Warnings: I've been reading too many cheap romance novels…

Chapter 21: Round Two

It was the night that held me close at first, caressing my skin with the sweetest of touches. The breezes danced around me, stirring the lunar planes of my dress with delicate and wistful touches, as if the moon herself was rife with envy. I descended to the level of the others with a grace that befit the stars, slow and stately yet ever moving.

The second to hold me close and run his tender fingers across exposed skin was my prince himself, gentle with both touch and words. He whispered to me as we flowed regally across the lawn, each too enthralled with the other to look in any other direction. His lips murmured words that I did not hear, but I felt their movement and his hot breath brushing so licentiously across my skin. It was deliciously wonderful, feeling his body pressed hard and flush with mine. His hands explored the mountainous terrain of my spine and the smooth plains of my back, leaving no territory uncharted. Perhaps it was too much, too soon, but I did not care.

Livingston, however, did care, and protested every time his gaze glanced off of mine. He pled silently with me to be more careful, more moderate in my actions, but I ignored him. It was not until Ceryn fa Gelder slipped a hand between Daryan and me, pushing me away effectively while capturing the prince entirely.

If life bowed to my every whim, I suppose that perhaps Daryan would have pushed her aside immediately in favor of me, but he did not. Instead, I was left to stand, alone for a few, wretched seconds. Soon enough, however, I was caught up in the whirlwind embrace of a thousand peacocks, or so it seemed to me. They pecked at me as peacocks were wont to do, finding the cracks in my skin and exploiting my weaknesses for a single tidbit of nourishing gossip.

"What is he like, our Prince?"

"Do his fingers really have magic in them?"

"And what of his lips?"

Their questions came quickly, fluttering through my ears and across my face with their breathy inquiries. The ladies of the Tännon court brushed me with their feathered, fashionable fans, ticking my skin and sending shivers clambering up and down my spine.

"Tell us, Kelryian, where have you been?"

"Why did you leave?"

"Oh, yes, where have you been?"

"How is it that you've come back?"

The barrage of questions never seemed to cease, the endless firing wearing me thin. I could not find the words to answer them, nor could I find the breath. My tongue was heavy and dry in my mouth, nervous as I was. I felt suffocated by their perfumed presence, stifled in the tight knot of people that surrounded me. Perhaps I was merely being melodramatic, but perhaps not. I shivered with an unexpected cold as a breath of air wafted over me. I answered each question dutifully, the words pouring from my mouth as if I merely recited my answers.

"My, what an ordeal! How ever did you manage without anyone to help you?"

"And your virtue! It is miraculous that you've kept it."

"Practically unbelievable, some would say."

"I've always thought that pirates were most…ravishing, if you know what I mean."

"If I weren't engaged…oh the things I would do!"

"You had that liberty, Kelryian, didn't you?"

"Did you?"

"Yes, yes, did you?"

These questions made me uncomfortable, but I smoothly lied with each new answer I had to give, making up the past year with reckless abandon. I prayed to any deity that would have me that I wouldn't have to remember any of what I said. As wine sloshed into my glass, I downed it, loving how the cool liquid soothed my throat. My life's story became wildly fantastic; not only had I been sold to pirates but I had fallen in love with one as well, and he with me, though I had found out moments before my great escape that his affection had been nothing but a farce. The months I had spent traveling from some coastal country to our own, lovely Tännon had been hard, but I had survived on the kindness of others and some women who seemed remarkably akin to fairies. I don't know how much of this tripe that my willing audience believed, but it was certainly entertaining to tell. It kept my mind off of Daryan's willing abandonment of me for Ceryn.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of ridiculous lies, the gaggle of costumed women around me dispersed, leaving only a few of the tenacious to remain behind. They closed in, forming and even tighter circle around me, knitting me into their cadre with seamless grace.

"Kelryian, please, we only want the truth." One of them, a girl with a particularly pointy face nosed up to me, her eyes full of disingenuous sincerity. "This is just an assumed identity, isn't it?"

I, affronted, placed a hand delicately on her lace-covered arm. "No, my dear Sera, it is not." I leaned in conspiratorially. "If it were, I would have told you of all people by now."

She, however, was not impressed with my cavalier response. "I do not believe you. Sera Kelryian would not debase herself like you have, groveling in front of our Prince as you do."

Inwardly, I rolled my eyes. If only she knew. "Actually, Sera—I'm sorry, I seem to have forgotten your name—Prince Daryan and I are rather infatuated with each other. It's been that way since I was fifteen." She practically snarled at my sudden forgetfulness. "I'm sorry that you doubt me so."

At that moment, Daryan inserted himself quite handily into our little sphere of conversation. "Kelryian, darling, you must forgive me for being so easily carried away from you." His lips left lingering trail of excitement across my cheek. "Please, may I take you away from these lovely ladies?"

"Only with the deepest of regrets," I murmured, laughing, in his ear.

His smile in return brightened my heart. "I can't believe you'd want to leave that particular crowd." Daryan brushed a stray hair off of my shoulder. "You certainly didn't belong with them---'twas like seeing a rose amidst a sea of spiteful, petty thorns."

I laughed willingly at those unfortunates' misfortune and gladly forgot them in an instant. "You aren't much better, you know." My whisper was for his ears only. "You've snared me as surely as thorns might snare a rose. I am caught, helpless to even think about moving away from you."

Daryan pulled back, his eyes burning with the same desire that I felt warming the pit of my stomach. After a long look, he seemed satisfied and nodded "Come with me." We slipped away easily; for all that he was a prince and I an anomaly, none seemed to notice our passing.

As soon as we were away from the general crowds and in the garden that had been deemed Eden for the night, Daryan pressed me hard against one of the many, winged statues that dotted the pathway and pressed his mouth to mine. I succumbed to him without hesitation, letting the smoldering feeling in my stomach translate to my lips. Oh, how wonderful it was to be held in his arms, pulled flush against him, our bodies seeming to meld as one. For all that we were alone and had all the time in the world, it was a desperate passion that gripped us, and we both arched against each other as it drove through us. Daryan's hands were everywhere at once, no longer restricting himself to the decorous expanses of my bare back but roaming freely over the rest of me, from throat to stomach, to hips to throat again. He left small marks of pain and desire as he worked his way down my neck, his lips soft against the softer skin of my throat. I whimpered, rendered helpless and weak by his touch.

"Sweet Madonna," I gasped as he looked up at me from his knees. "I think I shall fall over."

"Then I shall catch you." And he pulled me down to his level, so that I was kneeling as well, my bare knees hot against the cool grass. "Sweet Kelryian, I shall pray no more to the Madonna and her child but to you and yours." He kissed me again, full on the mouth. There was no holding back; I responded fully before his words truly registered.

"But I have no child." My lips were sore and bruised, but it was the most delicious feeling I had ever known.

Daryan slid his hand beneath the edge of my skirt and I felt it caressing my knee ever so gently. "We shall have to make one." His fingertips traced a line up my thigh, leaving each place that his fingers touched inflamed with desire.

"Here? Now?" I shuddered with the temptation of doing something so taboo.

"Now," Daryan whispered against me, his lips moving against mine as he spoke, his breath mingling with mine. "Here." His fingertips grazed the tender skin that trembled on the inside of my leg, always moving higher, ever higher.

I was silent, my breath coming now in almost labored gasps. I felt his mouth once more on my sensitive throat, covering the spot where my pulse beat with his mouth. His mouth sank lower even as his hand moved higher and I verily burned with desire. Daryan knew it and understood the effect that he was having on me. He spoke sweet nothings into the tops of my breasts, while his hand traced loving words around my hips.

The smallest of noises escaped my lips at the same time a throat was cleared near us. My eyes flew open and I started violently, which alerted Daryan to the intruder's presence. He smoothed my skirt expertly around me and stood gracefully, extending a hand to help me as well before addressing the man who had come upon us.

"Thom, so good to see you!" Daryan grinned jovially. "What brings you here?"

My face, so recently aflame with desire now burned with embarrassment. "Ser Thomhas, indeed, a pleasant evening to you."

Thom bowed deeply to both of us in turn, catching and holding my gaze as he sank in an obeisance to me. "I'm terribly sorry to interrupt your private meeting, but you really should return."

"You came all the way out here just to tell us that we were missed?" Daryan scoffed caustically. "I can't ever get over you and your sense of propriety, Thomhas." He shook his head almost angrily. "Kelryian, follow me in a moment or two so as not to arouse suspicion. It's me they're undoubtedly looking for, not you. Do as you please." He strode away without a second glace, leaving me to listen to his footsteps until they were absorbed into the babble of the party.

After a few, tense seconds of silence, I turned to Thomhas. "Please, don't tell anyone."

"I don't have to." If I have ever seen infinite sadness writ on the face of man, it would have been on his face then. At that moment, though, I wanted none of his damning pity; I wanted only to be consoled.

A heavy sigh broke from my lips. "Don't tell Livingston."

This time, Thomhas didn't bother to waste the breath; Livingston knew as well. Such was the way of the courtly life, I supposed. It was how I had come to know Ceryn fa Gelder without every speaking to her. It was how I had learned of countless other happenings surrounding Daryan's coterie of courtiers. If I had once thought that it couldn't affect me, I knew now that it could and would, give the chance.

"Thomhas…" I placed my hand on his chest, feeling his heart beat in time with the pulse pounding in my ears.

"Don't." He stopped me with a single word. "You have enough trouble as it is."

I sighed and turned away. "Forgive me. I am rather confused at present."

He laughed softly. "I'd say so." His hand rested gently on my shoulder, the heat seeping through his glove onto my bare shoulder. "I would suggest, Kelryian, that you return now and find a partner to dance with." He paused and then added, "Preferably a partner who is not of royal birth." With that unwanted advice, Thomhas left me to the darkness.

I could feel my insides shredding into thousands of pieces, rent by nerves and anxiety. Could I face them again? And Daryan, what of him? Would he look at me any differently now that we had been so intimate? I shivered before taking a single, first step. It was hard to convince myself of the wisdom of this step. I was completely unsure that my decision to return to the soiree was a good one. This night, I realized, could define me for the duration of my charade as Sera Kelryian dy Relandrant.

It was that thought that prevented me from continuing my progress. Was it really a charade? I was Kelryian, but at the same time, I was not. It was a conundrum, to be sure. I bit my lip, deep in thought. What was I to do about this new, disturbing idea? Had I truly sunk so low as to consider myself completely one of the lower classes, one who did not fit in with the gentry with whom she had been raised?

"Kelryian."

Thomhas stood before me. "What?"

"Come."

It was a simple command, one I could follow easily, without thought. I went.

"You have been missed."

I shook my head. "None should." The despair that gripped me in the wake of my internal struggle had me still in its grips.

He heaved a sigh that was full of impatience. "That doesn't matter. They have." He grasped my hand in his, looping my arm through his. "Shall we dance, when we return?"

I remained mute, lost in my thoughts.

"Kelryian, pay attention." We stopped and he faced me, tilting my chin up so that he could look into my eyes more easily. "You must act nonchalant and happy. Gay, witty, bright, whatever. Act like any other woman in her twenties who is only too happy to be at a summer ball dancing the night away."

"I'm only seventeen," I murmured numbly, my lips feeling sticky.

"It doesn't matter. I don't care how old you are. This is how you must act." It was his force and fervent, staccato tones that brought me out of my recent despondency. I met his gaze with my own at long last, a spark of interest flaring within. "That's better."

"I will try." I titled my head slightly further towards him, exposing myself more fully to him. I was drawn to him, reaching for the comfort of his stern authority. It seemed to me that he would protect me—from what I didn't know. Perhaps from myself, perhaps from the others. It didn't really matter.

"Kelryian…" His voice was soft, suddenly, more caring than the moment previous.

"Thomhas…" I murmured, feeling the vestiges of passion that Daryan had ignited stir within me. "Thank you."

His head lowered slightly, almost meeting mine, but I had to fill the rest of the distance. I lifted chin further, exposing my mouth completely to him, waiting for him to complete gesture. "Kelryian," He said firmly, my name sounding oddly staccato, "You are not a stupid girl, I know that much, but sometimes, you do incredibly stupid things."

I blushed fiercely and looked down, my cheeks burning. He was right; I was not acting rationally. It was merely the lingering desire from my encounter with Daryan. I told myself this, biting my lower lip with a vengeance. "Forgive me."

Thomhas' gloved fingertips beneath my chin lifted my head up. "No," He murmured. "Forgive me." And for the briefest of moments, our lips touched delicately, tenderly.

The sigh of his footsteps across the grass was the only noise of his passing. The breath that escaped my tingling lips fell heavily into oblivion as I, confused and suddenly lonely, made my way back to the lighted areas.

Author's Note: Well, wasn't that a racy chapter? Kelryian really needs to get some scruples for herself…

I must apologize for the extreme wait on this chapter. My life rather got in the way. I was off, jet-setting around the continental U.S. and dying of jetlag and all that jazz. Then came the musical, during which I spent fifteen hours a day at rehearsals thinking up all the great ways I could write this chapter. And then finally I wrote it, squeezing it in write before my exams start! I'm relatively happy with it.

I'm not entirely sure about that last little bit with Thomhas, so I'd like your opinion on that, if you would be so kind! Should it stay or should it go? That's all I'm really worried about this time around, but let me know if you see anything that needs to be fixed.

Thanks in advance! I always appreciate feedback! )