Kissing Study

[spcjones203]

         She couldn’t remember the exact day he started appearing in her life. She was still young, a fledgling druid just beginning to tame her first familiar, and full of eager ambition to take on the Lich King himself and free Azeroth from his terrible Scourge. This was her first time venturing away from her home and the village that raised her when both her parents were taken by the plague, and she was discovering it was a wide and scary world. Darkshore stretched for miles in three directions outside of her tiny Auberdine where she had dwelled until just a few weeks ago where she began adventuring to build her skills.

                But one day, he appeared before her very eyes. It was almost like he stepped out from thin air while she was trotting through the woods after her wolf familiar. His armor was so bright the thin rays of sunshine weakly piercing the heavy clouds almost gave him an ethereal glow; the symbols of the sun god etched into each piece to mark him a paladin. Rich dark hair, thick enough to make any woman jealous, brushed his stern jaw line and piercing blue eyes stared down into her own with an eerie, penetrating gaze that made her shiver slightly.

                His approach was that of a predator, slow, supple, filled with a confidence that boarded on arrogance. Heart suddenly leaping into her throat, she knew she must have felt as the raccoon did once cornered by the hungry bear and could not bring herself to move.  He stepped closer, closer, his movements designed to not startle her into flight, his hands moving at waistline to draw off the studded gauntlet covering the right. As he neared, she could tell he was older than her, as humans go. As night elves age, she was little more than in her teens while the man in front of her was descending into his twilight twenties.

                His hand rose slowly; an almost imperceptible tremor rocking the otherwise steady appendage giving a telltale sign of increasing power gathered there.  Skin connected with skin in a tender caress and, for a moment, she could feel the calluses gathered on his palms below the fingers. Suddenly, an indescribable warmth flooded her cheek, washing over a day old cut that still ached dully when she smiled or frowned too deeply. The edge of his palm rested underneath her chin, carefully tipping and raising her small face upwards to view him eye to eye.

                “Beautiful.” He murmured, the deep timbre of his voice turned from what was probably menacing to gentle, as though coaxing a little fawn to eat from his palm. And then he leaned close and captured her untried little mouth with his own. The soft kiss was chaste, almost sweet, the barest pressure of lips against lips, yet her heart was pounding in her ears and her head was swimming with the almost giddy delight. Her knees would have given out on her if his strong arm hadn’t swept around her waist and scooped her against his chest with such ease.

                Before she was able to comprehend what had happened, the paladin withdrew his mouth from her own and eased her booted feet back to the ground. The fall from heaven back to the rocky stretch of earth wasn’t a sweet one in her mind and bitter disappointment welled up as emerald eyes snapped open to view him. Her lips parted in askance as to why he withdrew so suddenly, but then she caught glimpse of his face. The twisted, tortured emotions flickering across tanned skin killed her words on her lips and drew out a gasp instead.

                “Wh-…” she started to say as her hand shot up toward his cheek in a vain attempt to comfort him, but his own hands caught and mingled with the tiny digits and he whispered to her in a rough voice fraught with emotion.

                “Don’t give up.” Was all he said, his lips caressing the back of her slender fingers before he released them.

                A noise behind her suddenly startled her, the sound of a charging Wildkin crashing and smashing its way through the dense underbrush