Mannequin

DG waited in the foyer with her parents and sister. They were receiving a dignitary, the first to arrive for the ball. He was the Emissary from the Miner’s Guild, and had come from just a few miles away, from a mining village called Black Dust Ridge. DG didn’t know his name; she hadn’t been paying attention when her sister had told her.

Cain had been weighing heavily on her mind. Despite Az’s reassurances, DG was having serious doubts. Cain had been doing his damnedest to avoid her, even when she actively tried to seek him out. She was definitely having second thoughts about Azkedellia’s plan. Her sister, however, was adamant that it would work. She was determined to see DG with Cain, though DG couldn’t figure out why it mattered so much to the older woman.

“DG!” Az hissed in her ear. “He’s here!”

DG snapped to attention. The front doors opened, and three men walked in. Two men in brown mining coats flanked a third, younger man. He was tall and handsome, about Az’s age, with blonde hair and hazel eyes. He wore a dark brown coat and black boots, and for the life of her, DG couldn’t figure out why he looked so damn familiar.

“Your Majesty,” the man said in a smooth, liquid voice. He bowed deeply to the Queen, who smiled.

“You are welcome in this place, good sir,” the Queen gave the traditional greeting.

The man stood up straight again. He looked at DG. “Princess,” he said, and bowed slightly. DG returned the gesture.

Then, he looked at Az. His smoky eyes met hers, then traveled down her form, and back up, so slowly that it was almost obscene. DG took an immediate dislike to him.

“Princess Azkedellia,” the man said, his voice breathless. He held out his hand. Az looked around nervously, then laid her hand in his. He bent his head over it and kissed her fingers, closing his eyes as he did so, as if in reverence. He raised his eyes back to hers and said, “I am Morden, your humble servant, if it pleases my lady.”

DG watched her sister turned red. She seemed flustered, but was trying to maintain her lady-like composure. After several moments, Az seemed to find her voice. “You… are *very* welcome in this place, Morden,” she said.

The man - Morden - smiled. Something about his smile nudged at DG’s memory, but she still couldn’t place it. She shook the feeling off; it was probably nothing anyway.

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Cain paced in his cottage in the woods. Even though he technically now resided in the Palace, he found it easier to think away from all the hustle and bustle of royal life. Unfortunately, every time he was alone, he thought of DG. He’d retreated to the cottage in an attempt to escape his self-inflicted torture.

He’d forgotten that they’d spent her birthday night there, in his bed.

Cain decided he wouldn’t get any relief there. He went to the door and flung it open - only to see DG standing there, hand up, about to knock. “Oh!” she said. She looked at her hand, then dropped it. “Hi,” she said uncertainly.

Cain sighed. “Hi.” -Goddamnit,- he raged. -Why, why, why do the gods hate me? Why?!- “Look, DG, I’m kind of busy, so - “

“Oh, that’s alright,” she interrupted, “I just… I was just wondering…” she drifted off.

Cain found his eyes wandering to her lips, and they way she was biting her bottom one, nibbling at it, turning it plump and red and - he couldn’t take it. “Wondering WHAT, Princess? I don’t got all day.” he snapped.

Cain’s heart clenched at the momentary look of hurt in DG’s blue eyes, but it was snuffed out quickly. “We just got our first guest for the ball,” she said, her tone brisk, business-like, and utterly painful for Cain to hear. “And he seems familiar. Familiar in a not-so-good way. I was just wondering if you could look into it. Make sure he’s not someone we’ve gone up against that I just can’t remember.”

Cain nodded. “Of course.” DG turned to walk away, but Cain caught her by the arm. His brain was screaming at him to just let her go, let her walk away, but he couldn’t stand to see that look of hurt on her face. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly, cursing himself for it.

DG didn’t look at him. “It’s fine,” she said stiffly. Wrenching her arm out of his grasp, she walked away.

Cain watched her go with a sinking feeling. -Nice one, Cain,- he told himself. -You screwed up BAD.- He stared at the spot in the trees where she’d disappeared for several long minutes. Finally it came to him that she’d asked him to do something.

Good. Maybe it wasn’t beyond repair. He would dig up everything on this new guy, all the way down to what color his socks were. Then, he’d go to DG and redeem himself. Of course. It was perfect. It HAD to work.

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DG sat on the floor in Glitch’s study. Glitch was nowhere to be seen; she’d gone there for advice and found it empty. Tears came to her eyes as she remembered to cold way he’d snapped at her. He’d never spoken to her like that before. Even when they first met, and he’d dismissed her as a “kid” who would run at the first sign of trouble, even then he hadn’t been mean, just… broken.

DG sniffled, then got angry. At herself for being co childish. At Cain for being so heartless. At everything and everyone. “And I thought I was bad.” The voice startled her. DG swiped a hand at her eyes and turned. Glitch was standing in the doorway, arms crossed.

“Hey, Glitch,” she said, standing up, trying to sound normal.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

DG shook her head a little too quickly. “Nothing,” she said.

“Not so,” came a low, growling voice. Raw was standing just behind Glitch. “DG very sad,” he continued, walking towards her. “DG hurt.” He stood in front of her and placed a hand over her heart. “DG’s heart ache,” he said, his own voice thick with sadness. “Raw’s heart ache for her.”

DG placed her hand over his and managed a watery smile. “It’s my own fault, Raw,” she said. “I’m a fool.”

“Not at all,” Glitch said. “Nothing foolish about being in love with a man who loves you back.”

DG glanced quickly at him. He leaned against the door frame, looking cool and confident. A side effect of being Ambrose again. It was sometimes unnerving to see clumsy, haphazard Glitch standing there looking as debonair as James Bond. “What are you talking about?”

Glitch sighed, walking in to the room. “Alright, enough with the dancing, the both of you. I’ve never met two such different people with the same exact level of stubbornness. I mean, come on, Princess, Cain is perfect for you. And you’re the only woman around who could tame him. What in the Realms is the problem?!”

“I don’t know!” DG cried. “I’m not the one with the problem; he is!”

“Yes, I noticed,” Glitch agreed. He sat on his desk, cross-legged. “Look, dry those tear, pretty girl, because Cain is in love with you. Now, he’s going to try and push you away, in some misguided attempt to prove that he doesn’t deserve you. Ignore it. You go for him like your life depended on it, because he IS worth it, and he DOES deserve a woman like you. And no matter how much he denies it, he wants you more than anything in the world.” Glitch smiled, and looked around. “Hey, what’s everybody doing here?

DG and Raw laughed. DG went to Glitch and hugged him. “Thanks,” she said.

“For what?” Glitch asked, confused.

“You’ll remember in a minute.” She headed out of the office. Halfway down the hallway, she heard Glitch call out to her.

“You’re welcome!” DG smiled. Excitement bubbled up in her. She’d made a decision, and her friends had given her the strength she needed to carry it through. “Hey, where are you going?” Glitch called from down the hall.

“I have a Tin Man to see!” DG called back with a grin.

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Cain jumped at the tap on his shoulder. He’d been intent on the files in front of him, spread across the desk in his room. He turned, and to his horror, saw DG standing there. “I’m already looking into that Morden guy, DG, you don’t have to check up on me - “

DG shook her head, smiling. “No, Wyatt, it’s not about that. I want to show you something.”

Cain was immediately suspicious. “What?” he asked.

“It’s a surprise,” she said.

Cain considered it; Gods, did he consider it. But it had trouble written all over it. “No, I don’t think so,” he said, turning back to his papers.

There was a moment of silence, and Cain hoped she’d just left.

No such luck.

A hand placed itself over the files he was reading. DG leaned over him, he hair falling down into his face. She smelled so ripe and juicy, like a blackberry, wrapped in vanilla. He looked into her eyes, so near, and bit his lip at the look in those blue orbs. “You’ll like it,” she said. “Trust me.”

-This is a bad idea,- the voice in his head admonished as he followed DG into the woods just minutes later. -Bad, bad, bad, bad!- “Shut up,” he growled to himself. He looked up and saw they were in a section of the woods he’d never seen before. “Where are we going?” he called to DG, who was several feet in front of him.

“You do know the meaning of the word, ‘surprise’, right?” was her tart reply. Cain watched her hopping along in front of him, over logs and under branches. She was wearing those old pants from the first time the met. They hugged her hips and ass in a way that should have been illegal, in Cain’s opinion. He watched her walk, and was so entranced by it that he almost fell off a ledge.

DG caught him in time with a hand across his chest. The simple feeling of that small touch almost broke Cain’s self-control, and he had a sudden feeling that he was in over his head. “We’re here!” DG announced.

Cain looked around. They were at an absolutely beautiful hot springs. It was so secluded that Cain had no idea where exactly in the forest they were. The water in front of him was hot and fragrant, and so inviting to his stressed, strained body.

A sudden splash made him look around. He saw a blouse, trousers, and shoes at his feet. Looking at the water, he saw that DG had stripped to her underwear and jumped in. He knew where this was going now, and the thought terrified him. “Come on,” DG encouraged, tilting her head invitingly. “It’s really warm. And you seem kind of stressed.”

-Tricky little minx.- Cain fully intended to say “no”, to turn and stomp his way back to his office and forget about DG. He fully intended to. His body had other ideas, however. He began to strip without thinking, and soon was down to his boxers.

“Join me, Wyatt,” DG purred. And he could do nothing but obey. Cain lowered himself into the water, hissing through his teeth as the almost-too-hot liquid rose over his sore, tense muscles. DG floated over to him.

“Look, DG, I don’t know what you’re planning here-” he began, but she cut him off.

“I’m not planning anything, Wyatt. I just thought you’d like to go for a swim.”

Wyatt sighed. The heat intensified that luscious scent she gave off, and somehow Wyatt knew it wasn’t perfume. It was just her. She just smelled *that* good to him. She was so obviously offering something here, and if he took her up on her offer…

“I’m supposed to protect you,” he said, his voice quiet, desperate.

“Then keep me close,” she said.

Cain reached out and grabbed her by the waist. He pulled her against him, feeling her breasts pressed up on his chest. She looked up at him, and it was that same look from his dream. He had no idea that blue eyes could smolder so hotly. He kissed her, roughly, his control fraying dangerously. His tongue slid over hers, and she bit his lips, drawing a growl from him.

There was no way he was going to survive.

Cain grabbed DG by the hair and spun her around. He shoved her against the stone wall of the hot spring. He gripped the edge, bringing his own body flush against hers. He kissed her neck as she wiggled deliciously against the hardness in his boxers. He ran a hand down her front, feeling her nipples harden under her bra. Her arms were trapped, so he removed her bra himself, keeping her against the wall. He tried to keep her still, because every movement she made caused sparks of pleasure to shoot up through his erection which was settled against her backside. His hand wandered over her breasts again, while the other one slid down her side. He pulled her underwear down, past her thighs. He heard her moan as he slid a hand up between her legs, right to her center.

He stroked that hot little bundle of nerves and felt her tense against him. He pulled her hair back to look at her face. Her eyes were shut, and she was biting her lip. He slid a thick, calloused finger inside her and watched her face change. It was delicious, watching the pleasure roll across her features.

He didn’t want to wait anymore. His control was gone now, and all thought were gone from his head but one: Get inside her.

Cain tugged his boxers down, then, one hand tangled in her hair, he pulled DG’s hips out from the wall with his other hand. The tip of him was resting at her entrance, and he could almost feel it straining to go further. And yet, he hesitated. He couldn’t think but something was telling him to stop.

That very quiet voice, however, was silenced when DG looked over her shoulder at him and said, “Wyatt,” in a voice so thick with lust it made Cain want to cry.

He shoved himself inside her without another thought.

DG gasped and clutched at the wall. He pounded her into the stone, not a thought for what it was doing to her. He kept his left hand down between her thighs, stroking her, wanting to give her some of what she was giving him. His other hand left her hair and laid itself across her lips. Her tongue darted out and licked along his index finger. He slipped it into her mouth, and she sucked at it, as if it was much more than just a finger.

DG was so hot, so tight, that it almost hurt, and was so perfect Cain felt it couldn’t be real. But it was. The sound of flesh slapping against flesh was real. The sound of DG’s moan, slowly becoming louder, was real. His own pulse, beating so fast it was just a hum. Was real.

And the white heat of pleasure coursing through his body was real. DG screamed then, and she came around him, her body squeezing him as she shook, gasping and moaning with the force if it.

Cain’s own climax was near, but he wanted to coax another from DG first. He quickened his ministrations between her legs, stroking that bundle of nerves hard and quick. He shifted position, knowing he could reach that spot inside that made her melt.

It almost sounded like she was crying now, but it only served to spur him on. When she came the second time, the scream was so loud that he clamped his hand tight over her mouth, lest she be heard and someone come to investigate.

And then, it hit him: he was pounding this girl’s soft flesh into a rock wall, his hand covering her mouth and nose - he realized she probably couldn’t breath.

And to his dismay, it was THIS thought that sent him plummeting over the edge. He climaxed with such force that he feared he may black out. He felt his body spasm against DG’s, and even though it lasted mere seconds, he could swear it was hours.

When it was all over, Cain wrapped his arms around DG. “DG,” he said, his voice strangled. “Are you… okay?”

There was no answer.

“DG?” he asked, panic rising in him. He shook her. “DG?”

Turning her around, her saw that her eyes were closed; her body limp.

DG was unconscious.

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Hey guys, hope you enjoyed it, I know Cain did! (wink)

Cahpter 4 is coming!

Please Review!!