A Sordid Soirée

Asper leaned in towards her, and just as his lips found her mouth, the man's hips found their rhythm. She rocked back and forth, meeting his thrusts while their tongues explored each other's mouths and their hands explored everything else. The sound of flesh meeting flesh filled the room with a kind of carnal music made only by the joining of two bodies in passion.

Elemiel knew her human lover was hovering on the edge of frenzy. Squeezing him in the velvet channel between her legs, the elf could feel the thrumming tension of his body through where he was linked within her.

"Do it," she purred in his ear, "give it to me. I want it all."

Her words unlocked something inside of Aster. He grabbed a tangle of her lustrous black hair, pressed his face into the mounds of her breasts, and began to furrow her like a beast in its rut. Elemiel grunted and moaned right along with him until she heard his breathing grow ragged and uneven.

"Gods above, I can't hold back," he murmured desperately, his breath hot against her skin.

"Don't," she replied.

Perhaps trying to stretch the moment of his ecstasy out for as long as he could, Aster's frenzy subsided into a measured thrusting, but there was no stopping the inevitable. With a growled shout, Elemiel felt him release deep within her, his heartbeat twinned to each pulsing twitch of seed that burst from him. He filled her, and the sensation was enough to push Elemiel past her own peak as well.

The elf gripped the back of his neck and stared into his eyes. "Aster, I'm having an orgasm," she stated with incongruent self-control, then roughly tugged the man's mouth to hers and screamed her muffled pleasure into his lips. The climax unfurled inside of her body like a cleansing fire, burning her lust down to embers; banked for now, but always ready to flare to life once more.

They collapsed, panting, into one another's arms, Aster's head pillowed on her chest.

"That was... Wow," he wheezed.

"Yeah," Elemiel agreed, for once unable to find fault with anything that he'd said.

Those DeNallares

After their enthusiastic coupling, the hexagonal space of the Watching Room felt warm and more than a little stuffy, but neither Elemiel nor Asper were quite ready to rejoin the party downstairs.

Asper leaned his hip against one of the chamber's hexagonal panels, while Elemiel lounged atop the ancient desk like a sated tigress. Neither one of them had bothered to dress, and the elf felt much better and a good deal more clear-headed, now that she'd gotten the pent up ardor out of her system.

"Perhaps we did things a little out of order," the elf admitted, staring unabashedly across the room at the nude man, "but you've still got quite a lot to answer for, Asper Leocouer. The first of which is, why, in the name of Solana's ivy-crowned brow, are you skulking around a secret room in my house that even I didn't know about?"

Asper had the good grace to look abashed. "I'm afraid I haven't been entirely honest with you, Lady Elemiel," he said apologetically. "My real name is Asper DeNallare, and as to why I'm here, perhaps I'd better just show you."

Elemiel blinked at him as he walked across the hexagonal shaped room to retrieve the black crystal she'd thought was a knife earlier. The elven woman was momentarily at a loss for words, not a position she often found herself in.

DeNallare?

She recognized the name, of course. But what business did a personage of royal blood have sneaking through Elemiel's house? If the elf had caught wind that a DeNallare wanted to attend her party, the invitation would have been in the post before the ink was dry.

Asper brought the crystal up to his mouth, then whispered a word upon its surface. The mirrors-that-weren't sprang to life on each faceted wall, filling themselves with scenes from across Elemiel's home. She recognized the garden, the kitchen, and several other places from all over the mansion.

In one of them, Elemiel saw with some relief that the fire had been put out in the ballroom. Duke Ditherington was striking such a pose of heroic pride that he looked as if he should be standing over the corpse of a manticore, instead of a pile of smoldering curtains.

"Jackass," Asper muttered.

"Are we watching things as they happen?" Elemiel breathed in wonderment. This was potent magic indeed. In another mirror, the elf watched Talina lead a pair of men into the relative privacy of the scullery. Elemiel recognized the men as soldiers, part of General Tarly's retinue.

There was no sound coming from the mystical mirror so Elemiel couldn't hear what Talina said, but the woman was smiling and playing with the lapel of one of the men's uniforms, a coquettish expression on her face. You sly harlot, Elemiel thought, a grin spreading across her face. Got yourself a pair of stallions to ride, did you?

"Yes, that's the idea," Asper replied. "Didn't know you had this up here, I take it?" There was an irritating hint of smugness in the man's tone, and Elemiel shut her open mouth with a snap, glaring over at the man.

"So is this why you crashed my party?" she asked, sitting up on the desk and giving Asper her iciest stare. It was probably spoiled by the sumptuousness of her nudity, but she didn't much care. "To play the voyeur with my guests?"

Asper's lips remained curved in a grin, and he held up his hands. "No, not all your guests," he said, which really didn't clarify anything at all. Then he paused, as if realizing the full import of her words. "Wait. You knew I snuck in? Why didn't you just have me tossed out?" He looked at her with confusion clouding his storm-grey eyes.

"I'm asking myself that same question at this moment," Elemiel replied. Asper had come close enough that she could smell the man's scent, which was a pleasing mixture of oiled leather and sandalwood. The elf took a deep lungful of air, and the fact that Asper smelled nice made her even more irritated. We literally just had sex, she scolded her overactive libido. Hold on, at least until I learn the truth of what's going on here.

"Well, I thank you for not throwing me out on my ear immediately. It would've been a shame not to get to know you so intimately," Asper said, grey eyes twinkling. He must've seen the storm gathering in her own expression, for he hurriedly continued.

"Ahem, right. My family used to own this house, you know," he said, pointing at one of the mirrors, which showed the mansion's ornate frontage as carriages arrived and departed from the cobbled driveway. "Most of these old manses had a Watching Room, and when I learned that Duke Ditherington would be attending your party here, I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to learn more of his plans."

He pointed at another of the scrying mirrors, which provided a view of the ballroom and the aforementioned Duke. The golden-headed Ditherington was surrounded by a crowd of simpering sycophants and waving about a turkey leg as if it were a sword, no doubt describing some gallant battle that he'd engaged in on his adventures past the Godswall.

Elemiel frowned. "If you really are a DeNallare, why the deception? And why spy on the Duke in the first place? Why do you dislike him so much?" She knew that she was peppering Asper with questions, but her curiosity was piqued, and he did owe her some answers.

Asper gave her a disbelieving stare. "You met him, right?"

"Alright, fair enough," she admitted, holding up her hands in surrender. "He's pretty awful. But still, the way you talk about him feels personal."

An expression of sorrow and pain briefly haunted Asper's face. It was gone in an instant, leaving a wry smile on his lips. "Ah well, it is rather personal, as a matter of fact. You see, Nigel Ditherington and I set out together on an expedition into the east four years ago. We were friends then, keen to take on the dangers of the wild and bring a little order to the chaos beyond the Godswall."

"You were friends?" Something had changed, obviously. Asper's expression turned sad.

"We found... something, out east," he explained, his voice soft and his eyes clouded. "An artifact of great power. It would seem that Nigel didn't want to share it. He betrayed me, and left me for dead in a dungeon so deep that the light of day was but a distant recollection."

He shuddered as he spoke, clearly not relishing the memory. At his mention of the light of day, a piece of the puzzle that had been jiggling in the back of Elemiel's mind fell into place.

"Wait- Asper DeNallare... you're the Sunstriker!" she exclaimed, hopping off the desk in sudden excitement.

Asper shrugged. "Most people know me by that nickname, yes. Asper DeNallare, the Sunstriker."

She gaped at the famous knight. "You're supposed to be dead! Killed beyond the mountains..." she trailed off. Of course. Killed adventuring in the east. "But you're the Queen's cousin," she exclaimed incredulously.

Asper spread his hands and bowed, still managing to look noble despite his nudity. "As a matter of fact, she's one of the few who know I'm still alive, let alone have returned to the city." His expression turned hard, and he clenched a fist around the shard of black crystal that controlled the Watching Room. "Duke Ditherington can't be left in possession of what we found back east. He's plotting something, and I aim to find out what."

A flicker of movement in one of the mirrors caught Elemiel's eyes. "Well it seems like you've got good timing," she said. She pointed at the looking glass, which showed Duke Ditherington entering a private reading room. The Duke cast furtive glances about the place to ensure it was empty, even going so far as to look behind the curtains, before settling down into an armchair to wait.

"What are you up to, Nigel," Asper muttered.

They didn't have to wait long. The door opened, and another man stepped in. He was a gnome, short and round, with a ruddy, whiskered face and a nose which spoke of a deep and abiding affection for drink. Elemiel immediately recognized him as Sharky Houndstooth, a well-connected fixer, and purveyor of rare merchandise.

The mirror didn't seem to transfer sound, but Elemiel and Asper watched as the short man doffed his bowler hat and bowed, uttering some greeting to the Duke as he shut the door behind him. There was a brief exchange of what Elemiel assumed were pleasantries, before the Duke and the gnome got down to business.

Ditherington reached into his pocket and brought out a small object that the elf couldn't quite make out through the mirror. The Duke passed it to the gnome who accepted it reverentially, then bowed deeply. A few more words passed between them, before both men shook hands and left the room.

"Damn it," Asper swore. He stared down in mild disgust at the black and red crystal he was holding. "Must be an older model. The newer ones pass along sound, too." He sat down on the dusty floor, a thoughtful expression on his face.

Elemiel leaned her rump against the desk in the center of the room, looking down at Asper. "I take it you don't know who the gnome is, that Duke Ditherington met with?"

The nobleman opened his mouth to respond, then his eyes narrowed. "Ah. I'm guessing that you do?"

Elemiel shrugged her bare shoulders. "It's my party. It's my business to know."

Asper rose to his feet. "This information isn't going to be cheap, is it?"

"You're a DeNallare," the elf said, idly winding a strand of her purple-black hair around one finger. "You can afford it." She paused. "You know, I suppose you're not as hopelessly boorish as I first thought, nor are you entirely the knave I feared you would be."

He shot her a look. "Careful. That was almost a compliment."

"Almost," she agreed. "Noble you may be, but you're still a criminal, Asper DeNallare. I should call the City Watch and have you arrested for trespassing. Imagine the scandal!"

Asper pulled a face. "Surely you can't be serious. Not after we... well, you know." He gestured at the desk and shot a pointed look at her gloriously bare breasts.

The elf rolled her lilac eyes at him. "I do know," she said, "I was there for the whole thing, remember? But just because we had a passable fuck, you've got a tragic backstory, and you're the Queen's cousin, doesn't mean I'm letting you off the hook."

"Passable?"

"You weren't too bad," Elemiel allowed, "and I was spectacular. Still, I think I've got a more fitting punishment for you than any that the City Watch could mete out, and a way you can earn the information of the gnome's identity."

"Oh really?" he said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "What's that?"

"I want you to let me help you. When you asked me if I missed the adventure..." Elemiel trailed off, suddenly not able to meet the man's eyes. She felt suddenly vulnerable before him, and it wasn't a feeling with which she was overly familiar.

"Well," she managed, "suffice it to say that I'm in search of a bit of diversion, and your little mission here just might do the trick. Besides, you're going to need all the help you can get, if you insist on continuing the farce of your demise."

Asper made a show of mulling it over, but Elemiel caught the twinkle in his storm-grey eyes. She knew what his answer would be.

"Alright," he said, grudgingly. "Maybe we can work together-"

The elf held up a hand. "Oh, I wasn't finished yet, Sunstroker. "

"Sunstriker," he corrected, but she ignored him.

"I also want you to take me out to dinner next Friday evening. A proper date, with wine and food and perhaps a walk down the riverside promenade. You can wear a disguise or something, although without all your shiny armor and big sword, I doubt anyone will recognize you."

Asper's expression was a charming mixture of frustration and excitement. "You know Elemiel, you're a very confusing person," he said.

Elemiel rolled her shoulders in a sensual approximation of a shrug. "That's the prerogative of creatures such as myself."

"Elves?" he asked.

"Women. Now hand me my dress, nobleman-burglar. I've still got a party to host."

To be continued...