Heart of the Phoenix

Kael's eyes slowly flickered open, and he awakened to find himself laying flat on his back in a small cave. There was a small fire burning in a pit nearby, but when he tried to sit up and warm himself, his body simply wouldn't respond. It wasn't that he was necessarily in pain, however--he was simply weak. So confoundedly weak that he could not even will himself to turn his head and examine his strange surroundings. Where was this place? Kael vaguely remembered the fight with the frost wyrm, but little else. He sighed a bit in frustration.

"Our sleeping prince awakens. Welcome back."

It was the voice of his master, his voice only half-filled with sarcasm. Illidan sat on the opposite side of the fire, his back resting against the cave wall, resting an arm upon his raised knee.

"Master," Kael mumbled in confusion. "Where...are we?"

"Somewhere that I can help you," Illidan replied.

"What? I--don't understand."

"You've almost entirely exhausted the magic inside yourself," Illidan explained, rising to his feet. "If you don't receive an infusion of power, you may die."

Kael blinked, startled by the severity of the situation. He'd never heard of such a thing before--of course, he'd also never heard of anyone becoming addicted to magic in the first place, and it was perfectly clear how that turned out.

"How...?" Kael gasped. Illidan crouched down beside him, and to Kael's astonishment, gently swept a lock of golden hair from his brow and rested a hand upon it.

"This cave is pulsating with magic. Surely you can feel it?" Illidan asked. However, it was perhaps the wrong time to ask such a thing of Kael. The only thing that he could feel just then was the warmth and tenderness of his master's touch, and it was driving him to absolute distraction.

"I..." Kael sort of stammered, and the telltale hint of red began to creep into his cheeks. Try as he may, he simply couldn't concentrate. There was something in the way Illidan touched him, a softness there, that made Kael feel even weaker.

"Perhaps it's worse than I imagined," Illidan said, frowning. "Can you move at all?" Kael pressed his hands against the cavern floor, to attempt to boost himself up, but failed.

"I can't," he answered.

"Very well. Try to hold on, if you can."

Then Illidan bent forward slightly, and the next thing Kael knew, he was being lifted up off the floor, and scooped up into the demon hunter's massive, powerful arms, as though he weighed nothing at all. His master took an unbelievable amount of care in doing so, clutching him tightly, and Kael's heart skipped a beat. There was no describing the security in such a feeling; he felt as though nothing in the world could harm him at that very moment.

Rising to his feet, Illidan carried him a short distance across the cave. It was then that Kael could see the entire place was sheathed in a beautiful, crystalline ice. The walls shimmered in tones of sparkling azure blue, and then Kael suddenly understood what Illidan was talking about. The cavern buzzed with pure arcane power; the very air itself was thick with it, filling the room with a soft, blue haze. As they passed through it, Kael was already beginning to feel a little better.

They stopped at the edge of a large pool saturated in that same blue glow, steam rising from its surface, being fed from a font pouring out of the icy rock. It seemed as though it were some sort of natural hot spring that had been altered somehow, changed by the raw magic in the air to the point where the power was even more greatly concentrated within it. Illidan stepped slowly into, the water only reaching to about his shins, and crouched down once more, Kael still in hand.

"I...want to try something. Tap into the spring, if you can," Illidan suggested. Kael nodded weakly and let his hand brush against the surface of the water. Concentrating deeply upon the flows of power within it, he attempted to extract the energy out...but nothing. He could not even do so simple a thing. He swore a particularly nasty invective in Thalassian, then clenched his jaw.

"I've never been this...useless in my life."

"Be still," Illidan said sharply. "You are far from useless, young Kael. Simply wounded. But I will fix that."

Kael stared in bemusement at him, as he gently took Kael's hand from the water, grasping it tightly, stroking it with his thumb. By the Light, his touch was so calming, the prince thought. Suddenly, however, Illidan guided the hand to his bare, powerfully built chest, to rest upon one of the Eredun tattoos etched into his pectorals. Oddly, Kael could feel his heart beating, and it was pounding as quickly as his own. What was his master about?

"Take my magic," Illidan whispered, urging him in the most seductive voice Kael had ever heard in his life. "Feed from me, Kael. Make my power your own."

"What?" Kael balked, so taken aback by the strange command that he lost all conception that he was speaking to the man whom he'd sworn absolute allegiance to. It was an unbelievably reckless thing to suggest--and, were Kael completely honest with himself, so very typically Illidan. His master was not always the most rational sort. "I could kill you."

"Do you take me for a fool, Kael? Why do you think I brought you to this place, to enjoy the scenery?" Illidan scoffed. "This cave is filled to bursting with arcane energy. It will sustain me as you feed."

"But this is madness, Master--"

"Do you wish to wither and die, bereft of the very thing that sustains you?"

"Of course not."

"Then feed," Illidan said again, his tone almost oddly pleading. He tilted his head, stroking Kael's hand again with a thumb. "Please, my thero'shan. Allow me to do this small thing for you."

Kael's heart skipped a beat at the old Darnassian word, a term imbued with such meaning and spoken with such heart-filled sentiment that he could have sworn he imagined it. Did he truly mean that much to Illidan? Kael, Archmage of the Kirin Tor, who was like a novice to Illidan's ancient, preternatural eyes--was he truly the beloved student he strove so hard to be for him? He stared up at Illidan, so darkly handsome in the soft cobalt light, swirls of energy dancing around his horns like fireflies, the expression upon his face tender and filled with concern. Perhaps there was even affection in that beautiful face, though Kael firmly believed that was wishful thinking on his part. But he couldn't deny the tenderness with which Illidan held him, the soothing feel of his touch, and the temptation was almost unbearable. To tap into his master's very own demonic power, to share that part of him when it was offered so freely...it was so seductive an idea, so enticing.

"...if you insist," Kael whispered in response. He spread his fingers wide upon the tattoo, feeling with not only his mundane sense of touch but with his arcane senses as well. By the Nether...Illidan was like a walking reservoir of fel energy. Kael had never felt any creature, not even the magic-rich imps of Outland, with as much concentrated power as Illidan. It called to him, this enormous power, with a siren's song of temptation that spoke directly to the ravenous hunger inside him.

Closing his eyes, Kael reached out to that power, drawing it out with his will. He heard Illidan gasp sharply then, and he immediately opened his eyes in alarm, worried that he may have caused him some kind of pain. Illidan made one of those half-smiles at him. "I'm fine. I simply wasn't expecting such a sensation. Continue, by all means."

Kael nodded, and began the process anew. As the fel magic slowly leeched out of Illidan and traveled through Kael's fingertips, coiling up his arm, an undeniably pleasant tingle crept up his spine. Already, he could feel the life returning to his limbs, his body. His spirit was growing lighter. The slow trickle was not enough, however, and only made Kael crave more. Shifting slightly in Illidan's arms, he brought up his other hand to place it against the other tattoo on his chest. And then Kael drained his magic in earnest.

The moan that escaped Illidan's lips was intoxicating. It wasn't pain the demon hunter was feeling, not at all. Something entirely more pleasant than that, and it was apparent from the hot breath upon his brow becoming more labored with every passing moment. Kael's own breath became heavy, his eyes half closed, lips parted slightly. Illidan pulled him so tightly against him, cradling him with trembling hands, that Kael was pressed against his own hands. The Elven prince could feel his body--and Illidan's--quicken with excitement, in every sense of the word.

The intimacy of the moment threatened to overwhelm Kael. As Illidan's energy coursed through his veins, it burned like liquid flame, and his entire body felt as though it were on fire. Quickening him with his own life force, Kael gave himself over entirely to the sensation, his spirit soaring to heights of near-delirium. Fully recovered now, feeling more alive and powerful than he'd ever been, Kael should have ceased the draining but he couldn't, it wasn't enough, ye gods it would never be enough...

Illidan's powerful hands clawed their way up his back, and Kael moaned softly, losing his concentration entirely, severing the arcane connection, and the font of power abruptly closed. He scarcely noticed, however, because it was at that moment that Illidan's fingers became tangled in his golden hair, his lips were parted, and his master slipped his tongue inside his mouth to kiss him deeply. The hunger in that kiss, the passion loosed within it, was very nearly unbearable.

"Master..." Kael breathed, thinking quite seriously for a moment that he was dreaming again, that Illidan could not have possibly done what he thought he just did. For his part, Illidan merely gave him another enigmatic smile, and ran his fingers through his long, tangled hair.

"Yes, my prince?"

"I don't understand." And it was the honest truth.

"But must you?" Illidan said in a hushed tone. "What is there to understand? Is this not the proof of what I want?"

As if to emphasize his point, Illidan kissed him again, with even more urgency than the first time, and Kael would have tipped over had he not been cradled so tightly. Though every instinct said otherwise, Kael pulled away from the kiss, and turned away from him. "But..." and the sentence trailed off somewhat helplessly, as Kael was suddenly terribly afraid of what he would say next. But what about Tyrande, but this isn't enough for me no matter how good it feels, but your body will never be enough for me, because--

"I'm in love with you, Illidan."

The sentence escaped his throat before Kael could even realize he uttered it. And it occurred to him that in the deepest recesses of his heart, he did not think of Illidan as "Master". There was no longer Master and Servant in this cave, not the Lord of Outland and the Prince of the Sin'dorei. There were simply two men entangled in each other's arms, drawn and held together by something far greater than themselves.

"Kael'thas," Illidan whispered softly, and Kael felt as though he could hear him say it a thousand times and never grow tired of it. Illidan lightly trailed a clawed finger across his jaw line, then firmly turned his chin so that Kael would face him again. "Do you think I didn't know?"

Kael's eyes grew wide in shock and embarrassment. "You...knew?"

"Your words and actions betray you more than you realize," Illidan answered. "I am not as blind as you think I am."

Of course, Kael thought. Why wouldn't he have known? In Kael's pride, he'd forgotten how old and cunning the demon hunter was, and he'd rather foolishly underestimated him. Kael suddenly felt quite sheepish. However, there was no escaping the next logical question. It would eventually crop up sooner or later.

"What does this mean, then?" Kael asked him. "Am I simply being a fool for feeling the way I do?"

"A fair question," Illidan acknowledged, resting his palm on Kael's cheek. "But you are no fool, my Kael. Perhaps, if you are, then I am the greater one."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that perhaps I have clung to the bitterness of the past for far too long," Illidan admitted. "That I believed I my unfortunate tendency toward maudlin sentimentality would be the end of me. It may, as yet. But I can no longer deny or second guess myself, not after what happened on that battlefield. I cannot deny that when I believed you slain by Sapphiron, I nearly lost my mind."

It was a long, silent moment that hung in the azure haze, Kael not knowing how to respond to Illidan laying his soul bare. He never did, because seeing this larger-than-life figure from infamy and legend become so vulnerable was still startling, even now, no matter how many times he'd seen it before.

How many times? Was it really that...yes, it was. Why hadn't he seen this, before? It struck Kael that this was not the first time Illidan had opened himself up to him in such a fashion. He'd done it almost from the moment they met; there was something about Kael that made Illidan feel that he could tell him anything. And he never did that for anyone, not even Vashj had seen this quiet, brooding side of their shared master. To the others, Illidan had never presented himself as anything less than the powerful Lord of Outland. Only Kael had ever seen the wounded man that lay buried deep beneath that facade.

"But, what of Lady Tyrande?" Kael said softly. Illidan hunched down to rest his cheek upon the crown of Kael's head, almost clinging to him as though he were afraid he was going to slip through his hands.

"There is a part of me that will always love Tyrande," Illidan replied, the pain still evident in his voice, in the reverent way he spoke her name. "To say that I could ever forget her...that is something I cannot do. But I can tell you, my Kael, that this love I feel for you burns inside me brighter than your precious Sunwell. You have stolen a heart I no longer thought I had or wanted to give to another."

The sensation he felt when he was absorbing Illidan's magic was absolutely nothing compared to what Kael was feeling then, at that moment, when his master spoke those passionate words. Every ridiculous daydream, every seemingly unattainable fantasy he'd had was coming true.

"Illidan." It was all Kael could say, imbued with every emotion he was overcome with.

"Dalah'surfal," Illidan purred in response, teasing Kael's long, pointed ear with a languid stroke of a finger.

And then there was another kiss, but this time it was Kael, wrapping his arms around Illidan's neck, pushing up against him with a fury and an urgency that seemed to startle him.

"Are honeyed words all you have left, Master?" Kael's voice was thick with lust.

"Not at all."

Illidan's hands began to wander down the torn, scarlet robes Kael wore, finding the eye-hooks which bound them together with ease, and he knew then that this was no dream. In but a moment's time, he was shrugging the heavy runecloth garments off, stripped to his snug-fitting, elaborately embroidered vest and leggings.

"How many blasted clothes do you Sin'dorei fops wear," Illidan grumbled. Kael laughed sensuously, twirling a lock of Illidan's raven-black hair around his hand.

"Enough that we may go about our daily business unmolested by Kaldorei ne'er-do-wells," Kael answered with a grin. Illidan swatted him playfully--but sharply--on the bottom at that. It was not an entirely unpleasant feeling.

"I am still your master, Kael," Illidan chided him, raising a playful eyebrow. The prince lowered his eyes in a mocking show of submissiveness.

"Yes, Lord Illidan," he snickered, smirking up at him. Keeping a straight face was entirely out of the question at this point.

"I'll wipe that smirk off your face," Illidan threatened, and Kael could have sworn he saw a dark flicker behind the blindfold. The demon hunter released the silk ribbons tying Kael's vest together and caressed the skin beneath, raising him up by the waist to cover it in a dozen kisses. His touch was far softer than Kael could have ever imagined, and his pants grew even tighter and more uncomfortable with every stroke of Illidan's tongue.

Kael moved slightly, bringing up a leg to straddle Illidan's lap. What awaited him when he did so was absolutely remarkable. Kael would have been lying if he claimed he'd never taken notice of his master's...attributes, before, but to rest against him, up close and personal, was something else entirely. "My love..." Kael gasped, all traces of casual mockery gone from his demeanor. Illidan was far more enormous than he thought, and harder than the rock of the cave floor.

Illidan laughed, a dark and lustful rumbling, and pulled Kael's hair to force his head back. Being manhandled in such a manner was not something Kael typically went for, but Illidan...yes. Gods, yes. Subconsciously he began to grind slowly into him. In response, Illidan leaned forward and did nothing so much as attack his neck, kissing it, thrashing his tongue against his pale skin, and gently biting the sensitive ear again. Kael thought he may well be brought over just by that sensation alone.

"Is that what you desire, Kael?" Illidan whispered into his ear, then nibbled on it again.

"I...desire you, Master." And to show how much he meant it, Kael slid his hands into Illidan's loose-fitting trousers, stroking his massive cock. The half-demon groaned, and bit his lip, driving Kael into an even deeper state of arousal. With each caress of his fingers across the shaft, it seemed to grow inexplicably harder.

"Is that so," Illidan moaned through grit teeth. Kael felt a hand slip into the back of his pants to squeeze his rear, hard, and it was all too clear what his lover wanted. He winced when he felt a claw brush against his opening, but relaxed when it slid inside him. Kael gripped Illidan's cock tighter, grinding his own against it through his silk trousers. He had never been aroused in his life, never had he felt this sort of desperate need before.

"Take me, Master," Kael quietly pleaded. Illidan grinned lasciviously, but said nothing in reply, merely sliding another finger inside Kael to drive him even wilder. He'd done this enough to know that Illidan had a practical reason for doing such a thing beyond merely teasing him, and though he'd never been penetrated by a man quite as large as Illidan before, Kael was growing impatient with him.

"You seem anxious, love," Illidan gently teased him. Kael scowled.

"I'm no doe-eyed virgin in need of tender care," he growled.

"Of course," Illidan purred. "But I sincerely doubt those delicate little Sin'dorei boys have filled you the way I'm about to. And I'm certain you've never been fucked by them the way I'm going to fuck you."

"You certainly know how to thrill a man," Kael said, chuckling softly. He concentrated on the flows of mana within himself, and muttered a quick little cantrip that had served him quite well on many such occasions. When he chanted the last syllable, with a nonchalant twirl of his finger, the opening that Illidan was so eagerly working with his fingers was coated thoroughly in a clear, slick liquid.

"I know your Kirin Tor masters didn't teach you that," Illidan snickered. Kael shrugged at him.

"My youth in Dalaran was not spent entirely in their libraries," he confessed with a naughty little smile. "And I had many...instructors."

Illidan roughly shifted Kael, manhandling him to get his remaining clothes off, and with a quick, agile series of maneuvers, Kael did just that. He helped Illidan out of his own pants, then squatted back down. Straddling Illidan's lap once more, he was all slender Elven beauty, androgynous but undeniably masculine with broad shoulders and the toned musculature of a dancer.

"I'm surprised you got anything productive done at all," Illidan said, licking his lips as he ran his eager hands across Kael's lithe, slender body. "So beautiful."

"Thank you, Master," Kael sighed in pleasure at his touch, blushing a bit. Of course, it was far from the first time he'd been complimented on his looks, but it meant so much more coming from Illidan. Kissing him deeply once more, his master lifted Kael up effortlessly with one hand, while the other spread him open again.

"Don't thank me until I'm finished." And then Illidan eased the tip of his cock against Kael's slickened opening. The Sin'dorei reached back to help guide him, all the while repeating his cantrip to coat the massive thing in the same liquid as it inched into him.

The feeling of Illidan penetrating him was indescribable. Kael let out a groan as it inched slowly inside of him, he'd never felt such a sensation of pain before, and it was absolutely as intoxicating as the magic he'd taken from his master earlier. The length alone was remarkable, but coupled with his girth, Kael thought Illidan might well split him apart--if he could even take him all at once. But Kael's passions were so inflamed, he was determined to do so, and damn the consequences.

For Illidan's part, he was quite clearly exercising an incredible degree of self-restraint. He paused about halfway through, stroking Kael's inner thighs.

"More, damn you..." Kael grunted, impatient.

"More?" Illidan growled, sharply spanking Kael's ass again. "I'll give you more, you insolent whelp." He quite suddenly shoved the rest of his cock into him, and sheathed himself entirely within him.

"Master!" Kael cried out from the sudden sensation, exquisite pain melting into unspeakable pleasure. Yes, that's the way, he thought as he eased back onto Illidan's lap. His master pulled him tightly against his chest, and kissed his neck ravenously, working his way across his collar bone. Enfolded in those massive wings, Kael reached down to take his own painfully hard cock in hand, stroking it for some kind of relief, but Illidan slapped his ass once more, stinging harder than the last time.

"Who am I, boy?" Illidan snarled, a little more of his demonic nature leaking out into his tone. He took a handful of the Blood Elf's long, blonde hair and yanked it hard, so that his neck was bared once more.

"Master," Kael breathed, with a soft cry of pleasure. A sinister smile crossed Illidan's lips, and then he gripped Kael's waist so tightly that his claws dug into his hips and threatened to draw blood.

"Do not ever forget that," Illidan growled. " And do not forget that every inch of you belongs to me." When Kael obediently let go of himself, Illidan proceeded to thrust his hips slowly, slamming himself into Kael with each jerking motion. All the lithe Elf could do was hold onto him for dear life as the speed increased, because he was entirely helpless in Illidan's embrace. Truly, he would have it no other way.

Illidan snarled and grunted with every thrust, pounding Kael harder and faster, his claws drawing blood from his hips in earnest now. But Kael felt nothing but absolute pleasure as Illidan ravaged him with his massive cock. It was more wonderful than he could have ever imagined in his wildest fantasies.

Without warning, Illidan yanked Kael's hair again, this time forcing him to arch his back so far that his head was nearly touching the water. With characteristic Sin'dorei grace, Kael shifted his weight, effortlessly resting a leg upon Illidan's powerfully muscled shoulder. What followed, however, even Kael did not see coming. Leaning forward, using his own Kaldorei dexterity, Illidan bent down and slid Kael's cock completely into his mouth, even as he continued to thrust his own into him, without missing a stroke. Kael moaned, tingles of pleasure shooting up his spine at the competing sensations.

"Gods, Illidan!" he moaned deliriously, his eyes rolling back in his head as Illidan suckled and pounded him in a smooth, seamless rhythm. He reached down to grab the demon's twisting, curling horns, and gripped them tightly as he was ravaged at both ends. It was an exquisitely pleasing exercise in contrasts; on the one, the soft, moist tongue sliding back and forth across the shaft of his cock, Illidan's surprisingly soft lips drawing him entirely into a mouth full of wonderful heat. On the other, he was being ridden for all he was worth, pounded mercilessly by Illidan's monstrous size. It blended into a harmony of feeling that Kael could not even entirely process.

After what seemed like an eternity of that symphony of sensation, Kael could take no more. His body stiffened when Illidan brought him over, back flying straight up to arch even more impossibly. His incoherent Thalassian screams echoed off the icy walls of the cavern, and he shot his seed so hard into his lover's eagerly awaiting mouth that he saw spots.

Utterly unable to breathe, Kael felt just as helpless as he had when he was drained from the battle. This feeling, however, this utter bliss, was far more preferable to the former. His eyes fluttered open to see Illidan casually swallowing the evidence of that bliss, and his master almost looked as though he was ready to join him simply from the taste of it. However, he was not so easily sated.

Growling, his eyes burning with dark emerald fire so intense they shone entirely through his blindfold, Illidan pulled out of Kael abruptly. Without saying a word, he roughly flipped Kael onto his stomach, then jerked him up onto his hands and knees. Kael's wealth of long, thick golden hair was dripping wet and clinging to the small of his back, but Illidan simply flipped it out of the way. He viciously rammed back into Kael, who winced, still tender from his climax. Illidan pounded him ferociously with his cock, not taking even the slight care he previously used. Kael's heart was pounding, and he dug his fingers into the rock at the edge of the spring somewhat futilely for support. He'd long heard stories of Kaldorei insatiability, but largely believed them to be slander on the part of the ever-prudish Humans (who, of course, knew nothing of the fact that his own people were that way). Not so, and Illidan seemed hellbent on proving that. Kael could feel his own blood begin to race southward again, and idly began to stroke himself. It was when Illidan grabbed his hair once more, however, and yanked his head back to take a long, languid lick of his ear, that Kael was fully engaged once more.

This time Illidan was too distracted to stop him from taking matters into his own hands, so to speak. As his master rode him with newfound ferocity, Kael jerked himself, moaning in renewed pleasure. Then, suddenly, Illidan roared, a guttural cry that was not the least bit Kaldorei, and quickly pulled out of Kael. His wings flared, and he took his cock into a clawed hand, he shuddered and groaned, shooting all over Kael's back, then flipped him over to come on his stomach. It was as though with that one, final act, Illidan was forever marking his territory.

It was that sight of Illidan looming over him completely overwhelmed by lust, that feeling of being utterly dominated by the man he loved--a man of incomparable power--that sent Kael over the edge for a second time. His own seed spilled out into the water in an arcing stream, with a final blissful sigh.

Kael lay there in the shallow water for a long moment, unable to move and not really caring if he ever did again. Idly, he watched tendrils of his hair fan out and float upon the water. Illidan smiled at him, then bent down to lay beside him. It was a long and silent moment they spent side by side, but then Kael rolled over to rest his head upon Illidan's broad chest. A wing enfolded on them both, when Illidan wrapped an arm about him, and smiled.

"Did I break you?" he teased. Kael chuckled, and shook his head as much as he could.

"I don't believe so. But walking may prove to be a minor issue," Kael quipped, with a wry grin. Illidan kissed the top of his head, and laughed at him.

"We can always say it was the Scourge that got you. It may be an easier explanation for Vashj's priestesses."

"I think so--wait, what do we tell Vashj?" Kael suddenly frowned. She was bound to ask questions about their sudden absence.

"That...is entirely up to you, my love, and what you are comfortable with. I have absolutely nothing to hide, but if you think it better that she not know, for the sake of your friendship..." Illidan shrugged.

"I think...I would rather just lay here with you and think about it later."

"As would I," Illidan agreed. "Unfortunately, that is not really an option now, as you well know. There is too much to be done."

Kael sighed, because he knew his master was right. Already he could feel the weight of his responsibilities shifting back onto his shoulders, as he turned his thoughts back to his soldiers. Did they make a clean retreat? How many had perished? Was the blockade successful? A million questions rose in his mind, and while his personal happiness had never been greater...that brief respite, that time of rest where he was simply Kael making love to the man he cared for...that was over. Now it was time for him to become Prince Kael'thas once more, last son of House Sunstrider, Lord and Commander of the Sin'dorei. Illidan, too, would have to turn from him to once again assume the mantle of the dread Lord of Outland. He already saw his lover steeling himself to return to the front, and if Kael thought about it any longer, melancholy would set in, and Kael was never one to wallow in self-pity.

Simply put, they both had a mission to complete.

It did not take very long to get cleaned up and re-clothed. Though Kael was in fact as sore as he'd ever been in his life, he had no problem following Illidan out of the cave. Illidan raised his hand as if to conjure a portal, but paused, and turned back to him.

"What is it, Master?" Kael asked.

"I..." Illidan started, with uncharacteristic reticence. He stopped to gather his thoughts, and then continued. "I want you to know that what happened in there...that was not merely a matter of lust."

"I know."

"We enter dangerous territory from here on, Kael. And I want you to know that, if you will it, there will be a thousand more times such as that, for as long as you wish it so. I will never forsake you, Kael'thas Sunstrider. Never. Remember that always, no matter what manner of horrors Arthas sends our way, no matter what we may find when we reach Icecrown."

And Illidan pulled him into a fierce embrace, enfolding him in his wings.

"I will protect you, always," Illidan whispered fiercely. Kael returned the embrace, and reached up to kiss him.

"I would die for you, Illidan."

"...let us pray it does not come to that."