[2] WEEPING MONK║you're not what I was looking for

51| Burn A While - 𝐈

═ 𝘉𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘈 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 ═

[CW// Sexual content/smut. Infrequent strong language.]

Ari searches for some clarity, and receives more than what she bargained for.

❖
just lose control, stop wasting time
my body is yours and your body's mine
❖

Dawn had broken and the forest's guests were gathering themselves to return home. It had been a long and cold night, though the worst of the winter had passed. In another moon or two, flowers would start to bloom again. Animals would birth their young and the land would not seem so bleak. Ari just wished that her people would still be here to see it.

"I will ride with you," she offered to Henry as they stood saying their goodbyes, thanking him again for returning her horse. In the clear morning light she could see that he had not changed since they last met. There was still mud on his boots, a kind smile on his face and short, dark curls that looked as though they had been touched by the breeze this morning. She put on a smile of her own. "Wouldn't want you getting lost on your way out of this forest."

"Do not trouble yourself, your Grace." Henry glanced past her shoulder to a spot not too far away. "I'm sure that your Ash knight could escort us."

Knight? Ari looked around across her shoulder briefly. Lancelot had not strayed far from her all morning, already awake and passing her tent 'by coincidence' when herself and Squirrel emerged to break their fasts. She could tell by the subtle glower on his face beneath that hood that he was still unconvinced for the reason why Henry and his men were here.

The clearing was nearly full with people wishing to see the nobleman where he was stood with their queen. But Lancelot was impossible for her to miss, his eyes dropped as if he were not listening to them - when Ari knew that he was.

"Lancelot is not a knight," she said to Henry as she turned back to him, wondering why he was asking for Lancelot specifically. "But yes, he could I suppose." There was something that she was missing here, since she did not think that the two had ever spoken before.

Ari walked across to Lancelot, leaving Henry to speak to her father who had been there the whole time too. His eyes lifted up like he sensed that she was approaching him. Her mouth almost opened when he spoke for her.

"I heard," he said, voice gruff as usual of a cold morning. Clearly unimpressed by Henry's request.

She frowned at him, trying not to take his moodiness to heart. If she weren't his queen then she would drag him off amongst the forest valleys and give him a reason to release all of this pent up frustration. But that would be too obvious with so many people around them.

"Play nicely Lancelot." Ari inclined her head, not taking her eyes off of the quietly irritated blue looking back at her. "He is a Lord."

A huff couldn't be held back from puffing out of Lancelot's nose. Shifting his eyes past her to the pristinely built, clean cut, well spoken Lord - he muttered, "He's not the only one."