I rolled my lips over my teeth as I thought. “I would like nothing more than to remain lovers, but the facts are that you are a noble member of the Vahasi’s Court, and I am a guard. Also, you are leaving within a few days.”

  “Am I?” He reached out to caress my cheek.

  “Yes, I…are you not?” I could not think clearly with his hand on my face. The warmth of his skin, the subtle aroma of sand sage and Teryn pulsing off his wrist fogged my thoughts.

  “I had not planned on it. I have been given two generous offers that I am thinking I might accept, that is, if there is a certain guard captain willing to let me fully into his heart.” His fingertips skimmed down the side of my head, the pads outlining my ear as my pulse doubled.

  “Offers?” I asked, my tongue unable to form anything more than one word now, it seemed. By Ihdos, what this man did to me with a mere touch…

  “Yes, one from the king to remain here in Celear as a permanent envoy as we move forward with more open trade, naval operations, and an extended hand of friendship. Also, I spent a few hours chatting with Beirich Drayath. He and his husband run a school for druidcraft that is growing by leaps and bounds. They are in desperate need of teachers as the wood elves tend to not wish to come into the city, and so he extended a proposal for me to consider taking on the role of a head scholar in the arts of metamorphology with an honorary credential in the Sandrayan magicks. So, if I accept those positions, I will be living here in the capital for quite some time.”

  “Oh.” I felt the stones in the wall that I’d been hurriedly building between his heart and mine starting to crumble. Amazing. With just a few whispered words, he had kicked down the barriers. Barefoot as he was, they crumbled as if made of paper. “Would you remain in the halls of Avolire?”

  “No, the king has added an incentive of a small land grant on the outskirts of Celear. I have ridden out to look upon it with my son and daughter. The holding is charming—a well-tended cottage with enough rooms for light company, a small stable, several fat cows, and a staff of four. While I make no claim to be a farmer, the appeal of waking up to the cock’s crow with you at my side is enough to tempt me into accepting both offers.”

  “Oh.” My mind was a whirlwind. “That is a generous offer.”

  “Indeed. The guard commander said he thought to propose you receive the property as a gift for services rendered to the crown but knew you would decline.”

  “He was correct. I need no cows or vegetable gardens for repayment for doing what I vowed to do when I bent the knee to King Aelir.”

  “Such a proud, noble man. So, those are the offers awaiting my reply. If you do not wish to further our affair, I shall be crushed but will understand. My decision to stay or go will be mine with no reflection on our relationship status, so do not allow guilt to weigh down your decision.” His hand cupped my jaw. “What say you, my dear? Are you willing to face the scorn of the nobles while we lark about as proud companions, daring the aristocrats to scorn us for being as one—dark and light—in broad daylight?”

  There was a lengthy pause as I opened my heart fully, the barriers sealing out any deep emotions cracking. There was a rush of fear that quickly dissipated when I looked into beautiful amber eyes.

  “Or shall we say goodbye now?” His query was weakly spoken.

  That made me smile. The final rock fell to the earth. “I would lark about the whole of the world with your hand in mine, Teryn. My love for you is…I’m unsure how to put it into words, for I have spent a lifetime trying to avoid emotional entanglements.”

  “Hearing you say that you love me is poetic enough, my dear, for I love you as well.” He moved closer, wiggling like a worm, until his belly rested against mine. I could feel the heat of his body through his riding clothes as well as the ridge of his hard cock. “Show me how you feel when the words struggle to break free. I do speak several tongues quite well.”

  I moved to him with speed, plastering my mouth over his, moving him to his back as I pressed him into the soft green earth. His lips parted with ease. I groaned at the taste of him—red tea and spice, the heat of the desert on his tongue as it slipped over mine. We wasted little time stripping off our clothes. The soft sounds of the horses grazing nearby mixed with the song of the dark green crickets and bulbous toads on the shore of the pond as I took our cocks in hand, both rigid and leaking, to bring us off in unison.

  Teryn nipped at my lower lip as we rocked into my fist, slippery drops of arousal making the slip and slide that much better.

  “You are a glorious man. I would have you every night in my bed, curled about me, sheltering me from the cold winds that blow in this land.” He cupped my ass as we rutted, his teeth nipping at my throat.

  “It is never that cold here in Celear,” I reminded him as I thrust harder, pulling a gasp from him as his cock swelled and then spewed. The hot wash of his spend coated our shafts, easing my frantic drives so well that I felt my balls tighten in warning. I lowered my mouth to his, inhaling his pants, as white-hot pleasure erupted through me. My cock kicked, adding my seed to the mix, both of us humping madly to create a froth of semen. I licked deep into his mouth, raspy with my release, before my arm folded. I collapsed to the side, my prick leaving a wet streak over his hip as the ground caught me with a firm hand.

  “It will be…cold for me,” he mumbled, his chest rising and falling as we lay side by side staring at the heavens. “I will require a coat. I have never owned one before. Even now, I feel chilled.”

  I chortled. “It can be a thin one. We rarely see snow here as we are too far south.” He sighed with pleasure, like a cat filled with cream, before moving closer. I pulled him to my side. He burrowed in like a badger in its den. “Are you warm now?”

  “Oh yes, quite warm. I think you shall have to be in my bed every night from this moment on lest I freeze.” He kissed my pectoral and then rested his cheek on my chest.

  “We cannot have that.” I pressed my lips to his sweetly scented hair. “I shall warm you nightly to ensure we have no diplomatic upheavals.”

  If only ensuring peace and goodwill between all elves was as joyously easy as holding this man close…

  Ten passes of the sun

  LIFE HAS A WAY OF BALANCING THE GOOD AND THE BAD.

  The good things—the laughter of twins in the royal maze as their ward guardian flies above them guiding them along, the smile of a lover in the small hours of the morning, the purr of a cat as it curls upon your lap—just some of many joys that fate can bestow upon the common elf such as myself. As a counterweight to those good experiences are the bad—the wails of a wife as she watches her husband being banished, the cries of the hungry in the streets, and the death rattles of a family member—are a few of the miseries we all face.

  Today, gathered in a large suite with the sea winds blowing in and the caws of gulls kiting over the ocean, we were gathered in Grand Advisor’s Umeris Stillcloud’s bedroom as the elderly head of the House of Stillcloud lay abed calling for his long-dead wife.

  Aelir, Raewyn, V’alor, and Merrilyn were seated in plump chairs alongside the massive bed as my cousin and I lingered by the open balcony doors. The laughter of the twins floated up to us from time to time, making the old man smile when the giggles hit his long, pointed ears. The head cleric had just left the room, leaving his bags of potions—tonics that had done little to ease the confusion in the Grand Advisor’s mind—and his incense. The royals were quiet, whispering to each other as they took turns holding Umeris’s wrinkled hands.

  “He always enjoyed the twins’ visits,” Raewyn said as she crushed the damp handkerchief in her hand. “They brought him such joy. There is no greater happiness for the aged than that of the family they leave behind. The legacy of the Stillclouds shall live on for centuries and—”

  Umeris coughed up a yellowish ball of mucus, his sight flying from the ceiling to the king seated at his side. “Aelir!” Umeris barked, his voice stronger than it had been for several trips of the moon sisters. “Ihdos states that to join him in the vast halls of knowledge, an elf must purge himself of his sins against others, for only with a barren soul can an elf attain true and eternal wisdom. My boy…” The old elf drew in a wheezy breath, his fingers seeking Aelir’s hand, his blue eyes seemingly clear.

  “Grandfather, you have spoken to the exalted cloisterer just this morn,” Aelir patiently replied, his hand held tightly by his grandfather. “He assured you that you may move onto Ihdos’ side with a clear conscious for all of your transgressions have been—”

  “That toad would tell me that my arse is festooned with pink peonies if he thought it would earn him more tithes from the coffers,” Umeris barked, his reply sharp as a rapier. He seemed to be having a moment of clarity, his wanderings in the past temporarily gone. I gave my cousin a long, sad look that he sent back. Now the queen’s personal guard, Rolim had moved up the ranks well, something that I was pleased to note. “I told him what he needed to hear, but now…now, I tell you that there is a black mark that needs to be cleansed before I join his most holy in everlasting peace.” Umeris glanced around the room, his gaze touching on all gathered briefly before settling on Aelir. The old elf began to cry, tears catching in the deep grooves on his face, his sight locked on his grandson. “Aelir, my delight. The purest-blooded grandson. I am sorry for my deception but know that he was not worthy to wear the crown.”

  “Grandfather,” Aelir said gently, thumbing some blond hair from his cheek, his other hand grasped in a death grip by his grandsire. “You fret over silliness. There is no need to worry over who wears the crown. I do, and so it will sit on my head for—”

  “Gah! No, no, no! When he is found, he will fight you for it, for it is his right, but no…no…he is not the one who should be monarch. Recall that even though…I wish…the sins must be purged, but…but his blood is tainted, unpure, the foulness of human blood mingling with the elitest of elven blood.” Those around the bed all glanced at Merrilyn, a human herself, to shake their heads to say they did not feel as the ancient dying elf did. “He had to be sent away. I had to ensure that the Stillcloud name be clean…”

  Aelir looked greatly confused. “Grandfather, you are bound in the past again. There is no other to worry over. There is just me to carry on the name, and my children, so you may—”

  Umeris sat up in a rush, silver hair falling forward, his soft gray bed robes slipping off one shoulder as he shouted in Aelir’s befuddled face.

  “There was one before you! He…he was a bastard, half blood, the son of a pirate and a whore. Your mother…bedding a human…growing fat with his mongrel whelp. I did what needed to be done! What she would not do for she was too weak. I took the babe, still covered in birthing fluids, and handed him off to the grand cloisterer of the Renedith temple…and bid him take the crossbred bastard from our vills. Far away. And so he sent the child off with a wet nurse, to the freebooters who roam the seas. Far away. Far away! The bastard was gone, forgotten, wiped from the minds of all aside from your mother, who was wed post haste to a good elf of pure blood.”

  “Grandfather…” Aelir whispered, all the color drained from his face now.

  Umeris stared at his grandson, a tepid smile pulling at the corners of his cracked lips. “I did what was needed to keep the line pure. Now you know. Now you can send me to Ihdos, where I will spend eternity in the light of wisdom, knowledge, and science. Lineage is all-important, Aelir. Never let the crown rest on a head…that is not pedigreed, or Melowynn will fall.”

  With that, the old elf collapsed back onto his pillows, eyes wide, face serene. His chest no longer rose and fell. I chanced a look at my cousin, who stood aghast, mouth open, much like the others in this luxury suite. I wet my lips as the king sat still as a stone, his hand in his grandfather’s, his face slack with shock.

  “Aelir,” V’alor gently asked after several moments of utter silence. “My love, surely you do not credit the rambling of an old elf beset with the mental vagaries of the aged to be true.”

  “I want the grand cloisterer of Renedith brought to me immediately,” Aelir gruffly stated, placing his grandfather’s hands on the old elf’s still chest before placing a soft cotton shroud—left on a stand by the bed for that very purpose—over his face. “Call for the sisters of the sanguine to come tend to his body as he will lie in state in the throne room for a fortnight as is custom for an elf of his standing.”

  Aelir rose. I readied myself to leave even though my head was swirling with dark secrets from the past.

  “Aelir, perhaps you should think this through,” Raewyn whispered, rising to lay a hand on the king’s stiff shoulder. “There cannot be an elder Stillcloud. There would have been rumors or sightings of a royal-blooded elf among pirates.”

  “Not if the man was half-blooded. Hundreds of thousands of such people roam Melowynn,” he stiffly replied, his eyes damp but his jaw stern. “I will speak to Grand Cloisterer Rainbrook as soon as he arrives from Renedith. Summon Le’ral to my solar. Speak of this to no one, not the children, nor your handmaidens. Until proof of this deathbed confession can be verified, we will continue on as normal in the passing of a loved one. If what Umeris claims is true, it could throw Melowynn into turmoil as the lines of succession would be severely hampered.”

  “Surely the nobles would not wish to take the crown from you to pass it to a half-human privateer, if the child even survived,” Merrilyn chimed in, unusual for the hearty human. She tended to be reserved, letting her size and skills speak for her.

  “A brother…” the king whispered as he stared down at his grandsire with wet cheeks. He seemed lost in his own misery.

  Aelir made for the doorway. I followed, opening the door for the king as he strode out into an empty corridor, his sight locked straight ahead. He was dressed in finely made trousers, a dark blue shirt, and an ornate vest with small silver beads. His soft leather slippers hit the tiled floors as we stormed along, me on his heels. Each guard posted along the hall lowered their heads in deference to the king as we passed. When we reached the solar, Aelir turned to me, face a tight mask of confusion and pain.

  “I require some time alone.”

  “As you wish, Your Majesty.” I nodded at a young woman in royal guard household armor, as I was clad, and she opened the door for the king. Once he was inside, I looked at the startled elf with tiny freckles across her nose. “You may take a break.”

  “Yes, Captain.” Off she went, her short sword at her side, disappearing around a corner. I heard her speaking to someone just as a cat sauntered out into the corridor. Pehdra spied me and trotted down the long hall to run about my legs. Her owner appeared a moment later, royal blue robes tickling the tops of his sandaled feet, amber eyes lighting up when he saw me.

  “Ah, there you are,” Teryn called as he made his way down the hall, the soft sea breezes making the tapestries on the walls dance. The smell of sand sage enveloped me as he drew near. “I was looking for a hand or two to help with moving some of my bags and your things to the farm…” He trailed off as he studied me closely. “Has the Grand Advisor passed over?”

  “He has, but that is not what is so troublesome to the king,” I confessed, reaching down to pick up Pehdra as we spoke in muted tones. Teryn tipped his head slightly. I passed his beloved pet to him. “We will discuss it all later. Just know these two things. I love you dearly, and this realm may soon be shaken to its very core.”

  “Oh dear,” he whispered while Pehdra kneaded on his long sleeve. “Then it is good that we have each other to cling to when the trying times arrive.”

  Yes, if there was nothing else we could and would do, it was hold on to each other. That was what love meant, I was discovering. Clutching the other tightly when the waves rolled in, both literally as Teryn had done for me while asea or metaphorically as we possibly faced an incoming tempest of monstrous proportions.

  “You shall be my lifeline.”

  It was just the next morn when the first rumble of the incoming storm arrived.

  Not with a jagged bolt of lightning or a sheet of rain. It came with the early thumping on the door of Teryn’s new farmstead. A charming small home with the mentioned cows, staff, and country elegance a man of his standing richly deserved. I awoke first. The staff had left for their crofter’s cottages after dinner last eve. Pehdra slept between Teryn and me, having gotten over her sour mood after he had banished her from the bedroom so we could make love. The cat believed the bed and those in it were hers to walk over, sleep on, or bat in the face when she wanted out to explore the verdant fields of her new home. Locking her out brought about pitiful meows, but we stood firm. Until we had spent, and then Teryn rushed to leave the pampered feline back in our room.

  Hearing the banging, I rose up, sleep-addled, my body twinging from last night’s round of bed play, to rest on my elbows for a moment. Teryn mumbled, shimmying closer, seeking heat. He loved this little home but insisted on a fire in every hearth despite the pleasant weather.

  “Someone bangs,” he muttered, his face buried in my ribs.

  “That they do.” I bent to the side to kiss his shoulder. He smelled of sand sage and sex. A very heady scent that added more plumpness to my morning stiffness. “I’ll see to it.”

  “Glorious man. May the goddess’s bright light shine on you forever.” He sighed as he tugged the covers and the cat up over his rumpled head. I left our bed, a pleasant handcrafted wooden-framed one with a plush down mattress, stepped into the breeches I had worn last night, and padded through the simple but spacious manor house. When Teryn called it a farm, that was a bit of a misnomer, for other than a few milking cows and a handsome garden, the homestead was large enough to entertain as a diplomat must, but also small enough to remain cozy. The great hall, a small solar, and a prayer room were filled with our belongings yet, but soon the staff would have things in order. Padding past the kitchen, I picked up the smell of yeasty bread rising, and my stomach gurgled. Leaving the barracks had been difficult in some ways yet not in others. My cousin teased me unmercifully but had been thrilled to take over my room. As the queen’s guard and a high lieutenant, he had earned it. The commendations from the guard commander had bolstered our ranks, lifting him up to his new rank and I to guard master captain. Those were enjoyable aspects, as were the better food here as well as the fact that Teryn and I shared a bed and a home. For a man who had done his best to keep his distance from domesticity, I was finding having him close at night was dearer than I could have ever imagined.