#fireheart x princess

[kuramirocket]

I'm on book 2 of Warriors, Fire and Ice, left off on ch. 18.

The brief moments we've gotten of Fireheart meeting his sister, Princess again and sneaking off to visit her; Sharing memories of her when they were kits and washing off her scent when he returns to Thunderclan. Thinking of how these are such happy moments for him, so much so that he feels confused and almost torn in his duties and loyalties to Thunderclan. Coupled with the resentment, bitterness and anger towards some of the cats within the clan who view him as beneath them for having been born a "kittypet."

And I just. Okay, where are my shipcest shippers at!! I haven't really been active in the fandom yet because I want to avoid spoilers (though I do more or less know what happens between them later. Lol).

And anyways, does this ship have a name? I tried looking it up, but didn't really find anything. If it does not have a ship name, how about Fireprincess? I think it sounds cute and is perfect because if I'm not mistaken Fireheart's name changes again later on to Firestar.

Anyways, Greystripe has the storyline I would have loved to see for Fireheart and Princess. LOL. I want to see the drama and more confusion of Fireheart having to be angry and defend himself seeing his sister who is a non clan member and worse for Thunderclan a "kittypet." I want more drama and angst of Fireheart having to choose where he would rather be - Thunderclan who accepted him, despite some of the cats attitudes and those he has come to care for or his sister who he just found and connected to again. Princess who is so kind and gentle and loves him for who he is. Warrior, Kittypet, it doesn't matter.

I don't know how it would work with the current storyline though - Bluestar being on her last life, Fireheart's apprentice in bad shape, Tigerclaw's shady character, Shadowclan and Riverclan's plots, Greystrip seeing a riverclan warrior. So much stuff happening. Lol.

I just want to see a fic that just focuses on that drama I mentioned regarding Fireheart and Princess. As for the actual shipcest. I'm not far enough into the series so I also don't know how the clans and kittypets would view a brother/sister relationship that is more than just sibling love. But for, sure I am all for the forbidden romance trope it could bring! Adds to the drama and angst!

It could make it even more better if imagine an au, where for his sister, Fireheart decides to leave Thunderclan no matter how grateful and how much he has come to love some of its members. I can see Bluestar respecting his wishes because she's a very wise and patient leader. Idk how Greystripe would react, guess it depends if his own love plot is still in this au. Lol.

But anyways, Fireheart decides to leave and imagine him starting his own clan made solely of kittypets. The ones he grew up with. Maybe like a best of both worlds scenarios. The kittypets can still live with and enjoy their two legs, but also have their own territory close to the two legs they guard and patrol. So they can be somewhat wild, but still have the comforts of a kittypet life. Idk how feasible this scenario would be, but I just think it's fun to think about. Especially, if Fireheart and Princess are sort of the "queen" and "king" of the clan and can eventually and finally be free to fully love each other and share a life together.

Idk what any of this is. I have lot of thoughts. Lol. I would love to hear everyone else's thoughts. Though, I would be thankful if spoilers could be kept to a minimum if possible cause I want to try and avoid spoilers as much as possible! I just had to make this post cause Fireheart x Princess (FirePrincess if it truly has no ship name) sounds like a cute ship xD

[buzzprincess1]

I hope I can indoctrinate you all with Dustpelt x Princess propaganda like I did twitter

[cavernclaw]

another au idea: switch and swap au.

an au where princess, after learning what fireheart does everyday, switches places with him so he can live a peaceful kittypet life.

now princess has to play pretend and figure out everything about the clans on her own.

(probably going to have some princess x sandstorm moments, just because :)

[simplyventi]

So here’s an AU no one probably cares to hear. Thanks to Twitter and there being a warriors ship vote toll there I fell down the Fireheart x Morningflower ship and I’ve been thinking of an AU.

I also did a family tree and I’m gonna explain a few things

Instead of Thunderclan fireheart is raised in Windclan. Jake asks Nutmeg to let him take their two kits; Rusty and Princess; to Windclan for they hold a special destiny and she agrees. He meets Tallstar and asks for him to raise the two kits in the clan. Rusty is named Emberkit and Princess is named Softkit.

Emberheart and Morningflower are together and they have Gorsepaw, Quailkit and Storkkit in their first litter. Then later have Leafpool and Squirrelflight.

Brightheart ended up leaving Thunderclan after the dog attack that killed Swiftpaw and where she was renamed Lostface by Bluestar(what happens in the books). She didn’t like that Bluestar pratically acted the way she did and joined Windclan where her and Cloudtail get together. Instead of Whitewing it’s Swiftleap; named after Swiftpaw.

I also wanted to do something different and split up the Po3. Jaykit is the son of Feathertail and Crowfeather. I decided to switch the au where it was Stormfur who died in the mountains instead of Feathertail. But Feathertail and Nightcloud decide to leave to join the tribe together.

Hollykit and Breezekit are the kits of Squirrelflight and Crowfeather who are together. Lionkit was found as an orphaned and is being raised by Mothwing in Riverclan. He has two proud medicine cat mommas.

I honestly didn’t know what to do and who to make the parents of Ivypool and Dovewing so I made it Harespring because well it’s my AU.

I gave Scourge a mate and kit because why not. Raven was just a placeholder name and I might change it but I’m keeping their kits name as Dragonfly.

Softheart was with Cloudrunner instead of Cloudrunner being with Morningflower because well she’s with Emberheart(Fireheart). He dies anyway in my rewrite and Softheart gets together with Ashfoot and raise Crowfeather and Cloudkit together. Ashfoot and Deadfoot were mates but drifted apart after the death of their kits which left only Crowkit alive.

I’ve always HC Kestrelflight, Harespring and Heathertail as siblings. Being born to Onewhisker and Whitetail. Onewhisker still had kits with Smoke and the same happened where he abandoned them leaving Smoke to teach her two remaining kits; Darktail and Lynxfrost; to hate the clans.

[talonslockau]

Hi! As a fellow Warriors fan and animal lover, what did you think about the graphic novel adaptation of the first Warriors books?

Hi there! :D

As a fan of the series: I really liked it! I was very confused my first read about 'that random black cat that keeps showing up' until I re-read again and realized it was Mousefur, but I'm told that's a me problem xD The graphic novel had great art and I think the format definitely glossed over a lot of my problems with the early books (namely, pacing) as a reader. Also, I'm a Yellowfang x Bluestar truther, and I'm very pleased with the hints that they've given us so far.

As a rewriter: Overall, I quite liked the changes they made - none of it really affects the story outcomes, but it does make things fall into place a little better. Princess being there at the beginning (and being the one Firepaw talks to instead of Smudge) makes a lot more sense to develop their bond. I'm not expecting any significant changes that truly affect how the story plays out - though I'd certainly welcome it.

I know there was some discourse on Whiteclaw's death being removed, but I'm just gonna say it here - I also removed his death. The prophecy was correct in that it was a truly unnecessary death that didn't do anything for the plot. I saw arguments that Whiteclaw's death is the reason Leopardfur hates Graystripe so much, but honestly? She already hated Thunderclan anyways. Hell, she tries to kill Fireheart mostly because she can?? I don't recall if she knew whether or not he was Graystripe's friend at that point. There's also the argument that she drove Graystripe into Silverstream's arms, but there's other ways to do that.

I'm truly intrigued by the change to Frostfur's kits - originally Cinder, Bracken, Thorn and Bright, now Cinder, Bracken, Swift, and ???. I think it's Thorn, but I've also heard debate that it might be Mistle, who we know ends up dying. Either way, it's not Bright, who I'm guessing they moved to a different family to avoid some of the in-breeding issues that plague later books. I'm very curious to see what exactly they've done there, though of course we won't know until at least the second, if not the third.

I'm cautiously optimistic about future books, but I think that's ultimately going to be what makes or breaks my opinion of the graphic novels. There's Cinderpaw's injury, Snowkit's death, Silverstream's death... I'm fairly certain Cinderpaw is going to end up being a medicine cat, based on the scene with Yellowfang and the yarrow, but I hope that it's because she WANTS to be a meddy, not because she HAS to be one. Snowkit's death doesn't end up being consequential to the story, except for Speckletail's retirement, so I'm really hoping that they either omit him entirely (I think in this case, no representation is better than bad representation), or that he just dies some other way, like greencough. I've already stated my opinion on how he died, namely that it's not realistic and that it shouldn't have happened (and changed my story accordingly). I highly doubt they're going to un-fridge Silverstream, since her death is so integral to the plot, and I don't inherently mind that, since they still probably have to follow the general plot of the books. Still, this is as close to an official rewrite as we're going to get, and I hope that the authors are able to consider and change problematic elements as they come across them - especially considering they've already done so by changing Bright's parents.

Thank you for the question, I hope you enjoy the answer!

[wildshadowtamer]

does anyone in the wc fandom know of a sandstorm ship that doesnt include fireheart at all? nothing against fireheart but hes with silverstream in my au and he has absolutely no reason to get sandstorm romantically involved with either of them.

all i can find is sandstorm x princess (fine but not thrilled about it), maybe sandstorm x longtail but nobody seems to actually ship those two without fireheart. that and hes her uncle in my au so.

anyone got any sandstorm rarepairs? even with totally obscure arc 1 backgrounders, i'll take anything

[rocket-man-major-tom]

Some anthro AU birth year headcanons (for the Tiger X Fire family):

Tallstar: 1967

Jake: 1969

Nutmeg: 1968

Quince: 1971

Scourge: 1994

Socks: 1990

Ruby: 1991

Fireheart: 2000

Princess: 2002

Tigerclaw: 1980

Brick: 1983

I will update this later

[katrinegrey]

Ready for 'Nicknames Given by Love Interests' BINGO?

I made this silly bingo board for my book club after I read my millionth fantasy novel where it's practically a requirement of the love interest to give the main character a nickname that only they call them. I love the trope, I do, but I also noticed some weird trends and decided to have fun with it. Since my book club liked it so much, I decided to drop it here too. If you decide to join me, you feel free to play however you would like.

I'll outline our rules below for reference:

Strictly nicknames/pet names/sweetheart names given to main character by the love interest(s).

Only includes their 'main' nicknames from the love interest. So if they are called 'baby' twice, but primarily called something silly like 'candy bottom', 'candy bottom' is their nickname for BINGO purposes.

The same character may not be used for more than one category (this is due to quite a lot of crossover. While Goldfinch (Plated Prisoner) could fit into avian, colorful, and animal related, only one may be chosen.

If the main character is primarily called by a "nickname" for the majority of the story by more than just the love interest, it doesn't count for the purposes of this list. (Margaret, but goes by Peggy)

If the name in question is their primary name for a majority of the series, it may not count for this board no matter how well it fits. So Rose (Vampire Academy) and Poppy (Blood and Ash) can't be in the floral category, Persephone (Hades x Persephone and Receiver of Many) can't be in mythological, and Red (Transplanted Tales) can't be in the colorful category.

We're playing ours by books read during this calendar year, but you do you and play however you would like.

Corresponding examples of each category are featured below:

In Another Language: Any nickname that is based in a language that isn't the base language of the main character. See: Roza (Russian), Carina (Italian), Behach éan (fictitious Crow language) Weather Related: This category includes anything related to weather systems. Examples include: Raindrop, Storm, Tempest. This category does NOT include general words related to the elements (earth, water, fire, and air) or celestial bodies. Those have other categories. Curse Words: Any time a curse word becomes a recurring affectionate nickname. See: Asshole, Dumbass, Shithead

Beauty: Synonyms of the word 'beauty' like beautiful, pretty, gorgeous. Avian: Ever notice the frequency of avian related nicknames in fantasy? Examples here include: Sparrow, Buzzard, Little Bird. Colorful: Though pretty self explanatory, this category applies to colors used as or in nicknames. See: Blue, GOLDfinch, Goldie, etc. Floral: Any nickname related to flowering plants. Examples: Yellowbell, Little Flower, Buttercup.

Based on Royalty: Any nickname with ties to a royal title (does NOT include gods, that falls under religious). Examples: Princess, Queenie, Your Majesty. Same name, but different: This category is for those love interests who like to shorten longer names (Lazarus=Laz, Trinity=Trin), use longer names when no one else does (Sera=Seraphena), or call by their surname (Sage, Wadsworth). This CAN include the same name in another language (Rose=Roza). Appearance: For nicknames based off of some part of the main character's appearance. Think: Blue (for her blue hair, Zodiac Academy) or Shortie (for her height, Dark Elements). Gives the ick: For any nickname you read that just gave you that ick factor. I don't have examples for this one because someone's yuck is another's yum. Food & Drink: For any nickname based off of, you guessed it, a food or drink. See: Muffin, Butternut, Honey Bun, etc. Species: If the love interest routinely refers to the main character as their species. Examples: vampire, fae, human. Elemental: For nicknames based off of the four basic elements (earth, air, fire, water), that don't fit into the other categories. See: Bubbles, FIREheart, Cinders.

Little __ : For those nicknames that try their hardest to sound like a 00's rapper. Examples: Little flower, little bird, little heart. Love: Any form or derivitive of the word love. Examples: My love, lovey, amore. Mythological: Any nickname based in a mythological creature or story. This can be real world mythology or in world mythology. This does NOT include general use of the word god/goddess. Those would fall in the religious category. Examples: Thetis, Narcissus, Minthe. Animal Related: Pretty self explanatory here, but in case you really really need it. Avian nicknames CAN be used here and the avian category, but the same nickname can't be used twice. Examples: Lamb, Wolf, Viper. Affectionate Insult: For any nickname that if said by anyone else would result in a punch to the face. Usually something that started off mean but becomes cute later. Could be crossover with Curse Words category, but same one can't be used twice. Examples: Overbearing bastard, stupid ass, etc. Baby/Babe: Pretty obvious, but examples include: baby, babes, baby doll. I'm also going to throw other "child"-like nicknames in here like 'kid'. Anatomically Incorrect: This is for those nicknames that include the use of body parts. Examples: my heart, sweet lips, angel eyes. Religious: This is for any nickname that could fall into some form of real world or fictitious religion. Examples: my lamb (Christianity), goddess, sin, my soul. In the Sky: For things related to the sky. This could include: little cloud, my star, Luna (moon), universe. Sweet …: For all the nicknames that involve the word 'sweet'. Examples: sweetheart, my sweet, sweet love, dulce, sweet pea

[girltigerclaw]

Ohh this is very interesting to me...

So if Quince is now Princess and Fire's bio mom and Princess becomes mates with Bone, does she have any association with Bloodclan, or maybe she's met Scourge once? Or was it only coincidence? Just found that neat because I've never seen them as mates before... the concept of Princess giving Cloudflank to Fireheart to get him away from bloodclan seems interesting, a good way to hint or introduce Bloodclan before they suddenly show up in the darkest hour.

Also VERY curious about Hawk x Night? I'd love to hear your thoughts there if you'd like to talk about it!

W or L family tree rewrite

[leafpool-loves-ashfur]

forgot to post the mashup of the FireSibs’ flags from Burning Thistles :)

Firestar and Sandstorm: Bisexual

Lightningfur: Lesbian Arospec-Ace

Creekflower: Straight

Airleap: Transgender Queer-Questioning

Copperleaf and Dawncloud: Demi-Pansexual and Graysexual

and here’s a link to Burning Thistles too for funsies

[kuramirocket]

I've read 15 chapters of Warrior Cats book 3, Forest of Secrets, and honestly Fireheart is too patient and good for his own good. If it were me dealing with Tigerclaw, Greystripe's forbidden love, Thunderclan rules (even though this is essentially just clan rules in general for all clans), Bluestar not believing his warnings of Tigerclaw; I would have just been like fck all of this. Fck all of you. I'm out. Lol.

Which sort of brings me back to an au of wanting to see Fireheart leave Thunderclan and start his own clan. Which I talked about here of him leaving Thunderclan to start his own clan made of "kittypets," though this au is also about Fireprincess (my name for the Fireheart x Princess ship). Also sorry to Greystripe I know I'm like side eyeing you while also being like forbidden love for Fireheart!! I guess, the way it was written for Greystripe's storyline has me like meh. Idk. Lol

Anyways, I feel like some of the clan rules are too restrictive and binding. Idk. Like I want to see Fireheart or some cat make their own rules, Warrior Code, clan rules be damned if they're not that good, u know. I mean why follow these 'laws' if again they're not effective or just plain dumb. Some rules were meant to be broken. Give me Fireheart or some other cat rebelling against these clan rules and calling them out. Of course, I also don't know how Starclan would feel about this and how they could possibly intervene, but again give me rebellion and questioning these 'traditions.'

I wonder if any of the other books explore this. I would appreciate little to no spoilers please, but feel free to add your thoughts!!

[fabelhaftekatze]

I've been playing with this concept and the designs... (Open for clearer quality)

[meshackdiva]

Think about it:

Rowan is going to find Aelin only for her to look at him with warped recognitionin in her eyes as she asks “Are you the prince who loved the princess?”

[rhysandtheappliance]

me trying to be ok after the 'fireheart' ending in TOD

me:

[warriorsbutnotreally]

Firestar x Ravenpaw for hypokits

so some layout before hand;

Ravenpaw is sent to the twolegplace instead of the barn where he meets Princess and she keeps him safe

when Fireheart reunites with Princess, he meets up with Ravenpaw who is happy to see everything is getting better in the Clans, though he still feels unsure about rejoining ThunderClan

Fireheart visits them often and he and Ravenpaw start to bond

Ravenpaw doesn't rejoin the Clans until right before the battle with BloodClan, as he's unable to sit back any longer and he wants to protect his Clan

cats are surprised to learn Ravenpaw isn't dead and Firestar explains to them that Tigerclaw/star was going to destroy this tom's life via lies - Longtail confirms this and apologizes for his part in it all

Ravenpaw becomes Ravenwish

after the BloodClan battle, the two become mates. Ravenwish and Sandstorm join him to save SkyClan soon after their kits were made apprentices

this is their kits!

Spottedberry was born intersex [assumed male at birth] and was named by Ravenwish. She is trans femme and uses any pronouns except he/him. Xer mentor was Graystripe.

Leafspring is a cis molly and her name was suggested by Ferncloud cause "she looks like leaves during leaffall". She uses she/fae pronouns. Faer mentor was Goldenflower.

Duskspring is a demitom and was named by Firestar for his dusky black pelt. He uses he/they/it pronouns with no regard with how frequently which pronoun is used. Their mentor was Longtail.

Spottedberry is meek and withdrawn, struggling to keep up with their siblings and tends to be very apologetic. She never takes a mate, but has a crush on Nightcloud of WindClan.

Leafspring is friendly but tends to be a bit overbearing with her concern for others and she needs to work on respecting personal space boundaries. She becomes mates with Spiderleg and they never have kits [meaning Rosepetal and Toadstep are either never born or have a different father]

Duskpaw/spring followed his parents to SkyClan - much to Firestar and Ravenwish's disapproval - where he met Cherrypaw/tail and the two hit it off. It stays in SkyClan and becomes mates with Cherrytail when they're older.

[leiawritesstories]

I Wasn’t Concerned About That

SJM ROMANCE WEEK, DAY 6: TROPES

SHIP: Rowan x Aelin

I know it’s horribly cliché, but the one bed trope.....there are just couples for whom it works. And pining Rowaelin is definitely one of them. 

Word count: 1,781

Warnings: language, horniness, nightmares (non-descriptive)

@sjmromanceweek

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I hate weather,” Aelin groaned, flopping back in the passenger seat. At the wheel, Rowan snorted. 

“Me too, but neither of us can do anything about it.”

“Which fucking sucks,” she grumbled. “We were supposed to be at the hotel two hours ago and thanks to the shit roads, we’re still an hour out. I really hope they keep our room, because if we get there and there’s no vacancy, I am going to murder something.”

“They’re keeping the room, we called them when the storm hit.” Rowan kept his voice calm. “Fireheart, they told us they’d keep it as long as we needed, remember?”

“Yeah,” she sighed, “I’m just stressed, y’know?”

“I know.” His eyes remained on the road, barely visible through the sheets of rain and driving winds, ever watchful for deep puddles. “It’ll be okay, Ae.”

She took a deep breath. “Okay. Okay, we’ll be okay. You’re too nice to me, Ro.”

“What else are best friends for?”

~

They pulled into the hotel’s parking garage just over an hour later, both of them releasing huge sighs of relief when Rowan turned the engine off.

“We made it, Fireheart.”

“All thanks to your expert driving.”

“Expert?” He shook his head. “Shit, I’m no expert. Didn’t you see me gripping the wheel for dear life that entire drive?”

“Well, you didn’t need to white-knuckle the wheel, but you brought us here safely, and for that I can call you an expert.” She held up a finger. “Uh-uh, nope, you can’t change my mind. Shut it and take the praise, Whitethorn.”

“Fine,” he griped, “but so help me gods, if we don’t go inside and find a toilet right the hell now, I’m going to piss myself from stress.”

Aelin snickered. “And here I thought guys had better bladder control than that.”

“You try driving up a freeway in a massive rainstorm and tell me you don’t need to piss after you finally stop, and I’ll call you a rotten liar,” Rowan returned. 

“Okay, okay, grab your matched luggage, pretty boy, let’s go get ourselves somewhere where it’s warm and dry.” Aelin grabbed her duffel and her backpack and hopped out of Rowan’s SUV. 

“It’s not matched luggage,” Rowan mumbled, grabbing his suitcase and its matching travel case.

Aelin raised a neatly groomed golden brow at the set. “You sure, princess?”

“Shut up.” He flushed, locked up the car, and started walking towards the entrance. Aelin followed, grinning.

“Alright, I won’t say anything more about your fancy luggage, bestie.” She blew him a kiss, cackling at his snarl of frustration. 

In the hotel lobby, she kept an eye on his luggage while he checked in and then went to the bathroom, snickering at the expression of total joy on his face when he came back. 

“Where’s our room, then? I want sleep and I want it now.”

“So demanding,” he snorted, handing her a keycard. “Third floor, and yes, there is an elevator.”

“Oh thank fuck.” Aelin headed for the elevator. “No way would I make it up three flights of stairs this tired with my duffel and my backpack.”

~

Rowan unlocked the room’s door, walked in, and stopped short. “Ae?”

“Yeah?” She plopped her duffel on the floor.

“We’ve got a bit of a problem.”

“What problem?” She walked into the room, closing the door behind her. “Oh.”

There was decidedly only one bed.

“I booked us a double room, I don’t understand what happened, I--” 

Aelin cut him off. “Ro. Calm down. It’s a king-size bed and we’re both adults. Surely we can manage to share without kicking each other like children?”

Rowan cursed under his breath. “That’s....not what I was concerned about, but yes.”

She walked around and stood in front of him, hands on her hips. “Then what, pray tell, were you concerned about?”

The tips of his ears went red. “I’d, uh, rather not say.”

A slow smirk crawled across her face. “If you insist, Whitethorn, I can sleep on top of the sheet and you can sleep underneath it, and then you won’t have to be so concerned.” 

“That’s--I--Aelin--I didn’t--” he spluttered, unable to form a coherent sentence. She just laughed, going over and taking some clothes and her toiletries out of her duffel.

“I’m going to shower and then sleep, so you have however long that takes me to get yourself used to the idea that we’re going to have to share the bed, because no way in all hell are you sleeping on either the floor or that shitty armchair.” She directed her best stern glare at him. “Understand?”

“Understood,” Rowan mumbled.

“Excellent.” Aelin shut herself in the bathroom and the shower went on. Rowan huffed a strained breath.

Shit. He was in such deep shit.

~

Shortly later, Aelin walked out of the bathroom, running a comb through her wet hair, and Rowan thanked all things holy that he wasn’t standing, because the sight of her, no makeup and clad in sleep shorts and an oversized tee did bad things to his self-control.

“Ae, is that my shirt?” he queried, surprised to see her wearing it.

She glanced down. “Oh yeah, it is. I stole it from you the last time I was at your apartment and it’s become my favorite sleeping shirt, it’s so soft.” She left her comb by the sink and climbed into the bed. “You can shower now if you want.”

He took the opportunity to have a rather cold shower, telling himself over and over that he would not make any moves, no he would not. She’s your best friend, Rowan, get yourself under control. If she wanted you to be more than that, she would have said something by now. When he came out of the bathroom, Aelin was propped up against a couple of pillows, reading a thick novel in the soft light of the bedside lamp.

“Good book?” he asked, tucking himself into his side. 

“Yeah,” she murmured, clearly absorbed in the story.

He dared a glance over at the pages and nearly had a heart attack. Holy fuck, how in the hell did Aelin Galathynius read what he could only describe as porn on paper with a completely straight face?

Aelin closed her book and set it on the side table. She rolled onto her side and saw Rowan struggling not to cough, his face flaming red. A sly grin danced across her face. “Something wrong, Ro?”

He let out a strangled cough. “What the fuck are you reading?!”

Aelin burst into helpless laughter. “I’m sorry,” she wheezed, “but your face, your reaction...it’s too priceless!” She calmed herself down and patted his shoulder affectionately. “I enjoy romance novels.”

“Awfully explicit for a romance novel,” Rowan grumbled, still trying not to imagine putting Aelin in the position of the woman in her book. 

She snickered. “But that’s the fun of reading it.”

“Not when someone else sees it!” He buried his face in a pillow. Aelin, unexpectedly, let her hand drift onto his back.

“Reading smut without visibly reacting is a learned skill, Ro, and I do apologize for shocking you with my choice of reading material.” She threaded her arm around his shoulders. He huffed a breath into the pillow and sat up, leaning against her. 

“It sure fucking was a shock,” he muttered. “I should have known, though.”

Aelin chuckled. “You really should have. Didn’t you check the summary of that book I asked for on my birthday?” He didn’t respond. “I’ll take that as a no, then, and I suppose that’s a good thing. Or else you’d barely have been able to talk to me, having seen the rather kinky content.”

“You are a menace,” he grumbled, trying to tamp down his smile. She just smirked and agreed, and he couldn’t help himself from grinning right back. “But you’re my menace.”

“Awwwww, how sweet,” she cooed, settling herself into the bed. “Good night, now. I really do need to sleep.”

~

Shifting and rustling of covers woke Aelin up in the wee hours of the morning. Disoriented in the darkness of the room, her eyes found the clock. 3:42 am. 

“Rowan?” she whispered, her voice thick with sleep. He was sitting up, his head in his hands, a sheen of sweat visible on his very muscled, very bare torso. He turned his head at her voice.

“Fuck, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up,” he mumbled. 

Aelin sat up and shifted closer to him, noticing his breath heaving. “You alright?”

He looked at her for a long moment, steadily calming his heaving chest. She kept her eyes steady. Finally, he gave in. “Nightmare,” he admitted.

Aelin held out her arms, somewhat timidly. Rowan all but collapsed against her, wrapping his strong arms around her waist. She stroked his back, trailed her fingers through his messy hair, not saying anything, just waiting for him to talk. When he did, slowly, haltingly, she listened, held him as he spoke.

“Thank you, Aelin,” he murmured when they had both fallen silent. 

“Always,” she returned, unable to keep herself from pressing a soft kiss atop his head. He sucked in a sharp breath at her gesture. “Shit, I’m sorry, did I do something wrong?”

“No,” he breathed, “no, it was just.....do that again, Ae.”

Obligingly, she tilted her lips down again, but this time, Rowan surged upwards, cupping her face in his hands, and kissed her. Shocked, Aelin leaned into the kiss, her lips parting for Rowan’s tongue. Breathless, she pulled back, staring at him. “I...Rowan, what? When? Why now?”

“It just seemed right,” he breathed. “I’m madly in love with you, Fireheart. Have been for longer than I want to say.”

“And you waited until 4 am today to tell me?” she breathed. “Gods, Rowan, I’ve loved you for so long. I thought you didn’t see me like that, thought you only wanted to be platonic.”

“How could I want that?” His thumbs stroked across her cheekbones. “You are my other half, Aelin, and I have no idea why I didn’t tell you until now.”

Smiling broadly, Aelin tucked herself into his side. “Does that mean you won’t be so squeamish about sharing this bed?”

“Certainly,” he smirked, “provided you don’t take up all of my space.”

“Oh, there’s nothing I’d like more than taking up your space,” she purred. Rowan gaped at her, his nostrils flaring. “You heard me, Whitethorn.”

“I believe I’ll be the one taking the space,” he growled, his voice dropping low and gravelly. A delicious shiver raced down Aelin’s spine at his tone. 

Now this was exactly what she’d imagined when she edited their reservation.

~