Diamond Elf - Chapter 8 + 9

Chapter 8

Gabriel had an opportunity to talk with Chelindra in private in the hall outside her sister’s room.

“What exactly is going on? From what I can tell, you defied your brother’s orders, and went to the human realm. Now, you are needed to… provide an heir to the throne?” He asked.

“Yes. It is a sacred law that all elves must try their hardest to create at least one child every ten years. For the royal family, there can actually be severe punishments if a member who hasn’t already had a child doesn’t try to conceive at least once every ten years,” Chelindra explained.

“Why is it so difficult for your people to have children?” Gabriel asked.

“Before the borders were closed… the main reason was that elves are not very emotional, and actually view passion with distaste. Therefore, the actual act of procreation is somewhat repulsive to us. After the borders were closed… I’m not entirely sure why the number of children born has been so greatly reduced. There is usually at least a dozen or so children born in a hundred years… to only have a handful in 300 years… it truly is a tragedy for my people,” Chelindra leaned into Gabriel, and he put his arms around her.

“You’re Highness, His Majesty has asked that you join him in the throne room.”

Chelindra spared the messenger a glance. “Of course.” She laced her fingers through Gabriel’s, and led the way to the throne room. She let go of his hand just before they entered.

“Chelindra,” her brother began, “As I am sure you are aware, I have not yet been able to provide an heir to the throne, and so, it falls to you. You are the only heir I have, and my health seems to be declining. It is vitally important that you fulfill your responsibilities as the only member of the royal family left, other than myself, once our sister dies.”

“Chehiro… I understand, and I have already stated that I will try my best to conceive an heir tonight. I assume that I am to be paired with Phineus once more,” Chelindra stated.

“Actually, no. Phineus feels that he is too old, at over 700 years, to conceive an heir. Since he is the one father chose to be your mate, he suggested his grandson as his replacement… There’s more,” Chehiro paused as if he fully expected Chelindra to express anger.

“Yes,” Chelindra prompted.

“By law, you should have been married by your 200^th birthday, but it was agreed to bend that law in your case to give you extra opportunities to conceive with someone other than the mate chosen for you, but the law must be honored as soon as possible in light of our current dire circumstances,” Chehiro announced.

Chelindra nodded in acceptance. “You wish me to wed this evening before I attempt to conceive an heir with my young and hopefully virile mate. It is perfectly understandable, and I did just vow to Chandra that I would do my best to ensure the survival of our people and the royal line.”

Chehiro sighed in obvious relief, and nodded to a group of elves standing off to the side.

The oldest of the elves greeted Chelindra with a brief embrace and a kiss on the cheek.

“Phineus,” Chelindra acknowledged.

“Princess Chelindra, I present to you my grandson, Aeryc. I sincerely pray for your successful mating.”

“Thank you, Phineus. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Aeryc. I promise to try my best to be successful tonight, but I hope you understand that I cannot stay here much longer than that at the moment,” Chelindra informed him.

“I do understand. We have been watching your activities in the human realm just closely enough to understand that you are close to obtaining peace in part of the realm. It’s a start, and we feel it is worthy of your time and effort,” Aeryc smiled at Chelindra. “However, I have a request. Would you consider using our scrying basin to view your enemy to determine their position in relation to your army’s? If you determine that you have some time, say three days, would you consider devoting them to me before you return to the human realm?”

Chelindra considered his request, and nodded. “Yes, it actually would be a huge help to my army to determine the enemy’s position, numbers, and strategy, if possible. If I feel confident that I can remain here for three days, I will.”

Chelindra smiled at Aeryc’s almost eager expression, and remembered that the youngest elves were the ones most likely to express emotions. Then, she caught Gabriel’s expression. He looked as if he was going to be physically ill. Chelindra gave him a sympathetic look, but wasn’t able to reassure him at the moment.

The last member of the group of elves was a beautiful, and elegantly dressed female. She held out one of her hands to Chelindra, who took a deep breath before offering her hand in return.

“As a priestess of our sacred gods, I am here to join you in holy matrimony with your designated mate.” The elf sent a visible glow of power into Chelindra’s hand. “The gods have given you their blessing.”

She turned to hold her other hand out to Aeryc, who gave her his hand without the slightest hesitation. The priestess sent a glow of power into his hand. “You are blessed as well by the gods with the hope that your union will be productive. I wish to add my most heartfelt hope on your success as well.”

The priestess placed the bride’s hand in the groom’s. “You are now joined in marriage with the full blessings of our gods. Go forth to consummate your new status as husband and wife.”

The rest of the elves in the room gave soft-yet-hopeful applause.

Chelindra smiled at Aeryc. “I will, but first, give me a few moments to scry, and hopefully send my companion back to the human realm with orders.”

“Of course,” Aeryc agreed.

Chelindra gestured for Gabriel to follow her to the scrying pool, feeling deep concern over his ashen complexion. “Gabriel…”

“Don’t worry, I understand,” Gabriel assured her hastily.

Chelindra was grateful that the rest of the elves had allowed her a few moments privacy with Gabriel. “You may understand, but you look very upset.”

Gabriel shrugged.

“I hope you also understand that I will return to the human realm in three days or less, and then I plan to continue exploring this feeling between us,” Chelindra informed him honestly.

Gabriel was well aware that marriage did not necessarily mean that a couple would remain monogamous with each other, but he still felt it was a bit strange to hear her discuss infidelity before she had even consummated her marriage. He directed his gaze into the large basin they were standing in front of.

Chelindra decided to let the subject drop for the moment, and mentally informed the basin of water to show her the enemy army. Gabriel felt nauseous as they looked on the enemy army as if they were birds flying. Chelindra directed the basin to change the view as if the bird was flying back and forth, and in wide circles, until she felt she had a complete picture of their whereabouts.

Then, she asked the basin if there were any smaller units headed toward her army, and discovered that there were indeed three smaller armies following the first. The last thing she asked of the basin was to shift the view the exact distance the enemy could march each day until they reached her army, and found that they really were just under two weeks away.

Chelindra returned her attention to Gabriel. “It seems I do have a little time after all. I want you to return to our army, and tell them-“ she used the scrying basin to show Gabriel strategic positions she wanted units of her army to set up ambushes and various other surprise attacks. Being able to see the actual land in the basin helped Gabriel to fully understand her strategies, and he promised to carry out her orders exactly.

Chelindra opened up a door between the realms, and asked him to step through it. He squeezed her hand briefly, sadly, and then did as she asked.

Chapter 9

Gabriel spent the next couple of days helping the other senior officers carry out Chelindra’s orders. He kept as busy as possible to prevent himself from thinking about Chelindra in the arms of another man.

Meanwhile, Chelindra was discovering that while her husband did not make her feel as passionately as Gabriel did, he did manage to make the experience a whole lot more enjoyable than any of her previous partners, and she wondered if part of the reason was because she had a good deal more practice softening her skin to pass as human.

As an elf, Chelindra knew the moment she conceived, which came as a complete surprise during the morning of her third day of marriage. Aeryc was showing her some things he had learned from a strange old human text, and her enjoyment was increased exponentially when the certainty that she was pregnant filled her.

She even gasped and made other noises elves generally did not make as they felt them to be undignified. Aeryc smiled, pleased that he had caused her such pleasure.

When the couple decided they were too hungry to continue, Chelindra sent a message to her brother to meet them at the scrying basin. The three elves looked into the basin, and were shown a full body reflection of Chelindra with a light glowing from her womb. It was the traditional sign of confirmation of pregnancy, and the males greeted it with joy. Or rather, they greeted it with the elvish equivalent of joy.

“Tonight, I plan to return to the human realm to accomplish my mission,” Chelindra informed them.

“I understand,” Aeryc replied. He tried to sound as if he trusted her judgment, but didn’t quite manage it. He was now concerned about his unborn child.

Chelindra gave a small sympathetic smile. “You needn’t worry about this child. There isn’t anything that can hurt me, therefore, he or she will be perfectly safe until I give birth.”

Aeryc nodded.

“And I promise, I’ll return before the birth so that the baby can be born here, as is only right,” Chelindra added.

Aeryc nodded, feeling slightly better about the prospect of her absence.

*******

Chelindra appeared inside her tent that night by stepping through a magical doorway created by her brother. She found Gabriel in her bed staring morosely at nothing.

“Did you miss me?” Chelindra teased.

Gabriel gave her a look that plainly said he was torn between being happy to see her, and betrayed by her actions. Chelindra kneeled on the bed next to him, and pulled him up level with her.

“Well, I missed you,” she informed him just before she kissed him.

“I think you lied to me,” Gabriel muttered once his mouth was free.

“Lied to you? Why do you think that?” Chelindra wanted to know.

“You told me I was a free man, but it doesn’t feel like it. It feels like you own me; in a way that’s vastly more gentle, and yet a thousand times worse than when I was officially a slave,” Gabriel explained.

“I don’t own you, Gabriel. You are free to make your own choices. You can choose to walk out of this tent right now, go back to King Collin, and ask to serve him. I won’t stop you, though I’ll really want to,” Chelindra told him.

“You say that as if I actually have a choice in the matter, but I don’t. If given a choice between anything and you, I’ll choose you a hundred out of a hundred times. I don’t think I could ever choose to leave you, even if you decided to treat me violently for no reason,” Gabriel confessed.

Chelindra’s heart was pulled nearly in half. She was infinitely happy that Gabriel wanted to be with her that badly, and at the same time saddened that he would let her abuse him rather than be away from her.

She shook her head. “This is why we are taking this relationship so slowly, remember. You told me that you needed time to realize that you belong to yourself before you could even consider sharing your body with anyone. It sounds to me like you still haven’t figured out that you really don’t belong to anyone but you.” Chelindra stroked his cheek soothingly, and leaned in to gently kiss him.

Gabriel couldn’t help feeling hurt by her kiss. He had no idea if she had literally just come from her husband’s bed, and yet she kissed him as if there could ever be something lasting between them. He turned his head slightly aside, but didn’t do anything else to stop her.

Nevertheless, she got the point, and leaned away from him with a sigh. She left the bed so that she could remove her clothes, and don a nightgown. Now that she had experienced some actually pleasant bedplay, she was dying to know what it would be like between her and Gabriel, but she knew better than to push him into that right now. He already felt as if she owned him, if she bedded him now, he’d probably never heal from the trauma of slavery.

She climbed back into bed and got comfortable, snuggling up to him as much as possible without actually laying on him.

“Did you… Did you try hard enough to fulfill your duty? Enough to satisfy your brother that you tried your hardest, I mean,” Gabriel didn’t really want to talk about her past few days, but he wanted to know if her brother was likely to come for her anytime soon. Maybe, if the rest of the elves left them alone, he might be able to stop himself from feeling so betrayed.

Chelindra could see that his mind was still occupied, and waited for Gabriel to finish his thoughts.

Gabriel knew that Chelindra really didn’t have any other choice, and that more people married for duty than actually married for love, but he had been feeling so… so wonderful just being with her, that he had actually begun to feel as if they belonged together.

More than that, he had begun to feel as if she belonged with him. To him; but that was only an illusion created by his mind, and her actions made him feel betrayed mostly because he now knew he couldn’t even trust his feelings. Maybe he should leave until he learned what it was like to live by and for his self, like any other free man.

That thought caused him to hold onto her tightly, and sigh as he admitted to himself once again that he would rather die than choose to be without her. His thoughts finally finished, he realized that she hadn’t answered him yet.

He stroked her back, and prompted: “Well?”

Chelindra figured that he must have sorted things out well enough in his mind for the moment, and smiled. She stroked his face with her finger, and then grimaced. If she was right, her answer was going to stir up his emotions again. “Actually, yes. I conceived an heir, and it was confirmed by the scrying basin in front of my brother, so he knows.”

“You did?” Gabriel was too emotionally exhausted at the moment to figure out how that made him feel. “How can you possibly know so soon? Can that basin predict the future?”

“It can for those whose gift it is to see the future, but as to how it confirmed my pregnancy, it simply showed a light glowing in my womb, which is the traditional symbol of pregnancy. I didn’t need it to know though… I felt it. It was a moment of knowledge so profound that I think it must be like what religious humans call the state of divine ecstasy,” Chelindra tried her best to explain, though she knew he couldn’t understand.

She shifted to look at him better. “I looked over the enemy troops again just before I returned.” Her distraction worked.

“What did you see?”

“Only that they are continuing their course, and are on schedule. We should be able to see them coming in about a week. Did you do as I asked?” Chelindra wondered.

“Yes, though your Second in Command advised that we wait to actually deploy the ambush units until you returned to confirm the orders. He figures that having them in place more than a week early does nothing but increase the chances that they’ll be spotted by enemy spies,” Gabriel reported. “I could tell he had a hard time believing me because I couldn’t tell him how you knew, or where exactly you were.”

“He has a point, but he should have followed my orders without question… Though, I suppose that since he didn’t have any tangible proof that the orders actually came from me, he was merely exercising caution… It seems like we are going to have an interesting meeting in the morning.”

They were both unconsciously caressing each other’s back, and Chelindra realized that she was drawing the Elvish symbols for protection, health, longevity, and love. She stopped herself from completing the last one in case she somehow cast a spell that bound him to her.

Chelindra stared at Gabriel’s lips, wishing he would kiss her, but trying her hardest not to force herself on him. Perhaps keeping him here in my bed is not the best idea. All I want to do is mate with him… If this keeps up, I may not be able to respect his need to claim ownership of his body.

Gabriel’s hands found her hair fascinating. Each strand was defined, and together they formed a solid. He removed the pins and all the decorations from her hair, and yet it stayed exactly as was. He wondered how she managed to style it, and was amazed a moment later when it seemingly melted. Now, it felt almost as soft as hair should feel, and he could twirl it around his fingers.

Chelindra closed her eyes and moaned. He was only touching her hair, but it felt so erotic! She bit her lip slightly, and Gabriel’s attention shifted to her mouth. He kissed her softly, and she responded by pressing her body into his. He kissed her a bit more firmly twice, and then had a strong urge to devour her. He rolled her under him, and deepened his kiss.

For as long as Chelindra had been in command, it had always been her policy for her officers and attendants to simply knock once on the small board before walking right into her tent, so it really wasn’t a surprise that one of her attendants walked in just then.

“Gabriel, you really need to eat, or else – Oh! General! I didn’t realize you had returned. Allow me to fetch more food, or um… would you rather I didn’t?” The attendant focused her eyes on the floor. She wasn’t sure what to do. They were obviously occupied, but Gabriel hadn’t eaten the entire time Chelindra was gone, and she didn’t want to be deemed responsible if he fell ill.

Chelindra gave a throaty laugh. “I may need to change my open door policy.” She noticed an inner war in Gabriel’s eyes, and realized his desire was fighting with his emotions, and judging by the sound of his stomach, with his bodily needs as well. She hadn’t eaten much today either.

“We’ll start with that, and yes, I would be grateful if you brought more,” Chelindra responded. The attendant placed the tray on the table, and hastily left to do as ordered.

The couple untangled and seated themselves at the table. They ate quietly, each absorbed in their thoughts. If they hadn’t been interrupted, would they have stopped on their own?

The attendant returned with more food, and Chelindra heard the news of her return spread through camp. As the attendant left, Chelindra heard her whisper to a few officers, “Not now! Let the couple have some time alone.” They must have mistaken the suggestion as an order from their General as they quietly left.

Ironically, knowing that no one was likely to interrupt them for the rest of the night did not put Chelindra in the right mood. It almost felt as if everyone in camp were listening to her, trying to hear her in the act. She blushed.

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