Arethil's lifeblood around him. The fish and plant life underneath the surface seemed to swirl around him, orbiting his body as their planet did the sun hanging high up in the sky.

San'Seya felt the brush of the algae and the rocks against his backside, telling him he'd reached the bottom. That was his cue to swing his feet under him and spring upwards back towards the surface of his watery blanket. Of course, he'd been so preoccupied with his usual ritual, as well as the unusual turmoil that swirled within him, that he didn't feel the tug of mild pain in his arm that was meant to signal to him that his grove had unexpected company.

So when he emerged from the lake, silver hair matted to his face in a wild, unruly fashion, water running down his torso to return to the lake that still concealed him from the waist down, the visage of the porcelain-skinned Isiell had not been one he was prepared for. Nairth was often either stoic or vibrant with little in-between, but he would take pause as he spotted her there, silently admiring the display of skin that her immodest dress offered him.

He'd taken note of her beauty at the ball, but that had taken place in the waning hours of the evening. Now, with the bright morning sun radiating off of her skin, he found that she emanated an entirely new radiance the likes of which caused his breath to hitch in his throat.

The wind in the grove seemed to strengthen, flowing towards Isiell as though he willed the air itself to reach out and touch her. "Miss Isiell..." He muttered, raising his arms to pull the white locks from his forehead. "Welcome to my home. I wish I had not been so distracted, else I may have been able to provide a proper welcome..." That skirt hid next to nothing, but Nairth forced his eyes to a more proper gaze against her own eyes. "My beliefs and my way of life are being challeneged. I find myself at a crossroads... How fitting it is that you would appear now, when my heart holds such discord..."

Isiell

 

[Isiell]

Isiell smiled as she felt the air move gently against her skin and through her hair. She didn't miss the way Nairth's eyes traveled over her, and she would be remiss if her own gaze didn't wander appreciatively over his own form. He was nearly her opposite in every way, in magic and alignments and appearance, despite the fair skin they both shared. It made him... intriguing.

"Your welcome is sufficient," Isiell replied, reaching out with her own magic to wend the air around and against the breeze moving over her before she giggled softly. Mischievously. "Although I feel a tad overdressed at the moment."

As he continued to speak, though, she let the mischievousness fade from her face, though her gaze was no less curious.

"We cannot grow without challenge," Isiell spoke when Nairth finished. "We fae, especially the Duannan, run the risk of becoming stagnant with our long lives. It is far too easy for them" --them being most other Duannan than herself because, truly, Isiell was very young-- "to become set in their ways. I suspect that is why I tend to annoy many of them."

Her smile turned impish again as she shifted from her crouched seat to stand at the lake's edge, dipping her toes into the water playfully. She kept her eyes on his, letting herself delve into the tendrils of discord and chaos swirling through and around him. They were thick around him, and he would see her eyes darken, pupils widening as her pulse began to thrum in her neck. It had been a while--a very long while--since she'd felt chaos that bright and vivid within someone.

Almost unconsciously, she took a step forward, and then another, and another. The water rose to cover her ankles, then slowly crept up her shins, and she stopped when it was just above her knees.

"What I have learned, though," she said at last, "is that those with the most... distress about a changing situation are those who know which direction to go, and simply are reluctant to follow through with that path."

She extended her hand to him, then.

"Come," she grinned. "Tell me what troubles you."

Nairth San'Seya

 

[Nairth San'Seya]

Nairth prided the peaceful nature that his small patch of home embodied, the wind was always as calm as he dictated, the sun always bent to wish wished, bathing every inch of the trees, the plants, and the water to his content. In his darkest moments, at his most vulnerable, this was always a place he could return to ease his body and mind. When Isiell was here, that changed. Her presence had no immediately noticeable effects; the wind and the sun were still as steady and ever-present as always, but the duanann no longer felt like he was in absolute control. She proved that, shifting the wind with ease.

Nairth had no idea why he found that so exciting, so thrilling. Isiell was akin to a forbidden fruit, one whose presence he had every right to believe was nothing but detrimental to him, and yet he found himself glad that she'd come. The slight smile on his face as she allowed the impish grin to leave her features.

"You are more than welcome to rectify that if it bothers you so..." He purred, rolling his neck as he walked forwards to slowly emerge from the water, although he stopped before he was fully surfaced. "I was merely washing after my morning exercise. I hope you don't think I bared my flesh in preparation for you..." A smirk grew on his face. Surely he had no such intent.

His arms wrapped around his bare abdomen, seeming to shield himself from the slightly chilled air resulting from Isiell's playful little stir, listening to her words. Where there had moments ago been a tinge of playfulness and mischief in his own eyes there was now a focus unmatched.

Though he shouldn't, he enjoyed her presence, his first priority needed to be preparing his body and mind for the mantle that he was set to take, however. If she had some insight, he wanted to hear it. She'd proven at the ball that despite her alignment being so opposite of his own, she was a wise and sharp duanann in her own right. Her words now only proved that, causing Nairth to take a moment, closing his eyes and running his tongue slowly along the roof of his mouth in thought.

"I've been quite guilty of that myself. For so long I have kept to myself, surrounding myself with all that I loved in this grove. I cared not for politics, for the actions or fates of my kin. I selfishly attempted to shelter myself, to hide from the atrocity that I once committed." She walked towards him, slowly. Those dark pools searching him. Not his face, but his mind. How stormy and unclear his mind must have seemed to her, that chaos she craved must have been rampant in his mind. There was nothing he could do about it. For the first time in so long, Nairth was unsure. "Lately though, I've been thrust into a position where I have no choice but to care. The tracks I am set to follow have been laid down before me without my knowledge, and only now do I see them."

He reached out before she'd even finished extending her hand, taking it in his own and pulling her ever so slightly closer. "I am not the ruler of my own mind. My mind is imperfect, uneasy and lacking in finality. How can I be expected to take up the mantle of ruling others? I... I am no King, Isiell. I know what is expected of me, what I must do. What worries me is my capability to do it." At the ball, Isiell had brought unease and wariness to his mind. Today, he found comfort in the feel of the back of her hand, as he brushed his thumb along it.

Isiell

 

[Isiell]

Isiell saw Nairth's arms wrap around himself, saw gooseflesh ripple up his arms and across his stomach, and she silently wove warmth, thanks to her fire magic, into the air around him.

She listened to his words as she slowly approached him. As much as he had in common with the most ancient of the fae that she'd encountered, and their stagnancy, the chaos surrounding him also meant that he was willing to change.

Nairth reached for her proffered hand and tugged her closer, the water now lapping at her thighs and the hem of her... gown. As his thumb stroked the back of her hand, she stepped even closer, until she stood directly before him. They were equal in height, both now standing with the water at their hips.

King... no wonder he was in such turmoil. And yet from what she'd heard of him, he'd basically been ruling in all but name for quite some time.

Quietly, she flipped the hand he held, so his rested on her upturned palm. She brought her other hand up, and settled it atop their stacked hands.

"Are you not the Hand of Oberon?" she said. "You have been his chamberlain for longer than I've been alive. You know how to rule, it's simply never been asked of you before in your own name. As for your mind... a mind can be trained. Disciplined."

She laughed then, though not cruelly. "It is perhaps wise if you take my words with caution, though," she shrugged. "I did run away from my own imminent duties within the Winter Court, although the circumstances were... not quite the same."

So far as she knew, Nairth did not have someone lacing his living quarters with iron to keep him under control and forced to conform to a life totally unsuitable for him. A life where he would be expected to stifle every natural inclination of his heart.

Isiell rubbed her thumb over his knuckles, then moved her hand to settle over his heart, his bare skin warm under her touch. He would feel her hand heat, and her cheeks would flush slightly, but the swirling thoughts in his head would quiet for a little while as she siphoned off the chaos, feeding from it. She shivered as the invisible tendrils passed from him to wind over her skin before she breathed them in.

As fun as it would be to stir up that chaos, she didn't want to make an enemy of the future King of the Spring Court. He'd been kind to her so far, after all. So she eased it instead.

"Do not hide from your path, or your past," Isiell murmured, letting her hand wander from his heart to skim over his collarbone and up the side of his neck as she stepped even closer still, till their bodies nearly touched. "Facing them--their inevitability and their existence--will give you the strength you need to endure whatever lies ahead. To thrive in the chaos, instead of drowning in it."

She still held his hand with her other, and she wrapped her fingers around his palm before lowering them to dip beneath the lake's surface to settle against her thigh, guiding his touch higher, beneath her hem, to settle against her hip.

"But whenever the chaos begins to feel overwhelming, send for me," she smirked again, brushing his hair over his shoulder as the sunlight sparkled on the water around them. "And I'll help you settle it."

Nairth San'Seya

 

[Nairth San'Seya]

He couldn't be sure if the sudden warmth that seemed to wrap around his body was a result of some hidden magic by the hand of the woman who now stood face to face with him, or if it was his body simply reacting to the shortening distance between them. When the two of them had first met, he had felt disgust, contempt for her methods and a lingering doubt of her motives. When he'd invited her here, he hadn't thought...

He hadn't thought that a being of chaos would be instilling such a feeling of tranquility inside of him.

She was the first he'd told of his future appointment. She was the first he'd admitted his fear to. Right now, Isiell saw not the old duanann who was so stoic and resolute in his beliefs, but the younger fae hidden inside of him, the one that had lost his way so many years ago when he'd killed his own flesh and blood. That Nairth San'Seya was still resting within him, and he was frightened. Frightened and alone.

"I... have always done what is requested of me. This position, I always considered it my atonement, eternal though it may be." As she stood inches from him, the sensations that rippled through his form were not of heat, or chill.

He knew what he was feeling, what that yearning was for. "Your words... regardless of your history, I often think about them. The way you see things is so different from me, that you notice and consider facts that I would otherwise overlook." He looks down at her hands, and tightens his own in her grasp as his hair falls down his face. "In a way, I envy your wisdom. The chaos that allows you to see what I cannot. Because you're right. I can do this, but..."

But what? What was it that held him back? That made him hesitate? As her hand traveled to his chest, his breathing would slow. His eyes would meet hers, and they would not leave even as he felt her draw the conflict out of him. No, that only made saying the words easier... "Do I deserve it?" It was little more than a whisper. "Have I truly earned this?"

It seemed so human a notion, that one would need to earn a title. After all he'd done in his life, though... Nairth remained haunted. Her presence, the way she slowly eased his mind with her touch now... it made things clearer, but he had gone against his nature once, turned his back on life, and taken it en masse.

He had never forgiven himself. Not for a moment.

Isiell brushed the hair from his face, resting her palm on his neck as he tilted his head ever so slightly at the contact. The golden eyes that were so fixated on her slid shut for a moment as she spoke again. To thrive in the chaos. To use it, instead of shun it...

"I need your help, Isiell..." He muttered, his hand not hesitating to follow her lead under the hem of her dress, resting against the naked skin of her hip.

"Whenever the chaos begins to feel overwhelming, send for me."

He felt himself moving as she spoke, his head leaning in closer. "I... I need..." It was all he managed to say before his lips pressed against hers, what little distance remaining between them closing as their flesh joined. His eyes slid shut, the soft caress of his mouth allowing itself the first indulgence he'd had in ages. The hand that rested on her hip gripped her flesh softly, before slowly rising up her body. shifting the fabric she wore with it.

He wanted to thrive in this chaos. He wanted to bask in her. For this moment of sanity in his world that had become anything but. Because while everything that he'd ever known was changing, confusing him...

This made sense.

Isiell

 

[Isiell]

Isiell was quiet, though she heard every word Nairth uttered. But she didn't respond right away. Not when he was leaning closer and pressing against her as his mouth softly brushed over her own.

Her eyes fluttered closed a moment after his, and she moaned softly as his hand gripped at her hip, then slid upwards. The hand on his neck moved up, back, her fingers gently tangling in the hair at the nape of his neck. Slowly, she deepened the kiss as she slid her other hand up his wrist then traced over his muscled arm.

When she eventually pulled away, her eyes were brighter, clearer, and she could see that Nairth's were a bit more settled as well. She grinned, lips kiss-swollen and face flushed.

"The fact that you wonder if you deserve this opportunity," she finally said. "That you wonder if you've earned the right to it... you only wonder those things if you want something."

Isiell carefully untangled her fingers from his hair, bringing both her hands to rest on his chest, her head tilting like some curious cat as she perused his face.

"Is it so different from this moment?" she murmured then, taking a step back, but not so far to force him to release the grasp he had of her.

She reached down, beneath the water, and tugged the sodden hem of her dress up, removing the garment in one swift movement and tossing it back to the shore, baring her gleaming, pale skin to the sunlight and Nairth's gaze.

"Want and opportunity do not often coincide," she smiled, reaching down for his hand once more and sliding it higher, up her waist and ribs. "If you wouldn't hesitate to pursue something your body wants, do not hesitate to pursue something your ego wants as well."

Her hand fell away from his then.

If he wanted something more, Nairth would have to make the choice. Take action.

But even as she waited, her smiled turned teasing. Mischievous. She'd fucked a prince, of sorts. But the Autumn Court was a parlour, and just because Lorcan was Midir's son didn't mean that he would be king one day. Lorcan would have to earn it.

Nairth, though... the chaos she was sensing around him was more than just his own. It was the chaos that swirled around anyone who had caught fate's eye, and she had no doubt that he would be king of that was what he chose.

And she hadn't fucked a king yet.

Nairth San'Seya

 

[Nairth San'Seya]

How long had it been? Since last he'd lost himself to desire so totally and completely? He could not even recall nor care, not with the haze of satisfaction that washed over him. Now, with her lips against his, gentle caress traveling up his arm and fingers wrapping tightly in his long platinum locks, everything fit into place for one blissful moment.

The moan that left her lips carried through his ears and into the air around them, seeming to dissipate in the wind as her skin pressed against his palm. He would move his hand further, letting it encompass one of the swells of her rear as he pulled her even tighter against his frame, the thin material she wore did nothing to protect the curves of her body as they met with his chest.

He shouldn't be feeling this way, not so powerfully, and not towards Isiell. He'd prided himself for so long on keeping his emotions in check, being collected no matter the circumstances. Yet now, he was at his most vulnerable before a woman known for her manipulative and chaotic nature.

So why was it that as he so reluctantly pulled away from her lips as she stepped back ever so slightly, he found himself trusting her completely?

"I find myself increasingly unsure of what I want, Isiell. There are things that I want for all of our kind, and then there are my own selfish desires... one of which I suddenly see standing before me." Were he to be king, there would be no shortage of controversy. Nairth's views on the world, his philosophies, and the changes he would wish to see... they were only slightly less than radical.

As she leaned against the toned flesh of his chest, he would find his smile once more, holding her at her waist. "In this moment especially, I cannot condone how I am feeling, yet I also can do nothing to stop it." She'd already pulled away by the time Nairth had finished speaking. He felt his arms outstretching, reaching towards her instinctively in some attempt to keep her against him, the heat that had begun radiating from his core only boiled hotter, threatening to burst as she gripped at her dress and slowly pulled it over her head.

The morning sun seemed to glimmer off of every inch of her skin, every curve, valley and swell he could now see all so clearly. It was a vision of perfection, but he'd expected no less. Nairth wasn't familiar with the sensation of being inebriated, but this had to be a somewhat similar feeling. Intoxication, an addled mind that could only think about one thing at a time. Isiell

Want and opportunity, she said. It was the only part of her last sentence that he'd caught, but it was the only part that he'd needed to hear to know what was expected of him next. He stepped forward, water slowing him only slightly as he reached out once more to her, pulling her nude form against his own, the swells of her breasts pressing so delightfully against his chest as he lifted her off her feet.

"I want you." He breathed, his lips moving to trail along the flesh of her neck as he carried her in his arms out of the lake. His entire body was alight, and only one thing would extinguish that flame now. "And you're not leaving until I'm finished... Call that an order of the King."

The enormous leaf that served as a bed for Nairth seemed to grow and shift towards them, even as Nairth laid the pearl skinned 'Nightmare' atop it, showing no shame in his own body being bared to her, and why should he? The things he had in store for her, she'd have no complaints, of that he was quite certain.

Isiell

 

[Isiell]

Nairth's eyes were dazed as he looked her over, and Isiell couldn't help but smirk. So many people were always drawn to the strange juxtaposition of her affinity and alignments and her alluring and sometimes child-like appearance. Nairth, it seemed, would not be much different.

When he stepped toward her, though, she set aside thoughts of chaos. Lorcan had been fun, but the gleam in Nairth's eye promised heady bliss, and she greatly enjoyed the thrill of a lover arrogantly confident in his abilities. He pulled her forward and off her feet, and Isiell wrapped her legs around him, not shy in the slightest as she pressed her body against his from hips to breasts.

"I want you." He breathed, his lips moving to trail along the flesh of her neck as he carried her in his arms out of the lake.

"Mmm," she moaned, tilting her head back to give him better access to her neck. His steps didn't falter once as he carried her out of the water, and she had to admit that it took her breath away.

"And you're not leaving until I'm finished... Call that an order of the King."

"But you're not my King," Isiell purred with a teasing smile as he laid her back on his... leaf. She stretched leisurely, knees gently falling open and toes curling into the bed, her eyes greedily taking in Nairth's form. "You'll have to convince me to stay."

---

Quite some time later, Isiell was stretched across that leaf on her stomach, humming contentedly. Her fingers waggled from time to time, and the air through the grove would playfully twist and tumble through the tree leaves and the long grasses at her command.

"How are you feeling now?" she asked Nairth. "A little more sure of the path before you?"

Nairth San'Seya

 

[Nairth San'Seya]

There had been a time in which Nairth would have spurned anybody with such a penchant for trickery, with such a love for the unknown and unpredictable from his home. This was a sanctuary of his design and a place where he decided the rules. Those rules though, they'd changed. Whereas once this bed of life had been where he retreated from all others, now he saw his home as a place where all could be welcome, regardless of court or creed.

And he reveled in this chaos, climbing up to join her upon his soft resting place as she arched herself and spread her knees wide for him, allowing him to bear witness to the fruit he wished to devour so, already ripened for his enjoyment. It was just as she'd told him, the fact that the question of whether or not he deserved to ravish Isiell so thoroughly as he was about to do ran through his head only spoke to how badly he desired it.

His hands would reach out, each wrapping around an ankle to further spread her for his eyes' delight as a low hum of satisfaction shook his throat. "I think I can be very convincing when the situation calls for it..." he purred down at her, his palms gliding up the shimmering white skin of her long, inviting legs, resting at her thighs as he bent himself to dip his head between them and indulge in her.

The sighs and moans that filled his grove that night would be baked into the trees forevermore, each soft cry of one another's name, each sinfully whispered sentence recorded in time, the night that Isiell, who had once been called a Nightmare, eased the haunted dreams that clouded the head of the future King. There was no inch of her that he did not explore, no desired depravity did he hold himself back from. The blood that coursed through his veins so heatedly, keeping his body at a peak of need, was only sated when every year of solitude had been released upon and within her body.

In the tangle of flesh, pleasure, and arousal that they formed, Nairth found the truth; Isiell was a perplexing being, one difficult to understand and even harder to predict. Even so, she was as much a woman as any that Nairth had ever known. It was natural to fear what one could not understand, and on this night, Nairth felt as though he finally understood Isiell.

---

"You certainly have a way of clearing one's mind..."

Nairth was knelt between Isiells legs, bend over with his large hands kneading and massaging her back. He did not doubt her resilience and strength, but after some of the more compromising positions he'd placed her in hours earlier, it seemed a courteous way to awaken her.

His palms dug softly against her back, before he moved to her hips, squeezing and pressing the nerves beneath her skin. "I know what needs to be done. I only wish that I had more time." He spoke wistfully, moving his efforts to the small of her waist. "There is so much that I need to make right."

He needed to rise up, to be who he was needed to be. No, it was more than necessity, it was desire. Sliding back, he taps her lightly. "How are you feeling?"

Isiell

 

[Isiell]

"You certainly have a way of clearing one's mind..."

Isiell giggled, her fingers falling back to the bed as she dropped her hold on the air, but it quickly turned into a moan as Nairth's hands kneaded at her back, working out any tightness from their extended tumble through the night. If she were honest, she wasn't sure she'd had any lover that could compare to him so far.

Males--and a few females--often tripped over their feet to try and get her attention, but it was more because she was a curiosity. In some parts of the fae world, to say one had bedded Isiell and come out mostly unscathed was a point of pride.

Nairth, though, had taken it almost as a personal challenge. To see what would make her beg and moan and shatter, time and time again.

"I know what needs to be done. I only wish that I had more time." He spoke wistfully, moving his efforts to the small of her waist. "There is so much that I need to make right."

"If you know why you must make the decisions at hand," Isiell murmured, settling her chin on her crossed arms, "then the lack of time won't be an issue. Find your resolve, and stick with it."

Whatever he felt he needed to make right was no concern of hers. Regret was not something that Isiell dawdled with, except for the chaos it created in others. Chaos for her to feast on.

Sliding back, he taps her lightly. "How are you feeling?"

Isiell smiled then, and rolled over to stretch, not caring a whit about the display of her naked flesh to his eyes again.

"Positively ravished," she purred, her eyes still a little heated. "And definitely hungry. A little sore, but only in the best of ways."

She stretched a foot out and tickled his calf with her toes. "What sort of breakfast might be found around here?"

Nairth San'Seya

 

[Nairth San'Seya]

There was no illusion in his mind that this changed anything between the two of them, or that Isiell would have some new personal stake in what Nairth did from now on. The resplendent duanann beneath him had her own path to follow, and her own goals to pursue. To expect her to devote any more time to his own needs than she already had would have been folly.

Still, he showed no shame in his attempts to prolong their engagement for as long as he was able. It was clear to him now that when this tryst met its end, his work began in earnest. His large palms would drift from her hips, gliding over the swells of her backside and resting on the back of her thighs, pressing his fingers against her pale flesh in an admitted tempt of fate.

"I'm referring to our time here. Once you leave this grove, I must begin preparations immediately, Isiell. To delay any longer would be a disservice to the task I am burdened with."

Isiell made no attempt to hide anything from his wandering eyes as she spread herself out in a feline stretch and rolled her pristine body over to lay on her back, the divine beauty she was blessed with bathed in the morning sunlight as if the gods themselves tempted Nairth. The lingering heat in her eyes was matched by the Spring Lord above her, an ever-present lust that one night would not extinguish.

"Funny, I was certain that I provided plenty for you to savor..." He speaks huskily, his body shifting forward as the sensation of her toes against his bare leg catch him just barely off guard. "Of course, if you need more I'm more than happy to spoil you..." It was all he could do not to take her again, to enjoy that treasure she was so blatantly displaying for him once more.

"In terms of food, I hope you don't think me a wonderful cook. I enjoy mostly the fruits of my land, fresh water, perfectly grown vegetables... Although I do occasionally roast some meat, it is usually to celebrate a special occasion. I could be tempted..."


The San'Seya paused for a moment, biting down gently on his tongue before turning his head to face her as she lay at his side. "The Wild Hunt approaches, does it not? At its conclusion, I will be announcing my intent to rule. It would be meaningful to me if you were present when I take the crown..."

Isiell

 

[Isiell]

Isiell nodded understandingly as he spoke, though she shivered lightly at the way his palms caressed her body yet again. "It's like when I knew the time had come for me to leave the Winter Court," she said quietly. "I made the choice, and left. Delaying would have only... endangered someone I care about."

"Funny, I was certain that I provided plenty for you to savor..." He speaks huskily, his body shifting forward as the sensation of her toes against his bare leg catch him just barely off guard. "Of course, if you need more I'm more than happy to spoil you..." It was all he could do not to take her again, to enjoy that treasure she was so blatantly displaying for him once more.

Isiell giggled at the way Nairth jumped in response to her toes against his leg. "I've never been spoiled," she grinned slyly. "You'll have to show me what it's like."

It was true. She'd been... privileged, but never spoiled. Everything her parents had done for her, or given to her, had been for their own ends. She'd not so much as had a gown of her own choosing before she left the Winter Court, nor had she been permitted to study any topics of her own interests. Ariel was the only friend she'd had, and even that she suspected was more because the two of them happened to be practically the same age. And even that friendship, her parents had tried to use against her in the end.

When he brought up their breakfast options, though, Isiell's laughter rang gaily through the grove.

"Once when I was... younger" --because truly, Isiell was not old by any stretch of the imagination-- "I ran away with my best friend, and we lived in the forest outside of Underhill for three days. Our meals were very, very humble. I'm pretty sure the first fish we roasted was... half raw when we ate it."

She rolled onto her side to face Nairth when he grew quiet, though, watching his eyes. Though his heart was more at ease, the coming weeks still weighed heavily on him, that much was clear.

"The Wild Hunt approaches, does it not? At its conclusion, I will be announcing my intent to rule. It would be meaningful to me if you were present when I take the crown..."

Isiell nodded, reaching over to slowly trace her fingertips over Nairth's face. "I would be honored. Truly."

Nairth San'Seya