Evenstars of Aeweniel

by Willow Sova

  Dreams visited him in the night—memories of past lovers ignited by the fire for Sparrow rising within him, of dalliances with lady elves over the centuries always ending in love, unrequited. Amongst the elves of Aeweniel existed a prejudice against dragon shifters and those of any kind; they deemed shapeshifters as flawed in their elven nature, their blood impure in elven eyes, disgraced and polluted. While Thalion and Aranhil had courted many lady elves over the years, never once did either of their couplings evolve into everlasting love. They were denied that because they were shifters.

  Even in dreaming, a hollowness in his heart and spirit overwhelmed him as he slept, as it had for endless nights before, encumbering him with sorrow. Slumber brought no relief from his loneliness.

  But tonight was different.

  A current of tranquility ran through him, his restlessness leaving with each breath. An image of Sparrow lying on her side, her brandy-hued eyes penetrating him, replaced his dismal thoughts of solitude. Thalion welcomed this new vision, reveling in it for a while, when he was shaken from his sleep, his eyes sparking open in the darkness.

  The elf turned and saw her silhouetted figure haloed in peridot behind the curtains, just as he had dreamt. He stilled himself and admired her shadowy outline as he lay there, his heart now hammering in his chest. Sparrow sat up, her shadow still and silent. Thalion sensed her watching him, just as he had dreamt. After sitting up, he swung his legs off the bed and walked to the entrance of her bedchamber, his blood winding warmth through every vein. He paused there awhile, touching the drapes before inching them open.

  As in his dream, her eyes were wild and dilated, their intensity bristling the hairs on his nape. Thalion padded toward her, imagining her nipples rubbing against her silk nightgown as her bosom heaved, teasing their buds to bloom, pleasantly pointed. He kneeled before her on the bed and sat down, and then lifted her chin to suckle her bottom lip before pulling away. A tinge of doubt made him question if he should go further. Could I bear falling for her… if she were only to deny me later? Maybe her eyes held the answer. Reflected in them, he saw the same imploring he suffered himself. Somehow, she was as vulnerable as he was, though how he did not know. Behind them was a soul, disconnected and alone, his kindred spirit urging to be filled. At that moment, she combed her fingers through his hair, twined her arms around his neck, and drew him closer, relieving his uncertainty.

  “Sparrow, there’s something I must tell you—”

  “It can wait,” she whispered, hushing him with a kiss. She straddled him, slipped her nightgown off her shoulders, and let it fall to her waist. His cock bulged at the sight of her nipples, peaked, just as he had imagined, inviting him to suckle them until he grew senseless. Thalion seized her breasts and swirled his tongue over one rosy circle as he grazed the other with his thumb, then nibbled each tiny pink bud until they flamed brighter with her arousal. She whimpered and arched her back, rolling her hips while fisting his hair, and pressed his mouth ever closer.

  “Oh, Sparrow, I want inside you… so much.”

  “Then… come inside me,” she whispered. And save for her cherished Isilmë Stone, he wished their bedclothes away. He then freed one hand from her breast, slipped it between her thighs, and rolled his fingers over her quivering scarlet jewel. A gasp caught in her throat and she clenched her thighs. Then slowly relaxing them, she followed her approval with a wispy moan. Desperate, she swerved her hips in a frenzy as she hovered over him, searching for his sex, imploring for his entry. But Thalion swiveled his pelvis away, thus denying Sparrow her wish. “Mmm, please,” was her reply, verging on despair.

  Only for a moment longer, love.

  As much as he wanted to partake of her, he wanted them both to bask in that painful anticipation for a little while longer. So Thalion pursed his lips over her nipple again and teased it with rolls of his tongue, mimicking, in synchrony, his fingerplay over her nub.

  Two separate and delicate points converging toward absolute ecstasy.

  Sparrow squealed and clutched his shoulders tighter, with hands and legs shaking as his fingers played away, her hips still dancing in search of some relief.

  “Oh, please, Thalion,” she cried with quickening breaths.

  Only for a moment longer, love.

  Thalion clasped her waist and widened her thighs more with the slight spread of his own. That soft sound from those wet petals opening was music to his elven ears and beckoned him to breach her. And the trickling warmth of her excitement on his cock sent him over the edge.

  Oh, how I need inside you!

  His want for her was hard between his thighs. But he continued his torment, teething her nipples a little harder and stroking her below with more urgency.

  Sparrow acknowledged his affections with long and lingering moans. Such affirmations of sweet pain mingled with intensifying pleasure in dire need of fulfillment. So she rocked into him, again and again, still in search of that firm but tender part of him. Disappointed when she fell short, she pouted her lips and replied, “Mmm, Thalion, please. I must have you inside me.”

  He answered with a smile, enamored of her only more, with that soft demand and those pouty lips. And Sparrow sighed with content when her efforts were finally rewarded, and Thalion obliged and entered her.

  His eyes were unwavering, an otherworldly violet.

  “How I love the feel of you around me.” For him, that warm friction was intoxicating as she glided up and down, nursing his sex so tenderly he sensed his seed about to unleash. No, not yet. I don’t want this moment to escape us so soon. “I can’t bear the thought of letting you go.” Goosebumps scattered along his golden skin with her every move and bounce of her breasts. This invitation he could not resist, so he pursed his lips over a nipple and suckled her again.

  “Then don’t let me go.” Sparrow squeezed her sex around him. “My hunger for you is so insatiable, I doubt I could release you from my grasp.” Not wanting to leave from inside her, he unlatched his hungry mouth, rolled her onto her back, and caressed the walls of her cunny—every stroke inward screaming his need for her, and every one outward regretting her loss—each given more meaning as his gaze penetrated her. Thalion loved how she looked at him, how her cognac eyes rarely wavered, and how in harmony she was with his feelings—now put into motion. He wanted it to last forever. “Oh my God! Thalion!” She clutched his buttocks and pushed him in deeper and rocked into him until he could hold on no longer. And much to his delight, he felt her essence bathing his cock.

  Oh, how glorious! “I’ll follow you there, sweet lady.” So Thalion rode her waves of pleasure as she cried out his name. And with one thrust after another, he claimed Sparrow for himself before releasing his seed. Oh, how glorious indeed! Tears stung his eyes, and he collapsed at her side. The elf then rolled her over and spooned her from behind.

  There they lay in silence for a while.

  “That was beautiful. So beautiful.” She spoke as one awakening from a dream.

  “As are you.” Thalion swept her hair from her shoulder and sprinkled kisses there.

  “Continue as you are and I’ll wish for more of that something beautiful.”

  “Mmm. I won’t object.” He followed the gentle slope of her back with his lips. “Aw, Sparrow. How did you get this scar?” he asked as he dragged his finger along a ribbon of puckered, pearly-white skin.

  “Oh, that? It was Father’s way of branding me an abomination before God.” Thalion met those words with silence and reclined on the bed. Turning to face him, Sparrow found his brows furrowed, those blue-violet eyes snuffed of their brightness.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Against my will, Father arranged my betrothal to a man I didn’t love,” she said, resting her hand on his chest. “When he turned deaf to my refusal, I avowed my deficit in one quality required under their marital contract.” Abashed, her cheeks flushed pink as she turned away. “Namely, my virginity.”

  When his shock subsided, he asked, “Your father
beat you for losing your maidenhood before wedlock?” His blood seethed.

  Sparrow looked up at him and replied, “Yes, since doing so meant my disgrace before God. And the end of my betrothal spelled the demise of his social ambitions.”

  “Is that why you left your world?”

  “That was one reason,” she replied, her voice forlorn. She nestled her cheek against his chest. “Back home, I could never practice magic without the threat of being condemned as a witch. Mother was fearful of others discovering my gift and always admonished me to hone my craft away from prying eyes. Then, once she passed away, well, home was never the same.”

  Thalion tilted her chin up and met her eyes, wishing he could undo the pain Sparrow had been dealt. “So long as I live, I’ll never let anyone hurt you again.”

  “Are you my knight in shining armor, the kind some ladies in my world spend a lifetime chasing but never find?”

  “I’ll be whatever you desire, sweet lady.”

  “Anything?” The girl grinned with mischief. “Then perchance with your magic you’ll oblige me and be my netherlings for a day.”

  The elf cocked his head, smiling, and said, “Here I was being chaste and romantic, yet you tease me into lewd dreaming.” Though I know she jests, I only wish my magic worked such wonders.

  Sparrow laughed into the pale rose pillow. “We’re lying naked with one another after an evening of blissful lovemaking. I think chastity is now well beyond our reach.”

  “That’s a valid point.”

  “Besides, naughty thoughts seem to flow naturally with you. I doubt you’ll need any help in that regard,” she said, caressing his thigh.

  “Not when I have such a beauteous muse.” Thalion realized how true her words were when the image of her stroking something else sprang to mind.

  “You’re not troubled that I’m compromised?” she asked with a wistful smile.

  “Compromised?” He was perplexed by the question.

  “No longer a virgin?”

  “Of course not. I’ve passed that milestone long ago. So why would I impose such dogma on you when I myself don’t hold to it?”

  “If it’s any consolation, it was lost on someone whom I believed loved me. Turns out my feelings were misguided.”

  “It doesn’t matter, Sparrow. Whoever he was, he was a fool. Fortunately, the cost of his folly was my gain, as I can’t recall a time when my spirits soared so… ecstatically. I feel I’ve reached some kind of heaven.”

  “Seems your spirits aren’t the only things soaring,” she said, eyeing his loins. The girl started into a fit of giggles.

  Thalion espied his erect cock. “I won’t deny my little beast wants another round of making-the-beast-with-two-backs.” He petted his elfhood with pride.

  “Making-the-beast-with-two-backs? Sounds like something Shakespeare would’ve written.”

  “Ah yes, the illustrious bard. In fact, he did pen those very words.”

  “You know of Shakespeare’s work? How wonderful! I remember going to the theatre years ago to see Romeo and Juliet. It was such a lovely but tragic story. I must admit, I spiraled into a state of sadness over it for weeks afterwards. Have you ever seen one of Shakespeare’s plays?”

  “Yes, my dear lady, I have.” Thalion looked up at the ceiling as he fell deep in thought. The morning peach sky bubbled frothy pink clouds through the enchanted window above. Ah… now I remember. Though, in truth, in his heart, he never forgot her. And here she is, my darling Sparrow. Although at the time, he knew not her name.

  She was the young lady he saw at the Globe Theatre during a production of Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet about eight years ago. The stench of the city’s squalor and the reek of sweat and ale had walloped the crisp autumn air as the crowd had filtered into the theatre. Yet, amidst it all, a breeze of sweet lavender roses had wafted about him as the girl passed by, that delicate fragrance inviting him to glance in her direction. Her scent was a heavenly respite from the unpleasant smells around him. And the vision of her equally so.

  Thalion had admired the maiden from a distance. Long, black tendrils shone blue highlights under the sun and cascaded over her porcelain shoulders and breasts. He took her in as she viewed the play, how transfixed she was with Shakespeare’s prose, her heart chasing every lyrical phrase. How she clutched her pendant and whispered, “No, no please, Romeo, don’t do it,” when Romeo drank from the vial of poison having mistaken Juliet for dead. Thalion could not hear her words but only saw the shape of them and sensed her desperation. A sensitive soul, he thought, beyond measure of any lady in this place, let alone any elven lady in Aeweniel. And from thereon, he was captivated.

  A beautiful soul. A tender lady.

  A young man was sitting beside her. And while they engaged in conversation, she seemed nervous, twirling her dark locks between her fingers. After a time, she swept her hair behind her ear, and the elf’s heart leapt; her ear was slightly pointed. How he yearned to purse his lips over that pretty apex. Is she an elf, or more likely a halfling—a name bestowed upon offspring of human-elf unions? Thalion fixated on her, so much so she caught sight of his enchanted gaze. He offered her a slow smile, and she, in turn, flashed a meek one before brushing her hair over her ear.

  Oh, how I must have her!

  An urge overcame him. Thalion desired nothing less than to rush through the crowd and lunge toward her, sweeping the maiden away to rendezvous in a secluded woodland so he could kiss those sensitive apexes and make her squeal as her pleasure soared, one spasm rolling into another, until that nectar he so craved flowed between her swelling lips. And just as she drifted downward from that zenith of bliss he drove her to, he would make love to her until he brought her there again.

  How his loins ached for her. Passion quickly conquered logic until Thalion fought to regain control of himself. Now is not the time or place. In the human world, he knew all too well the dangers of taking such liberties he fearlessly enjoyed as an elf in Aeweniel. His magic, his dragon, and even some sexual pleasures would be misconstrued by humans as acts of devilry. Visiting there over many years, he had learned how the Church not only mandated who could engage in lovemaking, but also how, where, and when, and how violators were punished or executed. No, he could not risk endangering the lovely lady.

  Then, without warning, fate had spoken its verdict, forcing Thalion to leave and return home to Aeweniel before ever learning so much as the raven-haired maiden’s name. A calmness had overwhelmed him, its numbness threading through him, prolonging the rise and fall of each breath. This was the prelude to the inevitable trance that would soon befall him, as it had countless times before. The clamor of the riotous crowd had grown silent, and the liveliness of all before him had changed to voiceless images in listless motion. After wading through the pool of patrons, he had exited the theatre and sought solitude in an abandoned alley.

  “Thalion, is all well with you?” The whisper roused him from his musing.

  “Yes, my lady. More so now than ever before.” The elf drew Sparrow in to spoon her again, and she gasped and chuckled. With one hand on her breast and another atop her hip, he fondled the fleshy lobe between his lips and glided them toward her aural apex. She bucked, screaming, panting, and arched her back until he thought her spine would crack. He then crawled his fingers to her cunny, smoothing them over her silky lips. Oh yes! How she flows rivulets like River Emlineth. There was no doubt in his mind: Sparrow was a halfling, sharing blood with both elves and humans. Only an elf or halfling would have ascended ecstasy’s heights as she was now enjoying. For elven ears were an erogenous zone; the slightest touch of them enraptured elves with innumerable waves of carnal pleasure.

  “Oh, Thalion, please! I must have you inside me!” she cried into her pillow.

  “Just a moment, my love.” Her buttocks writhed against him, making it difficult for the elf to steady his rod into his hand.

  “Please! I can’t bear the emptiness much longer.” Obliging her, Thalion ease
d into her from behind, savoring the feel of her around him as he entered her. He swayed into her and delighted in her husky cries, how she moaned his name again and again. Never had he been with a lady he so wished to pleasure and sensed his feelings requited. But Sparrow, she was unique. Her caresses were deliberate, not ruled alone by involuntary response. And this truth made him desire her only more. To prolong her pleasure, he refrained from relinquishing his seed until she verged toward riding the waves of rapture to their glorious peak. Her hips danced before him as he held them, swaying back and forth, faster and faster, until she became breathless and shuddered against him. “Oh, Thalion… Thalion!” Her cries made his cock throb so hard he thought it would fall numb.

  “Oh, Sparrow, I want to be there when you fly to that euphoric place.” The elf then clawed at her hips and released his seed and joined her while she flew that sweet nirvana. Ah, for that heaven between your thighs I would die every morning, noon, and night. All around them colored a blinding white. And for Thalion, nothing else mattered. As his thrusts weakened and he spiraled back to earth, he hoped to relive that moment time and again. He plunged into her once more and entwined his strong arms around her, sprinkling her flushed nape with moist kisses.

  There they lay for several moments, their waning breaths the only sound breaking the silence.

  The girl stirred and rolled over to face him. With tilted head, he stole a kiss from her ruby lips. Tears welled up in her eyes. “Never have I been so possessed with desire. I… I don’t know what overcame me. Forgive me.”

  “You must be toying with me, love. Forgive you? For what?”