#........... he was craving this setting and who am i to deny this siren

[way-of-love]

Unfulfilled (Namor x FemReader) (R-RATED) (NO MINORS) (PART2)

You, a mutant siren, made a deal with the god and king of Talokan. That in use of your body, to be a surrogate, to create an heir, you will be paid in what the world truly wants most. Vibranium. And other riches of course. But you set rules, limits to what was allowed and all those months lead to nothing. An empty womb. And a very angry surrogate. Namor has been nothing but patient but now was the time to exploit your ridiculous rules and claim what he's been fighting for. He was a king after all.

Part 1 Part 3

Any ammunition you had was depleting and you were desperately trying to prove all that he said was wrong. Anything to throw at his face and debunk this 'frustration' he was claiming you had but there wasn't anything left to throw. Namor watches your face contort into confusion and stubbornness with the scrunch of your nose as you struggled to find yet another excuse.

He leaned down pressing his lips against your ear breathing in deep, he's had enough, "You are a lovely woman, a desirable woman, and I am the kind of man to break that shell so you can be satisfied. You want me, as much as I want you."

"I...don't want you. If I was so desperate for you why do yo u have to use lubricant Namor?" You could feel his warmth seeping into the side of your head and smell the salt of the sea on his golden skin. Being this close you could feel the aching knot in the pit of your stomach, you chose to ignore it.

Licking his lips you heard his smile in his quiet smooth voice, " I have had no need to use lubricant lately Y/N, none at all."

And there it was the last of your ammo gone and Namor had won the war. Your shoulders sunk in defeat. You've never had once lost control or even had control taken from you when it came down to how you wanted things to go. Even men at the club knew not to fuck with you and here was Namor moving back giving you an unwavering stare as he sat back on your bed. Half naked expect for his green trunks and his jewelry.

He was always right.

"I don't want-"You began again but he raised a hand silencing you instantly. He was the only man who's ever silenced her with just was wave of his hand and you swore he would be the last because no one radiated power like he did. He was dangerous, this agreement between the two of you was dangerous but deep down in the naughty mind and body of yours you liked it. And your body was trying so desperately to show you that he was and will always be the man who knew how to bend your rules, to shut you up in times like these. The body was meant, in some circumstances, to succumb to the things it craved. like thirst and hunger, shade or even being in the sun. But deny it of something it craved for so long it'll start to fester, cry for those needs. Now you didn't know what to do with this hot heat in your core starring at the mutant king.

Now that the cat was out of the bag you found yourself standing in front of the man with your hands hanging at your sides and you certainly felt a nice heat blossoming across your cheeks.

The body will start to rebel.

He slowly reached out and placed his hands on your hips gently, testing, pulled you forward so you were now in-between his powerful thighs.

"One night," You said, "No pregnant talk or babies or even about the agreement. I just want one night where none of that matters."

He stayed silent. You thought he was going to deny you right after that little discussion you had. Honestly, some part of you, no, all of you wanted him to say yes.

"Let's begin."

----------------

The matress creaked under their weight every time he fucked you, your breathless panting filled the room. Two sweaty bodies worked in unison how nature meant it to be, faster and faster he went gripping your round hips with a bruise steeling grip brining your hips back to meet his own snapping hips.

Both of your bodies were dripping in sweat, salty, sticky sweat creating such a stench you never knew was possible. It was like an aphrodisiac pushing your body to continue, pushing his body to respond in kind to yours but you wanted it to end. The body was getting more than it bargained for and now you were sobbing in absolute bliss begging him to finish, begging him to have mercy. You didn’t know how many times you came or how many times he did, it was all a blur.

“No… he terminado todavía.” The heir was the goal. An heir was all that mattered so he was to be given immortality and reassurance through his bloodline that all will be taken care of. Namor needed you to make the climb to victory. Impregnating you would’ve been easy but after so many negatives he had to think, plan.

You were the problem. You had kept him from his goal. He needed to stop you from stopping him.

As much as he enjoyed their little game of cat and mouse in the beginning. Having her body anytime he pleased, having her willingly turned a knob in him. To hell with lubricant, a willing wet woman felt so much better to him. Especially a woman who he’s sought after, a woman who was being so docile beneath him mewling and crying for yet another release. You were already dripping with his seed and after tonight there would be no doubt that a child would soon form in that womb of yours.

The night was long and between the two of you, how hungry the two of you were for each other there would no doubt be no sleep for either of you. And you were correct. After suddenly shutting your eyes mid fuck you woke up with a start. Eyes shot open staring at the two glass double doors… foggy glass double doors? We’re you dreaming? There was absolutely no way he screwed you so much to the point where it was hotter in here than outside, where it was hot too.

The sun was barley touching the horizon indicating that it was finally morning. The relief you felt would have had anyone offended but not Namor. He understood you completely and even more so after last night. Slowly you started to sit up off your stomach feeling all the sweet aches good sex left, the satisfaction of feeling such aches made you want to snuggle back into your pillow no matter how hot it was in here.

Though maybe you should open the door, it was a little too hot. Sliding your legs off the side of your bed you attempted to get up but failed miserably. Your body almost crumpled to the floor after your first step but thankfully a thick tanned arm caught your middle before you fell. Slowly, you turned your head to face the owner of said arm and tried so hard not to stare at the fresh claw marks that decorated his perfect shoulders. Did… you do that?

He pulled you back into bed silently making you late naked over the covers as before. Hopefully one night was all that was needed to create life inside that womb of yours, he used your body just as you used his but for some reason he lingered at your bed side staring at you and looking over your face, shoulders and body. Was being naked strange to him? Or was he judging you? He’s done you countless of times and he still wasn’t used to it?

You opened your mouth to say something but he beat you to it, “I apologize. I didn’t… mean to be so rough. I’ll come back in the evening and bring you some ointment for the bruises,”

His hand went out and touched a bruise by your hip, five reddish hues of fingers popped up at you making your eyes widened. Seeing the rest of your body you quickly sat up running tour own hands over the bruises, bite marks, hickeys all over your legs, thighs, waist and no doubt on her breasts too because you remember a new nips he gave you throughout the night

“I..I… you’re lucky I don’t work tonight,” Falling back against the mattress Namor stood and faced the balcony doors giving you a nice view of his back and by God was it a sight. He looked worse than you. Scratches, open scratches were clawed down his back. It looked like you were trying to cut the poor guy open! Instantly you wished you had ointment to apply it to him. But there really was no need, he’ll heal.

He made his way to the double doors and slid one door open. Instantly a nice gust of wind came in clearing the room of the heat and replacing it with a cooler one. The smell of the beach and sand greeted your nostrils making you close your eyes and smile. Memories of your days by the sea flashed through your mind and just as quickly disappeared.

“You should really see Talokan. You’d really enjoy-“

“The rules, Namor,” You had to remind yourself too that it was only one night. You broke the rules for one night and after that the rules will be back in place.

“I forgot it was a…rule of yours. I’ll visit again in the evening,” And with that he left through the glass door. You watched him walk above the sand with his winged feet, one you noticed sliced in half. He forgot to mention whatever happened to it. You wanted to so badly to see his home, to swim with people that were almost like her. But…you both agreed, you both shook on it that nothing more would come from this but a baby and even then you’ll give him what he wants and he’ll give you want you want.

Yet, you felt a hole in your chest thinking after nine months you’ll never get visits from him. Though he tried to be nice brining you foods you may like or even gifts, jewelry. It bothered you. He came bringing you gifts, made sure you were fine, mounted you when you were lubed up, once he was done made sure you were fine and left. That how it was every other day.

But last night. He moved in sync with your body like no man has ever done before. He said things that made you cry out from how good it sounded coming from his accented voice. Namor was never too loud, but never too quiet either. That man was perfect, too perfect.

——————

After taking a nap you decided it was about time you cleaned up the room a bit but first, a shower.

When you wobbled your way into the bathroom again you saw your awful reflection in the mirror making you gasp. It wasn't just how messy your hair was it was the marks. Hickeys, teeth marks, even small reddish purple hues of bruises forming around your neck were a clear indication that you definitely weren't innocent. How the hell were you going to hide this from the club? They'd scold you and deduct from your pay the performance you weren't able to make it to.

It was better not to think about it and just relax or try to given the circumstances. If you thought about it too long you'd come to realize something you prayed would never happen. But now that there was even a flicker of a thought of being more than just the woman who would be carrying his child and after the events of last night you weren't sure you'd be able to look at him the same or even look him in the eye.

You just hoped there would be a bun in the oven soon.

-------------------

He didn't come see you that night. Instead of him giving you the ointment it was little mommy fish man Attuma who handed you the ointment. And everyday after that he never came to see you. It was strange, he came every other day so not seeing him for a few days was perfectly fine but this... was a tad much.

Days turned into weeks and in those weeks you took another test, this time you had the satisfaction of seeing a little plus sign on the white little screen. You felt relived, nervous, satisfied but you felt afraid. Without Namor here to handle the rest of this pregnancy it was up to you until he returned and you didn't know when that would be. Attuma was vague when you asked about Namors whereabouts telling you that he was taking care of a few things outside of Talokan.

And everyday Attuma came to check on you it was the same answer every time until you grew tired and stopped asking, you even stopped answering him after a while.

Then a month passed. And the baby within your stomach grew, not too big but big enough that you truly noticed. The only people who only knew of your status were Attuma and Namors cousin, who surprised you by barring gifts of fruit a few weeks ago that you happily devoured that night.

But you still felt that emptiness. Sure you had a companion now who didn't talk back and got you sick most of the time like now, but it was better than nothing.

Currently, you were kneeling by the toilet bowl resting your head on the seat while flushing down its contents. You couldn't stop vomiting's what little you had in your stomach for what seemed like days to you. Was this normal?

This was all his fault, he made you like this, " God, I hate him so much. One day I'm going to hang him from a line and watch him fry in the sun," You muttered tiredly. The image brought you great joy while seething in nausea.

"That would hurt, but it wouldn't kill me if that's what you were hoping for," That voice. Lifting you head you quickly turned to face the bathroom door with with red brimmed teary eyes you could have sobbed. Namor stood in normal day to day casual clothing, shirt, pants, shoes, and a cap that covered the tips of his pointed ears.

Instead of getting up and greeting him you sneered at him and went back to resting your head back on the toilet seat. Screw him! He left you behind to fend for yourself, why should you greet him?

"I hate you." You said it plainly. " You ruined my sleep, my mornings and my stomach,"

Namor expected this. Her first pregnancy and her first trimester. He took slow careful steps towards the pregnant woman as if afraid you'd explode if he moved too quickly and when he was close enough he went into a crouch beside you. Slowly he raised his hand and placed it carefully on your back. The small touch had you craving more of it, the warmth, the kindness of just one small touch had tears swelling in your eyes. But you still didn't move.

"Where were you?" It was soft, quiet.

No response. " Give me an answer or I swear I'll throw up all over you,"

He shifted a bit and took his hand away resting both arms on his knees," Out. I was out preparing a few things for the coming of the baby and for...you."

For you? Now you decided to turn around and give him a confusing look. He only looked at you with those soft eyes. You looked tired, sad, angry. It wasn't pity that he felt, certainly not that, it was something else entirely.

Beautiful and lovely you were not.

Being a surrogate wasn't as fun as you had though tit would be. Just get pregnant and pop the thing out and hand it off to the fishman so you can get your vibranium and leave. This sucked. And he knew it too.

You forced a sarcastic smile while brushing your messy hair back, " Motherhood suits me huh?"

Namor was no fool. He knew you weren't meant to be a mother and he made his choice clear in the beginning that you were just going to carry his child and after its birth no mother should be found because she would behalf way across the world enjoying her spoils. But after the month he's been away Attumas reports on you have been... strange. Cleaner, eating better, cooking more home foods and you've stopped working at the club completely. He would never admit he would sometimes come late into the night to watch how you were doing. He'd watch you as close as he could get by sea, seeing how you looked at yourself in the mirror talking to no one but the tiniest bump on your lower belly. Caressing it with care. You looked absolutely ravishing.

"No, it doesn't suit you."

———

TAG LIST, YOURE WELCOME 🥹

@damnzelsoul

[rubiesintherough]

(( @coinquinatvs​ sent --- [ Henry, for Lusca~ ] ❝ And you thought it was a good idea to hide this from me because.... ?? ❞ ))

The laceration was deep, spanning the length of his left thigh, nearly down to bone... it was surprising he’d managed to hide it thus far, given all the running about he’d had to do around the deck all morning, the damned captain dissatisfied until the siren had run himself nearly ragged. Oh, if there was ever a time when Lusca was daydreaming about opening his jaws and clamping them down on Reynolds’ hand, taking fingers, hand itself, up the wrist, hearing him scream and --- well, it was now, contending with both the tugging tiredness of his piled on tasks and the neverending, sharp, throbbing of the wound. 

But, apparently he’d become a bit careless. A hike up of his trouser leg to examine the injury, hastily wrapped by Butcher, Lusca had thought he was alone in this quiet corner of the hold... clearly he’d not checked well enough. Henry’s scent caught him first. The tangy smell of sweat intermixed with sea air and those familiar footsteps matching the swell of the ship below them, Lusca didn’t even need to glance up. And a grin coiled its way across fanged mouth at the question. That glinting gaze rose slow, meeting his love’s through lantern light with an unmistakable amusement, only growing at the clearly exasperated expression on the other man’s features,   “ Because you have a habit of fretting, Henry. “  

[spaceskam]

only then i am human

Summary: Rosa and Alex have a talk.

Tags: friendship, asexual rosa

ao3

It was cold in Colorado.

Rosa felt a chill go down her spine, but it felt nice and sobering and she didn’t want to go inside to get a jacket. Instead, she swung her feet off the edge of the balcony, beneath the bars, and stared out to the nothingness around the hotel that Michael had picked.

She had listened to Alex and Michael old-married-couple argue the entire way up to the suite. Alex thought going somewhere expensive with a more obvious paper trail was stupid, but Michael had never been to a nice hotel and this was his only shot to do it with money he didn’t care about‒Jesse Manes’ life insurance. Alex stopped complaining whenever they got up to the suite and there was a separated bedroom and a pullout couch and the two of them would get to be alone for the first time since they left Roswell to go investigate.

Rosa had practically begged them to let her tag along, needing new scenery and to get away from everything that came with Isobel Evans. She was, again, too close for comfort and Rosa was starting to get anxiety whenever she came around, progress be damned. When she found out Michael and Alex were going to investigate Weird Alien Shit™, she jumped at the chance to put space between them.

But her mind was still hazy, still not liking the way she felt uncomfortable when Isobel texted to check-in. It was fine at first. She even liked talking to her for a while. And then it wasn’t fine.

Rosa flinched out of her daze as a blanket touched her shoulders and she looked to see Alex easing himself to sit beside her, placing his crutches on the ground beside him. He was in his nightclothes, his hair was wet, and he looked more relaxed than he had in a few days.

“Finally got laid?” Rosa asked. Alex snorted and rolled his eyes, but he didn’t deny it. Rosa let her eyes drift back out to the nothingness.

“You okay? It’s getting late,” he said instead. Rosa shrugged, resting her head against the bars. “Michael’s out cold, so you can talk without thinking he’s gonna overhear.”

Rosa huffed a laugh and looked back out. She didn’t actually care what Guerin heard. He was probably the only alien that didn’t make her skin crawl. She wasn’t sure if it was because Alex trusted him or if it was because he was brutally honest with her about everything, but she preferred him to even most people. Besides, he made Alex soft and fed him hot fudge sundaes and Alex deserved that.

“Isobel keeps texting me,” Rosa said.

“I thought you two were friends,” Alex said carefully. Rosa bit the inside of her cheek and swung her legs a bit harder.

“We‒are, but,” Rosa said, pausing as she tried to find the words, “I don’t know. Something is making it weird. Like, I’m not scared of her. But it’s close to fear. Or something. I don’t know, Alex, I don’t do feelings well.”

“Uncomfortable?” Alex guessed, slowly like he didn’t want to assume anything. Rosa shrugged but then nodded, though she wasn’t sure if that was the right word either. “How’s she acting?”

“I… I don’t know. She’s just too close sometimes. Leans too close and talks too close, like we’re a part of some inside joke together but I missed the memo. Kinda like it was before, Rosa tried, though it wasn’t quite right, “But not really. Like I don’t think she’s trying to make it weird. Does that make sense?”

“You think it might be PTSD?” Alex asked. Rosa instantly shook her head.

“No, it’s not just her.”

“Yeah, but you literally got murdered. Like… that can fuck someone up for more than just one person,” Alex said. Rosa’s lips twitched into a small smile and she shook her head.

“No, it’s not like that. It… It kinda happened before then. Drugs helped, honestly,” Rosa admitted, “Anyone who gets too comfortable with me in that way makes me feel weird and like I need to get away. And I usually can and do, but with her it’s a little different because we’re actually friends. And before everything, I either got high to deal with it or I pushed them away. But I’m friends with her, so I should be fine. I don’t know why I’m not fine. I don’t know, it’s weird, I don’t know how to explain it.” 

Rosa groaned, letting her head hit the bars with a bit of force. She hated trying to put her feelings into words.

“I mean, we’re close. I act close. You and Michael have been weirdly buddy-buddy. And Maria. Do you feel that with us?” Alex asked, though it sounded like he already knew the answer. Rosa eyed him until he quirked a small smile, a silent confirmation that he basically had her pegged.

“No. You two are gross, but I feel fine. Mostly.”

“So, do you think it might be, like, flirting? Is that what sets off the sirens in your head?” Alex asked. Rosa scrunched up her nose.

“Are they flirting?”

“I mean, I don’t know, I’m asking you,” Alex said, shrugging. Rosa looked more directly at him and wished he could just give her the answers. He was older than her now, so, really, he should be able to do that. “If they’re being close and stuff, it might be because she likes you. Just tell her you’re not interested.”

The idea of doing that made Rosa feel like locking herself in a small room and never coming out.

“Unless… You are interested.”

“No,” Rosa said instantly, shaking her head, “I’m not.”

“It’s okay if you are.”

“I’m not though,” Rosa said firmly, “But if I say something, she’s probably not going to be my friend anymore, right? Like she’ll get mad. And then I won’t have friends.”

“She won’t. And if she does then she’s the problem and fuck her,” Alex said simply. Rosa sighed, tilting her head back to look up at the moon. “Is this really like… a recurring problem? Where you get uncomfortable whenever you think someone might be flirting with you?”

“I mean, I’m just not interested in a relationship and I don’t want to lead anyone on and I don’t want to make anyone angry,” Rosa said, “It was much easier when I could just take something and not feel it.”

“Okay, but we’re not doing that. We’re working through it. Is it a rejection thing? A sexuality thing? Whenever I was in high school, I’d get that way when girls flirted with me, didn’t know what to do without giving them the wrong idea,” Alex offered, scooting closer as he tried to help. She appreciated it, but she also wished he’d leave her alone and go away. “You say you’re not interested. Are you, like, not interested at all… ever?”

“No offense, Alex, but I don’t want to have this conversation with you,” Rosa said. Alex huffed a small laugh.

“Who else is there to have it with?” Alex wondered. Rosa made a face and looked at him. He seemed open and earnest. He seemed grown up.

With a sigh, Rosa asked, “What does it feel like? When you like someone like that?”

“Like the scariest thing in the world and also the best. Like all the movie cliches make sense and half the time they’re all you can think about. You just want to be with them and have them pay attention to you. You just want them in anyway you can have them, like a craving you can’t satisfy. Like, with Michael, when we were younger, I was so scared of how much I wanted him, but he’d look at me and it felt like he trusted me and it made me feel brave. And, I don’t know, I guess I made him feel brave too. You just want to be close and to keep them safe and have them always,” Alex rambled, clearly trying his best to explain it.

For the first time, Rosa didn’t feel like she was drowning in confusion.

“Okay,” she said, “I’ve never felt like that before.”

“Ever?”

“No,” she said, laughing softly, “I thought that was fake.”

“Definitely not fake,” Alex said, looking at her with a soft look. Sort of like the one she tried so desperately to give him when he came to her, thirteen and miserable, to say he thought he liked boys and didn’t think he could tell anyone else.

He probably pulled it off much better than she did.

“Okay, then what does that make me? Heartless?” Rosa asked, though she didn't really feel bad about realizing what she wasn’t feeling. At least she knew that she was actually not feeling it and she wasn’t just drastically misunderstanding something. “A prude, maybe?”

“Have you ever looked into asexuality?” Alex asked. Rosa shook her head. “I haven’t really either to be fair. I actually learned about it from Michael. He apparently got really into queer literature and history whenever Max was dead, would read it to him as a way to be caring and annoying at the same time. Sometimes he’ll spout fun facts at me. Anyway, sounds like it might be something you wanna look into.”

“Okay, I will,” Rosa agreed, though she still found herself looking out to the nothingness.

“Not that you need labels. I just think sometimes knowing we’re not the only ones out there like us is helpful. And you’re already an anomaly in other ways, so might as well not make yourself feel more alone than you are, you know? It’s clearly upsetting you,” Alex said. Rosa nodded.

“I get it. Thanks.”

“And maybe talk to Isobel, tell her to give you some space.”

Rosa sighed, tilting her head back and closing her eyes for a moment. She just wanted everything to make since. She didn’t like navigating new friendships in the first place, it was scary and she was never able to gauge how they felt about her. It was easier, especially when she was sober, to just not deal with it. To just keep the friends she had now and push everyone else away.

But that wasn’t plausible or healthy and she knew it. That would lead a lonely existence and she was already lonely. She never felt like she was anyone’s person in the way she wanted to be someone’s person. And, really, it was a hard thing to request because she wasn’t sure how to explain it herself.

She supposed, however, that she would never get anywhere if she didn’t try.

��Seriously, trust me. Avoiding the tough conversations only leads to shitty situations. Like, you know, a decade of complications because you never speak,” Alex pointed out. Rosa rolled her eyes at him.

“You can’t pull that card with me, it’s you and Guerin’s fault for all that.”

Alex grinned and shrugged.

“Yeah, but once we talked, we got to a place that we’ve both been wanting for a long time. So cut out the bullshit and just tell her what you want and don’t want. Again, if she gets mad, fuck her,” Alex said. Rosa nodded and sighed all over again. Sometimes she hated having to be grown up. “Okay, I’m gonna go to bed. We’ve got a big week, so try to get some sleep yourself, okay? Love you.”

“Love you too,” Rosa said, accepting his smile as he pushed himself up and made his way back into the suite and into the room he was sharing with Michael.

It was weird hearing it put into words. She obviously knew people liked each other in a way different than she could understand, but she had never really clocked how real it was to them. She understood craving someone’s attention and presence, but it wasn’t in the way it seemed to be for Michael and Alex or even Liz and Max. She thought they were just being fucking annoying.

Maybe there was something she was missing.

Reluctantly, Rosa pulled out her phone and opened the text thread she’d had with Isobel.

Rosa: Hey, I think we should talk when I get back. Set some boundaries, maybe.

Before it could even show that Isobel had seen it, Rosa exited out and put her phone on do not disturb. She stared out at the trees and nothingness for a few more minutes before she eventually got the courage to get up and go inside. She shut the glass door and laid down on the pullout couch that Alex had set up for her. 

She hadn’t realized how tired she’d been until her head hit the pillow, a wave of exhaustion hitting her at full force. And she was thankful for that, honestly. It was easier to keep a clear head when you couldn’t stay awake.

Still, before she could fall asleep, she opened her notes app to type a reminder.

Asexuality. Ask guerin to borrow some of his books.

[kryptsune]

Souly Damned Saturdays!~

🌼Welcome to Souly Damned Saturdays! I am your host Kit! Today I am going to be taking a break to talk about one of my main characters! I mentioned her a few posts ago but her name is Evelyn Rogers. I am also going to explain how covens work. Let’s get started! 

Character Profile:

Name: Evelyn Rogers Species: Human (witch)/ Celestial? Soul Flower Type: Lily         Color Type: Vibrant violet 

Human Appearance Description:          Hair Color: Black         Hair Style: (image provided) with a braid on the left side         Skin Tone: Pale         Height: 5′6″         Other Details:                    -Thin ribbon tying back braid                   - Black ribbon chocker with pendant                    - Ruby studded silver earrings

Infernal Appearance Description:         Name: Lilith          Soul Flower Type: Lily               Color Type: vibrant violet (middle) that pales with ice along it’s petals           Infernal Title: Infernal Princess         Eye Color: Icy blue when looses herself         Hair Color: White          Hair Style: (image provided) with a braid on the left side         Skin Tone: Pale         Contract symbol mark placement: Shoulder blades         Extras: 2 sets of white wings that have a gradient of icy blue.          Other Details:                     - Slender fingers with black painted nails (sharp tips)                    - Black horns that swoop backward                    - Pointed ears (more below the cut)

Special Abilities or Powers:              - Can read minds              - Dream walking              - Can pull out deepest desires              - Forces those under her power to tell the truth              - Truth touch (will gain the trust of those touched)              - Mental suggestion               - Lust touch              - Levitation              - Blip (Teleportation)               - Dark ice/fire element              - Calming touch (Weapon: Those she has a specific bond with ie: Beast and Costello give her their abilities when it comes to weapons but she does not have a specific weapon herself.)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eve’s Contract:

Eve’s soul is unique as it appears to be linked to the past ancestry of humans linked by the Vinculum Infernalis. Due to this her soul is far more powerful and can utilize more of their own abilities. The first contract she ends up bound to is Cubans. In exchange for her life as well as their own protection she works at the club as their little songbird. She becomes an undercover agent to infiltrate the boys enemies or rivals since the human soul has the ability to mask demonic presence. She ends up with a second contract to Costello for other reasons (spoilers). In addition to being able to use the abilities of the boys, the contractee is also able to wield their specific weapons. Each one corresponds to a specific Prince and the higher level the more powerful.

Unbeknownst to Eve her father is none other than one of the three most powerful beings in existence. As such she does not know her true lineage. Her father, Kalthiel, watches her from afar and aids when he is able but she does not know of his involvement. Her conception was a byproduct of her mother’s deal with the Broker. Unfortunately her ancestral blood caused her to be baden and in desperation she made a deal to have a child. A child that would one day be a tri-brid. One of mortal, Celestial, and Infernal blood.

Fusion:

Fusion is an interesting scenario since Eve is contracted to not one but two princes of Hell. She gains many abilities and one of those is being able to fuse her bound soul with that of her demonic counterpart(s) creating a fusion of herself and their own hellish forms. The soul however can only stand so much and if that goes beyond its limit the human soul could be damaged permanently. This form is dangerous for anyone and a last resort at best.  

Eve’s Ancestry /The Vinculum Infernalis:

Humans in this universe do not believe in the existence of monsters very much like our own world. They are nothing but stories and myths. Demons are the exact same. There is a story that may allude to the fact that demons were created with monsters as punishment for humanity's evil. That is neither confirmed or denied. What is known is that demons used to walk the surface regularly a long time ago.

Humans in their lust for power (a very debatable comment) made contracts with these creatures in exchange for their souls, something that demons covet to gain more power themselves. Those that made these contracts became witches/ warlocks, having Infernal blood and magic infused within their very being. As every demon is unique so were the souls. The first covens were formed after 12 survivors managed to break their contracts leaving the magic within their souls present. As they began to have children that magic too was passed down. Humans with any type of magic are extraordinarily rare and one mage soul can rival over 1000 regular human souls. Eve appears to have a connection or blood relation to one of these surviving lines.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Other Classifications:

The Legend of Lilith (Lillum): It is unclear if this history happened or not because the Princes refuse to discuss it. (That can’t be good) The truth of this prophecy, or for most harbinger, is that a generation will be born with power equal to that of their fathers. Since the Princes can not have offspring it takes a very specific mix for this to be possible. Such things are up to fate. All that is known is that it will rival the Celestials if it comes to pass as one of Celestial, Infernal, and mortal blood has to be the one...or there could be more. Legends and prophecy tend to be incredibly vague. 

The Covens and their Patrons: After the formation of the Vinculum Infernalis the Princes decide that instead of regarding the mortals with disdain as they did during their Celestial reign they become patrons instead. In total there are 7 covens with a hierarchy of who is the most powerful. They are as follows:  

Coven Names in Prestige Order (greatest to least): 1. Lust - Circle of the Siren (Costello/ Valentine)

2. Pride - Requiem of the Hallowed (Carthus/ Dusk)

3. Envy - Elysium (Sanneth)

4. Wrath - The Acolytes of Flame and Forge (Boss/ Azrin)

5. Greed - Coven of the Blood Moon (Crimson/ Grimm)

6. Sloth - The Desolate Forgotten (Gin)

7. Gluttony - Circle of the Ancients (Ouro)

Those of the first blood line under the Vinculum Infernalis are the most powerful of their coven and seated at a special rank due to their rarity. Unlike those of the first line the members of the coven are not Infernal/Celestial blooded. 

The First Grimoire: Just because their bond and Infernal blood comes from their ancestral line does not mean that they are as powerful as they once were. In fact there is a Grimoire for each specific coven that only a direct descendant from the line can utilize and open. It is incredibly rare and the first bloodline (the ones that first made the deal) are thought to be dead so the books reside in the highest ranks of the 7 covens until such a time comes that they can be opened. There are Grimoire for every acolyte (the book chooses you type deal) but not anywhere close to those labeled the first Grimoire. These tomes are written entirely in High Infernal Script. These are incredibly deadly and powerful Infernal artifacts and each comes with a specific name: 

Lust- Willbinder, Memoire of Blackfire

Pride- Featherfall, Legacy of Pride

Envy- Ash, Oath of Lasting Night

Wrath- Flameward, Boon of Slaughter

Greed- Sapience, Soul of Desecration

Sloth- Draughtbane, Tome of apathy

Gluttony- Apostle, Ledger of the Devourer

Coven Organization (Hierarchy): Each coven is organized by the will of the Prince that is its patron. They can recruit neophytes with no prior ties if they deem them worthy enough to be inducted into the coven. There is still a process and ceremony that needs to be followed. Once the initiation is complete they are tutored by generally a well learned acolyte (think of them as TAs) while Dominus and Magus are the instructors. If they prove their worth then they will be given a grimoire that chooses them to become an Acolyte. They are then placed under a bond similar to the Vinculum Infernalis but not nearly as strong and there is quite a lot of fine print.

*The First Bloods- A specific rank for those that are of the first bloodline. They actually have Infernal/Celestial blood within their veins which makes them some of the most powerful of the witches/warlocks. Their souls are also marked if they are a part of their first bloodline. 

1. Mortiferum Magistrum- The heads of the covens and the most skilled practitioners. They run more of the direct communication between the Infernal Realm (their patrons) and those under their coven. Some have spoken directly to their Patron but for the most part they are dealing with dukes or lords. There is only one of this rank in each coven. 

2. Dominus- The recruiters with approval from the Mortiferum Magistrum. Their job is to maintain the order within the lower levels of the coven. They are also teachers along with the Magus. 

3. Magus- A magus’ job is to teach their acolytes higher level abilities and possibly prepare them for Magus status as well. In each coven there can be an unlimited number of Magus but only 2 or 3 Dominus. 

4. Acolyte- Servants of the coven and the second lowest tier these are the students. 

5. Neophyte- Those that possibly have potential but have not yet proven themselves to the rest of the coven. You have to start as a Neophyte first. The only exception to this are the First Bloods. 

The Cult of the Fallen One (THE LITERAL DEVIL):  

Hedge Witches/Warlocks: The Hedges probably nicknamed as such due to the phrase “hedging one's bets” are dangerous and rebellious. They are mortals with a craving for power and magic that were neither chosen or of the First Bloods. These are the types of mortals that will make contracts with Imps and Changelings in order to reach a certain end. Sometimes that is wealth, power, magic it just depends. They are not Infernal blooded. These are the souls that end up in the Kingdom of Envy under Sanneth. He does not take kindly to greedy and foolish mortals. The Hedges are the ones that originally proclaimed witchcraft pointing to the covens effectively thinning their once steadily rising numbers. 

They are reckless and generally only care for their own ends. They are the ones that give witches and warlocks a bad name. Unlike those of the coven they gain no such immunity from the Infernal Pit. It is easy for lesser demons to trick these mortals into freeing them to cause chaos in the mortal realm. This includes cracking open Purgatory for some unsavory Infernal Blooded Hybrids to slip through. 

<< PREV  | FIRST | NEXT >>

[orangegreet]

No Minor Miracles | Chapter 5

War-Front Redux

A little reunion, a little madness, a little passion on the heels of a brush with death.

Aleksander saw the Inevitable now. He understood it. At least, partially.

When he grasped the tether that evening after hours spent collecting himself and setting his own expectations, it was with deliberate calm and confidence.

He pulled.

She didn’t answer.

He waited an hour but she still had not responded.

He poured himself a drink.

Standing at the window of his study, shoulders straight and head tall, he pulled again.

Minutes passed. Then several more.

No response. No twinge, even.

He swallowed the rest of his glass and set it down.

Cracking his neck to ease the tension, he straightened the buckles of his undercoat and then gave a real tug.

Nothing.

Nostrils flaring, his tossed the empty tumbler. It shattered in the fireplace.

Something flared inside him and looked around.

“…Alina…” his voice loses it’s commanding edge thanks to a wayward hopeful-uplift at the end of her name. He rolled his eyes at himself, his fingers rubbing against the skin of his forehead.

The raw and reopened hollow in his chest pulsed and he searched it for what he knew was also there. That imprint of her. Perhaps she would not come but her feelings were not as easy to hide away from him.

Could he sort out her emotions from his? He had never properly tried.

Seating himself back in the armchair he prepared to search the depths of his soul for the loose scraps of her.

He found an anger there. It was…odd to acknowledge. Anger he knew intimately, but the flavor of this was different. He could not place it.

It must be hers, nevertheless.

She was not coming.

He repeated this fact to himself over and over, forcing himself to come to terms with it.

The disappointment he felt was tempered only by his determination to meet her in a collected manner.

He resolved to give her space.

He tried again the next week. A hardy pull to the line as he leaned against his fireplace.

She did not answer.

Even if he tried he could not have stopped the whip of fury he hurled deep into their connection.

He burned for her to feel his displeasure. How dare she hide herself from him now?

She was hoping to drive him back into insanity, no doubt.

Aleksander forced a deep breath.

He would not succumb. She wanted to play him for a fool.

The continued silence he endured from her still had an added taste of her rage returned.

This was puzzling. Not having seen her for years—what could he possibly have done to earn this disdain?

Redirecting his efforts into war was reflexive. Months were spent wiled away on the war front.

The General was gifted in the field. The ability to think on his feet, to act with precision and merciless retaliation was honed by years of ugly lessons hard-learned.

His best ideas were born from the chaos of the destruction of battle.

It made sense that one such flash of brilliance would be sprung from this environment; his mind constantly worked in the background to resolve this issue with his petulant Sun Summoner.

How would he get the attention of a woman whose whereabouts were utterly unknown to him? One who refused to answer his commands and who responded to his displeasure with her own stubborn anger?

Pleasure. Raw and unrefined desire. Pressed into her very being by him. He would weave a Siren’s song into their connection and lure her to his side.

Honestly he was remiss for missing the obvious sooner. He had direct access to her emotions—enough that he could channel his own into her and light her up like a little lamp if he wanted.

She could ignore his summons as she pleased. Ignore his wrath.

She would not be able to ignore his lust.

It was a risk. Revealing the depth of his lust and his desire was admitting to an obscene vulnerability.

However, he had exhausted his options. He could not very well send her the debilitating ardor and affection he felt for her. She would hold that over his head for eternity.

He would not be dominated in that way.

A twitch of a manipulation to her emotions was not a bad concession. She desired him as well, anyway. Whatever ambivalence she wished to convince him of at this moment, he had experienced her craving for him in return. Had she not once gripped his hair to the point of pain while he drank from her trembling little cunt? He remembered with a surging heat through his body exactly what her lust-filled moan tasted like on his tongue.

This was simply a matter of reminding her.

In the safety of his tent and long after his men retired, Aleksander reclined on his bed.

Alina would not deny this, could not block it nor see it coming. She expected his rage, his resentment and wrath. She would not be equipped to guard against his lust.

He drew on the memories he had of her. Of her lips, of her fervor, her legs clamped around his waist, her thighs against his cheeks, the silk of her wrists enclosed in his hands when he pinned her to the forest floor and placed a tongue to her throat.

All those recollections folded into the same space which stored his future designs. The ones predicated on joining his body into hers and staying in her as long as he pleased. Stripping her down and filling her up again with himself, his body, his power.

Internally, he was accumulating his own ball of light as he knitted memory and fantasy into a single globe that cast tendrils of heat into his limbs.

The swell in his pants begged for attention but he ignored it for the moment, holding his concentration.

When he thought the thing potent enough, he released it, forcing it along his end of the tether and into their shared connection.

He did not need to wait long. When it hit her, he knew. The tidal wave of desire returned to him and on the heels of it, more fury than he had ever felt from her before.

Aleksander tugged. An incessant, needy pull at their connection.

She did not respond.

Under his direction, the Second Army took out camps across the enemy line, the Fjerdan permafrost was painted with wolf blood to draw out their masters and then drüskelle and Fjerdan soldiers alike were slaughtered with the ease of a plow anointing a field.

The dark mood harbored by the General made him vicious and on more than one occasion he left the confines of his tent to enter the battlefield where he personally ripped flesh from bone with disquieting pleasure.

Ivan and Fedyor monitored their General. Hesitant to challenge or even acknowledge the new state of his disposition.

Eventually the lack of intervention caught up with them.

The General, newly emerged from the blackened night with blood and victory splattered across his face, grunted in surprise as a Fjerdan wolf leapt from the shadow and latched to his shoulder. It was Ivan who stood in a panic-induced shock, frozen in place as he watched the attack.

Ivan, who lifted his hands to stop the beast, determined to crush the heart inside it’s savage chest.

Ivan, who in an inexcusable moment of complete ineptitude, forgot that his powers did not work on animals.

A sickening crunch came from the spine of his General before Fedyor stepped into the brawl to sink a blade into neck of the wolf.

Healers were called. The General lay quite motionless with a thready heartbeat. The wolf had snapped his spine and when the Healer knitted the bones back together, his eyes shot open.

Ivan watched as his superior stared into the empty snow beside him. He was muttering though Ivan could not make out the words.

After a few moments, his eyes closed again.

When the General woke, it was to a flurry of people around him.

Healers made their assessments, declared him mostly recovered and assigned him to bed rest. He fell in and out of sleep.

Ivan and Fedyor took turns keeping vigil.

Alina was there sometimes, sitting by his feet. His eyes closed.

When he opened his eyes next she stood at the end of his bed. He blinked a greeting at her. Something inside him warmed in her presence.

Though he could not keep himself awake. Again his eyes closed and he only hoped she would be there when he woke again.

A couple days passed before he had the stamina to keep his head held up and his eyes open. He found her seated on his bed, her hand inches from his.

At the sight of her, a smile twisted his face against his will.

He dismissed his lingering guests. Soldiers filed out, unsure if they should follow his orders given the state of him.

Everyone was gone save his sunbeam and the warmth was back. His eyes caught on her lips and he thought if he did not speak he might try to pin her down before she could disappear. He would capture her like a lightning bug in a jar and keep her as a trophy on his nightstand.

“My little Saint has come to call at last. Or…is this still a fever dream?”

He began to edge into a seated position and groaned. She glared at him.

“Are you in pain?” She asked.

He shrugged cautiously and adjusted his pillows for support. “Mostly healed now, I imagine. The rest will pass.”

When his eyes met hers, he found a fire in them. He could not hold her gaze; his brow furrowed.

He fiddled with his bed clothes, eventually pushing them off himself and stacking one leg over the other in repose, hands clasped in his lap to contribute to the picture of ease he was arranging.

“To what do I owe the visit, Alina?” He asked, business-like.

She scoffed. “You do not—I felt it, you fool. You. On the cusp of death. I figured I should come check you kept your pulse.” She spoke with derision in her voice. As if it was appropriate to arrive furious next to someone’s sick bed.

He sneered and looked away.

“Thoughtful of you to pay the courtesy then. However, I am very much alive as you can tell. If that is all, you can run along now—“

She cut him off, “In case you are too dense to pick up on this, I find your latest attempt to get my attention entirely deranged. I am disgusted by it.”

His composure dissolved into disbelief.

“My latest attempt?” He raised his voice at her, “You think I would cut my line at the edge of death just to lure you to my side?”

Her smoldering glare was unmoved. Plainly, she did.

“Am I so desperate for your company that I would gamble my life on a battle field in hopes that I could—what? Endure another five minute row with you across this—“ he gestured between them, “measly connection only to be abandoned by you for a few more years?”

Someone stirred at the tent flap at the sound of his raised voice.

He cast a wall of shadows around them, dense enough to muffle his sounds.

“Forgive me for thinking you would stoop to such depravity.” Alina stared at him, her tone dry, “Your prior attempts at getting my attention were quite dignified, after all.”

Then as if she could not stop the words from flying out of her mouth, “Constant attempts to pull me over, to force me to bend to your commands. And then when I did not answer—it was pathetic to think I would fall prey to some burst of carnal lust for you. As if what you have to offer me is so special.” The fire in her eyes flashed, “Your cock and your mouth are entirely replaceable, I assure you.”

He seethed through the sting of it. “Let us leave my cock out of it considering you have not yet sampled it yourself. And let it be known I tried appealing to your good sense and you would not comply. Was it so wrong to try and tempt your baser instincts?”

“I will not be called on like a dog. Beckoned to your side when you’re bored and looking for someone to torture.” Alina hissed.

He his anger tinged with confusion.

“I was not aware you found me so wholly undesirable. Forgive me thinking it, I must have been misled by all your physical advances in the past.”

She clenched her jaw and looked away. He thought he saw tears and felt even more bewildered.

Alina brushed her hands down her dress and began to get to her feet.

“Now I’ve satisfied myself of your survival, I’m leaving.”

“No.” Aleksander’s hand reached for her shoulder before she could stand. “Stay a little longer. Alina—”

She tried to yank out of his reach, her collar rolling away to expose her skin in the process.

His eyes caught on a cluster of yellowing bruises around her neck. Unmistakable in origin.

She stared at him with a flash of worry, pulling her collar back in place.

His breath seemed to have left him for a moment while his heart ramped up into a jarring pound.

He pushed a short breath through his nose, a rueful smile hung on his face. “Squirreled away a lover, have you? Adorable.” His tone was dangerous.

“You do not own my pleasure, Aleksander—”

“Enough of this. Whoever it is. Him. Her. I don’t care. End it.”

She doubled down, tipping her jaw up at him. “You do not own me, Aleksander.” She repeated.

“You gave yourself to me—“ He shouted, “You were made for me. I endured centuries waiting for you—“ They were both on their feet and his words were snarled as he shook her by her arms.

“I was made to be your balance,” she shouted back. “Not to be your pet. And centuries have done wonders for your maturity—behaving like a petulant child who sets aside his toy and then acts surprised that he’s lost it.”

Alina’s voice trembled with her anger and tears collected in her eyes again. “As if you remained some celibate monk in honor of me these last few years.”

He said nothing.

She shoved his chest, “Well? Have you?” She was screaming at him, eyes blazing and he was sure if they were together right now her light would burn him.

She pushed him again and he gripped her wrists. His chest throbbed and he squeezed his eyes shut against it.

Something clicked into place.

The pounding in his chest when he was with Inna for the last time. The pounding that was foreign to him after years of disuse.

Alina tried to jerk her wrists back but his grip tightened and he kept them, palms still pressed to his chest.

“Answer me—” she demanded, pushing him again where she had leverage.

Aleksander fell back a step. “You were there.” The change in volume made the words practically a whisper to her ears.

“Yes.” Alina growled at him, savage as the wolf who broke his bones, “Thank you, by the way, for inviting me to watch as you fucked some otkazat’sya woman as if your fucking life depended on it.”

Her breath was hot on his jaw even as he backed his head away from her challenge. “Was it good for you? Saints, you were desperate for it, I could tell.

“Then you insult me by trying to bring me back to you the next night after? You are pathetic. Petty.” She spat in his face.

He didn’t respond. He didn’t let her go. She struggled.

She could leave at any moment if she wanted. He tried to cling to the fact that she still had not left.

“Alina.” He held her palms to his chest with one hand and pulled her body into his with the other arm wrapped around her waist.

“No—“

“I swear I did not know. I did not mean to—”

She turned her head away and screamed again, “I don’t care I don’t care! I will burn you from the inside out when I see you again, Darkling. I will fill your eyes with the light of a noon-day sun and I will not stop until it comes bursting out of your mouth and scorches your tongue,” She promised. Her hands tried to conjure but he would not let go of her wrists and it would not work over their connection.

They both knew it would not work. She tried anyway.

“You will wish that wolf had snapped your neck and your back a thousand times over while I set your live body on fire with my power. You will burn up like a dry leaf and I will be the one who feels all the pleasure. Just me. Only me.”

Tears were streaking down her face and their eyes were locked and he did not let her pull away.

“I did not know, Alina—I would never have—” His voice was cooling to her temper and he kept a steady gaze on her, willing her to gentle.

The passion she contained never failed to surprise him. That she spoke with ease about eviscerating him should have unsettled him. Instead he found himself drawn deeper into her. The Light within her could strike him anywhere she pleased and he would reform again at her back. He would surround her greedily, his Shadow unable to do anything except press itself to Light. It could not detach. Shadow did not exist except at her mercy. He could accept this now.

“Do not lie to me, Aleksander. I saw with my own eyes. I saw how you touched her. I cannot stop seeing—”

“Wait. Please, wait.” His hand held tight to her wrists, keeping her in place as he crossed spotted his discarded kefta, still crusted with his blood. With a furtive glance at her, he reached for it and sorted through the pockets.

When he stood in front of her again, he held up the blue and gold scarf for her inspection.

“That is mine.”

He nodded.

She touched it and then dropped her hand.

“This means nothing to me. This is a distraction.”

He closed his eyes and sighed. “For a little while these last years, I did a thorough job of shutting you out. Letting you go again. It was not easy but it made not being with you more manageable. The day I called out to you—though, I swear I did not know that I did, this was returned to my room.”

Alina flicked her eyes to the scarf and back to him, distrust stubbornly clinging to her face.

“You must have left it in your room at the Little Palace. Seeing a real piece of you, proof of you after years of pretending you did not exist, undid me. What you saw—though I did not and would not ever have willingly invited you to view it—was me trying to shut you back out.” He shook his hair back and met her eyes.

“It did not work. Clearly. I will no longer pretend that it is a possibility, never again. You know what I am. You know what I want. I will possess you as I am doomed to be possessed by you and I will not be satisfied until I stake my claim for the world to see.”

Alina leaned in to him, eyes blazing in want as her fury was cooled by his words. He delighted in how quickly she whirled through emotions, delighted in persuading her.

“You will not skirt your punishment.” She said.

He leaned into her ear, pressing his lips there and whispered, “My punishment only promises your body will be next to me again.”

His hands wrapped around her hips. “I would take your fire and let it consume me if it brought you a hint of ecstasy.” Palms moved up her ribs and his thumbs brushed the sides of her breasts.

“There is nothing I would not do to bring you pleasure, Alina.” His lips moved to her neck. He grazed his teeth over her pulse.

His hands were closing in on her breasts; fingers long enough to curl around her ribs even while his thumbs circled over her clothed nipples. A soft moan fell against his chest. Her hands fisted into the black linen of his shirt and he smiled.

“You own my body.” He spoke into her jaw, “I will own yours and you will never want for anything.” Cheeks brushed against each other as she nodded. “I do not share, Alina.” Her hips pressed into his involuntarily. “I will keep you sated to the point of recklessness, insanity. This is my vow.”

His eyes looked into hers and as he sat on the bed, pulling her into his lap. The rigid peak of his clothed cock met her cunt and they both hissed. Aleksander watched as she rubbed herself over him in a slow slide.

He still had not kissed her. As if realizing it in that moment, Alina glared at him, grasping his jaw in her hand and reigning her lips upon his. Her hands kept his shoulders in place even as he fell back on the bed.

He matched her intensity, pulling at her face with his hand while his other adjusted her position back over his cock. The moan she exhaled into his mouth spurred him to lick at the seam of her lips until they opened for him.

They wrestled, rolling over each other a couple times before settling on their sides. Her hands explored his body and his sought the wetness between her legs and when his fingers slipped into her they shared a groan. Her mouth never left his. Aleksander pulled back only far enough to watch her eyes squeezed shut in blunt ecstasy while they panted.

She squealed and quieted and he kissed her lips and slowed his fingers, wiggling them in a test of her sensitivity. The answering smile was lazy.

When he brought his fingers to his tongue, she watched with half-lidded eyes as he made slow laps.

It was not prudent to tell him that she would have to re-do this orgasm when she returned to her body. She stored the memory of his fingers, covered in her slick and cleaned with his tongue.

The promise of insanity did not seem so objectionable.

“This is new.” He brushed his fingers over the glittering scales clasped around her wrist.

She blushed and withdrew her hand. He did not know for certain what it was but he had a strong suspicion.

“A gift, only.” She looked away from his eyes and kissed his jaw. The lie burned between them but he did not mind it. He played on her guilt, calculating that she would be reluctant to lie to him twice in a row.

“Alina, how is it possible that no one yet knows about the Sun Summoner? You bandy about using your powers—presumably anyway because rumors do emerge about you yet no one proclaims your existence with any certainty. It should not be possible.”

Alina shrugged with a secret smile and pressed her lips to his neck. “People believe what suits them best. You know this. The commoners want for a savior so rumors are born. Those in power want to keep it and therefore will not acknowledge a threat even when the evidence is delivered to their doorstep.”

It was casual, brisk even, the way she spoke of herself as a threat. Aleksander could not hide the surge of heat it brought on and descended to her ear where nipped and pulled like a hungry beast.

She laughed. A breathy, delighted thing and he smiled against her cheek. All else forgotten.

“Let me come to you. I need your skin against mine. I need your power twisted in with mine. I will have it.”

Her breasts pressed against his chest under the force of his hand at her back. The way her breath quickened was sign enough that she wanted it too. If that weren’t evident, the pull on their tether was so tight it was almost uncomfortable. His forehead fell to hers.

“N-not yet.”

He growled and she placed consoling hands to his face.

“We are dangerous, you and I. And I’ve told you before, I have business to take care of before I can come to you. I will in the end. I swear to you it is in sight, just…be patient for me. Believe me when I say you are mine and I am yours.”

A rumble answered from his throat as his nails scratched at her yellowing love bites. Placed there by some unworthy set of lips and teeth.

Her answering laugh was uneasy.

“They are nothing, Sasha. Nothing to me. You will see.”

He forced himself to change the subject. Even speaking of someone else, someone who had access to the taste of her skin began to spin him.

“We are dangerous? You said just now. Because of the threat we make to the throne. Because together we are the rightful rulers of Ravka. You do mean for us rule in the end?”

She glanced away and he smoothed a thumb through the crease in her brow.

“Not just threats to the throne, no. Not just rulers of Ravka.”

He waited while she weighed her words.

“We are a threat to the world. I am a threat…”

Aleksander watched her lips, waiting for her to continue. She looked small and fearful.

He imagined her as a child, waking in the night from a bad dream.

“I have felt it…when we were together. The only time we were together,” she amended, glancing at him apologetically.

“Within my powers—when they mingled with yours, it was like…like a kind of certainty that if I wanted—” She twisted her face to look at him with the full force of fiery gold eyes, “If I wanted, I could break the whole world open.

“Split everything and everyone and the whole of the universe apart until all that was left was Light and Shadow. Just us. Left in the quiet of it all.”

His heart was racing.

Or perhaps it was the tether vibrating on the frequency of a humming bird's wings?

Both of their breaths became heavy and they sunk closer into the empty space between them.

Alina’s eyes rested on his lips and her voice was breathy again.

“It is ridiculous, isn't it? Thinking I could do that?”

He shook his head, surprised at his inability to string coherent words together.

“Not if you want it, no. If you want it, then it is simply a fact. A truth.”

“It is not what I want.” She whispered.

He nodded in understanding, sinking further into her.

“Is it what you want, Sasha?”

A smirk twitched on his face and then he claimed her mouth again. When he pulled her body over his, running his hands over the backs of her thighs as they opened around his waist, he thought he would not mind it.

If centuries of walking the earth taught him anything, it was how expendable everyone and everything could become, given enough time.

Her Light was creation itself. It lit up within him because where there was light, the shadows would cluster around it; to smother or to worship, he could not be sure. Though he knew it was her Light that began it all.

It would be fitting for her Light to finish it.

His little Sun, expanding around him, swallowing up the whole of the universe in her Light then falling back on him where he could surround her like a cooling Shadow shroud until she decided to burst forth to create something new again.

[lucarioisinthevoid]

hello good sir (sir being a gender neutral term), i'd like to send some p r o m p t s. so i haven't played ucn in a LONG time, but some ideas off the top of my head: toy freddy (would be funny), funtime foxy (cause they're a bitch), n. fredbear and maybe nightmare (cause they're twisted versions of his b e l o v e d fredbear), and maybe foxy+bonnie (cause it's a bitch). just some ideas! also, being a man of culture, i'd like to request some tortu- jk, jk (i'd say sth funny but character limit).

(I will fight you for this ask. I will come to you home and pick you up and fling your body into space and into literal Among Us. My brain was going a mile a minute trying to gather enough coins to get rid of Funtime Foxy, and keep on top of EVERYTHING ELSE- And yet I was still surprised when I finally got jumpscared. Welp, I couldn’t have predicted it, so it’s kinda fun being able to write this now. Also yes, warning for mild torment! I’m just not good at writing it- Oh, also, here’s the AO3 link to the thing: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27687695/chapters/67764007 You can read the whole thing there and I update it there as I do here. You can request over there to, but that’s beside the point)

Be on top of his games. Watch his shows. Check in, but only at the right times. Henry grinded his teeth. It was almost like he had a son again- dear god, this truly was hell, wasn’t it? For a moment he had thought the Helpy robot was joking as he elaborated on what the damn plastic piece of shit’s mechanic was- No. No cursing. He shook his head. That was being petty for no reason. He had a mechanic- and it was a stupid one- but that was better than nothing. It was better than being told “you will die” without being able to do anything about it. For a moment he frowned, a though manifesting itself in the back of his mind. … if he would know there was no way to escape the pain, he would grow numb to it. So whoever or whatever set this up seemed to have a keen interest in- The clock chimed, it was time to play. Instantly he pulled up the monitor. He had been gifted the leeway of being allowed to eradicate one of them- and dear god, he would not say no, not if it was the only chance to give a little bit of payback. He checked on Toy Freddy- a good contender to be murdered- and clicked the door of the- vacuum cleaner- dear god, this would make his brain rot- then he moved on to more sensible things, like checking on Foxy, who was thankfully out, then moving over to gathering coins. Laughter from the door. “Mister Miller… look at you. You seem stressed.” “Why yes, I am quite tense.” Without looking up he closed the doors, opening them up right away. “I have to admit to my distain of the character selection that currently is coming after me. They make no sense, you see?” Another, similarly as deep voice sounded, albeit with a brighter tint to it- “… oh, don’t be ashamed of that, Mr. Miller. They have more distain for you than you do for them.” Once more, doors closed, doors open. He didn’t even need to look. “I can assume that, yes, but that is hardly my issue, is it now? My issue is their reality bending and tedious habits.” For this round he would be stuck on the cameras, wouldn’t he? Once more he flipped over to Foxy, gathering coins and being quietly thankful for the fact that he and Bonnie had not switched places yet. He had to get this done in the first time-warped hour and if he didn’t- he wasn’t sure when exactly the clock would move over and he didn’t want to find out. The nightmare duo was chuckling, so he shortly put the monitor down to look inside of Nightmare Fredbear’s red eyes. “… what are you supposed to be?” “You have never truly understood your own creation, did you…? If it lives… it changes…” “The only nightmare I ever created were the suits and-“ He turned to the other side, spotting the more pinkish eyes shining from that frame. “… you. Are you not supposed to be me?” “I think you can answer that yourself.” Shaking his head, Henry dismissed both of them, closing the doors and opening the camera feed, checking once more on Foxy, helping out Toy Freddy and finally snatching up the last few coins he needed- instantly he moved over to the price corner, ordering one of the silver coins- His eyes darted to the clock- Oh god, only a few more moments before the timer skipped- The pink hellfox was peering out of its cove, grinning widely- a grin that instantly was replaced by an agonized and hateful scream as Henry used the coin, allowing himself for a moment to watch the machine literally being disintegrated into clear silver dust. From the side, Nightmare Fredbear chuckled. “… how cruel.” “This is a dog-eat-dog world. You should not try to inflict onto others what you are not willing to go through yourself.” “Oh? Are you ready for what is coming for you then?” Abruptly Henry started laughing, as he once more checked on Foxy, then moved to Toy Freddy. “What? What is coming for me? Being brought back to Fredbear’s, except this time I am immortal, have inhuman strength and can start honing my ability to move whatever I desire with my mind? What a terrible fate you are threatening me with, Nightmare! I am appalled! How dare you gift me with everything I have ever wanted!” One last time he switched back to Foxy, then deactivated the monitors, assuming it was best to be on Foxy’s camera right away, so when he pulled the camera back up- His eyes fell on the little figure of Bonnie that was now on the table. For the love of god, how could he have been that stupid!? Looking up at Nightmare Fredbear’s red eyes, he saw a bit of bemusement in it- that and a deep, underlaying level of pure disgust. “… will you ever learn, Mr. Miller? Will you ever realize that the resistance you have been met with was not from nowhere? Will you learn that you cursed them?” “NONSENSE.” Henry HISSED. “I considered you smart. I was wrong. The only reason the children were struggling against me because I could not yet accommodate them well enough- propaganda against me and my mission was spread. William seemed to have been just fine with his joke of a family that he had gotten himself in a flight of passing fancy. What made him different?!” There was only silence from the outside, as Henry glanced once more at the figure. Still Bonnie and it wouldn’t change. Muttering more so to himself than to the Fredbear, he stressed his point. “Nature has turned on me for taking what I desired, much like the ocean, the skies and the land has turned against humanity at every opportunity. Even in the different religious texts, humanity and to steal and take with violence what it needed to become what it was meant to be. One god banished the species in fear of them becoming immortal, much like the being itself- another wanted to deny us fire as petty retaliation, because fire brings creation- and it had to be taken back by theft.” Not quite, but close enough. He didn’t want to recount the stories. “… if you want to grow, you have to feed, and if you feed, you destroy. And so, destruction brings new creation. We feed off the old gods and create new rules. Nature does not like to be controlled and abused- all it wishes is to slowly burn itself out. Until nothing is left. But we humans preserve- we are a species who is so defenseless, yet have made it this far, by preserving knowledge, by learning early, early and as much as we can- eventually however it will come to a standstill. You can only learn so much with the time given. Until said time become infinite. Some ills of humanity can only be cured by allowing humans to permanently remain and learn. For that we need immortality.” There still was only silence and he sighed- He had wasted too much time. The Bonnie figure was still there, but he might as well get it over with, he wouldn’t get around him disabling the cameras. Quickly he closed the door to the left side where he knew Nightmare Fredbear was waiting, pulling up the cameras, to Bonnie’s aggressive scream- But before he could really boot the thing up, a giant black paw came from above grabbing the little tablet, cracking it. The Amalgamation was towering over him, black fur and metal broken up by the silver shine of its teeth. Baffled for a few seconds, Henry looked at him. “I… did not hear you.” “The others are not your problem anymore, are they now?” With its vile grin it picked Henry up by the head, an incredibly painful experience, playfully throwing him against the wall with full force- a crack was sounded and as Henry tried to stumble back on his feet, he quickly realized he couldn’t- something was damaged, so badly that the pain was too much- His head was still sharp though, the white pain barely being fended off by his mind trying to figure out how this creature could be HERE- It had been HIM, it was HIM, what would make him want to- Blood was dripping from out his mouth, tasting disgustingly mechanical- “… you… you are supposed to be ME-“ Smiling the monstrous bear-esque beast picked him up, causing another wave of incoherent, glowing pain to wash through Henry, his whole chest being just enough to fill the Amalgamation’s hand. “I was you. We have seen all your thoughts, all your ideas, we have shaped, and we have remembered. You are me. And we crave violence, Mister Miller. Your words were pretty to hear, but we do not believe them. We know what we are- a monster who thinks of itself too highly, an animal unable to resist the siren call of violence and blood. Our creation has not made us better than all the monsters we feared becoming. There is only one difference between us… … I am not ashamed of my needs anymore.” With that he started pulling on Henry’s arm, pulling as the delirious man convulsed under him- Ready to take a bite out of it. “But I do love creation too… and I cannot wait to see what we will turn you into. The brain is moldable, Henry. It does fantastical things under pain and pressure…” His other claw was digging into the human’s head. The other was pulling the now separated arm to his maw, biting down with a sickening, wet crunch. Happily he sighed. The few seconds of Henry’s awareness that were left only wondered quietly if his parts being consumed would mean he would never get them back- The Amalgamation seemed to hear the thought, grinning at him with its now stained teeth. “I will vomit you back… to relieve your horror…” … with that Henry faded.

[swindlersstole]

mermay sunday

yeah we’re forgoing the 6SS in favor of mermay because what’s better than ONE mermaid? it’s TWO mermaids

this was going to be a oneshot but it my deep-rooted craving for univeristy aus + the allure of the fantasy boarding school set up has turned this into. A Thing. and i don’t know where This Thing is going because I only have this and two other scenes in mind BUT that’s besides the point. this is going on ao3 eventually when this first part gets fleshed out a little more because I finished this at 2 AM this morning.

as a disclaimer i DID binge re-read a centaur’s life to get a feel for how i wanted this to be written, so there’s a lot of show don’t tell for how the races all work. there is method to my madness i swear this

~

come, all you sailors

At this point in his casual observations, Nova felt confident enough to say that this was most definitely not a crush.

A crush, in his opinion, required at least a name to go on, never mind a voice or any inkling of a personality--none of which he had at his disposal. All he had of this mysterious(?) other student was his face and a bare bones idea of his library schedule. Neither of which was bad, necessarily, because watching a guy that handsome intently studying the sky through a telescope and pouring over astronomy books was something Nova found very enchanting. It made the study nights where he knew their schedules lined up something to look forward to.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the stranger tap a pencil against his cheek (he was left-handed, Nova had noticed that ages ago) and run a hand through spiky blue hair before going back to the telescope. He looked through for a moment, before turning away to dig into the black coat hung on one side of his chair, retrieving what looked like a protractor and returning to his writing.

From his table shelves away from the observatory window, Nova pretended to push his own hair behind one finned ear--to better keep an eye on the subject at hand.

He supposed he should have felt bad, snooping on somebody like this, and he did to a point, but there was always the chance that this wasn’t his or the stranger’s fault. For all Nova knew, this sudden fascination might’ve just been some underlying effect this stranger had on others; sirens weren’t the only fae folk out there who could do that, though he wasn’t sure of any who could do it subconsciously. 

It was one of his worst fears and the reason he kept his mouth shut so much, sure, but he knew it was all in his head. Mostly. But Nova figured it didn’t really matter what the guy was--it didn’t change his charm at all.

So yes, three months into this person-watch, Nova felt confident enough to say that he was… taken, with the student. Not a crush in the slightest. It felt like it could get there pretty fast though, if he closed the gap, so Nova decided to keep this admiration at a distance and to himself. If he didn’t have a name to attach to the (very roguish) face, he felt confident that the infatuation would pass.

If nothing else, it helped him pass the time waiting for his sister to respond to her texts. And speak of the devil herself, there she was.

It wasn’t often that Jade and Frysabel had time to come visit, let alone together, and Nova wasn’t about to pass up the chance to see his sister and sister-in-law if they wanted him around. He could fawn from afar any other time these days--though he could neither confirm nor deny if he took longer than usual to gather his belongings into his bag.

The stranger didn’t notice the quiet shuffle of Nova’s movements, or if he did he didn’t make a point of showing it, not even when Nova began a steady pace walking behind him. It was the quickest way to the nearest staircase down, so his path was at least justified, infatuation or no. And he would have been lying if he said he wasn’t curious about what this mystery student was even studying; astronomy, obviously, but maybe a minor in divination? Though Nova wasn’t entirely sure how that process worked, so who could--

“Ah--!” He managed one quick, subtle glance at the stranger’s textbook before Nova’s foot caught the leg of an empty chair, and he stumbled to the ground. He managed to catch himself before any real harm could be done or disturbance be made, but there had been no avoiding the stubbed toe through his sneakers, and he hissed in pain as he rested on his knees. “Ghhh…”

“Whoa, hey--are you good?”

A tentative hand fell on his shoulder, and an unfamiliar voice called out to him, and all at once, Nova forgot about the sting in his foot. And he hoped, he prayed that when he turned around, he wasn’t going to see what he thought he was going to see. But fortune is a fickle mistress, even among the fae.

The stranger had abandoned his belongings in favor of coming to the ground alongside Nova, if only to make sure he was alright. He’d only ever really seen the stranger’s face in profile before, so he was familiar in theory with the blue of his eyes, but Nova hadn’t realized just how deep that blue went. It struck him like the ocean reflecting the bright summer sky, something he normally found comfort in, but having the sea look back to him with alarm and worry like that made his stomach flip. 

“I--y-yeah, I’m okay!” All Nova could do was laugh to force away the heat in his face. Beguilement aside, he did just essentially trip over his own two feet in clear sight of someone, so at least his embarrassment couldn’t have read as anything but that. “Just--forgot my land legs for a second, aha.”

The stranger didn’t say much, but gave a hum of acknowledgement as he looked him over. “No torn fins, scraped scales, nothing?”

“Nah, it wasn’t that bad a fall. Maybe a bruise, but I’ll live.” Nova tugged at the tips of one fin sheepishly. “Uh… sorry to bother you.”

“Hey, as long as you’re not hurt, right?” And the stranger smiled at him and oh, wow, did he ever have a smile. The sight of it near blinded Nova to the hand the stranger offered him when he got back on his feet. “Need a hand?”

“Oh--” Nova cleared his throat before taking the hand offered to him. The stranger was warm to the touch. “Thanks.”

It was when the mystery student had pulled him back up that Nova saw it--crumpled on the floor next to his chair lay the stranger’s coat, forgotten in a heap. Even from a distance, Nova could tell it was of exceptional quality, a black moto jacket with a dark blue fur collar; he’d seen the stranger wear it a few times, even though it seemed far too warm out for a coat so heavy looking, but the guy wore it well, so Nova wasn’t complaining. Without much thinking about it, he darted towards the coat and picked it off the ground, dusting it lightly at the collar.

“I’m sorry, I must’ve knocked it over.” He laughed again, awkwardly, before turning to hand the coat over. It wasn’t leather like he thought it had been—in fact, he couldn’t rightly name what it was made of, now that he was holding it—but there was a faint inkling of enchantment on the coat, and that was enough an indicator as to its value for Nova. “Hate for it to get stepped on, it’s a pretty nice… uh.”

Nova stopped talking as soon as he looked at the stranger again. Any sense of concern or amusement had faded from his now very pale face, and was instead replaced with overwhelming panic. Maybe even fear. All the while, he just stared unseeing at the coat in Nova’s hand, as though lost in a terror-induced trance.

“Are… you okay?” But the stranger didn’t seem to hear him, lost wherever his mind had wandered. Nova thought briefly to use his voice and pull him out of… whatever he was in, but going around hypnotizing people for every little thing was a tad worse than just irresponsible. The idea still lingered though, even as he asked again, “Is something wrong?”

“What?” Almost immediately, the stranger snapped back to earth with a shake of his head. “I mean--no… No, I’m fine. Thanks.”

He placed a hand on the coat, and waited for a second, like he was expecting Nova to snatch it away from him, and when he didn’t, the stranger pulled the coat back to him, carefully. Again, much quieter, he said, “Thank you.”

“Sure?” Well… that was odd. But then again, fae had all sorts of rules and conducts for things, and history notwithstanding no one could really expect to know all of them. The best one could hope for was to just be polite, and if Nova had really done something to offend this guy, he was pretty sure he would have known by now, if the number of men Jade had thrown to the ground for the offhand succubus comment was any indi--

Nova gasped, quietly, to himself. “Jade.”

“Jade?” The stranger repeated.

“Ah—my sister, she’s waiting for me outside, I forgot.” There was a clumsy shuffle as Nova stepped around the stranger, and headed back to the stairs with a bit more speed. But that would have been rude, just to leave this person that helped him hanging like that, and he turned back around to give the stranger a half wave goodbye. “Sorry about--all that. I’ll see you around!”

Were he not in a library, Nova would have bolted towards the stairs to get out of that mess of an interaction; he couldn’t bear to look behind him to see whatever the stranger’s reaction to that had been. He kept his head low to the ground as he bounded down the steps to prevent just that, all the while trying to will away the growing dread in his stomach.

See you around? He pinched the bridge of his nose. I’ll see you around? Ugh, of all the things to say…

~

The days after the incident passed by without much meaning. The entire interaction and Nova’s parting words to the cute guy had haunted him, as he expected, and even Jade had laughed at him a little over dinner that night because of course he had to explain to her his sudden desire to die, but aside from all that, nothing had changed. Classes came and went, he still chatted with Gemma and Faris like he always did, got calls from Mum and Grandpa--in retrospect, Nova might have thought this to be a sign of the oncoming storm, but he was so eager to block out how astronomically bad he’d messed up at just talking to a new person that little else seemed to register. He almost succeeded, for what it was worth.

And then came a knock at his door.

It wasn’t ideal for Nova to avoid the library. The place was more reliably quiet that late at night than the dorms could be, and a few of the books he needed for his studies were too old to be checked out normally. But even less ideal than that was bumping into the handsome stranger again, and by that point he wasn’t going to get any of his work done by fault of the existential shame, so he planned to stay in his dorm until the incident would be long forgotten. Out of sight, out of mind, and all that.

But the universe just couldn’t let Nova have this one pass, because when he opened the door to his dorm, the stranger was there, still wearing that fancy coat even indoors. “Oh, good, you’re actually here.”

The instinct to just close the door and pretend like this moment wasn’t happening was very difficult to fight. There were a multitude of questions as to why the moment was even happening at all, and as much as Nova knew better than to be a jerk, he felt pretty entitled to those questions. “You were looking for me?”

“That’s putting it mildly.” The stranger crossed his arms. “It’s Nova, right? Shell said I’d find you here.”

“Oh--Shell sent you?” That did put Nova at a considerable amount of ease; if the campus merfolk advisor had told the stranger where to find him, then it did make this whole encounter significantly less like a horror movie set-up; Michelle doted on him as much as Jade did, she wouldn’t put Nova in any sort of harm.

“Something like that.” The stranger seemed to agree. “You know she wouldn’t send a stalker your way.”

“Well, that’s a relief.” It did beg the question as to how the stranger knew Shell in the first place, but that was beside the point right now. “But then... did you just need me for something?”

There was very obviously something up; something in the way the stranger glanced aside and furrowed his brow raised a flag in the back of Nova’s mind, but what that flag was, he couldn’t yet say. 

“So--listen.” The stranger started after a pause. “This is really weird, and I get that, and if you’re busy right now, I won’t get in your way, but… do you have a minute?”

“A… to talk?” No, Nova, to jump off a cliff, what are you even saying-- “I mean, I don’t have anything pressing to do. What’s up?”

“It… well.” The stranger paused again, and Nova clearly saw the rise and fall of his shoulders, like he was bracing himself for a hit. “I can’t—it’s about when we ran into each other.”

“Oh, no.” Nova’s fins flared out nervously. All of a sudden, his fear of a racial violation came back full force. “What did I do?”

The stranger lifted up a hand as though to try and calm him. “No, no, don’t—don’t panic, it’s not like that. You didn’t do anything bad.”

“But I did something.” It wasn’t a question.

“You…” The stranger’s hand fell to his head, fingers more pulling on his hair than combing through it. “Did… kind of? It’s not—I don’t think you meant to, but it’s still—look, I really don’t want to be talking about this out here.” He stopped to take another deep breath. “Can I come in? If that’s okay.”

There was no way for Nova to see where this was going, and he wasn’t sure if he liked any of the directions he could think of. Again, Shell would not have put him or anyone under her care in any danger, and it wasn’t like he thought the guy was actually a stalker (in this case, Nova honestly fit that bill a bit more considering), but there was a lot to be concerned about regarding a stranger asking to come in his room half-past ten. 

Instinctively, Nova knew he should say no.

What he said instead was, “Yeah, sure. Come on in.” And he stepped inside for the stranger to pass through.

Why am I like this.

The stranger sighed out a “Thanks” and walked through the door, a fleeting sense of anxiousness in his steps, and Nova could only liken the sound of the door clicking shut to the sound of his own fate being sealed.

“This isn’t a vampire thing, is it?” Nova asked, distantly, anything at all to clear the air. If nothing else, it might explain the inherent attraction thing, especially coupled with the invitation. Unless the stranger was also just trying to be polite.

“Man, if I was a vampire, this wouldn’t be an issue.” The stranger managed a laugh, just as awkward as the rest of this conversation, but he still looked effortlessly cool leaning against Nova’s desk. “Sorry to disappoint.”

“Not a disappointment, no.” Nova seated himself on the edge of his bed, if only to keep a respectable distance. “Just trying to figure out how you know Michelle.”

“Oh--I’ve been helping her with her walking.” The stranger explained. “Mermaid legs, you know. Not that strong. And she wants to be on her feet for her wedding.”

Nova did, in fact, know that, because Michelle was beyond excited for her wedding and was pulling out whatever stops she could, and there were few of her students that weren’t doing something to help the cause. Nova was no exception, but that was beside the point. “So she asked you to help her train? That’s a big ask for a student.”

“It is, yeah--but I knew her beforehand, too. She knew I could help, and I knew she could… well.” The stranger gestured to him. “Point me to you. And keep mum about it.”

“Uh… huh.” Nothing odd about that at all, no sir. “Why does she have to keep quiet, exactly?”

The stranger opened his mouth, and Nova could clearly see a flicker in their eyes that said he certainly had words to say, but they weren’t coming out as quickly and as easily as he had probably hoped they would. His hands dropped down to gesture to some imaginary object, and he looked at Nova dead-on, and confused as he was Nova couldn’t find it in himself to pull away.

“...so.” The stranger took one of those hands, and placed it on the breast of his jacket. “It’s about the coat.”

There wasn’t much in the way for Nova to hide his wince. Of all the things it could have been, he had a sneaking suspicion the coat was going to be the problem here. “Did I do something to the enchantment?”

The stranger looked taken aback by the question. “You can tell it’s enchanted?”

“I mean, not what it’s enchanted with,” Nova clarified, “but, yeah. I knew as soon as I touched it.”

“How did you know, though?” The stranger raised a brow.

“Forging major.” Nova shrugged. “Minor in textile sciences.”

“There’s sirens in the forging curriculum?” The stranger seemed genuinely surprised. “Huh. I thought you guys were all about the performing arts.”

“Life is in the details. And making things from scratch is still an art.” This wasn’t the time or place to get into that sore spot. “But, anyway. Did something happen to the spell when I picked up your coat? Because--look, I can’t fix that myself, but I’m happy to get whatever the components are to--”

“No, no, it’s not--not that kind of enchantment.” The stranger clarified. “It’s, uh… it’s always been a part of it.”

“Always… oh!” Nova palmed his fist. “So, it’s in part of the material? That makes sense. Is it just cosmetic damage, then? I can fix that.”

He hadn’t thought he’d said anything strange, but the stranger just looked at him with something like marvel in his eyes. “...What? What did I say?”

“You really don’t know, do you.” The comment was quiet, more to himself than to Nova, and the stranger glanced to the ground in thought. “Well… that’s good. Definitely makes this easier.”

“Makes what easier?” Far be it from Nova to lose his patience, but this roundabout game of questions was running his nerves ragged. He had an infatuation with this handsome student, he wasn’t blinded by it. “Look, I’m sorry for whatever it was I did, but if I don’t know what it was, then I can’t fix it.”

“It’s not… something you have to fix.” The stranger explained. “But you have a right to know what’s going on. Just--gimme a minute to… no. No, you know what? There’s no good way to put this. I’ll be blunt.” 

Nova said nothing, merely waiting for the stranger to explain himself; after what felt like a long while, the stranger dropped his hands to the side in resignation, looking at Nova dead-on. 

“I’m a selkie.”

High-strung as he was at the moment, Nova was smart. He liked his puzzles, and he didn’t mind a bit of detective work here and there. Sometimes, though, it paid to remember that often times, the simplest solution to a problem was usually the correct one, and the answer to his questions in this case didn’t get better than those three quick words.

The handsome stranger was a handsome selkie. Selkie pelts were historically coveted. The coat was enchanted. Nova had picked up his coat. The dots connected practically automatically, and all at once the blood drained from Nova’s face.

“Oh.” Nova muttered, mouth painfully dry. “Oh, no.”

“...Yeah.” The selkie bit down on his lip as he nodded. “It, uh--least now you know how I know Shell.”

“Oh, Spirit--” Nova leaned over into his knees, holding his head in his hands. “As if that last run-in wasn’t enough of a disaster, I--” He snapped back up, panic writ bold on his face. “I wasn’t trying to steal it, I swear, I would never--”

“No, no, we’ve been through that, you obviously weren’t trying to do harm.” The selkie assured. “The fact that you didn’t know you were holding a pelt the whole time sort of drives that home.”

“I’ve never held a selkie pelt before!” Nova cried in a hushed whisper. “I didn’t even know there were selkies on campus.”

“You’re not supposed to know. There’s a lot of privacy policies specifically for us so no one steals our pelts.”

The selkie raised a hand, and after a moment’s hesitation, stepped forward and placed it on Nova’s shoulder. Nova jumped from the touch, but his hand was warm, and his grip was comforting. “I get it, I do. You were doing the right thing. You didn’t do anything bad.”

Nova glanced at the hand on his shoulder, then back to the selkie. “...but then--what did I do?”

The selkie’s fingers drummed against his shoulder. “See, that’s… the part that’s making this weird.”

It was another long moment while the selkie took a seat on Nova’s bed besides him. Judging from the color starting to bloom on his cheeks, Nova suspected this was so he didn’t have to look directly at him.

“So… selkies have a long history of people stealing our skins. Everybody knows that.” When Nova nodded, the stranger continued. “And you weren’t trying to steal mine. We’re clear on that. But what you did, it… returning a selkie’s missing coat has a very specific meaning in the culture, and you know how these old fae laws are, so it’s taken… pretty literally.”

This just kept getting worse and worse, but at least there was some solace for Nova that whatever this meaning entailed, it wasn’t his imminent doom. If an old fae law was going to kill him, it would have done so already. “...what’s the meaning.”

The selkie looked at him from the corner of his eye, and Nova saw the blush that had just started spreading on his skin turn ever more red, before the selkie closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“It’s a proposal.” He groaned. “You know… the marriage kind.”

Rescind the previous solace. Nova just decided he would rather have death. 

“So… wait. Did I--” He pointed to himself, then to the selkie, then back to himself, and again and again and again, each one more frantic than the last. “Are we--”

“As far as selkie law is concerned, we’re engaged.” There was a significant slump to the selkie’s shoulders as he said that. “So at least now you get why the subterfuge--but, listen!”

Before Nova could ask further, the selkie sat up, trying to force a reassuring smile. “This sort of thing isn’t totally a freak accident. It happens a lot more often than you’d think. And it’s an easy enough thing to undo! So you don’t have to panic about it.”

“That’s--a really big ask.” Defeat made his body feel astronomically heavy, but Nova forced himself to sit back up. “I just… I’m so sorry, I had no idea.”

“What are you sorry for? Of course you had no idea!” The selkie laughed a short, surprised laugh, and if circumstances were any different, it might have made Nova’s stomach flip. “The only thing you did wrong was be a decent guy. I should be apologizing to you for dragging you into all this.”

“You couldn’t have foreseen this, either!” Despite himself, Nova managed to return an exasperated smile of his own. “But if this is something that happens a lot, why bother telling me at all?”

“You answered your own question: it happens a lot.” The selkie shrugged. “It’ll get undone, sure, but there’s no telling how far back in the queue our case would be. It wouldn’t take longer than a year, but it’s still going to be a good few months before it’s annulled. And we’d need both our accounts to prove it was an accident in the first place.”

“I--” Nova blinked. “I guess I can’t argue with that.”

“Exactly.” Hands on his knees, the selkie looked up at the ceiling. “Then there’s the binding.”

“The--excuse me?”

“You know how the stories go, don’t you? A selkie who has their pelt stolen is bound to the one who holds it until they get it back.”

Nova’s eyes narrowed. “But I didn’t steal your pelt.”

“No, but this whole pact thing is done through it.” The selkie fiddled with the sleeve of his coat as he spoke. “It’s not like I’d be following you around every minute of every day, but… you’ll be seeing a lot of me in the months to come.”

He laughed again, more quietly to himself, and regarded Nova with a raised brow. “Definitely a lot more than the weekly library trips.”

“Oh--” This night was really proving to just be one heart attack after another. Maybe, if the universe wanted to be nice, it would let Nova get away with this one little vague mislead. “You noticed?”

“We’re always sitting in the same spots. Same times, too.” The selkie gestured. “It felt like we had a thing going. Always thought it was kind of nice.”

Of all the boons the universe could give him, it had to be that one, huh.

“Anyway.” The selkie sobered up, and continued. “I needed to tell you all this, but you hadn’t been around the library in a while, and I started to get antsy. And that’s why we’re here  now. The weirdness of this is all on me.” His expression fell serious. “I’m not going to push you into anything--you can ignore me, if you’d rather not think about this. I’ll keep out of your hair as best I can, if you need space.”

“No! No, that’s not--don’t do that.” Nova hadn’t meant to sound so desperate when he said that, and he wasn’t sure if he succeeded. “It’s not like I blame you for all this. That’d be insane. And I can’t just let you deal with all this on your own. I need to take responsibility.”

That last part had sounded fine in his head, but after actually saying the words themselves, Nova threw his head back with a groan. “‘Take response’... could I have possibly picked a worse phrase.”

“Probably.” There was that quiet little chuckle again, and all of a sudden Nova felt better about his anxiety-ridden vocabulary. “Good to know you plan to take care of me~”

“Shut uuup.” The words came out with a shaky laugh as Nova ran a hand through his hair. “Whatever happened to ‘in sickness and health’?”

“We’re still riding this out together, aren’t we? I’m glad for that.”

There was a considerable amount of relief in the selkie’s voice, and when Nova looked back to him, that relief was in equal measure in his eyes. “I mean it. You kind of learn to expect the worst when it comes to your skin, so… I’m glad you’re a good guy, is all I’m saying. I think we can get through this in one piece.”

Nova wasn’t one to fawn over any bit of praise that came his way, cute guy at the source or now, but it was hard not to get a little flustered after… well. Everything. “...I could always turn out to be a jerk, y’know.”

The selkie shook his head. “Shell wouldn’t like you so much if you were.”

“That--yeah, I’ll give you that,”

Seemingly satisfied, the selkie held out his hand.

“The name’s Erik, by the way.”

The suddenness must have surprised Nova more than he realized, because it garnered another chuckle at his expense. “What?”

“Well, I just realized--I knew who you were this whole time, but you didn’t have my name.” The selkie--Erik--flashed his canines. “Not exactly proper if you don’t know your fiance’s name, right?”

Nova sputtered at how casually he’d joked about that, and Erik kept laughing at him, but soon enough the sheer ridiculousness of the situation began to dawn, and Nova managed a few quick laughs of his own before taking Erik’s hand in a firm shake.

“Nice to meet my future husband.” He joked back, and suddenly, the problem at hand felt a lifetime away.

[alexsfictionaddiction]

‘Life itself is the most wonderful fairytale of all.’

If you missed my announcement post last week, you may not know that I am a co-host of a wonderful readathon that will be taking place from 11th-18th August. My co-hosts are BookTubers Sam, Becky, Erica and Jordan and I would love if you could subscribe to all four of their channels. They are all fantastic creators and their videos deserve a LOT of love!

Today’s post aims to give you some inspiration for your FairytaleAThon TBR. The challenges for this round are in the above image and I’ve selected a few books that fit each one, which you’ll hopefully be interested in. FairytaleAThon encompasses original fairytales, myths, folktales and retellings of them so the possibilties are almost endless! Here are my very best recommendations:

1. THUMBELINA: Read a fairytale or retelling under 250 pages.

ELLA ENCHANTED BY GAIL CARSON LEVINE: 240 pages.

This very funny and sweet retelling of Cinderella is perhaps better known as a cute Anne Hathaway film but the source material is definitely worth the read. It follows Ella, who was given the curse of obedience by a fairy, when she was a baby. This means that she has to do anything that anyone tells her -fight monsters, let down her friends and even deny that she’s in love with the prince. However, there is a beautiful feminist resolution that is sure to delight modern fairytale lovers!

THE SNOW QUEEN BY HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN: 96 pages.

The story that inspired Frozen is over 200 years old but this beautiful new edition from independent publishing house Pushkin is worth picking up for the coverlust alone! The original tale is quite different to Disney’s version but it is still an epic story of love and loyalty in the harsh landscape of the snowy North. When a magic mirror breaks and curses Kay to be blind to all of the good in the world, he is taken by the Snow Queen and locked in her ice palace. It’s up to his friend Gerda to trek across the icy plains and rescue him and his frozen heart.

THE BROKEN SWORD BY POUL ANDERSON: 237 pages.

Inspired by Norse mythology, The Broken Sword is a dark high fantasy that has somehow been packed into just over 200 pages. Skafloc is a human boy who has been raised by elves amidst their war with the trolls. The elves require the use of the sword Tyrfing, which the mighty Thor broke in order to stop it destroying Yggdrasil -the tree that brings the earth, heavens and underworld together. Only the giant Bolverk can fix it and it’s Skafloc’s job to persuade him. As well as this huge undertaking, Skafloc also needs to face his dark changeling self! This is ideal for Tolkien fans who need a quick whimsical adventure in a strange land.

THE WILD SWANS BY HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN: 64 pages.

I’m aware that this is the second Christian Andersen Pushkin edition in this post but LOOK AT THEM! The Wild Swans is a little-known story about a princess whose 11 brothers are turned into swans by their evil stepmother. Despite being determined to break the curse, the stakes are high and huge sacrifices will need to be made to reunite the siblings. It’s a heartbreaking story about familial love and loyalty.

2. GENTLE GIANTS: Read a fairytale or retelling over 500 pages.

CRESS BY MARISSA MEYER: 560 pages.

This sci-fi retelling of Rapunzel is actually the third book in the Lunar Chronicles series. Although each book is a retelling of a different fairytale, the characters do overlap and therefore it is best to read them in order. The good news is that you have plenty of time before the readathon to read both preceding books -Cinder and Scarlet. The series is incredibly unique, quirky and funny with some truly shipworthy romances and madcap adventure.

COMPLETE FAIRY TALES BY BROTHERS GRIMM: 1019 pages.

Ok, so this may be cheating a little BUT what would FairytaleAThon be, if you didn’t dip into some classic original stories at some point? This Penguin Vintage Classics edition of the tales collected by the Brothers Grimm is a simple yet beautiful chunk of a book that I believe should be a staple in any fairytale lover’s library. Featuring the original gruesome versions of classics such as Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, Twelve Dancing Princesses and so many more, there is bound to be more than a few of these 279 twisted, disturbing stories that you love!

CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE BY TOMI ADEYEMI: 544 pages.

It was one of the biggest books of last year and its sequel is on its way next year. Children of Blood and Bone is inspired by the Orisha (deities) of West African mythology. It follows Zelie, a young girl with magical powers in a world where magic has been taken away and people like her are hunted by a tyrannical king. However now she is on a quest to avenge her dead mother and restore magic to her homeland. Followed by her brother Tzain, a rogue princess Amari and enemy prince Inan, this is a truly unique YA fantasy that I found completely unputdownable.

WICKED BY GREGORY MAGUIRE: 512 pages.

This prequel to The Wizard of Oz is best known as a hit West End and Broadway musical but the source material is also a fantastic read. Elphaba has been an outcast and persecuted all her life because of her green skin and this doesn’t change when she starts at Shiz University, where she meets the beautiful, queen bee Galinda. After a reluctant start, they soon form a friendship and band together with Munchkin boy Boq and quiet Vinkus prince Fiyero to put the injustices of their world to rights. Spanning over years of Elphaba’s life, Wicked features forbidden love, high-stake drama and challenges your idea of what evil really is.

3. IF THE SHOE FITS: Read any fairytale or retelling on your TBR.

Of course you should use your own TBR for this challenge but I’ve chosen some popular releases over the last couple of years that just might be on your TBR anyway.

CIRCE BY MADELINE MILLER

Not only is it a beautiful book but the story inside is truly captivating, bewitching and heartbreaking. This is a feminist retelling of the Greek myth of Circe, the sorceress living alone on the island of Aiaia with a talent for potion-making and a penchant for turning sailors into animals. In this version, Circe is banished to Aiaia by Zeus when he feels threatened by her unique brand of magic. There she develops her craft, tames the animals, grows herbs and even encounters travellers such as Daedelus, Icarus and Odysseus. After angering both mortals and gods, she needs to decide where she truly belongs to protect the thing she loves most. Madeline Miller is a gorgeous writer and Circe is a masterpiece.

THE HAZEL WOOD BY MELISSA ALBERT

Although not a fairytale or a retelling, The Hazel Wood has many fairytale elements and therefore, I feel it more than qualifies for FairytaleAThon. It follows 17-year-old Alice who has spent most of her life moving around with her mother because bad luck and disaster seems to follow them around. Alice’s grandmother is the author of a book of dark fairytales set in mysterious Hinterland. When her grandmother dies and her mother goes missing, Alice has almost nothing to go on. She teams up with classmate Ellery Finch, who also happens to be a superfan of her grandmother’s stories, to find her mother and discover the secrets of her grandmother’s creation. It’s the perfect remedy if you’re craving some fast-paced, whimsical action. THE SILENCE OF THE GIRLS BY PAT BARKER

Ok so it’s ANOTHER Greek myth retelling but this is another book that should really be on your radar.  The Silence of the Girls tells the story of the women affected by the Trojan war, who have been largely ignored by the original myth. It focuses primarily on Briseis, a Trojan queen who became a concubine to Achilles after he murdered her husband and brothers. Her life in the Greek camp is a world away from the one she led in Troy and she is now a slave to the army. When commander Agamemnon wishes to claim Briseis as his own prize, she finds her fate entirely at the mercy of the two most powerful men of Greece as the war wages on. It’s an engaging accessible version of the story with some lovely female friendships, intricate and illicit romances and an ending that will definitely touch your heart.

GEEKERELLA BY ASHLEY POSTON

This quirky, nerdy YA romance is enormous fun to read! Vegan food-truck worker Elle is a superfan of hit sci-fi series Starfield, a love she shared with her late father. When a cosplay competition is announced to celebrate the upcoming movie reboot, Elle has to enter. The prize is a ticket to the Cosplay Ball at the fandom’s convention ExcelsionCon and a meet and greet with the new Prince Carmindor. However, when it’s announced that the role will be played by teen idol Darien Freeman (who her stepsisters are obsessed with) Elle isn’t hopeful he’ll do the part justice because surely a pretty boy actor doesn’t know the first thing about Starfield, right? Told through the viewpoints of both Elle and Darien via alternating chapters, it’s full of dramatic irony and the subtle similarities to the story of Cinderella are so fun to pick out. Our group book for this round is its recently released companion The Princess and the Fangirl, so what better reason to pick up Geekerella if you haven’t already?

4. CREATURES OF THE DEEP: Read a book with mermaids, sirens or sea monsters.

As this is a summer round of FairytaleAThon, my co-hosts and I decided that we wanted to dedicate a challenge to stories that feature cool blue waters. We agreed that this book doesn’t have to be a fairytale, folktale or retelling; it just has to feature a mythical aquatic creature.

TO KILL A KINGDOM BY ALEXANDRA CHRISTO

This dark retelling of The Little Mermaid sees Princess Lira as a ruthless collector of princes’ hearts. However, when she kills a fellow siren, the Sea Queen punishes her by turning her into a human and taking away her singing voice. She needs to bring back the heart of Prince Elian in order to return to the sea. Prince Elian is himself a siren-hunter and when he rescues a drowning Lira, she promises to help him destroy all sirens but of course, she has her own motives for getting close to him. Although I’ve seen mixed reviews for this book, I really enjoyed it for the concept. Lira is a much more powerful, more formidable figure than Ariel and the story is much more brutal. I’d definitely recommend it for anyone who feels like Ariel deserved more.

THE PISCES BY MELISSA BRODER

The Pisces is an incredibly strange novel about Lucy who has recently split from her long-term partner and is lacking inspiration for her thesis. In the hopes that it will help her forget her problems, she agrees to spend the summer in LA, looking after her sister’s house and foxhound. While there, she goes on a string of grisly Tinder dates, attends a therapy group for love addiction and falls in love with a mysterious but gorgeous surfer dude… who appears to have scales over the entirety of his lower body… It’s funny, it’s weird, it’s sad in parts but it’s also somehow bloody brilliant. Be warned that there are some pretty graphic sex scenes, so perhaps avoid it if you’re sensitive to that!

THE GLOAMING BY KIRSTY LOGAN

This is a wonderfully charming magical realism book following Mara and her family, whose island is surrounded with magic and stories. When tragedy strikes her family, Mara finds solace in enigmatic Pearl who introduces her to a new way of life and possibilities she never dreamed of. Torn between the traditions of her island and the ever-changing course of the sea while still haunted by the past, Mara needs to decide which is the best path for her to take. Kirsty Logan is a lyrical genius so if you like beautiful imagery and strange diverse storylines, The Gloaming is a great choice for you.

THE MERMAID AND MRS HANCOCK BY IMOGEN HERMES GOWAR

Set in the 18th century, The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock is a beautifully written and surreal read that will appeal if you’re looking for a more literary, social history-led mermaid book. Merchant Jonah Hancock learns that one of his captains has sold his ship for what is apparently a mermaid. Naturally this piques the curiosity of the area and he is soon thrown into upper class circles, where he meets the beautiful, accomplished Angelica Neal. Soon enough, both of their lives take a new course at a high price. It’s a pretty big book so I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it if you’re not already a historical fiction reader but it’s definitely a unique story of obsession and intrigue with bags of wit.

5. TRY THE GREY STUFF: Read with a yummy treat.

Naturally, your choice of reading snack is ENTIRELY your choice but these are four of my favourites to get your tummy rumbling!

ICE CREAM

The perfect treat for a hot day. Just don’t let it drip onto the pages!

COOKIES

Is there anything more tasty than a plate of warm, gooey, freshly baked cookies? Pretty sure there isn’t!

POPCORN

If your book is painting beautiful cinematic images in your mind or the drama is getting a little tense, you might want to grab some popcorn to add to the experience. MOZZARELLA STICKS

Possibly my favourite savoury snack ever. A few mozzarella sticks dipped in sweet chilli sauce is simply delicious!

6. A WHOLE NEW WORLD: Read a fairytale or retelling with a diverse character.

ASH BY MALINDA LO

This bisexual retelling of Cinderella is one of my favourites ever. Ash dreams of being taken away from her miserable life with her stepmother by fairies so when she meets handsome but dark fairy Sidhean, she thinks her life is about to change. Then she meets beautiful huntress Kasia and begins feeling things she hasn’t felt in a long time. But how can she choose between true love and her fairytale escape? It’s sexy, enchanting, incredibly intense and I absolutely devoured it.

A CURSE SO DARK AND LONELY BY BRIGID KEMMERER

This was our group book for the last round of FairytaleAThon, so if you joined us then, there is a good chance you’ll have already read A Curse So Dark And Lonely. It’s a recently released Beauty and the Beast retelling which has been getting a lot of hype in the book community. It follows Harper, a teenage girl living in Washington DC with her ailing mother and dismissive older brother. When she intervenes in a street incident, she finds herself being pulled into Emberfall, a broken kingdom ruled by Prince Rhen, who has been cursed to relive his 18th year until a girl falls for the vicious beast he has become. With evil forces at work, Harper and Rhen need to defeat more than a curse to save the people of Emberfall. Harper has cerebral palsy and as a result, she has developed a strength and feistiness that I don’t think I’ve ever seen in YA fantasy. It’s a must read for anyone who loves cursed hearts, easy-to-root-for characters and page-turning tension.

EVERY HEART A DOORWAY BY SEANAN MAGUIRE

The first in the Wayward Children series of novellas, Every Heart A Doorway is the perfect twisted fairytale. The premise explores what happens to the children who have been to magical lands on their return to the real world. Ever-changed by their experiences, they are often take to Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children, where everyone is seeking a door to the fantasy world they’ve left. When Nancy arrives, darkness and tragedy are just around the corner. There are asexual and transgender characters, multiple ethnicities represented as well as plenty of dark whimsical adventure. It’s certainly a strange little series but once you start it, you’ll be hooked.

THE WRATH AND THE DAWN BY RENEE AHDIEH

A retelling of an Arabian Nights story, The Wrath and the Dawn tells the story of the young king Khalid who murders a new wife every night. When her best friend becomes one of the slain, Shahrzad volunteers to be his next bride with every intention of not being the one who ends up dead. Through the power of storytelling, she survives night after night and inexplicably finds herself falling in love with Khalid, who appears to be nothing more than a tortured soul -much like the rest of his palace which seems to have more than a few secrets. It’s a novel full of tradition, elegance and fantastic world-building. You’ll definitely get swept up in this one!

7. RAGS TO RICHES: Read the group book.

THE PRINCESS AND THE FANGIRL BY ASHLEY POSTON

Our group book this round is The Princess and the Fangirl and I can’t wait to dive into it! It’s set in the same fandom as Geekerella but is not a direct sequel, so you can technically read it if you haven’t read the previous book. It follows fangirl Imogen who is on a mission to save her favourite Starfield characters Princess Amara from being killed off. However Jessica, the actress who plays her, is desperate to shake off the pressure and intensity from the fandom and would actually quite like to bow out of the series. I don’t want to know too much more about it but I know it involves an F/F romance and I’m guessing there’s a case of switching places or mistaken identities at some point, given that it has been touted as a retelling of The Prince and the Pauper. I am INCREDIBLY excited for this one and I hope you’ll be picking it up too!

Hopefully I’ve given you some ideas for your own TBR. I’ll be posting my own next week, so look out for that. This round looks like a good one!

[alainawriteswwe]

Pride and Prejudice And Wrestling Part 5

Characters: Seth Rollins x Reader, The gang from Raw

Summary: When a superstar Hollywood actress (The Reader), interacts with WWE Superstar Seth Rollins at Monday Night Raw, sparks fly. Can Rollins overcome his pride and convince the reader to take a chance on him when she’s still recovering from a nasty scandal caused by her cheating fiancé?

Warnings: Lots of flirting, angsty longing and maybe some bad words

Tags: @caramara3 @hardcorewwetrash

Chapter Note: Smutty Kingslayers are smutty! ;-) – Chapter 5: Just Don’t Tell Anyone About This

I walked down the plushly carpeted hallway as I searched for the hotel door I was looking for.

Room 2008 …

Room 2010 …

Room 2012 …

I paused in front of the dark wooden door with the silver numbers in a modern font listed above the little keyhole. 2012. Seth’s door. Who knew what pleasures awaited me beyond that door. I was about to knock, but paused my hand.

Okay. Let’s be honest. This was also dangerous. This thing between Seth and I was so much more than physical and that is what had me running.

Should we set up ground rules? Was this a one night thing? Some kind of open booty call thing whenever we were both in the same town? A ‘Friends with Benefits’ thing? The beginning of a full on relationship thing?

I couldn’t have that although a part of me desperately wanted it. A relationship? Not with Seth’s track record or mine. My taste for picking men who were bad for me was just too notoriously, well, bad.

I also remembered my promise to my mother. To never trust a cheating man with your heart. Once a cheater. Always a cheater. It was a phrase she drilled into my head over and over after my father became a cliché and ran off with his secretary. My mother, who always seemed so strong, ensconced in the love of my father, fell apart once she learned of the affair. It was a slap in the face to both my mother and me when he married his mistress, only thirty days after his divorce became final.

But my mother had the last laugh when my father cheated on his new wife with someone he met online. My mom always told me, once a man shows his true colors he won’t change no matter how much you think you can transform him with your love.

There would be no changing Seth either. I knew it but that particular truth hurt when my heart knew instinctively that Seth was more than just a sexy guy to have fun with.

Now that didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy just one night with him. One night. Anything goes. Do all the things with him that my mind conjured when I first saw him earlier tonight at the arena. Hell, since we originally met at the charity dinner last year.

Let’s be honest. There were a lot of times in this last year when I went to bed with Seth’s name on my lips while my fingers worked hard to please me.

Okay, no time for those thoughts I told myself. Focus. I couldn’t stand in front of Seth’s door forever. Yet, I didn’t have the courage to knock. Maybe I should make a dash to the elevator now and go to my own room.

‘No, no, no,’ my body screamed. Knock on his damn door. So I did. I couldn’t believe my hand seemed to be acting independently of my brain. My body finally taking control of the situation.

The door opened to reveal Seth, dressed only in a pair of shorts. Short shorts that revealed an expanse of very toned and muscular thigh. My kryptonite. I let out a breath. Oh how I wanted to touch them, let my fingers glide along his skin and feel the hard muscles beneath.

“Hey,” I said awkwardly. “I uh, changed my mind.”

The smile he gave me melted any doubts. It wasn’t one of conquest and victory, instead it displayed relief.

He motioned me forward. “Come in. I thought you were Dean.”

He scratched the back of his neck. He looked tired after a long night of wrestling in the squared circle. His hair was mussed and very fluffy at the top while the rest was still securely wrapped in a man bun at the base of his neck.

“I figured he would get frustrated about the ice. It’s happened before.”

“Dean,” I said, with overly dramatic, gossipy flair as I stepped inside the room, “is on his way to the Concierge in the lobby… for ice…in boxer shorts with cartoon chainsaws and no shoes. I just hope someone takes video of this blessed event with their phone so I can see it.”

“He really is a lunatic sometimes. There was this one time in Omaha before Renee when we were in the Shield and he met this girl he wanted to impress so he ….” He stalled a moment. “That’s probably not the best story to tell you.”

I couldn’t help a small laugh. “Yeah. You would be breaking the Bro Code.”

“Yes. The Shield Bro Code is well, stronger than what most guys have.”

There was a small silence.

I looked down at my hands awkwardly. Despite all our insanely outrageous flirting, I suddenly felt shy. “Dean also gave me your room number, in case I changed my mind.”

“I’m glad he did,” Seth stated quietly. “And I’m glad you came to your senses.”

That instantly put me at ease.

With my confidence rising, I couldn’t help quirking an eyebrow at that and tsk tsking him. “Oh boy. There’s that ego again, Rollins. I told you. I don’t like being a foregone conclusion.”

He shook his head. “Not at all. I never said that. I’m just thankful that you gave me a chance.”

“Oh.”

That was odd. There was no ego in his voice, his demeanor. This wasn’t sly banter. This was the real Seth Rollins. Down to earth. Thoughtful. A little silly. Slightly unsure of the situation. Insanely sexy despite that lack of confidence or maybe because of it.

I took a deep breath. “Can I say, this is actually really awkward?”

He tilted his head in a thoughtful way. “Why?”

I fiddled with a ring on my finger as I spoke. “Because I thought it would be like in the movies. I would knock. You would open the door and without a word, pull me inside and kiss me against it.

“We would both be overcome with passion and you would take me right there as I stand, against the door, because we couldn’t keep our hands off each other and make it to the bed. Instead I’m gossiping about Dean in the lobby.”

I paused a beat.

“I feel like a awkward teenager who is home alone with her boyfriend for the first time, when I was acting like a wanton siren earlier this evening.”

“Come here, Princess.” Seth’s softly spoken commands always did me in. I did as I was commanded until he was just a touch away from me.

He caressed the soft skin of my cheek with his fingertips.“You’ve been robbed of your confidence by that asshole fiancé but none of what he says is true.”

The little touches Seth gave my body thrilled me. His fingers settled on my shoulders. Surprise, surprise. They stroked small circles against the curve there and it was like a direct arrow of pleasure to the center of my body. The initial touch made me crave more touches and in other places.

Seth continued. “You think its easy to keep my hands off you? That’s insane. I’ve been standing here this whole time trying to be respectful. Trying not to act like a degenerate frat boy when all I want to do is touch you everywhere. You have no clue the barely leashed restraint I am practicing right now. It’s like you’re everything I deny myself when I’m training to be seriously ripped. Imagine how hard it is resisting that temptation when its right in front of you.

I laughed. “So you’re saying I’m carbs.”

“Damn right you’re carbs. Fries, Brooklyn pizza, the delicious pasteles my dad makes only at Christmas. The most amazing sea salt caramel ice cream.

“Uh, caramel ice-cream is not a carb, Seth.”

“Yeah, but its still off limits during hard core training.”

“So if you’re saying I’m ice cream, you’re saying I’m sweet.”

He pulled me in closer for a embrace, wrapping his arms around my waist tight so I couldn’t get away. I realized why when he finished his comment. “You’re also just a touch salty.”

“Seth! How dare you.” I punched his arm in false protest.

“But it’s true. It’s one of the things I like about you. You’re my favorite sea salt caramel ice cream. Salty and sweet.”

“And cold,” I lamented and frowned, remembering my ex fiancé’s words. I looked away from Seth. Maybe tonight wasn’t a good idea.

Seth placed his finger under my chin and turned it, forcing me to look into those deep set puppy dog eyes of his.

“More like irresistible. It’s the one thing I have to have on cheat day.”

That instantly put me at ease. I brightened. “So basically you’re saying I’m a cheat day.”

He had the grace to look sheepish. “Yeah. You’re my cheat day and damn it I’m going to enjoy it.”

And with that he kissed me. His lips drifting from my lips to the long column of my throat and then to my collarbone just as he had done in the elevator. And just like last time, at that point I was lost. All rational thought gone from my head once again.

“Well you should enjoy it.” Now it was time for my hands to do the touching. They landed on his hips and stroked his outer thigh. “You work very hard in the gym with that CrossFit cult you are a part of, CrossFit Jesus.”

“Yeah, well I’m very proud of it. The training, not the nickname. I’ve worked hard and I get results. See for yourself.”

Seth took my hand and placed it over his pecs. With his fingers encircling my wrist, he controlled where my hand went. He put the palm of my hand over his abs.

“Feel there. Rock solid.” He looked at me intently as he tugged my hand lower, dipping lightly into the indentation of his belly button, hovering over the drawstrings of his shorts before placing my hand and it’s seeking fingers over his sex.

“See there. Also rock solid. So you can’t say I’m not affected by you because I didn’t ravish you like some pirate in a romance novel when you came in. Especially when all I want for you to do is stroke me. I’ve thought about it all night.”

Hearing that was my undoing. My confidence seemed to grow with every word Seth said to me. Words softly spoken yet firmly believed. My heart opened, flowered and finally bloomed. I wanted to believe. Just once, I wanted to believe that things were different. That we could be happy with romance and relationship and not just sensuality and sex.

“Well I’m happy to help you out,” I said.

I moistened my palm with my mouth before taking him in my hand inside his shorts. He was so incredibly hard. My fingers touched and stroked, caressed his length all while my eyes held his.

Seth leaned into my touch. His hands, not surprisingly, made their way back to my shoulders. The moans that escaped his mouth spurred me on and increased my confidence. He was really getting into it, telling me what he liked and I was oh so happy to do what he asked for.

“The shorts are in the way. Take them off,” I instructed. I felt powerful as Seth complied with my request.

And then Seth was before me, completely naked. It was glorious. My breath caught in my throat as I took him in from head to toe.

I took him in both hands now, steepling my fingers over his length.

“Those uhm, photos did not do you justice Seth, you know that right?”

“I’m not the best photographer,” he whispered in confession.

His voice seemed labored. I felt proud of the effect I had on him.

I licked my lips. I wanted to taste him. I started to drop to my knees but he stopped me.

“No. Tonight is about you. I need to see you come undone, Princess. To lose control. To recognize there is nothing cold about you when it comes to sex. There’s only heat, passion, intensity and best of all pleasure.”

I needed him to touch me, to place his body against mine.

As always, he seemed to anticipate my needs.

He gave me just a glimmer of naughtiness before he spoke. “Against the door Princess. Just like you said earlier.”

He stepped forward, which made me step back against the door. It was happening. It was finally happening.

I started to pull my top up to take it off but he put his hand up. “Nope. Leave it on.”

“But you’re naked and I’m fully dressed.”

“I know. I like that. That’s how I want it.”

The mischievous way Seth was acting was causing my body havoc. My heart was racing now.

He pressed his lips to mine and kissed me deeply, turning my head to get the angle he wanted. I let him take control of the situation.

When we finally came up for air, he rested his forehead against mine. The door against my back felt cold which was good because the rest of my body was heating up quickly.

Seth pulled my shirt up over my breasts, filling his hands with each one. He grinned. “A perfect fit. Just as I imagined.”

He lavished attention on each breast, tugging at each nipple. They hardened instantly as his tongue covered them. I cried out his name, begging for I know not what. Then he was trailing kisses between my breasts. His beard tickling my skin. I purred at his touch.

And then things ratcheted up. Seth’s hands undid the zip on my jeans. His fingers slipping inside the soft fabric to cup my sex, and then they were dipping inside me. I arched into his seeking fingers, bringing them deeper. His fingers worked magic on me while he took my mouth roughly in a kiss that I did not want to end.

Then with a wicked gleam in his eye, Seth brought his fingers back up to his lips. They were wet, glistening with my juices. He sucked one and offered the other to me. I licked and sucked at his finger. Somehow it was the most erotic moment I had ever shared with a lover. Greedily I wanted more of those moments, but only with Seth.

The corners of his mouth turned upward slyly. “You like that Princess?”

“Y-yes,” I managed to say in a stuttering breath. “More. Please.”

He dipped his fingers inside again, wetting them before he played with my clit. I lost my breath then, my orgasm beginning to build rapidly. And then cruelly Seth took his fingers away.

“No, no, no. Please, Seth.”

“Tell me what you want, Princess.”

I pouted. “You. I want you. Please Seth.”

He lifted me up against the door and I instinctively wrapped my legs around his waist.

“You sure?”

I nodded. “Yes. Yes. Please, Seth. Don’t tease me.”

“Never. Not when we’re together like this.”

And with that he joined us together and it was such a glorious feeling, I felt physically and emotionally changed in that one instant I felt him buried deep inside me. Seth was mine. All mine. Finally!

It was so good to feel him in such a intimate way. We both worked to keep a good pace and rhythm, lost to everything around us as we grabbed at each other. I wrapped my arms around Seth’s neck, indulging in my fantasy of letting his hair down. It was so soft between my fingers as it settled around his shoulders.

We were so caught up in the moment of giving and receiving pleasure. He nipped at my shoulders again with his teeth and I couldn’t help but glow with happiness at the pleasure he took from doing so.

And then I came undone by something so simple, it threw me. Seth moaned my name. My actual name. He didn’t call me princess. It was my name that fell from his lips. Hearing it in his rough, labored voice was the most seductive thing I had ever heard.

There were moans by both of us, lots of salty sweat glistening on our skin, some grunting, even a bit of a giggle on my part as his beard tickled me again. I was fascinated by the cleft chin Seth had, hidden by that sexy beard and I couldn’t help touching it.

It was obvious we were both lost to the moment. So much so we were both straining to breathe.

My trembling limbs clung to him. I couldn’t resist swiveling my hips, and then arching against his hard, muscled body to drive him deeper. My orgasm, which was already threatening to end this ride, began to build inside me, growing stronger with each of Seth’s movements. Sensing I was close, Seth increased his pace until suddenly I was shuddering against him.

The power and intensity of the orgasm was overwhelming and the pleasure I felt at the hands of this incredible man only increased that intensity.

No no no no no. I wanted to hold off this orgasm. I wanted to keep Seth connected to me. This couldn’t end. Once it was over that was it. I could only allow myself one night with Seth when I wanted much more than that.

“No. Oh no. Oh no,” Seth gritted.

Although I was spent, I perked up at hearing his distress. “What? What’s wrong?”

He winced in pain. His eyes were squeezed shut.

“Leg cramp,” he groaned as his leg buckled and we tumbled to the carpeted floor of the hotel room.

We disentangled from each other. I looked down at Seth as he continued to wince and stretch his left leg.

“Oh my God Seth, are you okay? Tell me what I should do.”

I immediately thought of his career. He could not take another injury just when he was finally having some momentum again.

Then I realized I may need to get help and here was Seth splayed naked on the hotel floor. Surely the WWE medical staff was in the same hotel. That would be quicker than calling an ambulance, right? How on earth could I find them in this hotel? And how could I explain this accident without it becoming the story of the decade?

The pain on his face eased. Seth shook out his leg. “I’m okay. My leg just went numb and gave out.”

He covered his eyes with the back of his hand. It was obvious he couldn’t look at me. “It’s just my pride that’s injured.”

“Oh Seth.”

Once I knew he was okay I couldn’t help but laugh. We were both laying flat on the floor and I looked over to Seth who was still completely naked and embarrassed as hell.

“Okay. The last thing I need right now is pity.” He still couldn’t look at me.

I got angry at that accusation. “Don’t you dare say that after you gave me the most exciting sex I’ve ever had. I’m laughing at both of us in this situation. Not just you. I thought I was going to have to grab the WWE medical staff or call 9-1-1.”

He shuddered at that.

I poked him in the chest to try and raise his mood. “You have to admit it’s pretty funny.”

“Not from where I’m sitting, well laying down.” He finally uncovered his eyes and looked at me. “I ruined it for you. I wanted this first time to be perfect.”

I huffed at that. “I’m not some timid virgin.”

Although I had been acting like a unsure inexperienced teenager when I arrived here. The damage my fiancé did with a handful of words still rang in my head. Apparently it did in Seth’s too. He wanted to undo that hurt and I had to admit it made me care for him all the more. Then suddenly my own insecurities did rear their ugly heads.

“Oh my God, Seth. You didn’t come. Damn it.”

I shook my head. My fiancé was right. I was useless in bed.

Incredible how our roles were reversed in mere moments. Now I was the one who needed reassurance. Seth rolled onto his side closer to me. He reached out and stroked my brow. The touch of his hand was almost unbearable in its tenderness. “Babe, I told you, tonight was about you.”

“But ….”

He didn’t let me finish. He kissed me instead. “There’s nothing cold about you, Princess. You have thoroughly satisfied this Iowa farm boy. Sex wasn’t actually needed for you to do that you know.

“I think the opposite of what that asshole said is actually true. You are a very warm blooded sexy as hell female. Maybe he couldn’t really keep up or maybe he couldn’t tempt you fully.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Maybe I am just more of a temptation. You know I am irresistible.”

“So I have heard,” I replied, rolling my eyes.

There were so many truths that Seth hit upon in his statement, it was all too much to unpack. So I focused on the silly thing to make this conversation light.

“You’re not a farm boy, Kingslayer.”

He looked a bit sheepish. “Maybe I did not specifically grow up on a farm per se but I did grow up surrounded by them. And corn fields.”

“Mmm. I still think you are as much of a farm boy as I am a princess.”

I paused a moment.

“And maybe we were both a bit reckless tonight,” I said, looking at his leg. “We just wanted each other so badly.”

“I still do.” He admitted.

I felt like blushing which was insane seeing how Seth and I had been as intimate as possible just a few minutes ago. “Me too.”

Seth stood up and then helped me up too. That magnificent body still was irresistible. But tonight that body was not off limits. Nor was the man. Just for tonight.

“So round two?” I inquired.

“Yes but first, bath time. You and me together.”

“That sounds fun.”

“Good.”

He picked me up and carried me to the bathroom.

“Whatever you do you can’t tell anyone about me dropping you during sex. Especially not Dean. He would never let me live it down. There will be endless jokes about how I injured myself in the ring and now I’m injuring myself in bed with beautiful women.”

“We weren’t in bed.”

“I know.”

I sighed. “There goes my dream of having real standing sex with you without any pesky supports like walls or doors.”

I lowered my voice to a confessional whisper. “You know your thighs are to me what my shoulders are to you. I just want to touch them and worship them with my mouth. Those tight, shiny ring pants you wear are totally my kryptonite. I have all sorts of fantasies about peeling them off you backstage.”

Seth swore low. “You are killing me you know. When you talk like that.”He paused. “Look, just promise me you won’t tell anyone about our little fall tonight.”

I put my hand up as if I was taking a sacred oath. “I promise.”

He hugged me a little tighter in his arms. “Good girl.”

The endearment seemed odd from Seth, as I had no intention of being a good girl around him, especially not tonight.

–

She was mine. Finally.

All it took was one year apart after we met at the Connor’s Cure event, her broken engagement and an insane night on Raw. But she was in my bed and she was mine.

I am by no means bragging of a conquest here. Seth Rollins doesn’t need to do that and especially not in this situation. I wanted to protect her if anything. The problem was the person I should be protecting her from was me.

And now was the awkward part. After all the pleasure (and there was a lot more of it on both sides – that bath got us dirtier rather than cleaner) it was time for the awkward goodbyes. This is the time I usually hate. Not because I’m clingy but sometimes the women can be. It’s always hard to find a way to let a girl down easy and make it very clear this is a one time thing.

Only I didn’t want a one night thing this time. One night was not enough. I couldn’t let my princess go.

And that thought made me remember my dream once we had finally gotten to bed after the bath. I dream a lot. Mostly because I’m so damn tired from throwing my body around the ring that I’m knocked out the moment my head hits the pillow.

But tonight was different. I was keyed up. The dream wasn’t anything too crazy. I wasn’t standing in my underwear in the hallway of my high school or anything.

I was in the ring. Alone. I was holding up a title belt. In that way that happens with dreams, I knew it was important but I also couldn’t tell which belt it was.

Anyway, my princess was there at the ring apron. But she didn’t look happy. Oh she was when I finally took down my opponent for a three count but now that I held that thick leather belt up high she looked sad.

And then I realized why. I had to make a choice. The belt or her. I went out of my mind thrashing about in the ring, railing against the forces making me choose. I could hear the commentators talking about the decision I had to make. I couldn’t give either one up.

And then before I knew it, the choice was out of my hands. Braun Strowman, that huge mountain of a man came out of nowhere, scooped her up over his shoulder and carried her off. And she was gone. Just like that.

The belt didn’t feel good in my hand anymore but I still didn’t want to let it go. Then I must have gone back to a dreamless state. It was always best not to think on these things too closely and what the hell they mean.

And now I was wide awake but pretending to sleep because I had to figure out our goodbye moment.

To hell with it. I opened my eyes and turned over in bed only to find it empty. The sheets were mussed, the pillow still warm. I realized with some alarm the room was very quiet. I got up out of bed and stalked over to the bathroom. Empty.

She was gone.

She left me! I looked over to the desk because surely there was a goodbye note. A ‘let’s meet for breakfast’ scrawled on the hotel notepad.

Or maybe she texted me. I fished my phone out of my jeans pocket but there was just a text from Dean raging about lazy concierges and a text from Sasha asking me to breakfast with her, Bayley and Cesaro.

I sat down on the edge of the bed. I couldn’t believe it. My princess left me.

It was a feeling I hated. Being left behind. Not being wanted. And it had happened so many times I lost count. My biological dad when my parents got divorced. Then there was coming home to find my fiancée gone and having taken Kevin and the other dogs with her when I fucked up so royally. And then again when my last girlfriend left.

There is just something about coming home to an empty house and finding that person and everything that represented them being gone that hurt more than being on the receiving end of multiple suplexes from Lesnar.

And now this. Surely there was some mistake. She went to change her clothes or something.

There was a knock on the door and relief ran through me.

I threw on a pair of shorts in case it was Sasha or Bayley coming to get me for breakfast.

I was instead surprised to find the one and only Triple H on my door, already in a hand cut, tailored suit. He held up a expensive tablet. It showed a photo of me and my runaway princess kissing in the bar last night.

“So what are we doing about this Seth?”

I looked at him like he was crazy. “Are you serious, Trips? It was just a kiss. The company is policing superstars sharing a kiss with a girl in public. Come on. There would be no one left on the roster.”

The huff Trips let out made me know my argument wasn’t going to fly. He came inside my hotel room and shut the door.

“I wish it was as simple as that Seth.” He scrolled down the Hollywood gossip site and hit play on a video. I felt my heart drop to my stomach when I realized what I was watching.

It was a grainy, black and white video from last night. In the elevator. When it was stopped.

“Shit.” The embarrassment I felt soon turned to fury.

I didn’t give a damn about me. I shredded my reputation years ago but I was concerned for her. The gossip magazines would have a field day with it and she was already so sensitive to their slights.

“Who released this? I want to curb stomp them into next week.”

Trips nodded. “My thoughts exactly. I would like to pedigree them myself.”

“We have to come up with a response, Seth and soon. Publicity has already gotten a number of interview requests for both of you. They want statements from the happy couple as well as from corporate.” He cleared his throat. “Doesn’t help that your uh, partner in all this has already left Miami. Checked out an hour ago. It would have been nice to do a joint statement.”

I looked at the clock. It was barely 8 am. She really did run out on me! I suddenly felt very cold.

I sat down on the edge of the bed. A horrible thought knocking about in my head. “Do you think she was involved in releasing that?” I asked, pointing to the video still going on the tablet. It wasn’t a crazy question. Sadly, I knew that from experience.

Trips shook his head. “Absolutely not. Once we found out about the video being released, the corporation looked into both it and the release of the picture. The photo was sent in by a guest here. They got $25,000 for the photo and a story about the two of you being cozy at the bar and sharing several kisses.”

“Damn!”

“The elevator video was trickier but we found it to be a member of the elevator maintenance crew who sold it for $100,000. We asked for the entire elevator maintenance crew to be fired as a precaution in case they were sharing that windfall.”

I just blinked at that. I knew first hand how serious WWE was at protecting their interests. They had a army of lawyers poised and at the ready.

“No one messes with the corporation,” Trips continued. “Besides the hotel chain realized that our rooms contract with them was more important than a employee who is violating the rights of guests.”

Trips continued. “We would have caught the elevator video this morning only those bastards acted fast.”

“How would you have found out?”

“We review all the security elevator videos the night after a stay by our superstars. It’s standard procedure. We call it the Enzo Protocol.

Realization dawned. “Oh yeah. I remember that incident between Enzo and the two strippers and the Waffle House waitress that happened in the elevator. Crazy, man. Just crazy.”

I scrunched my eyes shut a moment in frustration as I continued to think about the scrutiny this video and picture would cause. Damn it, why couldn’t I have kept things under control with her until we were alone? I’d failed at protecting her.

Hell, come to think of it we were so crazy we didn’t even think of protection before we had sex. What if there was a baby as a result of last night? Honestly it wouldn’t be so bad. I secretly loved kids. But would she think that? Did she like kids? Did she want to have them? All things we didn’t bother talking about when we were too busy thinking only about the physical.

Trips pulled me back to our present situation. “So I take it this thing between you two is not serious, Seth.”

“I don’t know, honestly.”

“Okay. So my initial question stands. What should we do?”

I sounded like a broken record. “I don’t know, honestly.”

He let out a frustrated breath. I knew that sound to mean Trips was on the verge of being unhappy with my responses in a very vocal way.

“Look son, do you want to announce that this relationship is a thing? Because it’s running away from you and the young lady pretty quick here.” He pointed to the tablet.

“If I say I don’t know again will you pedigree me right here in my hotel room?”

Trips laughed. “Okay. That tells me everything. And since your lady has left us in the lurch for a official response to this scandal here, we will have to figure out what to do ourselves.”

“And what is that?”

“Seth, what have I told you repeatedly in wrestling and in life?”

“That there’s always a plan B?”

“Yes, son. There’s always a plan B.”

—