Steam poured off her sweat drenched skin as he held her there. The red sun conspired with his heat of passion to bathe her in its holy baptism. She wriggled. A shot of ecstasy ran up the inside of her leg and spread like a spill of milk all over her. He combed his soft hand through her hair and ended with a gentle pull. Her head swung back like a swivel as she looked into his watery eyes. They pressed up against one another as close as any two could. Shaking with anticipation, he kissed her.
Releasing her hair, he slowly slid his hand behind her neck and with the other hotly on her thigh. She melted with the touch. He opened his mouth in hers with a hard push as if letting go. He rubbed her arm ridden with goosebumps and changed their position. Pulling back he looked at her.
"Ah, how long I have waited." He whispered.
She sighed and leaned into his arm.
"Yes. I knew it wasn't easy."
"No, but we made it away from there."
The sun was fading and ready for the moon to take its place. But still it was light with a pink hue. They lay in a stone courtyard with open walls and a roof of vines. Running alongside them was a row of flowers catching as much of the light as they could. Their fragrance filled the open room. Dripping from above were drops of yesterday's rain still clinging to the twisted vines. They formed small pools in the stone cavities and like tears some fell on their backs running down. On her supple skin across the elevated pours she tensed up with each drop. They raced down the ridges of his unflexed muscles and between the sheet that he was wearing and his waist.
A look of concern interrupted her bliss as she voiced it.
"Can we ever go back? I mean, it can never be the same for us there."
He breathed in and exhaled with a burdened breath. Her head that lay on his bare chest moved with the tide of his respiration.
"I don't know honey. It is so uncertain. It will take some time if we ever could."
He eased away from her lounged position and stood up. With gestures she pleaded for his laying back down with her, but he refused. He walked over to one of the stone columns and looked out towards the horizon. Its dawn had blossomed and gave way to view. But by and by a series clouds clustered and obscured his view.
In the corner she curled up like a chilled kitten, purring and unsettled. She stretched and unwound and stood up to walk over to him.
"Evan." She said as she rubbed his back. "Why worry? We can have a good life here."
He balled up his fist and shook it in the air gritting his teeth.
"They did this: Our families. Thinking that they could sew together two hearts like a quilt."
"But that's all in the past. That's not us anymore."
He relaxed and spun playfully around the column to face her. Pouring out his rage he sported a look of tenderness.
"Oh Brittany. I wish you could see." He stared into her eyes and gave a deliberate stare. "We can't stay here. There is nothing for us…for anyone who wishes a life for themselves."
And what he said was true. For where they fled to was a veritable ghost town. Callisto, for centuries, had been a thriving community. But as of late, it lost its luster, and citizens. And now only a handful remained. Empty buildings, unkept countrysides and ruins of ancient days left to time and disuse plagued Callisto's once ambitious name.
It was nothing like Europa, some 100 leagues away, whose city streets were daily flooded with those from far and wide. It was afterall their home, the one they left only a week ago. Stealing across strange lands and open highways, the two lovers sought refuge and solace; a place where their love could flourish like a well planted tree. For their's was uprooted before even being seeded. And this is the short of it. Evan had an older brother, Devon both of whose family was well-to-do in Europa. He, being the eldest, was expected to fulfill his social duties as a member of that family; namely start a new one like the old one and thus carry on that tradition of affluency.
Unfortunately, like many such situations there are only a small number of suitable brides. For one must maintain a reputation and to fall into an unsatisfactory marriage would be unacceptable. She was, to put it mildly, a beauty. Had she been poor, it wouldn't have mattered. But as it turned out she was everything and more. And Devon knew it; but so did Evan. He tried to fight his feelings, taking what was there and binding it up like a sack of refuse to be thrown out. But what was hidden within was his most precious of possessions. And yet he was possessed by it.
Though cruel enough as it was, what made matters worse was Brittany. She too shared these feelings. They met at a masquerade ball. Both were hidden in countenance. But even still, he saw her and she him. When the traditional dance of hand in arm with tasseled ribbons was engaged, they rushed towards each other. She gasped as he grabbed. Tighter and tighter as if at any moment they both would fall from a great height, he squeezed her. Banners draped over the castle walls rippled in a breeze and then stilled by the moment. Neither knew the other's identity but their desire would have been no less quelled by rank or status or forbidden love.
Unmasked they saw each other and a great sadness overtook them: For they knew that it could never be. But what started that day grew with every formal meeting leading up to the wedding day. And it was then that all would be revealed in a crescendo that would forever shatter what each family had from within and between. She was getting dressed, or so they thought. Rather, she shimmed down the side of the church's wall where a rope had been thrown. Evan, waiting with arms outstretched in case of a fall, had horse and rapier at his side. He flung her over the side of the stead and saddled himself next to her trembling body.
"Will we stay here then?" She latched onto him like a crab seizes its dinner.
"Yes, for now."
He looked out once more for the last time at the fading light.
"At least for a while. I think that if we give them some time we may return. It will still not be easy, but with time their anger will subside somewhat."
And time is something that they had. They could stay there a thousand years and still not have aged a day. Time, unlike that unfair robber of youth in our world, does little to the creatures in Faerie. Yes, Evan and Brittany are fairies of the highest sort. And not the kind that fluttes about from one floral arrangement to another. Rather, they are high fairies, spirited beings without those stereotypical wings. The only unusual characteristics they have are particularly long lifetimes and a majestic countenance; and perhaps a little magic when the occasion calls for it.
However, one thing these angelic persona share with humanity is that singularly tragic and irresistible force all powers bow to; love. And Evan and Brittany proved their weakness to it.
"What shall we do in the meantime?" Brittany gave a quick glance at her beloved as to indicate the obvious rhetorical nature of her 'question.'
Evan was all too eager to play along with her. "I don't know. Let's see we could…" He picked her up and spun her around. "…take a carriage ride." She laughed uncontrollably as he swung her around like a rag doll.
"Stop! Stop!" She cried, but not as if she wanted him to.
"Or…" He set her down and scratched his chin. "We could…" His eyes brightened like a newly lit lantern. He then began picking at her hair with his hands in a claw-like fashion. "…plant some crops."
Brittany retaliated as best as she could. She forced her hand into his ribs and proceeded to violently tickle him. He collapsed on the floor like a combatant run through with a sword.
"Thou villain!" He jumped to his feet. "You shall taste my wrath!"
And he grabbed her by her wrist and flung her to him. He paused and gently stroked her silken hair of brown and curling. Once more they kissed and he pulled her up to him. Tiptoeing, she tightened her hold around his waist and then downward. He moved from her lips to her neck where he planted kiss after kiss, soaking her dry neck with the moistness of a passion that only grew with every second. She could take it no longer and threw him down with the might of a hurricane wind to where she leapt upon him like a fierce tiger with its prey. She ripped at his shirt revealing his chest as she waxed upon it with her perspiring palms. He reached up to her and caressed the back of her ear. She responded with a blissful purr.
Just as it got heated, in a patch of bushes, one of many lining the outside walls of the ruins, a rustling noise arose. Evan froze.
"What's wrong?" Brittany inquired with no regard for volume.
"Shh." He pressed his index finger up to his lips and motioned for her to roll off. He pointed in the direction of the bushes. Catching on, Brittany quietly obeyed and made every attempt to be as unassuming as possible. Another wave of sounds shot out from behind the wall. Evan slowly got up from his position. He crept over to his belt upon which hung his foil. Carefully, he unsheathed the delicate weapon. Trepidation tightened his firm grip on the rapier as he aimed it up and towards the motions that sounded in the vegetation. Slowly and stealthily he made his way towards the entrance.
"Rawk!"
A bird screamed its last scream for the day and it startled the two. Evan almost made a scuffle but caught himself before. Regaining his composure, he continued his mission to uncover the disturbance. A thought then occurred to him. "Perhaps it was his brother, or Brittany's father." Any number of wedding guests from the prior week whose anger would arouse revenge may have followed them. This made Evan even more nervous, expecting at any minute to be attacked by an assailant.
But, just at that moment, Brittany threw a whisper at him to inquire how he was doing. This alarmed him so he dropped his weapon. "Clank!" It echoed through the stone hall and the surrounding woods. And just as he bent down to pick it up, Brittany screamed "Evan! No!" And it was then he was knocked to the ground!
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