By My Side ... (A Valentine's Day Story) by Christine Blackthorn Page B

breaking your
silence, rather the reverse. If I want you mute, I will gag
you."
    Was that intended to reassure
her? How was she supposed to react to a statement like that? But it
was clear he did not expect any reaction from her, what he expected
of her was obedience. His large hand stroked over her eyes,
repeating, without words, his command to close them. It was hard,
hard to close them and hard to keep them closed. She felt him lean
in, felt the warmth of his body reflected along the line of her
brow. She had to clench her eyes closed to resist the temptation to
look, to know what he was doing. His large hand stroked her hair in
a slow, sensuous move, cradling her brow to his chest, his warm
palm coming to rest as a soothing weight against her nape. She felt
his words caress her ear.
    "You are preoccupied with what
you see, not what you feel."
    It took her a moment to
understand the seemingly random words. Then, realisation dawned. He
was answering her question, he was telling her why he had forced
blindness on her. And he was right. Without sight everything seemed
to crash in on her, sensation, scent and sound; all that had been
overshadowed by the power if his presence came back, swirling
around her senses.
    "As much as I enjoy your eyes
on me -- this is not the time. As yet, I do not know what you like,
or dislike, and I cannot read your body when all you react to is
what you see. Like this, blind, you will tell me what you
need."
    "You could just ask me."
    There was definite snark in her
tone. Had she gone mad? She must have, or the warm scent of forest
and wood emanating from his skin was drugging her rationality and
waking her recklessness. At home she would never had dared to used
this tone when kneeling before a Master. She would have been too
proud of her ability to obey, her well trained submission, to even
consider it. And now, here, she had just snarked an orc, a being
who could break her neck with the merest flick of a talon. She
desperately needed to start thinking before she spoke! No, she
desperately needed to think. She was being drawn into some strange
maelstrom of sensation, an unbridled force ripping away each
thought before it could take root and lead to another.
    "I could." He purred, entirely
unfazed by her tone. "But it would be a lot less fun."
    Fun for whom? She suspected
that their perspectives on fun might differ markedly, but was glad
her verbal filter had reengaged and kept her from giving the
sentiment voice. Elena was afraid he might suspect what she had
been thinking anyway. She felt the kiss to the top of her head
before he let her go.
    The moment he broke physical
contact with her, the compulsion to open her eyes reasserted
itself, became an almost painful itch on her skin. She gritted her
teeth in the desperate attempt to control the impulse, to keep
herself from at least spying out between her eyelashes. He was too
smart, too observant, not to notice and she was too smart not to
see this as the test it was.
    Reschkar let the time stretch,
let her fight her own inclinations without moving, without letting
any sensation, or sound, distract her from her rising anxiety. She
had no idea what he was planning to do next. The uncertainty
weighed on her. It was excruciating, with each second she could
feel her muscles tighten a little more, adrenalin collecting in her
limbs, readying her for the threat she could not see, a threat she
knew in her rational mind was not there. When a light touch stroked
over her lips, she jumped, rising on her knees, quivering with the
need to escape, to throw her weight back, away from him. However,
she managed not to open her eyes. It left her shaking, weak in her
bones as the adrenalin subsided faster than it had risen. Slowly,
her body settled back into its familiar position, still tense. But
she was also left with a strange feeling of triumph.
    "Good girl."
    The tone was that of praise,
the sensation of warm pride contained in it, enough to let her
ignore the