Chapter 10

Stoking the Embers

Kandomere was pulling into his parking space when he saw Alice trudging to their building laden with bags. Alavara had clearly outdone herself and he would bet that she'd insisted on paying for the lot. He chuckled as he grabbed his own bags, far fewer by comparison, and locked his car. He hadn't initially intended to do any clothes shopping, but the yearly Bureau Ball was coming up and given his authority within his department, he was always expected to attend.

He caught up with Alice as she was struggling to press the button on the lift to their floor.

"Do you need a hand?" he said from behind her.

The voice startled her enough that she dropped a few of the clothes bags she'd been struggling with. Bloody stealthy elves. "That woman knows how to shop!"

He chuckled again, picking up the bags she'd dropped and followed her into the lift.

"She is a woman who will do exactly what she says she will."

"That's rather an understatement. I just needed some food. She insisted on getting clothes, shoes, a few bits of jewellery that I could never afford…" she replied, trying to figure out which bag had the offending pieces in it.

"And she paid for the lot?"

"Yes. Yet another thing I couldn't talk her out of. She might actually be more stubborn than me."

He was curious as to what Alavara had bought her, but he wasn't about to go snooping. He was sure Alavara would insist on seeing Alice in her purchases at some point, so he'd no doubt see them eventually.

He wordlessly took more of her bags as she let herself into the apartment, motioning for her to let him in so he could put them all down. He hadn't seen the inside of the apartment since she and Kyra had moved in and he was curious as to what they had done to it to make it more comfortable.

Predictably, most of the pictures on the walls were Alice's. There were even some new ones he hadn't seen previously, mostly from Elftown around the local area. Perhaps something she'd kept herself busy doing whilst he'd been working weekends.

Nothing else had really changed. All the décor and furniture was still the same.

"If there's anything you need to change, you are free to do so. I will not be offended of some of the furnishings are not to your taste," he said as he put the clothing bags on the sofa.

"Oh, no. It's all fine. Better than what we could afford," Alice replied as she moved to put the food bag in the kitchen.

Kandomere followed her. "And in here? You must tell me if anything doesn't work."

"No, everything is fine. A washing machine and a dryer was certainly an upgrade!"

He frowned at that. "You didn't have that in the human community?"

"They had taken a page out of the human world's book. There were communal washing facilities in the basement. The apartments didn't have their own."

That seemed outrageous to him. He knew such things existed in the human world, but given the standards in Elftown, he expected the same standards to be set for the human community. Apparently not. It irked him. Prejudice was common between the races and most elves were reluctant to do anything about it. No oppressor wants to change a system that suits them so well. Being around Alice simply opened his eyes to just how badly non-elves were truly treated. His role in the MTF was hardly in keeping with Elvish ideals, so prejudice was rarer. Elves and humans worked together. Montehugh would make his cracks about elves not doing the menial jobs, but he wouldn't pay them much attention. Something he realised now was part of his privilege as an elf. He didn't need to address prejudice until it was under his nose, as it had been when Faltorin had attacked Alice. He couldn't even begin to imagine just how badly orcs were treated by both elves and humans.

"I didn't realise things were like that over there. Perhaps I was naïve to assume they would be much like this," he answered honestly.

"They wouldn't waste the money on such luxuries for humans."

That stung. Not because he thought she was directing the comment at him, but because he'd been living in his MTF Inferni-hunting bubble for more than two decades and he'd barely noticed how bad things were for anyone else.

He got lost in his thoughts for a few moments and busied himself with unpacking her bags onto the dining table. In his quiet quest to understand his growing fondness and understand more about Alice as a person, he hadn't stopped to consider how she felt about anything. Alavara hadn't said as much, but she'd hinted at Alice's returned interest.

Alice had worked with elves long enough to recognise when they were deep in thought. It wasn't in the facial expressions, but in the minor ear twitches. Something a human would ordinarily miss as it isn't something they would be looking for.

She wordlessly began taking items off the table and putting them away, glancing back at him every so often to see when his ears stopped twitching. Whatever it was that occupied his mind, she didn't want to interrupt it. Unfortunately, his thoughts halted his movements and he had his hand on a bag of apples that she tried to take from him. The feel of the bag being gently tugged from his hand startled him out of his thoughts.

"Sorry… These were the last to go away…" Alice said, her eyes intense as she regarded him.

He shook his head a moment. "I was just thinking about work," he lied.

"Big case keeping you up?"

"Always. The Inferni don't rest."

It had been the first time he'd mentioned what he does, though everyone knew what the MTF were famous for. Given what Alavara had told her about his sister, Alice wondered if every thought he put into catching Inferni members brought him a modicum of peace over what had been done to her.

"Anything I should be worried about? I'm sure they don't exactly go around advertising their presence, but given how most elves feel about non-elves, am I in danger?"

He hadn't considered that Alice herself might be in any danger of Inferni activity. They didn't usually bother with humans, given that their end goal was to resurrect The Dark Lord, as he had been known in legend. Anyone who perished in the attempt would just be collateral damage.

"Not to my knowledge. Despite prejudice, most elves wouldn't associate themselves with anything Inferni-related. The treatment of your friend would seem to confirm that because of her parents," he answered.

"Which is bullshit. She was barely more than a toddler when they were killed, she's hardly going to follow in their footsteps. It's just disgusting. She's treated worse than I am."

He didn't know Kyra well at all, and he hadn't been particularly familiar with her parents, he'd only been a young agent at the time they were killed.

"I've spent so long working with humans, it was far too easy for me to forget how badly non-elves are still regarded. Despite how we met, I am glad that my eyes were opened," he said honestly.

Alice flushed at the oddly-worded compliment. Aside from Kyra, she'd never really experience gratitude from an elf before. Back at the restaurant, elves rarely ever said thank you, and if they did, it was purely out of practiced habit.

He felt the corner of his lip tilt upwards at the flush. He hadn't realised how good it would feel to elicit a physical response from her that didn't come from stubbornness.

"I suppose it's easy to just get stuck in your own world. The MTF can't be an easy job to do," she replied, shrugging in an attempt to be nonchalant.

Kandomere didn't buy it. He stepped closer to her. "It isn't, but I think someone with your tenacity would thrive in such a role. You give your work your all, no matter the workplace."

The flush intensified. "I nearly dropped your dinner in your lap," she said, looking away and giving a weak chuckle.

"You were concerned about your friend. Fighting injustice is a noble quality."

Her cheeks were completely stained red as she looked back up at him. She couldn't form a coherent thought for long enough to respond. She couldn't understand why he was being so complimentary. He'd never been unkind or unpleasant in any way towards her, but she'd thought he was just following through on what he considered his responsibility to be, given his reporting of her assault had lost her her home and job.

Just as she was trying to focus her mind enough to squeak some words out, Kandomere leaned forward, tilting his head as he pressed his lips to hers. Any thoughts that she'd been trying to coalesce completely evaporated. All she could focus on was the feel of his lips as they moved to deepen the kiss, and his body stepping completely against hers, moving her backwards until she was pressed against the nearest wall.

The urge to kiss her had blossomed quite suddenly within his chest. He couldn't rationally determine what had caused it, only that he couldn't ignore it. The softness of her lips caused a faint groan to erupt in his throat and his lips to move more firmly against hers.

Alice was practically wedged between the wall and the elf, her hands gripping his jacket as their lips moved instinctually in rhythm. She felt him shift against her, his strong thigh slipping between hers so he could move it upwards against her crotch. In the move, he was also now practically straddling her hip, his groin pressing firmly, giving a perfect indication of just how interested he was.

A silly thought trotted through her mind, thinking back to when she'd told Kyra that Faltorin spoke down to her and spent obscene amounts of money to compensate for his small genitals. The way Kandomere was gently grinding himself against her hip definitely assured her that he was lacking in any way.

His knee moved against her crotch again, causing her to moan against his lips. The sound caused him to smile and shift his kisses to her neck, giving very gentle nips with his pointed teeth as his thumb stroked across her lips. He groaned deeply when he felt the warm wetness of her tongue lap at his thumb, the digit slipping into her mouth. A shudder ran through him at the wordless implication of what she was doing to his thumb and he ran his nose along her neck and up to her ear, inhaling deeply.

He removed his thumb and moved his lips back to hers, slipping his tongue along hers as they battled for dominance. He felt her hands slip under his waistcoat so she could untuck his shirt, her fingers dancing across the heated skin of his back.

Another firm roll of his hips and a press of his knee against her crotch had them both groaning. In that moment, he wanted nothing more than to unzip his trousers, divest her of her own, and lift her onto his arousal.

The faintest voice of reason echoed in the back of his mind. He wanted to do things properly. Take her out, get to know her outside of the circumstances that had brought them together. There was no doubt that they wanted each other. His erection was twitching insistently against her hip, and he could feel the intense heat from between her thighs.

So, it was with sheer willpower that he pulled his lips away and let his forehead rest against hers, breathing heavily.

"Why did you stop?" she whispered, her hands moving to stroke his cheeks, trying to lean up to kiss him.

He chuckled, taking her hands in his and kissing the fingers. "I want to do this properly."

"Bedroom?" she replied.

He chuckled again. "No, I want to take you out." Then he had a thought; "There's a yearly ball I must attend. I usually attend alone, but I would like to take you."

"You… you want to take me? Isn't that a little… public?" She inwardly winced at how it sounded, but she hoped he would understand the inference.

"Of course I do. I don't care what people think. I would hope you wouldn't. It is our business," he said, giving her forehead a kiss.

She groaned. "You're really going to make us wait?"

He grinned and leaned in close to her ear and whispered, "Believe me, I had every thought to fuck you right here." He took her hand and placed it over his bulge, eliciting a gasp from her as her hand gave him a firm squeeze. "I'm going to be thinking about you when I'm stroking my cock later…"

He gave her a final firm kiss before pulling away and retreating from the kitchen to retrieve his bags. Alice stumbled after him as he reached the apartment door. He grinned at her as he opened the door, winking just once before leaving, closing the door firmly behind him.