Shadows of Obligation

Chapter Two: Shadows of Obligation

Elowen shifted on the leather pad, her thighs still aching from the exertions of the night before. She was an accomplished rider—of horses. But her mount today challenged that skill. She rode a stag with a coat the color of the night sky. An animal that Thalion called a skydancer. Antlers as dark as Elowen's hair twisted up from the proud head, each tip adorned with a bright point of light that shone even in the midmorning sun.

Thalion had left the bulk of his army in Aurelian under command of a cousin, while he and his bride returned to the fae realm and his palace, Pyreheart Citadel. Only the priest, Diarmuid, and five of the house guard accompanied them.

Elowen's eyes flickered to Diarmuid. Thalion had left her in the priest's care while he rode a scouting mission with one of the guards.

Diarmuid had offered her a choice in the wedding. Truly, it was no choice at all, but at least he had tried. She shifted in the saddle, rump stinging from Thalion's slaps.

She had to find out more about her husband and his people. If she did not, she'd end up like her father, hollowed out and alone. Her gaze turned to the priest again. "Why is Thalion so eager to return home?"

Diarmuid's silver eyebrows climbed up his black forehead. "Lord Thalion."

Elowen chewed on the inside of her cheeks. "Lord Thalion."

The priest patted her shoulder. "Titles matter, even among family. In time, that may change, but until he gives you leave, he is Lord Thalion." He waited until Elowen conceded a nod, and then continued. "Under Brehon law, you are wed, but under Queen Mab's law, the wedding of an eirnacht must be consummated in the heart of his power. So, he must bed you in Pyreheart."

A sudden hope lit in Elowen's belly. Is there a way out of this? "What happens if he doesn't?"

Diarmuid's silver eyes held a grave light as they searched hers. "Queen Mab declared your lands open for conquest to any who can hold them. If Thalion does not claim you, war will return to Aurelian."

Elowen wrapped her arms around her torso, a chill shivering through her. The roadside vanished in her mind's eye. The orange leaves of the trees became red, like the blood of common folk watering the land as the armies of sidhe lords tore apart peaceful farms.

Lysander wouldn't survive a second loss. Nor would their people. Her guts knotted together as hope died.

"Will—" Elowen gulped the crisp fall air down, rubbing her palms on her green dress. "Will Lord Thalion protect Aurelian from others?"

Diarmuid searched her gaze. "You know he will. Do you need to hear me say it? He must under Brehon Law—he has accepted Lysander's fealty and your hand in marriage."

If she submitted, everyone back home lived. Elowen stared at her hands. But will there be anything left of me after he teaches me his desires?

"Why... Why does he have to bed me in Pyreheart?" The heat of a blush scalded her cheeks, and she fiddled with the reins. "Isn't our marriage enough?"

Diarmuid traced over his cauldron pendant with a dark finger. "Our magic is much tied up with sex and blood. It is the nature of fae." He spoke in a calm, scholarly tone. "Despite the Brehon Law that binds both our people, despite the Gods that watch over us both, we are not human, my lady, and you would do well to remember that. Did Lord Thalion glow for you?"

Elowen blushed harder, the heat of a furnace blazing on her cheeks. "Yes."

"Then you know." He spread his hands, comfortable on the thin saddle. "And you did very well. Not all humans, or even half-humans such as you, can bring an eirnacht's light to the surface."

Her gaze flickered away from him, tendons in her throat standing taut. 'They'll suck the life from you.' Had it started already?

She gulped, thrusting the fear away, and focused on Diarmuid. "How did you know about our mother?"

"Your eyes give you away." He patted her leg. "Don't fret. Fairy will not hold a mixed heritage against you."

Skydancer hooves interrupted further talk as Thalion and Fergus returned. The words of the priest lingered with Elowen throughout the long ride to their campsite.

###

That evening, Thalion helped Elowen off the skydancer with gentle hands while his guards set up tents. Despite the cruelties of the night before, he took every care for her on the road, ensuring her comfort.

His behavior left Elowen confused, especially when he commanded two tents pitched, one for him and one for her.

She ate the food Fergus, the scout and cook, set in front of her while Bran, Eamon and Celia played dice to determine the order of the watch. The two male guards won and Celia rolled her starry eyes as she accepted the middle watch. They laughed, their liquid blue irises shining in the firelight.

Throughout supper, Elowen's eyes strayed to the canvas shelters. Thalion had chosen to spend last night with her. And now, he chose not to. She braided her fingers together, peering into the flames.

Their marriage wasn't truly sealed until he bedded her in Pyreheart. He was Aurelian's conqueror, but also her protector. Lysander and all the people of the town depended on Elowen to make sure the bargain remained sealed.

Aurelian could not afford for her to gamble this alliance if Queen Mab had truly declared them fair game.

Elowen drew little maps with a twig in the sand, tension spanning across her shoulders as she ran through Lysander's options.

No human king would ride to their aid. They were too close to the unseelie realm border, and all their neighbors had cordially disliked her father. Not enough time had passed since his death to change that.

Thalion would levy a tax, but his men would keep their people safe.

And I want to feel his touch again.

A shudder wracked her then, the memory of the cresting wave of pleasure rippling through her groin.

Will there be anything left of me if I learn his desires? He has my body already...

But they had lost the war. She closed her eyes and gathered her courage, even as fear played a fast tattoo on her heart.

As her husband rose to retire, she walked to him, heat burning up her neck and onto her cheeks. "Please, my lord... May I share your tent?"

His starlight gaze captured hers. "You spent half of last night awake and near tears and here you are volunteering for more?"

Elowen raised her chin. "I am your wife."

"Indeed you are." A predatory smile graced his face, and he opened the flap of the tent, waving her through.

Swallowing down a ball of nervous tension, she walked in, stopping just before the bedroll spread beneath a fur blanket. Her shoulders drew toward her ears.

What am I doing? This is madness...

"Don't tell me you have cold feet now." Thalion's hands closed hard on her waist.

With a deep breath, she turned and wound her arms around his neck. "No, my lord."

A darkness passed over him, a hawkish gleam in his eyes. "Good."

Every part of her trembled as his grip shifted to her head. The shameful desire shivered over her skin and her breath caught in her throat. His mouth captured hers, hot and demanding. Elowen clung to him, her treacherous body singing under his harsh caress.

This time, he loosened the laces of her corset. The traveling gown slithered off her, tumbling unheeded to the floor. He drew the chemise over her head, silken cloth sparking goosebumps with every touch. She shivered, naked in the cool air of the tent, the iridescent glow of a single fairy lantern shining on her pale skin.

Thalion pointed at the bedroll. "Lie down and spread."

Pulse surging in her veins, Elowen covered herself, staring at him. Is he just going to take me this time?

He slapped her hands away, exposing every part of her to his hungry gaze. "Do you think you will feel less shame if I take you outside and spear you under the evening sky? My guards would thank me for the show. Maybe I'll let Celia take part. She likes women."

"N-No, my lord." Tears gathered in Elowen's eyes. The considerate husband of the road was gone, replaced by the cruel master of the bedroom. Her treacherous body thrummed, breasts perking up.

He shoved her toward the bedroll. "Then down and spread or we'll put on quite a show."

Shivering, Elowen obeyed him. The furs itched against her naked back, overly sensitive skin crawling between her shoulder blades. She had come to him. He could do anything. And she had invited him.

He could suck the life from me.

Her husband stripped off his clothing, leaving only the ogham rune dangling around his neck. She closed her eyes, preparing to be plundered. But nothing happened, and she peeked through her lashes.

He knelt between her legs, stroking along the length of his rigid cock as his gaze devoured her.

What is he waiting for? Bird wings fluttered in her throat as she struggled to imagine what he might do.

Placing moonflower pale fingers on her knee, he walked the digits down her thigh toward her womanhood. A light tip brushed against her nether lips. She caught her breath, a pulse of desire shooting through her as her body betrayed her once more. Shame curdled in her belly, and she tried to lift her legs, but he forced them flat.

"Did anyone ever touch you here before me?" He ran his fingers through the pale hair above her slit.

Elowen bit her lip. What is he going to do? The cold tendrils of fear coiled through her, mingling with the pulse of desire. "No, my lord."

"Did you touch yourself?" He laughed as she blushed, a scalding heat of embarrassment staining her cheeks. "I see you did. But if no one else touched you, then you have a lot to learn about pleasure."

Elowen crimped back as he leaned forward, but she had nowhere to go. His mouth closed on her breast, fingers twisting in a pinch on the other nipple. Her skin tingled with every touch. He dug his nails under her small globes, leaving red half-moons against her white skin. She writhed as his breath tickled down her ribs, hating him for playing her so well.

He pushed on her belly. "Stay still." The command rumbled out as a growl.

His tongue drew a wet line across her navel and she couldn't help but wriggle her buttocks against the fur. He slapped her thigh then, a brief, sharp pain that only heightened the desire thrumming through her.

Her eyes burned with the shame of it. "S-Sorry, my... my lord."

"My wanton little human." Thalion smiled, gazing up at her across the length of her body. "I should spank you for your disobedience."

This drew a groan from Elowen, the memory of the previous night's hard slaps making her writhe in the furs. She bit her lip, desire curdling in her belly. How could she want to be punished? What was wrong with her?

Is this my debauched fairy blood shining through at last? Am I like my mother?

Thalion smiled, a dark and knowing expression. As he rose, he pointed at her. "Lie still."

She shivered in the furs as he scratched through his belongings. Every sound made her jump as she wondered what he sought. When he returned, he dangled the ends of a soft, deerskin flogger over her. Elowen licked her lips, breath hitching in her throat. She couldn't take her eyes off the leather cords.

Kneeling once more, he trailed the tips over her breast and belly. "Every time you move, you earn a lash." His fingers glided along the hollow of her hip and walked across her slit. Elowen gasped. Her treacherous body squirmed, back arching.

Thalion laughed, and the flogger laid stinging trails across her left breast. Pain blossomed into a desire that made her writhe against him, and he administered another lash, this time on the right breast.

Tears sparkled in Elowen's eyes, even as her womanhood quivered. She wanted more and hated herself for it.

"Have I chosen the wrong deterrent?" He snapped the flogger against the soft flesh of her stomach. "Should I switch the whip for a horse crop?"

She whimpered under the cruelty of his smile, a wetness gathering between her legs. "N-No." Elowen forced herself to stillness, clinging to the furs.

He lashed her thighs. "No, who?"

The tears spilled over, desire and pain throbbing in her throat. "No, my... my lord."

Thalion bent forward, the stars in his eye glittering with inhuman malice. "Good. Because pain is not tonight's lesson."

Elowen's eyes shot wide as his mouth closed on her womanhood. All thought deserted her.

His teeth grazed across the lady's jewel and he licked at her opening. Elowen lifted her hips to meet him, and his tongue danced in her slit. Back arching, she groaned as the glowing moon pattern formed beneath his pale skin.

Without warning, he drew back, abandoning her on the crest of pleasure, leaving her empty and longing.

"No. Please." Elowen writhed against the furs. Pure need thrummed through her.

He laughed and lashed her with the flogger, laying red lash marks over her breasts. "Please, who?"

She curved upward, breath coming in harsh pants. "Please, my lord."

Thalion sat back on his haunches and stroked his pale cock. His lids half-covered his eyes, and he glowed bright as a full moon. "Do you want this?"

Shame made her voice come out in a whisper. "Yes, please, my lord." She wriggled closer to him.

He pinned her with a hand on her belly, shoving her back into the furs. "What did I command?"

She swallowed, her mouth dry and limbs twitching. "Lie still."

"That's right." His voice went lower as he dug his fingers into her flesh. "And yet, you do not seem to listen."

He lashed her again, leather laying fiery lines across her sensitive skin. She clung to the furs, straining not to squirm.

"I'm trying, my lord." Her hips twitched upward, legs curling out. Raw want sent a thrill of terror up her spine.

"Tonight's lesson is obedience." He gave her a dark smile. "And denial." His mouth plundered her womanhood once more.

Elowen tried to obey him, but the subtle dance of his tongue and the pressure of his teeth against her sensitive nub set her hips bucking. "Please, my lord... Please take me." She was beyond embarrassment now, the disgrace of begging her enemy for release feeding her desire and self-loathing alike.

The crest of the wave curled through her, but once again he abandoned her just before the peak, slapping away her hands when she reached down to touch herself.

Elowen sobbed, her lip caught between her teeth as she thrust her hips into the air. The flogger laid cruel kisses on her womanhood, igniting a fire of lust.

The moonflower glow from Thalion's skin eclipsed the lantern, a shining silver light that pooled in the tent.

Again and again, he took her right to the trembling cliff edge, only to lift his mouth at the last moment. When she writhed and arched her back, he punished her with the leather caress of the flogger, feeding her lust, laughing at her tears.

She glared at him, her cheeks wet. "I hate you."

He whipped her breasts. "Who do you hate?"

"My lord." Helplessly, she thrust her hips upward, begging for his lash. "I hate you, my lord."

The flogger rained down on her again, stoking the furnace blazing inside her.

At last, he sat back on his haunches, the dark smile etching cruelty on his face. "Say what you want." Thalion stroked along his rigid cock.

"Please, my lord, your manhood in my slit." Elowen gasped out the words, shame a distant thrill against the vast need beating in her groin.

"You want me to fuck you?"

She gasped and nodded, but he shook his head, the silver strands of his hair glowing threads in the dark.

"Say the words." His voice held sharp edges, like the ogham rune that dangled around his neck.

Licking her lips, Elowen's gaze darted everywhere in the tent but his face. "Please, my lord, fuck me."

"Look at me." Iron hard fingers grasped her chin. "Beg me for it."

Desperately holding his starry gaze, Elowen whispered the words. "P-Please my lord... F-fuck me." Shame poured from her eyes and a pit of desire opened in her belly.

She hated it.

He bestrode her like a colossus, cock ramming into her depths. "Since you ask so nicely."

The light under his skin flared incandescent, and the walls of her womanhood fluttered along his silken length. His hands slid under her hips, lifting her up as his hard thrusts married their flesh. Elowen grabbed the furs, moving with him in a joined rhythm. The ogham rune brushed over her breasts, brief flashes of heat shocking through her where it touched her twitching skin.

He threw his head back with a groan, spending himself inside her like a shooting star. The cresting wave broke over her and she sobbed his name as pleasure turned the world to light.

He surged into her once more, keeping them at the peak. A third thrust turned Elowen liquid, everything inside her straining toward him.

But even fae endurance had limits and Thalion slipped from her, collapsing by her side. They lay together, breaths coming in ragged gasps.

The night air stroked over their naked forms, cooling spent passions. The marks of his lash stung now, biting against her skin. Elowen closed her eyes, fighting tears. She had come to him and yielded herself entirely.

Even Lysander would hold her in dishonor if he knew what wanton things she begged for at her fay lord's hands.

Thalion's kiss brushed across her forehead. "I chose well, petitioning Queen Mab to let me make the first bid."

Elowen's eyes shot wide, his words penetrating the fugue caused by the self-loathing thoughts. He had petitioned the unseelie queen... "What do you mean, my lord?"

"She had declared your lands fair game, but she owed me a boon." Thalion smiled, harsh and dark despite the light playing through his skin. "I petitioned to have one year and one day where my forces alone would lay claim to Aurelian and my queen agreed."

Elowen bit her lip, her mind racing. His lands lay near the Whisperwood that bordered Aurelian—it had made sense that he would be the first of the wolves after Queen Mab allowed them conquest.

But his words changed happenstance to purpose.

"Why would you do that?" She stared at him with wide eyes. "My lord."

Thalion raised his brows. "That is my business and not yours." He turned to his side and snapped his fingers at the lantern, the multicolored dust coming to rest, the light vanishing. The pale moonflower glow of his skin faded as he slipped into sleep, leaving the tent in darkness. Elowen lay beside him, frowning. He had petitioned for the right of conquest, spending a royal boon to claim their lands. Why? What did Aurelian have that he wanted?

Or what did she have?

Fear crawled through her. What if it was something to do with her mother? 'They'll leave you hollow.'

A worse thought wormed to the surface. Brehon law wasn't enough for Thalion. He wanted to seal their marriage by fairy law. Why? Did he mean to make her into a fae?

She shuddered back, drawing her knees up to her chest. No. I promised I would never.

But the questions raised by his careless statement kept her awake long into the night.