Forbidden Devotion Ch. 01

Most elves had never seen a human. Their realms were separated by an invisible magical boundary although no one was sure where it existed or if it was possible to cross to the other side. Apparently, the latter was answered.

Ilana gasped. "How...how did a human get here?"

The king curved his lips and folded his arms. "That's what we're trying to find out. If he's here, there will be more. It's obvious the humans are planning to destroy our lands, take our resources, and kill or enslave us. I believe we should subject him to the firing squad. A few arrows and it's over."

That struck Ilana the wrong way. The mere notion of executing him had ice freezing her spine.

"No, let me talk to him. See if I can learn something. Like you said, more could be coming."

The human moaned and grumbled weakly from the depths of his throat. "Grrm, I'm here to warn you. Not cause anyone harm...'cough', 'cough.' Dark elves..."

The king scoffed. "He's been mumbling something about the dark elves. I can't fathom how he knows about them but they're still sealed away in Drakkus. No way they can get out."

Hearing about the dark elves and their war with them was enough to paralyze Ilana in crippling fear. "What if he's telling the truth? If they did get out, they'll rain the fires from hell upon us..."

The king interjected, "They're lies! Find out what he knows. That's all."

King Zoran stood in front of the human with a snarl. He cocked his scepter back and whacked him across the face sending globules of his life fluid splattering against the wall and cracking his jawbones.

Ilana was beyond mortified as she hid her expressions behind her hands.

She felt nothing but relief when the end of the king's robe dragged around the corner of the doorway.

She gazed at the human but really wasn't sure what to say. The feeling was a foreign one. It was also odd for someone to be on their knees yet almost match her height.

Ilana reached for his cheek. He leaned away but restricted by his bonds, he failed to evade her touch.

"Don't touch me!" he snapped as he rattled his chains in a rage. "I know all of you are born with magical abilities. You're trying to curse me!"

Ilana was taken aback. "No, I'm not! This is what I do..." She held her palm in front of her. Ilana's hand resonated blue and a "cardinal" appeared in her hand and chirped as it flew away and flapped about the room.

Jayden followed its flight with a look of awe. "You make birds? That's different. Interesting." Ilana guided the "bird" and perched it in his hair. Jayden shook himself frantically. "Ah! Get it off me!"

Ilana chuckled. "Haha, it's not really there. It's an illusion."

Jayden settled down as the mirage vanished. "It sure felt real! Shit!"

"That's because you believed it to be real so your mind helped you out."

"Oh. Well, is birds all you make?"

Ilana held both hands before her and projected an infant dragon that spit puffs of smoke. "How about that? Cute isn't he?"

"The kids must love you."

"I can make an adult one if that's more to your liking. It will scorch your eyebrows so you have to be careful."

Jayden said, "I'm rather fond of my brows, thank you. So, why were you touching on me?"

Ilana sent the illusion away. "It wasn't to curse you although my abilities can hurt. No, I wanted to convince myself you were real. Few of us have ever seen a man."

The man straightened his back. "You have now and I'm still alive. Why?"

"We have questions..."

"I already answered them but no one will listen!"

Ilana bent enough to meet his hazel eyes. They were fatigued and his body was slumped. He looked as though the last of his strength was draining.

"I will listen. Talk to me," Ilana said. "Can we start by you giving me your name?"

The king wouldn't have been pleased to know how much Ilana was going wild with arousal. It was still like a dream that barely seemed real. She looked at others to find the good, sometimes to her own detriment, but her attraction to this human was ruling her every thought and move. She knew little of the man to have such a strong affinity towards him. She poured all of her beliefs about humans and what she knew from the romance novels into him. He became someone that flushed her skin with excitement and turned her shaking knees to mush. It could have been a fantasy of her own creation but she was going to find out if it could be reality.

It felt so wrong because of how she was taught to have disdain for them. Feris was curious about them but leaned on the side of guilty until proven innocent. Feris...good thing he didn't have mind reading abilities.

The man's eyes were fighting to stay open and the drafts had him shivering. "My name is Jayden Mason from Earth. I came here because your world is in serious danger from the dark elves. The magical barrier your people cast around Drakkus is weakening. I'm apprentice to the sorcerer Artemis Sawyers known as the 'Keeper of the Realms.' He goes by the 'Keeper' for short. We've been monitoring your world the closest because we detected the barrier's imminent failure. I try to warn you, being the nice guy that I am, and wound up like this." Jayden shook his chains and rolled his eyes white at her. "I'm sure you think I'm a crazy liar that's really out for your blood and you brought those arrows for a reason. What are you going to do?"

Ilana paused for a few seconds. "I'm going to get you something to eat..."

Jayden lifted a brow and his face screamed of confusion as he watched her leave.

A few minutes later, Ilana peeked into the kitchen from the doorway. Night was falling and many of the residents were catching snoozes. The last remaining light rays of the day streamed through the darkness. She was careful to evade detection as questions about why she was gathering food might get awkward.

She tiptoed in and scooped a mug into a barrel of water. She swiped a woven basket of fruit from the countertop and tucked it into her arms. She headed back to the dungeon with her mind going mad trying to process everything.

It amazed Ilana how much Jayden knew of her world—a world without one human inhabitant. She wasn't ready to grant him total trust but if what he spoke was true, the whole continent of Nevin would be in peril. The dark elves possessed a natural born affinity for dark magic. Their magic had one sole purpose: destruction. Explosions that can create craters, black beams that could pierce titanium, and poisons that could bring down a 10 ton dragon were only small samples of what they were capable of. The fields to the west that still were holes in the ground and a mountain to the north missing its summit were reminders in case anyone forgot about them.

There was a time when the dark elves roamed the continent freely with the other elves. A scientist within their ranks discovered that while they were powerful, it came at the price of a constantly draining life force. The solution was a potion he could concoct that not only would lengthen the lives of the dark elves but make them even more powerful. The potion's main ingredient, the winter cherry plant, only grew around Ellistas.

The scientist went to King Zoran to request mass quantities of the herb. He agreed until the scientist's admission that it would make his elves more powerful. Swerving off his decision fumed the scientist and viewed it as the king letting his people die especially when he could prevent it. The king felt any one elf that wielded that much power would be a threat not to mention a whole race.

A threat they definitely would be. The dark elves decided to declare war and just take the herbs. The war was personal. They viewed the king as a criminal. The charge was attempted genocide. It mattered not that King Zoran's decision was one he found no joy in making.

The king enlisted the help of the wood, snow, and cave elves to fight alongside his warriors to contain their aggression. The resulting war devastated Nevin and took hundreds of lives before the dark elves were driven back to their land of Drakkus.

The combined magical power of all the elves was focused to erect an invisible barrier around Drakkus trapping the dark elves in their land but also sentencing them to inevitable doom.

Ilana was in the middle of that war and wasn't interested in reliving that nightmare. She hurried the rations to Jayden as fast as her feet could get her there.

Jayden was drooped and his breaths were hoarse. Ilana dashed and fell in front of him. She was struck with despair at the sight of the strength seeping from him.

She slipped off her gloves and cupped his face between her palms. His face felt like brush bristles and his cheekbones were high and defined unlike any elf.

"Wake up, please! Drink this!" Ilana said as she touched the mug's rim to his lips. He gargled the water like he hadn't drank in a week. "I brought you some food, too." She stuffed red grapes between his lips and he inhaled them.

After munching, he said, "Would a 16 ounce ribeye with a loaded baked potato and can of beer be too much to ask?"

Ilana scratched her head. "Uh, what's a ribeye?"

"Steak. You know from a cow."

"We get milk from them but we don't eat them. Sounds gross. Eew."

"You don't know what you're missing."

"I don't think I want to know. I have some nuts..." Ilana said as she picked some peanuts from the bottom of her basket.

Jayden parted his lips and she popped them in one at a time. "This is fun!"

"Thank you. You're different from the others. You're beautiful..." he said with what seemed to take all he had. "What's your name?"

Ilana's face was like a cherry and she choked up. "Thank...thank you. I'm...I mean my name is something..."

"You forgot your name? Weird. Why is your face so red?"

"You're so handsome and you think I'm beautiful. My ears don't turn you off?"

"I think they're cute. Too bad you don't have a name. I don't know what to call you."

Ilana gathered herself. "I'm Ilana."

Jayden chuckled. "Haha, are you certain?"

"I think so..."

"Well, Ilana, if that's your name, can you do something about these shackles?"

Ilana wanted nothing more. Her mind was a fog. Anything that helped him would be a betrayal to her people. The longer she was around him, the more her emotions were hijacked. The more wet she was becoming.

Ilana pierced Jayden with her stare while searching for any deception. "You have to tell me. Is the threat you talked about real?"

He spoke with a stone serious expression without a blink. "Yes. I swear to you."

Ilana paced the room. The beliefs she was taught about his kind kept creeping into her decision to try to free him. She couldn't forget what she meant to the other elves. How they looked at her as their leader and inspiration. How she held one of the most prestigious positions in the land. After an hour of knowing Jayden, she was about to toss it all away.

She tugged at her locks and grunted. "What do I do?"

Jayden said, "I don't expect you to trust me this quickly. I know that but whatever you decide, do it fast."

"Can I talk to this Keeper person?"

"Your king took the trans-realm device that I used to get here. It's how I communicated with him. It probably lost a few springs and screws during the warm reception your people gave me when they tackled me to the ground."

"Great. Well, I can still try."

"Be my guest. If you reach him, tell him he can jump in the lake for sending me here. Just had these pants dry cleaned and now they look like I've been mud wrestling."

"I can take them off and clean them for you..." Ilana said while nibbling on a nail.

"Oh, no. You're not seeing me naked that fast. I'm not that easy no matter how pretty you are."

"You do realize you're chained up, right?"

"You wouldn't!" Jayden said.

Ilana wondered if he was getting hard from their banter. She was losing the fight to resist him. The quivers of excitement flooded her body.

The door suddenly flung open and slammed against the wall. Both of them shook to their toes.

King Zoran rumbled through and stopped a few steps from his advisor. Looking at him was different with the traitorous notions swimming in her head.

"What have you learned?" the king asked as he leaned on his scepter with a scowl directed at Jayden.

Ilana spoke while taking a few steps to position herself between the two. "I believe the threat he told us about was real. He came alone and there isn't any human takeover coming."

"And your proof of this is what?" the king asked as he looked at her with those menacing gray eyes of his.

Ilana trembled. "I...I can read him, Your Majesty."

The king sidestepped Ilana and lowered his attention towards the morsels before Jayden. Her halfhearted effort to shield his view did neither of them any favors. She couldn't summon enough conviction to betray his trust.

"What is this?" King Zoran asked with his scepter pointed at the food.

Ilana stammered, "I, uh, thought he would be more cooperative if I..."

The king whipped towards her and thundered, "You did not have permission to feed him! He was to suffer like they have made so many others suffer! He would have broken eventually. It's not like you to disobey my rule. What's really going on here?"

Ilana shifted her eyes down and aside and her head followed. "I should leave but please don't do anything hasty!"

"You mean like kill him? Why would you care for a human?"

Ilana could feel him drilling into her to find the truth but she did her best to block him from it.

She looked over at Jayden. He was pleading for his freedom without using a word. She turned back to the king. He didn't seem to be in the mood for a debate.

Ilana sighed. "You're right. We can't take a chance..."

That brought a grin of approval to the king. "We'll hold a council vote in the morning. I'm sure everyone will agree that he should face the arrow squad."

Ilana could feel Jayden's eyes of disbelief slicing her. She slid an eye in his direction ever so carefully and he was glowering at her as she thought.

She mouthed the words, "I'll be back," but he was spitting at the floor in rage. She quivered with a clenching pain her chest. She hoped he understood but didn't seem as though he cared for any explanations.

The king stood in front of Jayden. He raised his chin with his eyes looking down at him. "This may be your last chance to confess. Why do you want to destroy us? Tell me and I'll consider sparing your worthless life."

Jayden grumbled, "I'm not the one that will destroy you..."

The king scoffed. "Let's go, Ilana. Good work. You made the right choice as you always do."

Ilana followed in the king's shadow with her head twisted back at Jayden. He still wouldn't grant her his eyes but she did what she thought she had to.

When her boots hit the floor outside of the door and the king disappeared down the hall, she released all her pent up emotions into her hands.

Ilana bawled into them with streams pouring from her eyes. Her attempts to wipe them dry and cease the flow of mucus from her nose were futile.

Through her blurred vision, she barely could spot her lover rushing towards her. She was consumed with guilt since it took for Ilana to see Feris before she thought about him again.

"What's the matter, my love?" Feris asked as he held her hands with loving concern.

Ilana fought through sniffles and her shaking voice. "I may have killed someone!"

"Come. I'll take you home. We'll talk about it there," Feris said as they left the palace.

An hour later, Ilana was sitting on her bed's edge with Feris at her hip. They were joined at the hands again with Feris attempting to console his lover. Ilana explained everything about Jayden, the nightmarish news he brought with him, and the king's desire to use him as a human bull's eye.

Ilana was in a black strapless chemise and Feris was bare-chested in cotton black pants.

Talking about what happened conjured up what Ilana felt then about giving her endorsement for Jayden's execution. She was the only one that knew it wasn't what it appeared to be.

Feris's hands like cotton soothed her tortured emotions or it could have been his ability to magically shift others' moods to the one he desired. It only worked when he was close to his subject and he'd never use it on the king or anyone else unless he really needed to. Feris didn't think much of his ability. Lame was the word he used. Ilana could have imagined a few uses for that type of talent.

Ilana fought back tears as she talked to her love about Jayden. "'Sniff'...I don't think he should be used as target practice! He came here by himself to warn us about the dark elves. He knows most elves wouldn't invite him to dinner but he came alone anyway. I can believe him."

Feris wore a serious across his face. "You have a big heart for everyone and I adore that. I'm not saying that's all bad. I really love that heart when it comes to me but everything we heard and read about humans say they're dangerous and not be trusted. We should leave everything up to the king. Now, can you focus on us? We haven't had a chance to play all day..."

Feris's fingertips brushed over Ilana's arms in light strokes as though they were feathers. Ilana was always at least a little turned on by being near her lover but his touches were raising her temperature fast.

It was still amazing to Ilana how much Feris adored her. A human in Nevin was the rarest phenomenon yet all of Feris's attention was on pleasing her. Ilana's mind wasn't as present with part of it back at the palace dungeon but she couldn't ignore the connection present. She needed this if only she could allow herself to accept it.

She was paralyzed in arousal as her eyes were tracking Feris's travels over her thighs to her knee and when his fingers went up again, they dragged her nightwear up revealing her violet panties. Ilana shuddered when Feris rubbed her pussy through them while at the same time stopping his lips a breath's distance hers. Ilana watched as Feris stared at her eyes, her lips in a quick glance, and back to her royal irises.

Feris slid his hand over Ilana's neck to its rear where he caressed it in circles. Ilana was filling with jolts of sexual energy.

Feris closed the gap and touched his lips to Ilana's softly once, looked at Ilana, and did it again. Her lips were sizzling and Ilana's thighs quivered but the kiss remained one way.

Feris sighed. "Don't make me use my special talent on you..." His tone deepened as his hands lit with a pink glow and Ilana raced with a powerful craving to fuck Feris senseless. Her heart was pounding like she'd run two marathons and she was speeding towards a massive climax. Yet, everything in her was resisting. Feris asked, "Do you like that?"

Ilana hugged Feris around the waist so she wouldn't be blown away.

Ilana was huffing and puffing. "Whoa...I feel like I'm going to cum ten times over. Oh, wow."

Feris cocked a partial grin. "I used to be able to do that without my magic but you were distracted. I don't like using my ability. I want your desire for me to be real. I want it to come from here..." He pointed at her heart at first then between her legs. "I meant down there."

Ilana could sense the pain he was feeling. That maybe he wasn't as desirable to Ilana anymore. It really wasn't about that but she knew how Feris's mind worked. As a servant, he never felt desired yet was used for others' needs. He was supposed to draw satisfaction from that but only when it was Ilana he served.

The curiosity that existed when it came to Jayden was becoming too much. As much as she loved Feris, he was reluctant to let Ilana breathe and turned an evil, piercing eye to any elf, male or female, that ogled her...even if they did so only between his ears.