What's this? Faint traces of a plot? Don't worry---it doesn't last long.
***
"Found him, did you?" Petra asked, greeting the two of us at the front door of the Tower. I parted my lips, surprised somewhat at the realization that she wasn't talking to me personally.
"Eventually," Zevran answered, quite aware that she was addressing him. "I caught him taking some back road. Always the sneaky one, my Grey Warden. He would have made a fine assassin, if I may be so bold!"
"Welcome, First Enchanter Surana," she said rather flatly, averting her gaze.
"Petra," I answered, hardly stopping.
Zevran became uncharacteristically silent, quieted by the tension between the three of us. That disquiet was quickly interrupted. A stampede of my subordinates came rushing down the hall, including a few of the girls from the Tower's chantry.
"First Enchanter!" shouted one of the adolescent girls, out of breath. They all seemed to be breathless.
"What's all this?" I asked, smiling. I was indeed overjoyed to see them, but I forced myself to remain at least somewhat stoic.
"We saw--we saw you coming!" she answered, doubled over in exhaustion. "We-we raced all the way down the stairs!"
"Spying on me, eh?" I questioned, winking.
After a moment of exchanging pleasantries and answering ridiculous questions from some of the younger apprentices, I noticed that all of their eyes were placed somewhere to my right. I looked over to see Zevran, somewhat caught off guard by the situation.
"Ah, everyone! This is my friend Zevran," I announced to the small group in front me, placing a hand on his shoulder. "He was one of my companions during the Blight, so I expect everyone to treat him with the same amount of respect that you show me." A few 'nice to meet you's came out of the crowd, but for the most part everyone remained silent.
"No need for that," he said bluntly. "Demanding respect without earning it yourself first has always been against my nature. Now attention, on the other hand, oh, I can never get enough of that!"
Snorting under my breath, I surveyed the crowd for whatever reply they chose to give him. Unsurprisingly, a few of the girls' eyes gleamed like a wolf's, and I could practically feel the weight of the level of hormones in the room.
"My friend, I am famished; what do you do for eating around this establishment?" Zevran asked me flirtatiously, despite my warning for him to be on his best behavior.
"You both have just enough time for your bath before supper," Petra answered for me, urging the crowd to dissipate.
"Is there a room prepared for Zevran?" I inquired to no one in particular.
"Yes, ser," one of the wolf-eyed girls responded--a little too quickly. "There isn't any visitors right now, so all of the extra rooms are empty."
"May we escort him, ser?" her fellow wolf-eyed girl asked, half hiding behind her friend.
I held out my arm as if holding open a gate for Zevran to escape past. "I can't see any harm in it," I lied, waiting for him to go. As they walked down the hall, I heard him making the usual remarks about 'how lucky the other apprentice boys were to be trapped in a tower with such gorgeous women,' and I felt as though I were about to vomit all over the freshly waxed floor.
Without any sort of delay, I trudged up the stairs, trying to put them out of my mind and failing. I drew myself a bath and attempted to wash away my jealousy along with all of the grime I had acquired on the long walk home. After drying off, I cloaked myself in one of my favorite robes---for myself or for someone else I wasn't entirely sure.
I was one of the last to arrive in the dining hall, ending my bath a bit later than I had intended. My robes billowed behind me, giving me the regal, unapproachable aura that I had always imagined a person of my status having. Yet there I was, my exterior in no way mirroring my interior; the posture, grace, and sophisticated attire were all a lie to cover up my childish, helpless emotions. I made quite the racket of stomping down the hallways in my boots, emulating the pounding of my heart as I worried over what Zevran had been carrying on about during my absence.
He wasn't there, I noted immediately, half collapsing into my chair. As I glared at his empty seat, others nearby no doubt thought I had a severe distaste for the new, blue upholstery.
I scanned the room, noting that the two wolf-faced girls were also missing. Of course, the first image in my mind was of Zevran, sandwiched between them, grabbing as much of their bare flesh as he could at one time. Deep in thought, I caught myself chewing on the point of my fork rather uncouthly.
"Alprize," whispered Kinnon. "Are you feeling well? You seem more pale than usual... Perhaps we should get dinner started?" In a haze, I nodded, answering all of his questions in one slight movement.
"I was hoping to introduce Zevran before dinner started. Perhaps tomorrow, then." I notice Kinnon hesitate, unsure of whether or not I was talking to him or just myself.
"W-well, perhaps he got lost? This is a big place, after all," he chuckled awkwardly. Kinnon had been one of the few people to who I have spoken to about my personal problems, being one of the only original mages in the tower of my own age. At least, one of them who didn't despise me. He understood why I was a nervous wreck. "I can try to find him, if you like."
"I'm sure he got lost in something, but not in the tower," I answered, downing a glass of water. "Thank you, friend, but no thank you. He knows how to get here."
Much to my dismay, I was approached by yet another occupant of the Tower. She was a young initiate that I saw around regularly, and she seemed to be more content with my methods than most of the other priests. She hid behind a spray of daisies, obviously working up the nerve to speak to me.
"First Enchanter," she spoke in a small, mouse-like voice. "I've brought these to put in your table's vase. You deserve more than an undecorated table to come home to." She plucked the fluted vase from the table, daintily fixing the flowers within the glass. I watched her hands closely, noting that they trembled ever so slightly.
"Thank you, Sister. Daisies always have been my favorite," I told her gently, feeling my temper die down. "What is your name, exactly?"
"Antigone, ser. And yes, you've told me that they were your favorites before. That's why I brought them." She removed herself from the vase, nervously fixing her flax hair and chantry gown in the exact way she had arranged the flowers. Not once did she look me in the eye.
I cringed, realizing too late that she had told me her name several times before. It was difficult to keep up with all of names I had come across in my short life.
After a long, awkward moment without speaking, she eventually let her question spill from her mouth. "Where is your guest, ser?"
"You know just as well as I do," I replied snottily. I immediately regretted having the sharp tone of voice. Though she tripped over her words and shook, it seemed that I had been the true, poor conversationalist after all.
"Well, um, I suppose I'll be heading back to my own dining quarters now. Thank you for returning safely." She turned on her heels and sped away from me before I could properly say my farewells.
"Someone has an admirer," Kinnon joked, toying with the daisies. "She's not going to last long in the chantry, that's for sure, not with those hormones."
I chose to ignore him.
I finished my supper, happy to finally eat something that hadn't been sitting around in my pack. My grouchiness subsided somewhat once my basic needs were met. I stared at the pudding across from me, remembering that during my travel alone from Amaranthine I would have given anything for a mouth full of something so sweet. At that moment, I frowned at it, wanting nothing to do with the tempting dessert.
I set down my clean spoon and began to think of a path in conversation to get away from Kinnon. Not a moment after doing so, the two wolf-faced girls walked into the dining hall, tripping all over each other. Though I could have fine tuned my hearing to listen in on their conversation, I chose not to. I opted instead to leave the room, smiling a plastic smile to my colleagues before marching into the corridor.
I didn't know just where they had taken him, but that didn't matter. I could feel his presence, his life, his blood. It was impossible to describe how it felt to me; no blood magic texts had ever been able to put it into modern words since modern words shunned it so. In a rough way, you could call it smell or even taste of a morbid nature.
I chose a spectrum of adjectives to describe my Zevran; I had thought about it for hours upon hours, deciding the best way in which to remember. Often, I needed to sense something else before realizing that that object or feeling reminded me of his blood. He felt like many things to me, all of which I enjoyed. He felt like hot, shredded silk, running through me--like nearly sun burnt flesh---like that painful moment where you think you see someone you love, but quickly realize that they only resemble them, and you feel bittersweet agony gnawing at your heart strings. But most importantly, he felt to me like that moment just before a well needed but unwanted sleep---a moment so serene that you wish it could last the rest of your life.
I followed those teasing sensations up several flights of stairs, searching for where it felt the strongest. I let myself into his room, noting first that he was absent from the bedroom portion. With a pounding heart, I opened the bathroom door, not knowing what to expect.
My shoulders sagged, and a smile formed through my lips, reaching up to meet the tears in my eyes. I fell weakly to my knees, overcome with a silly emotion that I couldn't wrap my mind around. It was as if the realization that he had come back to me was hitting me for the first time, and I had no way of physically expressing myself. I held myself together, half laughing and half crying, gazing at him through puddles.
His nearly dry hair cascaded over the side of the stone tub; all of the water had already dripped off and was on the floor. He rested his head on his hands, trapping them between it and the tub's edge. His legs curled up to his chest, and I could see goose bumps forming on his skin as he slept. He was so far gone that he barely breathed, shallowly drawing in air in his slumber.
On hands and knees, I crawled over to him, pressing my lips against his. I dipped my hand into the water, shocked at how icy it was. He had to have been laying in there since I last saw him. I tapped into my will, heating it with raw energy.
He began to stir, groaning into our kiss. I backed away enough to get a look at him, and he took the time to squint at me with tired eyes, struggling to focus. "You got dressed rather fast," he commented with a stiff jaw. "Food yet?" he asked barbarically, spewing out words that may have at one point been a well structured question.
"You missed dinner," I told him, feeling guilty for not coming after him. "It seems that you've been up here for nearly two hours." I petted his tangled mass of hair, stroking down his stiff neck to his tense shoulders.
"Well that's disheartening to say the least," he sighed, attempting to straighten his back. I crinkled my nose somewhat at the unbearable sound of his crunching vertebrae.
Even though I had been gentle waking him, he seemed less than thrilled to see me. "Was your bath at least enjoyable?" I asked him, trying to soften the grimace on his face. I nervously played with the water between my fingers.
"Truth be told, I hadn't even made it to the bath part yet. If those girls hadn't talked my ear off all the way up those never ending stairs, I probably could have curled up on them and drifted off quite easily."
"Which, the stairs or the girls?" I chuckled against my sleeve, amused at the contempt in his eyes.
"Oh ho ho," he scoffed, hiking an eyebrow. "I thought I sensed a bit of a malicious attitude when we were downstairs. Afraid that they would whisk me away, were we? That they would seduce me with their cackling laughter and oh so subtle flirtations?"
"Well, it wasn't necessarily them I was worried about," I added, stung by his accuracy. Suddenly, I felt quite foolish.
"Pray tell me, is that why you waited this long to fetch me?" His eyes were wide and awake, and by his wicked smile I could tell he was feeling quite full of himself.
"I didn't want to interrupt--whatever it was you were doing." I averted his gaze, studying the ripples in the tub intently.
"Oh, my silly little elf, you are so cute when you're jealous and all flustered with me. Too frightened to look me in the eyes..." He cupped my jaw with one hand, drawing me back into our previous kiss. "And that pink on your cheeks and the points of your ears drives me mad," he continued, kissing the places he mentioned. I allowed him to dote over my embarrassment, reaping the benefits in the end.
"Warden," he said painfully, breaking away from me in a hurry.
"Hmm?" I asked, saddened by the absence of his lips.
"You're boiling me."
After a brief moment of deciphering his meaning, I snapped my hand out of the bath water. My cheeks blazed even brighter, and as I viewed my surroundings, I noticed that the mirrors were fogged and every surface in the room was slick with a film of condensation. "I'm so sorry," I apologized, crushing my hand with the other one as though it had been the wrong doer in this situation.
"You're also quite sexy when you let yourself get lost in the moment. It says something for me, at least." Underneath of his jesting, I knew that he was simply trying to help me forgive myself.
"Well, I suppose I should let you get back to finishing your bath. I'll find some leftovers for you and bring them up," I told him, standing. His hand snatched my wrist away from me before I could react.
"I'd prefer that you stay here," he said bluntly. "I've been looking forward to some hot food for days now. What's a few more minutes?"
I smiled on the inside, hoping he would say that. "Oh? And do what? Sit beside you and look pretty?"
"If that's what you wish to do, then sure, why not?"
"I can think of more productive things," I said, allowing my robes to fall to the floor.
"I like where this is going," he said, laying back to watch me remove the rest of my clothing. His eyes followed my every move, scanning me.
For the time being, I stole the leather strap that he used to keep his hair in the ponytail he had been sporting, tying it tight around my own locks. Gingerly, I stepped into the bath, alarmed at just how searing it was. It prickled and bit at my skin as I sat down, and I couldn't help but yelp as I submerged myself up to the ribs, wanting to curse as I did so. I found myself staring down into the water, shocked to still see the lower half of my body still intact. I bit my lower lip, forcing myself to get over the heat.
"Oh, don't use that one; it's not for hair," I told Zevran, who was looking through jars that sat on the tub's edge.
"There's a difference?" he asked with all seriousness, setting it back down, puzzled.
"Here," I spoke gently, choosing another jar, pouring a viscous liquid onto my hand. "Turn around, and I'll wash your hair for you. Gods knows it needs it."
He shocked me by complying, twisting himself so that he sat between my legs. I used an empty jar to dump water on his head before scrubbing the soap into his hair. He groaned, obviously adoring my nails digging into his scalp. I enjoyed it as much as he did, feeling the slippery strands of his long hair between my fingers.
I allowed his hair to stay the way it was for a moment, using the contents from his jar with a sponge. Throwing myself fully into my task, I scrubbed at his back hard enough to make up for the many months he had gone without me. I pushed aside the thought of someone else caring for him in a similar way, determined not to let jealousy get the better of me.
I motioned for him to raise up his arms, and he did so. With the sponge in hand, I worked my way up his arms, wrapping around him to wash his chest. He caught my arms with his own as I did so, squeezing me against him for a moment.
He soaked my left side, leaning his head against my shoulder, opening himself up to me further. I took advantage of the situation, scouring his thighs. I lessened the pressure, gently washing between his legs, forcing a gasp from him. After taking the time to tease him a little with my bare hands, I urged him to submerge himself and wash off all of the lather.
As he leaned back up, I couldn't help but admire the perfect sheet of his golden hair and how the water poured off of it so beautifully. I reached out to him, rubbing him softly with my fingertips, aware of how raw he was after enduring my expert use of the sponge.
"On all fours," I asked---well, told. He situated himself, taking my placement into consideration as he maneuvered in the small space.
Streams fell down his bare ass, slipping along the contours of his lower half. He stole a glance at me over his shoulder, saying all he needed to with only his eyes. Softly, I lathered all of the naked skin before me, taking every niche into account. With hands alone, I spread the soap between his cheeks and over his genitals, giving his already erect cock a few tugs before returning to his bottom. I slipped a finger inside of him easily with all of the soap, delighting in the familiar contours of his interior. Another finger joined it, twisting and prodding, trying to elicit pleasured gasps from him.
I filled and emptied the jar continuously over his cooling backside. At first, I did so just to get the soap off of him, but I went on several more times, driven by the moaning I was hearing from the other end of the bathtub.
Leaning forward, I trailed kisses over the hills and valleys, stopping to suck the water off of him at random. I treated his balls similarly, catching the droplets of near scalding water from them. I laid the flat of my tongue against him, dragging it straight up until it met his tail bone. I ventured back down, teasing his asshole with the tip, lining it in circles, probing. My ministrations didn't go unnoticed; I peeked long enough to see him biting his lip and gripping the bath's edge like a vice.
Caught up in the moment, I was taken aback when his free hand gripped my ponytail, pulling me forward. I didn't resist, not that I had much of a choice, allowing him to shake my face back and forth as though I were fervidly disagreeing with something.
"Why so gentle with me?" he questioned, jerking me around even harder, grinding me into him. "Oh, back to not answering questions are we?" He snickered, getting far too much enjoyment out of his bad jokes.
I raised my hand and then walloped him, striking his ass so hard that he was speechless. Even my hand stung, but it was worth it.
I drew in a sharp breath, glad to be able to breathe once again. Meanwhile, he was still unable to catch his own breath, his gasping turning into a giggle fit.
"That's more like it," he proclaimed, shaking his hips at me.
I struck his other ass cheek, over and over, until it was just as blazing red as its mirrored side. After rubbing the hurt out of them for a time, I pulled him back down to me, setting him on my legs.
I smiled, watching my prominent erection slide back and forth between his slippery cheeks under the surface of the water. He held onto the sides as I began to buck my hips up against him. He rocked in time with me, teasing me.
My libido eventually got the best of me, and I pulled him down and over, impaling him on my lap. It felt as though I would come instantly, but I forced myself to calm down. Between the overwhelming heat and the euphoria of being inside of my lover, I sincerely thought I was going to lose consciousness. My vision blurred, and I watched him dance on top of me, dominating our love making even as the receiver of said love. He wasn't shy about moaning and breathing, possibly going overboard with his display.
I managed to collect myself somewhat, and I began to meet his thrusts, penetrating him deeper and deeper. The water crashed against the walls, soaking the stone floor as I fucked him just as hard as he was fucking me, stretching him far and wide as I did so.
"Zevran," I whimpered, getting his attention. "Let's move to the bedroom." I slammed up into him one last time before pulling out.
"Sure?" he asked me, grinding all of his weight on my pelvis as though it would convince me to stay put. I smacked his ass playfully, pushing him. "Well, alright," he sighed, standing.
He bent down, unplugging the drain, giving me full view of his slender, elven body. Rivulets flowed down his calves, puddling at his feet; he wrung out his hair, twisting it with elegant fingers until it was merely damp. I stared unashamedly at his heaving chest and bobbing hard on, marveling at how the little streams complimented his winding veins. As he stepped out of the tub, my eyes couldn't leave the hand shaped welts on his backside.
I followed him, not bothering to skim off some of the water, immediately reclaiming him as my own. "Lay down on your stomach," I whispered into his ear, ordering him as nicely as anyone could have.
"Right here?" he asked, the excitement apparent in his tone of voice. I pushed down on his shoulders as an answer, watching him fall to his knees, then hands, then flat on the tile floor. Haphazardly, he spread out across my robes, clutching them in quivering fingers. He closed his eyes, and I could see a smile on his face that he was trying to hide.
In a similar way, I fell down around him, placing my palms and fingers within the boundaries of the hot pink love marks on his ass cheeks. He arched into my touch, raising his hips off of the floor.
"So beautiful," I remarked, unaware at first that I had said it aloud.
"You've already bedded---well, floored---me; no need for flattery at this point, my First Enchanter. Ooh, I do so love how that sounds!"
His laughter transformed into a low but quick gasp for air as I spread him apart, plunging inside of his hot depths. I wasted no time in finding a proper speed and intensity, reaming him apart from above. He absorbed each hit to its fullest, receiving no mercy from the solid rock I was plowing him into. I scraped my nails down his back, watching him writhe from the assault to his nerves.
"Mmm, I adore it when you treat me like I'm your slutty little elf," he moaned, chewing on a stray strand of his hair.
"Aren't you?" I asked between labored breaths, putting all of my energy and weight into what seemed like splitting him in half. I tangled my fingers into his hair, pulling him back by it, and I wasn't surprised to see the smile on his face get even wider. "I am," he replied, wincing.
I focused on the sounds in the room, and the closer I listened, the more excited I became. With each thrust, my wet hips slapped into his ass, knocking his front into a puddle that had formed beneath us. Without fail, his sighs or moans of ecstasy accompanied the splashing and sloshing, the nail scraping, the faucet dripping.
It hit me all at once; my body shook and trembled as I filled his empty vessel to the brim. I pulled out and flipped him into his back., surprised to see that he was still aroused.
His eyes were glazed, staring up at, and nearly through, me. I ignored the temptation to sit and stare, going down on him before I even realized what I was doing.
His hips bucked upwards, but I slammed them back into the puddle on the floor. He snickered, excited by my ferocity.
My hand twisted and pumped, mimicking the rotations of my head, enveloping him. Around me, his legs squeezed, making up for the movement I wouldn't allow his hips. Wanting to pleasure him as much as I could, I slipped a finger inside of him, taking advantage of the slipperiness I had left behind. His toes curled against my back, and his fingers did the same within my hair. Just as suddenly as it had taken me, orgasm took him as well.
Without warning, his hands were about my face, and he sat up, dragging me towards him. Before I had finished swallowing, his tongue invaded my lips, and he sucked me into another beautiful kiss. I opened one eye just enough to peek out at him. His brow was furrowed; his eyes were clamped shut. There was nothing insincere about the way he absorbed me into himself. His thumbs petted my cheek bones, but his palms remained glued to my face, refusing to let me go. My shoulders sagged, and at that moment, I felt that our kiss alone was enough to hold all of my weight.
And then, like an unwelcome visitor tapping at the bedroom door, a rumbling made itself heard from his stomach. I smiled warmly as our eyes met, amused.
"Here I thought that you were enough," he flattered, releasing me from his vice grip.
"I'm so sure of that," I commented, standing on wobbly feet. I untied the leather ribbon from my hair, handing it back to him.
His attention switched to the sopping clothes beneath us as I helped him up. "As saddening as it would be to have you parading around in nothing but your skin, I don't imagine that the other occupants of the Tower would appreciate it as much as I would," he told me, plucking my cloak from the floor. "Or, considering that welcome you were given at the gates, perhaps some of them would."
He dismissed his comment as a joke--his normal tactic--but I knew better. I also knew that with him it was best to leave his personal thoughts well alone. He reacted to mental prodding about as well as a cat to a cold shower. I chuckled to myself, picturing him shredding a drapery to tiny bits with claws that my imagination had added itself.
"Something that you're not telling me, my Grey Warden?" he asked with a smirk.
I pictured an irritated tail, streaming from his backside, flicking in irritation at the end. I waved him away, dismissing him. "There is an endless list of things I haven't yet told you about, if you must know." I certainly wasn't lying to him, but my ambiguous answer left him quiet. "Am I not allowed to laugh?"
"You have my permission to laugh, of course. I simply hoped to be let in on the joke that was no doubt drifting through your wicked little mind."
With the snap of my fingers, I siphoned the water, and other fluids, from our clothes and bodies, directing the stream into the empty bath tub. I took my robes from his hands, quite taken with the surprised look on his face.
"Why am I always so quick to forget these things?" he asked himself, scooping his own clothing from the floor.
***
My apologies for the sudden end---this chapter was ENTIRELY too long, so I broke it in two.
Please review!