She poured herself a glass of sweet red wine and settled down at a table, a book in her lap. She opened it, reading of a fantasy world that was far in the future. Almost 150 years to be exact. She laughed, reading of all the odd things mentioned in it. Power that ran things, including artificial light. Electricity. What a stupid and odd word, she thought. It talked of lots of things that could get you to a destination at 25-90 miles an hour! No horse could do that. They used another odd and lengthy word, Automobile.
She read and sipped the wine. She set the glass down carefully and hadn’t read but another page when she heard the rush of wind coming in through the open front doors. She shut the book, placing it beside her glass of wine. She then stood, all of her five foot 6 inch slender frame, standing to meet this person.
Her breath caught in her throat. The man stood towering over her. He had to be six foot seven inches at least! His hair was a coal colour. Then again, coal was a bad comparison to this, the exquisite black colour. His eyes were the brightest green. They were like emeralds against his skin and were a large contradiction to the darkness of his tan skin and black hair. He looked about 35ish.
Absentmindedly her glance traveled to his left hand. There was no ring there. His right hand held a ring though. A lord’s ring. She immediately curtsied. “M’ lord,” she said softly.
He had been silent over this minute as well. He had studied the woman as she had him. His eyes covered her from head to foot. She had reddish strawberry hair that flickered beautifully in the candlelight. It was very curly, and although it was mostly pulled back in a French twist, some of the curls fell loose and framed her face. Her skin was light, but it seemed only natural due to her light hair and the lightness of her eyes. They were blue green, but icy. They looked friendly, but the ice bluish green lingered.
He blinked several times and noticed her ring on her right hand. She was lady of a manner. He bowed deeply. “M’ lady.” She smiled.
“May I interest you in a drink, M’ lord?” He shook his head. She sat back down and sipped the wine. He walked to where she sat. He motioned to the chair to her right.
“May I, M’ lady?” She nodded and he continued speaking. “I am Wendel Scremen, Lord of Scremen Lands. Many call me “Shadow”. You are the very beautiful lady who sits alone in taverns. But may I call you something else?” he questioned.
“Mais Oui,” she said, her was soft and chiming. He was absolutely entranced. “I am Aurelie Veronique-Tracie Janae-Siqueland. Most call me Aurelie.” She said with a slight laugh.
“I can see why,” he mumbled. In his next sentence, he spoke up “Janae-Siqueland? I just...uh...happened... to notice that you are not married though”.
A smirk tugged at her lips. “Janae would be my maiden name. Siqueland, my married name. Although we are divorced.”
“Why do you keep it, M’ lady Aurelie, if you don’t mind my asking.”
“I don’t, but there is to be no “m’ lady Aurelie”, it’s just Aurelie, Shadow. And I keep it for the sake of my children.”
He looked incredulously at her. “You have children?”
“Yes, why does this surprise you so?” she questioned, cocking her head to the side with curiosity, although he thought it would make a very convenient way to kiss her delicious pouty lips.
“Two reasons. You are so slim, you do not look like a woman who has birthed children, and second, you do not seem but 25 years perhaps, and there are no young children around here.” She laughed at his response.
“I am 37, Shadow. And both my children are grown, 19 and 17 years a piece.” She said with a smile.
“A year younger than myself” he stated for no apparent reason, as if he was thinking aloud.
“Tell me, Shadow, does a female own your heart?” she questioned. She knew it was a very forward question, but she needed to know, and really, she had no clue as to why she needed to know.
His glance, those jeweled bright eyes, looked to her. “Oh yes, a woman owns my heart,” he said. He was glad actually to see the pout on her lips. It seemed incredibly sexy. He carefully picked up her hand off the table and kissed her knuckles with his lips.
“And...who might this lucky woman be, Shadow?” she said softly, the odd feeling of his lips on her skin, making her disoriented. He turned her hand over, uncurling her fingers with a kiss to her wrist. He kissed the middle of her palm. She knew it felt good. He knew she thought that too. He placed small butterfly kisses up to her elbow. He kissed the joint softly.
“Shadow...you...you never answered my question” she stumbled out.
“It’s you’ he said in a husky whisper. “You own my heart, I don’t know how, but I know it to be true.”
At that their lips touched gently. Her arms locked around his neck and his arms around her waist, pulling her to his lap. Their kiss broke and she nuzzled to him and soon fell asleep. He chuckled slightly. He had no clue as to where she lived. Oh well, he thought, She’ll just have to come to Scremen Towers and sleep. He locked Rosemoor Tavern’s doors and walked away with her. She seemed light as a feather as he carried her the half mile or so to the lands. She tousled slightly in his arms. “Shh,” he whispered, “Go back to sleep.” She seemed to trust him, silencing in her sleep again. He smiled to himself. He carried her up to his room.
To his right was a large king sized bed. He laid her on the bed and stripped her of her dress. It seemed she had no need of a corset with her slim figure and only wore a bra and panties versus the usual layers to slim a woman’s figure. He still had no clue how EXTRA layers could slim a woman’s figure, but he had to believe them when they said it. He pulled the covers up over her to keep her warm on these cool autumn nights. He laid on a couch near the bed and slept. He awoke at dawn, almost 6:30. He needed little sleep to get through a day. He snuck out, shutting the door silently. He was walking down the hall, when his sister, Julie, passed.
“So you brought a girl home last night?” Julie questioned.
“Julie, it’s not like that, so wipe that smug grin off your face. She fell asleep and I never learned where she lived. She is beautiful, her name is Aurelie, and she is the one.” He said confidently. Julie looked oddly at him as if he had gone insane. She shrugged and walked on. He went downstairs, and somehow sensed Aurelie wouldn’t be a breakfast person. He grabbed a bagel and some juice and headed back upstairs. He set the plate with the juice and bagel on the nightstand.
At that moment, Aurelie stirred. She blinked opening her tired eyes. She looked around, curious as to where she was.
“Where... am I?” she asked to whomever would listen.
“Scremen Towers” she heard Shadow’s voice reply. Her eyes widened as she rolled over to look at him.
“We...we didn’t...” she said in a voice he could have sworn sounded actually scared.
“No, Aurelie, we didn’t sleep together. You fell asleep and I locked up Rosemoor and brought you here. I slept on the couch.”
He watched her smile and snuggle into the pillow and bed. “The bed is big enough, you could have slept here.”
“Didn’t know if you would mind. But since I brought you here, stay here forever, Aurelie.” He asked gently.
She swiftly looked to him “Excuse me?”
“Stay here forever. Aurelie, marry me.” She silently pondered on that before crooking a finger at him, beckoning him to come closer. He stood and walked to her. She pulled his hand so he’d sit next to her which he, quite willingly, did. She kissed him, her hands resting on his chest. His hand was on the bed to support him and one hand around her hips.
“Show me love” she whispered. He showed Aurelie the most passion and desire he had ever shown a woman.
“I love you,” she said.
“I love you more,” he replied.
“No you don’t, I love YOU, more” she argued.
“I don’t care who loves who more, just as long as you’ll marry me!”
“Of course, Wendel, Lord of Scremen” she said lightly. He laughed pulling her close.
“I still love you more,” he said then silenced her from arguing back, with a kiss.
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