Marital Arts Part 11 - The Undisclosed Ardor

The Royal Palace of Cloud was so much different in the early night compared to daytime. Now it was darkened and quiet and the air was crisp and slightly cold and without its fill of the strong vibrations of people in constant movement. Even time felt as if it was passing slower, the ticking of clocks sounded louder and both more lethargic and more watchful, as if it was only their existence which prevented time from stopping completely and the fires in the night torches and oil lamps to freeze and go out entirely, leaving the compound in an endless darkened night where only shadows and specters moved between moonlit rhomboids of uncurtained window openings.

"I am losing my senses!" Ariel whispered to herself as she crossed the unlit hallway and descended the anonymous back stairs. Pulling the cardigan tighter around her slender form against the expected chill she swiftly crossed the black and white squared floor of the lobby and reached one of the rear doors to the Garden. It was locked from the inside so Ariel brought that special semi-magic lock picker her status as a Royal Princess allowed her to use and pushed it into the lock. A quick turn and a silently whispered formula and a then a distinct clicking sound was heard as the lock opened up and the magic alarm became hindered from triggering.   

The next instance Ariel shoved open the door and exited the palace, her feet crunching white gravel as she  walked out in the moonlit garden where fireflies were dancing beneath the trees and crickets and frogs were playing their melodies of mating. Mists were whirling across the lawns, night spirits hiding in their covers, still visible for Ariel's sensitive eyes, although she paid them little heed. The one she was meeting was of a bit more steady form, of flesh and blood.

"Are you there?" she enquired mutely as she neared the small marble gazebo on the low hill. First the only thing heard was the hushed purl of the tiny waterfalls and the persistent frogs. But then a muted voice spoke.
"Ariel?"
"Sweetheart?" A faint light was seen as someone drew fire and lit a hand lamp. In a short flicker Ariel recognized that face, it was indeed the one she was hoping to meet. "I have no clue what to make of this, or why your presence affects me the way it does. My heart beats faster, it flutters and I feel so warm and exalted and cannot seem to keep a blush from my cheeks for the life of me." She looked at dimly lit features.

"I love you Ariel," he said with such passion and she smiled as tears formed in her eyes, tears of joy and longing.
"I can hardly see you," she whispered softly. "And yet I know that look upon your face. You feel more real and far more wonderful than anyone I have ever known. I feel genuine when I am with you, when your presence is near. I feel..." She sighed and shook her head with an engaging smile pulling at her lips. "I don't know what I feel... It's like... my feet are no longer touching the ground, as if I'm a bird soaring in the sky. Yes, I want nothing more than to turn into a bird and fly away with you, to spend the rest of my days freely flying by your side."

If he was going to choose any moment to make his own emotions known, this was it. He took a deep breath, wondering how she would react. He parted his lips but found himself mute, all the words he had wanted to say were suddenly lost as he looked upon her lovely visage. All that remained within him was the sweetest silence he had ever known, one he dared not break, and a love greater than mountains, more vast than the heavens and deeper than the seas.

He knew then he wouldn't be able to speak for the life of him. Instead he looked down at her elegant hands which were folded around the lining of the plum-coloured woolen cardigan. He slowly, hesitantly reached for one of them. He had dreamed of this moment so many times, touching her skin, seeing her reaction to him, declaring his love for her. The moment seemed too precious, so brittle that he feared doing one single thing wrong would cause this perfect instant to shatter like fragile glass around him, leaving only shards to cut his heart upon.

He took one deep breath and let his finger gently graze the soft skin on the back of her hand. Ariel gasped at the same time as he did, that one small touch sent a shock through them both. It felt like a lightning bolt and Ariel was sure that something powerful had penetrated her soul in that moment. She dared not move and couldn't speak when she felt his warm finger searching her skin. Her eyes slid closed to treasure the moment as he moved his hand to hold hers gently. Her breathing turned erratic as she squeezed back, felt the warmth of his manly, slightly calloused hand.

"Please let this be real." She whispered the plea.
"This is real my Princess," he softly answered and she gasped again as she slowly lifted her hand and placed it on top of his. His skin was warmer than it should have been on this cold late summer's night and Ariel had no idea that the feeling now running through her could exist. It was too powerful, too profound and affected her soul in a way which was a beautiful agony. This was more intense than anything she had ever felt!

"This is nothing but real," he carried on, "so very very real, my sweet Ariel." Just saying her name brought joy to his very being. Hearing that she faced him as he slowly brought her hands up and placed them on his face, rejoicing in the feeling of her small, elegant fingers tracing his features as she unhurriedly explored him, outlining his strong jaw and slightly stubbled chin, then going up to fondle his lips. His skin didn't give like it should; it was smooth and oddly solid, although so very alive with warmth. She ran a finger down his nose and then around the ocular bones before travelling around his brow and going up to his hair. She pulled her fingers through his curls, she liked curls, and these were silky yet strong and wound themselves around her fingers as if they were alive and wanted to snare her. Not that she would mind if they truly did!

Ariel's hands ran out of his hair and eased down his strong neck. She was amazed of the tactical sensation of the muscles on his shoulders and arms as she slid her hands across them. Where the tunic ended she became aware of his warm texture again, he was unusually hairy for being in Elf and she wondered if her lover may have human blood running through his veins. Would she be daring enough to ask?

She could feel his hot breath washing across her forehead, though her head just barely came up to his shoulders. He was so close their bodies were almost touching. His entire being sparkled with life while her fingers explored him, everything was rushing inside of him, arousing him, driving him crazy, and yet this astounding serenity hung in the air between them, a tranquility he dared not taint.

Ariel ran her hands down his strong forearms and then down to his hands, which she took and held. They were hairy too and there was a scar running between his right thumb and index finger, slightly elevated and smoother than the rest of the skin. She opened her eyes, meeting his looks again, although it was too dark to see she knew his eyes were of a beautiful hazel colour, saturated almost like resin.
"You're so beautiful when you smile," he said.
"I am?" It felt like a lifetime since she thought of herself as beautiful.

"More beautiful than anything I have ever seen," he told her. "Princess, dearest, you are beautiful in a way that no one has ever told you. You may not have paid that much attention to me; however I've been watching you when you have had other things, other people on your mind. I've seen the changes within you since your divorce, but before I even comprehended that I loved you, I was enthralled by the way your face would light up when there was no one around for you to fake your Court Smiles for, and I find that woman far more enchanting than the intelligent and bright Princess everybody admires."

"From the day you were born," he went on, "both men and women have fawned over you, paid you their adulation - nonetheless I wonder if any of them have ever told you how magnificent your soul is? While your face is of unsurpassing splendor, the loveliness within you far outshines that of your countenance. I have never seen anything more stunning than the look that comes over your face when you have brushes in your hands, paint on your palette and a canvas in front of you. And then those strong emotions become colours and forms on your canvas, expressions of beauty far beyond what jewels and gems can convey."

Ariel was amazed; a part of her still wondering if this was real. Her mind worked through everything he had said as she stood there holding his hands, nearly losing herself to the connection and energy that was flowing between them. A realization came over her as she looked up into his eyes.
"Are you saying that you love me?" she asked.
"Yes my dear. I love you, more than life," he told her and her eyes filled with tears as a joy ran through her. "Please allow me to kiss you!" he begged.

"Of course," she agreed her voice attenuated by the perpendicular intensity of the moment and a little uneasy since it was such a long time since the last time she had kissed anyone in earnest passion. As a response he released one of her hands and slowly caressed her cheek, his touch soft as silk and careful as a gardener handling the most delicate of flowers. This Princess was precious to him, she was everything to him.

His hand came to rest on her cheek and she felt his breath caress her lips while her heart beat with heavy, almost frantic thuds, the pulse echoing in her ears. Her head tilted up towards him and she watched him in wonder, how simply his breath caressed her lips when he leaned down and brought their mouths together in a soft, slow kiss that lasted and lingered. His oral cavity was warm and inviting, he tasted slightly salty and she reached out with her exploring tongue to find his. A long time perhaps since her last real kiss, but it was like riding a horse, had you once learned how to do it you did remember it. He let hear a soft sound in the back of his troth, if it was laughter or a moan she could not tell.

He was just as lost in their kiss and in her as she was in him. It was as if she stole a part of his soul with this kiss, he lost all sense of himself, there was only her and she was everything that existed, everything that mattered. When the kiss ended, he opened his eyes to look upon his love.
"Ariel," he whispered in a helpless plea, it felt as if her body was magnetized and he was her opposite, he was drawn to her in an unbearable and overwhelming way.
"Beloved?" she sighed and he couldn't help kissing her again.

This time he wrapped his arm around her waist to hold her closer as he softly deepened the kiss. Ariel found herself needing something she couldn't comprehend, a fulfilling emotion coming over her, a sensation of a kind she had never truly experienced earlier. She had never felt such desire before, never known such overwhelming passion, never been so truly shaken to her core by the meeting of lips and souls as one kiss led into another. Soon she found herself already long gone, lost in this feeling, wanting more of it, needing to find out where these kisses were leading.

He wanted all of her, but he was in no rush, he couldn't bear for such sweet moments to go by any quicker. He loved this rush going through him, how she excited him and kindled the fire that had burned for so long within his soul as he had been romancing her in secrecy. He loved the soft sighs and moans that left her lips as she held him close and he couldn't help responding with a deep moan of his own. He knew he should wait, however he couldn't help the inconceivable way he wanted her when she did these things to him.

Her breathing was as ragged and as out of control as his own as they begun to remove the hindering clothes, before falling down on one of the wall fixed seats of the gazebo, him with her in his lap. It was narrow and hard, cold and not actually clean; still none of them could care less, lost as they were in desire of each other. Then it all happened very fast as she straddled him and opened up for his member to enter her warm comfort and they both engaged in a rhythmic ascent to event horizon.  

They still held onto one another and after the moment of fulfillment. Ariel rested with her head on his chest, her arms wrapping snugly around his muscular frame.
"Why don't we get married?" she asked playfully, though he was still too dazed to be properly shocked.
"Because I am no Prince," he replied truthfully.
"I don't care," she tittered as she continued to cling to him. "We could run away. Or something. Like they do in poetry and plays all the time."
"Run away? Where should we run?"
"Wherever," she shrugged as she nibbled her cheek slightly, let his stubble scratch her swollen lips.

"Do you think you might be able to love me someday?" he asked, suddenly serious, and heard her laugh softly.
"I already do," she admitted truthfully and his soul soared and then it crashed fatally as she went on. "But I really have to get going. It is getting late and of me is demanded an early rise tomorrow. Before dawn to be true. And I'm going to need my beauty sleep."
"You don't." he held on to her. "You're already the most beautiful..."
"Please... I cannot linger."
"Just a few sec. So I might remember how you felt, how you smelt this wondrous night. The lavender and timothy of your hair. To convince myself that I was not dreaming."

She relented and he held her for the longest time, wondering how he could be so happy or feel so whole with her in his arms. So happy and yet so sad. He felt certain he was the most blessed being in existence. The most blessed and at the same time the most cursed. The one to truly enjoy this undisclosed ardor. And the one to truly feel the aching lack of it when those rare moments were gone and his Princess had returned to her life. The life he could not share with her, since he was of another kind.

Four days will quickly steep themselves in night;
Four nights will quickly dream away the time;
And then the moon, like to a silver bow
New-bent in heaven, shall behold the night
Of our solemnities.
[William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream Act 1, Scene 1]