Not Magic Enough and Setting Boundaries - By Valerie Douglas Page 0,9
shared.”
And eased. Something her very presence gave him a kind of solace. He felt less alone - not so far from home with her there - although she wasn’t Elf. He found it didn’t matter so much. Yet still, he wasn’t alone because she was also awake at such a dark hour.
“Which brings me to ask what you do so late? Shouldn’t you be asleep?”
Delae waved it away as if carelessly, not wanting to make much of it. “I don’t sleep well or often, I just hadn’t expected to find another awake on my late night ramblings.”
On many nights she walked or paced these same halls by herself, so often she could walk them blindfolded.
For all the lightness of her tone, Dorovan could sense the weight that lay on her heart that she put aside in the face of his.
“Sorrows can be shared, Delae,” he repeated.
Looking up into his eyes, his beautiful face was as impassive as all those of his race, in those eyes Delae could see compassion, could sense it in him.
Still.
A part of her ached - yearned for comfort and yet she dared not. Once that wall came down… She quailed, flinched away in fear at the thought, afraid the weight of her responsibilities would crush her if she looked at them too closely.
“You have enough of your own sorrow,” she said, gently, “You don’t need mine as well. I’m long used to it.”
“You seem very…alone,” he said.
She did. Even in the midst of her own people she’d seemed solitary, as if there were a barrier he couldn’t see between her and them.
His perception pierced her.
At his words Delae had to turn away, from the sympathy but above all from the kindness in his voice. It touched her to her core. Kindness would undo her, who had known anything but weight and responsibility, demands and complaints for so long - and she knew it.
He still had her hand and wouldn’t release it however gently she tried to free it.
A part of her went still, understanding he wouldn’t let it go.
She realized too that she couldn’t look at him long. Her own loneliness cried out to her.
As with all his people, there was a beauty in his calm sureness. He attracted her with his compassion and kindness, with that devastating beauty, dark silky hair and silvery eyes. A sudden yearning came over her, to be touched and held, to give and be given comfort. The sudden rush of heat - of need - raced through her with such shocking intensity it stunned her, catching her completely off guard. It was something she hadn’t allowed herself to think or feel in such a very long time she’d almost forgotten what it was.
His mere presence made her want what she hadn’t had…couldn’t have.
Dorovan was Elf. She was of the race of Men. It was foolish even to think it.
Even this touch though, this sweet clasp of hands, was more than she’d known for more years than she could count.
The sudden sting of tears in her eyes horrified her. With an effort she turned her head away, forced a smile and a light laugh.
“I have plenty of people here,” she said, in answer to his statement.
And she did, all around her, but none who touched her.
Dorovan could feel the weight on her heart as much as he sensed her sudden bright burst of need, desire. Unlike many of her kind though, she turned away from it.
In all his time he’d never seen another living creature so alone and so in need of simple comfort. And yet she would deny herself that, even when offered.
Reaching out, a small frown creasing his forehead though he didn’t know it, Dorovan drew her chin around and up so he could look into her eyes and held her there until she looked back at him. It was so little to give and so much to receive.
Delae couldn’t be so rude as to tear herself away from him, nor so cowardly as not to face him, so did what she could to try to hide that which ached inside her until she saw what was in his eyes and then all the breath escaped her in a soft rush.
Slowly Dorovan lowered his mouth to hers.
The kiss was so sweet, so gentle that Delae’s fragile heart broke…and opened to let him in.
She gave herself freely, asking nothing but what he was willing to give, save that he let her give what she could to no other… In a