“I have heard rumors of these other tasks you have been busy with.” She glanced back to the rest of the group and dropped her voice a few decibels, though it appeared we were being ignored. “Is it true you had to fend off multiple assassins last month?”
“I don’t wish to speak of it.”
“Very well. You and I do not spend much time together. My goals are obviously different than my brother’s, so if you want someone to confide in, please consider me an ally.”
“How benevolent and unselfish of you to offer, I’m sure you have nothing to gain.” I almost laughed. Her scent became woodsy and I wondered if she was actually being sincere.
“Everyone wants something, Singleborn. I understand your hesitancy to trust me, I’m sure you have experienced much manipulation and duplicity from those posing as friends in the past. And yes, my brother and I are here because our elders want us to breed with someone of importance and facilitate advantageous treaties between our tribes. So of course I want your favor for my own ends. But I do not have any reason to wish you harm, and unlike my brother I’m not here for your womb. Will you consider moving me to a room adjacent to yours?” she finished brazenly as she looked at me with calm confidence.
“That is quite a bold request.” My suitors, maidens, and their collective staff were housed in a different wing of the mansion than my own. There were empty rooms surrounding my suite and I could show favor by moving certain people closer to me, but I had not chosen to do so. I enjoyed my solitude.
“I am feeling bold today.” She turned to glance at my brother and I caught a slight hint of her musky arousal, but it was quickly concealed. “I believe no one else has asked you for your favor yet. Our tribe has little to offer when compared to our competition, but I can offer loyalty. Perhaps that will be useful to you in these dangerous times?”
“I will consider your request.” The arrival of my half-brother had probably pushed the timetable up a bit on the courting process. I wondered if my father and mother had planned this.
“Thank you.” She smiled at me as we arrived at the stables.
The familiar scent of wood, hay, leather, and horses greeted my nose when I stepped through the double doors, bringing with it thousands of pleasant memories of galloping unencumbered through the desert on the back of my favorite stallion. I smiled and felt grateful that my brother had engineered this activity. I really had missed riding.
Another smell entered my nose and I had to stop to inhale and appreciate it fully. It was a smoked scent of lavender, fresh pine and other herbs mixed with a musky complexity. I tried to determine the source of the wondrous fragrance. It seemed to be everywhere within the stables.
“Your father allowed me to keep a few of my steeds here. Perhaps you would like to ride one?” Fusik gestured to the end of the stables where three magnificent stallions towered in their stalls. I doubted that the scent came from his horses. It had a hint of the World to it, so it must have been another Elven who happened to frequent my stables.
“Today I will ride my own horse.” I breathed deeply again and tried to ignore the hunger growing in my loins. Was this a male’s scent? I had never experienced anything like it and I struggled to fight against my arousal. None of the other females in my group seemed distracted or smelled aroused. I wondered if it was so faint only I was picking it up with my acute senses. It must have been the lingering scent of an Elven who was no longer here. As much as I wanted to ride, I was consumed by a need to find the Elven who produced this scent.
I approached my stallion. His coat was gleaming and clean. I had not seen the animal in two years, but his deep black eyes seemed to recognize me and he stomped his front feet in anticipation. A ride would get me away from this fragrance and free my mind. I was finding it difficult to think of anything but the scent the longer we tarried in the stables.
“Human. We will all need horses,” Fusik commanded over my shoulder. “Are you the only slave here?”
“Yes, Master. I work alone in the stables. I will saddle them for you,” the human answered.
It felt as if someone had thrown ice water on me. I could not think. My body felt as if I could no longer take in air. I grabbed onto the door of my horse’s stable and felt my nails sink into the hardwood as if it was made of soft cheese.
“Are you alright, Iolarathe?” Alwor moved next to me. He smelled of nutmeg and mint concern.
“I am fine.” The seizure passed but my arousal doubled. I turned away from my horse to face the entourage. They must have been able to smell my musk. “It will take too long to wait on the human. Saddle your own horses.” I walked over and grabbed my trusted saddle and blanket from the racks while my heart relaxed. They probably heard it beat frantically, but none of them commented. These idiotic males must have each attributed my arousal smell to themselves. I was embarrassed to have any of them think they had caused this reaction, but I could not conceal it. I needed to breathe fresh air soon.
There was a scurry of movement and voices as the group decided on which horses each would ride. I set my saddle upon the stall door and attached the bit and bridle to my stallion’s face. Then I entered the surprisingly clean stall and put the blanket and saddle on my steed. The tasks helped fight the effects the scent was having on my body. I tried to focus on the smell of the hay, the oiled leather of the saddle, the horse, but nothing could overpower the other scent.
My entourage was still busy sorting out which horses to ride. I gritted my teeth and led my stallion out through the back end of the stable and into the large riding pen. As soon as I cleared the inside of the stables I breathed deeply of the outside air. It smelled of fresh grass and damp dirt.
Almost immediately my body calmed. I hadn’t realized the full extent the alien fragrance had on me. My nipples were hard and pressed up against the wool of my padded blouse. Even my vaginal entrance was wet and the movement of the saddle against my riding pants stimulated the lips. My body ached for release. I stopped my horse from moving and inhaled half a hundred deep breaths until my body returned to a normal state.
“Forget how to ride, Sister?” Grednil rode one of Fusik’s stallions. I hadn’t even heard him approach.
“No. Just waiting for you to join me.” I managed a smile and hoped my scent was not so obvious now out in the open air.
“Oh.” He gave me a puzzled look. Perhaps he sensed my lie. I had never shown him any sisterly affection or warmth.
“Did you smell something out of place in the stables?” I nodded back to the wood structure. Alwor, Daranyet, Bur’tilon, and Contania were on horseback slowly walking toward us, but probably still out of earshot.
“What do you mean?”
“There was a smoky scent that I have not tasted before,” I whispered. Perhaps it was foolish of me to speak to him about the smell. I narrowed my eyes at him to indicate that I was not joking.
“Your nose is more sensitive than mine, Sister. Maybe there is a small leak into the stables from the back of the blacksmith forge. They share a wall, no?” I nodded at his sensible explanation. The forge would explain the smoke, but not the sweet lavender and that indiscernible yet intoxicating mix of herbal fragrances. I started to feel the effects of the scent again as I thought of it and blew air out of my nostrils like my horse to stop the sensation.
My stallion kicked the ground again and I decided to indulge both of us with a canter. He launched from the standstill and seemed to fly across the diameter of the acre pen like a falcon. The rest of my entourage followed suit and we spent the next few hours exercising our horses.
It was no surprise that Fusik was the superior rider of the group. He had masterful control of his steed and some of the jumping movements he could perform with the animal actually impressed me. The siblings from Proticule were also excellent riders, and while they were not as skilled as I, they were much better than the rest of my entourage. The worst rider was Yerryne. It was painfully obvious that the beautiful woman had spent little time on a horse. Her face and scent betrayed her embarrassment. The males of my group quickly found her lack of skill enticing and they all took turns riding next to her and offering advice.
The memory of the scent in the stables continued to bother me. It lingered on my nose, or perhaps only in my mind during the entire time we rode. Normally I would have enjoyed riding all day, but I grew weary of the scent and obsessing over its source. I was frustrated with the effects it was having upon me. I was not accustomed to losing control of my own body and urges, and that loss of power irritated me more than my unfulfilled desire. Without alerting my companions, I rode my stallion out of the pen and into the stable, dismounting before I entered the barn doors.
“Where is the stable master?” The scent returned full force and I staggered against its onslaught. I handed the reins to the human that greeted me inside when I asked my question.
“I do not know, Mistress. She hasn’t been in today.” The human was male, with dark thick hair and strange-looking green eyes. They almost looked like the bright eyes of one of my people. I inhaled deeply again and felt my arousal scream through my body.
“When was she last here?” My father’s stable master and I had only spoken a few words to each other in the last year.
“Last week, Mistress.”
Most humans were terrified of me, and perhaps they had good reason to be. I detested their race and had insisted my father remove them from the mansion. He had allowed a few to serve in the other wings, but I did not allow any near me or my things. I had killed a few during the first year of my stay when they passed me in the hall and caused me to retch with their nasty scent. Of course, dead humans tended to smell worse than live ones, but I had made my point to my father and there were no longer any humans allowed to work inside the house.
This human was not scared. He did not have the horrible human stench about him either. Perhaps my senses were overwhelmed by the mysterious musky fragrance and it was overpowering the reek of the stable boy. The smoky richness tickled the back of my throat and my salivary glands stung and watered with hunger. I licked my lips again.
“Has any other of my kind been in the stables today?” I had to find out who had left this scent. The human was still holding the reins of my horse.
“No, Mistress. You are the first I’ve seen today, or since last week when the stable master came.” It was hard to tell his age. All humans looked so strange to me. He was probably half of my forty winters, maybe a bit younger. I realized I was staring at him and he seemed to realize it as well, then I tasted a small hint of sour fear escape from him.
I suddenly understood what was causing the scent. It was this human.
“Hoo. Iolarathe!” a voice called from behind me. The sound felt like a slap and I almost flinched. I looked over my shoulder and saw Bur’tilon dismounting ten feet from me. I hadn’t heard the animal approach. “Are you leaving?” The large man moved his horse next to mine.
“Yes. I am tired of riding.” I nodded to the human and he gently tugged on the reins of my horse. The animal followed him to the pen.
“Would you join me for lunch? Perhaps we can train our martial skills afterward?” I watched the human open the stallion’s pen and lead it inside the stall. Within moments he had removed the saddle, bridle, bit, and closed the pen door. Then he moved to do the same to Bur’tilon’s steed. His hands moved efficiently across the horse’s flank. I wondered what it would feel like for his rough fingers to touch my skin, to run down my stomach and into my entrance, probing and massaging me. I wondered what it would feel like to taste his mouth on mine. Would it be as delicious as his scent?
“Iolarathe?”
“What?” I snarled at Bur’tilon. Damn the Dead Gods I needed to fuck. Every part of my body felt aroused. I thought about demanding that the muscular dimwit let me ride him right now, but as soon as the idea sparked it was gone. The human stood twenty feet from me and the rest of my entourage was only a few hundred yards away. The large Elven must have smelled my arousal. He was standing close enough to me.
“Would you like to
—
”
“No. I am leaving.” I tried not to run out the door of the stables, but I only half succeeded. I had to get out of there. I needed to be free of the human’s scent and the presence of these suitors. I needed to clear my mind.
Once I made it halfway up the shallow hill to the mansion I risked a look back at the stables. I didn’t see Bur’tilon or the rest of my entourage. My legs slowed their walk and I considered returning to the stables. Maybe they had all left and I could smell the human again. I could order him to do whatever I wanted. The fragrance still lingered in my nostrils and I took a deep breath again.
I had to kill him.
Humans should not smell that way. He was an abomination. I didn’t have my sword on my hip, or even a dagger, but my nails were sharp enough to cut through his neck. Would his blood taste as good as he smelled?
I forced my legs to move away from the stables and I crested the hill toward the mansion. I was still painfully aroused, blood pulsed between my legs and I ached with longing. I needed release soon or I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on anything important.
I almost screamed for Relyara as soon as I walked in through the front door. Her scent lingered near the stairwell and I followed it to the kitchen.