Chapter 37

trust your dreams

Annika heard a deep, distant chime ring out from the imposing grandfather clock down the hallway. More than two hours had passed since her husband had been escorted into his father’s library and she’d been brought to their bedroom to wait for him. The warm light of the late afternoon had given way to the hypnotic hues of twilight, and the lazy summer breeze continued to drift in through the windows, carrying in the sweet scent of roses. And there in the midst of all this tranquility, Annika was a bundle of raw nerves. Without realizing she was even doing it, she’d begun to pace around the room; first to the wide window ledge, then to listen at the door, then back to the ledge, and back to the door. But there was no shouting or commotion to be heard from downstairs. She couldn’t hear Talvi approaching, but the warmth radiating from her wedding band told her that he was near. Her palms had grown clammy and she wiped them on her silk pajama shorts only for them to grow damp again. Suddenly the door opened, sending her stomach flying into the back of her throat. In walked her dark prince with two glasses balanced in one hand and his messenger bag slung over his shoulder.

“I heard that you’ve gone off tea, so I’ve brought up some lemonade instead,” he said as he gently shut the door. His bare feet took a silent step closer as he offered her a glass and then set his bag on top of his disorganized desk. He sighed as he looked at the random piles of paper, half-burnt candles, and dried-out bottles of ink, then ran his hand through his towel-dried hair. Even though it was still wet, it refused to be tamed, and brazenly stuck out in countless defiant directions. “I made yours with extra sugar, just the way you like.”

Annika’s eyes widened in mild surprise.

“You remembered?”

Talvi couldn’t help smirking, which unexpectedly put her at ease.

“Of course I remembered. It wasn’t that long ago that I poured an entire bag of sugar over your hot-tempered red head.” He paused just long enough to laugh to himself. “You were such a sour girl that day. I do hope that having all this time to relax has sweetened you up since then.”

Annika took the glass from him and looked towards the window. Hoping to hide her trembling hands, she held onto it tightly with both.

“I’m not so sure it has.” Still staring out to the west, she was overwhelmed by a number of examples, with each more shocking than the last. Did she dare admit what she really thought about Finn’s yellow running shorts, or the thrill of waking up to him unconsciously pleasuring her? And what about the night of the Perperuna festival? Was it worth confessing to a kiss that led to more kissing, even if it narrowly missed leading them both to trouble? It certainly seemed like trouble now.

“Go on then, my little dove. Give me one good example of how you’re anything but sweet.”

Stalling for time to think of a less inciting answer, Annika took a long gulp of her lemonade and briefly glanced in Talvi’s direction from the corner of her eye.

“I stabbed Asbjorn with a fork…right in front of his kids.”

“He said it was completely warranted,” he snickered softly. “That’s what he gets for trying to kiss my wife. I expect he learnt his lesson.”

Annika felt the back of her neck warming up as her heart began to beat faster. The view out the window offered an escape to freedom, if only the elusive scarlet tanager had the wings necessary to fly out of it.

“So…he told you what happened?”

Through her peripheral vision, she watched as Talvi took a step back and sat on the corner of his desk.

“Yes. Both he and Father told me everything that’s happened to you, and I do mean everything. They cautioned me against touching you without warning…particularly on the neck.” As though he were stalling for time as well, he sighed and finished half of his lemonade before going on. “They also told me not to force anything out of you…which I wouldn’t dream of regardless of the circumstances. It’s no wonder Asbjorn wasn’t keen to leave you alone in the woods with me earlier. All I wanted was to take you into my arms and never let you go, but after what that bastard Stephan did to you whilst posing as me, it likely would’ve caused the opposite effect. The mind plays enough tricks on us as it is without the complication of a third party interfering.”

Annika’s hands clutched tighter around her frosty glass, and the chill was just cold enough to make her nipples harden underneath her camisole. Helpless to do anything about it, she kept sipping her lemonade and studying the way the crushed ice formed into one solid mass every time she brought it to her lips. She focused on how the condensation dripped down the sides and onto her toes one drop at a time…anything to avoid looking into Talvi’s eyes.

“Forgive me. I shouldn’t have spoken his name out loud.”

“It’s not that,” she quickly excused.

“I wish you would look at me,” he murmured as if he’d read her thoughts. “If you’re afraid of what I’ve seen or what I have yet to see then I may as well tell you and get it over with…I know what happened with you and Finn.”

Annika nearly dropped her glass on the floor. With a gasp her eyes darted up to meet her husband’s, and in the brief moment where her heart did everything but stop, all the blinding anger and jealous rage she’d come to expect from him was mysteriously absent. The right shades of blue and green were looking back at her, but the fire inside them was nearly extinguished. Beyond the glassy surface was a spectrum of emotions ranging from betrayal to acceptance with anguish resting closest to the top; only a glimmer of hope held them together by way of a silver thread.

“I’ve known about it ever since your birthday, although I was fairly certain well before then,” he confessed. “That was the day you insisted on wandering into my mind…even though I warned you that some things are best left unsaid and thus left in the dark.” He finished his drink and set the empty glass aside before raising a wary black eyebrow at her. “The problem is that I’m inexplicably drawn to the dark. I always have been. That’s why I’m so bloody good at my job. Naturally those dark corners were the first place that I looked at when you invited me inside your mind, if only out of habit. We saw secrets about one another that can’t be unseen, so what shall we do about it? Shall we pretend we never saw them and dance on eggshells with one another until the end of time? Or shall we keep score of whose crimes are worse until we can’t bear so much as the sound of one another’s voice?” Annika’s stomach immediately wrenched into a series of knots as he unbuckled his bag and reached inside. While he leisurely rifled through the contents, her pulse raced as she remembered those secrets all too well, like how he’d dragged a man into a bathtub, stabbed him to death in cold blood, and then taken his sweet time washing off his knife and fixing his hair before leaving the scene of the crime. Tears of panic and apprehension spilled over her lids and streamed down her cheeks. What is he reaching for? was the only thought running through her mind. She tried to offer him a desperate apology, but the only sound that came out of her chest was a distorted sob. The more she tried to fight it, the more she wept, and the more she wept, the more distressed Talvi appeared. After searching around his bag for what seemed like an eternity, he pulled out not a weapon, but a handkerchief, followed by a medium-sized manila envelope labeled, ‘Propriété de M. Marinossian.’

“Hush now, love. I know it’s not your fault,” he said while handing over the little square of white cloth like a flag of surrender. “It’s mine. I’m the one who took for granted that you’re no longer human. I’m the one who backed you into that gods-awful corner and forced you to make choices one should never have to make. If my brother hadn’t been with you during that time you most likely would’ve shagged the bellboy out of desperation…or anyone else you met on the street, for that matter.” When Annika had wiped enough of the tears away she saw the depths of the regret in Talvi’s face. “Whoever they would’ve been, I doubt they would be half as concerned as Finn was with protecting you from any…from any unintended consequences. Perhaps in some fashion…perhaps the truth is that…the truth is that I’m grateful it was him if it couldn’t be me.” Annika’s jaw fell slightly open in disbelief as he continued to speak. “How fortunate we are to have time on our side, because we’re going to need a lot of it if we’re going to make this work between us. Returning the contents of this packet ought to be a step in the right direction.”

He tipped the envelope and let an object fall into his hand, then offered it to Annika in exchange for her mostly empty glass. She sniffled as she wiped away more of her tears, and even though her vision was blurry, she recognized the long lost sister amulet to the one that Nikola wore. Her thumb ran over each of the jeweled fish, which still managed to gleam in the fading twilight; almost like they missed her and were happy to be reunited.

“Where was it?” she asked as she slipped the silver chain over her head

“You left it at the art gallery,” he said quietly. He watched as Annika pulled her long hair out from underneath the silver chain. It fell back down to her waist while the necklace sat close against her chest. Her chin tilted down as she looked at the amulet and she vowed to herself right then and there that it would never come off again.

He set the envelope aside and pulled his lighter out of his front left pocket, then lit the few candles placed around his desk. He made his way around the room lighting up more of them until he came to the fireplace. After he lit the candles on the mantle he stared into the hearth where a fire hadn’t burned in months.

“Perhaps if you’d kept it on it would’ve done a better job of protecting you from such a vicious attack…particularly since I seem unable to carry out that responsibility.” A contemptuous laugh escaped his lungs before he clenched his jaw shut and swallowed hard. But if his inner thoughts were berating anyone, it was himself. “Thank the gods that you’re not worse off, no thanks to me.”

“I don’t understand why you’re not more upset with me,” she said, floundering through the miserable and heavy awkwardness around them. Desperate not to start crying again, she took a long, ragged breath and dabbed at her nose with the handkerchief.

“Well now, I don’t understand why you’re not more upset with me,” he said, politely looking away while she blew her nose. “I’m the one who whisked you off to Paris under the false pretense that it was meant as a working holiday.”

Annika’s teary blue eyes widened.

“You mean it wasn’t?”

“Bollocks, no!” he replied while stifling a laugh. As he returned to stand closer to her, the weight of his burdens seemed to lift considerably as he confessed his true intentions of that fateful trip. “I’d had enough of that mad scientist Danny chasing you down for his clandestine experiments. The issue was that I knew if I forbade you from seeing your former lover that you wouldn’t listen anyway, and I was so bloody tired of arguing with you. When the option to place an ocean between us and him arose, naturally I took it. But in running from that problem I encountered a far greater one. Mother Nature complicated things more than I ever imagined possible.” He shook his head and rested a hand on his hip as if silently scolding himself. “I stole you away from the clutches of one man and pushed you into the arms of my brother. I don’t know how productive I was during my working holiday, although the two of you certainly were busy.”

Completely shocked, Annika gasped between her sniffles.

“How can you even joke about that?”

“Because I have it on very good authority that humor is the most effective way of disarming someone,” he said with a wink. His mouth longed to smile, although his heavy heart held it back. “I’m certainly not pleased by the turn of events, but I’ve had plenty of time to sort out how I feel about them. For one thing, you’re part samodiva. I knew that when I met you. Even if you were only half as wild as a wood nymph, it’s in your blood to be distracted by beauty…and pleasure.” He turned to face her, taking in every curve of her female form. “You seem to have forgotten that it’s in my blood as well. When we were married I gave you my body and blood…and you gave me yours, little samodiva. Whatever shall I do to remind you?” To her surprise, the corners of his mouth curled up in an utterly unnerving blend of chagrin and intrigue. His expression tugged at her heart while simultaneously bringing a sultry pout onto his lips.

“The one thing that has allowed me to keep from going absolutely mad is that now there are no longer any deep dark secrets between us. Correct me if I’m mistaken, but it’s my opinion that now we both have a past we’d like to leave behind. I could erase that memory from your mind if you wanted me to, but I think it’s best left alone. The memory of what happened is the turning point for us to start over. I’ll promise you right here and now that I won’t dwell on yours if you promise to stop dwelling on mine once and for all. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, and again, and yet again until you realize that there’s no advantage in lingering in the past. It is not who we are now. Given where we come from, where we’ve been, and wherever we’re destined to go, we’re on about as even footing as we’ll ever be.”

As if to accentuate his remark, he reached his leg out and touched her bare foot with his own. He tilted his head curiously to one side, watching the subtle changes in her facial expressions as she processed the true meaning of his words.

“Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted for the two of us—to be equals?”

Annika gave a half-hearted nod of agreement as she continued to study the way the breeze drifting around the room made the candles flicker with unpredictable movements. They’d warmed up enough to emit the soft fragrance of melted beeswax, which lent another soothing layer of ambience to the space they now shared.

“You still think there’s anything left between us?”

Talvi’s forehead wrinkled with skepticism.

“If I didn’t think there was anything left, I wouldn’t be here. And if you didn’t think there was anything left, you wouldn’t give a fig one way or the other about how I felt.”

Stunned by the depth and accuracy of his comments, Annika’s eyes teared up again, which only seemed to upset Talvi.

“Come now, love…we aren’t the first couple to crawl through this minefield. Nor shall we be the last,” he affirmed, hoping he appeared as confident as he was trying to be. “When I was speaking with my father, he said that if every marriage fell apart whenever a poor decision was made, he doubted there would be any marriages left to speak of—including his.”

“I doubt that he ever did anything this bad,” she muttered, and folded up the square of white cotton. She set it on the mantle and then wiped away the last of her tears on the back of her hands. “Your parents are rock solid.”

“Believe me when I tell you that it wasn’t always this way.” Talvi bit down on his lower lip and frowned as if he couldn’t decide what to say next. Then he took a deep breath, let it out, and took another one. “My father told me something this evening that no one else in the village knows. None of our friends or family knows about it either, aside from Mother, Cousin Corbin, and his wife Weaver. I imagine I may as well tell you because it seems unnaturally relevant to the two of us.”

“What is it?” she asked with bated breath.

“It’s in regards to their elder sons…my cousins Heron and Hawk. You haven’t met them yet, but if you did, you’d know in an instant that we were blood relations. After all these years, it turns out that they’re not my cousins.” Hesitant to go on, Talvi ran his hand through his thick black hair before adding, “They’re my half-brothers. I’m certain you can sort out how that came to be.”

Annika’s jaw dropped as she took in the full context of what he was telling her; that someone whom everybody she knew looked up to, and that someone she thought of as flawless had made mistakes more incredible than anything she could dream of.

“So you can understand how my parents didn’t get to where they are now by accident. It took years of work, just like building this bloody house took years of work,” said Talvi while looking more closely at his bedroom walls. His gaze wandered around the many cracks in the plaster and the cobwebs in the corners. He glanced at the perimeter around the ceiling, making a mental note of how much the wood moulding had warped from time and weather. “Regardless if one is set on constructing a house or a relationship meant to withstand the test of time, one is going to make mistakes. There are mistakes enough as it is when things are planned out months and years in advance. The marble’s not the proper color. The doors are too small. The beams are too big. I won’t have enough bricks to finish the blasted fountain in the courtyard for another month and a half, so I expect the fish will have to live in the bathtub until then.” He gave a little frown, as if he spoke from experience. Then he turned to her with a quizzical expression. “So you see, we aren’t the first couple to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Would you abandon all hope at the first major setback? Or would you roll up your sleeves and try to rebuild something stronger and better that would justify all your efforts?”

With nothing but hope in his eyes, he put his hands on his hips and waited for her to respond. But it was too much…too overwhelming for her to believe. As if he refused to accept her silence, he tossed his head in exasperation and took a step closer to her.

“Blast it, Annika! I can build you any sort of house you ask for, and I will give you whatever you need to make you happy, but you must tell me what that is!” He hesitated for a moment, not wanting to sound as impatient as he felt. “All I can think of is to move past this as quickly as possible and return to America and make lots of music together…and make lots of love. After all, what is love and what is forgiveness if you can’t forgive the person you claim to love most in the world? Hopefully you and I can fall into rhythm as we have before, although I can’t force it to happen. You have to want it as well. Surely you know by now that I can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do.”

His left hand reached out to cradle her cheek. She shuddered when his fingers came into contact with her skin.

“My apologies…I should’ve asked before I touched you,” he faltered, and pulled his hand away. “Does the mere sight of me set your teeth on edge?”

“No…it doesn’t,” she said, looking down at his belt. The black strap of leather was almost fifty-years old, but it was still strong and supple from being oiled regularly and taken care of. The only thing that indicated its age was the silver buckle; it was nicked and scratched and coated in dust from his endless travels. “I know it’s really you.”

“How do you know for certain? I don’t believe I’ve used the secret name that Finn and I chose for you, slunchitse.”

Even though it was Talvi and not Finn calling her that name, hearing that term of endearment spoken out loud opened up a floodgate of emotions. Her thumb ran over the dark grey band of iron-born stars on her right ring finger, which seemed to lend her a sense of unwavering inner strength. She knew that it came from Finn. Her other thumb touched the platinum ring forged by fairies and magic on her left hand as it radiated the heat of passion. She’d felt that heat off and on ever since that ring had been placed on her finger, and she knew that Talvi was on the other side of it. Without being conscious of it, both of her hands reached up to touch the protective amulet that lay against her chest. Just like every time when Nikola was near, she was wrapped up in the softest blanket of security and protection. Nothing awful was going to happen to her ever again, not when there were three champions looking out for her well-being. There they were, represented by their tokens of devotion, which had never been united until this moment. Strength, passion, and protection…all of them were gifts bestowed upon her from this strange new world she was quickly becoming intertwined with. The trifecta was complete. All she had to do was embrace it. As Talvi waited for her answer, Annika couldn’t help but smile for the first time since he’d stepped back into her life.

“Well, sludoor…don’t take this the wrong way, but I can tell it’s really you by the way you smell,” she said, quickly warming up to him. Talvi tilted his head curiously to one side, although she could see that he was smiling back at her.

“I know I’ve been traveling for quite some time, but I did try to make myself presentable before I came to see you.”

“I didn’t mean that you smell bad,” she quickly explained. “I mean that you smell like you.” Still ginning, Talvi stepped even closer to her.

“Then tell me, love…what do I smell like?”

“You smell like the forest…at the edge of a meadow,” she began, and let her eyes wander up and down his slim-fitting black jeans. She leaned closer to him and inhaled his scent deep into her lungs, refreshing her memory with the essence of him. “You smell like sun-dried grass and moss mixed with leaves…and a little bit of leather.”

“Do I?”

“Yeah. And sweat…but it’s clean.” His chest puffed up with pride as he reveled in her observations. With a seamless feline movement, he brought himself within inches of her nose. A warm whiff of him swirled around the two of them.

“What else do I smell like?”

“Cinnamon…and wildflowers,” she said, bringing her nose closer to his worn-out white t-shirt. The heat from his body was almost tangible against her cheek. “I know it’s from the soap your mom makes just for you.” She could hear his breath deepen although it remained calm and steady. He sank down to his knees and gazed into her soul, letting her see all the nights he’d spent tossing and turning alone, and all the failed attempts to find her by pushing through his nightmares and find a way back into her dreams. She could feel the bitterness he had for himself after swearing to keep her safe and failing to do just that. She could feel his reluctant acceptance that he couldn’t be everywhere all of the time, and that he’d have to rely on the help of others. But she could also feel the enormous weights of guilt lift off of her shoulders and also from his as their unspoken yet understood mutual forgiveness washed away every sin from the past. All that remained were their visions of a perfect future together. One image was of them performing on a stage bathed in colorful lights, while another was just the two of them snuggled side by side behind closed doors, doing nothing but talking and laughing and kissing. As she opened her heart enough to truly see Talvi for the first time in ages, she saw his blue and green eyes were shining brighter than any of the stars in the sky.

“Might I hold you, or is it too much to ask?”

Annika’s heart stung and ached, and in that moment there wasn’t anything else that she wanted more than his arms around her. She blinked away the tears before they had a chance to fully form.

“It’s not too much.”

“Because if anything I do makes you uncomfortable, you need only to say so and I’ll stop,” he said with more than a little hesitation. “You know I can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do.”

“I know,” Annika whispered. She watched as her husband’s cautious hands rose to rest on her waist, then spread out protectively around her. Despite her doubts, she couldn’t ignore the immediate physical response he was so capable of coaxing out of her body. Shivers of anticipation ran through her nerves as each hand slipped underneath her camisole. His soft fingers traveled up the hollow of her back and explored the shape of her shoulder blades before returning to her waist. They spread over the pair of silk shorts to reacquaint themselves with the flared crest of her hips and the roundness of her ass. They squeezed her softly at first, then harder as the long-deprived appetite of this mouth caused it to water. Talvi moistened his lips, glanced down at Annika’s buttery-soft silk top and shorts, and then looked back at her with a lascivious grin. He didn’t have to say it; she already knew exactly what he was thinking. If they were going to start over, they needed to start somewhere. It may as well be doing something they were both good at. And after a summer of struggling with unquenched desires, and after everything that had come between them, half a yard of fabric wasn’t going to keep them apart for much longer.

He let go of her and slid his warm hands down the backs of her bare thighs. The flame that had nearly been extinguished now sparkled with renewed strength; every second she spent in his presence felt like it was simply more fuel being added to the fire between them. It promised to be not just a fire of passion, but a fire of purification. He buried his nose into her long hair and sighed in relief before bringing her closer to his chest. The next thing she knew, she was hoisted a few feet higher in the air; held in place by arms that were determined to never let her go.

She looked at Talvi and was startled by how close his face was to her own. She noticed his long, black lashes and a few lines at the corners of his eyes, along with lines at the sides of his mouth from grinning so wide, so often for the past three-hundred years. His face was freshly shaved except for the wild sideburns that turned auburn the closer they crept to his jaw. She followed the contours of his face until she landed at his sensuous, insatiable mouth. She remembered what it felt like to be kissed by these soft, full lips, and she knew she could easily spend the rest of her life being devoured by them.

“Does this make you uncomfortable?” he asked with this insatiable mouth.

She shook her head, unable to speak as her gaze wandered back to his. Was she uncomfortable? Hardly. Was there a chance he might do something she didn’t want him to do? Impossible. His eyes narrowed with intensity as he looked into hers, but he made no mention of what he had in mind. Instead, Talvi drifted over to the bed and sank into the pillows, bringing her to fall with him in slow motion. In his urgent attempts to reconnect, his nose bumped against hers before it remembered the perfect angle that allowed his mouth to find her own. The tip of his tongue swept across her lips before kissing them apart and coming back for more. Her mouth was filled with the flavors of sweet sugar and tart lemons as he kissed her again and again with ever-increasing abandon. A long, coppery curtain of her hair fell around their faces until he rolled her onto her back. It spilled down the pillowcases like the petals of an exotic red flower, and he dipped his head down to drink her again.

“Mo reis to comp anya vlatzee…how I have sorely missed your nectar…but I will find you from across any meadow,” he sighed fervently. Hungering for the weight of his body against her own, she pulled him closer and wrapped her legs around him. She kissed him harder while pushing his shirt further and further up his chest until he yanked it over his head and threw it aside. A groan of delight escaped him as he grabbed ahold of her ass once more and pressed his hips into hers.

“Oww!” she yelped into his mouth as he kissed her again. He drew back, panting as he looked on with concern.

“What’s wrong? Are you still bleeding? Should I stop?”

“No. Your buckle rubbed me the wrong way.”

“Shall I take it off?” he suggested with a relieved smirk. “Then I can rub you the right way. Elves have a healing touch, after all.”

“Oh, I remember,” she snickered. “The night I dreamt about you touching me almost drove me insane. I was sleeping next to Runa so there wasn’t anything I could do about it. After you left I just had to lay there and keep my thoughts to myself.”

“You poor, poor thing,” he hummed while he reached for his belt, although he didn’t look very sorry at all. In a move almost too fast for her eyes to catch, he slipped the metal prong out of the leather strap and yanked it through each of his belt loops, then let it drop to the floor with a clink. “If only there were something I could do to make it up to you.”

“There’s definitely something you can do about it.” She returned her hand to the front of his jeans and let it settle on the hard bulge trapped on the other side. Heat emanated underneath her palm as it ran along his length, but before she could grasp it, he nudged her away to adjust himself through his pants. Annika pouted in disappointment. “Why don’t you take off your jeans? Isn’t it uncomfortable?”

“Tremendously,” he murmured and then stooped down to kiss her waist.

“Then why wait any longer than you already have?” she protested, although it didn’t stop his fingers from unbuttoning every single tiny button running up the side of her camisole.

“Because I want you to want me even more than you want me now.” He lifted the silk front of her top and pushed it out of the way. “Because I want you on the brink of madness when you can’t have me…and even when you can.” His warm breath on her skin made her quiver, and he let his gaze wash over her belly, her ribs, and her breasts before looking into her eyes again. “Because I want you to remember that I’m the only one who can give you what you truly desire. And because I want you to beg me for it.”

His hand reached between her thighs and caressed her through the paper-thin silk. His touch was as skillful as it was erotic, causing her body to rise and fall under his command.

“I can wait as long as I need to,” he went on as he continued to cast his sensual spell over her. “I’ve already waited five weeks and three-quarters of a day. That’s eight-hundred and fifty-eight hours since I’ve been inside you.” He let his hand sneak under the leg opening of her shorts and settle back into place where it continued to find its way between her legs. The amused grin on his face grew wider as Annika’s breath deepened and her head tossed against the pillows. “That makes it fifty-one-thousand, four-hundred and eighty minutes since I felt your tight little walls closing in around me. Or three million, eighty nine—oh, gods be damned—I’m so bloody sick of counting.” She moaned as his fingers spread her apart and slipped into her body. They fluttered in her warmth while his thumb outlined a slow, maddening path around the aroused nub of flesh just outside of it.

“Please,” she whispered.

“Please…what?” he taunted.

“Take off my shorts.”

While his fingers went on working, Talvi simply shook his head.

“No.”

“I’m begging you,” she insisted, this time with more urgency. He only shook his head again, and slowed down the speed with which he moved. Annika nearly screamed in frustration.

“I regret to inform you, my dear, but that is not begging. Why, I don’t believe you know the true meaning of the word.”

“Then I’ll take them off myself!” she huffed, and reached for the drawstring on her waistband. His wet fingers pulled out of her body and instantly curled around her wrist before she’d even pulled the knot loose.

“I said no. You’ll have to keep your knickers on until you beg me for it properly.”

“But I am begging you!” she hissed. Still holding her hand firmly within his, Talvi just laughed and bent down to leave a trail of wet kisses from her ribs down to her hips.

“If that’s your idea of begging, you’ll have to do a better job of convincing me,” he hummed, making a point to exhale his warm breath directly onto her skin. “Perhaps something’s getting lost in translation. I don’t always understand your modern slang.” He dragged his tongue down her hip along her inner thigh and then licked his way back up the soft, warm crease where it connected to her body. She whimpered as the air instantly cooled her burning wet skin.

“Do you know how I know it’s really you?” he grinned while looking up at her.

“How?”

“I can tell by the way you taste.”

Breathless in her hunger, she watched him nudge aside the leg opening of her shorts with his nose. A carnal moan of pleasure escaped her parted lips when his hot mouth covered her sex. Ever so delicately, his tongue began to explore each petal of silky flesh, making her hips twist one way and then the other as she tried to both escape him and enjoy him. His long, untrimmed sideburns tickled and scratched her inner thighs, and his fingers let go of her hand so they could reach up and find her breasts. Shivers prickled and danced along her spine and down her waist at every deliberate flick and every broad stroke of his tongue. Her body trembled with every scrape of his nails and every pinch of his fingertips until her mind was drowning in lust. Each time she felt her stomach muscles begin to tense up he backed away from her and let her cool down, which only made her ache more with frustration and longing. When his insatiable, hot mouth went back to work her over again, she tried to tell him that it wasn’t enough, that she needed more, but all she could see was that he relished the state of mind he’d put her in.

“I can’t take it anymore,” she practically wept. “Please, Talvi…I’m begging. I need you now!”

“Only for now?” he asked with a curious look. He wiped his soaking wet face on her inner thigh and rose to his hands and knees. “What about when the morning comes? Will you want me then?”

“Probably, but I might be sore…it’s been a long time.” She beckoned him to crawl over her like the star-filled sky had crept upon them both, and he let her hands wander down the lean, muscular ripples of his bare chest and stomach. He watched as she unfastened the button of his jeans and carefully coaxed the zipper down, taking care not to catch it on the trail of soft dark hair hiding underneath. Her eyes widened when he pulled the black fabric down his narrow hips and kicked off his jeans, and a low, wicked laugh sounded from somewhere deep in his chest.

“What’s wrong, love? Having second thoughts, are you?”

Annika pursed her lips, but there was no denying the reason for her sudden onset of apprehension. When she didn’t reply, Talvi laughed again.

“I’ve seen you with that look before. Shall we hold hands and snuggle all evening instead?” he suggested with an amused grin. “Perhaps we can work our way up to shagging another time?”

“No!” she quickly replied. Her eyes kept darting from his eyes to staring at the imposing organ hovering between his legs. “It’s just…you can’t be too rough…otherwise it’ll hurt.”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. It only hurts if you’re doing something wrong.” Those blue-green eyes glimmered dark in the candlelight, and the wanton expression behind them didn’t leave much up for interpretation. He crept over her until his nose was barely touching hers while maneuvering his erection past the leg of her shorts. His body was on fire as it arrived at her entrance, waiting in earnest for an invitation.

“Do you recall the first time I made love to you?” he asked as he propped himself up to gaze down at her. He stroked her hair and tapped the tip of her nose affectionately. “You thought it was a mistake for me to keep trying because your door was too small.”

“No, I thought it was a mistake to keep trying because your beam was too big,” she corrected him with a coy little grin. “There’s nothing wrong with my door.”

Talvi nodded in agreement, and the twinkle had appeared in his eyes for good.

“You’re quite right about that. ‘Tis a lovely door, after all.” He paused and licked his lips, humming in approval. “It just needs a bit of extra grease on the hinges before I open it as wide as I can. Are you going to let me in, or must I knock first?”

He began to nudge playfully against her slippery skin, taking care not to push too hard and barge in uninvited. His idea of knocking at her door was just enough to tease her…just enough to make her ache for him…and just enough to drive her mad.

“As long as you go slow…” she whispered while drawing her legs up alongside his torso. “Come on in and make yourself comfortable.” She took a long, deep breath, trying to relax as she was slowly filled with his hard, thick heat. The burn it created in her core was delicious and delicate and daunting all at once. Her arms and legs wrapped tighter around him while he slipped partially out and pushed back in even deeper. Then he dipped his head down and let his tongue explore her mouth in the same way; delivering a partial kiss followed by a deeper one. His hips rocked leisurely against hers while driving her head inch by blissful inch into the pillows. She shoved them off to the side, and watched his muscles flex as he rose to his knees, grabbed ahold of her legs, and held her ankles against his shoulder. She squeezed her inner thighs until he groaned and slowed down to a complete halt. His forehead and his chest were gleaming with his clean summer sweat, and he took a moment to catch his breath before speaking.

“How close are you to la petite mort?”

“Not as close as you, apparently,” she gloated from the sheets, and squeezed her thighs a second time. He drew in a sharp breath and gave her a warning look. “I don’t know what you’re worried about,” she added. “It’s not like elven guys have a refractory period or anything.”

“No, but most of us have enough manners to let a lass have her pleasure before we take ours,” he reasoned, still breathing deeply. Annika nodded, then smiled, then burst out laughing.

“Are you serious?” she giggled, and squeezed him again. “You’re worried about being rude?”

Talvi’s eyes flashed as his mouth twisted into a playful yet sultry grin.

“Oh, you saucy girl…I’m not worried about being rude at all,” he hummed in his velvety smooth voice. “I’m worried about the condition your cunny’s going to be in after I’m done with it.” He threw her legs down from his shoulder and yanked off her silk shorts, then spread her thighs wide apart. He buried his face between her legs and bathed her with an abundance of succulent kisses. Those skilled fingers tunneled their way back inside of her once more, and Annika watched as her husband hunted down the elusive orgasm that had been put off for so long. With his mouth occupied, his eyes met hers just long enough to remind her, All I want is to please you and love you. Stop fighting against me and let me give you those things. Don’t fight it, Annika. Let go and give yourself over to me.

She took a long breath and let it out slowly, and this time when her belly tightened and her toes curled, she let go completely. The tension that had been built up over the past handful of weeks crumbled and gave way to a blinding shockwave of pure, overwhelming bliss. It tore through every nerve in her body until it set her on fire, burning her from the inside out until she was covered in sweat. Her hair clung to her forehead and her shoulders as she cried out in her long-awaited release. She tried to pull away from the staggering sensations, but that warm, wet, insatiable mouth refused to be shaken free. With her chest heaving at every deep breath, she panted one more desperate request.

“Please…I’m begging you!” she practically sobbed to her lover. “I can’t wait anymore!”

Talvi must’ve liked what he’d heard, because he immediately rose above her, grabbed her by the waist, and pushed himself deep into her. She braced herself for a round of powerful thrusts, but he surprised her by restraining himself and then slowly filled her over and over.

“There now…was that so difficult to ask for?”

“No,” she sighed in between thrusts. “It wasn’t.”

He picked up his pace and she tried to cling tighter to his shoulders while he bent down to kiss her again. But their bodies were slick with sweat, and she finally let go of him completely. Instead of trying to hang onto him, she lay back and enjoyed the feeling of his abdomen gliding against hers. She savored the taste of herself on his tongue, and she reveled at the hard, wet, glistening organ slipping and sliding so easily in and out of her body. Talvi’s lips left hers and came to rest near her ear, where Annika heard his ragged, uneven breathing come to a brief stop. He pressed his forehead against hers and gazed deep into her eyes, sharing that exquisite moment of sheer vulnerability. She felt the weight of his body crush her briefly before he had the presence of mind to wrap his arms around her and roll onto his back. She watched his dazed expression faded into one of contented satisfaction; an expression that was only slightly depleted of energy. He took his time catching his breath, still nestled deep inside of her, still not completely spent. He gave a weak smile and tucked a strand of her long red hair behind her ear. In that moment of endorphin-charged unity, Annika saw him for what he really was, powerful and well-built, deadly and charming, yet naked and vulnerable; an intellectual ego trying to keep up with his lascivious id. But of all the things he was, the one thing she saw above all else was his utter and complete devotion to her.

“You know…I could go again,” she taunted, and pulled herself upright as she continued to straddle him. She caressed her thighs and her waist and her lower belly…tempting him, beckoning him. He narrowed his eyes as her hands wandered over her breasts and cupped them together, then let them fall back into place with a soft bounce. “Do you need more time?” she asked with a sultry glance, letting her fingers dance along her stomach. Talvi grinned wide and snickered to himself, then flexed his cock from where it still lay buried inside of her.

“I do not.”

“Then what’s the holdup?”

She could tell he was trying to resist the urge to take her again. He was intentionally holding himself back. Lacking the patience that he suddenly seemed to have, Annika traced the outline of her hip bones and began to ride him gently. Talvi’s eyes lit up in delight, yet he still managed to restrain himself.

“I’m waiting for you to soak me up,” he finally admitted. “I want to fill you up to the point that you’ll be reeking of me when we leave here tomorrow.”

Now it was Annika’s turn to grin.

“Oh, I get it. You want to mark your territory,” she murmured. Her husband winked back at her but didn’t elaborate. There was no need to. Satisfied by his answer, her hips continued to grind against his while she tossed her mane of tangled hair. The warm night air surrounded them both with the scent of roses and the honeycomb-laced beeswax candles, but a foreign scent had caught a ride on the evening breeze. It was a scent that threw her out of that perfectly serene moment. Hoping it was all in her head, Annika lifted her little nose to sniff the air and frowned before turning to Talvi.

“Do you smell anything strange? It smells like something’s burning.”

Talvi simply chuckled.

“All I smell is your sweet little tinder box. Shall I try putting out that fire once and for all?”

Without warning he sat up and scooped her into his arms, then set her back down on the mattress on her hands and knees. She gasped as he mounted her from behind and slid into her. Despite herself, she let out another soft whimper until he abruptly stopped just as quickly as he’d begun. She craned her neck to look up at him, and saw him staring out the nearest window.

“Why’d you st—?”

“Shhh…” he replied, meeting her gaze. Annika felt the sudden emptiness as he swiftly withdrew himself out of her body and crawled out of their bed.

“You were right—something is burning,” he hissed, and walked over to the window. The moons were rising above the tree line, spilling their pale light over the land and coloring the sky with a spray of purple and pink twilight hues, but the rest of the world was fast asleep at such a late hour. The bats flitted about and the crickets chirped down below as though nothing out of the ordinary was going on. But when Annika joined Talvi at the window she could see there was more than a hint of dread in his eyes.

“I can’t tell what it is or where it’s coming from…can you?” Annika wondered with a concerned frown. “It smells like burning leaves mixed with a solvent of some kind. Or maybe it’s oil?”

“There’s a pail of grease in the tool shed,” Talvi replied. He wasted no time grabbing his pants from the floor and stepped into them as quickly as possible. “If it caught on fire, the wind could spread it to the barn in no time at all.”

“Oh my god!” she cried. “I’m coming with you!”

Talvi whirled around and put his hands squarely on both of her shoulders.

“Absolutely not,” he said in a tone so severe that Annika didn’t argue. His mind was made up in a way that implied he’d already made that decision well before their reunion. She watched him zip up his jeans and fasten the button on his way to the bedroom door. “You’re staying right here until I return. I’ve put you in harm’s way so many times in the past year that I’ll most likely burn in the underworld for it when I die.”

“But Talvi…look what happened the last time you said you’d be right back,” she pleaded. “I’m worried.” He only shook his head and put on a confident smile.

“It’s probably nothing more than one of the neighbor girls burning her love letters after being jilted by a beau,” he said with a nonchalant shrug. “It happens all the time, so don’t worry your pretty little head over it.” He leaned down to give her a parting kiss, but it didn’t produce the soothing effect that he was intending it to have. “Come now, love, don’t look so upset. I’ll have you know that I’ve only ever written one love letter in my entire life, and it belongs to you.”