#headcanon: altair teasingly calls emily princess

[mentcrmoved]

@iimperatriice || from here

Emily was laid out in his bed, warm and pleasantly sore as she curled up in his sheets. Eyes fluttering open, she looked over at where he sat on the edge of the bed, smirking as she took note of the marks running down his back before they disappeared under the fabric of his shirt. Rolling onto her side, the assassin reached out to run her fingertips down his spine. “Stay in bed with me,” she murmured, “just for today.” Sitting up, Emily pressed herself against his back, arms wrapping loosely around his neck as she nipped at his ear. “Just for a little while.” Her words are soft as one hand snakes beneath his shirt, grinning as she slid into his lap. “You can go if you really need to, but I think I’ll be staying here.”

          ( &. )  ❝ You know I won’t. ❞ The elder assassin whispers with a languid smile, golden eyes half-lidded as he regards her silently. & he wouldn’t, not with dawn a few mere heartbeats away -- it was better if he was gone, off to his own devices, before the sun kissed the horizon. Better for the both of them, Altair to his day’s mischief & Emily asleep for the few hours until duty called upon her. Yet, that didn’t mean he never considered staying; mornings like this made it difficult, the empress sat in his lap with her arms thrown around his neck, dark eyes imploring him to stay in a way that didn’t seem like begging at all. Demanding more like, in lieu of her character, but not quite. Like she was thinking about commanding him to stay with her.

      ❝ Too much to be done today. & I think you know just as well as I do that no one will favor finding a low-class heathen like me in bed with the Empress. ❞ He grins, tracing Emily’s jaw thoughtfully. ❝ Duty before pleasure, as always princess ❞ There were days he thought about that, about the rumors that would spring up from the sovereign’s illicit affair with a guttersnipe like him: none of them would likely be good. Just another good reason to go.

     Gently, longingly, he kisses her, eyes closed for the short, sweet seconds of contact. Then his hands are on her back, that chaste kiss turning into a forceful smatter of kisses down her jaw, his teeth baring against the naked base of her throat. But it’s a playful ruse to get her away, his motions all too skilled, too graceful, as he presses her back into her pillows. Hovering over her, Altair smiles again as he withdraws. ❝ I’ll see you later then. ❞ He hums, the corners of his eyes crinkling with an unseen smile.

     & then he’s gone, slipping off the bed into the shadows of her bedroom, appearing only once as a silhouette against the sliver of sky visible through one of the open windows. Altair glances back for only a moment, raising three fingers in an informal dismissal, & then he disappears out the window, into the gray light of daybreak.