Avalyne Series 02: The Easterling (17 page)

Aeron’s cursed under his breath, a lifetime of unresolved anger at his father surfacing more acutely than had ever before. He was furious with his father but he also wished Melia had more faith.
Stepping into the open air with her, he curled his arm around her waist and whispered in her ear.

‘
Melia, my father’s opinion matters little to me. I love you and I want to be with you. Can you not trust in that?’

Melia sucked in her breath, wishing he would not do this.
‘I trust you Aeron,’ she turned around and faced him, wishing he understood why she was so adamant. He did not see she could not bear the thought of leaving him alone. ‘But I will not live with the guilt of knowing that when I am gone, I will be the cause of so much pain.’

‘
Yes,’ he nodded, not denying it. ‘There will be pain Melia but I am not a fool. I still want a life with you and when you are gone, I will be able to take comfort in the years we had together.”

‘
You say that now,” she returned, “but it will be different when it is a reality. I do not want you to spend eternity in misery. I do not want that for you.’

‘
So you take the choice away from me?’ he demanded pulling her hand away from his jaw.

The action wounded her and whether or not it was
hurt or Halion’s words that prompted it, she reached for the chain around her neck and ran her fingers along the chain around her neck, ‘You should take this back. This is not mine to have Prince.’

With that, she broke away and retreated into the room again. However Aeron’s ire was up and he was not about to let the argument end there.

‘I wish you to have it,’ he declared in exasperation as he chased her in. ‘Can you not let me have my way in this one thing?’

‘
Someday you may want to give this to someone you care for...’ she started to say before he cut her off savagely.

‘
I already care for you Melia! Whether you are at my side or away from it will change nothing of my feelings. There will never be anyone after you. Do you not know that by now?’

Once again,
Halion’s words coming back to haunt her and she knew that there was no other course left to her. The Celestial Gods forgive her, the King was right. To free Aeron, she had to be cruel.

‘
Yes I do,’ she swallowed down the anguish and took up the action she had sworn only hours ago she would not do.  Turning to face him once more, she suddenly closed the distance between them, saying nothing as she approached. When she reached him, Melia coiled her arms around his neck and drew him to her so that she could plant a soft, tentative kiss upon his lips.

‘
I love you,’ she whispered after that initial contact was made, ‘I will always love you.’ 

Aeron regarded her with puzzlement
for a moment, uncertain what she was about until she kissed him again with greater urgency. He felt her tongue probing past his lips as she tugged at him more insistently, until he could feels her nails in his back, drawing him into a sweet trap of pleasure and pain. Her breasts pushed against his chest, until he was aware of every part of her body pressed against him, waiting for reciprocation. She was seducing him with her mouth, plying his skin with small insistent kisses that ran along his jaw and up his cheek before culminating in a playful nip of his ear.

Considering the arousal that surged through him at that action, he was rather surprised he was
able to pull away from her lips at all. He needed to understand what was going on here, what had suddenly changed between them to warrant this passionate display. Yet another part of him was throwing caution to the winds. That part of him that was very male wanted to revel in the pleasure of her, wanted to bask in it more than his next breath. 

‘
What is this Melia?’ He managed ask despite the shortness of breath that came from his increased excitement.

‘
This is just us Prince,’ she said holding his gaze, trying to convince him that her intentions were pure. ‘Let us not think about tomorrow. We keep looking so far ahead that we are forgetting that right now is all really that matters. Let’s just be Aeron and Melia for tonight, nothing more.  We can worry about what follows tomorrow.’

Aeron wanted to point out that it
was she who was more concerned with it than he but if this was what she wanted, he could accept these terms. Perhaps if she saw how good they were together, how much pleasure they could take from each other’s bodies, she might realise that it did not matter what would happen in the future. The moments they had to share with each other was all that was important. There would be plenty of time for him to face the days ahead when the world was much colder and greyer place after she was gone.

What mattered now, was the time he had with her
.

Aeron surrendered at l
ast by reclaiming her waist and pulling her hard against him, until he could feel her hips pressed against his own. Once he relented and gave, her mouth bloomed beneath his and he uttered a soft growl of appreciation when he was allowed to explore her more fully. Finally, the pent up frustrations harboured since that night in Iolan was allowed expression and he revelled in it.   His fingers ran through her hair, slid down the graceful curve of her back before clasping the firm flesh of her rear.

His mouth upon Melia's was dizzying and though there were a thousand reasons why they should not be embarking on this
intimate undertaking, Melia could not think of even one at that moment. Once she banished the last of her dark thoughts from her mind, she was swept away by the incredible touch of him against her body. She also knew that she had been truthful in her words to him—she would love him until the day she died.

Aeron continued to taste her
, caring no more that he would have her for only a splinter of time. At this moment, she belonged only to him. His lips were brutal with need, plundering the territory as he steered her towards the bed, guiding her into it so that they could continue this exploration more completely.

When she saw where they were
headed, Melia smiled, showing him that she felt no doubt or harboured any hesitation at what would come next. This was one journey with him she would not protest. As he drove them towards the bed, she slid her hands down his shoulders, savouring the curve of bicep, before tugging at the buttons of his shirt and freed them enough for the fabric to flap open. His chest was smooth and Melia relished running her palms along the hard muscle, admiring the beauty of him.

Their lips did not leave each other as they continued to undress each other.
Just as she had freed him of his shirt, Aeron slid the dress he so admired from her shoulders, watching it glide over her skin and fall, pooling around her feet as if she were standing in flame. Divested of the silk, his breath caught as he laid his eyes upon her bare flesh in appreciation.  Her colouring made a blush difficult to discern but there was enough of a tinge for Aeron to realised that she was self-conscious at being seen unclothed.

Wishing to allay her fears,
he leaned forward to kiss her shoulder delicately, his eyes closed as hips brushed the skin. Though they had both lovers before this, those felt like a need simply satisfied, lacking the emotional connection this promised to yield. She reminded him of a fawn, beautiful and lean but still easily frightened. Trailing kisses along her collar bone, he lowered her against the soft sheets of her bed and spent the next few minutes after their descent, charting her flesh like an explorer in a new land.

Melia was gasping. Her entire body was caught in a wave of fire as she felt
his insistent mouth doing things to her while his hand kneaded her flesh with aching caresses. She tore at his remaining clothes in a mad frenzy, desperate to feel every part of him as fiercely as he was indulging in hers.  Lowering her head when his ear was within reach, she traced the ridge of his tipped ear with her tongue and was rewarded by an unexpected groan of pleasure that made him pause. When he resumed his oral assault once more, it was with feverish intensity.

Seeing that
neither could take this foreplay much longer, Aeron reclaimed her mouth again and gave her no quarter when he took her leg and hooked it over his hip. By now, the evidence of his arousal would have been plain for her to feel and looking into her eyes, he saw they were dark with urgency. Poised on the edge of a coupling that had the power to drive all reason from their minds, he needed to know this was what she wanted before he went any further. After all her protests, he needed to be certain.

There would be no turning back for either of them
after this.

Gods
how she loved him, Melia thought as she stared at him and saw the naked vulnerability there. So many people mistook this physical exchange for lust when most never really saw it for what it was. The one time when two people could see each other as they really were, peeled down to their most exposed selves.  What she saw now was that between the two of them, it was the thousand year old elf that was more afraid than her. He was an immortal who could have anyone he wanted and all he wanted was her. Even now, she saw the wonder in his eyes, the pride he felt at being chosen to be with her in this way.

‘
Are you sure want this?’ She asked. Of the two of them, he was the one with most to lose.

Aeron’s answer was a single, hard thrust into her body.

Melia’s back arched at the penetration, her fingers clawing at his shoulder blade as he pushed deep inside of her. How he felt made her past lovers pale in comparison and Melia knew from this day forward, she would go to her death, never wanting anyone but him. She loved the smell of him, how he tasted on her lips and the fullness of him inside her. The soft groan of pleasure that escaped his throat when he could go no further and his breath against her neck. The glazed expression in his eyes and the strain along his jaw as the pleasure rippled through him.

To her, he was never more beautiful than at that moment.

Gods, he never thought, never imagined, she could feel like this.

While he was almost undone by the slick, journey inside her, she was the calm in the middle of storm. As he held her gaze, he was anchored by the certainty he saw there, the love for him as she waited for him to adjust to the warm,
clenching heat of her that was all around him. Steadying himself, he pulled her even closer until his fingers were digging into her thigh. A soft whimper escaped her and the sound nearly broke his concentration apart once more. The sheer intensity of the experience was further heightened by her nails raking across his back. Pleasure and pain creating sweet agony.

‘
I love you Prince,’ she said softly in his ear.

Aeron was not so lost that he could not appreciate the sincerity of her words.
Despite the overwhelming urges from the rest of his body,  he kissed her chastely on the lips, a paradoxical gestures of tenderness when the rest of him was burning. His blue eyes sparkled like the sun bouncing off the ocean and he smiled at her before the urgency of the their coupling overcame him and he began to move.

‘Forever Melia. Until the end of the time, I promise you,’ He managed to say, punctuating each word with the forward thrust of his hips.

They m
oved in perfect harmony, dancers moving to the rhythm of an ancient song. Since meeting her, he had dreamed of this moment and now it was here, it was far sweeter than anything he could have imagine. They fitted together so perfectly that he could have been forgiven for thinking that the Gods had made her for him alone. Fingers intertwined as Aeron pressed them into the bed, they were a sweaty tangle of limbs as they became one creature moving towards completion.

Melia was soaring higher and higher with each hard thrust of him into her, until she could hardly breathe for the pleasure of it. It had been so long since anyone had been able to make her feel so much.
Like all secret romantics, she longed for that one person with whom she could share her desires and her soul, who would look into her heart and capture it the way she wanted. She never imagined the one to do so would be an elven Prince. Even if she had to let him go, she could live on this for the rest of her life.

Aeron could not think at all.
His jaw was clenched as beads of sweat ran down his forehead and a fine sheen of moisture formed against his skin. He continued to move, his breath shallowing and he sensed by the tension that was crushing him with agonising pleasure she was nearing the place he wished her to be. Suddenly, Melia’s muscles clenched around him as her fingers dug into his hands and he knew she was there and would take him with her.

Tumbling over the precipice together, they fell into
an abyss of lust, love and something undefined that bound them together, despite what sense might have them believe later.

‘
I love you,’ he whispered when it was all said done, knowing in his heart that while nothing was resolved between them, everything else had changed.

The moment he woke up and
found himself alone in her bed, he knew she was gone. 

They
had spent the night before making love into the small hours of the morning, matching each other for stamina and pleasure.  With Melia, Aeron experienced a sense of connection that was unlike anything he had shared with anyone else in a thousand years. Their intimacy was assured and comfortable, like they had been lovers for years not merely a single night. By the time, they had collapsed into each other's arms shortly before dawn, being together felt like the most natural thing in the world.

Or at least
he
felt that way.

When he opened his eyes
the next morning and discovered that the warmth of her body was not against him, his mind snapped quickly to full alertness. It was a credit to her ability as a watch guard that she was able to slip out of his embrace without waking him. Then again, Aeron thought bitterly as he sat between the empty sheets, attempting to overcome his utter disappointment at her betrayal, when it came to fleeing from him, Melia was an expert.

Next to him on the pillows, was his mother’s necklace abandoned with even a message to say goodbye. Not that one was needed; he understood her intention clearly enough.

Aeron did not know how long he spent simply staring at it, his jaw clenched as the shock of her actions threatened to sweep him away in a tidal wave of despair. Inside his chest, his heart had turned into this icy cold thing that kept him rooted to the spot, unable to move, unable to think or dismiss the anger he felt at not seeing what she had obviously intended to do all along.

How much of his had she planned before giving herself to him last night?
Was that why she had allowed him to make love to her because she was leaving him in the morning? He was not foolish enough to believe anything was solved by their intimacy the night before but he had hoped her willingness to trust him with her body might smooth the way to trusting him with her heart.

Now it appeared, that
was always his dream, not hers.

His
fury at her departure kept the pain at bay for the time being but using its momentum Aeron dressed quickly and stormed out of the room, with every intention of going after her.  He was not going to allow her to arbitrarily decide that this was the way things were going to be end between them. He was done trying to appease her, trying to prove he loved her. What she had done had provoked in him into a state indignant fury that he was not repressing for once.

I
t was time she listened to what he had to say instead of deciding for both of them that she knew best.

Aeron
stormed down the hallway towards his own room when he heard his father beckoning him from the King’s study.  Aeron froze in his steps, having not intended to confront his father who he held just as responsible for Melia’s flight as the lady herself.  However, it would be useful to know what exactly Halion had said to Melia that would distress her enough into believing that making love to Aeron was the way to make their parting more palatable.

Entering
the study, Aeron slipped the necklace still clenched in his fist into the pocket of his breeches and marched up to Halion who was seated behind his desk.

‘
What did you say to her?’ He demanded, not wasting time mincing words.

Halion eased back into his chair and let out a heavy sigh,
‘I take it she is gone?’

‘
What did you say to her?’ Aeron repeated himself, leaning forward on his father’s desk, palms pressed against the wood as he stared down at Halion.

‘
Nothing that did not surprise her,’ Halion answered.

Aeron straightened up and glared at his father.
‘You two are much alike,’ Aeron, voice was low, a stark contrast to the anger that was spilling over his restraint like a flooding dam. ‘You both deny me the choice to make my own decision.’

‘
I am protecting you,’ Halion returned smoothly, not at all repentant over what had transpired. If anything, he was pleased that Melia had followed his guidance so well. Perhaps now, Aeron could see an end to this business. ‘You are my son and I ensured that you will not have to suffer an eternity of regret. How do you not see what she did is for the best? This thing you feel for her it will pass even faster now that you've shared her bed.’

Aeron stared at his father in complete disbelief.
‘Are you implying that by bedding Melia I have now satisfied my need for her like some itch I needed to scratch?’ He glared his father, appalled.

‘
Son,’ Halion stepped out from behind his desk and went to his son, perhaps wanting to show the boy that he did not mean for the remark to sound so crass though it was mired in some truth. ‘I spoke hastily. What I meant to say this infatuation you have will pass. Once the love making is forgotten you will find someone you care for and she will be a memory.’

Aeron stared at his father in disbelief.
‘I will love her until the day I die father and I will not substitute her for anyone else. Do you think I wish to go through my life mimicking the joyless facade that has been your marriage to my mother?’

It was Halion’s turn to
glare. ‘What did you say to me?’

‘
You heard me,’ Aeron continued too far over the edge of disaster to pull back now. ‘You cannot tell me that you and my mother are bonded. Do you think I am blind? I know you do not care for her. I have seen how you regard her all my life. That is
not
love.’

Stunned at the accusation, Halion returned somewhat feebly,
‘I care for your mother and she understands the term of our marriage’

‘
The terms of your marriage?’ Aeron asked, realising that he might have stumbled upon some uncomfortable family secret. ‘You choose to lecture me about being ill-bonded with someone when you describe
your
marriage like it is an agreement for services tendered?’

Halion's expression darkened,
‘Remember to whom you are speaking to
Prince
,’ he warned. ‘Believe what you will but you do not know everything.’

‘
I know enough to say that
you
of all people have little right to tell me anything when it comes to matters of the heart. You have no idea what I feel.’

Halion flinched but did not answer.
‘Perhaps not but you know anything between you two would ultimately end in tragedy.’

‘
My relationship with Melia is my personal affair! Not yours. You had no right to say anything to her! Do you know how difficult it was for her to even admit she felt anything for me? She had enough fears in her heart without you making things worse!’

‘
Do you have any idea what you are embarking upon by choosing a mortal, my son?’ Halion defended himself with just as much determination. ‘Can you truly endure the pain of watching her grow older with each day, knowing that she will die and there is nothing you can do to prevent it? Do you know what it is like to lose someone you have been bound to? At least if you loved one of us, you could be reunited but we do not know if we will see men in the afterlife. You may never be with your Melia again.’

‘
Do you think I do not know that?’ Aeron barked in turn. ‘It breaks my heart to know that one day I will be without her but I can accept that if it means having her even for the small span of her life. I know I may not see her when the world is done but for as long as she is alive, I will treasure the moments. No one can say for certain what will happen when we pass from this world but I am not going to dwell on what cannot be when all I have is what is.’

‘
It is not that simple,’ Halion protested wondering how Aeron could be so naïve even if he was just a thousand years old. He was truly his mother’s son, Halion frowned. ‘You may delude yourself,’ the King insisted, ‘but you know it to be true.’

Aeron
did not have time to argue. Each moment he spent debating the point with his father, was precious time during which Melia was widening the distance between them. Perhaps his pursuit of her would be for nothing that upon facing each other would find themselves caught in the same stalemate. However, Aeron had to try.

‘I am going after her father,’ he said finally, drawing away from the King's presence. ‘I ask your leave to depart but know that if you refuse me, I shall go anyway.’

‘
This is foolishness boy,’ Halion retorted. ‘Let her go. Let it be finished.’

Aeron turned on his heels and started to walk, pausing enough to add.
‘Goodbye father, this will be the last time that we speak.’

Halion's expression was troubled when he realised his son was deadly serious.
‘What do you mean?’ He called out but Aeron did not stop walking or answer. ‘AERON!’

*****

Queensland entered the hallway just in time to see Aeron storming out of his father's study ignoring Halion’s calls for him to return. The furious expression on his face almost prompted her to call out to him herself but Aeron was so quick around the corner that he was gone before she could finish the thought. Fearing what might have transpired between father and son, Syanne decided it was prudent to deal with Halion before she attempted to resolve the quarrel with Aeron.

Upon entering Halion’s study, she found her husband, the
King, leaning against his desk, an expression she rarely saw but recognised. He was shaken. That took some doing, she thought to herself as she approached him. They had been husband and wife for almost two thousand years but she could count the number of times that she had seen him unsettled by a situation. He was always in charge of every situation, even when it did not require his interference.  He raised his eyes towards her when he saw her enter the room and the mask of uncertainty vanished immediately, replaced by the disciplined King she always knew.

‘
What had happened?’ Syanne demanded. ‘Where is Aeron going?’

‘
He is going after that girl,’ Halion answered with no small measure of contempt in his voice. ‘She left this morning after bedding him.’

It took a moment for Syanne to process that information before she could respond,
‘She left? Just like that?’

Syanne could not believe Melia would do something so unkind after being intimate with her son. She had seen the girl’s eyes. Melia loved Aeron. Her
feelings were no lie. ‘I cannot believe it,’ she exclaimed, ‘she loved him. I saw it.’

‘
She loves him,’ Halion confirmed, ‘but we agreed that it was the best decision for her to make. After all, what good can come of it? She is a mortal and he is one of us. Love will be of no good to him after she is gone.’

Syanne’s eyes narrowed and she stared at her husband hard,
‘What do you mean you
agreed
it was the best decision to make?’

She too had noticed Halion taking Melia to dance and knew that something said the night before had distressed the girl enough for Aeron to go to her rescue
, however, Syanne had refrained from interfering. After speaking to Melia, Syanne had reached the conclusion that Melia was a strong woman—she could handle herself and needed no one to fight her battles for her.  However, Halion’s words made her anxious and she chided herself for not speaking up the night before.

‘
I told her that for his sake, she needed to leave him and to be cruel about it so Aeron would not follow her,’ Halion replied, describing the exchange with brutal honesty. ‘So she bedded him and left.’

The
Queen said nothing at first and then she raised her hand and slapped her King.

‘
How could you do that to your own son?’ Syanne demanded, stifling any protest made by the King at her actions. ‘How could you tell her to do that?’

‘
It was necessary!’ Halion bit back, more shocked than hurt that she had actually struck him. ‘Do you want him to suffer needlessly for the rest of his life, pining over a love he can never have again?’

‘
Better that he pine for love than live his days in emptiness!’ Syanne retorted.

‘
Is this your doing then?’ Halion retorted. ‘Have you been the one encouraging him in this foolishness?’

‘
Foolishness?’ Syanne roared. ‘I have done nothing to encourage him in any of this!  I did not need to! We have hardly set good examples for him have we?’ She challenged.

‘
We are not the subject of discussion here,’ Halion returned automatically but he recalled what Aeron accused him off.  ‘You know what will happen if he chooses her.’

‘
Husband, are you so blind?’ Syanne stared at him with a mixture of pity and disbelief. ‘He has
already
chosen her and now you’ve driven him away. If my son does not return to Eden Halas, know then I will never forgive you.’

‘
Syanne,’ Halion exclaimed. ‘I did not do this to drive him away.’