Observe the couple

She turns her attention to the couple against the stable wall. Adella is amazed at the clarity of her vision and the way her ears seem to be able to attune themselves to things ordinarily too distant to hear clearly. Again, she wonders if this is a dream or an illusion of the night. In any case, as she looks at Horace and Drina, she fancies that she can almost hear their breathing, the light smacking sound of their lips against each other’s, and the rustling of their clothing as Horace presses his body against Drina’s.

Adella takes in a deep breath. “I’d almost swear I can smell Drina’s perfume from way up here!” she says to herself, before returning her attention to the couple.

“Horace!” says Drina, breaking off the kiss and putting her hands against Horace’s chest. The clarity of her words causes Adella to jump in surprise.

“I really have to go,” says the young woman, amidst Horace’s kisses on her cheeks and neck. “I have to be up early tomorrow and need to get to bed!”

Adella can see her half-heartedly pushing against the stableboy, but her relaxed expression and smile reveal that she is having difficulty putting effort behind her words.

“I have a bed you can use,” he says, taking her hands from his chest and holding them against the wall. “It’s much closer than yours, and a lot more fun, too!”

He resumes kissing her, this time working his way to the front of her neck and down the v-line of her blouse.

Drina giggles again. “I’m sure that would do wonders for my continued job here, if I was found in the bed of the king’s stableboy!”

“She wouldn’t be the first,” thinks Adella, drily, remembering Courtney’s breathless account of her fling with Horace and the anatomical reason why he bore the nickname “Horse.” She took a breath, and wrinkled her forehead as she detected another scent mixed with Drina’s perfume — one she could not identify readily, but strangely sparked a curious, primal feeling deep inside her. She dismisses the thought and returns to attention to the amorous couple.

“Come on, Drina,” Horace pleads, releasing one of her hands and grasping the side of her chest. Even at this distance, Adella can clearly see him extend his thumb to run the side of her breast. “Come back to my room with me!”

Drina’s voice, though cheerful, is more determined this time. “Not tonight, Horace. It just wouldn’t be proper, anyway. After all, this is only our first date — if you call a midnight tour of the royal stables a ‘date’.”

“Why wait?” he asks, pressing his crotch against hers. “Come on.... I promise you will love it!”

Adella catches the scent again, and this time she is able to identify her reaction to it: lust. The primal desire rising up within her is directly connected to what she is smelling. “I couldn’t be detecting some kind of pheromone Horace or Drina are secreting, could I?” she asks herself, as she resumes watching them with renewed interest.

“Come on,” Horace pleads again. “I’m soooo horny! How about a blowjob, at least? Come on, Drina.... You’ve got me so turned on!”

Drina exclaims with a half-laugh/half-retort. “Horace! Shame on you!” She lightly smacks his chest, and this time when she pushes against his chest, she does so with determination. As Horace steps back, Drina adjusts her mussed clothing and says, “I really have to go, Horace.” She stands on tiptoes and kisses him on the cheek. “Thank you for the tour.”

With that, Drina departs, leaving Horace to fall back on his heels, leaning against the stables. Adella lets her gaze fall between his legs. Either because of her newfound heightened senses or because of the size of Horace’s legendary endowment, she can see that the poor boy was not exaggerating when he declared the state of his arousal.

The breeze shift slightly, and Adella gets a full lungful of air from the courtyard. There is no mistaking the pure, unbridled lust that she feels coming off of the young man, and there is no stopping the corresponding lustful reaction from her own loins.

She shakes her head roughly, trying to return to sanity from a world that has so quickly descended into the surreal.