Medieval 03 - Enchanted

.”
    “It was a Learned dream,” Simon said,
“infused with roses and midnight, moonlight and a wild
promise of storm.”
    His teeth closed with exquisite delicacy. A slow,
deep heat stole through Ariane, a burning that was all the more
complete for its languid ease.
    “I am on fire,” she whispered.
    “I can feel it, softer than my dreams. I
didn’t mean to take you that night, even in this way. But I
mean to take you now, in every way.”
    A low sound was dragged from Ariane as her whole
body succumbed to the seething, wondrous thrall of Simon loving
her. He held her with hands both gentle and powerful. Whispered
words praised her and lingering kisses savored her, heightening her
fire until she burned silently, wildly, unable even to cry out.
    Then Ariane looked at Simon and understood what it
was to dream within a dream.
    “I am yours,” she said. “I gave
myself to you before I even knew it. Now, knowing it, I give myself
to you again.”
    Simon kissed Ariane slowly, completely, and tasted
the certainty of her ecstasy.
    “You are mine,” Simon said. “And
you taste of fire.”
    “Burn with me,” she whispered. “I
have been alone within this fire too long.”
    A shudder moved visibly through Simon. As he pushed
away his clothes, he saw Ariane smile at the heavy arousal that
stood revealed before her.
    “Just seeing you turns my flesh to
honey,” she said, touching him. “Man of silk and steel.
And pleasure. Dear God, the pleasure…”
    Another wave of desire swept through Simon, shaking
him.
    “You make me as strong as a god,” Simon
said huskily.
    Slowly he lowered himself, savoring her welcome as
she made room for him between her legs, drawing them up around him,
giving herself to him without reservation. Softly she parted for
him, taking him even as she gave herself to him. He pressed deep
into her, then more deeply still until finally they were complete
within one another.
    The taut, sultry perfection of the joining nearly
undid Simon.
    “I am burning,” he said, anguish and
pleasure both.
    It was the same for Ariane, an anguished pleasure
consuming her like fire.
    “We are…”
    Burning .
    And then neither one could breathe for the violent,
silken ecstasy pulsing between them.
    When it was finally spent, when there were no more
ways to give and to take and to share, Simon gathered Ariane along
his body and held her as though he expected her to be torn from his
arms.
    “There will be a way to defeat
Deguerre,” Simon said fiercely. “There must be. A lost
dowry is not worth so many lives.”
    Ariane’s arms tightened around Simon, holding
him. Silently, passionately, she wished that her gift were
intact.
    If only the dowry could be
found .
    A vision burst over Ariane, holding her completely
in thrall for a time that had no measure. She lay without moving,
seeing only Stone Ring Keep’s circle of stones standing tall
and hard against the winter sky.
    But this time there were two rings of stone.
    Ariane blinked, shuddered, and found herself held
within her sleeping husband’s arms. Elation spread through
her when she realized what had happened.
    The Glendruid witch has the
right of it. Union with the right man can enhance a woman’s
powers .
    I am truly healed !
    Eagerly Ariane turned to awaken Simon, but stopped
before she spoke a single word.
    My recklessness has cost
Blackthorne too much already, Deguerre like a great silver vulture
waiting for a bloody feast .
    If I tell Simon, what will
happen ?
    Elation drained from Ariane. Simon would insist on
accompanying her to the Stone Ring. Dominic would insist that
knights accompany the two of them, for should her father get wind
of the dowry’s recovery, he certainly would move to prevent
it.
    There were few enough knights as it was to defend
Blackthorne. There were none to spare for even the swiftest trip to
the Stone Ring. The fires from Deguerre’s camps surrounded
Blackthorne as though it were under siege.
    Indeed, in a very real way, Blackthorne was under siege.
    If I awaken Simon, he
won’t let me leave because he cannot leave with me. Simon the
Loyal is needed here and now by his lord and brother .
    But I am not .
    I will steal away, find proof
of my dowry, and bring it back for Simon to fling in my
father’s face .
    The thought made Ariane smile. It would give her
pleasure to prove to her father that she was as much to be reckoned
with as any cruel knight.
    A sense of rightness stole through Ariane, a
certainty of