This was somewhat similar to what Flaihir had said about being necessary, she supposed. It was being useful. He knew he could be useful to her to save her from Celedin. He knew what Celedin’s torment was.
They had already been brought together by Celedin’s mistreatment of them, then.
She did not think that something like that could be done with an elf lord.
But then, they received an invitation to a dance at Thelendal Chapel, which had been sitting empty for some time. Someone was renting it, apparently, an elf named Elrion. He was not a lord. He did not even have a wardenship. He had made a great deal of money, however, in trade, trading silks and spices from the dragons in the east, she understood.
And this was the part that changed everything when she heard it.
He had been a ward in the Vale. He was from a family here in the Silvarenna, but he had spent his whole childhood living amongst the Valaedor.
They would have that in common, she thought, both being wards. He would also have had to chafe against tradition to make his fortune. He would understand her struggles. It would be easy to convince him that the two of them were allied against the rest of the world, that they alone understood each other.
She shared these thoughts with Flaihir, who said that she had expanded upon the lessons given her to such a degree that it was astounding. “You may have quite a talent for this,” said Flaihir.
And so, they began to prepare for the dance. Celedin would be coming, of course, and she would owe him onedance, the opening dance. But luckily for her, it was considered rude for people who knew each other very well, people who were already engaged, to dance only with each other all night. Since she and Celedin were already so close, they would be expected to dance with others. She would have every opportunity to secure a dance with Elrion nae Nilriane.
Of the dance, she said little to Dathor.
They met at least one night a week, sometimes more. They met and they pleasured each other by the light of candles, sometimes stifling their noises of pleasure if they were in the stable, careful not to wake Nardion below. Sometimes, they were noisy in their sighs, outside in their cavern out of earshot, the fire burning warm enough that they did not feel the chill without their clothes.
He had entirely undressed her, had traced every outline and curve of her body with this thick, powerful fingers. He had palmed her between her thighs, rubbing the heel of his hand against the sensitive center of her while he suckled her nipples. He had lain her on her back and put his lips to her there, though she had protested it must be awful, that he would taste the liquid that seemed to gather there, and he had said that if he could bear it, she could swallow him, and she had almost told him to forget the entire idea but then she had felt one swipe of his tongue and she had decided she would swallow anything, even his thick and foul release.
And he did make her do it, made her suck his cock and begged her, his voice low and strained, to take it even deeper down her throat, to please try, that he was sure she could manage it, that he liked it the way it felt when she gagged, that she could certainly bear it for just a little longer, could she not, because it felt so very good to him.
He had a soul as black as night, she often had to remind herself. He was selfish and horrid.
But he excited her, and she did not mind swallowing him in the end. She did not mind any of the discomforts of their coupling, because they were balanced by pleasure so intense it seemed to made the facade of reality stutter.
Then the day of the dance came and Celedin nearly ruined everything.
He did not wish to go. He raged in the sitting room about how they had no reason to go to such stupid activities, that it was all frippery with idiots, and that their time would be better spent here, away from all of that.
Aerhril knew that Celedin was not well liked by the women at these sorts of dances, and that he was going to be humiliated when many of them made excuses not to dance with him, and he was going to be sitting out on the sidelines, seething and alone, watching her dance with other men.
She appealed to the steward that she must go. “You said that you wanted me to know how to be a proper stewardess, and I must mingle with others and go to social engagements, if so.”
The steward said that this engagement was with some upstart elf who had made his money from trade, and he did not see that it was so very important, in the end.
Luckily, Flaihir came to the rescue, promising Celedin that if he could not find any dance partners, she would stand up with him.
Celedin blustered that this was not why he did not wish to go.
And then, ten minutes later, sulkily, he announced that he knew that his intended would be disappointed if he did not take her to the dance, and so they would all go, after all.
As they climbed into the carriage, she saw Dathor at the window of the stables, looking down on her in her finery, her hair braided in a complicated crown around her brow, gloves on her hands, a brooch at her neck.
She had not told him about this dance tonight, only said that she could not meet him that night when he had proposed it as a night they would see each other.
He did not look pleased.
Well, she would deal with all of that later. He had done nothing to try to better himself, of course. He had not made some way for them to leave the Peak and be together as equals. He had simply settled into finding different positionsto coax her into swallowing his cock.Can we try it with you on your knees? Can we try it on the bed with you above me? Can we try it on the bed with me above you?
To be fair, he was happy to try all manner of ways of licking her, too. He had reported to her that he was fairly sure the sensitive part of her was called her clitoris, that he had heard the maids talking about clits before, and that must be what it was. He liked to croon to it, urge it.Get nice and swollen for me, that’s a good little clit. Does this little clit like that? I think it does.
But even thinking about such things now was making her a little bothered. Her dress felt tight. It felt heavy between her legs.
She could not complain about their closeness or their mutual pleasure, that was the truth of it. It was what she lived for.
