Goblin Fires: Chapter One (WIP)

Want a taste of what I'm writing for this year's National Novel Writing Month?  Here is the opening scene of Goblin Fires, an erotic romance full of faeries, elves and goblins:

 ***

The warm aroma of blended spices—nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon and just a hint of black pepper—curled up in tendrils of steam from the simple blue mug on the table before me.  I closed my palms around it, relishing the effusive heat like a nice hot bath, and inhaled the scent of Talaith's favorite chai tea with a soft sound of approval.

"Careful, sweetie," Tala purred in my ear.  She had a very eloquent, very refined accent, and she leaned over my shoulder to sprinkle a pinch of cocoa powder into my cup.  "Don't want to burn your tongue now, do you?  I think I should be very disappointed…"

 

"Flirt," I accused her with a smile.  I lifted the cup to my lips and blew gently over the tea, then shut my eyes and took a long, leisurely drink.  I never mind Tala's habit of teasing.  It's a welcome, cozy bit of humor, pleasing even in its childishness.  She always makes me tea after one of our delicious liaisons.  Our familiar ritual, her means of keeping me a little while longer in a gesture of intimate yet innocent domesticity.  She was ever the gracious host.

As I put the cup back down again, I admired her elegance in the dim light dancing from the fire in the hearth.  She was all-over royal, Talaith, though you wouldn't know she was an honest princess only by looking.  Her apartment, though astoundingly large for just one woman, was full of baggy, comfortable furniture, things you might find in a local bookstore, everything in shades of maple and mahogany, and draped with an assortment of mismatched hand-knitted afghans and Tala's discarded scarves and stockings.  Her nest said more bohemian than blue-blood, but it was very her.

She caught me smiling, and I took her chin in my hand to pull her in for a kiss.  Tala tasted like raspberries and honeysuckle, and her hair—a pale shade of copper—was soft as silk as I ran my fingers through it.  I could still smell the fresh scent of her shampoo.

Tala might have been the daughter of the High Noble Sidhe, but she was the fourth daughter, and therefore removed enough from the line of succession that she had no call to worry about the weight of her crown.  So, she didn't.  She was contented.  Still, the noble bearing was clear, once you'd watched her long enough, and it only added to her powerful attraction.

She smiled at me as our kiss broke.  I pulled her down into my lap and gave her a second.  Her eyes were a wild and exceptional tint of blue, positively glowing in the smoldering light.

"Sugar?" she murmured.

"Not in my tea, thanks," I replied, stroking her cheek.  I never took sugar in my tea.  She knew that by now, of course, but she put on a mock pout as she dropped two lumps to her own cup, as though I'd offended her with my refusal.

"Honestly," she muttered.  "What sort of fae doesn't like sugar?"

"One too somber for her station," I sighed, indulging her.  I let my hand trail down her cheek to her throat, caressing the backs of my knuckles very gently along the curve of her breast, which was currently covered by her gauzy little robe, a pretty negligee of hunter green and deep emerald satin.  As she finished adding the sugar to her own tea I kissed her again, this time deeper, pressing my lips to the warm, soft sweetness of hers.  "Besides… I only said not in my tea."

"Mm, will tonight be the night you remain with me in my bower, my sweet Reagan?  It's been a very, very long time since I got to keep you until morning."

"Perhaps not all the way 'til morning," I told her.  "But I may be convinced to stay a few hours more.  Perhaps… to share a bath…"

She wrapped her arms around my neck.  "Mm.  That does sound lovely."

"And… you could read to me, out of your book of dark tales… Annabelle Lee," I went on, pressing slow, tender kisses from her cheek to her temple, and then to her sweet-smelling hair.  "I love to listen to you reading out loud… as I rub those beautiful, elegant shoulders…"

"Mm, you are so full of promises tonight, Reagan," she whispered.  "But what should you say if I told you I wanted you for more than just a few hours, hm?  What if I desire the Lady Knight all to myself, until the day grows long?

"You know I cannot do that, Tala," I whispered, nuzzling her ear.

"You Daughters of Morrigan," she huffed.  "So stiff and rigid.  A great big buzzkill, the lot of you."

I laughed at that, even though she sounded so put out.  She leaned into my embrace, pressing her full and shapely figure to mine, kissing me in ardent, almost petulant reproof.  Only Tala could kiss a girl like that.

"I so desire you, my little one, my Reagan," she purred.  "You know I do.  I could make you very happy, were you mine… and I would like that so very, very much…"

"I am sworn," I breathed between kisses.

"Yes, yes, sworn," she muttered.  "Oath-sworn, forlorn, and lovelorn.  You drift among your many ladies, you steal so many hearts and yet are so selfish with your own.  I see how you look at her, you know."

"Tala…"

"Tell me I'm mistaken, Lady Knight," she challenged.  "Tell me that is not the reason you are so quick to leave me before dawn."

I leaned my forehead against hers.

"Even if it wasn't," I whispered, "You know it would make no difference.  Please, Talaith… don't be angry with me.  The evening has been so pleasant… and I'd like for us to take more pleasure from it yet.  Please don't be angry."

The Sidhe noblewoman regarded me a moment more with somber, scorching eyes. 

"Perhaps I should just trick you into staying," she mocked.  "It worked so well for me… last time."

I gave her a sheepish smirk.  It had indeed.

Finally, though—as I had known she would—she relented with another long, slow kiss.

"You know I could give you all you ever wanted," she breathed as our lips parted.  "If only you were mine, Knight."

"I do," I said, and left it at that.

"Mac soith!" she swore.  "You soldiers!  I cannot fathom."

"I know," I whispered, kissing her again.  She gave up, relaxing against me, embracing me in return.  We made up in a gentle flurry of soft, silent necking, adoring petting, which soon gave way to hungrier motions, tongues meeting and flirting in eager exploration.  Her arms tightened around me as I slid my palm slowly up her perfect, pale white thigh.

"You were saying—" she huffed between kisses, "—something about a bath, Lady Knight?"

"Yes," I murmured.  "I would very much like that.  To have you naked… and wet… and all glistening with soap… in my arms, Milady…"

"Ooh, you're making good progress, I'll say that," she purred.

I slid my arms underneath her, lifting her up as I stood to whisk her into the apartment's large master bathroom—it was already lit only by a single candle, something she did to keep the mood, and it worked.

 

"Excellent," I murmured as I carried her.  "Then I intend to take a good, long time bringing you to ecstasy, Milady.  Perhaps more than once."

At that, Tala let out a soft, good-natured ripple of laughter.

"Oh, sweet Reagan," she purred in my ear.  "For a Knight, you really are so very, very complicated."