Jasmine is an Elf who has been granted one night in the Human Realm to attend the wedding of Princess Amara and Imperial Prince Gabriel.
"Tonight, would you like to share a bed with me?" I asked the handsome human hopefully.
He chuckled, blushing. "I'm actually engaged to be married soon, and I wouldn't feel right..."
I suppressed a sigh of disappointment and smiled instead. "Hmm... Pity. She's a lucky woman."
He didn't have time to reply because just then, the doors were opened and the music for the wedding of my friend Amara began. The human escorted me down the aisle. He was the best man and I was the maid of honor.
I smiled radiantly as I watched Amara wed her groom. She was such a wonderful person, and I prayed that she would be happy. We had shared our magic, so I could feel her tentative hope. I felt proud to be by her side at such an historic moment.
After the wedding, the entire wedding party -- as well as other important people, such as Princess Chelindra and her husband Aeryc -- waited for the guests to move into the banquet hall. No one said much of anything as we waited, but this seemed to be due to the fact that the King and Emperor were hostile towards each other. They had just been enemies in a long war until recently after all.
I could see that the tension between the two important men was getting to Amara, so I decided to distract her. "Your hair looks a bit mussed, let me fix it for you," I offered.
Amara smiled at me gratefully as I fiddled with her hair. My magic was perfectly suited to the task. When I was done, I held up my hand that subtly glowed with the magic I was using.
Amara placed her hand against mine. We both felt a mild tingling, and her hand started to glow as our magic mingled. This was in addition to the mild glow we both retained from sharing our magic before.
"You should have seen yourself as you came down the aisle," I informed her. "You looked as if the Gods themselves surrounded you with their divine light. It was breathtaking!"
"Thank you," Amara replied with a shy blush. We separated our hands, and I wondered how much more time I would have to waste until we joined the guests for the banquet.
I walked around the room looking at the art and other decorations. Amara naturally followed me. We said nothing, but I knew that she was using this as an excuse to escape the tension.
I noticed that there were two other men in the room. They both looked extremely focused in general -- probably a common personality trait -- and watched me suspiciously. One of them was subtly placed near Gabriel, and it dawned on me that he was the Imperial Prince's bodyguard.
The other was subtly nearer the Emperor, and it made sense that he was the Emperor's personal bodyguard. That would explain the sense of deadliness that emanated from him. He wasn't just dark in looks -- with black hair and eyes -- his aura was dark too.
I decided to ignore the suspicious guards. I had no nefarious plans in mind, so I had nothing to fear from them, and besides... I knew that Princess Chelindra would protect me as a fellow elf. I rather gather that she was serving as King Collin and Queen Haylee's bodyguard while they were in the Emperor's Palace anyway.
Finally, we went to the banquet, and afterwards, there was dancing. I had a blast! Dancing was one of my favorite things to do, and as a good looking Elf -- if I do say so myself -- I was well sought out by all the men.
Eventually, I realized that I was tired. I slipped out of the ballroom when I hoped no men were looking my way. To be honest, I wanted at least one of them to follow me, but I knew it would be disastrous if several or all of them followed me. Therefore, I played it safe by trying to go unnoticed.
"Follow me and I will guide you to your room," tall, dark, and deadly informed me.
I squeaked in surprise. Well, I pretended to squeak in surprise. Elves don't normally feel anything, but I found it fun to act like I did.
"I'm sorry if I startled you, but I was ordered to watch over you and keep you safe," he informed me.
"Why?" I wondered curiously.
"The Emperor felt it best not to provoke the Elven King. If you were to be hurt while staying here, your King might order his sister to retaliate."
I merrily snorted a short laugh. "Are you supposed to be telling me this much?"
He shrugged. He was already walking toward the room I was staying in, and I followed him because I was headed there anyway.
"Does this mean that you are going to be guarding the door to my room all night?" I inquired.
"Probably," he grunted in response. I don't think he was much of a talker in general.
I grinned. "Then why not share my bed? I'll feel much safer knowing that no one can harm me because you're right there."
He stopped in his tracks and stared at me. He did a good job suppressing his astonishment and other emotions; enough that I began to wonder if he was part Elf. I wasn't about to tell him that I was mildly desperate because I was returning to the Elven Realm in the morning.
In the Elven Realm, pretty much every elf young enough for me to want to share my body with was paired up already. I was not interested in Gallen in the slightest because he was so childish. Aeryc was married to Chelindra, and had been off limits for some time prior to his wedding. That left only two other male elves younger than 300... and they were together.
Unless I wanted to dally with elves in their 400s or older, I had no choice but to take advantage of a human while I was here. Plus, I
wanted
to share my body with one of them. I wanted to know what it was like to feel a lover's touch.
Deciding that I was serious, the man whose name I did not know finally smiled. It looked as if he were unused to smiling. I'm willing to bet that his job called for him to look stern at all times.
"That's a good idea," he agreed. "That way, I'll know for certain that no one managed to sneak in through a window during the night."
I held out my hand for him to kiss. "I'm Jasmine, as you probably already know." It didn't really matter to me what his name was, but I figured that it couldn't hurt to be courteous.
He hesitated briefly before taking my hand in his and raising it to his lips. The kiss he placed on my hand tingled, and I wondered if he was giving me magic. His hand did not glow, so I couldn't be certain.
"I'm Jacen," he murmured as he tucked my hand into the crook of his arm. He finished leading me to my room, and then looked around briefly before we entered it. I think he was trying to make sure no one was watching us.
I watched him lock the door, and then pause a moment before turning to face me. The way he kept hesitating, one might think that he either didn't normally like women, or that he had never actually been with one before. I suppressed a laugh; I was supposed to be the nervous one!
He took a step closer to me and I turned my back to him. "Can you unlace my dress?"
He took a deep breath, and then held it for a moment. "Are you absolutely certain that you want me in your bed tonight? I have...