Robyn looked up from her table where she sat with a client as her mate strode in, his flock of young admirers left outside. Although he still wore his sword strapped to his hip, he had taken to carrying the sylvan longbow with him on his patrols, followed doggedly by sylvan children whenever it was safe to do so. Their fascination with him knew no end, though they were still shy about the home Robyn shared with him, largely because of the humans that frequented it.
With their burrow so close to the border of the sylvan woods, it was an easy manner to set the spells for humans who searched for her help to find them so she could continue the work she so loved. Ashul often stumbled across them first on his trek and led them directly to her, though he lingered broodingly until he assured himself that they were safe enough to leave alone with her.
So to speak, because even then he did not go far in case she had need of him.
Robyn gave the woman at the table a reassuring smile and offered her another cookie, and was rewarded with a smile of thanks as her shaking hand picked it up.
“Communicating with those who go beyond takes it out of you,” Robyn said sympathetically. “Go ahead and nibble on that on your way home. It’s my own recipe and will help settle your nerves so that you will feel right as rain by the time you step through your door. Ashul will escort you to the edge of the woods, and you should have no problem finding your way from there.”
The woman’s smile grew, and she stood, clutching the cookie to her chest. “Thank you, I’ll do that. And thank you again for helping me.”
“It is my greatest honor to do so,” she assured her, her eyes lifting to her mate. “I believe she’s ready.”
He nodded, his face softening so slightly that anyone would have missed it if they had not been looking for it. Opening the door, he stood aside as her client hurried out with one last grateful look thrown over her shoulder. Ashul, however, gave Robyn a hot look and winked with an unspoken promise as he closed the door behind them.
Robyn occupied herself around their home. Despite the low light, they had found a nice balance between her human tastes and his and it felt more comfortable than any other place she had ever lived. Deroxas peeked out from a basket of yarn near the fire where he had hidden during the visit, no doubt enjoying a cozy nap, and she grinned down at him.
Winter had passed in their lovely little home during which they spent the month indoors doing much needed renovations and expanding their space. Since then, spring had come and then was followed by summer. Now fall had returned, and it brought her back full circle exactly a year later. Standing there before the hearth, she recalled the way he held her there for the first time.
With a smile, she stripped off her clothes and dragged a fur around her shoulders. She didn’t hear the door open or close, but she felt the warm brush of his hands on her shoulders as he trailed his fingers along the top of the fur.
“Is this for me?” he purred.
“Perhaps.” She grinned and leaned back into him. “How was your day?”
His sigh ruffled her hair. “You torture me. You do not present yourself as a gift to be unwrapped and then wish to talk. It is not fair, my mate.”
Reaching back, she cupped his hardness and lightly rubbed it until her mate pressed eagerly into her hand. “Just a little talking.”
He groaned. “It went well. We routed out another ogre from the eastern edge. They are getting a little bolder. I’ve been practicing a few of the common drow scrying spells, and that has made it easier to locate them.”
She hummed happily. He had been reluctant to pursue his studies, wishing to sever himself from that part of his life now that he had found peace with her, but she had encouraged him. The drow were no more evil than humans, just beings with their own struggles. Although there were things that he was uncomfortable with and disliked about his life among his people, he seemed to have grown more content since then and had even communicated with a few drow living in small underground dwellings nearby who had provided him with the spell work.
It was a tentative touch but one that seemed to make him hopeful for the future. He learned that many drow had broken off from the queens since the great collision to embrace a new way of life. It was new beginnings for all of them, it seemed.
Ashul brushed back the fur and pressed a kiss to her shoulder. “Now that I’ve told you, I would like to taste my treat. It has been a year, after all, since I first savored something so sweet.”
She smiled at him over her shoulder in surprise. “You remembered.”
He regarded her with amusement, his lips curling. “It is a moment that is hard to forget. Shall I remind you?”
She smiled and snuggled into his embrace. “That sounds like an acceptable idea.”
“I agree,” he murmured. “But first, we need to get rid of this.”
With warm fingers he pulled the fur from her body, his mouth and tongue blazing a familiar hot trail down her body as he demonstrated his love with every whisper and every touch. When his body entered hers and begin to rock with her, her bliss rose mingling with the love that overspilled from her heart.
A year later and it was all just as good—no, scratch that. It was better. And would get better every year yet.