**Red Roses

[Sileauniamh]

::She had hoped to surprise him, when he came back. Rae knew that he had gone hunting, but she did not spare much thought to it, other than a wry twist of lips knowing that the criminal element around the docks might be light one member come morning ... especially if he found the one that had been accosting women in the town these last few weeks. She had started preparing almost as soon as she had kissed him farewell for the nonce, a touch of
that kiss with her still. She bathed in that rich scent of apples, but left out the roses that often went with it ... for the roses would come later. Combing her hair until it was dry, she then belted a plush robe around her lithe form and went to stand before the bed. Her amber eyes sparkled as she cast her spell, the sheets replaced with layers of silk. Dropping the robe, she lay in the center of that bed, her golden hair flung carelessly
around the white points of her shoulders. As she settled in, she spoke the last command word of the spell, and rose petals showered down over the bower bed and herself.
She smiled and lay back, inhaling the rich scent of them, and hoped of course that he would be pleased ...
He strode the hallway towards his destination, his step graceful yet commanding, proclaiming to all that watched his sleek form that here was a predator, the stalker in the night. He had been out in the cold night seeking his chosen prey, and had been quite a success ... the women of this town had less to fear this night than they had the previous few. He withdrew a handkerchief of raw silk from a vest pocket, and daubed the corners of his velvet
lips with it. It would not do for his lady fair to see blood on his mouth ... entering the room quietly, in case she slept, his gaze took in the sight of her as his slender hand lingered on the wooden door frame like a drift of virgin snow. Frost from the night glimmered like wintry ornaments in his thick sable locks, on his rich fringe of lashes. Had he breath to stop in his throat, it would have. Rae ... his Rae, he thought with a fierce joy of
possession ... she was so lovely, lying there in her bed of rose petals. The contrasts of the image fired his imagination, her pale skin and golden hair making the crimson petals lush and vivid beyond belief. Then she opened her eyes to gaze upon him, his expression bemused.
Amber eyes opened, and Rae smiled like a sunrise. Mintiper. She could look at him forever. She could see the results of his hunt still upon him. Heat still lingered like dawn on his throat and cheek, took refuge in the blushing domains of his mouth. She sat up, holding her slim arms out to him, her love. Rose petals dropped from their resting places to shower her anew, the red daubs of velvety color highlighting the pale skin they rested on.
A petal had stopped its descent on the top of one white breast, almost enticing Mintiper to brush it from that beloved skin with his lips, but he waited a mere moment more, wanting to remember this, remember her like this, forever. The heat of the fire in the room began to melt the frost that decorated him, but perhaps as well it was the passion she inspired in him.
He sketched a bow to her, a move so full of courtly grace that Rae sighed. The sound lingered in his ears a moment like a graceful cascade of music. Rising from that bow, he shut the door firmly behind him. A smile full of wry intent curved his lips as he spoke to her, the swirl of his cape fluttering to rest on the chair at the desk before he sat in it. A look of mild amusement rested on those perfect marble features, still caught with the
blush of life on them.::

Tell me, cara mia ... what have you been doing while I was away?

::She laughed, a sound rich with melody, windchimes in a summer breeze. She gathered up into her petite hands some of those deep red rose petals, and stretched her slender arms over her head, allowing them to fall on her once more. That laugh still tinged her voice when she answered him.::

Why, nothing at all, my darling. Simply waiting for thee.


Originally Posted:Date:17 Feb 2000 02:10:56 EST-Rae

[Sileauniamh]

::Rae paced, with nervous energy that was near frenetic. She so loved the freedom she had to be and do and see ... freedom that might be lost if her brother Dalamar's plans for her came to fruition. Each step rang on the grey stones of the ruin by the shore, a place she sometimes went to think things over in peace. It was a place that Mintiper had once habitated, though most traces of that blessed state had been erased by time and weather, she
remembered it as if it were yesterday. The arch had been hung by ivy, rich and glossy green. Daphne and Apollo still stood impassively, the marble perfection of their limbs harking back to Rae's Romeo of the Shadows himself. She stopped before them, her slim fingers reaching up to remove a smudge from Apollo's cheek, then went to lean against the pillar of the arch that had once been so verdantly covered. The ivy was brown now, dormant for the
winter's chill. Soon it would thrive again, at the coming of spring ... and Rae wondered where spring would find her. She felt blessed, at this very moment ... she had Mintiper's love to sustain her heart and soul ... and doubly blessed, she was carrying his child. She hadn't told anyone but him as yet, but she was sure that everyone would be pleased ... if only because she was so happy about it herself. Rae still held that about her, even after
all this time, that natural bardic talent to make others happy. She drew her slender arms in to wrap around herself, she was so happy that she was almost scared to speak of it for fear she would lose it.
Rae continued her pacing, her soft soled boots scraping the marble with a whisper's breath of sound, her heartbeat loud in her ears. She honestly did not know what she was going to do about her brother ... and she knew that she needed to tell Mintiper about him, and soon. He knew about the imprisonment, how horrible Dalamar had been to her, her subsequent escape and being trapped for those horrible three days under that collapsed tower. What he
did not yet know was that Dalamar was here in Rhydin ... and that did not bode well for Rae. If Dalamar hurt her, Mintiper would slay him in quick brutal fashion, a predator defending his beloved. If he could find him. She would tell him, when she saw him this night, of her fears. She knew that if anyone could allay them, take them from her, her lover could. Her voice was soft, musical and warm like honey as she spoke to the rapidly approaching
dusk::

I know that thee will protect me, Mintiper ... let the night come soon.


Originally posted:Date:18 Feb 2000 08:58:12 EST-Rae

[Sileauniamh]

::Rae led him by the hand, taking small steps as she did so. Mintiper's preternatural and supernal grace would never have normally even allowed for such a pace, but she had blindfolded him so that their destination would be somewhat of a surprise. She glanced back at him in the moonlight, the soft glow of that heavenly orb delineating his sculpted visage in a loving fashion. Here was night's true child, blessed as only a creature of the
darkness could be, too handsome by half for the light of day. She realized that she had paused only when his laugh, Lords of Air and Dark how she loved that laugh, so velvety as it caressed her senses. He smiled at her, the tiers of his mouth curving erotically upward towards the heavens that worshipped him. The silk of his blindfold shifted with the movements of the muscles of his face, stark deep blue against the paleness of that marble skin.
She drew him close for a kiss, then took him the final few steps to the ruins he had once inhabited.
She had remade it in the very image of what it had once been, lush pillows piled deeply on the floor in a fashion that invited a poet's repose. She removed the blindfold, and kissed him anew. At his surprised gazing about, she laughed herself, a joyous bubbling of sound. She dropped her drow piafwi to pool in a dark puddle of material at her bare white feet, then she slowly undid the blue ribbon that held the light silken nightrail closed at her
throat, letting it slide from one shoulder as she did so in a gesture immensely seductive. She drew on slim finger across his lips, then touched her own with it, and smiled softly to him.::

I always dreamed of making love to thee here ... I always dreamed that thee had taken me, on that long ago evening ... that thee had taken me and ne'er let me go.

::She drew him down into those cushions, and made right the past. He gave her the tenderness she craved, the love, and the feeling of being cherished. They clung together and cried out each other's names ... then she slept in his warm arms as he played with her golden hair. He closed his lids over those peathingy blue and silver eyes, the sable lashes resting against his cheeks as he laid one strong
hand possessively on Rae's belly. Within was his child, and he would protect her and the baby with a fierce dark pride.::


Originally posted:Date:02 Mar 2000 16:58:49 EST -Rae