Alera returned her focus back to the pond, as if starting hard enough would bring her mother back, but she knew it was pointless. When she heard Jere approached she viciously wiped at her eyes before he sat down next to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"You know... when I suggested we leave the castle to start a new life for ourselves, this was not exactly what I had in mind."

"So what did you have in mind?" She asked as she looked over at him.

"Nothing this dramatic, but I know now for certain that by continuing down this path, the only thing for us to do now is to become legendary."

She did laugh at that, but shook her head. "I never wanted to be a hero."

"Then what did you want?" He asked her softly.

She leaned into him, holding his gaze. "All that I ever wanted was you.

Jere held her stare for only a moment before he brought his free hand up to her face, cupped her cheek, and brushed his lips against hers.

Alera closed her eyes to the gentle kiss, but it wasn't what she wanted. Not after all that had happened. She didn't want gentle. She didn't want careful. She just wanted him.

So she in turned brought he hand up to his neck and pulled him closer to her, increasing the intensity of their kiss so suddenly, she heard a soft moan escape his lips.

It was like an unleashing.

His tongue met her with vigorous sweeps throughout the other's mouths as he gently lay her back on the moss covered greenery of the forest floor. Softer than the featherbed she had become accustomed to, she shifted to make room for him above her as she felt his legs between hers.

"Alera," he whispered like he was worshiping her, his lips dragging from her lips to her jaw and down her neck. She angled her neck for him, allowing him and any and all access to the skin he wanted to kiss, all while she worked at his shirt, pulling it up and over his head. She wanted to see him, to touch him, to feel him, and even taste him.

He broke their kiss so that he could kneel up and toss his shirt aside, looking down at her in a way she had never seen him look at her before.

Absolute and uncensored desire.

Slowly his hands came to the ties of her shirt, pulling them open one at a time almost painfully and torturously slow.

"Jere," she growled, almost like a plea, just as the final tie had come undone and removed, exposing a decent portion of her breasts to him from beneath her shirt.

"Have I told you how beautiful you are?" He breathed out as his finger traced the plumpness of one breast and then the other.

Alera's breath caught in her throat and she almost forgot how to speak. "Even if you have, I won't stop you now."

He gave her a smile that sent heat straight through her core, amplified once her leaned down and brought his lips to the curves of her breasts.

She let out a soft moan of his name as her fingers tangled in his thick hair, and it only seemed to encourage him further. Releasing one breast from its material confines, his mouth found her nipple and began sucking as the other hand reached beneath her shirt and gripped the other.

Her breath caught in her throat and she arched up into him as he touched her, sucked on her. She closed her eyes to the pleasure of the friction that his calloused fingers created, and her body ached for more.

"Please, Jere," she all but begged. She didn't know what specifically she wanted, but she knew she needed more.

He didn have to ask because he didn't need to. Kneeling up just enough to pull at the hem of her shirt, she sat up and lifted her arms, assisting in removing it the rest of the way. The air of the forest may have once felt cool against her bare skin, but now she felt like she was on fire.

"My turn," she breathed out as she slowly urged him to lie back on the ground, and the grin he gave her showed that he was only all too eager to oblige.

Straddling his thighs, she could easily feel what was waiting her beneath, but she needed to focus. First she wanted to touch. Then she wanted to taste.

"Alera," he murmured as he leaned up on his elbows, watching her as her hands traced down over the strong muscles of his chest, the planes of his stomach, the V that trailed into his pants.

With the care he had given her blouse, so too did she untie his pants. She watched him lick his lips, and she had to bite her own to keep her attention on the task at hand rather than reaching up and pulling him into another unending kiss.

There were more places she wanted to kiss first.

A slow groan escaped him as she finished with the final tie, and she understood why. The pressure of his length that was building within his pants sprung to life the moment they were undone.

Alera's mouth went dry.

The sheer size of him alone was enough to drench her, and she wasted no time wrapping her archer hands around the shaft and slowly working in smooth motions, watching his reactions as she did so.

"Oh gods, Alera," he breathed, watching her as she shifted into her hand. A good sign then, she determined as she increased her efforts, and another moan escaped him as he closed his eyes.

She smiled, almost satisfied, as she lowered her mouth to the tip of him.

"Shit," he hissed, looking back down at her as she met his gaze. She was surprised he hadn't moved any more, but then again she also wasn't sure how well she'd be able to take in the whole length of him.

But she would try.

Ever so slowly she began to bob her head, swirling her tongue and moaning softly at the taste of him in her mouth. She wished she had done this sooner, if only they had had the time together to do so.

"Alera," he breathed, and she felt his hand come down to her head, fingers in her hair as it brushed strands out of her face.

She glanced up at him in question without pausing her efforts.

He had to let out a slow breath before he could continue. "Please... I've been wanting to be with you for so long."

She released him at that and crawled up his body until their brows touched and they shared a breath.

"Then be with me, Jere."

"Oh, thank the gods," he breathed out before he kissed her again, so much harder than before, and again shifted their positions. This time he was not on top of her but lying just beside her, and it was his hand that did the exploring, not his mouth this time, as it dipped beneath the top of her pants and found purchase between her legs.

She gasped as his fingers caressed the wetness of her, and he shuddered as he inserted one finger and then another.

She cried out his name in pleasure as he worked her, spreading his fingers as he moved them in and out as if preparing her for his entry. Too soon he removed them and she immediately felt empty, but only until he began to undo her pants, pulling them down as far as he could until she was able to kick off her boots and the leggings the rest of the way.

He, in turn, knelt up between her legs and removed his shirt and pants the remainder of the way before he lined his length up with her entrance.

"Let me know if you feel any discomfort," he said softly as he slowly nudged her with the head of him.

She let out a gasp as just the barest touch of him in her most sensitive place sent a shockwave of pleasure straight through her. There was no discomfort, no— instead he felt pure undiluted ecstasy as she spread her legs wide for him, silently asking for more.

He was happy to oblige, stopping only once he was completely buried inside of her. He moaned out her name and it made every nerve in her body on high alert as she tried to catch her breath. "Jere..."

Gratefully he took the sigh of his name as an encouragement to continue moving, and he did. Slow but steady while their bodies adjusted to one another's in a way that neither of them thought possible.

Their rhythm was like the ripples on the pond, small movements which grew into a greater crescendo until neither could hold themselves back any longer and their bodies were slick with skin, and the other's name was the only one they could remember until they merged together as one and lost track of where one began and the other ended.

And when they finished, they lay in each other's arms as they each tried to catch their respective breaths, the soft breeze off the pond cooling their heated skin. Alera couldn't think of anything to say to make the moment any more perfect because there wasn't anything else that needed to be said. She and Jere were there together living the life they wanted together, and she knew that no matter what was going to be asked of her, she would be able to do it all with him by her side.

A distant howl had them both bolting up out of each others arms and looking back towards the village.

"Something's wrong," Alera said softly as the wolf's cry shuddered straight through her.

Whether he sensed it from the wolf's mournful howl as well or he heard it in Alera's words, Jere was moving without further explanation. The both dressed quickly, barely tying their booths before they began their trek back towards the forest people's village. Alera almost forgot the dagger— almost, but there was a dull thrum that seemed to remind her of its existence whenever she wasn't thinking about it. Sheathing it on her belt, she followed Jere to the familiar clearing, but could smell the threat before she could lay eyes on the chaos.

Fire.