A Darker Flame: Lost in the Snow

When Dean took her to Iceland, Stella knew that he had an ulterior motive. She was pretty sure that he did not suspect her episode with Elijah at the premiere, but he knew he was there and that was probably more than enough for him. Stella found out Dean’s ulterior motive sooner than later…he was thinking about a film made here.
Dean was a bit of a control freak, sometimes she suspected that he directed their lives as well. Maybe she was feeling negative because the days were so short. It was four in the afternoon, and it looked like deep evening. She was lying in a hot tub and felt completely relaxed. She was alone, and happy to be in one place.The Faroe Islands was also a possible location, and they were constantly in a helicopter for there to go from place to place. Here the warm water made her feel drowsy…and aroused.
With her eyes closed, she was not seeing Dean even though she was imagining how she wanted her desire quenched. Everything had been fine between her and Dean until the damn premiere, when she ran from Elijah. Her dreams that night and for several nights after had been penetrated by Elijah. She woke in the mornings with a heat that spread over her, that she was sure was Elijah, like this huldufolk myth that she had learned in Iceland. Hidden people in the firm of elves or fairies. She of course did not believe in such things, but what else would explain the tactile warmth that spread over her every morning whether she slept with Dean or not?
Elijah had made her come at the premiere, and the thing was she was thinking about him before she confused him for Dean. She was watching him on the screen making love to her, and wanting him in her thoughts or fantasies? Why was her life like the premise of the movie that she had been in with Elijah? Why was he now the other she could not stop thinking about the way she had thought about Didier as Adora in the film?
Stella fell asleep, on waking she was hurried out and left. Dean was in the front, and she happily was not that late for his pickup. He kissed her and she sighed softly, she was still in the mood.
“We are going to have drinks with some potential producers. When I told them you might think about the film they were delighted.”
“Me?”
“Well of course honey, who else but you? My muse?”
He squeezed her thigh.
Was it her guilt that kept her quiet? Or the impending darkness outside? It was dark so early, and cold. Stella almost felt like she was being held hostage: actually by Dean and mentally by Elijah.
Time rolled into itself, they had dinner. Stella like the Icelandic cuisine, Dean not so much. She knew he planned on drinking heartily as he always did. She knew to be careful with the potent Icelandic Brennevin, she believed it was called the Black Death…
When they got to the bar, her plans to be modest with her drinking were diminished when she saw the producers.
And Elijah.
A warm flush flooded her and she almost felt faint, but it was then she was handed a shot of Brennevin.
And kept them coming, to form a kind of death of her own. She sat next to Elijah because it was the only choice and for the first time in Iceland, she felt like she was in the middle of a heatwave. When she gazed at Dean, his expression was inscrutable.
She and Elijah had been too successful, they wanted a sequel to their film. More than tipsy, Stella barely even understood the plot as it was spun aloud. Dean did not look surprised, she felt blindsided.
“Did you know about this?” Elijah asked her, his breath fell on her like a dragon’s fire.
“No,”
“Dean did not tell you?”
Stella was ashamed, clearly she was the only one out of the loop.
She downed another shot.
They migrated to the hotel where they were all staying apparently and Stella felt like she was on a set. She wobbled and almost felt in the lobby. Elijah grabbed her.
“I am sorry Stell, I thought you knew.”
Don’t play a patron saint with me, you made me come at the premiere.”
“I can make you come now too,” he said under his breath.
“You wouldn’t dare. Dean is here!”
“Did that stop me the last time?”
Stella was on complete fire now, she was afraid he would and she wanted him to.
“Listen Stella, you are in on this now. Enjoy the ride, and you know what I mean.”
Suddenly Iceland was the hottest place on earth, even though she was lost in the snow…