The Dragon's Match

XXVI

XXVI
＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

If it was cold, Lillian did not feel it.

It was the one drink that she was offered that contained an enchantment, explained meticulously by Aëghan that she needn't consent to imbibing its contents should she not wish it. Warmth had seeped through her veins gradually upon the first sip of the pungently sweet liquid, but other than that there was little other affect.

Judging by the scantily clad beings surrounding them, she wasn't the only one to have sampled the enchanted drink that evening.

She sat beside Aëghan at the head of a long banquet table that was lavishly sprinkled with colourful spring blooms and greenery, sweets and fresh food of the finest quality, and rich carafes of wine and other fluids that he wouldn't let her touch. They were outside in the clearing of the forest village, surrounded by the dark shadows of looming pines and the intriguingly formed habitats of his tenants. For his part, Aëghan hovered over her protectively, possessively almost, especially when one of the faeborn offered her a plate of intriguing confections or a drink. Most were denied her, for which she was grateful. Having been afflicted by enchantments unwittingly during her time in the Other realm, Lillian was no stranger to the humiliation that followed consuming an item that had been designed to snatch away her autonomy.

Beside her, Aëghan turned to brush tendrils of her hair from her cheek, tucking it behind her ear. He leaned close; his voice barely audible over the cacophony of noise surrounding them in the centre of the inhabitants' forest village. "See anything you like in particular?"

She tilted her head to regard him, their faces so close together she could feel his warm breath against her cheek. Above their heads, the boughs gleamed with the flickering glow of lanterns that hovered sporadically about them, his mesmerizing eyes catching the glittering light. "Is there something you would like me to see in particular?" she quipped.

Unconsciously, her gaze dipped to the dark handprint centred on his chest, as it had been since she had placed it upon his bare flesh. Seeing her mark there, knowing that she had put it there and it wasn't a mere chance of fate, made a tingling awareness shoot through her veins- a possessiveness she knew she had no right to lingering and settling heavily in her core. To her, it seemed more than the mark that banded across both their arms for she had chosen him, it was her decision to mark him, to allow all those present that evening to know that this powerful male had been chosen and branded by her and vice versa.

His smile was captivating, a warmth infusing his intent gaze that was rapt on her every nuance. Aëghan angled his head closer until the tip of his nose grazed the skin behind her ear, his low sigh audible to her even over the ruckus of the clearing. "Perhaps something has caught your eye," he murmured. His lips moved against her skin, a giddy rush following his every suggestive word. "Something that you'd like to recreate..."

A tangible pause and Lillian scanned the clearing, truly absorbing what was unfolding before her. It was, Aëghan had told her earlier, a festival of newness- of growth and fertility, of connection and reconnection. The end of the bitter winter season that was soon to commence with the new beginnings of spring.

It was, essentially, an excuse to promote any form of licentious behaviour that was normally frowned upon in more public and human infused circles.

There was music, loud music with no form or unification prevalent in its coordination- a cacophony of melodies that permeated the night air like shattered glass; not wholly unpleasant. There was dancing, an intriguing combination of human routines and more liberal proximity of limbs.

There were illicit embraces, imbued with throaty laughter and suggestive giggles.

They had not been present long, but he had escorted her among the celebrators with an amiably patient smile, keeping her tucked against his side as they conversed with a few eager individuals. If it was unusual for Aëghan to bear a mark upon his chest that evening, none remarked upon it though Lillian had noted a few coquettish looks from the younger females present.