The Last Time (1/2)
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Dana, Eimi
Date Posted: 6th July 2006
Characters: Traelyn, B'ram
Description: Traelyn comes to B'ram to forget her toubles, and he tells her that this is the last time--and means it
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 12, day 25 of Turn 3
Notes: Follows: "Resented Mask"
B'ram was just on the knife's edge of sleep when his ear caught a rustling. Was it the start of a dream? Or was there something tiptoeing around his room? Sometimes in the darkness of night it was easy to imagine remembered sounds. This one sounded like... bare feet treading softly on stone... the rustle of whispy fabric, like a shift... soft, hesitant breaths... Sounds that certainly didn't belong in his weyr. Slowly his eyes opened. His mind was finding its way to wakefulness, but the soft breathing continued. He was not alone.
The brownrider turned over onto his back, his eyes already fully adjusted to the dark. He caught the figure of a woman standing over him at the edge of his bed, looking down at him with uncertain eyes. Lifting himself to his elbows, he stared back at her, for some strange reason not surprised to find her there. Of course she would come. B'ram knew she would eventually. He had been waiting for her. He knew what she had been feeling since their last encounter. He knew that even the most exhausting night of frolicking sex only magnified the hole inside him, but there was a satisfaction that just a tumble couldn't touch. Oh yes, he knew she would come. And if she hadn't, it was only a matter of time before he went to her.
Traelyn stared right back at him, her dark eyes stark, her heart thudding loudly in her chest. She briefly, bitterly, wondered if he could hear it.
The outer stillness in his room was deafening, the silence between them even worse. He knew why she was here--and for what. He knew, but was making no move to invite her into his bed.
Didn't he desire it though? Didn't he want it as much as she did?
She shifted slightly, her lips parting just a little, the tip of her tongue nervously wetting them as she waited, watching him as he watched her.
He watched her tongue slip across her lips and already knew the battle within himself was lost. In fact, he was disgustingly willing to surrender without a fight. B'ram quietly reached over and pulled the sheets back.
Traelyn didn't hesitate to take the invitation. Slowly she crept up on his bed, then wearily moved towards him, head bending so that her brow could rest on his shoulder, her long, white-gold hair slipping down to brush against his bare skin. Why prolong it any by talking? It would only cause an awkwardness she didn't want to feel--not now.
B'ram reached over and wrapped his fingers around her hips and moved her over him. She was not there to sleep anymore than she was to talk. He had waited long enough for her to come to him. Now that she was here, he wanted to touch her, feel her, and finally feel something inside himself too. His fingers slipped along her outer thighs, under the thin lay of cloth, his eyes searching her face.
**Please take it all away from me...** "Please," she whispered, lowering her mouth to his neck, shifting her hips, guiding his fingers. His flesh was hot against hers...she could feel his muscles bunch and loosen as he moved to work the material up her body. Strangely--obscurely--it comforted her.
He didn't know what what she was asking him. Was she asking him to hurry?
Was she asking him to take his time? Was she asking him to save her from making yet another mistake. B'ram watched hungrily as inch by inch her flesh was revealed to him. He had seen her before, touched her before, but she had never come to him like _this_ before. She had come to him hatefully, she had come angrily, but this time she came to him willingly. A reluctant smile touched his lips as the shift fluttered to the floor of his weyr. They both wanted it, and yet both loathed it. "This will be the last time, Traelyn," he whispered quietly as his hands traveled up her body, fighting to convince himself and her that the words were true even as he touched her softly.
The words relieved her. They scared her. The expression in her glazed eyes was desperate with conflicting emotions as her hands moved. Gently the backs of her fingers caressed down his cheek, the tip of one brushing against his lip. "Sssh..." Then she lowered her mouth to his, not to kiss, but to have it linger there, their breaths mingling, making the fire between them build tantalizingly slow.
She'd used to tease L'kub this way.
No, none of his flings was like this - the tantilizing torture, the nagging need. His one night stands were playful and hollow, teasingly shallow. But this was something different. This was something just the two of them shared.
He no longer had to imagine she was Atreyn. She could be Traelyn now. There was no need for love between them. All they needed was the mutual understanding that misery loved company. It was the knowledge that they both had someone in thier lives once who wanted them enough to take the time to drive them mad with desire and knew so well just how to do it. They had known the meaning of true intimacy. The blazing heat of lust is quick to burn out, but both he and Traelyn had once found a passion that smouldered slowly but gave off heat like white hot coals. They believed it would burn forever, but the coals turned to ash, their fires were not fed, and it wasn't until the heat was gone that they realized it was the only thing protecting them from the cold emptiness inside.
And so she could tantalize him with her lips, and he could tempt her with his hands. Eventually one or the other or perhaps both in the same moment would give into their desire. If they were lucky, it could take them all night. Only together had they found a way fend off the cold.
Last updated on the July 9th 2006