Cover art credit:
https://www.instagram.com/dinkk_artz/
https://www.instagram.com/giacbk/
Silvanna was in the process of removing her necklace when she felt it. Felt him come in. She looked into the mirror to see the marksman behind her, the light glinting off of his white jacket.
"Your Highness," he bows his head slightly in deference.
"Granger," she replies casually, her eyes soft.
"How were the meetings with the council today?"
She gave a very unladylike snort.
"They think it's so simple to rebuild the Barrier of Justice. Tigreal keeps telling them that as long as Dyrroth is still part of the Shadow Abyss, he will be able to breach the Barrier." she paused, still contemplating the revelation that Dyrroth had been taken all those years ago because his pure blood was capable of breaching the Barrier of Justice.
The Abyssal demons had been planning this for a long time.
She unwraps the long elaborate braid she was wearing, and starts to pick out the many hair pins hiding in her hair that held the braid together.
"Luckily Harith is still working on a way to counter that, so we can rebuild a stronger Barrier."
"Every day that the barrier isn't there is another day we are exposed to the demons." Granger says reasonably.
"True," she sighs. "I wish we had more mages so we can put more protective spells in place."
She suddenly hisses in annoyance when a hair pin pricks her finger, jerking her hand away from her hair to look at it.
"Let me," Granger says, coming up to stand behind her.
He plucks the rest of the hair pins from her hair, then gently combs through her hair with his fingers to find any pins he might have missed.
Silvanna closes her eyes, letting herself enjoy the feeling. She notes that he's taken off the leather gloves he always wears.
He brushes a stray curl from her face, then drapes her hair to rest on her right shoulder. Silvanna watches through the mirror as the marksman lowers his lips to kiss her exposed left shoulder.
Her eyes flutter shut as she reaches her white gloved hand up to stroke his cheek. Granger doesn't stop, moving to plant kisses from her shoulder up to her neck.
Her breathing becomes heavier as she continues stroking his cheek, feeling his slight stubble through the material of her gloves. He nips her ear playfully, then his lips and teeth dance on her shoulder and neck.
Huh. For a gentleman, his hands are wandering rather low on her body.
"Hmm," she sighs in contentment.
It's only when he grabs to bunch her dress up, when they pause. Both breathing heavily, they stare at their reflection in the mirror. Silvanna sees the indecision in Granger's eyes.
They've never gone this far before.
And in a split second, he's made a decision.
His hands are gone from her body now, straightening her dress before he pulls away to adjust his own trousers. Princess Silvanna pulls her hair back from her shoulders, the room now far too hot for her liking. She turns around to face him.
"Good night, Your Highness." Granger bows again, taking her gloved hand and kissing her knuckle chastely.
"Good night." she echoes, unsure if she feels relieved or disappointed.
"Sleep well," he says, going to press a kiss to the corner of her lips.
She's about to say the same when she feels his right hand cupping her derrière. She gasps. Rascal!
Granger throws her a wink and a cheeky smirk, then leaves with another quick bow. Silvanna's torn between laughter and chastisement, but the marksman is gone anyway.
She shakes her head, smiling as she turns back to the mirror. That man is going to keep her on her toes, alright.
***
I wanted the idea that they would take things slow, since Silvanna has not really been with a man before, and their relationship is still new and fresh. And for Granger, he is careful with what he considers precious, and he is not in a hurry to ruin anything.