A Court of Ink and Blood

ℭ𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔖𝔦𝔵𝔱𝔢𝔢𝔫

She was dreaming again. 

But this time it wasn't about Hybern or pain or fear. It was of him. 

They were in a house together. A home. A small cottage smudged in between the trees deep within a forest. Azriel was in the kitchen, his back turned to her as she walked toward him. He wasn't wearing a shirt and dark loose bottoms hung at his hips. He was talking but Thalia couldn't make out much. She crept closer, realizing halfway she was only wearing a shirt, his shirt. She stood on the opposite side of the small counter island where he was talking away, cutting vegetables in a pile. It was as if her head was underwater. She could hear the sound of him but the words were unclear. He looked up at her with that smile. The one he'd never used with her before. He was talking to her again. 

"What?" 

Azriel laughed then rounded the counter to come up in front of her. Settling his hands around her waist he pulled her close. 

"I said-"His eyes flickered down at her lips. Thalia's stomach did somersaults. "What's got my mate's head so far in the shadows?" 

Mate?

"Mate?" 

Azriel laughed in response, his head leaning down to bring his face impossibly closer. 

"Yes my mate. Did you forget?" 

Thalia's head was spinning. It was as if she was in a dream and yet she was completely herself. Aware. She needed to test the waters. 

"I-"

"Perhaps I should remind you"

Before she could think of something to say his hand cupped around her head and brought her lips to his in a slow kiss. The froze momentarily. 

This is just a dream.

If it's just a dream then maybe-no she wouldn't

Azriel kissed harder, his other hands stroking down her waist. 

Okay maybe she'd give in just a little. 

After a little hesitation she let herself fall into him, arching against her chest as the kiss grew heavier. Her hands laced into his hair while his kiss down into her neck. She felt him smirk when he bit lightly causing a slow moan to release from her. 

"Jump"

She jumped as his hands went under her thighs hoisting her on top of the counter. He immediately attached himself to her throat again, drawing long kisses down her skin. 

"Azriel-" Cauldron above what was going on with her. 

He stopped and looked up with a smirk. 

"I thought it would take a little more for you to be calling out my name"

She didn't even know what to respond with 

"Just-keep going"

She heard him mutter an as you wish as he trailed down her body. Then she felt his fingers move up her thighs pushing up the material higher until she pulled it off completely herself, leaving her body bare. His eyes never left hers as he kissed down and down. Across her chest, down, his fingers pushing at her hips until his mouth stopped just before it got lower toward her centre. 

"I want you hear you" His voice dripped with honey just before he went down. 

Thalia woke up in a cold sweat. Pushing away her hair and hitting her cheeks lightly she tried to erase the image from her mind. Her body. The feeling of him.