His deep sleep only lasted an hour when he was jolted awake. An automatic response as he felt a hand reaching out and touching his coin pouch which was still fastened about his waist. A habit he sometimes fell into when he was overtired. As his hand reached reflexively to grab his sword, her hand slid under the base of the pouch to touch him more intimately over his trousers. He felt her warm breath on his face then his right earlobe as she brushed it with her lips and whispered: 'Who did you think it was?"
"My Lady…." He whispered. In the blink of an eye he released the handle of his sword from his grasp and replaced it with the warmth of her silky skin. Reaching from below the hemline of his tunic, which was now occupying her body, sliding his hand slowly upward, he pushed the fabric along until he cupped her left breast. His mouth was on hers right away in a languid fevered kiss as he tasted her with his tongue. She moaned a response. Then he stopped and leaned on his elbow, slightly breathless, and looked down upon her and said: "My Lady, it was not too long ago you were not yourself. Perhaps it would be better if you continued to rest." It appeased his conscious to utter the words, but he was lying to her, every single word of his suggestion in the second sentence. He prayed she wouldn't obey him.
"No, my Lord. I do not wish to rest. Not now." She looked up into his eyes and breathed "Do with me what you will and I shall submit."
"Rhiannon…" he whispered slowly. "My beautiful lady." he said as he kissed her. "I want to dive into your ocean."
"Oh my Lord.." she whispered. She caressed his face. "Take me away…"
"Where my love?" he smiled.
"To the places far reaching and beyond joy. When I'm with you, you help me to forget."
"Your past?" he asked tentatively.
"Yes. Sometimes, yes." She whispered.
"My angel." He began. "I plan to take You - to eternity." He whispered slowly, deliberately. He continued to kiss her and lightly run his hand down her hair, her shoulder, and back to her breast. A soft caress barely applied to her skin. She shivered.
"My love, more…" she whispered.
He responded with sudden pressure and a hungry kiss. She placed her fingers over his lips then ran them lightly downward over his bearded chin, his neck, his smooth muscled chest, and continued down into his depths until she was as intimate with him as a woman could get. She reached under his waistband and touched him. Then she stopped. She stayed that way until he looked at her. She knew he would. The puzzled stare came within seconds.
"I need you to do something for me, my Lord." She said softly.
"Yes, my lady. What is it?"
"Close your eyes, and don't open them until I say you can."
He raised his left eyebrow as he looked at her, questioning in a glance.
"Something just for you. A surprise." She said.
He relented and felt her mouth slowly exploring his. Then she stopped and lightly let her lips and tongue travel down his neck, and chest as she followed with her touch. She stopped then took a hold of him then moved her hand away. Oh this was torture!
"My Lady…" he breathed still keeping his eyes closed. After a moment he felt something soft, warm, wet. Flickering, fluttering, stroking, then enclosing him. He tried to resist, but he thought he would die! He knew this wasn't right, but he uttered her name. He felt it all at once. Part joy. Part anger. It was killing him not to look at her. This was too unlike her. If he could look at her, he wouldn't have to do what he was about to. Finally, she stopped, and said he could open his eyes, that he could do what he wanted. His eyes flew open. He grabbed her arms over her head and quickly pushed her backward to the ground, gently yet forcefully. He loved every second of it but he needed to know. His look changed in a flash, with the steeliness in his eyes. Suddenly he didn't look overcome with desire anymore. Instead, she thought she detected – displeasure? Or was he playing?
"Where did you learn that?!" he growled as he bore into her eyes with his.
"My Lord?"
"Was I not your first?" he whispered huskily. "Tell me, where did you learn that?"
In her confusion she felt a bitter tear coming. She wouldn't let him see it. Not now of all times.
"Nobody taught me, if that's what you're inferring. I thought it up in my head. I thought it would please you." She said. He confused her again by kissing her. "Are you sure?" he whispered as he began to devour her.
"Very sure." She replied softly. "Why?"
"Not now…"
"Why?" she demanded.
He stopped and looked at her. For the first time he saw her anger. The fire burning in her eyes. It excited him yet here was the moment he dreaded. Now this was twice in half a day he let her down. He finally realized his mistake. Curses! Why did women have to be so complicated?
"My lady, I only know from what I've been told by some of my comrades, and uhm…this was performed on them by their … mistresses." He quickly reworded it, he was going to say consorts, but he knew that would be the end of his merry time without question. Except for the choice of noun everything he spoke was truth.
"Are you displeased?" she questioned.
"No, my lady. Forgive me. I had to know." He said. She gazed into his eyes. "My lady, where were we?..." he whispered as he kissed her slowly. Within moments he was on top of her, fulfilling her every need. Covering her in bliss as he entered her and injected his very soul into her.
They collapsed near dawn, exhausted and perfectly content.
When she awoke it was near midday. He was looking at her. This startled her because his face was so close to hers. In the bright light of day, he looked radiant. She'd never seen him illuminated like that before. He looked more like a king than a prince. Her heart skipped a beat. She made the sultry glance with her green eyes that made him hard for her all over again. He took a breath.
"My lady." He whispered.
"Mmmm. My lord."
"When is the day of your birth?"
"In the same month named for Julius Ceasar."
"I knew it. It my heart I knew it." He said without thinking.
"Pardon?" she asked him.
"I'm told people born in that month are…uh…never mind." He stopped himself. He was leading her to religious views. Which would come out if he kept speaking about sun and moon signs. Regarded as heresy. He didn't want to push it by possibly offending her views on God and the holy trinity. He still needed to constantly remind himself that he was one of few who didn't buy it.
"Why did you stop?" she asked him.
He reached out and caressed her neck, smiling. "In time my love. I just thought that, well, you're going to be my wife and there's some things we don't know about each…"
She couldn't hear him anymore. She looked into the Sheriff's eyes, but all she could see was her own reflection as she submitted to memory. She suddenly felt his hand replaced by the cold one in her memory. The one that was threatening her as the voice said: "Are you obtuse as well? Don't expect to live much longer after it is…"
After it is what? What is IT?
Then she remembered what he told her the last time, when he realized who she was after he grabbed her off her horse. "You've recovered well."
The hiss of his loathed voice in her ear as he said "All those months you felt miserable? Well, it wasn't because of me. It was because of the Sheriff!" and "If you do not remember, I shall never tell!" and the sound of his evil laughter.
The Sheriff knew he lost her somewhere in mid sentence when her eyes glazed over again.
"My Lady Rhiannon." He began. She wasn't listening. He began to gently shake her.
"Rhiannon!"
"Forgive me, my Lord." She said. "It's just that, oh. It doesn't matter." She let the words trail off.
"No." he said shaking his head. "Not this time. Tell me what you've been trying to tell me all these weeks. This isn't the first time you were somewhere else." He said as he kept his hands upon her shoulders.
"It's the same memory over and over. But it never answers my question." She said. "There's a piece of the puzzle missing. At least it feels like there is. But I cannot remember it. Every time the memory is within my grasp it quickly fades. It's elusiveness troubles and frustrates me."
"Did he hurt you?" he asked her directly.
"No." She didn't look at him.
"Honestly?" he pressed
She glanced up at him then looked away. "Absolutely not, my Lord." She lied. In truth she wasn't sure if this was fact, or part of an altered state of reality since she was drugged. She could never tell him even it was truth.
The Sheriff looked upon her, could feel it coming. The rage. She refused to look at him. He told himself to control it. Control the rage that he began to feel boiling up inside of him.
"My love." He began "I need to know. Nobody shall ever know this but me. I swear to you." He whispered.
"My love." She said. She forced herself to look at him. She told herself in her mind she was speaking truth. She had to be convincing. "He did NOT touch me the way you are referring to. He hit me and kicked me but." She sighed. "Enough now?" she asked.
"Yes." He agreed speaking through his clenched jaw. He held her close to him because he could no longer hide the rage that he knew was written all over his face. He didn't want her to see it.
"Hold me, my love." She breathed in his ear. "I want to stay this way."
"My lady."
She looked up at him, wondering what he was thinking. She could almost see the fire burning in his eyes. His jaw was set. He was trying to conceal it but she knew. She sensed it notwithstanding.
"You're angry, my Lord."
"My Lady, it's of no consequence." He tried to shrug it off and looked away. He knew he was being foolish trying to win this game. His actions were speaking as loud as if it was written all over him, or up in the sky.
"I'm sorry I did not tell you before." She said.
"The way you said it, as if it was normal." He began. "You contradicted your own words. You said he did not hurt you, touch you – whatever! And then you tell me he hit you and kicked you. As if that were perfectly acceptable?" He looked at her in confusion. He sat up and maintained his gaze as he looked down upon her. "True, I grew up without parents to teach me many things, namely morals. But I do know without anyone ever having to tell me that to harm a woman is a mortal sin! And you…you talk about it as if it's quite alright? Did you think that would be part and parcel of being with me? Is that why you would say such a thing? Or do you truly believe that it's perfectly fine that he did that to you?"
"I am just trying to forget." She answered immediately, stunning him for a moment.
"Pardon? My lady, you have me at a loss. What are you trying to say?"
"I don't want to talk about that loathed time. Something happened that I cannot remember." She sat up and looked at him. "I don't want to focus on it. I want to forget it. I just want to forget it. So stop this – stop asking me questions about any of it. I want to forget!" she looked away and began to tremble.
"Alright." He replied, suddenly concerned for her. He'd never seen her speak with such passion before. Especially to him. She was not afraid of him. She could get just as fired up as he could. He was excited by her fiery spirit. She was such a perfect match for him.
"Look at me." He said. She returned her gaze. "No more questions. Forgive me. It just angers me that I couldn't be there to help you. But I am now." He smiled. "So here we are now. We don't have to hurry back. What will we do about it?" he lowered his gaze as he took in her body, her glowing skin, her curves.
She knew what he expected her to say but she needed to say what was on her mind before she lost her courage.
"We're not so different, you and I." she said.
He looked at her questioningly. Rather taken by surprise.
"True, I had family for a little while. But at a young age I had to teach myself to manage. Just like you. We're survivors you and I. And I've discovered, I rather like danger." She lowered her gaze and began that erotic dance with her eyes that drove him to madness. And she was beginning to know it.
"Yes. I'm starting to learn the truth about you. You're not as needful as I originally thought about you."
"Really?" she asked.
"Yes. My love, I can bear us being equals in our private life, but you know that it will be disastrous in our public life." He said in a more serious tone. "You must obey me when we are among others. At any function where we are present together. Even at celebrations and feasts."
"I know." She said.
"Nobody would ever understand." He whispered.
"I know." She breathed. "And right now, we are alone."
"That's what I love about you, Lady. You catch on very quickly. Yes, here and now, my love." He breathed as he kissed her neck. "We are truly free. Truly alone. With no guards outside of our chamber."
"Yes, my Lord." She said as she kissed him.
"I was dead before I met you." He said.
"I think I was too." She whispered. A beat. "I want you. Right now. Touch me, Sheriff." She whispered as she closed her eyes a moment before looking into his. "Teach me to feel again. Bring me to life." She whispered.
He was frozen for a moment. Surprised by her raw honesty, and slight change in her behaviour. So passionate and fearless. He liked it. He liked it very much. He felt his body respond before he even touched her.
"Close your eyes." He whispered to her. She submitted. He covered her entirely with his fiery gentle kiss. The soft hairs on his face tickled her skin, creating sensations that were foreign and exhilarating to her. He kissed her mouth, prying her lips open with his tongue, and touching his tongue to hers. Then he was positioned straddled on top of her. Barely touching her.
"Open your eyes." He commanded. She looked up at him looking down upon her, and he began to enter her, slowly. He stayed like that, looking at her as he began to move slowly inside of her. She could see the fire in his eyes. She was so aroused by it. After a few minutes she thought she would die without kissing him.
"My Lord, come here." She whispered as she reached out to him.
"Look at me." He said. She stopped and obeyed. It was as if she was losing her mind, looking up into those eyes. They burned with desire for her, she could no longer resist. She arched her back and let out a sigh of pleasure. He bent down and kissed her breast, then found his way to her lips. He looked at her "My lady..." she opened her eyes and looked into his. His fiery seductive hazel eyes. She could get lost in them. "You are mine." He breathed.
"Yes." She sighed as she kissed him. "You've awakened my soul."
"Rhiannon." He whispered slowly as he took her to a place that seemed as far away as the moon. They both cried out then continued to kiss one another until it felt like they were breathless.
He rolled onto his back and put his arm back behind his head, closing his eyes. He was so content. He'd never been so content. She soon interrupted his thoughts.
"My lord?" she began.
"Yes?"
"Are you tired?" she asked him.
"Well, no. Why do you ask?" he questioned as he looked over at her.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes I'm sure!" he started, but she cut him off before he could continue.
"Good." She said.
"Why? – he began to ask but she placed her finger over his lips to silence him.
"Because, my Lord – I could do this all day, and then all night."
"Oh my God, Lady. I must have done something right in my life to have been granted you."
"Why do you say that?" she asked.
"You're everything I've wanted. You're beautiful. Passionate. Responsive. And fearless. He sat up and leaned on his elbow and put his other arm around her as he looked into her eyes. "You're all I need." He said.
"My Lord."
"I swear if anyone should ever try to take you away from me again, God help them."
"For someone who doesn't believe you've been mentioning him a lot lately." She blurted out, surprising him.
He stared at her completely amazed. Was he that easy to read?
"You knew. How did you know?" he asked.
"Just a feeling I had. I cannot blame you. I almost lost my faith too." She said.
"Rhiannon. I never had it."
"Faith, you mean?"
"Yes. That's what I mean."
"That's okay."
"It's okay with you?"
"Yes." She began. "It doesn't matter to me what you believe or don't believe. As long as you believe in me. That's enough for me. I can live on that all of my life. That and your love." She said.
"That is all you need?" he asked. "Just for me to love you and believe in you?" Now was as good as time as any to bring up other issues about wifely duties, like motherhood for instance.
"What do you mean, my Lord?"
"You're not stupid. You know exactly what I mean. What about a child? Our child? Wouldn't that be something else you could add to that list?"
"Well yes, when it happens." She said as she looked up at the clouds passing by. "I hope it doesn't happen too soon, though." He was glad she wasn't looking at him, he'd be hard pressed to conceal his disappointment.
"I'm having too much fun. And there's something about it that troubles me. I'm afraid."
"Oh yes, the pain, naturally I understand. But it won't last too long."
"No not the pain. The pain isn't what troubles me."
"Then whatever could it be?" he asked.
"I've heard that a husband looks at his wife differently after she becomes a mother. That he would have difficulty seen her as a lover anymore." She turned her head and looked at him. He tried not to laugh. Here she was telling him this, and he knew for a fact she had birthed a child from her body, yet he still found her very sensual. But he couldn't say anything right now to dispel the myth.
"I couldn't bear for you to grow tired of me." She said.
"I'm a long way off growing tired of you."
She started to speak but he took her face in his hands and said: "Don't speak. You're not yourself. Hear me when I say – you're the woman that made me give a damn! I shall never grow tired of you. And no, not even when you are mother to our child." She looked up into his eyes. He was serious.
"You want a child, my Lord?"
"Eventually, with you, yes my lady. Any child would be fortunate to be yours. They shall be thanking me for marrying you. And I'll be thanking you." He smiled.
"Oh." She cried out softly.
"My love? What is it"
"I don't know, my lord but I feel rather oddly at the moment." She looked at him. "Frightened. But I don't know why?"
She was beginning to remember. Come on, Rhiannon. He willed her. Remember. Remember our child.
"My lord, I don't know why I have to ask this but I need you tell me something."
"Alright."
"Tell me it's going to be alright."
He looked at her quizzically.
"Whatever it is that I do not remember. Whatever is in store for me. Tell me it's going to be alright."
"Firstly, nothing is lying in store for you alone. I'm going to be your side. Whatever comes lies in store for us." A beat. "It's going to be alright, my love." He said.
"My lord?"
"It's going to be alright." He whispered in her ear before he lightly kissed her cheek.
