Jess gave a bitter shake of her head. "In that instant, I saw how it was all going to play out, Twilight. If I hadn't taken a stand, if I hadn't shown my fangs and let the people judging me know they too would pay a severe price if the Council dared to move against my family, then before I knew it I would be nothing more than the Council's puppet, my gift of Primacy serving only to further legitimize their power, my body no doubt bartered like coin to the highest bidder!" Jess's eyes flashed. "I'd sooner kill or die than be such a toy, utterly cowed and humiliated, and I will let no one pull my strings so cavalierly . If someone moves against my family, they die. For all that I trained for years to serve my country with utter devotion, I will be no man's slave!"
Her familiar flashed a wicked grin. "'Tis well we are in the land of Faerie, my queen, for you speak of insurrection, and your words do indeed bring delightful chills down my spine, for all that it has been a very long time since I last served a queen who had claimed her rightful throne. And make no mistake, I do not disagree with your position in the least. I merely point out that the direct approach can be as savage as any amount of intrigue and backbiting. Yet it is indeed more honorable and shows a strong hand, such as you showed with one Lady Zerona. Still, my beloved master, had you sought counsel with your mother and sister, the three of you might have been able to find a way of more subtly informing the Headmistress and all others like her that there are benefits to a gentle hand with you, and severe repercussions to be faced, should you be put in any position of compromise."
Jess chuckled. “It seems almost as if you are both giving me counsel that there is merit to taking the subtle root with political matters, and by the same token, you somehow expect me to seize the throne.”
"Only if you want it," Twilight shrugged. "And quite frankly, power does tend to have a corruptive influence upon you. At times we may come to regret certain choices made, however righteous they may have seemed in the moment. At other times, of course, a little insurrection and conquest has done worlds of good."
Jess blinked. “I swear, Twilight, you speak as if we have done all this before.”
Her familiar smiled. “Why no, Jess. I have never before had such an interesting conversation with you at the foot of your bed, still beside your naked and sleeping faerie lovers.”
Jess felt her cheeks flush, chuckling softly. “I can’t believe I actually did that.”
"You did. Now onto important matters. You were mentioning something about riddles?"
Jess nodded sleepily. "Yes. But where I was going with it involved choices. There are set patterns to Faerie, at least in the tales. And just as everyone tends to be open and forthright, save perhaps the main antagonist, so too there are points in every tale where a choice is to be made. A point when two or more distinct possibilities are placed before the hero or victim. The most classic example? Whenever there is a fork in the road."
Twilight shrugged. "There was indeed a fork in the road, my Jess, and you made your choice. One involving a brave quartet of amorous knights whom you and Rulia both chose to sleep with."
“Yes, we know that part,” Jess acknowledged, feeling her cheeks warm under her familiar's bemused gaze. “What I’m saying is that there should have been a distinct alternative offered to us. Whether an equally enticing proposition, a warning, or even a fool’s gambit, there should have been something. Think about it. The knights were clearly approaching the fork from the left path. Now that I think on it, they never actually crossed the intersection, rather welcoming us warmly when we came toward them. But there was no one and nothing, fair or foul, upon the other path.”
Twilight shrugged. “Perhaps the choice was to ignore them, and simply walk down the other path.”
Jess shook her head emphatically. "That's not how a story works, Twilight, else the hero could always gaze once through the magic portal leading him or her to Faerie, say aloud, ‘interesting trees, but my hay fever is acting up, and I'm hungry. Back to mundus I go then,' and end of story. And that doesn't happen, Twilight. Not ever. Characters will always move forward, and if they encounter other players, large or small, they will almost always interact with them. To not speak or to ignore them is not a choice, it is poor storytelling! At least in a living faerie tale. It is when two or more distinct possibilities or proposals are put forth for the heroes' consideration that a distinct choice is made, a choice that advances or alters the flow of the story."
Twilight gave a considered nod. “Well said, my mistress. For all your eccentricities, your innate sense of the structure and underpinnings of the Domains you travel through is beyond reproach, as it should be for any queen who resonates so perfectly with her own realm.”
Jess favored her cat with a skeptical eye. “I’m not looking to overthrow the king. Being mistress of my own garden is quite enough for me.”
Twilight grinned. “And what an amazing garden it is. Bigger than you realize, I think. But allow me a different choice of words. Your intuitive understanding of the laws of nature that define and bind a realm resonates well with your intuitive mastery of the magic of Primacy, the ability to legitimize and facilitate a true bond between any queen who serves you, and the land under her care. Or yourself, of course.”
Jess shrugged "Close enough, I suppose, my kitty. Though Queen Karine de Turnsby doesn't serve me, but my family, and that's how I was able to awaken the connection to her family's land that now allows her to care for its needs, and the land to blossom and care for her in turn."
Twilight chuckled softly. “Close enough, I suppose, my mistress. Just remember never to use that title where an Agent of the Crown could hear you.”
It was then that the songbirds began trilling loudly once more, but not before Jess heard the faintest of whispers even as their trilling cries drowned it out.
Intrigued, Jess gently slipped out of the bed, smiling fondly at the sensual sleeping forms of Rulia and their faerie lovers, as she had come to accept they must be, and after donning one of the silken robes left in a pile by the bed, she plodded gently to the settee containing the gilded cage in which the birds trilled so strongly.
"There now, my beautiful birds, why do you cry so sharply? Are any of you injured?"
Then she blinked abruptly, seeing a strange sight indeed. For in the center of the gilded cage that so comfortably held three of the most vibrantly colored birds Jess had ever seen was a second cage, this one of burnished gold, and inside that second cage was an exquisitely crafted miniature castle made of finest ivory, gilded in precious metals and gems. Within, peering out from the miniature drawbridge, were what looked to be a bird without wings, and a curious looking mouse. Both the bird and mouse had strangely human looking eyes, tiny as they were, making them appear almost sentient.
Bemusedly, Jess imagined the three trilling birds were watching the inhabitants of that second cage as closely as guards watching a royal prisoner. Jess grinned at her own fancy. "Poor little mouse. Perhaps you are a pitied pet, so flawed in a land of perfect forms. But still, even in towers of ivory and bars of gold, a prison is still a prison, is it not?"
The tiny mouse suddenly looked her way.
Jess hissed and lurched back, heart racing.
Her neck caressed by hands unseen.
She gasped slightly then, repressing the instinctive desire to lash back with her elbow savagely as the first in a series of moves designed to incapacitate anyone foolish enough to assault her, catching herself just in time, turning her movement into a quick spin, only to breathe a sigh of relief, her eyes immediately captured and lost in the tender gaze of her sapphire eyed lover.
“How is my warrior queen?” he asked softly, stroking her cheek gently and smiling. “I grieve if I have caused you startlement. Yet when I looked about me feeling a sudden cool breeze, my heart began to ache, as if my other half, my destiny, had left me to pine forever.” He kissed her gently then. “Great is my relief to find you but feet away, yet my heart yearns to be close to you once more. Very close,” he whispe
red, sending delightful shivers down Jess's spine as he held her to his powerful chest, squeezing and massaging her back and rear, even as his sensual mouth continued to caress her own with ever growing passion, her own body responding with rekindled desire.
A throaty laugh, Jess finding herself entwined once more in the fierce, masculine embrace of her lover, gazing at him with utter adoration even as he gently quested and probed her body with his hungry touch, sending shivers of delight trembling through her. She gasped with a sudden desperate need for him like none she had ever felt before.
“You tease,” she whispered gently.
"I desire." His voice was guttural even as his arms entwined around her, his lips upon her throat, his hard manhood gently caressing the lips of her sweetest blossom till with a sigh she eased her legs wide and kissed him back fiercely, arching her back and squeezing him close so that he had no choice but to enter, and with a soft growl, he did. Powerful arms gripped her tightly. She melted against him, surrendering to his fierce passion, her faerie prince rocking her with waves of exquisite pleasure that peaked in insurmountable summits of glory, washing away all thoughts and cares like the most pristine of waterfalls crashing down upon her, sending her spiraling into a languorous rapture that soon passed gently into sleep, snug and content in her lover's arms.
It was only when the warm golden rays of a perfect morning were well overhead that Jess finally woke from her indulgent slumber to note a copper tub full of hot water awaiting her comfort. Rulia, freshly bathed and wrapped in fine cotton toweling had just stepped out, looking a grand vision of beauty herself, to Jess's eyes. She turned to Jess then and winked. "Come in and soak any remaining tenderness away, sister of my heart. For the water is warm and utterly pristine, leaving you feeling as fresh as the first day of spring.
Jess grinned as did Rulia, both softly laughing, blushing for the sweet indulgences they had savored, comforted to have a boon confident to share their adventures with. “I can’t believe we did that!” Jess confided.
Rulia chuckled. “I’ve decided that this imaginary realm must be a dream of some sort, and as I would any dream, I have given myself full liberty to indulge all my secret passions and desires.”
Jess nodded sagely. “Sounds like a wise stance to take. I believe I shall follow suit.”
Rulia’s grin turned impish as she gestured to Jess to get in the tub. “Come, my sweet Jess, let us wash and cloth you nice and fresh. I had the most wonderful dream of our lovers showing off their wondrous castles to us. Who knows? Perhaps they will invite us back to their palatial estates if we have captured their hearts with our beauty and charm.” She laughed throatily. “Wouldn't that be a dream come true?”
Jess grinned. “Why not? It would be yet another exciting chapter in our wonderful adventure, would it not, Twilight?”
Her familiar yawned. “Indeed. And perhaps somewhere along the way you might ask if these fine knights know anything about our missing students?”
Jess blinked, suddenly feeling a tad bit off balance. “That’s right, I need to make sure we do that. Rulia? Remind me to ask them later.”
Rulia nodded, smiling as she gently took off Jess's silken robe, helping her slip gently into the copper tub. "Of course. But first, there are other matters to take care of." With that she began to gently lather Jess with a bar of lavender scented soap, smiling mischievously as her hands brushed her lover’s most tender parts again and again.
“Rulia,” Jess whispered in token protest even as her paramour's lips sunk down to meet her own, kissing her sweetly, tenderly.
Smiling, Rulia entered the tub with her. "'Bathing can be such a sad, solitary affair. I know I missed you the entire time I stared at you sleeping so indulgently upon that bed, even as I touched myself here... and here. It would be better, I think, if we washed together, don't you agree, my Jessica? Here, you soap me, and I'll soap you." Jess chuckled throatily as Rulia continued to stroke her, reaching hungrily to entwine her fingers in her lover's golden locks, kissing her with gentle abandon, feeling a sudden insatiable hunger for Rulia's caresses, as if it had been weeks since they had last felt each other's touch, not mere hours.
And so Jess let her morning pass in sweetest bliss, a morning that soon passed into noon, the young lovers only rising long enough to dress and partake of their host's marvelous spread of delectable foodstuffs; cakes, roasted meats, sweetbreads, soft cheeses, and an assortment of freshly picked fruit. It was a feast fit for a king.
Jess could not help but to gaze in awe at the sumptuous display, her smiling hosts rising and bowing as one to greet them.
By some unspoken signal, their lovers of the night before rose to take their arms, both seating the girls to their sides, telling them how sweet they looked, how wonderful they smelled. Their eyes teased with delicious innuendo even as warm fingers gently stroked and caressed Jess and Rulia's mouths, insisting on feeding the girls the tastiest morsels and tidbits by hand.
As soon as one hunger was fully sated, another was aching to be filled, and Jess couldn't help but gasp as the dark-haired vision of masculine beauty by her side gently caressed her smooth skin underneath her silken robe. "Come, my dear Jessica. I believe our delicious feast and engaging conversation has exhausted you. Will you let me put you to bed?"
Biting her lip and blushing, Jess nodded, luxuriating in her masculine paramour's arms as he swept her off her feet, gliding like air through the pavilion, gently resting her upon the down filled mattress that had been the host of so many sybaritic pleasures the night before. Jess couldn't help but turn her head to gaze at her beloved Rulia, already sighing with sensual pleasure, her golden-haired lover at that moment devouring her with his hungry kisses. Jess's husky laughter was mirrored by a grinning Rulia, and together they pulled each other close and kissed long and deep, stroking their hungry lovers to a frenzy before they all sunk once more into a state of sweet indulgence, igniting decadent passions and quenching them with ecstatic delight as the warm golden day faded to darkest night, until with final exhausted cries of bliss, they all sunk into deepest slumber once more.
Again Jess found herself awake, and more clearheaded than she normally felt in this strange, magical realm, wondered what had awoken her. She did not bother to unwind herself from her lovers' arms, delighting in the baby soft feel of Rulia's warm flesh against her, just as she savored her masculine paramour's powerful arm draped protectively around her. She kissed both of them softly, sinking back into restful sleep, when she realized what had awoken her.
Utter silence.
The mysterious golden birdcage was gone.
39
"What troubles you my love?" the words were gently whispered in Jess's ear, even as her powerful lover gently stroked her hair so tenderly, his manhood gently caressing her blossom, as if to beg entry into the forbidden garden of delights once more. Gentle and teasing it may have been, but more than enough to send hungry tingles through Jess nonetheless, distracting her of all thought, save how much she desired the man who smelled so sweetly of winter roses. It was an act of will to resist the need to arch her hips and allow him entrance, to lose herself once more in the erotic dance of bliss they both enjoyed so thoroughly.
Jess turned to face him. “How can you call me love, when I don’t even know your name?”
His eyes twinkled then, and he seemed strangely pleased by her query. “You would give me a name, then? Seek to define sweetest perfection?”
Jess smiled at that. "Every moment I spend with you is a moment lost in sweetest perfection. In truth, I know I have responsibilities of one sort or another, but I am as content as not to let them gently pass, like twigs on a stream as I float along this river of sweetest reverie, and just spend my dreaming days here, in your arms. But still, should that sweet magical experience we call love blossom between us, where our hearts yearn for each other as deeply as your stem craves my delicate petals…" He chuckled softly before kissing her long and deep. "So, in any case, yes," Jess quickly conti
nued before she lost her train of thought completely, "I would love to know the name of the man who brings me such bliss, holding me so tightly as we revel in sweetest ecstasy together."
Her paramour smiled then, and Jess couldn't help but be captivated by the brilliant eyes that seemed to shift colors under the moonlight, from icy blue to brilliant silver to warmest gold, gazing at her with such sweet affection. “Talvi, my love. You may call me Talvi.”
Jess nodded, enjoying the way his sensual voice made her shiver with delicious delight. Talvi. What a beautiful name. She could no longer resist the need to caress his beautiful features, moving forward to kiss him, at first with soft tenderness, then ever-growing hunger, surrendering herself once more to his powerful embrace, yielding her blossom to his thorn, opening herself to rapture sweeter than any wine could ever be as he thrust his weapon ever so desperately inside her, overwhelming her senses with the sweetest of agonies until at last she cried out, flooded by ecstasy, collapsing in his arms, shuddering with unspeakable pleasure.
"By the gods, my Talvi! Never have I felt anything like the sweet touch of your wonderful body, caressing me, inside and out." She clenched him tightly, his manhood still nuzzled warmly inside her even as they shared a tender kiss, amazed that her terrible strength did not seem to faze him, certain that she may have lost control during more than one of their intense lovemaking bouts, relieved that he appeared unharmed, even so.
His gentle laughter left her feeling sweetly feminine and delicate, happy to be safely in the care of his masculine prowess. “My dear Jessica. My dear, sweet Jessica. It pleases me more than you can imagine to hear you say that, my love. For you are like the balm to the aching cold of winter, a shelter in the fiercest of storms, so that no matter how the seasons turn, for us it will always remain the height of spring.”
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