𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐬 | 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬

𝗻𝗼𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗽𝗵𝗮𝗻𝘆 | 𝗳𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘅

The tea on the table grows cold quickly though there is no haste to drink it.

Under the light of the moon⏤full and bright above the Fraldarius estate, beaming directly into the dinning hall through the stained glass window⏤she looks like a deity and he can barely take his eyes off of her as she makes her way towards him, hips swaying, eyes soft and adoring.

'You're staring,' she says. And Felix can find no reason to deny it.

It reminds him of the first time he met her, noticed her walking beside the house leaders when they had rescued her from Remire Village, and he struggles to find a reason to look away. She doesn't acknowledge him, but everyday after that one, he sees her and he swears his heart still beats as fast even after all those years. But he'll never give in and tell her that. In the beginning, he wants to surpass her, beat her at the game he's been born for, but it spirals into so much more and Felix finds himself, falling, falling, into her arms full throttle. And once he's invested there is no coming back.

Felix remembers when she joined the Blue Lions, remembers wondering why she chose the Boar Prince over a class with one of the greatest leaders of all time, but then again, he had no place to judge back then. Following Dimitri was easy when you knew him like Felix did and although he feared the rabid beast he had seen on that fateful night, he knew deep down he was someone worth fighting for and perhaps she had felt the same.

In class, she had sat between the two of them and Felix bit down the snide remarks burning on his tongue when she chuckled happily at the Prince's humourless jokes. Calling it jealousy was something he would not admit, though the feeling only worsened in the passing of time and the catalyst to his outburst was the Grand Ball. Her dancing with Dimitri was not the only thing that hurt him, for, as petty as it sounded, it was the fact he had not been the one to pluck up the courage to ask her first which had him storming to the Goddess Tower in refuge. Felix was breathing hard and heavy, and his chest felt as if it were to burst from a built up frenzy. Although, everything ceases when the pitter patter of dainty footsteps call to him from the shadows. And she is there before him, having run up numerous stairs just to chase after him, and Felix finds he can hardly stay angry at her.

It was there he told her everything⏤bore his heart to her during a bout of madness and closed his eyes during the whole scenario out of his fear of rejection.

Back then, Felix Fraldarius had been foolish, unnurtured in the yearning of the heart, and thought the odds were against him. Yet, in the end, it had not been so. (Y/n) had listened and listened until his words were no longer cohesive and instead of replying to his confession, she had offered him a duel. We shall answer with swords, she said. And it is there where I shall tell you.

(Y/n) is so much stronger than him, in more ways than he can describe and as he reaches out to touch her, bringing himself out of his nostalgia, Felix can hardly believe she's real. Cannot believe she is his. Five years has done so much to him and yet she ceases to change, ceases to leave him breathless. After countless battles and wear, her features are still as beautiful as the day she walked into his life, still as beautiful as the way she looked under the moon beams as she lay breathless beneath him in the training yard on the night of the Grand Ball.

Heartbeat racing, tongue tired, he pulls her flush against him and rubs his cheek against her shoulder. 'I'm not good,' he says, breath heavy and warm against her neck. 'At expressing myself. But I know how I feel for you.'

(Y/n) hums. 'And how do you feel?'

I love you, he wants to say. I love you, I love you, I love you. Though the words seem to dry in his throat as he tucks her a strand of her hair behind her ear.

Instead of replying, Felix kisses her, carefully, opting to show her of the words left unsaid. You, of all people, should know how I feel.

Lips bruised red, she brings her hands up to his hair and unties the ponytail, burying them in his raven trusses. He trails his palms across her body and he can't get over how warm she is against his hands, against his body. If he could, he would hold her there for eternity but he realises it really is entirely far-fetched. Because loving her meant loving war and he was never entirely safe from the suitors who came bounding to her door. And yet she turned them all away for him, forcibly put down his sword and swore her love for him in front of the Goddess and it was then he knew it to be true.

My love for you is as deep as the Almyran sea.

Tonight, he would make love to her. Show her that becoming his wife had not been a mistake nor a whim and that he could be the man she wanted him to be; strong and good and someone to rely on.

His nimble fingers traipse over silken robes, then skin and to hear her cry his name in the dim light affects him more than he wishes to let on. But she always knows, chuckles breathily under the touch of his lips and begs him to kiss her more. Felix obliges, as always, and after he settles her on the long table, he releases himself from the confines of his trousers.

Felix memorieses the shape her mouth makes when she cries out his name, how her hair colour splashes against the wooden table, how her muscled legs trap him firmly against the confines of her heat. All of it should be things he is used to however he can never be certain if it's all some vile pipe dream that the Goddess wishes to punish him with; punish him for loving her and for hanging his dull blade above the fireplace.

Besides, none of it matters when he feels her arms tighten around him and his heart swells when he feels her fall as far as he has within her. Their foreheads touch, wet from sweat, though they are used to each other by now and used to far worse things than that of the body.

'Felix.'

He picks her up, panting and naked, and makes his way to their chamber, trying oh so desperately not to wake up the house servants and causing a scene. He checks up on her in his arms. She is barely awake and stares at him through hooded eyes. Smiling softly at each other, they enter the room and he places her carefully on the furs.

'I'm happy,' she whispers to him, as he joins her on the bed. 'Being here. With you.'

And Felix knows, truly, that he is too.