[Fairytale 02] - Asleep (2013)

by Elizabeth Darcy

  “I’ll say we were racing and it snagged on some branches. I’ll say a sudden gust of wind hit us and made a mess of it. I’ll say mischievous fairies appeared in the forest and tried to cut it all off, but you stopped them with your honeyed words, laughing at their outrage as they realized that the bargain you’d struck with them actually worked in your favor and not theirs. In other words, I don’t much care what I’ll say, but I’ll come up with something.” He could feel her lips move into a smile, and he pulled back just a little so that he could see it.

  “You are so beautiful, Jess,” he said, his voice filled with wonder. He brought his palm to the side of her face, cupping her cheek as his thumb traced the delicate bones of her jaw. With her fine, dark eyes shaded by impossibly long lashes, her lush mouth, her golden skin, her abundant dark hair, and the fine bone structure that gave her such striking features, she was the most stunning beauty he’d ever seen.

  But that didn’t matter to Dev. To him, she was beautiful because he loved her, because who she was on the inside was every bit as beautiful as who she was on the outside. She had been a friend to him, the one true friend to whom he could confess all of his feelings and deepest fears without worrying that she would mock him or make light of the things that mattered most to him. She had been his childhood companion, the girl on whom he’d played pranks and with whom he’d made mischief. She was a part of his life he couldn’t imagine trying to live without. Just the thought sent a chill through him, made him feel as though something were dying inside of him.

  “Do you know that I have always loved your face better than any other face?” she replied, caressing his cheek. “I love everything about it, from the twinkle in your eye to the chip in your tooth, to the way you smile that sideways smile at me when we share a secret joke. I love the way you look at me, the expression that comes over your face when you look at something that astounds you. I could just stare at you for hours and hours.”

  His lips claimed hers once more, and she pressed herself against him. The feel of the length of her body against his made his head spin, and he kissed her hungrily, tasting her and breathing her breath as he pulled her even closer, certain he would perish if he didn’t feel her skin against his. His fingers stroked her face as her hands wandered over his back, her touch leaving trails of fire on his skin.

  “Jess, I—” he gasped when they parted. He both ached and burned, and he wanted her more than he had ever wanted anything in his life.

  “I want to feel you,” she whispered, her voice trembling slightly. She looked up and met his gaze, and he felt as though her eyes pierced straight through his flesh and into his soul. “I want to feel your hands on my skin. I want to be one with you.”

  The words turned his bones to jelly and made him blaze even hotter. “Are you certain?”

  “Yes.”

  “I want to touch you so badly I feel as if I’ll die from longing,” he confessed, and she moaned softly. “Shall we go into the lodge?”

  “No. Let’s stay here.”

  He needed no further encouragement. The shaking of his hands was so severe he had trouble freeing the blanket they’d tied to his horse’s saddle. There was a basket too, with wine and food for a picnic, but he set it aside carelessly. Jess watched him as he unrolled the blanket on the ground, her eyes like a caress, and his heart beat so rapidly it made him dizzy.

  They sat on the blanket and Dev took Jess in his arms, forcing himself to make his kiss slow, languid. He was almost overcome, but he wanted to make this time last as long as he possibly could. He wanted to memorize every inch of her skin, every sound she made, wanted to know her scent and how she tasted. Her tongue met his, her mouth as sweet as honey.

  With fumbling fingers, he untied her cloak. She broke off the kiss, and he felt like he was drowning in her eyes as she stared at him, tossing her cloak aside and undoing her hair with fingers that he noticed trembled as much as his. She untied his cloak, her fingertips brushing lightly over his shoulders and his collarbone, and a low noise rose from deep in his throat, making passion flare in her eyes.

  It took some time for them to undress one another, and Dev savored every moment. Jess’s skin was marred here and there by bruises and scars, and he kissed each of them, letting his lips roam over her as he explored her body. Despite the scars, the texture of her skin was even softer than he could have imagined, and he was flooded with pleasure as he stroked her velvet skin. He’d never known a sensation as heady as that of her hands on his bare skin, her lips teasing him in ways that drove him to the brink of insanity. They took their time getting to know one another, each of them learning what brought the other pleasure, and Dev discovered that watching her moan and writhe beneath him as he kissed her, touched her, brought him almost as much pleasure as he felt when she kissed and touched him.

  Kissing his way back up to her mouth, Dev paused for a moment, hovering over her so he could simply look at her. Her lids were heavy, her eyes full of desire, and it was a painful sort of pleasure to try to refrain from sinking back down into her embrace, where he could feel every bare inch of her pressed against every bare inch of him. Snagging the edge of her cloak, he balled it and gently lifted her head, settling the cloak under it to form a pillow. The gesture brought tears to her eyes, and she framed his face with her hands, pulling it down and kissing him with exquisite tenderness.

  “Are you—” he started to ask, wanting to be sure she wanted this.

  She put a finger over his lips, halting his words. “I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life. I am yours, Dev, utterly and wholly yours.”

  “And I belong to you,” he murmured, lowering his mouth to hers as he moved, taking care to slip inside her slowly. She gasped and he stilled, kissing her and caressing her until her body began to yield to his.

  “Yes,” she whispered, responding to his unasked question.

  And then he was inside her. He moved with gentle strokes, not wanting to hurt her. Her breath came in short gasps, and after a few moments she lifted her hips, tilting herself up toward him, and he increased his pace. When his pleasure approached its peak, he slowed, waiting for her moans before he fell over the edge.

  Afterward they lay naked together, their limbs tangled, while Dev traced the contours of her face with a fingertip. She was sleepy, opening her closed eyes every now and then to give him a lazy, brilliant smile. And each time she smiled that smile, he could not help but kiss her, which just made her smile all the more.

  “I love you, Jessmyn,” he said, smoothing hair back from her brow.

  “I love you too,” she answered, drawing his face down to hers for a soft kiss.

  She drifted off to sleep soon afterward but Dev stayed awake. Sleeping would be a waste; he wanted nothing more than to lie there with her in his arms, staring down at the peaceful expression on her sleeping face. He wanted to see that face every day of his life. Being apart from her for months on end was intolerable, and he would have no more of it. He wanted Jess as his wife, knew with every fiber of his being that his long, long wait had ended at last.

  Chapter 36

  When they reached Skyhold at long last, Jess could not deny that it was deserving of its intimidating reputation. The sky had been gray as steel as they marched, a fine mist falling and making everything uncomfortably damp, magnifying the discomfort of the chill wind. Jess felt as if the cold had settled into her bones, and she began to wonder if she would ever again be warm. She tried to tell herself the severity of her chill was due to the weather, but she knew her shivers, the terrible coldness, weren’t entirely due to the temperature.

  The tower looked dead. The circular patch of grass surrounding it struck Jess as strange, as if some giant animal had stomped its foot down and flattened all the trees. Gray stone was almost indistinguishable from gray sky, and she felt weighted down by the oppressiveness. It was the most desolate, miserable-looking place she could have imagined.

  “I suppose there’s no point in trying to snea
k up to the tower, is there?” Tanvir asked. They stood screened by the forest at the extreme outskirts of the tower. The moment they stepped foot outside the protection of the trees, they would be as visible as an army could possibly be.

  “Not really, no. Should we make camp here, watch the tower for a while?”

  Tanvir shook his head. “I don’t think there’s any point to that either. The road must be visible from the tower, so they’ve already seen our approach. At any rate, we wouldn’t be able to erect tents and would have to sleep in this damp wood, an idea I don’t much relish.”

  “Neither do I,” Jess agreed with a great deal of reluctance. She liked so little about this battle. It was not that she lacked the courage to fight her enemy, it was that she didn’t like going in blind, and she doubted they could have been any more blind than they were. The idea of hanging back and flinging a few rocks at the tower in the hopes that they might learn something didn’t sit well with Jess. She would have preferred to meet her enemy on the battlefield, where she would have had a better handle on the situation.

  “It won’t be much longer now, Jess,” Tanvir said, sensing her mood.

  “Somehow that thought isn’t a comfort to me.”

  Sighing, Tanvir looked down at his hands gripping the reins. “Nor me. But it’s all we have.”

  Once again, she’d forgotten how high the stakes were for him, and she was ashamed of herself. “We’ll do this, together,” she said, reaching a hand out to him.

  Raising his eyes, he gave her a grateful look and clasped her proffered hand. “Together,” he echoed, sounding as though he was drawing strength from the word, from the idea. He let go of her hand and gestured to the troops, ordering them to move out.

  Jess didn’t know exactly what she’d expected, but it wasn’t eerie silence. As rank after rank of their troops emerged from the forest, not a sound rose from the castle. There was only the marching feet of the troops, the whinny of horses, the creaking of the wheels of the supply carts and siege engines. Pulling as close to the tower as they dared, Jess and Tanvir called a halt, and an even thicker and eerier silence descended as the clatter of the moving army died away.

  “I’d expected at least a volley of arrows or some such,” Tanvir murmured, speaking in a low voice so that only Jess would hear.

  “As did I,” Jess said, frowning. She wasn’t wearing armor like Tanvir, who sported a full suit of plate with the Estorian crest engraved on the chestpiece, clearly marking him as a member of the royal family. The plate was midnight blue chased in silver, and it looked very striking on Tanvir.

  By contrast, Jess wore a simple suit of reinforced boiled leather. Her mother hadn’t been thrilled with her choice of armor, but Jess could hardly have snuck through the tower in clanking plate. Even if Ellaria’s guards wore mail or plate, Jess would turn it to her advantage. She would hear them coming and would be able to move much faster than they would be. She’d also chosen to forgo her usual longsword in favor of two dirks. It would be far easier to strike with these in the confines of narrow tower staircases and corridors.

  “What are your orders, Your Highness?” Lord Talmar asked, pulling up alongside Tanvir.

  “Set up camp and begin construction of the siege weapons,” Tanvir instructed.

  Turning, Jess gestured to Pala, Loren, Rahib, Holen, and Ashra, who had traveled close at her heels. “We’ll make for the trees with the scouts, scour the forest. There must be a means of escaping the tower, and I aim to find it.” Her party pressed their fists to their shoulders, bowing their heads to her. She turned to Tanvir. “Send word immediately if the other scouts find anything. I’ll do the same if we’re so fortunate. Otherwise, I’ll see you this evening.”

  “Have a care, Jess,” he said, catching her arm and looking at her with a serious gaze.

  “You do the same.” He nodded and released her arm, and Jess and her party rode off.

  At the forest’s edge, Jess had only to look at the other members of her party and they split into two groups, Jess, Pala, and Ashra heading southeast while the other three headed southwest. They’d spent hours poring over maps on the ship, dividing the forest into sectors and determining who would survey which portions. Jess was pleased with how they now seemed able to communicate without words. She’d chosen her most trusted guards for the mission, and as she watched Loren, Rahib, and Holen ride off, she felt she’d made a wise choice. If anyone saw anything, their signal would be the call of a Moritanian crow repeated in sequences of three.

  The Moritanian forest was nothing like the Carpesian Forest. Festooned with thick vines that hung off the trees in coils, visibility was low, making it difficult to navigate. Giant ferns sprang from the ground, soaking the horses and their riders’ legs whenever they brushed against the saturated fronds. Ivy wound its way around the trees, whose trunks were furry with lichens. The copious amounts of rain fed the forest, making it much denser than the Carpesian Forest, and the forest floor was spongy with a combination of damp earth and mosses. Jess was gladder than ever that she’d chosen the drab brown leathers. They blended into the forest much more than her pale blue plate would have.

  Several hours of riding availed them of little, and Jess tried her hardest not to let her frustration show. She’d read reports of the conditions of the Moritanian forests, but she hadn’t fully appreciated the terrain until she’d seen it for herself. She could spend the rest of her life searching the forest and find nothing. It was simply too dense, too full of plant life to make any sort of escape route obvious—which was precisely why it made such a good fortress. Jess appreciated that now more than ever.

  By the time they returned to camp it was full dark. The drizzle had stopped, but the cooking fires were more smoke than flame, the wood too wet to properly ignite. She hadn’t realized how exhausted she was until the sight of the tents caused a sudden longing for sleep. Pushing her damp hair back from her face, she rubbed her forehead with the heel of her hand.

  Get it together, Jess. You can’t let despair take you.

  But now that she was here, the task seemed hopeless. She might as well have hoped for a genie to appear and grant her three wishes. Knowing she was so close to Dev, that he was right there in the tower, made her want to scream and rage, to race up to the tower’s base and tear the stones from it with her bare hands. The need to rescue him had always filled her with a sense of urgency, but the closer she got to him, the more intense that sense of urgency became. She was terrified time was slipping through her fingers.

  Tanvir’s guards saluted her as she entered his tent, and she gave them a tired nod in response. She’d sent the rest of her party away to dinner and to try to dry themselves off. If she never again had to experience the sensation of vines dripping water down the back of her neck, it would be too soon. Her entire body felt wrinkled, like she’d sat in a bath too long.

  To her relief, Tanvir was alone. “Any luck?” His head shot up to meet her gaze and she had to look away from the hope in his eyes.

  “None.”

  He cursed and slammed his fist on the table, startling Jess and making her look back at him. For a few seconds he hunched over the table, his posture defeated, then he made an effort to pull himself together. His back straightened, the lines on his face smoothed, and determination replaced the distraught look in his eyes. She felt a flash of admiration for him, and it gave her the strength to try to pull herself back together.

  “What did the scouts find?” she asked, tugging her sodden gloves off as she walked over to the table. A squire took them, carrying them to one of the braziers and setting them on a rack to dry.

  “Nothing of note. The only information in their reports concerns the dense nature of the forest, which interests me very little.” He made a face and Jess gave him a hollow smile.

  “Yes, it’s very dense,” she agreed, sighing in disappointment.

  One of Tanvir’s guards stepped into the tent. “Your Highness, there’s a scout here, says he has urgent news
for you.”

  “Send him in.” Curiosity shot through Jess, making her forget about her fatigue, and she stared at the tent flap.

  “Begging your pardon, Your Highness, Your Highness,” the scout said as he stepped inside. He looked flustered by the presence of the two monarchs.

  “What did you find?” Tanvir asked, getting right to the point.

  “It’s not what I found, it’s what found me—or who, rather,” the scout said, pushing back the hood of his cloak. “I was making my way through the forest—gods but it’s dense. I’ve never seen so much green in my life, and—”

  “Yes, we’re aware of the condition of the forest,” Tanvir said, his mouth quirking with a mixture of impatience and amusement.

  “Yes, of course. Forgive me, Your Highness. To make a long story short, a girl suddenly appeared. She gave my horse such a fright that I was very nearly thrown, and I thought the girl would run off, but she didn’t, not right away. Instead, she hurried over to me, pressed this in my hand, said, ‘He asked me to give it to her’, and then ran off before I could say anything. I tried to track her down, but it was as if the forest had swallowed her.” Jess didn’t miss the scout’s faint shudder.

  “What did this girl look like? Did she appear to be one of Ellaria’s troops?” Jess asked.

  “No, Your Highness. She looked like a serving girl, dressed in roughspun and wearing a cap.”

  This was encouraging news, and it sent a small flare of hope through Jess. Perhaps Ellaria’s hold wasn’t as tight as they’d feared. “What did she give you?” Jess asked, holding out her hand. The scout dropped something in her palm, and Jess’s knees went weak as she saw what it was.

  “Well done,” Tanvir said, casting a glance at Jess. “Go get a meal and find a fire to warm yourself.” With a grateful nod, the scout hurried out of the tent, and Tanvir turned to Jess.