#flowers for margerie

[jenanigans1207]

I’ve decided that I will be posting an update to my Crowley and his old lady neighbor fic within the next week because I miss them sm

[chic-beyond-the-wall]

What Modern Loras Tyrell would wear

October 24th

[catsteeth]

Sugar & Violence

Podrick Payne x reader 

+:✿ Chapter 2 ✿:+ : Beautiful Girl

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Summary: You’re a Mormont being held hostage by House Lannister.  You are acting now as the Handmaiden for Margery Tyrell, whom you’ve grown quite close with. But it seems that a squire has caught your attention as you have caught his. 

CW: afab reader, SMUT, MDNI, Fingering, P in V sex, mention of alcohol consumption, mention of harassment, mention of NSFW themes.

Word Count: 5125 

꒰ ୨୧ ─ ・┈ ・ ─ ・┈ ─ ・┈ ─ ・┈ ꒱꒱

As you’d just finished getting Margery ready for the day she sat you down and began to ready you as well. It wasn’t custom for a Lady to dress and pretty her Hand Maiden but Margery had taken the responsibility voluntarily and happily. 

“Podrick was seen where?” You asked wide eyes, holding in a laugh.

“Little Finger’s brothel,” Margery replied with a smirk as she brushed your hair. 

You shook your head with a smile “I will not believe such rumors.” 

“I hear the whores did not receive a payment.” Her fingers twisting the front sections of your hair and braiding them together at the back of your head.

“You’re suggesting he didn’t pay them?” You asked with disbelief. He didn’t seem like the type of man to pay for a whore, much less the type of man to steal their time and effort. 

“I am suggesting they did not want a payment. I hear that he was so skilled, they wouldn’t accept his payment.” She said as she finished your hair and she sat in front of you, beginning to do your makeup. 

“Now that I can’t believe it.” You said holding back laughter,

“You never know for sure with men like him. Quiet, and sweet, they can be sensitive to a woman's needs.” She said putting 

“I’ve been pinned against enough trees on Bear Island by enough men to know, no tongue, fingers, cock, or even nose is good enough to turn down gold.” 

“Perhaps you’re right. But perhaps you’re wrong, there is only one way to find out.” 

“Oh please, he can hardly hold his gaze to mine.”

“Some would say that means he likes you, besides the poor boy gave you a flower. One of the sweetest, and pathetic things I have ever seen.” She jested.

“He doesn’t want me, not like that.” You always found it hard to believe that any man would be interested in you beyond bedding.

she rolled her eyes as she finished applying a rouge to your lips. She fixed your hair slightly and half a small compact mirror to your face.

“if i were a man i would ravish you.” she smiled as you looked at yourself in the mirror. 

Margery had done your makeup and hair countless times. Every morning after you’d done hers, but each time always made sure to tell you how beautiful you were. even if you didn’t believe it. 

“a man would ravish a horse if desperate enough.” you pushed the compact away, you got up and began to select the gowns you’d both wear to the celebratory feast tonight.

꒰ ୨୧ ─ ・┈ ・ ─ ・┈ ─ ・┈ ─ ・┈ ꒱꒱

That evening was a celebration of the victory of Tywin Lannister. Nothing for you to feel celebratory for, but it gave you an opportunity to dance and drink. 

Most of the night you and Margrey had danced with one another, made quite jokes about the other men there. But once the celebration began to wind down Margrey had found an excuse to speak to Joffrey, part of her plan to seduce him. So naturally you made yourself scarce. Finding a corner of the room to stand in while you drank.

It would have been perfect to end your night in peace if a tall man didn’t approach you. 

He could have been some noble man or a knight, kings guard, even city watch, you didn’t know and more importantly did not care. 

“My, who might you be, my Lady.” He asked, his voice was low and attempting to sound seductive. 

“(Y/N) Mormont.” You said as you drank from your cup, your eyes wandered the room, paying little attention to the attractive man in front of you. As your eyes searched the large room, they landed on a pair of eyes already looking at you, Podrick’s. He looked at you with the eyes of a sad dog. 

It caught you so off guard you didn’t hear whatever the man had just said, only the mumbling of words. You tore your eyes from his and looked at the man, “What?” burrowed furrowed in frustration. 

“I said, then you are not much of a Lady.” He said with a twisted grin

“Is that so?” You said emotionlessly, unwilling to show any kind of offense that might have been taken. Fearing it would give him too much power. Besides, you did not care about the opinions of southerners. 

“Hand Maidens are not Ladies of any land, are they not?” 

“Perhaps.” You said your eyes returned to scanning the room, trying to find Podrick again, but having no luck.

“I could make you feel like one for tonight.” He held out his hand to you,

You held your cup to your lips as you spoke, “I’ve no wish to dance with you, Ser”.

“I cannot dance with a handmaiden,” The man smirked, his hand snaking around your waist. “I can enjoy one though.” He whispered in your ear.

You smirked back, and then you leaned in, making him think you were about to kiss him when you kicked him in the shin. “Oh!” You fained shock as he grunted in pain “My apologies Ser, I have always been quite clumsy.” Your concerned and shock demeanor dropped as you began to walk away. He began to spit some curse your way when you stomped on his foot. “If you’ll excuse me, my Lord.” 

As you walked forward a few steps before the man grabbed ahold of your wrist.

“You northern who-” He was interrupted by Podrick’s voice. 

“My Lady, the Queen wishes to have a word with you.” He spoke louder than usual. His eyes were wide and looked almost angry. 

You ripped your hand away from the man's grasp and walked with Podrick out of the room. 

“What does she want?” You asked, rubbing your wrist. 

“Nothing, I made that up.” He said avoiding your gaze as you both walked down the hall. 

“You made that up?” You looked at him with wide eyes, he nodded still avoiding your gaze. “Well, thank you.” You said softly. 

He’d walked you all the way to your chambers with no other words were exchanged between the two of you, other than the occasional glance at one another. You had reached your chambers door, you looked over at him as you began to open the door. 

He was ready to nod and walk away when you said, “Podrick,” To which his eyes went directly to yours. You didn’t say another word, just walked into your chambers leaving the door open. 

He hesitated for a moment, but walked in after you. 

He stood there, showing just how intimidated he was. 

As you kicked your shoes off, and removed the necklace Margery allowed you to barrow for the night, you looked over your shoulder to him “Close the door.” You said softly, and so he did. 

As you turned to him and began to walk towards him, his eyes subconsciously went from your eyes to your cleavage. Now more exposed now that you’d removed your necklace. He couldn’t help it really. Your corset and gown were truly putting them on display, and the candle light from your room made your skin glow beautifully. You smirked when you noticed, making him swallow hard and return his gaze to your eyes. He was going to apologize but you reached for his hand making him choke back any words he had. 

You held his hand, looking at his now healed cut, now formed scar across the palm of his hand. 

You trailed the scar with your finger tip. 

“You’re seducing me-” He finally found some courage to spit out some words.

“You feel seduced?” You still held his hand, still admiring your work on his hand.

“Yes- I mean, it is intentional isn’t it?” He stammered, somehow a little out of breath.

“Do you want it to be?” You looked at him with a grin and mischievous grin.

“I don’t want to offend you-” He said softly, looking away.

“So you don’t?” You let go of his hand,

“No- no,” His eyes went wide as he stammered, “I want you to, want to seduce me.” He winced at his own words, not knowing how to phrase it.

“Why would that offend me?” You smiled softly, holding back a giggle.

“I am just a squire, my Lady.” He shook his head looking down

“And here in King's Landing, I am just a handmaiden they send to patch up knights and Lords.” You said softly 

“You are Lady Mormont.” He said, it made you smile. No one had given such respect to your name in so long. 

“You’re sweet.” You brushed his short hair around his ear with your fingertips “Have you ever seduced a woman?” You asked sweetly, you knew the rumors of the whore house, but didn’t know if you could believe it.

“No, no, not really.” He said like we were being honest… maybe he was.

“Show me how you would.” You said looking up at him with sleepy eyes.

“What do you mean?” 

“How do you think I was seducing you?”

“You, made me… feel-” he stammered.

“Mhmm, so try to make me feel…” 

He stepped closer to you, meekly, his head lowered. He reached out and lightly ran his hand over your hair. Taking a strand of it and looking at it, admiring the color of it, and its texture. He looked into your eyes, his head still lowered. 

“You are beautiful.” His hand then went from your hair, to trailing his hand gently down your arm and grabbing your hand softly. He played with your fingers, again, gently. 

“I believe you are the most beautiful woman I have ever known.” He didn’t stammer, his voice was earnest, and gentle.

“This is wooing, not seducing.” You smiled and corrected him as if he were acting, genuinely thinking he were making it up. 

“I’m not trying to do either, my Lady.” Your smile dropped, “I just wish to be near you.” 

“You shouldn’t.” You said pulling your hand away.  “How we first met, tell me that.” 

“Lord Slynt ordered you to pour him wine-”

“And I spit in it.”

“He deserved it.”

“I lied to him, and your lord.” 

“Not to me.”

Your hardened gaze softened “No, no not to you” You lowered your head avoiding his eyes. afraid you’d melt in his sweetness. found yourself feeling that warm feeling in your chest again. You reached for his fingers with your own. interlocking your index finger with his. 

“You are- different.” He stammered a bit “Special.” He corrected, thinking it sounded more flattering. 

“You really are sweet. I don’t believe I've met a man so sweet as you.” He smiled, and in turn you smiled back, “You are shy, more so normally than you are now.” 

He let out a small chuckle “I still feel shy.” He said as he looked down smiling

“Are you too shy for me to kiss you?”

Instead of responding to you he cupped your face in his hands. So gently it was as if you were made of the finest porcelain in the realm. He leaned in and kissed your lips. Soft and again, gentle. but also passionate and almost lustful. You were surprised how well he kissed. No, he didn’t kiss well, his kiss was intoxicating somehow. Maybe it was the wine on his lips or just skill. you couldn’t help but let out the smallest whimper into his mouth. It made him pull away and go wide eyed. 

“You’re quite good at that.” You said wide eyes, catching your breath a bit.

“I apologize-“ He said, still holding your head in his hands.

“For what?”

“I should have asked you first,”

“Too late for that now,” you said, slinging your arms around his neck and pulling him into another kiss. Your lips fell into a perfect rhythm as his hands moved to your ribs, careful not to touch your breasts. his thumbs moved against your ribs slowly and gently. 

You’d never felt this way with a man before. Normally it was sweaty, sloppy, and you ended it burnt out and covered in spit. This was like a dance, like you and he had kissed in every life. 

You felt terrified. An emotion you rarely ever felt. 

What if he was like every other man. They whisper sweet things in your ears, promises, and compliments. Then once they lifted your skirts and humped into you a few times they’d leave. You felt hurt the first time, maybe the second time too. But after that it was expected. So you never let yourself become invested in a man again. You used them as they used you. 

But this was different, this wasn’t only lust, there was something more. But was this feeling only yours, or did you share it? You needed to test him, only you didn’t know quite how. 

“Stop” You whispered in his mouth as you kissed, it made him stop immediately, and he stepped away from you, breathless. 

“I- I’m sorry” He said about to go for the door before you stopped him grabbing his arm.

“No,” 

“But you said-” 

“I can’t bed you like this.” You said running your hands on the tight fabric of your gown.

“Bed me?” He asked as if he had choked, it made you smile.

“Will you wait here for me?” You asked, petting his cheek, and he nodded slightly confused.

꒰ ୨୧ ─ ・┈ ꒱꒱

You had gone into the bathing room that was attached between your room and Margery’s. You bathed quickly, washed your hair, washed your face of its makeup, and slipped into your night dress. The only thing you wore to cover your nakedness. 

As you opened the door you saw Podrick lighting the fireplace in your room. He stood as he heard you open the door and looked in your direction as he said, “I thought you might be cold-” He was cut off by the sight of you. His eyes were enamored by the sight of you. 

You hadn’t shown him this side of you. Totally free of glamor and shine. “Thank you,” You said as you walked towards him. 

As you stood in front of him he still couldn’t let out any words. “Do you… not like it?” 

He shook his head quickly, “This is the most I have ever seen of you.” he placed a hand on your cheek. “You are truly the most beautiful woman I have ever known.” 

You searched his eyes for a hint of deceit and found none. You took the hand he placed on your cheek and sat down on the fur carpet that laid in front of the fireplace, pulling him down with you. You looked at the scar on his hand again, this time placing a kiss on the scar. 

“Thank you for what you did tonight.” He looked slightly confused, “The lie you told.” You explained.

“I didn’t want to interrupt, but then I saw how he grabbed you.” He looked down, now beginning to simmer, “No one should grab you like that.” He said in a lower tone. “If I’d a sword, I wouldn’t have to tell a lie.” He became angered thinking of it.

You moved closer to him, beginning to undo the clasps on the front of his top. He looked intimidated again suddenly, “A sword hm?” He nodded, “What would you have told him?” 

“To unhand you, or I’d remove his hand.” He said, with a darker tone of voice, it made you smile as you pulled his red leather top off, leaving him in his tunic. 

“One day you’re going to be the only honorable knight in all of Westeros.” You saw heat rush to his cheeks when you said those words. “A big strong shining warrior.” You said crawling closer to him. 

“You’re seducing me again.” He said staring at your lips, his eyes drifted downwards again to your cleavage again now further exposed by the thin fabric and the angle you were in from crawling to him. 

“Do you want me to stop?” You asked in a whisper,

He shook his head “No,” He said, grasping your face in his hands kissing you so deeply you let out a small moan into his lips, only making him kiss you deeper. 

His hands roamed your sides, as yours gripped the back of his neck and roamed his chest down to his stomach.

When your hand reached his stomach you felt his muscles twitch and he let out a small groan. The sound of his groan made you clench your thighs together. 

Mixed with the sounds of your breathless whimpers he felt himself stiffening, “Can I touch you?” He whispered in your ear, you nodded and he whispered back “Thank you,” As his hands cupped your breasts. He let out a moan into your mouth as he groped you, feeling the plumpness of your breasts. You couldn’t take it anymore and began to lift your night dress. You stopped yourself however, not wanting to push him, 

“Is this okay?” You asked, and he nodded frantically. To which you smiled and lifted the rest of it off. His hands gripped your breasts tighter, and his mouth moved from yours to your neck and shoulder. 

“You’re beautiful.” He whispered against your hot skin, repeating it over and over again. 

One of your hands petted his hair, while the other went over his stomach to his now tenting trousers. You heard him moan into your neck and his hands gripped you tighter, making you moan in return. 

“You sound beautiful too,” He whispered 

“Take this off” You said much less elegantly as you pulled at the fabric of his shirt. As he did you laid down on the fur carpet under you. Looking up at him as he removed his tunic. You smiled up at him, “You’re quite pretty too.” 

He shook his head in awe of you, “Not like you… You could be a painting,” He said, dropping to his knees. He leaned down and kissed your lips. Both your lips at this point were slightly swollen, but that didn’t stop either of you from continuing. Kissing with a new kind of passion. 

You felt, for a moment, this might be much more. And if it was, you didn’t want to hide from him at all. You pulled away from his lips as you blurted out, 

“I’ve been with men before you.” breathlessly, “I feel I should be honest with you.” You felt even more naked revealing that, you felt heat spread across your face.

“That’s alright.” He nodded, trying to reassure you. “And I- I have- I’ve been with women before you.” 

Your eyes went wide, you thought back to the rumors you’d heard. “You have?” You shook your head to yourself trying to shake those thoughts out of your head. “That’s alright.” You said looking back at him, you smiled softly “It is, it’s alright.” You felt a hint of excitement, pulling him back into your body and to your lips. 

You two kissed for a moment until his mouth ran down to your neck, covering your body in as many kisses as he could, making you giggle. Giggle until you feel his thumb run down the slit of your folds. Which made you gasp slightly and then smile at him, and he smiled back. 

He leaned down and began to kiss and suck on your breasts. 

You felt yourself becoming a wet and sticky mess and his thumb continued to roll up and down the slit of your folds, masterfully avoiding your clit, teasing you. 

Finally his index and middle finger parted you, while his thumb gently teased your clit. 

“Mmmmmm” you let out as you closed your eyes. 

“Do you like that?” he asked softly into your breasts, all you could do was nod as he applied more pressure. 

his teeth grazed your nipple with expertise. As though he knew just the right amount to use, how much you liked. 

He continued to kiss, suck on, and sometimes lightly bite your breasts. You felt yourself clenching around nothing as he moaned soft praises into your skin. while he kept circling your clit. 

It was beginning to be too much and not enough. “More,” you whined, “Your fingers.” you said. 

He nodded, “Show me, show me what you like.” 

you reached your hand below, rubbing your clit only a little, then you pushed a finger in. He watched as your eyes closed from the pleasure

He inserted his finger alongside yours, feeling how you moved your own finger inside you. 

The extra digit in you stretched you so nicely, you let out a small sigh as you smiled at him and he smiled back at you.

You inserted a second finger, and he followed suit. The stretch burned slightly, it had been a while since you had been with a man, and now already you’d four fingers inside you. Albeit two were smaller than the other two but still. You whined a little as you winced slightly. It made him lean down and kiss your lips. 

“You’re wonderful” he said as he kissed your jaw and your neck, pumping his fingers in you with your own guiding him. You then removed your fingers, content to let him take control. 

His fingers knew when to curl and when to relax, when to push against the soft spot in you, and knew just the right speed. No man had ever known how to draw out such pleasure from simply his fingers with you. 

“Podrick-“ you gasped at certain curl of his fingers, 

“My lady?” he said into your lips, 

“Call me my name,” you said into his, 

“(Y/N)…(Y/N)..(Y/N)…(Y/N)..” he repeated softly as he kissed your cheek, then your other cheek, then your forehead, then your eyelids, nose, and finally your lips. 

You took his face into your hands, as gently as he took yours in his. You kissed him sweetly, as you pulled away you whispered “I want to make you feel good,” 

He smiled and let out a small chuckle “I feel very good,” 

You shook your head and rubbed your palm onto his tenting trousers, making him close his eyes tightly, “I want you to feel even better.” 

Your touching continued until he was grunting and bucking into your hand, “I- I have to take these off.” He said with a bit of shame as he fumbled with the strings of his trousers. You gladly helped him with a smile on your flushed face. 

As he was freed from his pants, you took him in your hand, looking at his cock. It was bigger than you had expected, and by far the prettiest one you’d seen. Most were crooked, too thin, or too wide but his was perfect. 

“Pretty thing you’ve got there,” You said with a smile as you pulled him into another kiss. 

As you did you pushed him onto his back and climbed on top of him, slinging your leg over his body. 

He looked flustered with your boldness but pleased. “Thank you,” he responded. 

“You’re welcome,” You said as you lined his cock, slick with precum against your entrance. His hands gripped your hips as you lowered yourself, pushing him inside of you. 

You let out the prettiest of moans from your lips as did he. 

His eyes rolled to the back of his head as you grinded him into you, in and out. The way his cock twitched inside of you hit the soft spot in you so deliciously each time, making you moan even louder. 

You looked down at him, you ran your hand against his cheek as he looked back at you with a soft smile while moans left his lips.

The look in his eyes as he watched you squirm and whimper was a look you were not accustomed to.

All of the sudden, he pulled you down and rolled you onto your back. You were face to face, his arms wrapped around your body and yours around his. Your legs around his waist as he bucked into you, again and again. The way he did it, was as if he had done it a thousand times before. 

He moved his hands to hold your face, and his other to hold your hand. 

His thumb rubbed against your cheek, sweetly. Just before it left your cheek and trailed down your body to your cunt. Rubbing your clit in circles. 

He could feel you clenching around him, his speed picked up and his mouth returned to your nipples. But his hand never left yours. 

“I’m cuming, Podrick, I- mmhmm” You whined, only making him speed up even more. 

You felt your legs shake, your toes curl, and the pressure in your stomach snap and the warmth in your core spread around his cock. You let out the prettiest of moans as you came. You gripped his hand tightly. And he peppered your chest and your neck in kisses. “I want you to cum,” You whispered as he continued to fuck into you.

“So warm… so wet.” He whimpered against your neck, “Gods, I need you.” 

His thrusts in you became more and more erratic, you anticipated his cum filling you, you anticipated the heat that would fill you. You wanted it, badly. You smiled as you saw his face contort knowing it was coming, but he pulled out and came on the ground next to you. 

You whined a little, “I wanted it,” You said in a whisper. 

“You?-” He looked confused “You wanted it?” 

You nodded, pouting a little. 

“Why?” He asked, not being able to understand it, “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to- to sully your body.” He said, sweet sentiment. 

꒰ ୨୧ ─ ・┈꒱꒱

After he cleaned it up, you had gotten in bed. 

He dressed himself back in his tunic and walked over to you where you pulled him into your bed. 

He held you against his body, and you held him back. He just stared into your eyes, as he pet your cheek. He admired the way you looked against the light of the fire. His eyes trailed down your body and he saw the bruises he left from his kisses on your breasts. His thumb grazed over them as he said “I’m sorry, I-’ 

“You did nothing wrong,” You said as you gripped his face and pulled him down to kiss his lips. “Do you think your Lord misses you?” You asked jokingly. 

“I think he is too drunk to notice.” He said smiling at you, “What about your Lady?” 

“I think she was too involved in Joffrey to notice.” You said with a giggle. 

“Sleep with me tonight?” You asked softly, 

He nodded and he wrapped his arms around you and nuzzled his face into your neck.

꒰ ୨୧ ─ ・┈ ・ ─ ・┈ ─ ・┈ ─ ・┈ ꒱꒱

When you woke up, you were alone. 

You felt a little betrayed but you knew he had duties. 

Later that day you were ordered to check on Lord Tyrion’s injuries as the Maester was too busy to see to it himself. 

When you knocked on the door to Tyrion's chambers Bronn answered the door, he eyed you up and down, making you roll your eyes. 

“My Lord,” You said walking into Tyrion’s chambers, brushing past Bronn and avoiding his gaze. 

“Ah, the bear girl.” Tyrion said,

“(Y/N) Mormont, my Lord.” Podrick attempted to correct him, which made Bronn huff and roll his eyes. But you smiled at him, and he smiled back. 

“Yes, Podrick, I know her name. My family is holding her captive after all.” 

You smirked at his admission, ‘How’re you feeling?” You asked as you sat a leather bag of medicines and supplies on a table. 

“Oh quite pleasurable.” Tyrion said sarcastically,

You turned towards him, dropping your concerned demeanor “I need to know if it stings or itches, if it’s infected, it could spread to your eyes, you’ll go blind, it could spread to your sinuses which could make you go deaf, and if it spreads to your brain you’ll die."

“You’re a gentle flower aren’t you?” 

“Always have been. The Flower of Bear Island they called me.” You said sarcastically with crossed arms, making Tyrion huff a chuckle, “Yes and now they call me bear girl and whore, so if you could be so kind and cooperate I can see to it that you don’t die.” 

Podrick held back a smile at your strength.

“Alright, no burning, itching, or stinging. Satisfied?” Tyrion said as you sat beside him.

“Somewhat…” You said while examining the cut. 

Podricks eyes were entranced by the way your eyes darted around the Lord's scar, how you examined it with such expertise. How your eyebrows narrowed and your lips pouted slightly when you focused intensely on something. How when you wrapped a new bandage around the Lord's face you bit on your bottom lip. As he stared at your lips he thought of your first kiss, how warm and soft your lips were, he thought of your sweet taste. He wanted to grab your face and do it all over again. He was so deep into his fantasy he hadn’t even noticed Tyrion had called his name twice.  

Bronn smacked Podricks head, making him snap out of it as Tyrion repeated himself again. 

“Pod, see Lady Mormont to her chambers.” 

“Yes, my Lord.” Podrick nodded

“Oh I'm sure the lad would love that.” Bronn said as you and Podrick left the room.

Once the door to Tyrion's chamber was closed you turned to Podrick with narrowed eyes. 

“You told them?” You asked with venom.

“No, no, no I wouldn’t.” He stammered, not wanting you to believe he would do such a thing to you, “I wouldn’t. I believe I am just not very good at concealing my… interest in you.” He said softly so no one would hear. 

It made you smile. 

“I am sorry I couldn’t stay, My Lady. This morning, I couldn’t stay, Lord Tyrion would have sent someone for me.” He said softly again.

“I told you, you can call me by my name.” You said not willing to say it was alright but not willing to say it wasn’t. “Did you forget it, Podrick?” You teased him

“No, no (Y/N)” He said your name with a smile.

“Good, I thought your interest in me had finally subsided.” 

“I don’t think it could.” 

It made you smile again, 'seven hells' you thought, falling for such things.

You looked around and saw no one in the hall, you pulled him into another kiss.

NOTE:sowwy this took so long, i wuv you!

TAG LIST: @ryn-away @boojaynaqueen @holierthancunt @symonedoesart

[dreamwritesimagines]

Garden of Secrets [30] - Lunaria

A.N: Thank you so much for your wonderful feedback and support my loves, it made my whole week, you’re amazing!❤ I hope you’ll like this chapter as well, and please don’t forget to tell me what you think, thank you! ❤

Thanks so much to @theskytraveler​ for helping me with the chapter!

Summary: After arguments comes sincerity.

Warnings: Regency era society and social rules, some gender specific language and terms, mentions of trauma and violence, angst.

Word Count: 5000

Series Masterlist

 Any married couple would tell you that fights were normal in a marriage.

You knew that, but this whole silence was beginning to feel more and more like the end of the said marriage.

You and Benedict hadn’t talked to each other since the night of the dinner party at Lady Margery’s house, and you and Benedict were getting quite good at sharing the house without even talking about it. You wouldn’t have known he was actually staying in the house if you hadn’t paid attention to the occasional sounds of door closing and the footsteps.

You didn’t know when you had learned to recognize him from his footsteps alone, but apparently it had happened somewhere along the line.

You knew Benedict had left an hour ago because you had seen him pass through the garden from the window of the library. You had been so immersed in your book that you didn’t even notice the familiar carriage pulling in front of the house until you heard Teddy’s voice ringing through the hallway.

“Y/N?”

You turned your head and put your book down, then rushed out of the library to go downstairs.

“Teddy?” you asked as he ran to you, clutching a couple of flowers in his arms and you let out a laugh, then hugged him.

“Hello there,” you said and smiled at your aunt as you saw her at the end of the hallway. “And hello auntie.”

“Hello my dearest,” she said, coming to kiss your cheek. “We figured we could pay you a quick visit on our way to the pastry shop.”

“I’m glad you did,” you said and took the flowers from Teddy. “These are beautiful Teddy, thank you!”

“They’re from your garden,” he said helpfully and you nodded your head.

“Mm hm, I recognized them,” you said and held his hand so that you all could go to the drawing room. “Pastry shop then?”

“Yes and then we will go to the park,” your aunt said. “So that I can meet my friends and Teddy can play with his friends.”

“The weather is pretty nice,” you mused and turned to your maid. “Paula, could you bring some lemonade and biscuits please? Thank you.”

“Of course ma’am,” she said and left the room, and you hugged Teddy sideways as he sat beside you.

“How is uncle?” you asked your aunt and she heaved a sigh.

“He is alright.”

“Any um…” you trailed off and stole a look at Teddy before clearing your throat. “Any letters?”

“None,” she said with a smile. “I told you, there’s no need to be worried.”

“Seems to be engraved in me by now.”

A maid walked in, carrying a tray and made her way to you to place three glasses of lemonade as well as three plates of biscuits on the coffee table. You thanked her as Teddy grabbed his glass, then took a huge sip.

“Is Benedict home?” he looked up at you and you heaved a sigh, then shook your head.

“No my sweet, he left an hour ago.”

“When can I make more sculptures?” he asked and you tried to smile.

“Whenever you want,” you said. “Is it alright if I help you though?”

“Not Benedict?” he asked, his brows furrowing slightly. “But he knows so much about art.”

You nodded your head.

“Benedict has been working on a new painting lately,” you whispered as if giving him a secret. “He’s a bit busy but we can do it together?”

He thought for a moment, then his head whipped up.

“I could teach you!” he said as if the thought just hit him and you let out a laugh.

“Exactly!” you said, “It would be fun!”

“Benedict is working on a new painting?” your aunt asked and you looked up at her, then nodded your head.

“Yeah,” you said. “He’s been…he’s been busy.”

She raised her brows, her eyes searching your face as if she wanted to see whether you were telling the truth but the gong of the clock on the wall made her turn her head.

“Oh I’m going to be late,” she said and got up from her chair with you following her suit. “We’d better go, come on Teddy.”

“Alright,” Teddy pushed the biscuit into his mouth, making you bite down a smile and he came to hug you.

“I’ll see you later,” you said, pressing a kiss on top of his head before you hugged your aunt. She hugged you back, then pulled back to look at you better.

“Y/N?”

“Hm?”

“Are you sure you’re alright?”

Your stomach did a painful flip but you managed to offer her a small smile.

“Of course,” you assured her. “I’m fine.”

She heaved a sigh and kissed your cheek.

“We’re having tea as soon as possible.”

“Works for me,” you said and watched her and Teddy walk out of the drawing room to make their way downstairs. Your smile dropped and you let out a breath, then sat back down on the sofa again.

“Great,” you muttered to yourself. “Today should be fun.”

                                                                      *

 Towards the afternoon, Lottie had sent you a note, asking you to join her for a picnic but you had written back, saying you weren’t feeling your best. It wasn’t a lie at all, you really didn’t want to see anyone, instead all you wanted was just burying yourself into the covers and ignore the outside world.

But apparently you wouldn’t be so lucky.

You were so lost in your thoughts that you didn’t even notice the approaching footsteps while you laid on the sofa, your gaze fixed on the fireplace until someone cleared their throat by the door, making your head whip up.

“Josie?” you asked and pushed yourself up off the sofa to stand up. “What are you doing here?”

“Came to see how you were, obviously,” she said and entered the drawing room. “Not well as I can tell.”

You rolled your eyes. “Did auntie talk to you?”

“No, why?” she asked. “Should she have?”

“No, it’s just—” you motioned vaguely at outside. “She came by for a visit today with Teddy.”

“And?”

“And nothing,” you said. “She seemed worried about me for some reason.”

“Could the reason be that you were staring into nothing like a corpse by any chance?” she asked you and you shot her a look.

“I was just in deep thought, don’t dramatize it.”

She frowned slightly, then shook her head.

“Anyway,” she said and went to the armchair to sit down. “Has there been any other letters sent from hell and its biggest demon?”

“Auntie says no,” you muttered, pressing your palms into your eyes before lowering your hands. “But I don’t know. I’ll have to talk to uncle to make sure.”

Josie hummed.

“What about you?” you asked. “How have you been?”

“I’m fine,” she said without so much as any hesitation and you tilted your head.

“Josie.”

“What?”

“Come on,” you said. “Don’t do that to me at the very least.”

“I really am fine,” she said. “I’m married now, he cannot do anything to me. The days he would threaten to either sell me to a brothel or send me to the madhouse are gone.”

A shiver ran down your spine. “But if they speak to anyone—”

“Andrew is a respected lord who inherited his respectful father’s title and wealth,” she said. “Father is a no one. There’s nothing he could say that the ton would believe over our word.”

You started pacing in the room.

“I suppose,” you said. “But even if they do come here, we’re not telling Teddy.”

Josie shook her head fervently. “Of course not. He will not know or talk to them.”

You could feel the tension coming back to your muscles as the throbbing in your wrist returned, and you rubbed at it, gritting your teeth.

“Why doesn’t he just die?” you spat. “He was coughing like crazy when uncle took me and Teddy in years ago, he spends most of his days drunk, why doesn’t it just get to him already?”

“Trust me, I’m looking forward to that day,” Josie said. “I’ll celebrate it.”

“If he so much as tries to get Teddy like he said in that letter—”

“He’s not going to do that,” Josie said. “None of us will let him.”

You massaged your temples and huffed out a breath.

“What did Benedict say?” she asked you and you turned to look at her, then pursed your lips.

“That’s not important right now.”

Josie sat up straighter.

“What?” she asked. “Wait Y/N you have told him, haven’t you?”

“No because I don’t need to,” you said. “I can handle it if they come here.”

Josie gawked at you in complete silence, then a dry laughter spilled from her lips.

“You’re jesting,” she said. “Surely you are jesting.”

“Why would I tell him?”

“Why would you not tell him?” she hissed at you, jumping on her feet. “What are you going to do if father decides to come here? And the staff hasn’t been told—”

“I’ll tell them.”

“And if he walks up to Benedict on the street?”

“I doubt father even knows I’m married,” you said. “There’s no reason for Benedict to—”

“There’s every reason for him to know!” she said. “If you don’t want to give him the details, fine! But you need to tell him especially if they decide to come here, you know what father is like—”

“I can handle father.”

Josie threw her hands up in exasperation. “Have you gone insane?!”

“I don’t need Benedict’s help,” you said tersely, shrugging your shoulders and Josie heaved an impatient sigh.

“If you’re doing this because you two had a small lover’s spat…”

You narrowed your eyes at her. “Josie.”

“You had a fight, is that it?”

“That’s not important.”

“It is important if you’re going to make stupid choices because of it!” she snapped. “If it were any other time, you know I wouldn’t push you to do anything but if mother and father are in fact coming here, you’re going to need all the support you can get.”

You scoffed. “Sure, let me just go and cry to Benedict because what? Father is coming here?”

Josie raised her brows. “How’s your wrist?”

The anger rushed through you so fast that you didn’t even have the chance to remind yourself it wasn’t Josie you were angry at, just the memory itself and how it managed to make you feel helpless every single time.

Not to mention, your and Josie’s fights would always be fiery, ever since you two were little.

“Fuck you, I’m not going to listen to this,” you growled and Josie’s gaze turned into a glare as you walked past her toward the door.

“No?” she asked, making you whirl around on your heels before you got to the door. “If you don’t want people to ask you questions, maybe don’t act like a little girl throwing a tantrum.”

“I’m not!”

“By keeping the one person who you’re actually close to in the dark?” she snapped back. “The one person who can actually protect you as far as the ton and the law are concerned? For God’s sake, you’re married—”

“It’s a sham, Josie!” the words left your lips before you had the chance to stop them. “Wake up, will you? It’s a sham, it’s not real! None of this is!”

That got her to stop talking and if you weren’t so exhausted by the nervousness and anger rushing through you for days now, you would have stopped talking as well but you were nearly hysterical at this point.

“We’re not in love,” you said, breathing fast. “The only reason why we got married is because people saw us together, alright? He knows it, I know it, even goddamn Anthony knows it! And everyone around us is so gullible that they believed we were in love because what? We pretended to be just to spare their feelings? Honestly Josie, I’d expect you of all people to be smarter than that—”

“What?”

The different voice that reached into the room came from behind you from the door and you turned around to see Lottie staring at you in shock. Your breath got caught in your throat and you swallowed thickly.

“Lottie…”

“Your butler let me in, I wanted to see if you were alright after your note but—I—” she stammered, tears rushing to her eyes. “You both…you all lied to me? All this time?”

“No,” you said quickly. “No it’s just complicated, I didn’t mean—”

“Excuse me,” she said and turned around to rush downstairs, a curse leaving your lips before you rushed after her.

“Lottie- Charlotte!” you called out as she stepped outside with you following her. “Please, can we just talk?”

“That rumor Lady Whistledown mentioned,” she said, turning to look at you better. “That was true?”

You ran a hand over your face. “It’s not exactly—”

“Y/N,” she insisted and you heaved a sigh.

“Things between me and Benedict are complicated.”

“But you didn’t get married because of love?” she asked. “You got married because someone saw you two together, unchaperoned?”

You paused for a moment and she raised her brows.

“Y/N?”

“…You could say that,” you admitted after a beat and shook your head. “I know how it sounds, but we didn’t want to upset you—”

“Thank you so much for that,” she said with a sad laugh and you pinched the bridge of your nose.

“Lottie…” you said, following her as she walked to her carriage. “I’m sorry, I really am. I didn’t want you to find out this way.”

She looked at you for a moment, then swallowed thickly.

“I’d say you didn’t want me to find out in any way,” she muttered and got in the carriage before you could say anything else, then the coachman drove away, leaving you there.

You groaned, that heaviness in your heart getting even worse as you watched her carriage disappear into the road and dug your fingernails into your palms before you looked up at the sky and let out a scream, the birds in the nearest tree flying away. You huffed out a breath, then turned around to see Josie leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed, and her brows raised.

“I’m glad you got it off your chest I guess,” she said. “Now, want to tell me what the fuck that was about?”

                                                                      *

It took you almost an hour to fill her in on the details of everything that had happened. Even if you still felt incredibly bad for how Lottie had found out, -and how you had kept it from Josie- it still felt sort of relieving to actually share it with someone. Josie sat beside you on the stairs that whole time and it was only when you had finished telling her everything that she heaved a deep sigh, leaning back on her elbows.

“Fuck.”

“Mm hm,” you said. “Sounds about right.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

You scoffed a laugh. “Look me in the eye and tell me you would have let me marry him if you knew why that wedding was happening.”

“Of course I wouldn’t have let you!” she said. “That’s exactly why you should have told me!”

“And then?” you asked. “You know how the ton would have been like.”

“Who cares about those idiots?”

“A scandal would have affected uncle and auntie as well, Josie.”

“Scandal or not, I think uncle and auntie would want you to be happy.”

“I am—it’s not…” you massaged your temples for what felt like the hundredth time today. “It’s complicated.”

“It really isn’t,” she said. “If he forced your hand—”

“He didn’t force my hand,” you cut her off. “No more than I forced his hand at least. I wanted to kiss him, he wanted to kiss me…It’s only because people saw us together that it got to this.”

“And you’re sure he didn’t plan this?”

“I know he didn’t,” you said. “Trust me, I’d love to be able to blame someone but Benedict is not to blame.”

“Neither are you.”

You clicked your tongue.

“I don’t know about that,” you said. “I could’ve walked away.”

“So could he,” she said and you heaved a sigh, then shrugged your shoulders.

“I don’t know,” you repeated, running a hand over your face. “God, it feels like I haven’t slept in years.”

Josie bit at her lip, deep in thought before she turned to you.

“Clover?”

“Hm?”

“Technically speaking, this marriage is invalid,” she said. “No consummation.”

“So?”

“Would he apply for an annulment?”

Your heart dropped to your stomach but you frowned, shaking your head.

“I don’t think so.”

“Would you?”

“I’m not going to apply for annulment,” you brushed her off and she sat up straighter.

“Then we could leave whenever you want, you can come with me and Andrew and Bess—”

“I’m not going to do that Josie,” you said and she scoffed a laugh.

“Why not?” she asked. “If you’re worried about a scandal…”

“That’s not why,” you told her. “Not really.”

“Does it have something to do with the fact that you kissed him?” she asked and you shot her a look.

“Don’t,” you said. “Seriously. It was just desire and I’m pretty sure anything he may have felt for me is long gone after that fight.”

“And yet you want to stay for some reason because you want to make yourself suffer?”

You heaved a sigh.

“No I—I’ll think about it,” you lied to her. “After this whole mess is over.”

“Alright,” she said and stood up. “I’d better go but are you going to be okay?”

“Sure thing,” you said, waving a hand in the air before standing up as well. She pulled you into a hug, then kissed your cheek.

“I’ll kill you if you hide things from me again,” she said, drawing a chuckle out of you before she walked to get in the carriage. You lingered there for a moment as the carriage drove away and you shook your head slightly, then walked back into the house.

                                                          *

You were still so tense that you couldn’t even bring yourself to have dinner even if you would be all by yourself. Benedict was still outside, so even though you knew there was no way you could get a wink of sleep, you still went to your bedroom. The sky was dark already, your room only illuminated by the moonlight and the flames in the fireplace. You took out the pins in your hair, then massaged your scalp and heaved a sigh before putting the flowers Teddy and your aunt had brought you on the windowsill so that you could air dry them, but as soon as you did, the carriage by the stone road caught your attention, making you frown.

Ah.

That had to be Benedict.

You had just placed all of the flowers when the knock on the door reached you and you looked over your shoulder.

“Come in?”

Benedict opened the door and stepped inside, and you frowned at just how rigid his whole body looked.

“Can we talk?”

“About?” you asked and he took a deep breath as if reminding himself to be calm.

“Did you do it on purpose?”

“You might want to—” you started but then the idea hit you, making you stop for a moment. “Ah. Lottie?”

“Yeah,” he said. “So did you?”

You gawked at him and scoffed a bitter chuckle. “Why would I do it on purpose, exactly?”

“Because you’re angry at me for some reason?”

You could feel the anger rushing through your system so you gritted your teeth.

“Contrary to what you seem to believe, I don’t go behind people’s backs when I’m angry at them.”

He raised his brows, disbelief etched in his features.

“Sure,” he said. “So it was what, a coincidence?”

“Well you seem to have all the answers,” you bit back. “I’m sure you can answer that on your own as well.”

“Y/N.”

“What?”

“Why would you tell Charlie that?” he insisted. “She’s angry at me and Anthony because apparently you decided to tell her he knew as well.”

“Oh well that’s devastating,” you deadpanned. “Because I spend all my days trying to make sure everything I do makes Anthony’s life easier—obviously I didn’t know she was here! She’s angry at me too, or has it escaped your notice?”

“Then how did she—”

“Because she was apparently there when I told Josie, but I didn’t know.”

Benedict stared at you. “Wait, Josie knows as well?”

“Lapse in judgement, we were having an argument,” you said and Benedict blinked a couple of times.

“Y/N, I thought we agreed we would keep it to ourselves,” he said. “We told everyone—”

“I have more to lose than you if it gets out, Benedict!” you snapped. “You don’t have to remind me what I already know!”

He took a deep breath as if reminding himself to be calm.

“We’re married,” he said, motioning between you two. “We need to be on the same page on things like these.”

“Oh now you remember we’re married?” you asked with a bitter laugh. “You can act like a bachelor and spend a whole night partying and doing God knows what without so much as letting me know—”

“I did let you know!”

Your voice rose before you had a chance to stop it; “Oh sorry, how nice of you to invite me to the party as a second thought!”

“I already told you nothing happened!”

“That’s not the point!” you snapped back, “The point is that you told me we would talk and we didn’t because you were too busy having fun at a party!”

Benedict shook his head. “You told me it wasn’t important!”

“Because you—” you started but your body automatically flinched back when Benedict’s hand shot up to run it through his hair, a gesture you had seen him do over and over again but in the heat of the argument, it was enough to make the rest of your sentence get lost in your throat.

Benedict’s hand froze in the air as the sudden panic rushed through your veins, the flash of various memories shooting through your head but even through the haze of absolute fear, in some corner of your mind you knew.

That was then, not now.

That was not going to happen again, not with him.

Benedict stared at you before he held up his palms, all the fire of the fight and anger gone from his gaze.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said, his voice so gentle and soothing that your throat tightened. “I promise you.”

You blinked back the tears and nodded. “I know.”

“I would never—”

“Benedict, I know,” you cut him off and let out a bitter chuckle. “I believe in you on that at the very least, trust me. It just used to happen a lot whenever anyone moved too fast around me, it’s involuntary.”

Benedict swallowed thickly, his eyes searching your face before he very slowly lowered his hands as if trying not to make any sudden moves. The panic retrieved from your body like a wave at the shore and you heaved a sigh, then leaned back to the wall before slipping down to sit on the floor.

“I can leave you be if you’d like,” Benedict said softly. “Do you want me to go?”

You scoffed a dry laugh and patted the spot next to you. Benedict lingered there for a moment, then made his way to you to sit down on the floor beside you, leaning his back to the wall while you pulled your knees up to your chest, resting your chin on them.

“But you…” he paused for a moment. “You know I would never, right? Really?”

“Yeah,” you said. “I know. I don’t know how, but I know.”

“Okay.”

You stared at the moonlight spilling over both of you through the window before you ran a hand over your face.

“Benedict?”

“Yes?”

“Do you want to get an annulment?”

That made him turn to look at you better, his brows furrowing as you shrugged.

“Technically speaking, this marriage is invalid,” you quoted Josie. “We never consummated, so…We could get an annulment.”

He stared at you. “Do you want to get an annulment?”

“I asked first.”

If it were any other time, it would have made him smile at the very least but not this time.

“No,” he said. “But I won’t force you, I’ll never force you into anything so…Do you want one?”

You shook your head.

“No,” you admitted. “No I don’t.”

A silence fell upon you and he leaned his head back to rest it against the wall before stealing a look at you.

“So this is marriage huh?” he asked and you felt a sad smile curl your lips.

“Yeah,” you said. “A never-ending emotional torture.”

“Well you did warn me, so…” Benedict mused and you nodded your head.

“I really did,” you murmured, twisting your wedding ring around your finger. “Jesus I’m exhausted.”

A bitter chuckle climbed up his throat.

“I know the feeling,” he rasped out. “Can you um—can you sleep at night? Because I can’t.”

“Not at all,” you said. “And I can’t really focus on anything. Can you?”

“I need to,” he said. “I need to be focused on something all the time, otherwise…”

“What?” you asked after a beat and Benedict shook his head.

“It’ll catch up to me otherwise.”

He didn’t need to specify what it was, you knew it very well because it was the same thing that had been twisting your heart for the last two weeks.

The wave of pain that was so strong that if it managed to get to you, you weren’t sure you’d be able to stand.

“It’ll turn into hate one day,” you said, your voice determined as you nodded your head to yourself. “It will. It’s a marriage, it has to turn into resentment and one day we will wake up and we’ll hate each other.”

He tilted his head. “Do you really believe that?”

“I want to believe that,” you said. “I hope it does turn into hate, I’m better at it.”

“Dear God, it would be so much easier,” he murmured and you nodded.

“Exactly,” you croaked out as the burning in your eyes came back but you bit at your tongue, fixing your gaze on the wall.

“Can I ask you something?” Benedict asked and you glanced at him.

“Sure.”

“I’ve always wondered if you…” he trailed off. “Do you regret it? That night at the gazebo?”

“Do you?”

“I asked first,” he quoted you, a ghost of a smile appearing on his lips and you smiled back, then shook your head.

“No,” you said. “Do you?”

“Not a single second of it,” he stated and a nearly hysterical giggle escaped from your lips.

“You know, Lord Easton said something the other night,” you said and sniffled. “And I have a theory about this whole thing.”

“I’m listening.”

“Call it artist and muse, call it desire, whatever it is,” you said. “I’m beginning to think maybe it was fate.”

“You don’t believe in fate,” he said and you thought for a moment, then shook your head.

“Well, I don’t but think about it,” you said, wiping at your nose with the back of your hand, then turned sideways to see him better. “We kept tempting fate even if we knew we weren’t supposed to and—be completely honest with me, can you imagine yourself being married to someone else?”

He grimaced. “Not without a shudder and a nightmare to go with that idea.”

“Exactly,” you insisted. “Even after everything. So we’re—we’re not star-crossed, we’re not each other’s promised but maybe we’re something else completely different than all that.”

“Like what?”

“Maybe we’re just doomed to torment each other.”

He blinked a couple of times as if trying to wrap his mind around it and you sniffled again.

“Does it not make sense?” you asked, sitting up straighter, your eyes locked in his. “Neither of us regret that night even if it would make perfect sense if we did, both of us could walk away right now, a luxury no other couple in the ton has, and yet…”

“Yet here we are.”

“Yeah,” you muttered. “Yet here we are. Doomed to torment each other, in this life and beyond.”

He hummed. “That’s a relieving thought.”

You turned to shoot him a look of disbelief. “The idea of being tormented is relieving?”

“Compared to the idea of not having you?” he asked. “It is. I can take the torment from you, just not…just not your absence.”

A silence fell upon the room and you rubbed at your eyes, then dropped your hands to your lap.

“Well then I shall haunt you,” you managed to say. “Even after death, like in those awful stories. If we are to torment each other, we will not be free of each other. Dead or not, no absence.”

A sad smile crossed Benedict’s lips and he held up his pinky.

“Do you promise?” he asked and a teary laugh climbed up your throat, then you looked up at him.

“What?”

“Do you promise to haunt me?”

You blinked back the tears before they could blur your vision, then stuck your nose in the air.

“Do you promise to haunt me back?”

Benedict tilted his head. “Do you want me to?”

“I do,” you said without any hesitation and hooked your pinky with his. “Whoever goes first will haunt the other. Deal?”

There was no sign of hesitance in his eyes, only determination as he smiled slightly, making your heart skip a beat.

“Deal.”

Chapter 31

[julessworldd]

Queen of the North- Robb Stark x Tyrell!OC

A/n: I haven’t wrote in so long so I’m sorry if it sucks. I just wanted to see if I could still write. Tyrell!reader/Oc, I’m seeing a mix of Margery and Alicent when I wrote this. More of Alicent since i described her with auburn curly hair and dressed in her green some. But feel free to have your faceclaim :) I apologize in advance if the smut is too porn like or like a 13 year old Wattpad.

Warning: p in v, fingering, pussy slapping, mention of female masturbating, meandom! Robb. Squirting, overstimulation. Unprotected sex(Wrap it before you tap it). Stabbing, wreck, death/grief, depression, mention of SA, pregnancy(trying)

Tags: @valeskafics @foxyanon @angelwonie had to tag my fellow Robb lovers 🫶🏻

Lydia couldn’t sleep, the camp was still awake and thriving, Margarey’s snores were loud. Margarey swore she didn’t snore but Lydia knew that wasn’t true. Deciding she couldn’t sleep she got out of bed. Pulled on her green robe and walked out of the tent. The bannermen were drinking around fires, laughing, some had women on their laps as they forgot about the war. Nobody even noticed Lydia walking away as she sighed.

Robb couldn’t sleep either, he had too much on his mind. Avenging his father, getting his sisters back to Winterfell, taking the north’s independence back. All at 16 years old, a few months ago he was helping Bran with his bow and arrow, laughing with Jon and Theon. He wasn’t expecting anyone to be on this walk with him. Hearing some branches snap he pulled out his sword and called out to the sound.

“I said who's there?” Robb held his sword high and proud.

Lydia turned around as she looked up at Robb who had his sword pointed at her, “It’s just me”

Robb put his sword back in his side holster and smiled, “Margarey?”

“No. Lydia” Lydia giggled at the young King’s mistake

“My apologies, lady. What are you doing out of your tent? It’s late” Robb asked

“Couldn’t sleep” Lydia said

“Come, I’ll walk you back to your tent. It’s too dangerous for you to be out here with a guard” Robb held her bicep gently in his hands

“I can handle my own. I’m not a damsel in distress, your Grace” Lydia sighed

“I’m sure you’re not but let me take you back to bed. A war camp isn’t a place for ladies” Robb said walking back towards her tent

“Your war interrupted my fathers tour, I apologize for being a inconvenience for you” Lydia scoffed

“Even so, you need to be in a tent with a guard for you and your sister. Where’s your mother? With your father?” Robb asked

“She passed when I was 13, your Grace” Lydia said

“I’m sorry for your loss, my lady. Don’t call me your Grace when it’s just us” Robb smiled

“Then don’t call me your lady” Lydia smirked as she held his hand

Robb got Lydia into her tent without being caught by anyone. He smiled as he watched her crawl into bed before walking to his own. The next morning he was riding to Kings landing for his father, his sisters, the Stark name and for the people. King Joffery and Queen Regent Ceresi would be no more. Along with every gold haired he found in the red keep. He was determined the North would only know one king and his name is Stark.

He was fixing his armor when he saw a glimpse of auburn hair and vanilla and rose perfume hit his nose. He looked up to see Lydia. She was even more breathtaking in the sunlight, her hair was glowing practically. Her green dress hugged her waist and made her body pop. The sleeves were green and gold with flowers. It was cut some to give the illusion of her breasts in the corset.

“Lydia, you look beautiful today” Robb smiled.

“Thank you! I uh wanted to see you off before you leave” Lydia blushed. She wasn’t as easy going as her older sister. Men scared her, she couldn’t flirt like Margarey and have them in her hands. She left her chest filled with pain.

“Awfully kind of you, Lydia. I appreciate your support and your family’s bannermen and gold. But I must be going now” Robb said as he held the hilt of his sword.

“Wait!” Lydia grabbed his wrist before he could walk off even further.

Robb looked at her hand and then to her green eyes “Lydia”

Lydia took a deep breath and closed her eyes to get composure. She opened her eyes and grabbed Robb’s jaw as she kissed his cheek. Robb gasped in shock as he felt her soft plump lips on his beard and cheek, “Good luck, my king” Lydia smiled sweetly.

“Th- thank you, Lydia. I’m sure to repay you for the luck, I’ll bring you back something from the soon to be dead queen” Robb held her hand

“Okay. Nothing with a lion, I don’t want anything that reminds me of those blond bastards” Lydia said without realizing what she said. Robb grinned and laughed when he heard her request.

“Noted my lady. Take care of yourself, little rose” Robb smiled “I should be commanding on my horse now. My lady” he nodded before walking off.

A year later

Robb had killed the Lannisters for good, his men raided the keep finding stuff to take. Robb found Lydia a nice necklace with some lilacs wrapped in sliver metal. The north was now an independent Kingdom and Stark ruled them. Since he left and came back, the Tyrells had suffered tragedy after tragedy. Margarey was set to marry a lord around the storm lands. Loras accompanied her as they traveled, one night a bad storm hit. The carriage had lost control and flipped, some men found them. Margarey was killed but not from the wreck, she was still alive. She was stabbed multiple times in her stomach, the men thought she was pregnant. Loras was dead from the impact. A villager found them the next morning and found a maester to send a raven to the Tyrell family.

Lydia’s heart broke as she ran into her chambers crying as she flung herself on her bed. She let out a gut chilling scream as she cried for her late brother and sister. She went to the viewing and threw up seeing her dead siblings like that. She refused to come out of her chambers. Meals were brought to her, the maidens gave her baths in her room, books were brought to her. She slept and slept then she would wake up screaming. Her father had the maesters fill her up with milk of the poppy. She wasn’t the same Lydia that kissed the king of the north and told him to bring her gift from the red keep. She was a shell.

Present time

Robb was delight when he got the invitation for Lydia’s 18th nameday celebration. He had missed the green eyed beauty, but being king was busier than what he thought. His hand was on him about finding a wife to have to produce heirs. Robb wasn’t interested in throwing a wife and queen into the mix right now. The carriage stopped and Robb was greeted by Lord Wilem Tyrell and Lady Olenna. He asked to see Lydia and the guard took him to her chambers. Even the guard was hesitant to take him to Lydia’s chambers. Lydia had became mean and feral, she yell at the handmaidens, throw things at them and anyone else that came near her. She practically lived under the blankets on her bed.

“Your Grace” the guard nodded as he held the door open for Robb

****

“My lady?” Robb asked as he closed the door behind him

“Go away, Talia! Gods you’re annoying!” Lydia sighed from her mountain of blankets

“Lydia” Robb said

“I’ve lost myself to madness, I’m hearing shit now” Lydia cried

“No. You haven’t, it’s me. Robb” Robb said gently removing the blanket. Lydia moved to find a dagger she had in bed and had in hand as Robb grabbed her ankle

“No! No! Leave me alone!” Lydia swung the dagger in front of her as Robb held his hands up

“It’s okay Lydia. I won’t hurt you I promise. I come to visit you” Robb said gently

“Robb” Lydia whined as she cuddled a pillow crying

Robb crawled into bed and gently pulled Lydia into his chest “Shh! Robb has you,

I won’t let anyone or anything hurt you. Oh Lydia what happened?”

“Everything” Lydia cried as she hugged Robb back “Margarey and Loras are dead. I got touched by a maid in a way i didn’t want. I slept all the time. I think I lost my mind”

“A maid? Lydia what are you talking about?” Robb asked as he petted her auburn hair

“She tried touching me like a man would his wife. That’s why I stabbed her but nobody believes me. They think I stabbed her because I’ve been screaming and crying for months. My father keeps me locked up and drunk off of Milk of the poppy” Lydia said

“Shhh shh, it’s okay. I won’t let anyone else hurt you, my love” Robb said

“You love me?” Lydia asked innocently as she looked up from her lashes

“Yes I do. I want to ask your father your hand, you’re going to be my queen” Robb smiled

“They say I’m crazy and you won’t want me” Lydia sighed

“I want you as mine. I want you all the time. No one else will be a better queen and wife than you. You are my queen” Robb said brushing some hair out of her face.

“I love you” Lydia said

“I know. I love you too my queen” Robb looked at her and smiled

“Kiss me” Lydia said

Robb kissed as he held her jaw in his hand as he tasted mint and felt the plumpness of her lips.

Lydia pulled away from Robb needing air as he took hers away “I want you to be my first. If my father says no I at least want us to have this moment”

“Lydia” Robb said

“Please! All I want you is to make love to me tonight. I need you” Lydia whined.

“Okay. I can grant you that and your father saying yes. Every father wants their daughter to queen” Robb smirked

Lydia grinned as she took the sheet from herself as she sat on her knees. Her pale curves and breasts were exposed to Robb as he looked at her. She took her hair out of the braid, her auburn curls falling around her body. Robb thought he was in the Seven heavens as he seen her body. He wasn’t expecting her to be naked in front of him.

“Take off your clothes” Lydia looked him up and down as she laid back with her legs spread open.

Robb grabbed her by her chin and kissed her as he took off his fur that was clipped around his neck. Lydia whined as she watched him undress more and more. He stepped out of his pants and Lydia looked at him in shock. The gods had blessed Robb with muscles, a nice chest with hair and a thick and beautiful manhood. Lydia wasn’t sure he could fit all the way in her, she was tiny and Robb was almost a foot taller than her. The thought of him squeezing into her, made her clench her milky thighs together.

Robb grinned as he pushed Lydia on the bed “What’s going on in that pretty head of yours, Lydia?”

“It won’t fit and looks like it will hurt me. I never been with a man” Lydia blushed.

“Shh, I’ll make sure it won’t hurt my queen” Robb said as he ran his fingers over nipples, pinching the left one.

Lydia gasped “Robb”

Robb grinned as he rubbed her stomach and hips “I know pretty girl. It’s okay” Robb’s fingers ran between her folds.

Lydia bucked her hips up “You never once touched yourself? Middle of the night, fingering yourself mhm?” Robb asked

“Gods! Touch me please” Lydia whined bucking her hips back on his fingers that curled in her.

“Answer me, Lydia. I’ll leave you desperate and marry someone else. Now have you fingered yourself before or I am the only one?” Robb slapped her pussy, making her jump.

“Fuck! Only you. No I did once but i didn’t put them inside” Lydia gasped.

“Did you play with the wetness and make your clit tingly?” Robb asked as he rubbed her clit in fast circles.

“Oh Gods! Yes but never felt the way I do when you’re doing it” Lydia gasped as she tried moving Robb’s hand. But he pinned her hands down with his free one.

“Poor thing is all hot and bothered. Needed a king to come make her cum” Robb smirked as he rammed his fingers back in her

“Mhm. Robb please let me cum, I’ve been good” Lydia whined as she pouted her lip at the king above her.

“Okay. Let go, soak my fingers like a good queen” Robb said as he rubbed her clit more making her hips buck.

Robb didn’t give her time as he had his head buried between her thighs. Rubbing his nose on her puffy pearl as he lapped at her core. It didn’t take Robb long to have her shaking in pleasure again. He went straight in before she could finish cumming the first time. “Oh fuck! Robb don’t stop. Don’t” Lydia threw her head back as she wiggled against the mattress and Robb’s skilled tongue. Robb kept going as he ate her pussy like a god, Lydia whined louder as Robb tried drinking her juices like a mad man on his last meal.

“Robb! Why does this one hurt? Wait ro-“ Lydia panicked, . “Robb!” Lydia screamed as she squirted in the air. Robb still didn’t come up as he wanted to get as much of her wetness as he could. Lydia was a whining mess as Robb came up gently slapping her pussy and clit. “Didn’t think you had it in you to do that, my good little queen”

“I’m sorry for that. Gods your face is dripping” Lydia blushed.

“Don’t be. We’re definitely seeing if you can do that again. Such a pretty pussy for a pretty queen”

Robb smirked as he kissed Lydia, rubbing her hips.

“Are you gonna?” Lydia asked

“Am I what?” Robb asked “Gonna fuck you? Yes I am, you’re my queen”

Lydia looked up at you and nodded as she gave him permission to continue. Robb smirked as he flipped her into doggy, spanking her ass. Seeing her pussy all in the open for him made him crazy. He jerked her legs open as he rubbed his cock over her folds.

Robb grabbed Lydia’s hips as he pushed his thick cock as Lydia’s walls sucked him in, “Ah fuck! Sucking me in like a whore, such a good pussy”

Lydia whined as she backed herself on his cock and finished bringing him in as her walls accepted him. Lydia was face down the middle of the bed as she felt her breast starch across the mattress. Her nipples were hard and red, she reached between her legs touching her clit. She whined as her fingers rubbed her clit to match Robb’s thrust “Fuck! You’re so big”

“You can take it, your pussy is made for me and me only. You understand? No man will ever be in you like I am. No man will ever be able to reach your stomach like I can” Robb moaned as he picked up the pace

“Only you. Your pussy!” Lydia whined

“That’s right! My pussy. My womb I’ll fill up with my babies. Only my babies!” Robb groaned. “Come on sweet girl, I know you’re close”

Lydia saw black as she screamed Robb’s name and felt herself squirting again. It coated her stomach and pussy as Robb pulled out. His thick white cum hit her pussy lips as he rubbed his dick over it. Robb collected the cum between them and pushed his fingers in her worn out hole. “Mhm. Robb m’sore”

“I’m just making sure my cum stays in you during the night my queen” Robb said as he plugged her weeping hole.

“M’love you” Lydia sighed as she laid on her back “I want your babies, I want your cock every night”

“You will, my queen. As your king I promise you that” Robb smiled as he brought Lydia to chest “You did so good”

********

Lydia was watching the people as they danced, drinked, laughed together in the crowd. It was her 19th nameday, a year after her and Robb married. Her blue dress complimented her pale skin as she paired it with silver earrings and a the illiac sliver necklace. She rubbed her stomach as she sighed watching the crowd. Lydia wanted Robb’s babies badly, a little human to take care of. Robb had his kingdom, his crown, the people loved him. She didn’t have anything, her grandmother and father died after she married Robb. Lydia felt so alone in this world anymore, sure she had Robb but it wasn’t enough for her. She needed more purpose than Queen.

“Only you would sad at your own nameday and wedding feast” Robb said as he sat beside of her.

“Not sad, just thinking” Lydia reached for his hand.

“What about, my queen?” Robb asked.

“I want a baby, Robb! We’ve been married for a year and I’m still not with child” Lydia sighed.

“Is this about Lady Mormont being 4 moons and only being married for 2 moons?” Robb asked.

Lydia looked down and sighed “No”

“Lying to a king is treason, Lydie” Robb said rubbing her back

“I don’t get it. Why do the Gods do not want me to be with your child? We slept together before we got married, seven hells we should be celebrating our child’s first nameday” Lydia said growing into frustration

“It will happen, my love. You’re not relaxed and it probably doesn’t help you’re stressed. I’m not sure as I am king not a maester, but it will happen. By this time next year you’ll be cuddling our baby by the fire in our chambers. If I have to have Theon lock us in our chambers and throw away the key. Until you’re with child then I will” Robb rubbed her leg as he kissed her cheek.

“Or I’m cursed. My siblings are dead, my parents, my grandparents are too. I’m the only living Tyrell and I’m beginning to think I won’t be. I won’t be able to give you an heir like you need me to” Lydia said trying not cry

“Lydie, you’re not cursed. I don’t know why the gods have thrown you into tragedy these past years. I’m not gonna let anything bad happen to you I promise you as your king and husband” Robb said “Now come”

“Where?” Lydia asked

“Are you questioning the King’s word, my lady wife?” Robb cocked his eyebrow.

“N- no no” Lydia said standing up “He can take me wherever he pleases”

“Please calm down, my queen. I just want to dance with my wife. Is that okay?” Robb smiled

“Yes you can have this dance” Lydia giggled

“So many woman are dying to dance with me but I told them no. I only dance with one woman and she is queen of the north and my heart” Robb pulled Lydia into his chest as he lead her with his hand on her waist.

“Queen of your heart? Now you’re just being too doppy now” Lydia smiled

“Just dance with me and forget about our duties and people. That’s an order, Queen of the north” Robb said as he kissed her cheek.

“As you wish, king of the north” Lydia smiled.

[hchollym]

I saw your post about asoiaf character headcanons https://www.tumblr.com/hchollym/656295257177276416/who-are-some-of-your-head-cannons-for-characters and I’m begging for more Willas Tyrell headcanons! Anything you have! What is he into? You said he makes nerdy jokes. Whats his personality like?

How does he feel about the whole “potentially engaged to Sansa thing” and how did he feel when she was forced to marry Tyrion? (I cant imagine he would have been in love w her immediately if they married, bc she is 13 (3 years younger than Margery) and he is at least in his 24-27ish in current book canon)

It's been a while since I got an asoiaf ask, so this was fun! 😃

I'm sorry it took so long to respond though. 🙁

More Willas Tyrell Headcanons:

-He has brown curly hair and hazel eyes.

-He's definitely an introvert. He's very kind and genuine, and some people are drawn to that (like Oberyn), but he's not naturally charming or assertive, so he finds social situations a little more difficult to navigate.

-He enjoys astronomy (since he likes looking at the stars) and drawing/painting (since he drew pictures for Margaery when she was little).

-He's not great at expressing his feelings. He knows how to - he's very self-aware - but he has a tendency to hide his insecurities/sadness and keep things inside, because he already feels physically vulnerable due to his leg, and he's afraid to be emotionally vulnerable too.

-He loves all animals (including cats and dogs), and he always names them after historical figures.

-He can never admit it out loud (because he's a Tyrell), but he gets tired of the smell/sight of roses (they have far too strong of a floral scent). Because of this, he grows his own little garden of Iris Blue Rhythms (but he has it fenced off because they're toxic to dogs). These flowers are a pretty blue and lemon-scented (which is actually his favorite scent, because he loves how fresh it smells).

Headcanons About Willas' Thoughts on Sansa:

-I'm not sure he even knew about the plan until after it was ruined. Mace didn't know, and Olenna may very well have kept that secret close to her chest until after she arrived in King's Landing.

-Once he found out, he was definitely concerned by her age. Even by Westeros' standards, Sansa was still young for marriage, and since she was three years younger than Margaery (his baby sister), he saw her as a child.

-He protested an immediate wedding and argued for a long betrothal, and he only backed down when Margaery told him about the abuse Sansa suffered at Joffrey's hands. At that point, he realized that marrying her quickly was the only way to protect her, and he agreed because it was the chivalrous thing to do.

-He was horrified when he found out that she was married to Tyrion, because 1. Her age was still a factor, and he assumed that Tyrion would consummate the marriage; 2. Tyrion was a part of the family that killed Sansa's father, and he knew that would be traumatizing for her, especially because it meant that she would be stuck around the Lannisters for the rest of her life; and 3. He knew Sansa imagined a much "better" husband than a dwarf (and by Westeros' tradition, it was honestly an insult to marry her to Tyrion).

-He was also disappointed because he knew that Sansa was the best political match he could ever make, and even if she never loved him, he thought that she would at least enjoy Highgarden & he would keep her safe.

Thanks for the ask! 😊

[multifandomfanfiction]

If I Were a Man

TITLE: If I Were a Man PAIRING: Oberyn/OC RATING: T CHAPTER: One-shot SUMMARY: Liliane longs for a different life.

[A/N - Inspired by “If I Were a Man” from The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical.]

Liliane glanced around the banquet hall. Her family had been invited to the wedding of Joffrey Baratheon to Margery Tyrell and Liliane herself could care less about the royal nuptials.

She knew her mother was just going to use this opportunity to find a husband for her daughter. Liliane didn’t want to get married.

She wanted to travel all of Westeros and when she was done, she wanted to go across the Narrow Sea and explore all of Essos. Maybe if even find out what happened to Valyria.

She didn’t want to be reduced to a vessel for children and be expected to sit and listen to whatever the boring Northern lords discussed. They expected their wives to be docile and polite without opinions.

She was not going to wait around for a handsome prince to come and save her like some girl in a fairytale.

But if there was one prince she wouldn’t mind saving her it was Prince Oberyn, second son of Dorne. He was in Kings Landing on behalf of his older brother Doran, representing the kingdom of Dorne. He brought with him his beautiful paramour and mother to four of his daughters, Ellaria Sand.

Liliane, who very much preferred men, could not deny that the woman was gorgeous. She could see why Oberyn had fallen in love with her.

The Dornish couple wore clothes Liliane could only dream of. Their clothing was revealing and considered scandalous in Kings Landing. Ellaria’s gowns barely covered anything at all and the Prince’s robes often showed off a generous amount of his chest.

Liliane hated the gowns her mother put her in. They were stuffy and her stays left bruises on her ribs. Her hair was twisted into a complicated up-do that was starting to make her scalp hurt. She’d give anything to wear her hair loose.

“Don’t slouch. Sit up straight,” her mother said, snapping Liliane out of her thoughts.

Liliane blew a raspberry at her mother and took a sip of her wine.

Ellaria laughed.

“Something funny, my love?” Oberyn asked.

“I was merely admiring that adorable creature.” Ellaria pointed over at Liliane, who was practically pouting in her chair.

Oberyn chuckled. “She looks like she would rather be anywhere else.”

Liliane stood up and made her way outside and Oberyn took the opportunity.

He stood up and followed Liliane outside. “Beautiful night, no?” Oberyn asked her.

Liliane turned to him. “Prince Oberyn.”

Oberyn noticed how she didn’t blush, nor did she bow to him. “Something wrong, little one?” he asked.

Liliane sighed and tugged at her dress. “It is hot and stuffy inside the banquet hall. I merely needed some…air.”

Oberyn approached her. “May I?”

Liliane was confused until Oberyn untied the back of her dress and expertly loosened her corset. Liliane took a deep breath of air.

“Better?” Oberyn asked.

Liliane nodded. “Yes, thank you.”

Oberyn re-tied her dress. “I will never understand these Northern dresses. Far too much fabric.”

“Well we all can’t wear Dornish fashions.”

Oberyn smirked. “But it would make everything much easier.”

Liliane sighed. “I wish everything were as easy as it is in Dorne.”

Oberyn frowned. “What do you mean, little one?”

“You value women. They are seen as equals. Here, I might as well be property to be owned by my husband. He can do what he pleases with me. Sometimes I wish I was a man. Then I would have the freedom to roam the world. Do what I want. Learn what I want.”

“You can, little one. You can do whatever you choose. But you must be the one to make that choice. And women are amazing. You have the ability to give life. I have seen my Ellaria give birth to our four daughters and she is stronger than any warrior.”

Oberyn plucked a flower from a nearby bush and placed it behind Liliane’s ear. “Dorne can be your home if you choose. But you must choose it.”

Oberyn left her standing in the garden. He went back inside and sat down next to Ellaria. “I think we may have an extra occupant on our way back to Dorne,” Oberyn told her.

Outside, Liliane stared up at the stars. She wondered if the stars looked different in Dorne.

[greatbritishsimchallenge]

As the siblings sat together by the fire, Cassian told his sister about Lady Regina's demands.

"She is more principled than I thought," remarked Isabeau.

"And me," complained Cassian.

"So, you will just have to sleep with your favourite harlots for a time. You were still sleeping with them as well as Regina anyway. As you cannot recognise my predicament, I fail to recognise yours."

"Because you've never had sex. You don't know how incredible it can be when it is with someone you love."

"Pray tell," smirked Isabeau.

"When I'm with Regina, it's like... there's this energy between us, this charge between our bodies."

At the mention of a charge between bodies, Isabeau began to listen more intently.

"Food loses its taste. The flowers look dull. The only sensation in the whole world you desire is having that person in your arms."

Isabeau watched her brother's intense dreaminess and raised her eyebrows with an impressed surprise.

"Wow. That is quite a feeling."

"Yeah. I never had that with Ella. The harlots don't give a sensation on that level. Margery and I had it for a while but -"

"Ah," interrupted Isabeau. "You almost had me thinking you were a romantic then."

"What?" asked Cassian, confused.

"This oh-so-special feeling you have for Regina is the same one you had for the woman you now seek to divorce?"

"So?"

"So how do you know this feeling is not just temporary and the minute you marry Regina it, again, will fade?"

Cassian thought about it for a minute and then said, "Regina is younger than me. She won't get fat and old like Margery."

"And with that," sighed Isabeau, "I'm going to bed. Goodnight, little brother."

Start (Iron Age) | Start (Roman Britain) | Start (Anglo Saxon) | Start (Medieval) | Start (Tudor)

Previous | Next

[ineffableclassics]

“What have you got there?” She asked as the doors slid shut behind her, stepping up to inspect the plant. “My, what a lovely thing. Where are you taking it?”

“I’m, er, getting rid of it, actually.” Crowley answers, caught off guard by the way Margerie is looking at the plant. “Leaf spots.” He offers as a weak explanation, shifting it so she could better see the offending spot.

“Oh, that’s hardly any reason to get rid of it!” Margerie replies at once. “When something is a little damaged like that, you don’t throw it away, you take care of it. A little love and dedication and it’ll be healed right up.”

--

When Crowley tries to figure out what to do with the plants that disobey him, he doesn't expect to suddenly befriend the woman who lives in the flat below him. But he does.

Words: 50,161

Status: incomplete

Rating: General

⭐️⭐️

[serenity-ren-bliss]

White day event submission

Title: You really thought I forgot

Prompt(s)/Premise: Venti, Kaeya, Kave + pretenhding to forget it's white day. + gn!reader

Notes: I'm really sorry this is late. Writer's block hit like a truck. I hope you like it @kaeyas-beloved.

TW: none

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was white day today. It's a lesser known follow up to valentine's where people would give back the valentines you received. You were excited to celebrate the day with your loving husband, but he seemed oddly unphased about it all. Did he forget...?

(Credit to @gintamaedits for this header)

You had made a list of what you needed to do a couple weeks ago. Venti was a very affectionate partner, so you had a lot to do. Your entire Valentines together was filled with poems, and songs, and sweet gifts.

First thing happened early in the morning. On Valentine's Day Venti surprised you with breakfast. It was a dish that his old friend invented called Mondstadt Apple-pancakes. So, you made him arepas for breakfast. They had similar elements to the apple-pancakes, but they were different. He had never tried them before, so it was a good chance to introduce it to him like how he introduced the apple-pancakes to you.

He woke up at around 10:00 as planned. You had the arepas sitting out on the table and he seemed surprised to see them. Usually, he'll have something quick like an apple for breakfast. You two talked as you ate.

"Thank you for the delicious arepas, Windblume, but I must be off now." He smiled as he slipped on his cape. You were a little sad to see him leave. You had spent the entire Valentine's Day together, after all. "Really? You can't stay for a little more?"

"Sorry, love, but I have a performance at the chapel in a few minutes and I really must go."

You sighed "ok, love, I understand."

While you were doing your commissions, you made sure to pick up some flowers for Venti. He had braided them into your hair on Valentine's Day and you had made him a flower crown.

You sighed as you put the sweetflowers into your bag. That should be enough, right? Some of them had been burned due to the pyro mage's attacks, but you were able to salvage some of them.

Finally, you picked up a gift from Margerie's to give to him. A simple brooch with a Cecilia on it. He had given you a matching one while you were out together. You gave him a necklace you made.

You pocketed the brooch and went down to the center of Mond to sit. You had barely seen Venti all day, it was like he forgot about the white day. Sighing, you leaned against the headrest and stared at the fountain in front of you. "Something the matter, big-sibling Y/N?" Klee approached, a worried expression replacing her usual smile. "It's nothing, Klee" You responded, giving her a little pat on the head, "Just a little tired." "Well," she smiled, "Big-brother Kaeya said the weather outside is really nice! Maybe, you should go to Windrise to get some fresh air." You nodded. "Thanks, Klee." "No problem!!" She saluted before walking away with the usual pep in her step.

You walked slowly, admiring the area around you. It was just about to be sunset. That's when you felt something under your foot. Looking down, you saw a pretty Cecillia. You picked it up, admiring the petals. Then you noticed another flower a little forward; a sweetflower. Then another. More and more flowers formed a path to Vanessa's tree. Finally, you made it to the end and was delighted with what you saw. Venti sat on a cute picnic blanket, a basket and a few plates of food set out on it. You smiled, running over to hug him. "Happy white day, my love." You teared up a bit as you hugged him. "Thank you, hon." You pulled away to look at him. He smiled at you before picking up a bite of your favorite food and holding it up. You quietly opened your mouth, letting him feed you the food. Then he turned around and pulled out a headrest of flowers. "Here." He put it on your head. You walked slowly, admiring the area around you. It was just about to be sunrise. That's when you felt something under your foot. Looking down, you saw a pretty Cecillia. You picked it up, admiring the petals. Then you noticed another flower a little forward; a sweetflower. Then another. More and more flowers formed a path to Vanessa's tree. Finally, you made it to the end and was delighted with what you saw. Venti sat on a cute picnic blanket, a basket and a few plates of food set out on it. You smiled, running over to hug him. "Happy white day, my love." You teared up a bit as you hugged him. "Thank you, hon." You pulled away to look at him. He smiled at you before picking up a bite of your favorite food and holding it up. You quietly opened your mouth, letting him feed you the food. Then he turned around and pulled out a headrest of flowers. "Here." He put it on your head.

Your Valentine’s Day with Kaeya was simple but sweet. Nothing too fancy, just spending the day together. Because of this, you didn’t have much to work with for White Day. But you still got to work.

Every day, without fail, you wake up to him already awake yet still in bed cuddling you. And every day, when you wake up, he says "Good morning" followed by a different pet name every morning. Have they repeated? Yes. Do you care? No.

You groggily opened your eyes, feeling your partner's arms wrapped around you. "Good morning, dearest." You heard his ever-familiar voice. "Mornin', Kea." You mumbled groggily. He pecked your forehead, snuggling into your neck. After a few minutes, he sat up to get out of bed. "You leaving?" You snuggled into him tighter, keeping him trapped into his arms. He chuckled. "I have work today, dear." "But I wanna spend time with you todayyyy." He sighed. "5 more minutes, then."

You made pancakes together on Valentine's. You wanted to make breakfast again with him today. Maybe waffles this time? He cooked lunch for you that day, his specialty.

When Kaeya decided to get up to actually go to work, you got up with him, hoping to cook together. "Sorry love, but I'm in a rush. Jean won't be very happy if I'm late to this meeting." You nodded in understanding. "Ok but take this lunch I made with you." You pulled the nicely packaged meal from the fridge. Passing it to him. He smiled at it. "Of course, I will, thank you, dove." He gave you one last kiss before leaving.

You had wanted to stop by his office during lunch time, but the other knights told you he was busy. You thought that was odd since he didn't mention any meetings outside of a small one in the morning. You instead decided to go shopping, hoping to make him some dinner when he got back. That was when you were surprisingly approached by his good friend and co-worker Albedo.

"Hello, Y/n" Albedo greeted you. "Oh, hi Albedo." You look up at him, your tone slightly gloomy." He reached into his bag and pulled out an envelope. Confused, you took it and opened it. Inside was a note you began reading.

"Meet me at the Angel's share tavern for a surprise. - K.A."

Kaeya's initials... You closed the envelope, putting it in your pocket and moved on. You rushed to Angel's share, curious thoughts racing in your mind. 'What could he have planned?'

Upon entering the tavern, you immediately noticed the place seemed awfully empty. As you were looking around, you were approached by a familiar red head. "Hello, Y/n" You turned to face him, surprised but also happy to see him. "Hello Diluc!" He offered his hand to you and you took it as he led you upstairs. He brought you into a room you immediately recognized. "This is where..." "We spent our first Valentine's Day." You instantly perked up at the sound of your partner's voice. Looking over in his direction, you were immediately awestruck. The room had been decorated with some of your favorite flowers and f/c ribbons. Kaeya himself sat at the table dressed in a handsome suit, his eyes were trained on you, filled with love and adoration as always. He smiled at you, gesturing you closer. You obliged walking over to sit beside him. Ever the gentle man, he stood up to greet you, bowing and kissing your hand before pulling your seat for you. "Happy white day, my love."

Kaveh was always a very affectionate lover. Day after day he showered you with love and praise, always going the extra mile on days like Valentine's. It started in the morning when he woke you up so you two could have breakfast in bed together. You decided to do the same for him. Eggs, bacon, and toast with some ice water.

"Mornin' Kaveh!" You brought the tray of food in. "Good morning, baby." He mumbled, rubbing his eyes." You brought the tray over to put it on your bedside table. "Oh, thank you Love!" He smiled at you. The two of you cuddled and talk as you ate. The atmosphere was sweet and cozy. When he was done, Kaveh sat up. "Thank you for breakfast babe, but I have to get work on my newest project." He gave you a quick kiss. You heart sank and you pouted, "You can't cuddle some more?" "No, I'm sorry dearest." "Five more minutes?" "Ok, five more minutes."

He ended up staying for 30 before he finally insisted on getting up.

Sad, but not completely crushed, you got changed and left the house to pick up some gifts from the bazaar. Kaveh had insisted on going shopping with you, buying you everything you wanted. You bought him some sweets, flowers, and prepared the ingredients to make his favorite food. While you were browsing a bakery for some pastries, you bumped into a...familiar face.

"Y/n" You turned to face the source of the voice. "Hello, Alhaitham, good to see you." You smiled at him. He had his usual grumpy look on his face. "Kaveh needs you home." That honestly surprised you. While Kaveh being clingy wasn't an unusual thing, when working on projects, especially new ones, he often get's so focused his entire surroundings disappear.

You nodded and returned home.

Upon arrival, you were met with a sweet suprise.

"Happy white day, my love!" Every inch of the house was decorated too perfection. The dining table was filled with your favorite food. You smiled, running to give Kaveh the tightest hug. "Happy white day, Honey"

Like everyone else on this list Ajax was a very affectionate lover. While pretending to forget this day wasn't easy, he wase still able to pack a lot of special plans. Starting with good morning cuddles.

"Good morning my prince/princess/liege." You snuggled deeper into his chest to ignore the light from the sun. He chuckled, reaching his hand to your cheek. He left little pecks all over your face. You laughed.

Next thing was breakfast. Ajax insisted he be the one to cook that morning, making some of the best French toast you've ever eaten.

"MM!" You smiled as the sweet, buttery taste hit your tounge. "I'm guessing that's a hit?" You nodded; mouth still full of delicious goodness.

Next on the agenda was shopping. You guys visited every store that caught your eye. Nothing was too pricy; Ajax was filthy rich and he spoiled you rotten.

"What do you think of this outfit?" "It looks beautiful, dearest." "So should I get this one or the first one?" "Both."

Finally, and most important, you spent dinner with his family.

[purplekiwis]

𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒 (𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝟐)

Summary: An emergency admission to the hospital gives rise to a series of strange events in your life. By fate, when things take a dark turn, a unexplainable force leads you to Harry. The hospital's shy and perceptive botanist who will help you solve the frightening mystery that links the two of you together.

Genre: Witch AU / Soulmates AU (Green wizard Harry x Seer witch Y/N)

Warnings: Sexual Content (Sub-ish, soft Harry 🥺), Mild Cursing, Witchcraft and Demon Stuff (Nothing too crazy or disturbing, I promise)

Words: 10k

READ FIRST: PART 1

**

Y/N kissed Harry.

She kissed him – and he kissed her back, and they kept kissing until their lips had went numb and sore all the same… and then they went inside the house and cuddled each other to sleep. Bodies glued together despite their swimming clothes still feeling quite wet and sticky, and the usual pleasant scents of their skins being tarnished with the chemically one of chlorine. And it felt good. It felt so good… which is why Y/N was surprised when she woke up on aunt Rowena’s guest room all alone. Had she slept past the witching hour? That had never happened before… Well, except for the times she was sick or had one too many boozy drinks before bed.

Which wasn’t the case this time.

So, she’s guessing it can only have something to do with Harry, because that’s the only logical explanation. Maybe not him directly, but the calming capacities of his energy… and the way the smell of flowers, and freshly washed sheets dancing in the wind practically oozes from his pores. Because sure, they’d had a few cocktails last night, but not nearly enough to leave Y/N feeling tipsy… let alone tipsy enough to crash for the whole night without having to get up in the middle to be, well… a witch. Or to go for a wee. Which speaking of, Harry wasn’t in the en suite bathroom having one like Y/N had first assumed him to be…

She had rolled over in bed and clung to his pillow, giving him a few minutes to come back so that she could persuade him into coming to cuddle her for a bit longer… but the room was all too quiet.

She called for him and got no answer.

Her heart leapt at the thought that he might have slipped away in the middle of the night… frightened over what her aunt had told them hours before. Or worse, for regretting what had happened right afterwards… but his luggage was still sitting on the bedroom floor next to hers, so she figured it shouldn’t be that.

Before she got up and went looking for him however, Y/N checked her phone out of habit, only to find 4 missed calls and a bunch of unread texts from her best friend Margery, asking for a call back as soon as possible.

Y/N’s hand flew to her chest as she pressed the call button, already waiting for Margery to tell her that something had happened with Azura. The cat had a bad temper… and could act like a hell born little imp sometimes. Which was why Y/N usually never left her under anyone’s care for longer than a couple of hours… and this time it had been almost 10 consecutive days.

Luckily her worriment didn’t have time to escalate, as Margery answered the call after two rings with her usual cheery, gleeful tone. “Thank fuck you called! We were about to ring up Salem’s assembly and report you as a missing witch…”

Y/N winced slightly. “Where are you? It’s so static-y…”

“Oh sorry.” There was a shuffling noise from Margery’s side, and then her voice got clearer. “We’re at Pam’s house. Axl’s here too…” That got Y/N to smile, of course they were at Pam's house. In the middle of nowhere, where the phone network was horrible, and the internet was even worse. “Axl thought you had lost your mind for good and drove out of the country with some hot lesbian biker you had married in Vegas…”

“What?” She couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought. “Did you guys really think you'd get rid of me that easily?”

“Of course not, - Shit. Hold on, I think I lost you.” Margery's voice sounded robotic and far away, as if she were calling from inside a spaceship. Y/N figured she was probably bending over backwards to try to get even one line of signal inside Pam’s cottage, so she chose not to complain about it. “Sorry, I’m back – I don’t know for how long though so tell me everything! How’s Vegas? Have you gone out already? I bet there are so many hot normies there…”

“Hot normies.” Y/N snorted… and huffed and then biting her lip she mumbled “I’ve sort of met someone magical, so… can’t really say I’ve been looking.”

“Excuse me- WHAT?”

Margery’s shout pierced Y/N's eardrums, making her pull the phone away from her ear before she mumbled lowly, “I can't tell you the details right now because he might listen but-”

“He? Who is he? Is he there with you?”

“Um, well… yeah, I mean - I'm by myself right now but…” Y/N got up and walked to the bathroom, just to double check that she really was alone – and as soon as she realized that she was, the babble gushing began. “I don’t know what came over me last night. I just… kissed him, and I thought – I really thought he liked it at the time- but now I woke up and he isn’t here. What if he regretted it so much that he couldn't even stomach to look at me when he woke up?!”

“You’re freaking out for no reason… he’s probably in the bathroom taking a dump right as we speak.” Margery suggested, but Y/N denied that possibility immediately. She had checked the bathroom after all… – “Well then… maybe he’s an undercover vampire? You know they always have to skip the breakfast in bed part…”

“No, of course he’s not a bloody vampire!” Y/N hissed, trying to keep it quiet. “He works at the hospital, inside a greenhouse - under the sun.”

“Wait… you’re screwing the hospital guy?! Oh my god guys, she’s screwing the hospital guy!”

Y/N’s body froze in alarm. “Did you just-” There were laughs and rustling coming from the other end of the line. “Margery! When I tell you these things you are not supposed to let everyone know!” The girl grumbled, but the only response she got were more weird stirring noises and a shout letting her know that she was now on speaker. “…and I am not screwing him- It’s not like that…”

“It’s not like that?!” Axl’s voice broke through the speakers of the phone, his tone pitched with amusement. “Correct me if I’m wrong but weren’t you just bitching to Margery about having woke up alone? ‘Cause that seems to me like you went to bed… not alone.”

“We just… slept. Like people do. Every night.”

“Oh…” They sounded a little disappointed. “But why was he there with you anyway? We thought you went to visit your aunt because of that weird omen stuff you told us about…”

“No, I did but- there’s some other stuff going on also…”

“What stuff?”

Y/N huffed deeply, “Do you guys remember what went on at the hospital? With that old witch who ran away?”

“Yeah, what about it? You said you didn't know anything…”

“Yeah well… I didn’t, at the time.” That was a lie, but it was a harmless one. “To keep it short, we found out the witch made a deal with a demon before she ran away… and we’ve decided to investigate a little. We’re meeting with a demonologist today, actually-”

“Wait, wait, wait… you’re meaning to tell us you have been messing with demon stuff without us? That’s whack, Y/N! You know how much we love to read about black magic and all that forbidden, creepy stuff…”

“Oh I know, which is exactly I didn’t tell you… No offense but you’d get too excited and end up doing something careless that would get us all killed…”

“When are you coming back? We should meet at Bones and Burgers just so you could run us through everything… and bring your doctor friend too! We’d like to meet him.”

“No, we won't- do that.” Y/N hissed, feeling flustered. “I told you before that he’s shy. I don’t think he would do well in that kind of environment. It’s too crowded.”

“Come onnnn… are you serious? So, that’s how it’s going to be? You get a little boytoy and now you’re going to start putting us aside…?”

“He’s not my-” Y/N wheezed on the defense, but the muffled laughter that followed had her realizing her friends were just trying to get her riled up. She threw her head back and squeezed the bridge of her nose, eager to move past the topic. “Look, unless you guys happen to know any magical ways to discover the old witch's hideout, there's nothing that you can do to help.” The sudden silence on their part alarmed her… because it was telling that they were starting to consider. “It was a joke, okay? You are absolutely forbidden to go poke into the matter!”

“But-” Their voices sounded simultaneously.

“No! I am not doing this with you. I said what I said. I don’t want you guys getting involved, and that’s the end of the story!” A light knock on the bedroom door interrupted Y/N’s speech, giving her the perfect excuse to hang up without further discussion. “I have to go now, someone’s at my door.”

“No, wait-” They still tried, but Y/N cut them off.

“Don’t forget to check Azura’s litter box, she’s very picky about it. I’ll talk to you soon, bye-bye.” She didn’t give them time to reply before pressing the button to end the call. Her shoulders slumped, trying to push back the unnerving thought that had just come to mind. Would she really get to talk to her friends soon?

Another soft knock on the door brought Y/N back to the reality of the bedroom she was in. “Come in.” She called, with expectant eyes stuck on the gaping door, from where Harry’s curl-framed head popped in just the slightest. “Oh, hi. You can come in, silly.” She added, smiling curiously at how reticent he seemed to be from walking inside, even though she’d given him permission.

He finally walked in, closing the door behind him with a delicate thud. “Sorry, I thought I’d heard you talking to someone and didn’t want to interrupt.”

“It’s okay. I was just about to hang up anyway.” Y/N said as Harry sat down on the edge of the bed beside her. “Have you been up for a long time?”

“Just about half an hour, I think.”

“Where did you go?”

“I forgot to charge my phone overnight and it died. It’s why I got up, ´cause I went to check the time on the wall clock. I was planning to come back, but then I bumped into your aunt and uh… I don't know how she knew, but she knew I liked plants, so she offered to show me a few books,” Y/N’s eyes squinted out of strangeness… as far as she knew, her aunt didn't care much for plants, so why should she have- “and then showed me your old photo books as well.”

She groaned, taking her hands to her eyes. “You weren’t supposed to see those photos…”

“Why not?” Harry frowned slightly. “I liked them. Especially the ones from daycare where you were playing outside with a bunch of huge snails… those were cute.”

Y/N laughed a little at the memory. When she was younger, she went through a phase where she was obsessed with snails and slugs - much to her mother's dismay, because she always wanted to take them home to keep as pets. She made moss beds for them, fed them leaves, and even gave them baths. It was a gross little hobby… but she was happy like that.

“See… that’s embarrassing.” Y/N fretted. “No one ever wanted to play with me ‘cause I was always covered in snail goo.”

“It’s not.” Harry averred. “I swear if we were at daycare together, I would’ve loved to play with your snails. I wouldn’t ask obviously ‘cause I was even more awkward as a kid, but I would’ve sat by myself in the corner wishing you'd come ask if I wanted to play too.”

“You aren’t awkward, you’re just quiet… it’s not the same thing.” She told, scooting a little closer to him on the bed before she added, “Awkward would be when I started having a crush on you and asking if you wanted to play house and be my pretend husband – and father of our snail babies, of course.”

Harry smiled bashfully towards the floor, shrugging one shoulder. “I mean… I think I’d said yes ‘cause I would’ve had a crush too - unless you were a mean kid and not anything like you are nowadays.”

“Are you flirting with me?” Y/N asked with a giddy laugh as she fiddled with her fingers - twisting and untwisting them before her eyes jumped up to gawk at Harry, whose cheeks had just mottled a vibrant shade of pink, perhaps pinker than she had ever seen them before. “I’d like it if you were, but if not, then that’s okay too…” She added through a hesitant bite of her lip.

Harry snickered, still looking rather bashful. “I don’t know how to flirt,” His voice wavered, and then came out in a hurried murmur. “But if I did, then I would- with you, all the time.”

As it turns out, the address aunt Rowena gave Harry and Y/N led to a two-story house surrounded by a tall picket fence in a quiet residential enclave of Henderson.

The first thing Y/N took notice of was that the place didn’t look like an evil lair or an abandoned cottage like she thought it would… you know, with the whole skulls dangling from the front porch's ceiling, a spooky pumpkin patch in the back and a scarecrow a little too realistic for anyone to feel comfortable turning their back to it sort of deal. – As far as the second thing goes, it was that this Lord Darkmore persona didn't look nothing like she was expecting a demon expert to.

She had pictured a severe looking man, dressed in black clothes, with maybe some scars or eccentric tattoos on his face and neck that screamed 'Watch out: I’m into some real funky stuff' – Not a toned-looking wizard picking weeds from the lawn of his garden in a piping tracksuit and reeboks.

The brown skin of his face gleamed like bronze under the sun, long braids were tied in a bun atop of his head to keep them away from his face. He was rather attractive and didn’t look a day older than 47 – what put him right up Y/N’s aunt’s alley when it came to her favored choice of romantic flings. Y/N doesn't want to imagine her relative and this man together like that, but her intuition is hinting that they’re both into fuzzy handcuffs and blindfolds for some reason and she’s having a hard time pushing that undesired information back.

“Mr. Bellamy?” Y/N called, what immediately caught the wizard's attention. He straightened his back up and quickly rubbed his hands together to wipe the dirt off what she was assuming would be heavily calloused fingers. Then, at lazy pace, he began to approach the fence's gate, stopping a couple of feet from the visitors. “Hi, um…” The girl greeted a little gracelessly. “My name is Y/N and this is my friend Harry - we’re here because-“

“I don’t do autographs or take pictures.” He interrupted before she could finish. “The two of you can piss right off my property.”

“No, that’s not why-“ Y/N shook her head quickly, following him around from outside the picket fence. “My aunt, Rowena,” She raised her voice an octave, hoping the name would manage to get his attention back. “She recommended your services because – well, it’s a complicated story but we were sort of caught upon an evil-purposed summoning situation and we were hoping tha-”

“Reena has a niece?” The wizard questioned, seemingly disregarding all words spoken in favor of trying to find any physical similarities between Y/N and her aunt. Spoiler alert, he probably wouldn’t be finding many. “I didn’t know she had family around… I could swear she told me she was orphaned.”

Harry frowned at the news, guessing he was about to witness a similar reaction from his friend. “Yeah, I can sort of picture her doing that…” He heard her say instead. Rowena must've had her reasons. There’s no better way out of introducing a partner to the family, than pretending not to have one, right?

“So, um… Mr. Bellamy…” Y/N insisted, taking advantage of the additional moment of attention he had spared them. “I know your schedule is probably very busy, but we are open to pay extra for out of hours consultation if need to. We've been searching everywhere for someone like you, who is highly knowledgeable in demonology and well, since my aunt said you were the best, we thought-”

“You are not going to pay for my services.” Mr. Bellamy said decidedly, and Y/N almost breathed out in relief. They might have saved some money by staying at her aunt’s house, but she knew that an emergency appointment with the uppermost demon expert should cost, at least, about a week's worth of motel stays. “Because I’m not offering services.” The man deadpanned, making Harry and Y/N’s smiles close in an instant. “I've retired from that stuff. I don't have the patience to deal with any more demons or magical circles, so sorry… but you’ll have to go find another door to knock on.” He finished, before turning his back on them and beginning to stumble towards the door of the house.

“What happened to your leg?” Harry inquired out loud, causing Y/N’s eyes to widen. He usually never let out as much as a peep around strangers, so she was quite shocked he had chosen to question Mr. Bellamy on his limp so carefreely.

The man paused midway, not bothering to look back. “Ailments from the past.” He replied drearily. “But that’s none of your business.”

“Actually,” The usual raspy tone of Harry’s voice went slightly sharper from desperation. “I can prep you a remedy that will make it go away if you help us out.” He proposed, knowing this was the last chance the two had before they got shut out for good.

The man guffawed humorlessly, turning around with difficulty. Y/N hadn’t realized just how bad the state of the man’s leg was until Harry commented on it. He limped quite a lot. Judging by his movements, it looked like his leg had been swapped by a tree trunk - Constantly stuck to the ground and refusing to move along with the rest of his frame. “I’ve tried dozens of different meds and analgesics… they never changed a thing. Why would yours be any different?”

“Because you’ve been trying to cure a Maleficium injury with non-magic drugs.” Harry’s sure answer surprised Mr. Bellamy, but oddly, the verdict did not seem all that unforeseen to him. “I’m guessing you know that already…” Harry supposed, “You just haven’t done anything about it because you’ve been marked by whoever evil entity did that to you, and now you’re scared of the repercussions of our people finding out you work with forbidden magic.”

The man’s pink tongue darted out to lick his lips that had gone a little dry from the morning sun, but there was a gleam of interest in his eyes. “Who are you?” He asked Harry. “Some type of witch doctor?”

“I prefer the term botanist, but yes.” Harry said brightly, taking a step closer to the fence and placing his hands in between two spiky boards. “We wouldn't be taking up too much of your time, just enough to ask you a few questions and in return, I'll make you an effective medicine to treat your leg. I will need to go get some ingredients to make it first, but tomorrow it should be ready… all we ask for is a couple of minutes of your morning.”

“And how do I know you're not just saying that to get a free consultation?”

“You have my word, Mr. Bellamy.” Harry said seriously, like he truly believed that should be enough to appease his worries. “Besides, I’m always interested in helping people feel better if I can.”

The man's distrust seemed to melt at the genuineness of Harry's green gaze, and after a moment, with a deep sigh, he gave in. “Lock the gate on your way inside. I’m not looking for any more unexpected visitors.”

Y/N and Harry both couldn't contain a little jolt of accomplishment that rushed through their bodies as they hurried to unlock the gate and follow the man inside his house.

It wasn’t like Y/N was ever not wanting to kiss Harry, but right then the urge to lurch herself into his arms and push their lips together to show him just how much she appreciated what he did was almost uncontrollable. He was so hot – in his own shy, soft, ingenuous ways, and what made it even more endearing was that she had a feeling he had absolutely zero notion of that fact, let alone of how much Y/N had been itching to tell him how remarkably perfect in every sense of the word she thought he was.

She had tried to pay him little compliments at times, but his reactions were always somewhere between embarrassment and apprehension, what admittedly made her heart ache a little - that he doubted himself so much that he refused to accept a compliment with a simple 'thank you'.

Now wasn’t the time to be focusing of that though…

Because they were about to enter the home of a stranger who knew a shit ton about demons and probably a lot of hazardous spells as well.

The home wasn’t as ostentatious and time-honored as aunt Rowena’s mansion, but it was still ritzy enough to make someone feel like they should cross their legs and mind their posture as they sat on one of the green leather sofas of the living room.

“Alright then… tell me what your problem is.” The demonologist challenged as he planted himself on one of the other sofas and reached for the Marlboros perched on the side table. He tried to stifle a hiss of pain as he did so, but the unavoidable wincing of his face let it show that there was likely a sharp pungency running through his leg as he bent.

A short, expected silence followed his question, in which Y/N hem and hawed for a moment whilst staring at Harry, who only granted her a soft nod as silent encouragement. “Um… okay, well-” She spoke first, guessing that Harry would prefer for her to go over the knotty storytelling part. “Basically, what happened was that we found that a dark witch has summoned a demon back at the magic community where we live. We don’t know exactly what kind of deal she made with it – but what we do know is that innocent creatures and people have been hurt.” Y/N took a deep breath and glanced at Harry again. “We need to send this demon back to where it came from, but the catch is that- um… the casting circle has been… wiped out?”

“So?” The expert shrugged, blowing out the cigarette smoke lodged in his mouth.

“So…” Her tongue prolonged the vowel. “…what do we do?”

The man looked confused by the question, until the recognition that he was talking to absolute newbies sank. “You two know jack-shit about demons, don’t you?” He pumped the question, although he had already figured the answer before the two were nodding their heads. “You make a new circle – and then, trick the demon into coming to you with the promise of a better bargain than the one offered by his previous summoner. Demons are not loyal to the ones who work with them. They are selfish and hoggish – a demon won’t hesitate to break a contract if it believes it can chalk up more than they were promised beforehand.”

“Oh.” Y/N’s brows jumped with the realization. “I guess we hadn’t really considered that faking a deal with the devil could be a possibility…”

“If we’re going to be doing that, what kind of deal are we meant to propose?” Harry inquired timidly. “Cause that got me thinking… if the promise should be that much more enticing, won't the demon realize it's a frame-up straight away?” He speculated further.

“Yes, certainly.” Mr. Bellamy confirmed. “Usually, a tribute of magic blood is enough to lure them in. There’s two of you. That means two disparate blood tributes – what should already make it all more enticing…” Harry eyed Y/N for a moment. His see-through expression letting her in on the fact that he thought she was about to balk out on him at the news - that maybe the whole blood tribute part was too much for her to handle.

And granted, maybe having to drain her own blood and offer it to a demon on a silver platter was a bit more than Y/N had been expecting, but still not nearly enough to scare her away. Now that she is thinking about it, there’s nothing really that could have come out of Mr. Bellamy’s mouth that would scare her away from the game plan… Because as long as she’s got Harry by her side, she thinks she can do anything – walk on blazing coals, kayak over a waterfall, swim with great white sharks – you name it, and she’d do in a heartbeat because they’re…

Soulmates?

And well, maybe this is really unideal time to realize that perhaps she has found her soulmate, but doesn’t it also always happen somewhat like that in movies?

Y/N reached between their bodies and locked her fingers together with Harry’s, giving a sure squeeze as a subtle indication that she wasn’t planning on leaving anytime soon. He squeezed back. “Let's say we succeed in attracting this demon for bargain… what’s next?”

“You'll have to snare him and perform the expulsion ritual… but first things first –which demon is it that you are trying to send back to the Abyss?” Y/N and Harry traded a panicky look between them at the question, the man sighed with disgruntlement. “You don’t know? What kind of magic people are you?”

The girl swallowed before she replied. “Good magic people?”

“Okay, well – good magic people,” Mr. Bellamy repeated derisively. “You have to know which demon has ascended to send him back. Without a name there is nothing that can be done.”

“But- we weren’t there when it was summoned… how are we going to discover its name?”

His gaze swiveled between the two. “Do you know who the spell caster was?”

“Yes-” Harry answered with more certainty than he truly had. “Or well, at least we think we do.”

“Well then – that’s a good place to start. Track them – cage them – put them through the wringer – torture the name out of them if need to. That’s what I would do.” He said nonchalantly, smiling smugly once he noticed the utter horror that had washed over their features. “But of course, the good magic people aren’t keen on using any torture spells…” His mouth curled mockingly, but when Y/N was about to snap at him for being rude over their lack of knowledge when it wasn’t their fault that black magic teaching has been banned in schools since 1977, he wiped the jeer off his face and went serious.

“Alright. Here’s what you’re going to do… You’ll work on finding that demon’s name… and as soon as you do, you call me. – I have a list with the names of the demons I’ve met or heard of in the past that might be helpful. Now, I can’t guarantee the one you are looking for is in that list, but it may be, since there aren’t that many demons willing to come to our world – the ones who do are usually the ones who once lived among us, as they have a human form to come back to and don't have to borrow someone else's body.”

“You want us to call you? Why? I thought you had retired…” Y/N questioned intently, finding it somewhat strange that Mr. Bellamy was making himself available to carry on helping them through the expelling ritual. She hadn’t been counting on that – hell, after the way he greeted them at the door, she had been expecting nothing but for him to spit out some basic tips and tricks and send them on their way with a mind full of unanswered questions and maybe a threat or two that something bad was going to happen if they failed to bring him his remedy the next day.

“I did retire.” The man huffed heavily, rubbing lazily at his scruff. “But quite frankly, with your lack of knowledge and artlessness, it would be a danger to society for me to allow you to go and perform a ritual without assistance from someone who knows what they’re doing. Else ways, you’ll end up getting killed and devoured before you manage to utter out a single spell word.” His lips twitched into a tight smile at their glowers. That hurt. It really did - but despite the heavy bruising done on their egos, neither Harry or Y/N had the mind or the gut to contest Mr. Bellamy on his, most likely accurate, belief. “If you’re going to stick to that favor you promised earlier, I'm willing to help with your problem until that’s sorted… if and only if that remedy proofs to be as effective as you claim it to be.”

The first thing Harry and Y/N did after leaving Mr. Bellamy’s house was go for a walk around downtown Las Vegas.

The goal was to go and visit some witchcraft shops and plant nurseries throughout the afternoon, so that hopefully Harry could get the missing items he needed to make Mr. Bellamy's medicine.

It wasn't so hard to find wizardry shops in Las Vegas. It was a big city for magic practice, after all… Even despite the large number of posers pretending to be real occultists – like the astrologers and psychics offering miracle cures for all kinds of love and money problems. Those could be spotted at practically every city corner, the real deal witchcraft places, on the contrary, were usually the most clandestine and the ones who didn’t have social media pages washed in witchy vibes, aesthetic-like pictures, and made-up pentagram designs.

Before hitting the shops however, Y/N had managed to convince Harry to go visit the Las Vegas Neon Museum… well, convince might not be the right word, since all she had to do really was let out an excited gasp at the sight and stare at him with her lower lip puffed out a little bit.

It was a fun time of roaming around and taking lots of pictures - Harry even insisted that she would let him take pictures of her next to her favorite signs, and she managed to take some of him as well, although most of them were when he was distracted because he kept hiding his face and claiming he didn't like to get his pictures taken, although he still managed to look adorable in each one.

Speaking of adorable, Y/N had also been secretly hoping she would stumble upon some stones to make matching gem necklaces for her and Harry. She had been aiming for Amethyst, a soothing gem that mollifies negative energy and alleviates feelings of anxiety, something that she had realized that Harry had plenty of, paired with Aventurine, because in addition to being a protective and luck-bringing stone, it also happened to be almost the exact shade of Harry’s eyes – green, with a silvery blue sheen. Just thinking about how pretty it would look on him was enough to make her feel giddy throughout the whole day, so it was no surprise that when she happened to find some at the back of a witchcraft emporium, it became a real struggle not to let her excitement show.

They were a bit expensive compared to the ones Margery usually ordered from her regular supplier, but Y/N wasn't worried about the money… She wanted to have the necklaces done before her and Harry had any sort of contact with this demon, hoping that the extra protection from the stones would help them stay connected and grounded throughout the ritual. She wasn't going to tell him about these plans though, wanting to surprise him with a little gift just like he did with the magic tree he had given her at the hospital.

“Hey, do you think your aunt has a pestle and mortar at home? I’m gonna need some to crush these indigo milk caps later.” Harry wondered out loud behind her, shaking the transparent bag of plump mushrooms in his hand. His voice startled her off her bones a little. She hadn’t heard him coming, figuring he should still be distracted gathering things in the aisle where she had discreetly abandoned him at so that she could come pick her stones.

“Uh… yeah! I think she should…” Y/N stammered, covertly hiding her hands behind her back, since they were thronged with not only the gemstones, but also some complementary beads and wire she was planning to braid into a support net. “I mean, I think all magic people do, don’t they? Even I have one at home, despite never using it…”

“Hm, yeah… you’re probably right.” Harry agreed, glancing back at her with a curious smile as he picked and tossed a jar of something into the shopping basket hanging from his arm. “Why are you perching against the shelves like you’re trying to hide something from me?” He asked with a comical scrunch of his brows.

“It’s ‘cause I am.” She admitted bluntly instead of welshing the topic, leaning farther back so that Harry couldn't get a peek even though she doubted he would try. “It’s just a gift I’m getting for a friend.”

“Oh? Okay.” His voice sounded somber, maybe even a little doleful. “Why can’t I see?” From the way his eyes widened, she realized that the question came to him without thinking and that he immediately regretted having let it slip away. “I’m sorry. You don't have to answer that, I know I have nothing to do with it…”

“No, it’s okay.” Y/N assured with a small laugh, finding it amusing how he had so quickly assumed her secrecy did not concern him. He couldn’t be any more wrong, obviously, but she was glad he wasn't the least bit suspicious. “It’s something I have yet to make… I don't want you to see until the final product.” She told, knowing it would make her life easier if she could tell Harry what she was going to be doing instead of having to come up with silly excuses for sneaking away while he was preparing Mr. Bellamy’s potion. If he agreed not to peek, perhaps she could even make the necklaces while keeping him company in the kitchen. “I promise I’ll show you once it’s finished.” She said earnestly. It was meant for him anyway - he just couldn’t know that part yet.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to…” He said quietly, not averting his stare away from the items displayed in front of him. What ultimately was making Y/N a little worried that he might have taken her secrecy as lack of trust or something silly like that, since there was nothing particularly interesting or attention grabbing in those shelves - just a stack of sand timers and keepsake boxes – and yet, his eyes remained settled on them like glue.

“I want to.” Y/N assured as she began to walk the aisle backwards to the front of the shop, where the cashier was. “I'm just going to pay this, but I'll come back in a second to help you get the rest of your stuff.”

“Okay.” Harry nodded. “I’m almost done too, but I’ll wait here until you get back.”

He stuck to his promise, continuing to wander the aisles at the back of the emporium, picking this and that until the small list of ingredients in his hand had been fully scrawled in check marks. Y/N helped him pack and carry the bags outside, even though he insisted that she didn’t have to.

As they walked the sidewalk away from the storefront, the pair was still quarrelling back and forth over who was to carry whose shopping bags… until suddenly Harry gawked up at the sky, noticing a falling object cutting swiftly through the air – seemingly, aiming right at their heads. “Wow- watch out!” He yelped, right as he reached for Y/N's arm and swung her aside. His free hand raised instinctively to his face to shield it from what he was sure would be a painful strike, but much to his surprise the object flew right into his open palm - as if it were a piece of candy purposely sent into his hands for him to grasp. Y/N winced at first, guessing it had been one of those creepy black beetles that Nevada seemed to be infested with as of lately, but surprisingly, when Harry opened his hand, what she saw wasn’t an icky little bug. It was… a glass pebble? Of the grave covering kind.

The two of them scowled up at the sky, just in time to catch a glimpse of the feathered offender - cawing and hovering at the distance. “…That’s funny.” Y/N stated.

“Funny?” Harry scoffed, going all grumpy in the face. “You would have gotten hurt bad if that thing hit you, Y/N.”

“No, I know but… the pebble. It’s from a gravestone, I think.” The boy frowned at her statement, still looking rather upset over the situation. “I haven’t seen one of those since my grandpa passed away. That’s why I thought it was funny… in like, a bizarre way.”

“Hm.” Harry drawled, moving the stone around. “So what does it mean, then?”

“Huh… that there’s probably a graveyard close by…?”

“No, I know but- what does it really mean? Like, why would it drop it here?” Harry emphasized, rolling the glossy, purple-colored pebble around his palm. “Wasn’t aunt Rowena saying to pay attention to behaviors that are out there? Well then, does this qualify as out there? I mean… how often do crows drop graveyard pebbles over your head?”

Y/N’s lips puffed out in thought. “Never, I guess? But crows like shiny things, and they sit around graveyards all the time, so… my guess is that it picked the pebble because it liked it and then ended up deciding it didn’t want to keep carrying it around all day…” The witch shrugged nonchalantly, continuing to walk alongside Harry on the sidewalk with her shopping bag swinging at her side. “Besides what special could there be about a graveyard anyway? Only human bodies are buried there… not demons. Fine, Mr. Bellamy did say that the demons who come around Earth are the ones who have been human before because-“ She paused, taking in her own words. “…they still have their old bodies to come back to.”

Her body reeled abruptly, and so did her grip on the bags that soon dropped to her feet. “Harry, that’s it!” She bounced, grabbing his face and planting a loud smooch on his lips, leaving him staring back at her with stunned eyes and rosy cheeks. “I could smother you in kisses right now, you whiz! Only we have a demon headstone to go find, so that’s probably going to have to wait a little while…”

Harry’s nod came out befuddled as he witnessed Y/N pick the bags off the floor, grab his hand and usher him into a quieter downtown alley, only letting go so she could fish her phone out the pocket of her jeans. “Alright then, let’s see what Google Maps has to say about graveyards in the area.”

The nearest cemetery was an 11 minute drive away.

There was a gravedigger working nearby, and by the single look he had spared, Harry and Y/N were figuring he had taken them as a duo of tombstone tourists. Perhaps it was just due to their non conservative outfit choices or the wicked energy their bodies gave off, but his gaze felt a teensy bit judging - slightly curious too once he witnessed their eyes bouncing between Mr. Bellamy’s demon name list and the tomb rows ahead of them, possibly looking like two very confused people that had arrived at the wrong destination… but after a few seconds of glancing, the careerist seemed rather unphased by their presence.

“Okay, so-” Y/N soughed out loud as she walked aimlessly around the place. “I was thinking we should compare the names to the epitaphs on the gravestones – also, maybe keep an eye open for the ones with decorations of some kind, because that could have been a hint as well.”

“How many options are we looking at exactly?” Harry asked, peeking over her shoulder to stare at the list. His eyes swelled in size at the long record he was presented with. Y/N hadn’t bothered counting but there had to be more than 150 names in there, without a doubt. “Does this mean we are going to have to run through all these names by each grave looking for a match?” Harry asked diffidently, eyes locked straight ahead at scope of never-ending headstones.

“I know, it’s a lot…” Y/N exhaled harshly, on board with his frustration. The graveyard was huge. This could take ages upon ages, and to make things even worse there were only a few more hours of sunlight until nightfall - and nobody wants to be in a cemetery after dark. Not even wizards. “But I think that in a little while we will have most of the names memorized, and it will become easier.”

“Can I make a silly suggestion?” Harry queried, twisting his body so that he was facing Y/N as he walked. “What happens if you look… inside, and ask your instinct where it is?”

The witch chuckled at the suggestion, shaking her head. “You place way too much trust in my abilities, did you know that? I’ve told you before, I’m not a good Seer. I was never even that much of a talented witch, let alone-”

“Stop that!” Harry scolded, what brought both of them to a halt. “Do you even realize that without you and your abilities I would have never, ever made it halfway to where we are now? You are so clever! And you have the craziest… most fascinating powers! And on top of that you are also so, so incredibly brave - you really are. It takes my breath away. You take my breath away.” He mumbled the last part, as if his heart had been itching to say those words for a while, but his head was still reticent in putting them out in the open. “So, for once just… try to put as much trust in yourself as I do, please.”

There were emotional tears forming in Y/N's eyes at what Harry had said. She couldn’t classify the exact reason why, but she knew the unshakable confidence he was placing in her was to blame. “I’m just scared I’ll get it wrong. I don’t want to disappoint you… or myself.” She admitted, hurriedly wiping at her eyes with her wrist. “I don’t want to screw things up by relying on something so… fractious.”

Harry reached for Y/N's wrist, so that she was facing him. “That could never happen. You could never disappoint me.” He assured, smiling just as softly as his fingers felt tracing the skin of her arm. “I promise that even if you weren't a Seer, I'd still suggest following our intuition first… you know, anything to avoid leg working this whole yard…” He joshed, causing a smile to start pulling at her mouth, regardless of the tears that the sunlight had not yet dried, still shimmering up her features. “But seriously though, if it doesn’t work all we have to do is go back to the original plan, but for now… you’re spearheading.”

“Alright fine.” The witch huffed, handing Harry the list so that she could relax her body to the fullest and focus on her insights thoroughly. She could detect traces of otherworldly energy in the surroundings… uncovering their source, however, was proving to be befuddling like a riddle. Furthermore, she tried pinching her eyes in concentration, guessing that maybe her attraction to Harry was what was messing with her focus.

His face was very distracting, especially so when his pretty green blinders were fixed on her like they were then… but even with her eyes shut tight, no matter which way she turned, the orientations ended up only leaving her more frustrated – if she took a tentative step to the left, her intention said right, but then, right as she went right, it said left. “It’s not working!” Y/N puffed her cheeks, grumbling her way around another unintentional pirouette. “I can feel the stupid energy, but it's not dragging me anywhere!”

She had noticed Harry had gone strangely silent, but thought nothing of it while she blindly did a few more experimental shifts and turns in place. Huffing and puffing beneath her breath each time she tried something new (like diagonals and so) and ended up not getting any decisive results again.

“Y/N, I’m not trying to spook you or anything, but…” Harry started hesitantly, the rasp of his voice startled her some, but there was a weirdly positive intonation to it that made her open her eyes in question. “I think you might have led us to the right place without realizing while you were distracted talking to me…” He beamed, verifying the writing on the paper, despite already having done it multiple times while Y/N had been spinning and turning nowhere and everywhere like a blind dog in a meat market. “I'm not misreading this, am I? This name,” He pressed his digit over it on the print. “Is what’s engraved right there, isn't it?”

“Alastair Krauss…” A chilling, unsettling feeling lodged in Y/N's stomach at the profession of that name. She didn’t know if it was legitimate or just from suggestion effect, but there was no denying that everything was starting to feel much more real now… It might sound odd but, until that point in time, it had been easy for her to ignore the scary, threatening parts that would inevitably come from this demon hunt – hell, there were moments during the weekend where she had almost forgotten that her purpose in Vegas wasn’t just to have a fun, short little getaway. Now that she could finally annex a name to the monster though, all fears had briskly awakened from the subdued slumber they had been in for the past days.

The stone inscription below the demon’s name still made her snort though, finding it to be awfully amusing that someone had picked “Have faith we'll meet again” as a saying to honor someone who ended up turning into an evil spirit who still came back to Earth from time to time to ruin people’s lives. That made her wonder if it ever happened that demons ran into people who had once shared the Earth-life experience with them prior to their passing… even if it did happen though, it was unlikely it should be happening to this demon, considering that according to his headstone, he had died in 1927 at the precocious age of 38.

Therefore, all the people he could have met during his human life should already be dead or old enough not to recognize any of his features anymore. Y/N found herself eager to know what Alastair had been like during his previous life and wondering what beastly events could have led him into becoming the creature he now was… One thing was certain, he must not have been the epitome of a treasure man if his soul ascension rights had been ripped away from him - limiting him into dwelling between worlds as a lost soul until the devil had chosen to welcome him as one of their own.

Y/N and Harry were currently in aunt Rowena’s kitchen.

That wasn’t shy in pink nor in size like every other house space of the mansion. The focal piece of the room was a T-shaped island - a long counter that ended with a perpendicular breakfast area with padded high stools. All of the state-of-the-art appliances in it were tucked to the walls or perched over the room-surrounding counters. They weren’t the latest models in the market, but rather expensive brands known for their excellence and guarantee to last practically a lifetime. Where the counter ended, was the back door that led to the garden and the pool, and right in front of the sink, was a half round window that overlooked the busy Las Vegas Strip.

“Do you think we should’ve called Mr. Bellamy right when we found out who the demon was?” Y/N asked Harry from her seat on the breakfast counter, that she had outlined as off limits for him to cross until she was done with her supersecret matters, like Harry had begrudgingly been addressing them from the moment she refused to tell him what it was. She had also made him swear not to peek behind the long floral centerpiece perched on the kitchen island to check what she was doing, and so far, he had kept true to his promise.

“I don't think he was going to do anything about it until we gave him the potion anyway…” Harry replied from where he stood over the stove, currently grating some ginger into the bubbling concoction he was cooking in a cauldron over the electric stove. “I really hope this works, otherwise I think the demon will be the least of our problems… Mr. Bellamy is a bit scary too, don't you think?”

“Well, yeah but as scary as the demon… or Lucinda. We haven't decided what to do with her yet. Evil witches like her shouldn't be running around loose.”

Y/N's statement was followed by a ringing. Harry's phone that was buzzing over the countertop. He grabbed it, and immediately his eyebrows furled. “Can you keep an eye on the cauldron for a bit? I have to take this call.”

“Yeah, of course.” She confirmed, and so Harry walked past the back door into the garden. Leaving her alone with her eyes stuck on the cauldron, wishing with her entire heart that whatever was brewing in it didn't start acting up now because if it did, hell… she wouldn't know what to do besides screaming for help.

But luckily everything remained calm, so Y/N went back to her crafts again. She was almost done anyway…

And so it was, after a couple more minutes the two pendants laid finished over the marble tabletop. Y/N smiled proudly at them. The nets weren't perfect like the ones Margery made, but they were almost there. Inside each net were two small complementing gemstones: Amethyst – dotted in hues of purple and lavender, and Aventurine – shimmering in shades of aquatic green.

She jumped to hide them in one of her pockets, however, when Harry's voice startled her suddenly. “The hospital called.” He’d said solemnly. Y/N couldn't make neither head nor tail of his expression. His features looked stony, almost impassive… like he was still trying to process something that had been said to him.

“Oh.” She sputtered, a little surprised. “Do they- do they want you to come back to work earlier or something?”

“No- I mean… yes, partly but…” He hesitated for what felt like a prolonged moment. His arms unconsciously wrapped around his frame, seeking for the comfort the latest news had stripped him of. “Something happened.”

The girl’s eyes bulged for answers. “What. What happened?”

Harry took a big breath, leaning against the stove counter just so he was facing her. “They uh… they admitted a witch there last night whose body showed signs of dark magic bewitching… like the ones we found on Mrs. Carrington last week.” Harry briefed, with a crestfallen gleam in his eyes. “Apparently, she was known to have quite a hostile relationship with Lucinda too… a certain Althea Morelli…”

Y/N’s fists closed pressingly over the tabletop. “Hostile in what sense, exactly?”

“I don’t know… but if Lucinda bargained for a demon to attack her, I suspect it wasn’t in the harmless type of way.” He sighed sorely. “They said there have been others… all within a close ratio, which I thought was odd until I remembered that back at the hospital, you’d read from a book that entities usually don’t operate within very large distances.”

Harry rushed to his bag to get a pen and the pamphlet on Nevada’s main attractions that had been given to him at the Neon Museum reception, that happened to include a foldable map of the area. “As far as people from the hospital know, there has been 3 attacks so far… Althea Morelli,” He leant over the island counter and circled the area of Boulder City on the map, where their magic community was located. “One in Paradise, and one other here in Las Vegas.” He scribbled those areas in the map as well. “I’m thinking Althea must have been the first… that Lucinda might have summoned the demon for the purpose of… doing away with her, so to say. And the others, well… they could have been her enemies too, or innocent people who are being tailed as human sacrifices.”

Already fearing the answer, Y/N’s eyes lifted from the map to face him. “…Did they succeed? In doing away with Althea.” Harry’s jaw clenched as he nodded solemnly. “Dear god…” The tragic news prompted the witch to get up from the kitchen chair, hoping the action would help calm the sudden queasiness that had taken over her. “This is insane…” She buried her face in her hands, walking around in circles. “How many? How many more innocent lives could that heinous, hideous witch be willing to take?”

The silence settled for a few beats, the only sound heard inside the room being the steady bubbling coming from Harry’s cauldron. “I keep thinking about it, you know?” He spoke. “And just… wondering what would’ve happened if I had stayed a little longer at the greenhouse that night. And every time I do, I feel horrible… like I could’ve- should’ve stopped Lucinda somehow.“

“Harry…” Y/N’s soft voice attempted to disrupt his speaking, as she rushed to meet him on the opposite side of the kitchen island.

“No, Y/N.” He shook his head, adamantly. “I know what you're going to say. None of this is my fault and there was nothing I could have done to stop it. And I know that, rationally speaking, you’re right. I know, but that is still not how it feels. It’s not how I feel.”

And then it happened… it was sudden and without warning. It started with a dry sob, followed by another. Harry’s heart rate quickened, the wind pipe in his throat tightened, causing his breaths to become quicker, shorter, and labored. His chest started to heave. His hands wrapped tightly around the counter’s edge. The simple act of breathing seemed hard for him… painfully hard.

“This is m-my fault. People are d-dead and it’s my fault.” He spat amidst painful sobs and unregulated inhales. Y/N noticed that his words were almost an exact repetition of those he uttered in between cries on the day of the attack on the hospital. Had he been feeling this way back then too?

She felt terrified. She desperately wanted to do something - anything to make him feel better, but she didn’t know what to do. “Harry,” She called for him, trying her hardest to keep her voice soothing and not panic herself. “Talk to me… tell what you need.” The girl asked, but he couldn't seem to hear over whatever turmoil was happening inside his head. Unthinkingly, she reached for his hand, that was still curled in a tight grip around the marble surface. “Squeeze my hand. Let’s try breathing together, okay?”

He held her fingers in his, squeezing them tightly. “I can’t. I can’t breathe.”

“I know. I know… but let’s try slowly, okay? In-“ Y/N forced a deep inhale, filling her lungs with as much air as they could take. “…And out.” She exhaled slow, repeating the process again and again until Harry’s ragged breathing gave way and began to keep up with hers. “That's it, breathe. It's all right. You’re not alone, I’m here. You’re with me. You’re okay.”

Harry’s eyes turned foggy from dampness once their gazes met. Y/N desperately wanted to say something else - wanted to tell him how wrong he was for blaming himself for something that was so beyond horrid and vile. But the more she stared at him, the more words seemed little. There was nothing to be said. She stepped closer and hugged him tight… and kept on hugging him - until the heartbeats coming from his chest slowed to a steady rhythm and the back muscles that at first had felt stark beneath her fingertips began to soften and turn limber on behalf of her hand’s soothing strokes.

“I- um. Thank you.” Harry gasped after a long beat. “I don't know how you do it, but your hugs always manage to calm me down…”

She simply smiled and placed a chaste kiss on his shoulder before mumbling against his shirt, “Speaking of calming, there’s something I want to give you.” She pulled away from the hug, snickering nervously once she saw that inquiringness had washed over Harry's face. “I can’t promise it’ll feel like anything like my hugs but…” With hesitant fingers Y/N reached inside her pocket, pulling out one of the pendants, though the other came attached in a tangle.

She quickly undid the knots and placed her favorite one around his neck. “They… um… match.” She explained, feeling a little embarrassed once Harry picked at the gemstones falling over his chest to inspect them. “I thought it might help us deal with the demon and also um… if we're both wearing them at the same time I'll get to feel your energy and vice versa, so we'll always know if the other is okay,” Her voice quieted when Harry stared at her wordlessly. “I hope this isn’t too forward or weird. I just thought that maybe…”

“Did you make these…” Harry asked practically inaudibly, still looking rather astonished by the jewelry held in his palm. “…For us? for me?”

“I-uh… I did.” Y/N chuckled nervously again. “It’s what I bought at the store earlier… that's why I didn't let you see. I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“No one-” He practically choked, chest sizzling with emotion. “No one has ever done anything like this for me… I- I adore these! I adore every single thing about them.” With that, Harry initiated a hug for the first time - his arms wrapped around Y/N and pulled her to collapse into his chest. He smelled good. So, so, so good that it made her legs feel like they were melting. Gosh, how was it that hugging Harry felt even better when he was the one holding her? She would stay in his embrace forever if she could, where they both felt safe, and snug and-

Ahem.

The sound of someone clearing their throat made both their heads vault - to Rowena, who stood by the kitchen door, wearing both an ostentatious, brightly colored dress and a self-satisfied smirk. “Sorry to interrupt, my dears, but… does nothing smell a little… burnt to you?” She asked, nodding towards the stove.

Crap. The potion.

[asoiaf-fancasts]

Jenny of Oldstones - Fancasts

Age: Unknown [Probably late teens

to late 30’s given

her husband’s age]

Appearance:She is described as a strange and lovely girl who wears flowers in her hair but is otherwise not described.

Character [s]: Lady Margery & Vanessa Moschella

Actress: Hera Milmar

Show [s]: World Without End [2012] & Da Vinci’s Demons [2013]

[She was 23 - 27 during theses shows. She is strange and lovely. She wears medieval ish clothes and 15th century ish clothes.]

Character: Catherine Howard

Actress: Tamzin Merchant

Show: The Tudors [2007] [Season 3 & 4]

[She’s 22/23 during this show and plays a character in their late teens so good for Jenny when she meets her husband. She is lovely with flowers in her hair in one scene and many of her dancing. She wears 16th century ish clothes.]

Character [s]: Aurora & Catherine

Actress: Elle Fanning

Movie [s]: Maleficent [2014] & Maleficent: Mistress of Evil [2019]

Show: The Great [2020] [Season 1]

[She is 16 - 21/22 during these movies and show so also good for when she meets him. She is strange and lovely in them. She has flowers in her hair a few times in the movie’s. She wears medieval ish fantasy clothes in the movies and 18th century in the show.]

Character: Ophelia

Actress: Daisy Ridley

Movie: Ophelia [2019]

[She is 25/26 during this movie. She is lovely and strange. She dances a lot and is often near flowers or has them in her hair.She wears medieval/fantasy ish clothes.]

Character: Claudine

Actress: Lizzie Brocheré

Show: Versailles [2015] [Season 1]

[She was 29/30 during the first season. I only like her as a cast because of this scene. She is lovely and strange. She wears 17th century clothes and undergarments.]

Character: Jo March

Actress: Saoirse Ronan

Movie: Little Women [2019]

[She was 24/25 during this movie. She is lovely and ‘strange’. She has flowers in her hair in one scenes and fits the vibe. She wears 19th century ish clothes but still good for close ups.]

[kissedbyaphrodite]

The burrow belonged to the Weasley family for many centuries, built by Francis Weasley and his wife Margery Weasley in 1610; who built the house out of roots, stones, trees and the earth, with the help of the wands they crafted out of fallen trees and gemstones. The Weasleys were amongst the oldest of the wizarding families, who had managed to escape multiple witch hunts, thus had nothing among them when they settled in the rural area of Britain, near a muggle town where the houses could be counted with the fingers of their hands. They had settled down in the middle of a clearing, after months of traveling, Margery herself was nearing the birth of her child, thus, could no longer move. Francis, knowing he needed to protect his family, called for the guidance of the Goddess Hecate, who made the clouds split apart to let the moon shine down on a fallen Rowan tree, and amongst splinters and broken twigs, there was one living twig, with a white flower growing on it. Francie took the twig and yanked it off the tree, watching in amazement as the twig began bending and morphing, becoming softer and pointy, the flowers began shifting as they wrapped around the twig like vines, before the remaining wood traveled south of the wand, creating a hilt for Francis to hold comfortably. With his new wand, Francis raised the eart and created a base, he used the fallen tree to build stairs and railing, the stones that had fallen down the mountain became walls and a roof, lastly,he swished his wand around amd willed the wood to become a door. He went down to the village the morning after, and began taking the furniture that was broken and damaged, left to rot outside. He used his magic to fix the furniture and began building his house. He built a turret out of stone and stairs out of vines, his windows were made with the frozen water of the lake nearby, his home grew and grew until their son was born, a son who he named Edward. The home grew in size everytime a new member joined the family, each generation adding more and more traits to make it feel more like a home. Given that it was made if stone, it didn't take long for ivy and honeysuckle to grow on the sides; the material also allowed for the house to retain heat. The Weasley house grounds grew with the house.

In 1708, Circe Weasley planted her garden with flowers brought to her by different lovers, who desperately tried to court her, by 1712, the garden was filled with beautiful flowers that made the garden swarm with butteflies and bees.

In 1756, Florent Weasley planted multiple fruits and vegetables to harvesy and sell, the grounds where they lived was so fertile that they had multiple bushes of blueberries, strawberries, and so many more fruits.

In 1806, Aciano Weasley and his brother Sorrel Weasley created an area of the house where they would offer tarot readings and different potions to clients, normally people of novility. Aciano would read their future, telling them how long they would reign, how would they die and who would follow their reign, many wars were seen by him before they even happened. Sorrel would give them potions for different occasions, if they struggled to conceive or feared getting old and dying, they created a book of potions, and their business flourished.

In 1827, Sorrel's son, Rowan, created a large greenhouse where he experimented with different plants and created multiple salves and potions never discovered before. He began traveling all over the world, writing down every plant he saw, every potion he made and what it did. By the time the boy turned into a man, he had written four books with the plants in Britain, Portugal and Spain. By the time he was sixty years of age, he had traveled to every country known to men and wrote a book for each country. His books became famous and sold millions of copies, mostly used by schools but also used by different herbologists and potion makers who wished to expand on their arts.

In 1891, the last addition was made, a large conversatory was made by Matilda Weasley. The house had grown and become large, and yet the stone still was able to conduct the heat of the firplaces throughout the house. The conversatory was as tall as the four story house, so large that it fit multiple plants, a fountain that lead to a pond and an area where the family would sit and spend their times talking. The greenhouse made by her great-uncle instead became a specific place where the Weasleys would craft potions and practice their magic.

Despite the following generations fighting in a war, the Burrow was still glorious and magical, with garlands of oranges and rosemary twigs scenting the house and filling it with a calming and soothing aroma. The house had been witness to so many people being born and dying, her ears had heard every whisper ever made, every thought ever had. The house was alive, with the climbing flowers seeping through cracks and into the house, sealing every crack and blooming inside. The Burrow looked almost alive, and even to a stranger who just spent five seconds near the house, it felt like a home. The family still possessed many of the books written by their great great great great great uncle Rowan, and made money from them; not only that, but they would also often create potions and sell them to different people who knew of the secret of wizards, different witches who would drink potions to remain young looking but didn't want to spend fortunes on treatments made by medieitches. And while not rich, the family was able to survive from their harvests and their business.

[bcbliophile]

Penelope Featherington's verses

Verse 1: Canon

Follows the canon of the book and show.

Verse 2: Canon Adjacent

Follows the canon but changes who she marries, she doesn't accept Colin's apologies and instead weds another and continues to write as Lady Whisteldown.

Verse 3: HOTD

Born into House Redwyne she grew up in the Arbor and when she was old enough was send to Kings Landing to be a lady in waiting to either Queen Alicent, Princess Rhaenyra or Princess Helaena, AU depending. She is the youngest of three daughters, the other two sisters already married off, one to the North and one to House Lannistair.

Verse 4: GOT

Still born to house Redwyne, she came to Kings Landing with her cousin Margery Tyrell as part of her household and stayed on as her lady in waiting until she was arrested.

Verse 5: ACOTAR

Born the bastard of Baron and a lady of his court, Penelope grew up in the Autumn court with her mother until she was about sixteen. Then she was brought to her father where she was trained in diplomacy and acted as an emissary for him. The days she spent in other courts away from both of her cruel parents were the happiest she had ever known. She dreads going home but finds some peace when she can visit with Lucien, and sometimes Eris when their father was not around and he would be kind to her.

Verse 6: Modern 1

A recent college graduate she is living in the city and working as a gossip writer for the local paper. hoping to work her way up to something more in line with her interest.

Verse 7: Modern 2

Penelope went to school for psych and criminology, using her skills she works with the FBI on a case by case basis.

Verse 8: Shadowhunter

Born the daughter of a flower nymph and a high fae Penelope grew up in the Seelie court serving the Queen as an almost spy. She was largely unnoticed and it allowed her to collect whisperings and gossip and bring them back to her.

Verse 9: Emerald of the season

An AU timeline that picks up in season 2 where Penelope is named the emerald of the season as the Queen had insisted on finding someone new and different for her jewel that season.

[dreamwritesimagines]

It’s CMA-

Awww she’s becoming more optimistic and she’s noticing the change, yay!!!

Aww teddy haha I almost forgot that Ben had a gift for him, but he certainly did not lol

Awww Ben is so sweet and kind and encouraging with teddy 😭😭

The flowers may not last that long, but she can press them in some way to preserve them or Ben can paint them!

But also, really cool is the fact that they will likely have seeds themselves and those can be passed down to future generations! Most of the houseplants, food, and other plants people work with have been passed down through people for hundreds, if not thousands of years! Carefully cared for, generations after generations.

It’s why old botanical collections are really cool- people cared for them so deeply that even generations later, we can see the proof of that love.

Also though it would be fun if clover planted a tree or something with teddy, so that he could have a plant that would live for a long, long time, just like Ben’s art. Or if Ben painted that tree when it’s just planted, and in the far future people can have both the art and the tree, and see how the tree once looked when it was young.

Idk the longevity in human memory of art and horticulture is getting to me this morning lmao.

Lmaooo clover feigning ignorance about Bess/Josie this is so funny I love it. Also Ben trying to bring up something and not knowing how clover will react but wanting to know what’s up with that; I’m dying lololol

I knew from the summary that there would be some insecurity but the way you wrote it is so brutally painful (/pos). My heart absolutely aches for clover, I’m absolutely torn over it all.

And Ben is continuing to be soft and kind and gentle and self sacrificing and the fact that he keeps reminding her that he loves her whenever she asks for it, knowing that if reassures her despite the pain I just-

It’s all so painfully soft and absolutely agonizing all at the same time.

And it’s so sad that clover thinks that if she had been like Margery, aloof and distant and sticking with her plan to marry for convenience that she would be more desirable to Benedict in some way.

Does Ben know at this point that him saying I love you to clover is soothing to her, or that she loves him back and can’t say it? Does he recognize the Margery/clover parallels?

Does clover know that she seeks comfort from Ben, or why she finds comfort in him telling her that he loves her?

Also I’m happy that we got to see clover’s changing opinion of the institution of marriage overall, and that she’s generally more optimistic. Of course, feeling anything positive at all comes with the potential to feel negative stuff as well, which we saw through her insecurity.

Idk I have so many thoughts on them and this chapter, I just love it and them so, so much❤️❤️

Love u dream, talk to you soon❤️❤️

CMA hi my loveeee! ❤️

She really is becoming more optimistic and it's actually something she has been learning from Benedict ❤️ Like, it's mostly his influence on her 😁❤️

Teddy was so impatient to see his gift😂

Omg she needs to press the flowers to keep them for a long time 🥰

Oooh I actually haven't thought about that one yes! ❤️ The seeds of the flowers passing from generation to the next generation, I feel like Clover and Benedict's whole bloodline will have them 😍

Or if Ben painted that tree when it’s just planted, and in the far future people can have both the art and the tree, and see how the tree once looked when it was young.

I NEED THIS TO HAPPEN THIS IS SUCH AN ADORABLE IDEA! 🥰

Clover can be very playful, it just takes some time and a lot of trust for it to come out when she's with people 😁

Soft angst is fun! 😈

That's such a good point! 😍 I feel like it's less about being "desirable" to Benedict and more about like...being on his wavelength so to speak? 😁 Because in Clover's perspective, -and also like generally speaking- Margery and Benedict would just make sense😂 It's not like him and Charlotte where they were too close of friends to see each other that way, or him and Kitty where it's basically one sided 😈 Margery and Benedict have the same outlook toward life, not to mention she is very much educated and belonged in the ton from her birth ❤️ And considering Benedict's whole approach to marriage or responsibilities (before he met Clover), they would actually make a perfect couple 😂😈

Benedict doesn't think Clover is in love with him yet, nope 😏 And he honestly can't see Clover/Margery parallels, he just gets along well with Margery 😁

Clover only knows she is happier when he's around, and that he is her comfort 🥰 But she's also very much in denial about love ❤️

Aww thank you so much darling! ❤️ Love youuuu! 😍❤️

[reuna]

Portrait of "Mad Margery" - James John Hill (circa 1830-1870) "Portrait of Mad Margery, a young woman driven mad and living in the fields. Mad Margery, wearing patched clothes, holding flowers, with straw in her hair and dirt on her face, her eyes watery with tears, her right shoulder exposed. In the background, a ruined abbey. Her character may have been taken from a popular song 'Poor Mad Margery' c. 1790-1800." (Wikimedia commons)