AN - Hi everyone, thanks so much for being so patient with me! Real life, I am afraid, caught up with me. In the last month I have had two observations, over a hundred mocks to mark, book trawls and other things. But now I am confirmed a good teacher, and the summer holidays have official started, so here is a chapter...finally! Enjoy, Az x
Chapter 50
Laying her on the narrow bed, Artair glanced up at Rohesia's face, the fear seeping into her eyes made him pause. Yet it was the determined jut of her chin that made the small smile of pride flit over his own face. Brushing back a soft lock of her hair, stroking the satin skin of her cheek with his thumb, he tugged her bottom lip from where she bit it between her teeth. When her eyelids lifted from a long blink she fixed her eyes upon him. "I am so proud of you." His thumb feathered over her cheek once more. "Are you sure you wish to do this?" The tip of her tongue appeared before her bottom lip disappeared between her teeth once more.
She nodded her head slowly as if to make sure he saw it fully, that he did not miss it, to be sure that she was completely on board with this. She reached out to touch the scruff on his face, her fingertips rasping against it, the texture soft and spikey all at once. Releasing her bottom lip from her teeth, she wet her lips with the tip of her tongue. "Yes, I want this...I just, I don't know what to do." Her eyes flitted away from his too keen eyes. They saw everything, down to her very soul and she could not let him see just how nervous she was at this moment.
A slight smile tugged at the side of his mouth. Relaxing her and causing the knot which had balled up within her stomach to loosen momentarily. Artair looked away from her for but a moment which caused the ball to tighten all the more within her. What was wrong? Had she done something already to put him off? What could she say in order for Artair to just look at her as he had before? Was he changing his mind about her? She tried wracking her brain for anything that could be said to convince him she was worth the chance. Her hands hit his chest palms and fingers pressed tightly against the warm solid heat of him. The rough texture of his shirt gave her something to focus on while her mind tumbled over her own thoughts.
She felt his chest expand before she felt the large sigh that he released. His head hung down, his hair falling forward as she desperately tried to hold of the hysteria she could feel bubbling up within her. He was pulling away, she could feel it. Her fingers curled a little into his shirt, trying to cling on as long as she could hold him to her. The tears were starting to sting the backs of her eyes and she had to bite her lip, in order to stop it from giving away the tremor, which was currently quivering through it.
When Artair finally looked back, he focused on her point above her head, while making sure that she could still see his lips as he spoke clearly for her. "Rohesia, I have done this...many times before." Licking his lips he had to look away again, he was ashamed of how he had acted in the past, knowing none of what been in the past was anything like what he had now. What he had with Rohesia was real, it was almost touchable, palpable as it pulsed in the air. The emotions were ripe for all around them to see, it was a fruitful relationship which seemed to blossom the longer they were together. Yet he still had a past which he had to get past first. This was not the time to be bringing this up, but he felt he had to go into this with a clear conscience, she could not accept him whilst knowing that he was not as pure as her in this. She thought she did not know what to do, when in fact he wished he did not have half the knowledge he had, as that meant he had not savoured something that was in deed precious.
Now it felt right deep in his being. This was the one person he was supposed to be with. While he may have found pleasure in the warmth of other women nothing could ever come close to this moment with the right person. By God was she the right person for him, his very soul sang it out, shouting out to the heavens a praise for the fact Rohesia had fallen before him and he had been the one to pick her up.
He sighed once more, knowing that even if this was not the right time, this was the only time. Facing her once more in order to speak, he knew he just had to let the words come. "I have done this before, but never have I felt like this before. I wish I had waited for this moment, had I known how this would be then I would have, but I know now that I am supposed to be here. I know I am not good enough for you, but I promise." He made sure that for this he looked upon her, while her eyes stayed locked upon his lips, waiting for his next words, he took a moment to memorise the lines of her face in the low light of the room. The soft lines of her face juxtaposed with the tiny lines which formed shadows between her eyebrows.
"I promise that I will try and be the best husband that I could ever be." When he paused for long enough, her eyes came up to lock on his, something in his face must have showed the truth of his word. As a gasp came from her, he lunged forward his mouth crashing with hers in an untamed fury. All his passion, all his heartbreak came together in a cacophony of teeth and lips. Tongues warring for supremacy in a battle that could never be won, but losing really did not matter.
Pulling back, Artair gulped in large gasps of air, trying to calm his frantically breathing heart, he knew he was moving too quickly, that he needed to pull back slightly. Yet as he tried to slow down, Rohesia seemed to want none of it, surging forward, her lips clashing with his once more, her fingers diving into his unruly hair. Clutching him too her as if she were his lifeline, the only living being that could in fact keep her routed on this earth. After what she had been through, he could understand her need to feel a part of this earth. With what they were about to do then it was going root her even further where he wanted her to be. Right with him and with no one else.
Easing his hands slowly down her sides, in a counterpoint to the battle they underwent. He knew he had to be gentle, at least a little of his mind had to stay on task to make sure that he did not hurt her. Tugging up on the coarse material of her chemise, he had a fleeting thought that she should be dressed in finery not this material that made even the toughest of skin raw at times. Careful to keep as much contact between them as possible, he maneuvered the material up to her waist, his hands moving slowly back down to the silky, sensitive skin of her thighs.
With another silent gasp Rohesia arched her back, while Artair grinned, if he could do this right, he could make this very good for her. Something that she would never regret, for he could never regret a moment he spent with her, he never wanted that from her. Never wanted her to regret a moment of being with him. He had to make this good, otherwise it would be on his shoulders, he could not have anyone else turn away from him, not when he knew just how badly he needed her now. He had learned only to need his twin's companionship, even when he could not tell him all. No, this he would not mess up, not when he had found out just how much he needed her.
Alfred leant with a huff against the roughhewn wall. His arms crossed angrily across his puffed up chest. How dare that arrogant, twisted little priest do this? He had been so helpful, had helped saved Rohesia from those women, and in the end he had thrown her to the wolves. He had married her to a male that he did not know. How could he have done this? Alfred may have once...or even twice, considered Artair to be marriage material. However, especially after his drinking, and getting them into this situation in the first place, Alfred was completely against this match. How could this priest see things so differently?
The cheery little priest was happily sitting upon a small stool in his doorway. Preventing him from entering the cottage once more. He had not wanted to leave, had not wanted to but had too unless he wanted to push aside the priest. Whilst he may not be the most religious of men, he knew that he should not rough up a priest, if he had any chance of seeing heaven at the end of this life.
With another huff, he shifted slightly against the wall. A small chuckle reached him, causing him to glare at the priest once more. He held his hands up a little as if in surrender, but Alfred did not believe the male for a second. "Oh do cheer up Alfred. This is the best for everyone, but especially for Rohesia. You do not know what I have seen, but what I can tell you is, they need each other and this is one sure way to ensure they are there for each other through what they need to do."
The glare he hoped would at least cause some discomfort for the priest. "You have 'seen' this?" The snort of derision could not be stopped. The priest only sat back against the doorjamb and interlinked his fingers at his stomach. "I have seen it, though I do not expect you to understand yet. But if you wish to live, you will have to leave on the morrow." He raised a hand to stop Alfred in his tracks. "Nay, you need to listen, the snow is thick here aye, but that storm you were in was the last of this season. By the time you reach the pass you need to find it will be hard going but passable, God having shined on you through some weak sunlight. If you do not leave on the morrow...one or more of you will end up dead. As in the permanent kind." A raised eyebrow was the only reference he made of that last comment.
"Dead?"
"Aye, I cannot say for certain which of you it will be, but I know pain and death are the only things here for you if you stay. But if you leave there is life, and that life only exists because they married now." The priest leant his head back and closed his eyes a smile on his face. It seemed from his quarter the conversation was now over. All Alfred had to do now was work out what was actually the best course of action for him to take.