Hunted [open for one female, details within]

[_kyrie_]

Danni's eyes closed as his lips claimed hers, branding her with his power, his manhood. Her arms snaked up to wrap around his neck. One hand curled into the length of his hair, the other soothed the long, corded muscles of his neck with languid strokes of her graceful fingers. She heard his urgent groan and responded in kind.

His lips left hers for a moment, he rose enough to look into her eyes. Her smile was tentative, sweet and full of promise. Her eyes glittered with a happiness no other had ever seen within her before. The hand on his neck withdrew to trace the dark line of his lips. First up and over the top one then around and down to the bottom before sliding into his mouth, offering herself to him with the gentle pushing motions of her fingers. She felt his tongue slide over the tip then down the side before sucking it more fully into the warmth of his mouth. Her eyes opened wide at the sudden rush of sensations running through her small body.

The strength of his lips surprised her, as did the light bite of his teeth. Her body squirmed deliciously beneath him as the feeling of entrapment surrounded her. She felt his stiffening manhood against her belly and smiled. To feel wanted by this man, this warrior fulfilled every fantasy, every wish she had ever wished.

And she wanted him in turn. Although sore and bruised her body cried out for his. Danni possessed no guile, manipulative or conniving skills to lure him with. What he saw within her was true and honest. The light of her soul shone in her eyes, the light of her lust clearly visible to Marcus.

What was unclear and barely noticeable to Danni would become more clear and more uncomfortable as the day wore on. The burned skin surrounding her ankles had deepened, the pain of it steadily increasing as her feelings for Marcus grew ever stronger. Unknown to either in that moment, brilliant white snowflakes began to fall unexpectedly outside, blanketing them within the warmth and safety of their stone cottage.

 

[Svenski]

This time he wants to show her how he can be when he is just himself, just Marcus unclouded by the fury and blinding need for energetic, violent release. This time he wants her to feel more than needed but wanted; wanted for the smile in her eyes, the flush on her cheeks, the fire in her hair and heart, the soft globes of her breasts, the curve of her hips, the form in her legs, the scent of her sex, all parts of her in gathered into a lithe and luscious picture of immense attraction.

Crouched over her, he raises one hand to lightly grasp the fingers she plays into his mouth. He grins as he nips at their length, not to hurt so much as to offer her different sensations from the smooth, enveloping wetness of the flat of his tongue to the brief, sharp touch of the hard edges of his teeth. Then he withdraws her hand, fingers moistened and he guides her to keep her first two fingers extended, glistening at their tips. His smile is reassuring as he leads those fingers to down to her bosom, to the stiffening bud of her nipple and there he glides her moist fingers over that sensitive nub, enjoying her expression as she feels herself guided to her own pleasures.

"Play with yourself there, Danni," he instructs her through his smile, voice confident but gentle. He strokes over the back of her hand in encouragement then lowers himself down the bed a few inches so that his lips can find her other teat. His warm breath washes over her breast and he looks up to find her face, to watch her react as he extends his tongue and curls a small circuit round her free nipple. He savours the little sound she makes at the back of her throat, his smile deepening as he closes his lips around that erect nub to toy with it in his mouth.

He slides his hand down over her flank, stroking at her hip, finger tips trailing across her belly above the downy red fur between her thighs, tracing small circles, wavy lines, following her curves and the rise and fall of her abdomen in time with her breath.

He remembers, all of a sudden, that she had told him that she was not a virgin yet, when he thrust into her on the floor before the fire he felt the resistance inside her that he knew his long lost lover also gave to him. Equally suddenly, he wants to know why and he finds he cannot hold the question back so he releases her breast from between his lips and asks her straight, though in a kindly tone, "Danni, why did you tell me you were not a virgin?"

 

[_kyrie_]

"Play with yourself there Danni...."

Every muscle in Danni's body shuddered at his words. She thought to withdraw her hand until his mouth found her other nipple, surrounding it with the lush heat of his mouth. His eyes never left hers, searching for her response, she could not deny him that. She touched her own nipple, smiling shyly as she did so.

His hand running down her side felt as velvet against her skin, sending shivers up her spine and into her shoulders before circling within her chest to race back to the center of her core.

Her small chest rose rapidly with short breaths while his mouth did wonderful things to her. Closing her eyes for a moment to savor the feeling of his hands and mouth on her body, she was startled and dismayed to find his mouth removed, the cool air of the cottage settling around her wet, distended nipple. She removed her own hand quickly, suddenly feeling vulnerable and exposed.

"Danni, why did you tell me you were not a virgin?"

Danni looked into his eyes for a moment before lifting her chin defensively.

"It was not my intent... to lie to you... Marcus." Her small teeth worried her bottom lip unknowingly as she continued. Her left hand reached for and found the light quilt, quickly pulling the corner over her chest, covering her small breasts. Both hands twisted in the material with agitation, as she tried to form the words she had not put to thought yet.

"At first... I thought, perhaps if you thought me not a virgin, you .... 'it' would not want me. And it... would stop." Danni turned her face from him, looking to the farthest end of the cottage.

"I was frightened, I had no way to fight... it." Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she turned again to look into his eyes.

"Then, as you... continued to... touch me and... to speak to me... I felt... something. Something, inside that... wanted you to... to take me like that..." Her face was more than red, flushed with a heated crimson glow.

Danni's brows furrowed, her mouth turned down suddenly into a troubled frown.

"And then memories of... my Uncle and his.. touch.. " Her body shivered with deep revulsion , "they kept running through my mind. The things he told me that his 'Master' was ... what he had planned to do to me..."

Lowering her eyes again, she took a deep breath, the quilt rising and falling with the effort to drag fresh air into her constrained lungs.

"I ... Marcus.. it was 'my' ... my gift to give. Not ... anyone.. elses. Mine, only mine. I wanted, no I needed it to be my decision, no one elses. In my mind I saw that 'thing' that my Uncle had become and I knew in that instant that I would not have survived it. I knew I wanted it to be you, that it had to be you. So... I lied fearing you would not stop and then... I lied... fearing you would... if you knew."

 

[Svenski]

Marcus listens to her explanation intently and without interruption. He feels the awkward twist in her belly as she admits her complicity in his forceful taking of her virginity and he watches her try to hide herself before his frank regard. Yet he does not judge her as he listens and such is apparent from his manner, in the gentle way he watches her open up to him. He sees her courage, her vibrant sense of self and the lengths to which she'll go to make her own choice and his lips curl into a smile of admiration.

"Danni, there is no need to be ashamed nor to hide from the choices you've made," Marcus encourages, "You have been very brave, to my mind, making decisions that even those with great experience may quail at." He slides to settle himself at her side, one long and powerful leg hook over her, pressing his manhood against her hip. He slides his lower hand under her head, fingers lightly tangling into her hair, massaging the back of her head at the very top of her spine, comforting. "I'm not cross with you. Not for what you said nor what you did. I am extremely thankful that you shared yourself with me despite all."

Marcus considers for a moment, then continues, "Perhaps you would have chosen it differently if I had not been in such a fury, so blinded by the demon within. But I desire you, Danni. I want to keep you happy and safe and with me. I want to show you things you haven't thought of yet, or perhaps have only dreamed about. But only if you want these things too."

With his hand at her head he gently but insistently guides her to look back towards him, "Do you want me, Danni? As a man? As a... lover?"

 

[_kyrie_]

Danni feels tears slip from the corners of her eyes. His hand, so big and so very strong is so gentle on her chin. The muscles in her neck strain as she takes in deep, calming breaths.

"You... you misunderstand me... Marcus. Had it been anyone else, in any different situation... whether... Demon ridden or not. I... I would not have made the same choice. It was... made.. because of you. Only you.. no other. I can not explain why nor what is happening or even how. But I know what I feel is real and true and... "

Danni hesitated, looking into his eyes before continuing, "and I needed.. somehow.. for you to ... need me as you did.. during ... well, while... you.. while we... I mean.." she could not continue, she did not have the words to tell him what it meant to her that he had needed her so badly that he had been willing to take it.

Finally finding the words, she looked him directly in the eye, wanting to impart that which she had just found true of herself.

"Marcus, my father's court is riddled with pompous asses, silly nit-wits, limp-wristed, over-dressed, over-fluffed pigeons pretending to be men. I did not waste my time with them, not ever. To my father's chagrin, I was always on the training field with the true men of the Kingdom. Men of fibre, honor... and strength." Her cheeks flared but she continued, "You are of those men my Marcus. I could deny you nothing. What I have ... is yours. What you need from me, no matter the reason..."

She looked very hard into his eyes, she needed him to know that she knew.. and accepted what he needed... what he may need in the future.

"No matter the reason Marcus, you have laid claim to me. To my body, my soul ... and... " She looked away unsure, "and... my heart."

 

[Svenski]

Again, Marcus listens to her intently and then slowly begins to nod as a fuller understanding reaches him, as she declares her intent, her offering. Quietly, kindly, he responds, "You offer me a lot, Danni." In the back of his mind he wonders whether she really knows how much she has offered him but he chooses not to challenge it. "I could not have hoped for so much. Let me show you how much I appreciate that... and you."

He gently tugs the covers down, pulling their soft material over the mounds of Danni's breasts 'til they are both fully exposed. He slides his hand up from her belly, trailing his fingers in sensuous waves up to her breast, letting his fingers trace around the curvature of her bosom in gradually decreasing circles, centred on the dark areola around her tender nipples.

His lips descend to her other breast but stop short; his tongue darts out and paints short, moist strokes round her nipple there, then delicately glides the blade of his tongue up, over and round that sensitive nub. He pauses, withdraws just a fraction, then blows cooling air over the wetness, grinning at her body's inevitable reaction.

His fingers finger her the other nub and toy with her there, rolling that responsive point between finger and thumb, pulling gentle at her flesh.

Marcus darts his tongue over her nipple before smiling, almost grinning up to her, "How does that make you feel, Danni?"

At her hip, his manhood stiffens, pressing between them, eager for more.

 

[_kyrie_]

"How does that make you feel, Danni?"

The cool air of his breath touched her nipple. Danni shivered convulsively. Her green eyes wide with wonder as she watched him.

"Like... like I can't breath... Marcus...."

She lifted her hands quickly to clasp onto his strong shoulders,anchoring herself at his side. Her hips moved slowly back and forth on their own, returning the pressure of his manhood against her hip. Danni thought she may crawl off of the bed when his lips surrounded her other nipple.

One hand tangled in his long hair just above his neck, clinching and unclinching with each stroke of his sharp tongue. Danni's eyes closed again, her face pinched with unrealized tension laying nearly beneath him on the soft mattress.

"Marcus.... " She breathed his name over and over again, a litany that rang from her lips as he twisted the power of their desires ever tighter.

 

[Svenski]

He suckles at her breasts, first one, then the other, starting slow but gradually losing himself in her taste, the silken texture of her skin, the stiff nubs against his tongue, between his lips, nipped gently between his teeth.

One hand finds its way down her flank, over her hip, fingers curling round the curve of her petite derriere before sliding firmly down her thigh. For a second, his fingers tickle into the back of her knee and he chuckles onto her breast, nipping there at the same moment; just a brief tease but one he enjoys. Then his fingers trace a path up the front of her thigh, drifting past the down between her legs and up onto her belly, then abruptly about face. The first two fingers part and glide down into the red fur over her nether lips, avoiding anything too sensitive, just rubbing on the outer lips of her pussy, feeling the heat that radiates there.

His mouth finds its way free of her breast and he shifts up the bed 'til his face is level with hers. "Danni, I want to feel your tongue dance with mine," he urges softly as his lips close over hers, nibbling then parting, teasing his tongue over her lips as he invites her out to play.

 

[_kyrie_]

Danni truly could not breath. Her chest rose but the air she sucked raggedly in did nothing to help. She was suffocating beneath his power, his hands.

She yelped when his fingers caught the ticklish spot behind her knee. The bane of her existence, her inability to hide her ticklishness from others. Certainly her cousins had thought so, torturing her as they often did when they were young.

Her hips rose to meet his fingers, tracing so expertly across her nether lips. Her legs spread on their own, no conscious thought crossed Danni's mind to allow them to do so. Marcus' touch on her body produced a language that spoke to her body alone, and her body responded.

She watched him rise on his strong arms to hoover above her, feeling his shaft moved along her hip as he did. Again her body trembled beneath his.

"Danni, I want to feel your tongue dance with mine..."

Danni opened her mouth shyly, slipping her tongue out from between her red lips. The touch of his tongue on her was so erotic and so intimate, her shoulders shook with the joy of it. She had never imagined a man's tongue could be so, sensual.

She felt him press his lips harder against hers, wanting more. She opened her lips more and felt his tongue plunge into her. Mimicing his motions, she pushed back with her own tongue. It felt as though their tongues fought for control of the other's domain. Yet, it was as he had said, it was a dance. One she had never learned before but one she greatly enjoyed, now.

 

[Svenski]

As her legs part so too her nether lips, just a fraction, but the invitation is made. His middle finger slides along her warm, moist opening, only skimming along the surface and then only once but as their tongues entwine he cannot help himself but to take more.

Starting at the lowest point, in the sensitive flesh between her pussy and her anus, he trails his finger along her channel, parting her nether lips as he glides through her wetness. He feels his finger coat in her juice, easing his path 'til he meets the pea of her clitoris where he slows, ever so slowly pulling his finger over that centre of exquisite pleasure just to feel her response, feel her moan into his mouth.

But it is still not enough and his want for her builds. His tongue in her mouth, he wants to feel more of himself inside her, sensing her rhythm, her own fledgling needs. His finger, the first knuckle slick, slides back down over her clit to find the opening of her inner lips and there he parts her sex, pressing his middle finger inside her. He feels her pussy contract around him, the hot muscles gripping his finger briefly, pulling him into her. He smiles, his manhood flexes, but he holds himself back, wanting to show her more than just sex but the enjoyment a man and a woman can find in each other's bodies.

He pulls her mouth closer, hand curled behind her head, into her hair, then withdraws to allow them both to catch their breath, his finger still buried deep inside her.

 

[_kyrie_]

Danni swallowed deeply when his lips left hers, only to gasp loudly when his finger slipped into her heat.

"Marcus..." She clinched his shoulders tightly, unsure. "That.. feels... that feels... ummmm..." Panting softly again, she can not continue. His finger finding the most wonderous spots to touch within her.

Her mind unravels but still clings tentatively to what he is doing to her body. She wondered about his body and asked her question openly, although breathlessly.

"Mmarrcus.. do... is there.. somewhere... that ... Mmmm... Marcus, I can't think!...Is there.. do you have.. a place such as this... that I can .... touch?"

The pressure of his finger going deeper forced her head back into the pillow, her slender neck arching towards his lips as the sensations stole the breath from her body.

 

[Svenski]

He smiles to her, "I was going to save that for later but, as you ask..." He presses into her once more then slowly withdraws his finger from her sex. "Give me your hand," he gently instructs, taking her fingers into his own and guiding her down between the sheets.

He uncurls her digits with his thumb then slides her hand over his erect length. He rolls back so that his manhood is a little free of her hip then curls her fingers around his manhood. Involuntary, his eyes narrow, pleased at her touch, thrilled at her compliance to his guidance.

"There, Danni. Just grip there, around my cock, and slowly move your hand up and down my length." Marcus keeps his hand in gentle contact with hers, encouraging now more than guiding, "Grip just a little tighter... yes, like that." He grunt pleasurably in the back of his throat, "Mmm, yes, just a little firmer with your thumb... yes, right there..." Positive, affirmative, he encourages her to masturbate him as he massages the back of her neck, watching her changing expressions, captivated by her new experiences revealed through her face, her eyes, the small sounds she makes.

 

[_kyrie_]

Somehow, it was not what Danni expected. The feel of it was solid steel, yet covered in a layer of soft velvet. She tightened her hand beneath his, enjoying his gasp of delight and the way his eyes glazed while watching her do so.

She squeezed tighter, rubbing her thumb just under the tip at the back. His hips jerked slightly, she stopped for a brief moment, thinking she had hurt him only to feel the squeeze of his hand around hers urging her on. She repeated the motion and felt his hips move once again. The thickness grew beneath her small hand, his breathing changed, became raspy and faster.

She looked into his eyes while stroking the thick shaft as he wished and asked in a soft voice,

"Like this?"

Moving her hand more quickly up and down the shaft as it lenghthened and stretched. She felt moistness as her thumb traveled over the tip, her eyes widened with delight when his squeezed closed for a moment, as if in agony.

Enjoying the sensation and the moment, she giggled delightedly as he continued to suppress his enjoyment, the strain of it evident on his face.

Another droplet slid from the tip to glide beneath her hand.

"Marcus, I ... I believe you are leaking?" She tried very hard not to giggle but could not help herself, such was her joy at touching this man she had declared her love and loyalty to.

 

[Svenski]

"Yes, Danni... yes, like... like that," he murmurs, entranced by her touch. He marvels at the speed that she picks up the knack of pleasuring him with her hand, imprints that on his mind as yet another thing he finds intensely attractive about her. Intelligent and sensual, he glows inwardly at her charms.

Her surprise, her joy at his reaction to her touch, he finds these infectious and they bring him to a chuckle of his own, a bassy tone around his quickened breathing. "Not leaking, Danni, just... just eager," his breath catches as her thumb glides over the underside of his thick head, rubbing the moistness there into the darkened flesh of his cock.

He catches his breath, "Eager to be inside you." He slides a leg between her parted thighs, shifting his weight so that he is more above her, but his hand guides hers to stay wrapped around his length. He kisses her, then asks, "Guide me into you, Danni." His member brushes against the fur around her sex causing it to flex in her grasp, as though bucking and chaffing in its need to find its mate.

 

[_kyrie_]

Danni hears the strain, the commanding guidance in his voice and does as he wishes. His body hoovers above hers, ready to plunge into her womanhood, yet she hesitates. Relishing the site of her big warrior, grasped in her hand like this, she commits it to memory, not truly knowing what the future holds for them.

That she, a small girl could hold such a man in her hand was intoxicating. She smiled up at him, allowing the light of her soul to shine out, warming him, taxing him, pushing him even further towards the edge he now needs to cross.

She lay her legs open, wide enough to accomodate his huge form. She is unafraid this time, wanting that which is in her hand to be impaled between her legs. Squeezing her stomach towards the bed, her hips rise, giving herself better access to her opening.

She hears him pant, a groan of pleasure at her movement and lifts her hips thusly again, learning to tease as he has teased her by the use of his mouth. Knowing, feeling his restraint coming to its end, she presses herself up to him, feeling him lower the weight of his body towards hers as she does.

The tip slides into her canal, her hand still wrapped around its girth. She released her hold but allowed her fingers trail its length as it sank within her depths until his hips pressed into hers, his stomach to hers, his face a breath away.

 

[Svenski]

He shudders bodily as he sinks fully into her, eyes rolling back in his head. "Ohhh Danni..." he whispers, even such a quiet sound laden with desire and incredible pleasure.

His world shrinks to the space they both occupy, once separate, now as one. His lips find her cheek and kiss a tender line down to her mouth and there he settles, heart thumping a metre of passion that his body soon begins to follow. He withdraws back to his tip, feeling her channel close in the wake of his retreat, so unused to his girth and this manner of most intimate contact. Then he slides forward fluidly, back to his hilt, feeling her inner walls part before him, flexing around his length.

The metre of his heart calls him onward, demand that he keep pace and time, and his body dances to that demanding tune, withdraw and advance, in and out, in long, smooth strokes.

His hands slide underneath her, holding her close, pulling her to him, wrapping her in his strength as his hips carry the brunt of his want for her.

 

[_kyrie_]

Through the haze of sensation, she hears Marcus call her name. She cries out as his girth stretches the soreness within her then retreats only to pierce her again and again. The pain of his original entry is no longer there, the pleasureable pain of his reentry sends shivers of anticipation throughout her body.

How can something so large, so solid, feel so wonderful pressed inside of her? She wants to ask him this but the thought leaves her mind when he presses his lips to her face before claiming her lips again.

Her tongues slips between his lips, mimicing the rhythm of his hips, in and out. His body so big it nearly holds her still beneath him, while his own thrusts into her canal with long, sensuous strokes of that velvet stiffness she held within her hand but a moment ago.

Danni's small hands rake his back, up and down as he pushes more fully into her. There is no longer a separation of bodies, only one as they push forward together.

She finds herself growling softly beneath him, filled so with such exquisite ecstasy. His own grunts find a chord within her, she matches him with her own mewling sounds.

Another hard push of his hips sends that feeling spiraling between her legs again. She holds onto it, not wanting to relinquish it until his own claims him as well. Still, she sceams his name as she holds back the sensations threatening to engulf her in an explosion of fire and heat.

"MMarcus!!!!"

 

[Svenski]

Beyond thinking rationally, there is only his want for her and the want he feels in return, her atavistic mewls mixing with his primal nature, driving them both forward. He feels his centre coil, the tautness in his balls, but he holds himself back, wanting to bring her closer to the edge, wanting to share his climax with her.

Then she screams his name and he feels her tense and he can hold back no further. As one, his body contracts, throwing his hips forward into her core. His buttocks clench hard, his taut stomach tightens further, then his seed rushes forth in hot gusts of fluid, filling her womanhood.

His heart thunders but his body locks in release, breath stopped, eyes rolled far back, as the intensity of experience washes over him. All sense of self departs him, replaced with an incredible feeling of being part of something beautiful. And as his breath returns, in deep and ragged draws, he refocuses to see that which he finds most beautiful and he breathes her name, "Danni, Danni, Danni..."

Each utterance of her name he follows with a kiss to her lips 'til, breathless, he settles on top of her, cheek to cheek, spent and yet blissful in a way he has not felt in a very, very long time. He cannot help feel, somewhere in this haze, that the woman he lies with is someone very special to him, that he feels an attachment beyond sexual desire, beyond any sense of duty, something altogether more personal, more rewarding... more loving, even if he does not yet see that.

 

[_kyrie_]

His release forces hers from within her. She feels their minds become one as do their bodies. His hot seed spurts into her core, soaking that which makes her female, rending yet a second explosion of sensation to course through her belly into her legs. Danni screams his name, calling to him, begging him to stop.... begging him not to stop.

She feels the lips between her legs tighten, almost painfully as they milk his essence into her being. So much creamy liquid her small womb can not hold its contents, spilling long strands of its warmth down her inner thighs to pool on the sheets beneath them.

And still he presses into her, his weight pounding his shaft into her, seeking one last moment of fullfillment before they both slide down from their shared peak together, landing cheek to cheek on the bed, panting each other's name with each breath.

Her cheek wet with his sweat, his wet with hers. A perfect mingling of their fluids, bending them, bonding them, molding them into one as the fates have decreed.

 

[_kyrie_]

Danni slept. She slept throughout the day and into the night without waking, as though a spell of sleep had been placed on her. Early into the next day, she awoke to find the cottage cold and empty.

"Marcus?" Her voice echoed around the empty cottage. Shivering with the chill of the air, she rolled to slide from the bed, only to find her legs weak and trembling. His wetness had dried between her legs, the scent of him still lingered there. Using both hands to pull herself from the bed, she went in search of Marcus and of food. First she had to find a chamber pot, which she found beneath the kitchen cabinets.

Taking care of her needs quickly, she searched through the drawers for warmer clothes. Still Marcus did not return. Her head ached and she felt as though she had been ill, her muscles trembled with each movement, her stomach growled and her ankles burned with fever.

Lifting her ankles, she saw the darkness there, it had grown darker and deeper. As though black fingers were slowly squeezing into her small ankles, strangling them as they tightened. Danni shook her head to rid herself of her wild imaginings.

Danni used the pump and filled the basin with fresh water, quickly rinsing most of her sleep from her face before covering her naked form with the former cottage owner's clothes. Her feet were cold, but there were no stockings to be found. There was a small rabbit fur donning the wall, perhaps a decoration left there from the owner. No matter, she quickly removed it and fashioned two pair of slippers for her cold feet.

They would not do for outside, but tied around her ankles as they were, they at least kept the cold floor from doing further damage to her aching soles.

Using the same knife that had sliced the rabbit fur, she cut some of the old, stale, left-over bread. At least it would settle her stomach. She looked toward the small, wooden table and wondered if Marcus was alright.

Her eyes caught the sunlight glinting off something hanging from the peg beside the door. It was a strap of leather, a silver symbol hanging from it as though made to be a necklace. The symbol was familiar, comforting. Suddenly recognizing it for what it was she grabbed the necklace from the peg, Danni ran outside in the falling snow to the lean to. Only one horse remained, her Killian. Midnight was gone.

Had been gone for a while, from the looks of the hay and Killian's droppings on the ground. Danni clutched the talisman to her chest, sank to the ground and cried tears of pain and sorrow such as she had never felt in her life.

 

[Svenski]

Marcus curses profusely but as quietly as he can manage, stalking through the woodlands around the high altitude pastures of the Kingdom of Sessalie. This close to winter, many animals have already gone to ground to hibernate through the imminent snow. He'd had a chance to lay a handful of snares before he'd descended to the city just a night or two earlier. Just one more to check, though, with nothing to show for the effort.

Rounding a rocky outcropping, treading carefully between low-hanging pine branches, his heart leaps in relief as he spies a rabbit in the final snare. Caught around the throat, its struggle must have snapped its neck. A scrawny creature, really only sufficient for one, it'd have to suffice.

He drops the dead rabbit in a sack slung over his shoulder then glances skywards through the overhead branches. Clouds are gathering and they have a weight to them that makes him think of further snow, the light sprinkling from earlier almost gone from sight. He realises that the cabin, for all its seclusion, may become a trap of a different sort if they do not move from it soon. Deep snow, poor travelling clothes and very little food are a recipe for disaster.

So despite the meagre quantity of food, he heads back to the cabin above, collecting Midnight from where he tied the black stallion to a tree back near the path. They walk together back up the trail, the clopping of Midnight's hooves echoing off the stone only to be swallowed by the trees. Over the chill run of a stream, up and up, he passes the treeline to walk into the bare pasture before the shepherd's cottage, his stomach growling from hunger: well past time for midday food. There, at a distance, he spies Danni curled over near Killian, her horse gently nuzzling at her body.

A rush of adrenaline fuels his rush forward to cover the ground between them. Impetuous, even oblivious of any danger that might befall him, he fears he has failed her, that somehow agents of the demon had discovered her hiding place and done her great harm. Deeply ingrained instinct prevents his shout but as he slides to his knees beside her, arms reaching out to pull her up, discover her condition, he chokes, "Danni? Danni! I'm so sorry...!"

 

[_kyrie_]

Danni thought she heard his voice and started to raise her head; but she was so tired and heart broken, it couldn't be him. It had been too long.

Again she heard his voice, as if from a long distance, calling to her.

"Marcus?" Danni felt his arms wrap around her. He was here, her Marcus was here, touching her, probing, talking to her.

"You came back. You came." Danni wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. Even Killian whinnied in greeting, having been confused and frightened by Danni's tears and near hysteria at finding Marcus gone.

"Why did you leave Marcus? You've been gone so long, I knew you were never coming back."

Her tears ran freely down her high cheekbones, mingling with their lips locked in a fevered embrace.

 

[Svenski]

His heart skips a beat, then a sensation of incredible relief washes over him as he realises that Danni is both alive and unharmed. Her tears confuse him but he pays that no heed tastes the salt on her lips, then pulls her close, "Shh... shh there. It's fine, I'm here..." He continues to murmur soft nothings to calm her, as though she is a child just woken from a nightmare. It takes a little while for her question to make sense to him.

Quietly, ever so gentle with her feelings, he replies, "We needed food, Danni, so I went to try to find what I could. But the animals have gone to ground, it seems, to sleep out the winter." He manages his disappointment but an edge of it creeps into his tone, "I found something -- a scrawny rabbit -- but it won't last us long." He slips a hand behind her head, stroking her hair, comforting, calming. "But don't worry, we'll be fine. We can gather our things and move on to where we can find more food and shelter. Yes?"

He brushes away her tears with the back of a finger, mustering an encouraging smile for her, "See, it's all going to be okay." At the back of his mind, a worry nags at him that things may really not be okay but he pushes that down deep, buries it, realising that hope may be the one thing that bolsters her over the next few days.

 

[_kyrie_]

Danni rallied. Her deep hurt turning to anger fueled by her fury at him for leaving her.

She leaned back, pounding her fists into his chest.

"It doesn't take hours, days to fetch one rabbit Marcus. It was that, that woman you carry around inside you wasn't it?"

Danni was shocked by her own words. She covered her mouth in horror, rising to her feet wide-eyed, her eyes raking his body; assuring herself he was uninjured.

"I'm sorry. I ... I don't know what's wrong with me Marcus."

She stood there, her feet nearly frozen with cold, drinking in the sight of the man she loved.

 

[Svenski]

He weathers her assault as though the blows were signs of affection, raining on his chest in a furious storm destined to blow itself out quickly. Indeed, though they must cause him some edge of pain or discomfort he just smiles softly, his relief at her well-being insulates him from the flash rage. With that soft smile he shakes his head slowly, a plactating motion, and he slips his hands gently around her wrists, fingers sliding up into her palms to hold her tenderly. "Fear clouds the thoughts of even the wisest men," Marcus tells her, completely understanding.

Her predicament, distraught and deeply chilled, does not escape him but he takes a moment longer to hold her hands, letting her feel his strength and perhaps then find some of her own to marshal her composure. He knows they must leave before too long but another night in the cabin is unlikely to be the final straw and it is clear to him that Danni needs more time, both to recover from this chill and to find her centre, the poise of the Princess inside her.

So he urges her inside, right with her each step of the way. He leads her to the fire, all but expired in the hearth, "Danni, can you set the fire again? I need to tend to Midnight and clean this rabbit so we have meat for a meal. I'll be just outside." He cups a hand to her cheek, "I'm not going anywhere."