A trip to the lake - open -

Peregrine held his breath as the great creature plucked at the castle, but released it each time, as if burned. Finally, it lost interest and took to climbing over the cliff. Tremor nickered and picked up her hooves, and Peregrine cringed every time she did, but she didn't make any movement of noise otherwise. The prince reflected on how happy he was that he had singled her out that fateful evening in Riasglach. Finally, she disappeared over the cliff and went on her way, the ground still shaking as she put distance between them.

He gasped as air flooded his lungs, as he had not been breathing properly for the entire giant encounter. He let a chuckle escape and hugged Adriana out of pure relief, not letting her any time too soon, either. He let go of her long enough to reach forward and stroke Tremor's neck, giving his steed some words of thanks.

"What a good girl!" He praised. "You're such a good girl, Tremor, such a good girl."

A grin, an authentic grin split his face and he breathed again. Finally, he managed to speak to his human companion.

"We'll nearly there. I'll take you as far as that nook over there." He pointed to a small indent in the mountain; a small crevice shaded by some shrubberies where he could help her dismount and ride off without being noticed. Perhaps out of nerves herself, perhaps, Tremor took off at a canter when Peregrine asked her for a walk.

"This is as close as I dare go." The prince said, swinging down from Tremor's back and holding his hands out for the princess to dismount.

Well, hello.

Peregrine reacted instinctively, tightening his hands around her waist, bending his neck and kissing her back. He had kissed a princess before, but she was a horrible person and he had done it because she was practically undressing him with her eyes and he wanted to mess with her unpleasant head. Adriana was completely different. Her lips were soft and sweet and she had a certain innocence apart her that he wanted to relive.

All too soon, they broke apart and Peregrine didn't immediately flash her his signature come-hither-I'm-cute grin. His mouth was slightly open and he quietly gasped for air, for his breath had been stolen from him for the second time in the space of five minutes. He hadn't kissed anyone like her in a long time. Well, he hadn't kissed anyone in a long time, period, but she got his blood running like no one had in memory. Smiled at her, a little breathlessly, and leaned in for a second kiss.

He was well-aware that she might push him away or even slap him and call the whole thing off at any moment, but he might as well try. This kiss was a little more heated and he ran the tip of his tongue along her lips daringly, cupping the edge of her face with his hand as he pulled her into him with his other arm, encircling her protectively.

Somewhere in the back of his brain, he was shouting, Victory! I did it! I got her to kiss me!, but he wasn't inclined to explore the wager they had set earlier when her lips were moving on his.

She wasn't stopping him. Instead, she opened her mouth and wound her tongue around his. So they had moved onto French kissing now. She let out a moan that made the prince's blood boil. So she wasn't a prude after all, that, or she had been dealing with so much pent up sexual frustration that she finally cracked. Was it possible that giants made girls jump on you?

Without warning, she turned away from him and turned her neck to him. What? What had he done this time? Then he realized what she wanted and bent his neck even further to run his lips against her bare neck while he fingers were winding through his hair. Her breathing was quickened as much as his was now and until she pulled the plug on their little...adventure, he was just going to keep escalating it.

He took several steps forward, pushing her backwards until her back was resting against the edge of the mountain. He pressed himself against her and went back to kissing her neck, this time, making it all the way down to her collarbone, where he nipped her with his teeth. Slowly, almost hesitantly, he took a hold of one of her thighs and hiked it up over his hip. He played with the hem of her dress, asking for permission to touch her leg on the skin.

A prince would have more propriety than to go this fast, but Peregrine was a rule-breaking exiled prince who rebelled against the norm, and as long as she was willing and they left no trace of their encounter, he could see no reason why they shouldn't be allowed to have some fun.

Screw it. He thought. If she doesn't like it, she can slap me. His hand dove under the fabric of her dress as he stroked the bare skin of her thigh, all the way up to her hip joint and back again.

((I actually had Peregrine cut his hair in a previous post, but if you want to keep playing as though he still had long hair, that's cool. ))

She was kissing his neck now, her hand running over his bony chest, oh, wait, she was sucking on his neck now. He appreciated that and it gave him the opportunity, now that his lips were temporarily free, to toss in a few witty remarks.

"I guarantee you they don't teach this at Ioralta Academy." He said, his voice husky. His other hand was playing with her hair, searching through her golden stresses, fascinated, as he watched them caress her pale skin. She was a flawless beauty to him, like a painting created by the greatest painter in the world. Her eyes, darkest hazel with a touch of honey were alight with something he hadn't seen in them before. He didn't want to say 'lust' right away and he certainly didn't want to call it 'love', but he would wager a guess that it was the same as what he was feeling about now.

Something was rising up inside the pit of his stomach, something primal and aggressive, like a lion. It seemed to take over him as he dove for her lips again, catching her in a passionate open-mouthed kiss. He lifted her off the ground completely, half-holding, half-leaning her against the mountain behind her, hoping she would get the hint and use both of her legs to wrap around him and steady herself. He vaguely wondered how far this was going to go before she called it quits or someone or something came along to spoil their fun. He half wondered if he would actually go all the way with her, right here, right now. Probably not that far mere hours after meeting her, and definitely not out in the open. Fat lot of good that would do him if they were caught. He pushed those thoughts out of his mind as he groaned into the kiss, holding her close to him.

((It's totally fine. I would have done the same thing. His hair is still long enough for her to run her fingers through, so it's fine either way. It was so matted that it had dreadlocks in it, so he had to cut it, but he'll probably grow it back.))

So, shirt was coming off now? Peregrine shrugged it off his shoulders and draped it over Tremor's saddle before embracing her again in a sloppy kiss. She was running her fingers over his bony chest, obviously anything but offended by it. He giggled as her fingers grazed against his ribs, as he was ticklish.

"To think you did." He agreed, in between quick kisses to her lips. "But come to think of it, this is just fine."

His hands began to wander from her hip bones to the bare skin of her waist. He pulled away from her lips for a moment, a mischievous smile on his lips, a twinkle in his piercing eyes. Without warning, he fluttered his fingers against her skin, effectively tickling her, hoping that she was actually ticklish and wouldn't just stay there, staring at him awkwardly.

He giggled again, completely losing all outward appearances of being macho or mature as he leaned his forehead against hers, kissing her a sweet, chaste kiss before pulling back and looking at her full in the eyes.

"So, Princess, I think it's fairly obvious by now that I like you and you like me, but what do you want out this, right here, right now?"

He stayed there for a moment, gazing at her, drinking in her beauty, before leaning forward to claim her lips again, his wandering hands trailing up the bare skin of her back, coming to meet a strap on her shoulders, which he plucked at, asking for permission.

((DON'T KILL US, PROBOARDS. THEIR CLOTHES ARE STILL ON AND YOU CAN GO TO A PG-13 MOVIE AND SEE PLENTY OF MAKING OUT AND GROPING. THERE IS NO EXPLICIT SEX HERE. WE KNOW THE RULES.))

And then she stopped laughing, her hands stopped their desperate exploration of his skin. She kept kissing him, though, and she didn't seem adverse to his hands remaining on her body. He didn't know what to make of this and he tried to keep himself from reading too far into her behavior, but he failed. Had he not asked her for permission to do anything? Had that been un-sexy of him? How could he fix it?

And then she kissed him. She kissed him firmly on the mouth, her tongue sweetly against his. He realized that he had never noticed how she tasted. The other girls he had kissed had tasted like oranges or spices and a few like rotting teeth, but Adriana didn't taste like any of those things. She tasted like fire. People say that fire is like water, that it doesn't taste like anything, but she tasted like fire. It was the only possibly way to describe her. She was like a candle, flickering, fragile, of carefully-contained potential ready to spill over and set flame to anything it touched, if only someone would let her. Fire tasted like an electrical shock, warm and invigorating. Her kiss stirred something within the prince. Not only the raging beast that wanted to take her right there, right then, but something else. Her fire set him alight, as well, lit his own candle, made him want to set things on fire too, start a revolution, change the world, see it all go up in glorious, glorious flame.

"What? But...what did I do?"

His voice almost came out as a whine. For the first time in their short relationship, Peregrine was vulnerable. For the first time, she had the power and he was on his knees, begging. Figuratively, of course; Peregrine didn't get on his knees and beg pretty girls not to leave him.

"But...when will I see you again?" He asked, refusing to believe that he would never see this diamond in the rough again. He had only just discovered her after all? What cruel witchery was this?

His heart sank, but he slapped himself, internally. How he could get carried away enough to hope that he would see her later that night? Sure, he didn't want to have a serious, committed lover when he was so hell-bent on avenging his father's death and claiming his crown and kingdom? It was stupid. She was just a pretty face with whom he had spent a few happy hours with, and now they could both go on with their lives.

And then an idea struck him. A wonderful, exciting idea. It was careless, but who could think straight when they were looking into her beautiful eyes? Besides, this girl wasn't evil or two-faced; Peregrine could feel the wholesomeness radiating off of her.

"Seems only fitting, then," He said, paying with the fringe of her dress at her shoulder. "That I should accompany you on your journey. Besides, once we get there, I know a thing or two about the school. Only attended for seven years." He grinned, momentarily forgetting that the greatiest thief in Speirling logically shouldn't have spent seven years at the finest education in the area.