Chapter Fourteen: For This Moment

Alone and out of that dreaded room. Elphaba closed her eyes as she stepped outside the next day, breathing in the dry Vinkun air, smelling the faint smells of spices and incense coming from the village. Fiyero was right, they hadn't even given her a second glance when she'd announced she wanted to take a walk and get some fresh air. Freedom felt so good.

For a moment, she considered running there and then. She hadn't brought much with her, and she'd never been attached to material possessions. It would be a long trek back to the City, but she could probably make it. But if she ran, the Gale Force would know something had been amiss. They'd surely send Fiyero and his family straight to Southstairs, at best. At worst, they'd slaughter them immediately. She cringed at the thought. Elphaba did not want more death on her hands, especially if it hurt the cause rather than helped it.

So, book tucked safely in the back of her dress, she wandered the arid land until she was out of view of the palace. At least, she drew the book out, watching the sky and the ground before her. There was a lot of wildlife in the Vinkus, but the animals had learned to stray away from the strongholds of each tribe or they'd get hunted.

She felt like it was miles until she got close enough to a bird. Before it could get started, she chanted the spell under her breath. Elphaba wasn't exactly sure how this was supposed to work. Would she just speak normally and it would understand her? "Excuse me?"

The bird's head shot up and looked at her in what she assumed was shock. A series of chirps emitted from its beak, but she somehow understood them to be What do you want?

Elphaba held some breadcrumbs in her hand. "I need a favor. I need something taken to the City, to a specific person."

The bird hopped over and nibbled at her hand. And this is all I get?

"When you come back with the response, I will feed you well for weeks," she promised.

Tell me what you need, then.

That had been much easier than she had thought. Quickly, she told the bird where to take the encoded letter and sent him or her on their way, directing it to fly back to the Palace when a return letter was written.

"I trust you found what you needed?" Fiyero asked from the doorway that night.

"I did."

"Good." He started to walk away.

"What are you doing?"

"Going back to my room. Elphaba, you made it clear last night that this is only supposed to be sex, and I'm not accepting that. So I'm not staying here tonight."

"Fiyero…" She felt her whole body ache for him. "Please, don't do this."

"You're the one pushing me away, Elphaba."

"You have to understand, it's for your own good."

He shook his head sadly. "I don't care. Elphaba, my own good is my own decision, not yours. If I want to do this, if I want to risk everything, I will. It's not your decision to make for me. Your decision is whether you want to, which I thought you did."

"I do," she insisted.

"Then stop trying to protect me! I get that this is dangerous. I'm a King. Death is probably in the cards for my people and I anyway. I deserve to at least have a little happiness in the process. You make me happy, Fae. When I'm with you, it's like there's nothing else that matters."

She felt the same. When she was in his arms, she could forget herself and the rest of the world. Lying beside him at night, the world felt safe and quiet. But it wasn't that easy. Every morning, she had to wake up and face the same threats, worry about the same problems as she had the day before. They couldn't lock themselves away forever. And even if they could, that'd be selfish. But just a few hours couldn't be wrong. "Stay with me tonight," she pleaded. "Make love to me. Hold me. Yero, please."

He pulled her into his arms and put his hands on her waist, looking into her eyes. "I can't say 'no,' to that. I love you, Fae."

"I love you, too," she murmured, kissing him. Elphaba knew she shouldn't, but she wanted so badly to feel alive, to remind herself what it was like to be a person again just for a while. And he was the only thing she knew that could do that. His mouth seized hers, their tongues dancing the familiar dance she loved so much as he lifted her in his arms and placed her on the bed.

She was only wearing her wisp of a nightdress and he pulled it quickly over her head. As their mouths returned to each other, she began unbuttoning his shirt, reaching her hands in and caressing the muscles of his chest. He caressed down her collar to her breasts, molding them with his large hands, warming her flesh with his as he took her nipples between his fingers and teased them to little peaks so that she moaned into his mouth. Her hands slid downwards and she tugged the rest of his clothes off and took him into her hands. At that point his mouth dislodged from hers and he groaned. "Fae."

"Yero my hero," she murmured, running her hands up the shaft, circling her fingers around him and listening to his breath quicken as he trailed hot kisses down her neck, nibbling at her skin as he reached her throat. She arched her back when he took the peaks into his mouth, her hand still closed on him. "Sweet Oz." His fingers trailed up her thighs, opening them eagerly and entering her without pretense.

Two fingers pressed into her, exploring her, feeling her become liquid beneath him. "I want you, Fae. I love you."

"Then have me," she opened her legs wider and dropped her hands. "Take all of me. I'm yours."

He entered her, taking his time and slowly sinking each hard inch into her body. She shuddered with pleasure beneath him as he did. He began to draw himself out, then thrust roughly back in again and she watched his eyes darken, his lips twist into an eager smile. "I love you."

"I love you, too," she whispered, wrapping her legs around his waist as he began to plunder her depths, going faster with each long, delicious movement. The pressure began to build and she could feel her release coming. "I'm going to…"

"Good. Just for me, Fae. Come for me."

As the tide took over her body and she trembled, her skin clenching around him, her nails digging into her back, she cried out his name. "Fiyero!"

He kept moving, eyes locked on hers. "That's it. Oh, sweet Fae, you feel so good."

"You feel even better," she replied, allowing him deeper access as he pumped into her, each part of him bringing her ecstasy so exquisite she couldn't stop shaking. "Just like that, Yero, please." Another orgasm began somewhere within her and she tightened her legs as he moved, her cries growing higher and more breathless. At once passion exploded within her and she was lost with him, only able to see and feel him. There was nothing else.

He held her close that night, their legs still tangled together as the sweat dried and she closed her eyes. She tried to tell herself that it would just be this night, that tomorrow she'd let him go, but each moment she lay with him it got harder and harder to think about and so she hid herself in his chest, pressed her lips against the diamonds and concentrated on him, on the taste of his flesh, salty with sweat. He smiled at her. "You're beautiful. I wish we could stay this way."

"So do I," she admitted. "We were born into the wrong world at the wrong time. Oz won't let us. Your life won't let us. Neither will mine."

"But at least we're together now."

"Yes," she said softly.

"And maybe one day, when we've beaten them and the fight has ended, we can find a way."

She was so tired, so drugged with the feel of his strong arms around her that she agreed. "Maybe we could, Yero. Maybe somehow, someday."