A/N: Special thanks to Enaid Aderyn for giving me the theme for this 4 part series… the elements. She rocks!

Fire Festival

It is Midsummer's Eve, the time of the Fire Festivals throughout Orlais. The time of bonfires and gaily painted lanterns, the time for masks and mystery. Everyone dances in the street, sharing wine and lanterns and joy. And every lantern, every hearth, every fire is extinguished at midnight, with the bonfire the only light for miles around. As the dancing and drinking and celebrating continue, it is only when the sun yawns drowsily that lanterns are relit and taken home to relight the hearth fires. It is a wanton and primal celebration of the power of heat, the power of fire, the power of passion.

Leonie hands Riordan his painted lantern, a series of peacocks, tail feathers spread, with wicked smiling beaks and he laughs as he bends to feather kisses along her sweetly arched neck.

"I love you, Lass," he whispers, his tongue pursuing her ear and she leans back, a gasp of surprised delight as his tongue lingers along her neck.

"I love you, my playful Peacock," she replies, hands riding along the ridge of his shoulders, fingers coaxing him into a kiss. Tongues tickle with happy persuasion and heat crawls along her blood, as paint and lanterns lay forgotten.

"Here now, where's mine?" Duncan asks, striding into the room, hands on his hips, his smile bright against his swarthy skin. He moves to join them, his lips warm and sultry, gaze smoldering as he catches her eye.

"I love you, my sweet Lion," he whispers and the heat of his gaze fans a flame from within. Her breath brushes against his skin, as warm as a summer breeze.

"I love you, my beloved Pirate," she whispers and the flame coats her words, beckoning his lips.

Hot and wicked, tongue curling around hers, he lingers for long seconds, hands gliding along her bare arms, more sparks of heat to fan the flame.

As her breath slowly returns, she hands him his lantern, a pirate in a white billowing shirt, tied low to show a masterful chest, tight black leggings and high black boots, a cutlass between his teeth. He smiles his thanks, bending again to capture her mouth and his tongue is hot and persistent in pursuit of her own. She tangles her fingers in his hair, pulling him closer as her desire flares.

She shows them her own lantern. A series of flames, all in the shape of a sensuous woman with the wanton smile, beguiling and warm. Duncan growls, deep and low, as he pulls her off her painter's stool and into his arms, hands tracing the supple curves of her breasts, his breath hot, his kiss a searing promise of tongue and teeth and lips. She is breathless and before she can speak, Riordan is there, all hard angles and heat and slow moving hands leaving in their wake a simmering warmth of need in her, a flicker of want.

She brings out the mask she has made for herself, a crimson red with feathers of red and gold and orange and yellow, the color of fire, curling around her cheeks like a flame stroking skin. And then she is laughing, her eyes alight with wicked intent as she steps out of her clothes and she stands before Duncan and Riordan, head thrown back as the feathers of her mask caress her pale skin, igniting their passion, enflaming their need. She is dancing, light and graceful as she steps into her gown and both men lose their breath as she dons the crimson flame velvet, plunging in front to embrace her breasts and the slit is high along the sensual curve of her calf and higher to the sweet flesh of her thigh.

She comes to stand behind them, wrapping one long leg around Duncan and a seductive arm around Riordan. Duncan growls, hand running along the silken skin of her leg, up higher to find her core, feels the dampness of her, feels the heat of her.

"I burn for you," she croons, and then with a swirl of flame, she is gone, into the night, lantern lit, warm laughter drawing them on.

Drums beat, a primitive rhythm that fills the air, courses through their veins as they search for her, a lissome, dancing flame weaving in and out of the crowd, but she is out of reach, always moving and swaying, a flame burning for them. They lose her again in the crowd but their desire draws them on.

And then Duncan feels a hand, slender figures stroking his engorged flesh, and her voice is a deep moan in his ear. "I burn for you," she whispers, tongue edging along his ear. He reaches for her, pulling her close, tongue searing along a milky breast, teeth biting in his need and he hears her gasp, feels her tongue along his throat and he groans his need as his fire is stoked by the hands that have slipped under this shirt and are sliding with hot abandon along his torso. "Burning," she gasps as she spins away and is lost once again in the crowd of dancers, moving with sinuous grace around a brilliantly burning bonfire.

Riordan catches her, pulling her flush, his mouth hot and urgent as he runs his hands along the rounded curves of his beautiful flame. She gasps, a moan of desire, as his nimble fingers move along her skin and he pushes two fingers into her heat and she sways her hips to the beat of the drum, her teeth nipping along his neck, hands like darting sparks along his sensitive skin. "I burn for you," she caresses his ear and with another sinful thrust of her hips, she is gone again.

Riordan moves with the grace of a cat as he searches for his lovely lass. He finds Duncan and shares the bounty of his fingers and Duncan gently sucks the hot honey from one. Riordan moans, his heat scalding his skin and he moves to search for the wicked flame that is Leonie.

Leonie leaps with the other dancers that circle the bonfire, the reflection of the flames flickering along her soft pale skin and she is caught in the arms of a dancer, lifted high over his head and she holds her arms out, head back, her laughter as warm as the summer breeze. Riordan is there, catching her in eager arms and pulls her into him, aching heat traveling through him and he pushes against her, wants her, needs to feel her tender warmth, her heated flesh. She is molten, sizzling kisses along his jaw and down, fingers unlacing his trousers. Heat, coiled and ready to scorch, he leans against the wall of a cottage, pulling her deeper into the darkness.

Drums beat, pounding through their blood and Leonie grinds against him, matching the rhythm with her hips. "I burn for you," she whispers into his mouth and his hand glides up her silken leg, pushing aside her skirt and there is Duncan, a growl low and hot, as he stands behind her, matching her rhythm, hands coming to rest on Riordan's as they both trace flickering patterns along her skin, and she is moaning and gasping, wet and flowing as hot as lava against Riordan, her hands pushing down his breeches and he feels the heat of her mouth as she sinks to her knees.

Her tongue and mouth, sweet and hot, flash along his length, pulling him deeper and deeper. Duncan leans in, brushing Riordan's hair back and running rough fingers along his neck and down to tangle in Leonie's hair and it pushes Riordan further and further along a heated path as her hands move to cup him and squeeze gently and her mouth is moving with quickening pulls and his world is on fire, burning out of control. His cry is consumed by the crackling flames and erotic brush of bodies dancing and drums calling, primal, powerful, primitive.

And before he can catch his unsteady breath, she is sliding with wicked grace up his body, velvet and silk and heated breath and Duncan turns her, pulls her leg up and wraps it around his waist, and it is Riordan, hands still shaking from his release, that unlace Duncan's breeches, Leonie's hands that free him and Duncan's cry, savage and fiery, is captured by her mouth as he plunges into her and she leans against Riordan, whose hands now move to caress the searing heat of her core and they move together, hearts hammering in wild and wanton abandon. "I burn for you," she cries out to Duncan, her voice a cry of heat and flame, lost to the roaring fires within and without.

Her fingers entwine with Riordan's as they dance in sizzling cadence against her velvet heat as the crescendo of drums and Duncan's thrusts shiver through her and rock Riordan and their voices merge, rising to the sky, like hot embers caught on the sultry wind as Duncan reaches for them, pulling them both closer and they are one single flame, one single sizzling fire and their bodies are dancing to ancient secrets and just as the drums reach a frantic climax, lanterns go dark and he cries out and shudders and they sink to the ground, fires extinguished.

Leonie, Riordan and Duncan rest in each other's arms. It is midnight and their fire has been extinguished, but she is already whispering with delicious heat, "I burn for you."