Here are some Elfhame prompt suggestions for this week:
22. “I am no murderer.”
23. The haunting of Hollow Hall
24. “Maybe he’d like to hear me scream.”
25. Witch in the brugh
26. The hospitality of knives
27. Blood Moon Revel
28. “Only out of his spilled blood.”
29. Ensorcelled
30. “My sweet villain.”
31. “Of course it was a trick.”
Remember that these prompts are more guidelines than rules. You can pick and choose prompts in any order you please.
mortal world prompts | more prompts | enter if you dare
As always, if you have any questions about The Court of Shadows, you can contact us here, or any of The Living Council at their personal accounts: @slightlyrebelliouswriter23 @illyrianwitchling @clockworkgraystairs
Here are some Mortal World prompt suggestions for this week:
22. Murder Mystery
23. “There’s definitely a ghost in this house.”
24. Scary Movie Marathon
25. Bobbing for apples
26. Pumpkin Carving
27. Halloween party
28. “Blood. So much blood.”
29. “Get in the damn coffin.”
30. Mischief Night
31. Trick-or-treat
Remember that these prompts are more guidelines than rules. You can pick and choose prompts in any order you please.
elfhame prompts | more prompts | enter if you dare
As always, if you have any questions about The Court of Shadows, you can contact us here, or any of The Living Council at their personal accounts: @slightlyrebelliouswriter23 @clockworkgraystairs @illyrianwitchling
“If you ever leave me wondering of your whereabouts again - “ Jude begins, her hands finding Cardan’s dark hair and pulling roughly, “My knife will find your neck.”
Cardan shivers at her words and Jude grins a wicked smile.
Jude’s awakens to a small noise outside her chambers.
She rises quickly, assessing her surroundings. It’s quiet, early afternoon sunshine coming through the curtains. There’s a light breeze coming from the open window, and she can hear a bird chirping outside. Her eyes roam the space around her, looking for anything strange but everything seems normal. The gown she wore earlier is laying across her favorite chair in the corner, the bottom becoming wrinkled because she refused to hang it. In her rush before bed, it hadn’t seemed important.
Figuring the noise was the bird, she lays her head back down, closing her eyes to surrender to sleep once more. She finds her brain wandering, however. The night previous had been one headache after another, her anger blooming more and more as time passed. She had awoken to Taryn in her room, talking of Madoc and his latest schemes. It’s been weeks of news with nothing becoming of it. Not wanting to hear it but Taryn continuing to babble on made her irritable immediately. Afterwards, she’d been forced into correspondence, the least favorite of her royal duties. After writing for what seemed like days, where she thought her hand may fall off, she was swept away to meetings.
Most of them were silly, stupid things, where she sat there and felt as if she wasn’t needed or wanted. The various members of The Living Council are still warming up to her, but without Cardan there, it seems they turn cold easily. The only time they engage her is to discuss revels, which irritates her more, as if the only thing she’s good for is planning parties. She stormed off halfway through their last meeting, slamming the heavy doors behind her as she left.
And then, there’s Cardan.
She hadn’t seen him all day. From the time she woke until she came back to her room, tears threatening to fall from her eyes, he had been suspiciously absent. She had asked several others where he’d run off to, with no answers from any of them. So angry and frustrated by the time she was ready for bed, she didn’t even bother going to his room, the one that had begun sharing after she’d been crowned.
She can feel her eyes stinging behind her closed lids as she lies there, wondering where Cardan could be. Never one to be sneaky, at least not any more, it troubles her to not know where he is or what he’s up to. Pulling her duvet higher around her chin, she sniffs and blinks away the unshed tears as she finally drifts off to sleep once more.
-
When the bed dips behind her, her hand finds Nightfell under her pillow and she shifts, the blade finding a milky white throat in the pink light of twilight. Cardan laughs darkly, shifting away slightly so the blade doesn’t cut him. Jude’s face remains cold even as she relaxes, happy at least that it’s Cardan and not someone else. She hadn’t realized how much she had truly missed him over the hours, but seeing him now is like a breath of fresh air.
“Hello to you, too, my love,” he says, his eyes soft and his voice low.
Jude sits up higher, still not removing Nightfell from his neck.
“Where have you been?” she asks.
Cardan shifts, trying to pull away but she presses on his throat, her face unmoving. Cardan’s hand finds her wrist, squeezing lightly.
“Forgive me, for I have been busy,” he states, eyeing her and the knife that still threatens him. “I was out having something made for you.”
At his words, Jude’s cold exterior fades, the blade falling slightly.
“Excuse me?”
Cardan reaches behind himself, pulling a beautiful dagger from his belt. The hilt is small, beautiful orange crystals covering the top while the rest is a dark black. The blade is long but curved up to a sharp point. While it looks small in between his long fingers, as he passes it to her, the hilt feels perfect in her palm. She lowers Nightfell finally, and drops it to the bed as she holds her new knife in her hand.
“Grimsen made it,” Cardan explains. “It’s been enchanted to take in the blood of whoever it kills, and it makes the wielder stronger as it does.”
He points to the crystals.
“This is aragonite. It’s a powerful crystal, with the ability to help the wielder to confront past trauma, wounds and emotions.”
Jude’s eyes sting as she holds the dagger, finally meeting Cardan’s eyes for the first time since he gave it to her. Even though his eyes are dark as night, they twinkle and shine as they find hers. She places her new dagger next to her other, before moving forward on the bed, wrapping her arms around his neck.
Sometimes, Jude thinks her love for him knows no bounds, and then moments like these prove her incorrect.
“I hope you’re aware I worried myself sick wondering where you were,” Jude chides him. “A note would have been lovely.”
“Forgive me, my Queen. Next time, I shall remember.” Cardan’s own arms have wrapped around her waist, hugging her tightly.
As they sit quietly on the sheets, limbs intertwined, Cardan’s hands begin to wander, their time without each other finding him longing to touch her. They find her hair, the nape of her neck, the small of her back. His long fingers caress her softly, drawing shivers out of Jude. Her nightgown, which has ridden up her thighs, isn’t doing much to cover her skin. Goosebumps begin to rise all over her.
“Oh how I missed you, wife.” Cardan shifts, his lips finding her neck to kiss her there. “Sometimes I wonder why we ever leave this room, why I bother to do anything but worship you.”
Jude wonders the same, especially on nights like these, where it’s just them and nothing else. When his hands are all over her, his low voice in her ears, and his heartbeat beneath her palms. Her own heart is pounding, her skin growing warmer as they kiss and move together.
“If you ever leave me wondering of your whereabouts again - “ Jude begins, her hands finding Cardan’s dark hair and pulling roughly, “My new knife will find your neck.”
Cardan shivers at her words and Jude grins a wicked smile.
They don’t play this game often but when they do, it is some of the best fun they have. Jude gets the power she craves, and Cardan gets the freedom and ease he needs. They both win, both get pleasure, and both love every second.
She shoves him backwards to the bed, and his black eyes are wide as they stare up at her. Her bottom lip is between her teeth as she finds the button of his pants, popping it open and pulling them down his legs. Thankfully, his shoes are already removed and he’s bare otherwise. He’s already hard, so she licks her hand and grabs him, tugging lightly. She knows it must be a bit rough, but Cardan’s eyes roll back anyway and his hips move with her hand as she strokes.
“Jude,” he murmurs, trying his best to keep his eyes open as she moves her hand over him.
She loves seeing him this way, the few times lately he gives himself away and lets go. Being High King weighs heavy on him most days, but when she can make him forget, make him lose himself and think of nothing, she is most happy.
When she tires of using her hand, she bends down and pulls him into her mouth. He is heavy on her tongue as she moves down, swallowing him completely. Cardan groans loudly, his hips bucking up, but she shoves him back down with her hands, pinning him. Her eyes meet his own as she takes him, and when he goes to grab her hair, her glare stops him, as if to say ‘don’t you dare’.
Jude gives it everything she has, closing her eyes and enjoying herself, as Cardan fights to stay still. He’s still loud, however, her name falling from his lips like a constant prayer. She hums and Cardan loses himself, cursing and forgetting he’s not supposed to be touching. His fingers find her hair and yank, and Jude pulls away, his cock falling from her mouth with a pop.
“Cardan, darling, no touching. Understand?”
He nods back at her. She smiles at him, but it’s sinister, and he knows it. She is unsatisfied.
“Use your words,” she demands.
Cardan swallows visibly, his hands gripping the bedsheets with enough force to rip them.
“Yes, my High Queen.”
His voice is bathed in thick honey, so rich and deep, and it wakes up something in Jude when she hears it. Knowing she’s the reason, that it’s because of her that he is so captivated, so aroused, she feels a power she never has before. She holds him in her palm like clay, and she intends on shaping him in a way no one else can.
She straddles him, pulling her nightgown the rest of the way up, but not bothering to remove it. Her hands pull on his shirt, pulling it over his head and throwing it across the room. His skin glows under the moonlight that is now shining in their room, twilight finally ended. Other than the rings like always grace his hands, he is naked beneath her. Jude lives for it.
Jude’s eyes never leave Cardan’s as her hand finds his cock, holding it as she guides herself over him. She takes him slowly, closing her eyes as he fills her. Her head falls back on her neck and she loves this, loves him, can’t believe this is her life and her husband and everything else in between. Her heart is heavy and light all at once, hammering in her chest when she’s finally seated fully in his lap, completely full of him.
Jude knows she is the High Queen but in this moment, it radiates through her. She is power reincarnated, a mighty Queen on her throne, an unstoppable force.
Cardan’s hands shake, the urge to grab her hips immense. Her breath is ragged, already so close to coming undone on top of him.
Jude moves her hips finally, rising and then falling. The slide, the pressure, it drives Jude wild. She moves slow but with intent, her hands roaming everywhere except her husband. She grabs her own breasts, her nipples, her hair. The silk of her nightgown torments her, so incredibly hot against her skin, and she wishes she had removed it but leaves it. Cardan moans and whimpers as she moves against him, his own hands trying to find purchase so he follows her rules and doesn’t touch.
Jude loses herself in the feel of him as she rocks against him and falls forward slightly, the angle changing, and Cardan forgets himself. His hands grip her hips tightly as he thrusts up to meet her, slamming into her.
Jude’s hands find her new dagger on the sheets immediately, the blade coming to rest against his pale throat. She stops bouncing on him, remains completely still as she looks into his eyes, a coldness there that she knows will turn Cardan into a puddle. His breathing is heavy, as is her own. His skin shines with sweat, his eyes are wide, and he looks at her with such an intensity, Jude almost wants to look away. Almost.
“I’m sorry my Queen,” Cardan whimpers, dropping his hands instantly.
“You know the rules,” she replies, moving the knife slightly so it digs into his skin. It isn’t enough to draw blood but his breath quickens anyway. It makes Jude’s skin heat up to watch him. “Touch me again, and there will be punishment.”
Jude begins moving again, the drag of his cock inside her making her dizzy with pleasure. She bites her lip as she rides him, keeping the dagger against his skin as she does. They both grow louder as she moves, Cardan’s own moans drowning out her own. They are a great and powerful symphony, the music of their voices bouncing off the walls as they engulf each other.
A fire begins building in her spine. She rides him in earnest, despite her thighs growing tired. Cardan’s hips start to buck involuntarily, his own release growing close. Jude leans down, the dagger still against his neck, as she captures his lips with her own. It’s messy, mostly clashing teeth and tongues. She continues to ride him with intensity, and she swallows his groan as it leaves his throat.
Forgetting their rule, her demand, the reason her new knife is cradling Cardan’s throat, his thumb finds her clit. He rubs it roughly but precisely, stoking the embers building inside her. Jude can’t find it in herself to stop him, pleasure crashing over her like a tidal wave. Her mouth falls open in a silent scream as he touches her, pushing her over the edge.
Suddenly, like an explosion, like a firecracker, she comes undone.
“Come, Cardan,” she commands, her voice stripped and threatening to stutter, her hips faltering as she continues to ride him, her orgasm still rocking her.
He does, her name practically a scream as it leaves him. She doesn’t stop moving against him until he’s completely spent. Then, she falls against him, finally moving the dagger and tossing it to their nightstand. Her heart stammers in her chest, pleasure rolling off of her in waves. All the anxiety of the last day has finally left her, an ease falling over her.
Her head finds the crook of his neck and she spies the smallest amount of blood against Cardan’s glistening neck. In the height of their pleasure, she must have dug the knife too deep. Her tongue finds it, the coppery taste stinging her taste buds as she does. Cardan’s breath staggers as she does, so she slips her arms around his middle, pulling him in close.
“I’m sorry to make you bleed,” she says, kissing the spot that’s already begun to heal.
“It will be fine,” Cardan mutters. “It is not the first time, nor will it be the last.”
Jude looks up at him, pushes his damp, inky hair off his forehead, and smiles.
“I love you, Cardan.” It’s not a confession by now, but it makes her heart clench all the same.
After all this time, she is unsure if it will ever be easy to say. Her love for him is powerful and unyielding, crashes into her like a hurricane at every available moment, and knocks her off her feet at the best of times. But even if it isn’t easy, it’s true, so she tells him.
“I am forever yours, my darling Jude.”
Cardan pets her hair with one hand, the other drawing patterns in the skin of her arm, as they lie in the moonlight streaming through their curtains. They are quiet for a long while, Jude’s eyes finally beginning to get heavy, before Cardan speaks again.
“What will you name your new weapon, my love?” he asks.
Jude thinks on it, her mind moving slowly in her fog, before it comes to her.
She looks up at him, shifting so brown eyes can meet black, and she smiles at him brightly, sunshine in the middle of the night.
In between packing and cleaning I’ll try to get some more Inktober finished. Today’s is Foxglove the upside down bell flower, and here’s a wolf poking his head through. Is he on the hunt or just enjoying the smell? . . . #folktober #day18 #foxglove #wolf #folktober2020 #artistsoninstagram #instagramart #instagramartist #boothinkart #photoshop #comicart #comicartist #illustration #artistsofinstagram #artist #fanart #comic #hunt https://www.instagram.com/p/CGfKWIJjFpn/?igshid=aotgq26qwin9
