She and Garick walked arm and arm through the crowds, accepting well wishes and talking to the people. Noele enjoyed meeting so many of the Winterland people, and bade her sisters to accompany her so that they, too, could be introduced.
Solara spent most of her time near Roarke. Noele noticed on many occasions the two of them exchanging glances.
Worry for her sister occupied her mind. Noele felt the attraction between Solara and Roarke, and knew no good could come from it. She decided she would have to speak with her later, before the consummation.
Their celebration meal was held at a large table decorated with wildflowers and garland. Ale and bread were given in the age-old toast to prosperity and joy. Noele wondered if she’d ever feel joy again, wishing upon every star in the night sky that this marriage had been a more happy and love-filled event.
While they ate, minstrels played bawdy songs and serenaded the crowds. Dancing broke out in various forms, from the quick-stepping rodanda to the seductive talar. When it came time for Garick to dance with his bride, the music slowed and a sultry j’nada filled her ears.
Faerie waltz. Her favorite dance. Memories of her father sailing around the forest floor with her in his arms flew through her mind, making her ache for the simple days of her childhood.
But now, it wouldn’t be her father’s arms around her. Now it was her husband’s. Her husband, and yet a stranger. A stranger who made her feel things she’d never felt before, a stranger who’d claim her virginity tonight and then decide whether or not to keep her.
Garick stood and held out his hand for her. Warily, she slipped her fingers into his palm and he led her to the dancing circle. Which man would dance with her now? The one who had kissed her tenderly after their union had been officiated, or the one who’d ravaged her mouth in a kiss meant to punish for some unknown transgression?
She was certain Garick could feel her tension when he wound his arms around her and pulled her against him. She tried to relax, but couldn’t, her mind awhirl with uncertainties. When her back stiffened at his touch and her wings arched away from his hand, he raised a brow. Aware he scanned her thoughts, she held tight to her strength, forbidding him admittance.
“Do not hide your feelings and thoughts from me, my queen,” he said, his voice tight.
Irritation from his earlier treatment of her remained. “I will give you what I am duty bound to, and nothing more, my king.” Her jaw ached from clenching her teeth. Her annoyance at his attitude grew with every turn around the makeshift dancing arena.
“You will give me all of you, Noele.” His brows knit together, his glare fierce. His fingers bit into her hand hard enough to draw her attention.
She should have been afraid, but she wasn’t. Anger at her so-called duty and Garick’s ambivalence forced her normally independent spirit to surface. “I will do what is required of me. That is all you can expect, that is all I will give you.”
“What if I want more?”
What did he mean, more? Despite her bravado, she wanted nothing more than to be accepted by Garick and his people. Living out the rest of her life unhappily would crush her. Was it too much to ask for a little kindness?
“Answer me, my beautiful faerie.”
She looked up and met his eyes. His face had changed. Gone was the angry Elvin King, replaced instead by a man with a handsome face and warm eyes that seemed to touch her soul. “You confuse me, Garick.”
He sighed. “Aye, I realize that. I cannot help who I am or the way I am. I will take some getting used to.
But I will never harm you, Noele. You have my pledge that you will be well taken care of in Winterland.” She already knew that. He was duty bound to protect her. What she didn’t know was whether he would keep her.
And what of love? Would she ever find it, or was she doomed by her obligations to the faerie to live out her life miserably unhappy?
“It is time.”
Roarke’s voice over her shoulder made her shiver with an equal amount of dread and anticipation.
Garick nodded and stepped away from her, leaving her to her sisters and Isolde to prepare her for the consummation.
In a few short hours, she would no longer be a virgin. By morning, she would know her future.
She and her sisters were led to Garick’s chambers by one of the guard. A huge room filled with a heavy oak bed that took up an ample amount of space. The hearth was twice the size of the one in her room, and there was a balcony through glass doors that overlooked D’Naath.
The room was lovely, and yet Noele was cold, her very bones turned to ice.
Oh, why couldn’t she enjoy this special night, forget thoughts of what would happen after?
She vaguely listened to her sisters as they giggled about tonight’s activities. Her body trembled in anticipation. No fear coursed through her, mainly curiosity and dread.
Isolde removed her wedding gown and carefully folded it. Noele spread her wings to the sides to stretch. Considering the activities of the evening, she’d need to retract her wings.
She was naked, as was custom. They brushed her body with soft cloths to bring out the silver flecks nestled just under her skin. With the firelight shimmering off the hearth, her skin appeared like pinpoints of moonlight shot out from her body.
“You are most beautiful, my queen,” Isolde said in a hushed whisper.
“I wish you much happiness, Noele. We will see you at the morning meal,” Solara said, pain evident in her golden green eyes.
As her sisters made to leave, Noele said, “Solara, wait. I wish to speak with you alone for a brief moment.”
She nodded and waited while the rest of her sisters kissed and hugged Noele, then left. “What is it?”
“Roarke.”
“What of him?”
“You feel something for him.”
Solara lifted her chin. “I do not.”
Noele laid her hand over her sister’s heart. “As you told me before, you lie. I can feel it. You mustn’t, Solara. You know you are betrothed to another.”
“I feel nothing for Roarke, I assure you.”
In her heart, Noele knew Solara was not telling her the truth. And what would happen this eve between her and Roarke was bound to cause Solara pain.
“What happens at the consummation, Solara, I want you to know that I—” Solara raised her hand. “I do not wish to discuss it, Noele. You do your duty, as we all do. I realize where your heart lies, and it is not with Roarke. Nor is mine. Please, enjoy your wedding night and do not worry of me.”
Solara kissed her quickly and fluttered from the room before Noele could say anything more.
Noele ran to the closed door, wanting to go after Solara and offer comfort.
Her sister could deny her feelings all she wanted, but Noele knew how she felt about Roarke.
At least Solara knew who she wanted, even if she couldn’t have him.
Did Noele know what she wanted?
If Garick accepted her, kept her, then what? Did it mean he loved her? How did she even feel about him? Was it love she wanted from him, or merely acceptance?
Desperately wishing for her sisters’ counsel, she stared at the door for a few minutes, then moved back to the hearth to warm the chill that had settled over her body.
Nearly an hour passed and Noele was still alone in Garick’s chambers.
Alone, and thinking entirely too much about things she should not think about.
Solara’s predicament was one thing. She trusted her sister to know that some things could not be changed, and to accept her fate.
But acceptance was not easy. Noele knew that to be a fact. For twenty-five years she had done as she pleased, knowing her boundaries but having plenty of freedom to enjoy life as she chose.
Now, she had no choices. Garick held all the answers.
And yet, try as she might to blame him, she could not. He, too, was saddled with his fate as much as she was.
If he would but give her one inkling of where his thoughts lay, she would be content. But he kept his emotions, his heart and desires, a mystery from her.
That rankled more than anything. Did he not know how difficult it was for her to accept that someone else would choose her fate?
She fluttered nervously about the room, waiting. The heavy drapes had been pulled aside and moonlight streamed in through the windows, casting a soft glow throughout the darkened chambers. Dancing flames from the sweetly-scented candles flickered against the walls. The fire burned hot and bright in the hearth.
But she was cold. She lifted her arms and cast warmth from her fingertips. Silvery waves of heated air surrounded her, erasing the outer chill from her body. Still, she shivered within.
She let the waves roll over her, the magic calming her, the ethereal dust settling inside her soul to soothe her nerves. Was she more anxious about Garick’s decision, or about the consummation? That she could not answer.
Garick walked in before she had a chance to dissipate the waves. His gaze focused immediately on her and he stopped. His eyes widened, his pupils dilated, and she sensed his arousal from across the room.
Tugging at her lower lip with her teeth, she waited. Roarke followed Garick and she swallowed, anticipating a quick tumble. Watching other couples have sex in the forest glen had always fascinated her and her sisters. It had always been heated—fast and very passionate. Now she would be the first of her sisters to experience it in kind. Would it be quick and fierce like so many episodes she’d witnessed?
Garick’s eyes widened appreciatively as he scanned her from head to toe. She felt his growing arousal, her body in tune to his in some strange way that went beyond their magic.
“Release your spell, my bride,” Garick commanded. His voice was neither gentle nor gruff, but was clearly an order. It rankled, but she wriggled her wings and the waves of heat disappeared.
“Wine?” he asked, his emotions now masked behind a visage of indifference.
She shook her head.
“Do you hunger?”
Her gaze met his, and she wondered what his question meant. Or even what her answer would be.
“No.”
“Come here, Noele.”
She flew forward, then hid her wings within her body so they would not be injured or crushed during the consummation.
“You are beautiful.”
She had not expected to hear him praise her, and warmed without benefit of magic. “Thank you.”
“Do you fear me?”
“No, of course not,” she lied.
“You’re trembling.”
“This is new. I…I do not know what to expect.”
One corner of his mouth curved into a smile. Her heart leaped and a sudden urge to lick that slight curve of lips overwhelmed her.
“We will not harm you tonight. You are aware of Roarke’s role in the consummation?” She nodded. “I am well aware of elvin marriage custom. I have been prepared to accept both of you this eve.” And possibly, she’d be leaving with Roarke on the morrow, if Garick so decreed. Why did that thought cause such misery? She did not really know either man, and yet some invisible thread drew her to Garick.
“Roarke will swear allegiance to you as he does to me, bonded through elvin magic. This must occur on consummation eve. He will penetrate you, merge with you, become one with you, as will I. Afterward, the three of us will be connected telepathically in the same way that Roarke and I have since our blood was spilled and merged during our childhood rite.”
Noele nodded, barely listening to Garick recite the official elvin custom. Her mind raced ahead to the sexual activities she would experience tonight. Despite wanting to object, despite the fact she had no choice, her pussy dampened at the thought of taking both men at the same time, to merge with them physically, mentally, spiritually.
Garick poured goblets filled with wiloa, handing one to both her and Roarke. He lifted his in the air. “To magic, to marriage and to both the elvin and faerie. May this consummation join our people, our lands, and our future, so that we may be united as one.”
She drank, barely tasting the sweet wine. Yet it filled her with warmth, with relaxation, with anticipation.
Thrusting aside her worries, she mentally prepared for what was to come, bound and determined to at least enjoy this one night with Garick and Roarke. Tomorrow was out of her hands. Tonight she would become initiated into sex with a man. With two men.
She resolved to enjoy every moment.
It was strange to be standing naked in the room with two fully-clothed men. And yet she felt no embarrassment. Soon, they would all be naked and enjoying pleasures that until now she had only dreamed of.
“We will take things slowly, Noele. Neither of us wish to frighten you. In this regard and as we begin, we wish for you to take the lead. You will tell us how quickly or slowly to proceed.” Noele shuddered. At least in this, their beginning together, he gave her some control. For that she was grateful.
Where to start? What did she want? Them, naked, as a beginning. “I want to undress both of you.” Garick nodded and motioned Roarke to stand at his side. “Then undress us.” She began with Roarke, unbuttoning his shirt, her gaze focused on his face. His gaze caught and held hers, his dark eyes melting her. Heat singed her shaking fingers as she fought to release the buttons on his shirt, but finally she managed and slipped her fingers through the down of dark hair on his chest.
Built solid, his muscles rippled under her touch. She moved her hands over his shoulders and pushed the shirt off, marveling at his muscular chest. His waist was lean, his stomach flat, the dark hairs curling softly into his breeches. Then she kneeled, her face in line with the button of his breeches. She gazed up and watched his face as she slipped the button from its cover, opening his breeches and sliding them over his hips. She removed his boots and pants, moving her hands over his calves and steely thighs.
Truly, Roarke had a magnificent body. His cock sprung forth from the thatch of hair between his legs, powerful and strong like the rest of him. Hard like the rest of him too. She smiled at him and his lips curled upward.
A woman would be very lucky to have Roarke as her mate. He was a delicious male, and yet as she regarded his body, she knew he was not the one she wanted.