Chapter Text
Rook sighed as she finally sank onto the edge of her couch. The guilt eating at her for being gone had begun to give way to exhaustion, deep in her bones. She let it flop her backwards like a rag doll.
After waking up in the infirmary and crying into Lucanis's shirt for almost an hour, she'd had something to eat, met with the team, and gotten right back to work. They were all happy to see her and there were more tears shed. It had been especially difficult to see Taash. Taash was not a hugger, but they'd hugged Rook back anyway.
Rook would have to write to Lace's mom soon. Charter too. The thought almost made tears spring to her eyes again.
There had been a lot of discussion and a lot of planning and now, the only thing left was to rest. She'd checked in with them all, much to Lucanis's chagrin. He had wanted her to take the whole day for herself but how could she, when Minrathous was under attack? Again.
She was supposed to be their leader and she'd gotten herself trapped for nearly a month. She’d needed to make sure they were all okay. Lucanis said he'd come check on her too. Maybe she could convince him to stay here with her tonight. She closed her eyes.
“I cannot believe we found you.” The soft, accented voice echoed from the doorway and her heart thumped. She sat up immediately and saw Lucanis closing the door behind him, and walking over slowly. Maybe she wasn't that tired.
“I'm a little surprised too, honestly.” She gave him a little smile, but he didn't return it.
“I thought I'd never see you again.” The words were edged with relief and fear alike. She let them sink in, and watched his eyes shining at her in the aquarium light. Twenty-two days. It hadn't felt like that for her at all, but in that moment, she could see every one of them reflected in the lines of his face.
If he'd been gone for that long, she wasn't sure what she would do. Certainly nothing good.
“I can't believe…so much happened. I don't know how to feel.” Her emotions were knotted up inside her so tightly that there was no hope of untangling them. Not tonight, at least.
When she looked away, he walked over and knelt in front of her, so she had no choice but to look at him.
“I do,” he said, reaching up to kiss her. I was lovely and sweet and hungry all at once. “I know exactly how to feel.”
Well. Maybe a few emotions could be untangled right now. She loved him, for one. That she knew. Her chest swelled with it, banishing every other feeling to the dark recesses of her heart.
She caressed his cheek with her hand, and slid it down to rest on his chest. Heat and need and want were beginning to build inside her, but she wasn't going to ask him for anything he wasn't ready to give.
“Just don't leave,” she asked quietly. She didn't think she could take another night alone, even if nothing else happened.
“Never,” he replied fiercely. And this time when he looked at her, his eyes were big and beautiful and definitely wanting. The last of her heavy emotions fizzled away with that look alone.
He reached up again, and this time when he kissed her, he pushed her down and back onto the couch, her right leg giving way for him to rest between both of hers. She gasped slightly as he lay her down.
This was far more than they'd done earlier, but her need was a tangible thing now.
It came on so fast and strong that she knew if he needed to stop, she was going to have to take some time to herself before she could get any sleep. That thought melted away too as she felt his weight on her and he kissed her again and again.
But then, a flash of purple and the smell of soot and ash. She opened her eyes to see his wings envelop them both.
Gods, she did love seeing those wings on him.
“Spite,” she said against his mouth. “Your wings are very nice, but go do something else.”
“Don't tell him that,” he grumbled, now moving to caress her face with his nose. “He'll be insufferable about it later.”
She laughed and the wings were gone in another flash of purple. Lucanis continued to kiss a trail down her neck, to her shoulder, and her laugh became another intake of breath.
“Lucanis,” she said, and it was almost a whine. “Is this not too much?”
He stopped suddenly and pulled his mouth back. Good gods, she wanted it back.
“Is it too much for you?” He asked with a little frown.
For her?
“What? No. Fuck, no. I mean for you.”
He dropped his forehead onto her shoulder again and laughed breathlessly. “Mi amor, any hesitation I had went away the minute you were taken from me.”
She damn near melted at the words. She had an inkling of what the Antivan meant but she wasn't gonna ask now. He'd resumed kissing her neck. It didn't help the melting situation.
“Wait,” she said again. He let out a muffled groan of frustration and she couldn't help but laugh at his impatience. He pulled back to look at her, his hair spilling down towards her and shielding them both from the rest of the world.
“Let me rephrase,” he said in a husky voice, echoing what she'd said to him, months ago. He bent down at her neck again, kissing her at the end of every phrase. “I want you. Entirely. Right now.”
He moved back up to her mouth and kissed her again, his hungriest and most demanding kiss yet. And then he pulled away to sit back on his knees, looking at her beneath him, panting.
“And if you have no objections, I would like to remove your clothes now.”
She began to laugh and he groaned impatiently again, pulling her up by her arms until she was sitting up too, legs straddling his knees. She was still giggling as she pulled his head down and kissed him again and again.
She could tell he was losing his patience, but he was a perfect gentleman and refused to touch any of the fastenings on her shirt or her pants until she gave him permission. He kept his hands perfectly still on her hips.
Until she went for his vest buttons.
She laughed again as he quite literally growled in frustration and began to fumble with her shirt immediately, pulling it up and out of her pants as she laughed into his mouth.
“Stop laughing,” he said, the smile clear in his voice. He kissed her face, his beard nuzzling her earlobes. “And help me.”
She took pity on him and pulled away long enough to shrug out of her shirt, and then she went right back in. His hands were cold against her warm skin, but she relished it nonetheless. His hands were everywhere. Her sides, her belly, her back. They started inching up up and under the waistband of her brassiere and she pulled away from him again.
She shook her head. “You first.”
He closed his eyes for a second and then nearly ripped his vest off before returning to her. She laughed again and went for his shirt buttons, and without pulling away from her mouth, he actually helped. The chain on his collar had her groaning impatiently this time.
When they were done and his shirt was off, he let her hands explore. Every hard muscle, every raised scar. She knew he would have scars, but this…They broke her heart and sobered her a little. A little. She looked up at him and he looked almost nervous.
She pulled him towards her and placed a gentle kiss on a particularly nasty scar on his shoulder. She kissed his neck, then below his ear, and then she whispered to him quietly, “Ar lath 'ma vhen'an.”
He collapsed onto her shoulder at the words and she briefly wondered if he'd ever studied Elven.
And then his hands were back under the waistband of her brassiere.
She laughed at his reaction as he trailed his mouth down her face then neck then shoulder at the same time as he searched for an opening in the fabric. Apparently, Elven brought out a similar reaction in him as Antivan did in her.
“How do I open this?!” He asked after a few moments, frustration and breathlessness clear in his voice. She laughed again and took her hands off him. She unlaced the front as his hands came to rest on her hips.
“Why is that so complicated?” He asked watching her hands move, forehead resting on hers.
She tried to hold in another laugh, without much success. “I'll leave it off next time,” she replied, and with a final shrug, it was gone and on the floor. He didn't come back to her right away, and she suddenly felt a little self-conscious. Any past entanglements she'd had were nothing like this—maybe she was doing it wrong.
But when she looked up at him, he was only smiling down at her, an odd but gentle expression on his face. “Mi Vida,” he said, startling her. She felt her face flush as it always did when he said her name.
And she pulled his mouth back onto hers with a groan, fingers in his hair. Gods, was this what it was supposed to be like? She wanted him so badly it physically ached.
He began to trail down her neck again, and down to her sternum. She arched her back towards him and he laughed this time. And then his mouth was on her chest. Gods. Damn. She thought she'd get sent over the edge just from that.
His hands drifted down to the waistband of her pants now, and came around to the front buttons. But instead of opening them, he continued to tease her at the edge of her pants. She groaned again and she felt his smile on her skin.
And then, finally, he began to slide her pants down. Her underwear went down with them. When they hit the top of her hips, Lucanis began to move back and with his hand on the small of her back guiding her, he led her up and off the couch.
They were standing now, in the same place he'd been kneeling, not too long ago. They took a break from drowning in each other and rested their foreheads together, breathing hard. Her hands tangled in his hair made him look wonderfully dishevelled.
Then Lucanis's hands began to move down her back once again, to the waistband of her pants. With one hand, the buttons of her pants were undone. Then, thumbs hooked into the sides of her underwear, he began to slide both down her backside.
“Hold on,” she said and he hung his head on her neck in defeat.
“What now?” He asked, muffled. It nearly sent her into peals of laughter all over again.
“My boots!” She did laugh then, and arms twining around his neck for balance, she managed to kick them off her feet along with her socks. His hands remained where they were, steadying her as always, and she kissed him again as soon as she was done.
“Alright, proceed.”
He did. Barefoot, she was slightly shorter than before. She was quite short as is, even for an elf, so when he slid her pants down, he went down too, kissing her all the while. Her hands travelled up his neck once again to tangle in his hair. He was definitely going to need a hairbrush when she was done.
When her pants reached the end of he thighs, she felt them drop and pool at her feet, and she looked down at him. He was on his knees again and looking up at her, eyes sparkling. He smiled and kissed the edge of her hip bone, where her thigh met her leg and trailed down again. Her legs parted for him and he kissed her again. One hand gripping her backside and the other the back of her thigh, he moved lower and lower and—
Her knees went weak. She had never done anything like this. “Stop,” she heard herself say. “Lucanis.”
He did and looked up at her in concern. The sight of him below her like that almost killed her. She shook her head. “Here. Now. Please.” She could barely get a full sentence out, but he obeyed and stood up to kiss her once again. She tasted herself on him and felt her knees go weak all over again.
It was her turn to fumble with his pants now. But she paused again and pulled back from his mouth to ask. She didn't even have time to open her mouth before he rolled his eyes and sighed loudly.
“Oh por el Hacedor,” he complained, head thrown back to look at the ceiling. Then those big brown eyes were back on hers, with an exasperated frown. “Yes, Rook. Please.”
She smiled, but was far too needy for laughter now. She looked down to unbutton his pants and realized his boots were already gone. She wondered, very briefly, when he'd done that but found, very quickly, that she did not care at all.
She forced herself to slow down as her hands slid down into his pants and beyond his underthings. He shuddered, burying his fingers into her hair. She shivered at the pressure on her scalp, but she was the one who was steadying him now, and she liked that. A lot.
She wrapped her fingers around him with one hand and, somewhat awkwardly, slid the rest of his clothes off him with the other. Soon, there was a small pile of fabric beneath their feet.
He moved her hand very slowly up and down his length. He closed his eyes and made a sound in the back of his throat. She began to kiss neck now, hoping she had the same effect on him as he did her.
“Wait,” he said between kisses, and she almost didn't hear him. “Stop…I don't—”
Her hands froze and she pulled back to look at him. Was this it? Too much?
He saw the question in her eyes but he just smiled at her caution this time, breathing hard. “If you keep going this will all end very quickly.”
She gave him a pleased little smirk. She could work with that.
“Alright, then. I want you on that couch.” She told him, doing her best to direct him to turn around.
He did as she bade, hands on her hips. She pushed him down into a sitting position and much like he'd done to her, she pushed him back and back until he was lying down, hair fanned out around him, eyes sparkling up at her. She brought her hands down on either side of his neck and she bent her elbows to give his mouth another long, deep kiss.
“Rook,” he begged. She smiled into his mouth and balancing herself on one elbow, she reached down to grasp him once again. She had straddled herself around one of his legs and now she was in the perfect position to slowly guide him inside of her.
They both shuddered as they fit together. She lowered her bare chest down onto his and kissed him sweetly, giving them both a moment to savour being together.
Then, slowly, she began to move. He shivered beneath her and his hands came up to her back as he began to move along with her.
She tried to kiss him again, but her hair got in the way this time. She breathed a laugh while one of his hands reached up around her neck, taking her curls in his hand and giving them a twist out of the way. That small movement had her going all over again.
She closed the gap between them and kissed his mouth, his neck, his ear. Their friction and movement and heat was building up and up. He was close now, she could tell. So was she.
Their grinding picked up speed and she made a sound like a needy animal in his ear. He slid his hands free of her hair and she pulled back to look at him in the watery lighting. He looked breathless and hungry and…happy.
“Never leave me again,” he breathed to her just before she finally crashed into him like a wave, moaning into his neck. He held her tightly and crashed right along with her.
After laying together for a few minutes, they’d gone into the bathroom to clean up and dress for bed. There was more laughter and kisses and just happy banter. Rook realized she could use a bath too, and when she mentioned it, Lucanis practically went feral.
They'd gotten in the tub together. Lucanis tied his hair back to keep it from getting wet and Rook could barely control her glee at the sight. They had their way with each other all over again. It was a good thing the bathroom had a drain on the floor, or the meditation room would be entirely flooded.
Now they were back on the couch, slightly more dressed and still a bit damp. Lucanis had laid his head on her lap, to her surprise. She was running her fingers through his hair now, newly freed from its knot and brushed out by her own hand a few minutes earlier.
She watched his gaze begin to drift and his eyes shuttered, breathing slow.
“Are you falling asleep?” She whispered before she could stop herself.
He opened his eyes abruptly and gave her a little glare.
“No,” he defended. “I never sleep.”
“It's alright if you do. Spite and I can play cards, or something.”
“Ugh,” he groaned, lifting himself up slightly to look at her. “Don't say that. I haven't taught him Wicked Grace yet.”
She laughed softly and kissed his forehead.
“I'm not afraid of him,” he continued. “I just don't want to waste time now that you're here.”
“You won't miss anything. I'm not going anywhere—I promise.”
She regretted her words as soon as she said them—she was so happy she'd almost forgotten how long she'd been gone. He sat up from her lap and turned toward her on the couch. His expression was serious now, and a little broody. “I'll hold you to that.”
“Please do,” she replied, reaching for his hand and pulling him closer. She didn't ever want to leave him again. The kiss he gave her now was longing and sad and joyful all at once.
She pulled away a little and tucked his hair behind his ear. “But you still have to sleep sometimes.”
He smirked at her and her heart thumped with relief and something else altogether.
“With you here like this?” His eyes roved her up and down before settling back on her face. “I'd rather stay awake.”
She smiled, melting all over again at his attention. “Stay awake all night? However shall we pass the time?”
He laughed, but only gave her a chaste kiss. “We should probably rest. You especially,” he pointed out.
She admired him as he spoke. He really was beautiful. She let her eyes roam and take him in. She couldn't believe that barely a day before, she'd thought he was dead. Or that she was.
A day for her, she corrected. Far longer out here.
“Rook?” He asked, frowning in concern and squeezing her hand to get her attention.
She pressed her lips into a line to try and hold the emotion back, but it didn't work very well.
“I’m afraid that if I sleep I'll end up right back there again.” She dropped her head onto the back of the couch where her right arm rested, staring at him through the sheet of hair that fell to her eyes. “I don't want to be alone.”
She refused to cry any more today.
“I won't let that happen. And I'm not leaving.” He brushed her hair away from her face, inspecting her for tears and not finding any. She'd sucked them back in with sheer willpower.
She eyed him skeptically. “And how will we both fit on this couch?”
He raised an eyebrow at her. “We just did. Very comfortably.” His eyes glinted at her with the last two words. She laughed softly at that and he breathed a laugh too.
“Come on,” he said, standing up, and pulling her hand with him. “Where do you keep your blanket?”
She smiled and took her hand from his to reach under the couch and grab a handful of pillow. She tossed it at him and he caught it with ease. She tossed the blanket out next.
He had already placed the pillow down at the end when she looked back. He pointed. She rolled her eyes a little and down as requested, scooching her back against the couch as much as she could.
He joined her, throwing the blanket around them both. They shifted until they were both comfortable, his head on the pillow, hers using one of his arms as a pillow, and their other arms looped around each other.
“Don't want to be the little spoon?” She joked once they found their place.
He chuckled, smoothing her hair down before resting his head above hers. “I just don't want to look at those fish. If I start thinking about who feeds them, I'll never sleep.”
She laughed into his chest and he did the same, shaking them both. This was indeed very comfortable. She could smell her soap on him and she breathed in deeply.
“Rook,” he began softly after a few moments. She could feel his voice rumbling in his chest. “Tomorrow—”
“Don't say it,” she interrupted. “Besides, I came back last time. I'll come back from this too. Not even gods can keep me away from you.”
He pulled her a little closer.
“They cannot even try, if I get to them first.”
“We can do this," she asserted. "And then we'll have all the time in the world.”
He sighed and she felt that in his chest too. Her hair moved a little with his breath and she snuggled into him, closing her eyes.
“So all I have to do is kill a god to keep you out of trouble. Easy.”
She smiled but she was already drifting off. He gave her a little kiss on the top of her head.
The last thing she heard before sleep finally claimed her, whispered so softly in her ear that she almost thought she imagined it, was his voice.
“I love you too.”
Maybe he had studied a little Elven.