#datenight

Late monday night, the air still warm despite the darkness. The moon hangs overhead, as pale and silvery as the Lady Estrella who walks the path with Sir Devereson.

Sir Devereson's hand entwines with hers and often glances to her with warm smiles. He moves languidly, with ease of motion in every graceful step.

The hours slipped away like beads on a string, quiet and swift - pleasant, certainly, in a lilac haze of beauty and music. Deverson heard her sing - songs for him, ballads known by heart, in a voice as sweet as a nightingale.

He basks in that, and even twirls her once or twice though the only music is what she provides. Even as a troll he knew a little how to dance, but as a sidhe he is far more confident, "You sing beautifully."

"I love music.... always have. I am glad I could share it with you." She leans in for a kiss, a warm graze of sunshine and roses and lavender.

"All that you have to share delights me, all that you do share makes my soul shine," And he kisses her deeply.

Hand caressing her cheek as it happens.

She closes her eyes, leaning into the kiss... but...

His elegant hands can feel it, the flesh grow cool, the rose-petal cheek withering over sharp bones...

The kiss continues

Her lips, too, like ice-water as the flowers turn sour with rot - damp and earthy...

it is startling, and yet, not something he is unused to. If there is a pause, it is brief, then when they part, Sir Devereson gazes upon her "Welcome back, my Zara." His magnificent eyes spark like bits of day time sky that refused to yield to the night's veil.

She recoils slightly, touching her face, her throat. "Earl...."

Her voice a whisper again, his own a masculine chime, "yes, your earl. troll, or sluagh, or sidhe. Whatever title I bear. How do you feel?"

And her eyes screw shut as only a whisper emerges. She turns her face away. "Myself."

"Do not turn your gaze away from me in shame for yourself, ever," more of a command than he meant, "In rage, aye. In disgust if I ever turn into a monster in your eyes, yes. But never in shame for yourself. It is you, the Zara that I love and lust for."

Her dark eyes slide back, seeking his.

And his eyes are gentle, even if they shine still with power, "Or do you doubt me?"

"I am not so beautiful, now." She reaches up, hesitating before she touches his hair - hesitation that was not there as a sidhe, not evident in her easy confidence.

"Sidhe. Cheat." He reminds, "And besides, Zara. You have advantages even over Lady Estrella. Many a time," he whispers "I have wondered if we have delighted fully in your limber prowess to bend and entangle in the finest of shapes. I dare say I have had not the courage, or is it arrogance?" He breathes in her ear, "I am definitely bold, or arrogant enough to say such an idea, and others related to it occur to me now. You are still my Zara. Still my hind. And the hunter, no matter how fine his coat, longs to sink his teeth into the flesh of you and shake you about as we join as predator and prey."

"A hunter must have courage, aye...." Her cheeks turn pink, but she slides her arms around him. "I would be thine, surely."

"I am pleased, nay, overjoyed to know this. Come, you know this area well..." He picks her up into his arms boldly! "Where in the woods would you seek haven for our private and mutual feasting of eyes and hands and more?"

A soft rasp of startled delight. "I know a stream... there is a rock, and a bed of leaves..."

"Then there we go, and I shall bend then like the storm bends the reed," A promise as he carries her away, a bold angel stealing away the spirit lass for earthly delight

And fade to black