#the silly rafe agenda

[princessbrunette]

dick so good i'd let rafe mansplain solitaire and all his little games to me like im stupid - 🍓

🤍໒꒰ྀི´ ˘ ` ꒱ྀིა ⋆˚✿˖°

everything rafe explains is ‘mansplain’ material, but honestly — you don’t mind. infact, he can mansplain whatever he wants as long as he keeps that good dick coming.

you’re all dazed and giggly, you had been all day since rafe gave it to you good at noon. it was a lazy day, your boyfriend not marching around on 20 errands and 8 side quests for once as he lays about tannyhill with you, his usual shirt and slacks switched out for a tshirt and sweatpant shorts. he looks noticeably younger like this, his floppy bangs hanging messily on his forehead and he focuses on his phone, long pointer finger swiping and pressing when need be.

clingy and needy, you end up on his lap, his phone screen placed infront of you with the gentle hum of the television in the background creating a relaxing and domestic atmosphere. “so what hand should i play here? were you listenin’?” he drawls, adjusting you on his lap as he quizzes you. tucking your mouth into one corner, you hum theatrically— knowing you barely listened to a word he said, too focused on how blissed out you were with the warm buzzing of his nasally voice in your ear.

“mm, this one”. you tap your manicured nail on the screen at a random pile and he pulls the screen away, as if worried you’d press something.

“dont wanna empty a spot without a king, remember?” he speaks slowly like you’re a little stupid and you giggle, already throwing in the towel.

“i dont knooow rafe! just wanna watch you play, i dont need to know the rules.” you concede and he shakes his head, pressing the pile he wanted to play and you watch the cards shuffle about on his screen.

“its a good skill to have. you don’t play cards with your friends?” he asks, eyes still fixated on the screen over your shoulder and you snicker, twisting your body to nuzzle into him.

“no, what the hell.” you chortle at the idea. “we just talk, gossip n’stuff.”

“girly shit. guess you won’t be joinin’ me for poker night at kelce’s then?”

“i’ll come but i wont play. i’ll just sit there like a good luck charm.”

it’s rafes turn to snicker, in high spirits as he seemed to be winning the game on his phone. “s’all you ever wanna do huh? sit there n’look pretty.”

“is that not allowed?” you pull your cheek away from where you’d shoved it against him to gaze up at him with a cheeky smile, batting your lashes as he glances at you away from his phone.

“‘course it is.” he purrs, briefly tipping his head to deliver a big wet kiss to your cheek, making you giggle and wipe it on his t-shirt. “don’t fuckin’ wipe that off.” he chuckles in offence, jogging you on his lap. you liked when rafe just let go, he could be really fun behind closed doors.

🤍໒꒰ྀི´ ˘ ` ꒱ྀིა ⋆˚✿˖°

[erwinsvow]

what abt shy!reader sleeping over at rafes for the first time?? 😊😊

you'd been so nervous, slathering way too much frosting onto chocolate cupcakes while rafe told you the agenda he'd planned for tonight's date. in between mentions of dinner at this restaurant he liked on the water and stopping to get some ice cream before the outdoor movie, he'd thrown in a sentence that made your heart thud in your chest.

"unless you wanna come watch a movie here. we can eat all this crap you jus' made." you look up, butter knife almost slipping out of your hand.

"watch a movie.. here?"

"yeah. couch's comfy. got enough dessert to get a cavity. you can sleep over. how's that sound?"

it sounded terrifying. this was a milestone, one you needed several days and a new set of pajamas to prepare for. rafe looks down at your worried eyes, knitted eyebrows. you set down the cupcake before you drop it.

"sleep over?" you repeat it softly.

"snap out of it, kid. you don't have to." though the words feel like they should be mean, they're not. spoken with a sweetness you often found yourself wondering came naturally to your boyfriend, or if you brought it out in him. you hope for both.

"no, i want to," you correct quickly, blinking fast. "um, can you bring me home to get my stuff?"

"yeah. before dinner."

you turn back to your cupcakes with a smile, one that he stares at while you finish up. true to his word, he brings you home—you drop off a few sweets for your parents, give your kitten a treat while you pack a quick bag and grab your toothbrush. you don't change for dinner, keeping the pretty dress on until he gets you back into his bedroom later that night.

you've brought clothes to sleep in, but you hover in front of rafe's dresser still, working up the nerve to ask for one of his shirts to wear to bed. you can't seem to find it, deciding just to wear your pajamas, no matter how silly they are, when rafe opens the drawer and pulls out two shirts. he hands you one.

"get changed. m'gonna go change in the bathroom. be right back." you think you'd marry the boy if he asked right now—he seems to know your every thought before you can even finish thinking it, or figure out how to articulate it.

when rafe comes back you're a vision in one of his old frat shirts, playing with your hair while you sit on the foot of his bed.

"ready to sleep?" he asks, and you look up from your knees, smiling at him the way he wish you wouldn't sometimes, the way that makes his chest hurt with the amount of love pouring through your pretty eyes.

"what about dessert?" you ask with a laugh, smiling bigger when he rolls his eyes.

"haven't you had enough? how do you still have teeth?"

"i floss."

"shut up. get in bed." you crawl under his covers, inhaling the way everything smells like him. you lay your head down on one of his pillows, staring when he gets in next to you. "you okay?"

you love that he asks, that he cares enough to make sure.

"yeah. i'm okay."

"good. get some sleep." he doesn't say anything, but he still brings you in close to his chest, head on top of his heart, an arm around you, legs tangled together. when he thinks you're asleep, you hear the quiet sound.

"night, kid."

[elane-in-the-shadows]

Red Queen Fan Fiction - Blood Curse Chapter 24

Find this on wattpad

chapter 1

chapter 2

chapter 3

chapter 4

chapter 5

chapter 6

chapter 7

chapter 8

chapter 9

chapter 10

chapter 11

chapter 12

chapter 13

chapter 14

chapter 15

chapter 16

chapter 17

chapter 18

chapter 19

chapter 20

chapter 21

chapter 22

chapter 23

chapter 24

chapter 25

chapter 26

chapter 27

chapter 28

chapter 29

Final chapter

Mare POV

Evangeline’s leave has an impressive impact, given her presence was a secret to most. Thus, the reactions are likewise small and hidden, but I notice them, knowing where to look. It’s when we talk about seeing Norta as a whole turning into a battlefield. “I worry how she’s going to get through,” I say one time, and Farley chokes on her tea.

“You mean she’ll call attention to herself?” she dissembles.

“No, I wonder whether she left Harbor Bay at all.” I glare at Farley who – for once – avoids glaring back. She lets me wait for an answer too long, frozen, like she’s considered that herself. “I didn’t have that impression,” she claims, but her fingers twitch.

“So, you aren’t afraid of her lurking in a corner?”

She shrugs and rises. “I have to call Davidson in Archeon again,” she says as a goodbye and I want to ask if she rues letting Evangeline go. She told me that night Evangeline’s more of a danger in here – but now she’s out of our control.

In the meantime, Tiberias parts with the control he had over Harbor Bay, by handing it to us. His hold has been tenuous at best, only improved by the Scarlet Guard presence. After he caused Evangeline’s breakdown, he pulled away as if ashamed by himself. Typical. Typical, typical, I curse inwardly. A Silver’s fate moves him to change, and for a silly reason that had nothing to do with the city he tries to protect.

I’m so close to scolding him again but more and more that makes me feel like demeaning myself – I’ve tried that often enough. And it’s good he decreases his influence, isn’t it? Harbor Bay and Norta need no Calores, we do the job more efficiently than the remaining Silver elite, Ada for the internal, Farley on the external politics. Although we lost the bargaining chip Evangeline was, so now we can wait anxiously for what the Rift will do once they settle their conflict with the Lakelands and learn what terrible things happened to their princess. The conflict could last years, but Evangeline could turn up dead or accusing the Scarlet Guard for confining her at any moment.

Deep down, I’m glad she’s gone, no longer a captive like I was. As I was relieved when the royal children form Piedmont were freed, even though that has cost us the Winghill Base down there.

I’m obviously biased in some matters.

Harbor Bay makes me nervous, my tasks bore me, and Tiberias unsettles me. I have my friends and my brother here, but I realize how I become unhinged again, discontent and afraid I’ll stay this way as long as Maven lives. If he does. I begin to fear I’ll always feel followed, haunted by him, even after I learn of his death and see his dead body.

“We might leave Harbor Bay again,” Farley says when I talk to her about my unrest. “I’m not supposed to take a permanent government position to begin with.”

“Want to call a storm with me again, Mare?” Rafe proposes.

“Do you want to go back to Mom and Dad?” Tramy asks.

“If you feel overwhelmed by these fights, you can always come to me,” Kilorn promises. “I’ve trained, now I make funnier puns than Tiberias Calore.”

And so on. I know my friends are ready to help me, and I try to open up to them. I really do. But I’ve come to anticipate their answers and advices and they don’t make it easier to overcome the gaping, urging, demanding hole in my heart. Distractions are good, like fighting and training and spending time together but they seem so pointless afterwards.

Try another kind of distraction, I consider sometimes. The kind I once forbid myself with Tiberias.

Of course, those are still forbidden, and I can’t believe myself, when I want him back in moments of arousal. Sometimes I run into him, or suddenly meet his gaze during a meeting and see a similar desire written on his face, one that makes me blush to recognize.

Every time, I turn away again and take flight, forcing myself to think about the state of the city and come up with ideas to further the Scarlet Guard’s agendas.

Ideas from those moments are never good, although Ada smiles while hearing them, just to be nice. She’ll make a good mayor for Harbor Bay, even though she and Farley hesitate to say that out loud. Once they’ll do it, we’ll leave Harbor Bay behind to find another place to fight for. This will be an endless task, occupying us for years and deep down, I’m aware that work won’t change my own frustration unless I forget it somehow, by some miracle or sheer exhaustion.

I get permission to make a few distance calls to my parents and Gisa in their settlement. My sister is more than excited to tell me about her now official relationship with Cameron, and Mom’s keen on reminding Kilorn and me to look after Clara, as if I made a decent baby-sitter. “Farley does well on her own,” I reply.

“And are you doing well, too, Mare?” Mom asks. I pause. “Dad and I want you to be safe, but happy as well,” she adds.

I bite back the watering of my eyes. “That’s what I wish for as well, Mom.”

 The freezing cold February and March don’t stop the fights in- and outside of Harbor Bay and thus delay any ideas of leaving the city. Again, I think of Evangeline who makes no appearances we hear of. She must’ve left the area long ago.

“This is a bloody stalemate,” I tell Farley who’s unnervingly smiling.

“I’m so close to call for reinforcements from Archeon, too,” she confesses.

“And?”

She shrugs. “Won’t help. We already do the best we can with the patrols and our numbers. What we lack is information to take out the Silver gangs for good.”

Ada looks up. “I do have a few more good tips.”

“About those who Tiberias will never agree to be removed, as that would take out the few Silvers he trusts,” I object. He insists on clemency for cooperative witnesses, even if there’s evidence they continue to work against the Scarlet Guard and commit crimes against the Reds of the city.

“Since when do you care about his opinions again?” Farley says, and it’s a bait born of her own stunted ambitions.

A bait that easily traps me. “I do not. Assign me a team and I’ll dispatch them.”

Farley looks to Ada. “I can tell you about those certainly involved in illegal activities,” Ada says. “Those should be vital to assault.”

Farley nods. “I’ll have to order the reinforcements anyway,” she says. “The city will have to stand after the Lightning Girl dealt with it.”

Three days later, we’ve completed the task, we lost no one. Ada praises our success in a very outspoken manner, given her standards. The mood has changed profoundly, it’s like spring has come with this victory, even the weather becomes warmer, if slowly. Did she know the Silvers killed and arrested today from before? I plan to ask her later on, as she’s currently occupied with replying to the reactions to announcement of the razzia. She actually enjoys it, it can only be a matter of time until her next announcement: her candidature for the position of Harbor Bay’s mayor. While we soldiers, who did the most work are called out, receive less spotlight – to my relief.

I’ve greeted Kilorn and Tramy when I arrived at the town hall, to tell them of the safe outcome of the mission, but I can’t find them anymore as the building become more and more crowded. Nor can I see Sara or Farley, only glimpsing Julian in the distance.

“Are you really happy about this?” Tiberias hisses behind me. When I turn, he’s practically figuratively and literally fuming. I raise an eyebrow.

“You’re celebrating death,” he adds.

“Not to the extent of some parties I saw Maven have,” I sneer and step away. He grabs my wrist and makes my skin prickle. “Tiberias – “

“Mare.” Less enraged now. “It’s over, and you know it.”

I pull away, lay my hand he took on my chest. “Exactly.” I glare up to him.

He shakes his head. “I need to show you something. If you came to residence tomorrow?” He sounds a little hopeless, and rightly so. I’m still hardly able to enter the residence without becoming dizzy, and rarely tried again.

He notices my hesitation, which he must’ve anticipated. He lowers his head. “It’s more than overdue for me to abdicate,” he says, making my eyes widen. “Here, and in Archeon. I’ll leave for the capital in a few days.”

“Good,” I reply, still disbelieving.

He cackles. “I see, you don’t trust me. But please, try to come in the morning.”

I stop myself from nodding like an idiot and go, sipping from a flute I grabbed in passing. That’s right, this is a night of celebration. And why not? The most menacing gang is as good as disbanded after the razzia, and according to rumours, the Rift won over the Lakelands with so great losses they’re calling for Monfort and Guard support. If they need us, they’ll have to accept our terms. And after all, Tiberias Calore VII will relinquish his claim to the throne of Norta. It almost seems like our efforts are leading somewhere.

“Where’s the general?” I ask a Red Watchman. I’ve grown curious about Farley’s absence at Ada’s great evening.

“In her office, Operative Barrow,” he answers with a salute. “Congratulations on your victory.”

I grin. “A group effort, and a joy for all of us and Harbor Bay.” 

Four seconds pass before Farley reacts to my knocks on her door. Her “come in” is quiet and husky, and her demeanour is similarly tired. She sits on the floor, leaning against the wall and watches Clara crawl on the floor.

“Haven’t you heard?” I ask.

“Sure.”

“Will Ada stay here, Farley?”

She inclines her head and says nothing for seconds. In her silence, I search for something else to say, if only an excuse to leave. She is so inactive that even her few movements to guide Clara around seem strange, while the girl’s already trying to stand up and walk.

“My father’s dead,” she says eventually.

Oh. “I’m sorry,” I reply, as it’s the only thing to say. Their relationship was so odd, the colonel such a hard man.

“He’s never held Clara,” Farley tells me. “He never asked.” Pause. “I’ve never offered him to, either.” She doesn’t move or make a sound when a tear rolls down her cheek.

I sit down next to her and take her hand. Her other one beckons Clara who soon comes closer to fall on Farley’s lap. Farley snuffles. “I heard when I asked for the reinforcements. Not from Archeon, but from Corvium, where they were still stationed after they left the Samos army.”

“They were closer,” I say.

She nods. “Yes. But apparently, the Samos forces went back to fight in the Lakelands, to free their king or whatever. Well, they lost, and the Lakelander forces charged into Norta again, over the choke. ‘We made peace with Maven Calore, not with traitors and Red rats,’ they proclaimed. Probably something about Maven’s missing queen too.

“So, my father marched with the comrades in Corvium to defend the borders.” She scoffs. “How ironic.”

“He knew which side he fought for,” I say carefully.

“Right,” Farley agrees, “of course. The Cygnets are our enemies, and now they killed him as well.”

Another pause.

“Farley?”

“Hmm?”

“Did we lose?”

She shakes her head. “The battle’s still going on.” She sighs. “We won’t get help from them. Indeed, we have to support them.”

“I’ll go.”

“That was quick.” She looks at me with concentration. “Okay,” she decides, “you and the team from today coming with you? Tsk. I’ll need the whole night to find out who to send where. Sure to stop the party, but I can leave it to Davidson once I travel to Archeon.”

“You don’t come with me?”

“No.” There’s no indecision in her voice. “I can’t take Clara to Corvium, and I don’t want leave her completely, with the first persons I find trustworthy.” She glances at me, then to Clara, toying with one of her curls. In turn, Clara lifts her small hands to her mother’s wrist. “I just don’t want her to have to settle to strangers again and again. She needs reliability, doesn’t she? Steadiness, people she knows. Me.” She sighs. “The only parent she has.

“You know why I brought her along this time? Because I couldn’t know I wouldn’t be separated from her for months once more. I can’t stand it, no matter how great your parents are with her. But I also want her to be safe. I’d like … to give her a home one day.”

I swallow. “You’re enough for now, I’m sure. Along with the rest of her family.” Farley looks at me, stunned, and I realize what I said: the rest of her family, just after another relative of them has died.

“I’m sorry,” I repeat, and get up. “I’ll go now, and make some implications about the new mission –“

“Mare.” I stop. “I know what you mean. We should keep close to the people we love, shouldn’t we? But even that … can be so hard.”

She means her father, of course. But suddenly, I think of Cal. I lost him, truly. Unless he takes part in the mission, I assume we’ll walk different paths for good. And it scares me. Death, and parting without reconciliation. I’ve had enough of that, the unfinished businesses. Evading him in all matters unless they allow me to scold him.

I’ll offer him this evening. We can make peace, then go our ways. But first I need the truth from him.

Back in the hall, I grab and down one drink, then another one, as I search for him. I find him sitting on a couch with his face buried in his hands, apparently no more sober than me. Piles of folders and papers keep him company.

“Hey.”

He doesn’t react, not at first. Is it too much of a miracle that I visit him? Finally he jumps up, his stare both disbelieving and expectant. “What about the thing you wanted to show me?” I ask.

“Umm … better tomorrow. Really.” He hesitates.

I nod. “Can we talk somewhere, still? In your rooms perhaps?”

“… Mare?”

“Just come,” I urge. His rooms are in the residence, and I want their privacy. Although I dread the prospect of entering the palace called Ocean Hill, too. So I walk a step behind him, looking at my feet, tempted for than once to take his hand. Of course I don’t, and I flex my fingers instead. The alcohol helps to drown the sensation of the dark, lost palace, but it loosens my hesitations as well. I know that, and welcome it. Maybe I’m throwing away my good sense, but sober I wouldn’t get my feet and lips to move at all.

He bids me into his suite. It’s richly furnished, but not to kingly standards, as visible as that is in the moonlight. Whatever lodgings he’s taken, they’re likely not those he had before all that.

I follow him in, go to sit with him on a couch. Very close, so our thighs touch. He almost gets up again, but I hold him back with a touch on his arm. “The light,” he starts, but I shake my head.

“Let’s stay in the dark.” I hope that’ll make it easier to speak.

So we sit for a while, in the silent darkness, our features mere schemes in the night. I calm my breath, wait for my heartbeat to slow, but the latter remains unsettlingly fast. I guess it’s the same for him. His closeness feels so warm. I want to begin, but the words stay pinned on my tongue.

He gasps, about to speak, then doesn’t. It’s the moment I decide. “Soon, I’ll go to Corvium and into the Lakelands to fight the invading Cygnet army. Like I was never supposed to escape that fate. You’ll find your own way, or maybe we’ll meet again. I don’t know. But before that, I want us to be honest with each other.” I take a deep breath. “I’m glad to have met you,” I say. “I’ve been falling for you for a long time, when I could’ve needed any person caring about me. You did, and I loved you for it.” A pause to let that sink in. He notices my wording, acknowledges it. His knuckles touch mine.

“If you truly, really, will abdicate,” I continue, “I’ll be glad as well. Then I can forgive you. Cal.”

He takes my hand. One time, I squeeze. Then I pull away.

“But only that. I can forgive you that you betrayed me and the Guard. That you pretended to stand for change when you wished to preserve. That you ignored what I fought for. That you broke your promises.” I look at him, and if he doesn’t meet my eyes, I’ll stand up and go.

He looks back.

“I expect one thing from you,” I say. “Make your pretends come true. Fight the same battle as me, however you can.” Now I take his hand.

He cups my hand in both of his. “I will, Mare, I’d swear by my colours, but I doubt you’d like that.”

I chuckle. “One last time.”

He bows his head. “By the colours of the unseelie House Calore, I promise to support the destruction of the Nortan crown.”

“Still sounds extremely ironic.”

“Yes.” He sighs. “Mare, I’m sorry. I don’t know what I’m doing. Whether I follow the right path, make the right decisions. I thought I did, or that everyone struggles with finding solutions in the same way I do, although I hardly even strayed from the path I’ve learned to follow. That was – is – careless. Stupid. There’s no excuse for that.”

“No,” I whisper. “There’re only your true, unreflective, egoistic reasons. To cling to the few things you had left.” I leave more words hanging in the air. Confessions of love, pledges. I don’t offer them to him and he’s understanding enough not to demand them. But they linger between us, in his warm eyes.

“Tomorrow, I’ll tell you the rest,” he says. “Why I left Archeon.” A sigh escapes his lips. Our hands are still entwined. “I love you,” he says.

“I know,” I reply. And although I still doubt he can really mean it, although I can’t give him prospects, I can give him tonight, a few moments of madness. Finally, I move away, get up high enough to kiss his brow. My hands are on his thighs, his hand on mine. Then I look into his eyes and kiss him on the lips. They’re hot, chafed, and demanding. I forget time in this last chance for intimate closeness. We kiss until we need to catch breath again, and both of us know what might become of this.

I stand up. “I need the bathroom,” I say, and search my way to it. I wash my face, then lean on the washbasin and turn on the light to look at my face. Certainly not a gorgeous sight, only my exhausted self. I wait, gathering myself to let my arousal vanish. A futile hope.

When I get back into his living room, he’s gone, has taken flight like me. I fall on the seats we were in mere minutes before, and it’s still warm from us. I cuddle against a pillow, embrace myself and stare into the night until I fall asleep.

A/N: I’m deeply sorry I was too lazy to write the fight scene. I feel like I don’t have the time for content that isn’t ultimately necessary to finish the fic. In the end, a generic fight scene didn’t matter, wouldn’t have as much impact as the character interaction here. I mean, I hope so.

I probably should’ve written a Camisa interlude before this chapter, too. But again, I want to get this done soon (and I didn’t have enough inspiration to make it romantic tbh …). 

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