…or, Violet Opens Up

A healing ointment took care of my rash and all the small cuts and scrapes I’d suffered. Relief was the only thing on my mind when we started applying it. By the time Iason started in on a second coat “just to be sure”, I was starting to have other thoughts.

We stayed in his room most of the night. He darted out to get cold ham and rich elven bread for dinner. I enjoyed a nice, surprisingly rape-free bath. I’m not a big bath-taker, usually, but my muscles needed the extra relaxation.

We fucked a lot. We didn’t talk much. He might have counted that as a victory, but I didn’t care. I’ve never been the type to talk just to hear myself, and I’d said what needed to be said. Iason was better sex than he was company. That was a problem for his long-term plans, but I wasn’t going to ruin the sex by harping on it.

In the morning, we rose early. Iason draped his cape around me and we headed downstairs into the gray morning. I didn’t have classes until late, but I wanted a chance to crash back in my own room. Sharing a bed with Iason wasn’t a bad thing, but it wasn’t restful. Iason kissed me, and then with a touch I was back in the form of the stag.

Iason hadn’t said a word all morning, but he whooped and hollered as we raced down the tunnel to the river, crying in delight as my hooves skimmed the foamy surface of the rapids outside.

In his place, I would have done the same. Without my human voice, my heart cried out for joy.

My body as a stag was so much more powerful. I don’t know if any words can describe how it feels to go from a guy in fairly decent shape to an animal with more strength in one back leg than I probably had in my entire human body. I’d pushed my human body to the limit the day before, running from the worms and jumping over the gorge, but there was no comparison.

All that power was in my body. Iason had it beneath him, pinned between his legs. I didn’t have to be a subtle artist to understand the appeal for him.

I started to feel worried when we got back to the woods I recognized from class. Was he going to ride me up to the doors of the Nexus and change my back there for everybody to see? It was early but some people would be up and about, getting some orange juice from the corner store if nothing else.

He was as discreet as he’d been on the return to Treehome, though. We stopped in the same clearing Professor Bryony had been using for lessons. I let him help me into my clothes after he changed me back. It was like his hand on me getting in and out of the carriage. I didn’t need the help and he knew it. If I was going to fight with him, I’d fight over things that mattered, like him staking my ass in his stupid duels, not whose hand was on my belt buckle.

“Am I going to see you today?” I asked.

“That is an interesting question,” Iason said.

“It’s a simple yes or no,” I said.

“When I spoke of coming to bring you back to Treehome after your classes today, you were cold to the idea,” Iason said.

“I don’t like the assumption that I’m going to stay over every night,” I said. “That doesn’t mean I don’t want to hang a little. If you’re on campus for classes, come eat lunch with me.”

“Just with you?”

“Well, Marlot will probably be there.”

“Just Marlot?”

“I don’t see Missy tagging along, if that’s what you’re getting at,” I said.

“I’ll think about it,” Iason said.

“I guess you know how to find me if you make up your mind,” I said, holding up my wrist. “Barring any sidhe trickery.”

Iason shook his head.

“You have no idea how much that worried me,” he said. “When I was unable to locate you, it was as though somebody had cut off my arm.”

“You didn’t seem scared,” I said. “You came off angry.”

“I said worried, not scared,” Iason said. “And when I found you, I no longer had any reason to worry, did I?”

“Let’s not fight,” I said. “I’m sorry I wandered off. I’m glad I got to meet the fae, but I know it was a stupid risk. I could have met something much worse.”

“Even that same meeting could have gone very badly,” Iason said.

“I wasn’t going to do something stupid like—”

“Like going off into the trees by yourself, naked?”

“I wasn’t going to do something stupider,” I said. “I’d hit my limit. Look, I know it’s dangerous to be rude to the faerie folk, but I don’t make a habit of being rude to strangers to begin with.”

“I will think about lunch,” he said. “But you do not mean to eat in the dining hall?”

“No,” I said.

“Good,” he said. “A better huntsman than I could not track down the meat in most of the dishes they serve.”

“Yeah, that’s one reason we usually stick to the food court,” I said. “You eat a lot of meat, for an elf.”

“You disapprove?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m just surprised.”

“Your mother does not come from a family of hunters, I take it,” he said.

“They do hunt, but they’re mainly craftsmen,” I said.

“I’ve heard it said that among humans, the cobbler’s children go without shoes,” he said. “And yet someone who has never taken up a spear or a bow can go to the supermarket and buy a slab of beef. Among elves, the hunters are rich in roasts and the cabinetmakers rich in cabinets. We trade among each other for what we need, of course, but while a well-made table can last for centuries, the meals laid out upon it must be replaced daily.”

“Blessed are the food-makers, in other words,” I said. “I guess I never thought much about the economics of it all. I just noticed that most of the meat I ate during summer vacation was of the ‘hot throbbing’ variety.”

I tried to chuckle at my own joke, but I noticed that Iason was frowning. He’d known I wasn’t a virgin. He had exclusivity, for now. Was he going to get jealous of my past now?

“I’ll think about lunch,” he said again. “But I probably won’t see you this evening. I expect I’ll be trouncing Melos and claiming my prize.”

“Does he really have a brother at Treehome?” I asked. Elves usually spaced their children out much further than a century. They recognized sibling relationships, but they often didn’t mean anything more than competition for heirlooms.

“Yes, Melos and Linus are twins,” he said. “It should be quite a memorable night for me.”

I fought the urge to scowl. I didn’t care how he spent his nights when he wasn’t with me. I’d been the one to strike down the idea of spending two nights in a row together. Maybe I could have compelled monogamy by making myself available without restriction, but given the choice, I’d take my freedom. Anyway, if it took two guys to take my place, I’d be flattered.

“On the other hand, I would not have time for idle dueling if I were tending to my new mount,” he said. “If you felt the need—”

“No, that’s fine,” I said quickly. “I’m not feeling any needs at the moment.”

“Very well, then,” he said. “It should be a good night. The twins have rarely slept with anyone else individually in the decade they’ve spent at Treehome. I believe I shall be the first at Treehome to bed the both of them at the same time.”

“That’s great for you,” I said. “But what if Linus isn’t interested, though?”

“He would honor the bet his brother makes, even if for some reason he wasn’t,” Iason said.

“Being obligated isn’t the same thing as being willing,” I said. “I don’t want you making any more bets involving me.”

“What if I consult with you first?” he said. “You cannot tell me that you found Melos unattractive.”

“Even if I did want Melos, don’t you think it’s disrespectful?”

“I cannot say that I do think that,” he said. “Were there no such bets among your elven kin?”

“Sometimes it seemed like people took any excuse to get it on that they could,” I said. “Swimming contests where the winner got his pick of the losers. Rules like if you found a flat black stone and gave it to somebody, they had to give you head. There was a lot of stuff like that, but all the rules and bets boiled down to we were a bunch of horny kids without a lot of supervision.”

“We are not ‘kids’ in Treehome, but the rest applies,” Iason said. “Did you ever turn down somebody who bested you at swimming or who presented you with a black stone?”

“Actually, I was one of the best swimmers,” I said. “But not that I can think of, no. I was a little shy about actual fucking at first, but once I’d gotten used to it, I didn’t see much point in passing up an opportunity.”

Iason pursed his lips, then shook his head.

“You see?” he said. “You overthink these things, Iamie. Are you not comfortable because I wagered you, or because I accepted the inclusion of Melos’s brother in the wager?”

“I’m not comfortable with either,” I said. “The fact that his brother had no idea the bet was being made just reminds me of my own position.”

“Even if it had never occurred to Linus to desire me, he would have no reason to regard the occasion as anything but a pleasant surprise,” Iason said. “If for some reason he did not enjoy it, it’s only sex and it would only be for one night.”

“Lie back and think of the Mother Isles,” I said.

“Oh, I doubt very much he will simply be lying back, or that he will have the presence of mind to think of anything but his immediate situation,” Iason said. “In the event that I never have another chance, I intend to fuck the pair of them within an inch of their immortal lives.”

“Iason, would you be more comfortable with me seeing a human guy than another elf?” I asked. It was abrupt, yeah. But hearing Iason talk about nailing guys got me hot, and not only because I imagined myself in their place.

“Ah, Iamie,” Iason said, putting his fingers beneath my chin and tipping my head up. I reminded myself that this only worked since he was in his heeled boots and I hadn’t put my shoes on yet. “If you do not wish to continue our relationship, I would prefer that you say as much.”

“I didn’t say that,” I said. “But I’m not used to being on bottom.”

“You will learn to be,” he said. He leaned down and kissed me. “Goodbye, my beautiful boy.”

I choked on my reply. Beautiful. That kind of compliment shouldn’t disarm me, but it did. He headed out across the clearing, turning at the edge of the trees to blow a kiss. I put my socks and shoes on and headed back towards West Campus, then over the footbridge and back to the dorms.

I saw no one but birds until I got back to the campus proper. Pelinor was pretty quiet, though I could hear water running in the bathrooms as I climbed the stairs up to the third floor. I heard a bed creaking and feet hitting the floor with a thud as I passed Violet’s door. I’d already stopped when I felt a noticeable tug on my belt and a wave of purple vertigo in my head. Her door flew open. She was fighting to get her arm out the sleeve of a nightshirt as it closed silently behind her.

“Good morning, Violet,” I said.

“Jamie, hi!” she blurted out, loudly. She winced at the sound of her voice and then said more quietly, “I need to talk to you.”

“Okay,” I said. I glanced at her room. If her roommate was sleeping, it would be some miracle. If she wasn’t, she’d probably hate us marginally less if we moved away from the door. “You want to come into my room?”

“That’s what I need to tell you about,” she said. “You didn’t come back to your room last night.”

“Yeah, I was with Iason,” I said.

“Yeah, being a deer,” she said, nodding. Her eyes bugged out when she said this. “Wait, what?”

“A stag, to be specific,” I said. “It’s a long story. Well, a short one that doesn’t make any sense.”

“It’s fine, I’ll get it from you later. But the thing is, I knew your room was empty, and I knew you had a couch,” she said. “And I figured you wouldn’t mind, since you’re a nice guy.”

“Mind what, Violet?” I asked. “I did leave my door locked, didn’t I?”

“Right, yeah,” she said. She gave a little laugh. “But, you know you can just unlock the dorm doors by twisting the knob inside?”

“You really don’t have a well-developed sense of boundaries, do you?” I said.

“It was for a good cause!” she said. “She doesn’t have anywhere else to go, and the guys wouldn’t leave her alone. I don’t think she’s had a good night’s sleep since she got here, and that’s before her friends ran her out of Harlowe.”

“Wait, what?” I asked.

There was one person in particular I thought of when the subject was a Harlowe girl. That could fit. A half-demon might not be too popular with all the semi-humans in Harlowe. But she’d never seemed to lack for company that I’d seen, and even if the Harlowites turned her out, she and her hot guy friend had seemed from a distance to have patched things up at the dance.

“Oh, no, not her,” Violet said, shaking her head. “She’s the one who got her run out in the first place. Please don’t be mad, Jamie, but I figured you’re a typical enough guy that you wouldn’t mind having a nymph crashing in your room but decent enough not to take advantage when she’s down.”