Forbidden (Adara and Emilian)

[Adara Snow]

Adara sat in her favorite chair near a window overlooking the grounds, a thick paperback novel cradled in her hands. Anna had lent it to her, and she should have been immersed in it by now, but though the book lay open and waiting, her mind hadn't made it past the cover. Forbidden.

The more she had thought about that strange meeting with Emilian, the less she had understood it. If, as all others implied, he had wanted nothing more than sex, why had he not taken it? And if he was courting her, why was he not seeking her company at all opportunities?

[Emilian Sota]

Emilian had seen Adara walk into the library and followed her, from far enough a distance so that she wouldn't notice. He had stayed away from her, watching through a hole in a bookshelf, for a few minutes, examining her. At least now he didn't have to worry about her pushing him away, he was fairly certain that she wouldn't, not with his actions in the empty classroom.

He walked out from behind the shelf and came up behind her. "Hello there, Adara," he said, her name sounding natural to him. It sounded more like one of the traditional names he would have heard back home from one of the girls he had befriended.

[Adara Snow]

Adara jumped, her bottom nearly leaving the seat as she pulled a sharp gasp of air, the borrowed novel falling with a light thud to the floor. Her eyes were wide as they found Emilian, and she blushed deeply, then glanced away, unable to set aside the thoughts and memories she had been so deeply involved in only a moment before.

"Hello, Emilian," she said breathlessly. Adara's heart raced on, fusing momentary surprise with her usual reaction to him, and magnifying both with her thoughts. She risked looking at him, praying fruitlessly that the heat in her cheeks would fade enough to give the pretense of normalcy. "I was...preoccupied," she explained, bending to retrieve Anna's book.

[Emilian Sota]

Adara's reaction brought a wide smile across his face. He bent down and took the book, his fingers brushing hers as he brought it to his eyes to read on the back. The words made him raise an eyebrow, "Interesting read," he said, handing it back to her and sitting down. "Romance, I've never been one for much romance." He leaned back in his chair as he looked at her. "I'd rather just skip to the fun." His eyes sparkled slightly with the implications of his words.

[Adara Snow]

"The...fun?" Adara repeated, reflexively taking the book. Her eyes widened slightly as her mind registered a possible meaning, sending her cheeks flaming. That thought had done nothing to slow the beat of her heart. Adara looked firmly down at the book Anna had lent her, though she didn't see it. "Is it...fun?" she asked, the words nearly inaudible, even to her own ears. She could not imagine that it was fun, not if it came from what they had done in that classroom. That had been uncontrollable, strange, intense.

[Emilian Sota]

"Mmm, yes, very fun." His eyes trailed down to the hemline of her shirt as he remembered the feel, the sight, of her bare skin. "Very pleasurable, relaxing, intense, not to mention all the feelings you can't describe, all at once," Emilian said, his voice soft. None of her questions could surprise him, not anymore, not after how she had acted in that room.

[Adara Snow]

"All of that, and fun?" Adara asked. She could recall the mindless pleasure of their kiss, but she would not call it fun, nor anything that had happened after. Looking at him had been pleasurable; simply thinking about it made Adara's blush deepen again. "I can not imagine such a thing." And yet her mind, of its own volition, seemed determined to try. Adara flicked a glance at Emilian that skirted down his shirt before darting away. Her lip found its way between her teeth as she recalled what she had seen.

[Emilian Sota]

Emilian shrugged, "I find it fun. Some don't, some take a little time to find it fun. But me, I just can't get enough," he finished with a grin. He had long before admitted to himself that Pandora was right, he was addicted, but just a little bit, right?

[Adara Snow]

Adara was still looking at her hands, and missed the look on Emilian's face, but she could not ignore the subtle tone in his voice. She realized that it had always been there, that she had simply had no way to recognize it. She chewed her lip, wondering what to say, wondering how he could be someone so different from who she had first thought he was, and feeling discomfort begin to overpower the...excitement she'd always felt around him.

Her mind whirled with questions. What did he want from her? If it was sex, why had he not pushed her when they were alone? What had happened that day? She was still unsure. It was certainly more than a kiss, but it was not sex, as Dru had described it. That led her back to her original question; why her? Adara pulled a slow breath, still absorbed in watching her hands as she spoke, carefully choosing her words. "If you find it fun, and you...can't get enough, why do you not find a girl who also can't get enough?"

[Emilian Sota]

"I have no reason to settle down with one girl, why should I choose one when I could stay as I am? I'm sure that eventually I'll find someone who can't get enough, but for right now I'm happy." Or as happy as he could be, considering. Emilian stared at her, examining her while her eyes were turned from him. "Always a new experience, when you're always with the same person, it can get boring."

[Adara Snow]

"Oh." Well, that certainly wasn't what Dru had described. Adara had imagined a committed relationship, and a physical expression of emotions she had yet to experience. And she had said nothing about boredom. "But if it gets boring, then perhaps it is not being done correctly," she suggested. Adara glanced up at Emilian, then quickly away, heating from her cheeks to her stomach at the look she'd seen in his eyes.

[Emilian Sota]

"To me it can get boring, same thing over and over again," Emilian said shrugging, "If you're lucky then I suppose you wouldn't get bored. Perhaps that's what happens in an actual relationship." He said it in an offhand way, he didn't really care to be in a true relationship. "Why do you keep looking away from me?" Not that it bothered him, he just wanted to know a reason, if there was one other than she was so very sheltered from the very thing they were talking about.

[Adara Snow]

Adara blushed further, wondering why it was that none of her usual behaviors elicited any of the usual responses here. Being demure and quiet should have guaranteed her to be treated with gentility. She forced herself to stop lamenting the unchangeable and raised her eyes to Emilian's, despite the sudden jump of her heartbeat. "I cannot look at you without feeling...strange," she admitted. Adara was struggling to keep from turning away, and it showed in the stain of rose on her cheeks and the light flutter of her eyelashes.

[Emilian Sota]

Emilian tilted his head, "Strange? Strange as in how you felt when Michael and I were speaking in the Entrance hall, or as in how you felt in that classroom?" He had a feeling, helped along by her consistant blush, that it was the latter of the two choices. But, as always, he wanted verbal confirmation. His own heartbeat had started to speed up and he was becoming keenly aware of a tautness in his lower torso that he was having to fight to keep from showing on his face.

[Adara Snow]

How could the air between them always feel so intense? "The classroom," she admitted, lashes sweeping low over her cheeks a moment, then rising as she worked not to look away. "And the corridor, and the lake, I cannot help it, Emilian." Her voice was almost pleading again, trying to make him understand something that she herself did not understand. "It is always too warm when you are near." It seemed such an understatement, but she had no words to readily describe the rest.