suffering from rookanis brainworms

She had no idea if not allowing the prospective bride and groom to stay together was actually an Antivan custom or if it was just Caterina's personal power play, but in the end it didn't matter. Rook was staying at the Diamond, lying in this lonely bed instead of lying tangled up with her soon-to-be husband.

'Not soon enough,' she thought, sighing again.

And then something tapped at the windowpane.

This wouldn't normally be cause for concern—it could be a tree branch or a bird—but her rooms were on the highest floor of the Diamond, and there were no trees nearby. She supposed it could be one of the ubiquitous crows, but it could also be one of the other ubiquitous Crows, and that uncertainty called for caution.

Palming her focus orb, she slipped out of bed and crept to the window, her fingertips tingling with readied magic. She couldn’t see anything on the other side of the pane, but that obviously didn’t mean that nothing was there. There were still pockets of Antaam within Treviso, and who knows how many allies Ivenci might still have lurking in the city. And there were Crows unhappy about Lucanis’s ascension to First Talon…

Holding her breath, she unlatched the window and flung it open, ready to sling lightning magic into the face of the intruder, whoever they might be…

But it was just Lucanis, clinging to the side of the building like some sort of monkey.

"Kaffas!" Rook exclaimed, closing her fist on the spell she’d readied. "What the hell are you doing?"

He gave her a slightly amused look, his fingertips digging into a joint in the stone panels. "What does it look like I’m doing? I’m trying to sneak in your window," he replied, as cool as could be. "Now will you move over and let me in? This isn't as easy as it looks."

"Spite has wings. He'd catch you if you fall."

"Rook."

Tamping down the urge to laugh at his exasperation, she stepped aside so he could hoist himself over the windowsill. "What are you doing here?" she asked again, watching him unclasp his cloak and lay it over a chair.

It didn't escape her notice that he was also unbuttoning his waistcoat. Nor did it escape her that he was giving her the hungry sort of look that promised a very enjoyable evening; her body flushed with warmth as his eyes raked across it, taking in her fine nightgown and everything hiding beneath the silk.

His waistcoat ended up on the floor, but he clearly wasn’t bothered, because he was suddenly on her, hands roaming, mouth fastened to hers in a passionate kiss.

The warmth his gaze had sparked suddenly roared to life, heat sweeping through her. Rook melted against him, letting him mold his body to hers, sinking her hands into his hair as he deepened the kiss. "I missed you," he breathed, breaking away from her lips only to trail kisses down the side of her neck.

It was getting a little difficult to think straight, between his mouth working at her throat and his hands getting thoroughly reacquainted with the curves of her ass, but she persevered. "It's... oh," she moaned, shivering as he scraped his teeth delicately over a sensitive spot. "It's only been two hours since dinner, you know."

He came back up for another kiss, sighing his pleasure against her lips. "Yes, and I missed you," he said, his voice a low purr.

"I missed you, too," she breathed, stroking his cheek, enjoying the soft prickle of his beard against her palm. "I'm going to go mad sleeping here without you."

Admitting that felt like baring her throat, and it took a second to rein in the urge to take cover behind her usual emotional walls. Vulnerability was still new, still unfamiliar, but she didn't want to hide from Lucanis. She needed him, and she wanted him to know that.

His smile was soft, as if he could tell she was waging an internal war against her instincts, and it made her heart jump in her chest. "Then I will have to sneak in your window every night, mi amor," he murmured, sinking his hands into her hair, "until you are mine."

He took her mouth again in a toe-curlingly deep kiss, molding his body against hers, and she shivered at the possessiveness of his words and his embrace. She had never dreamed she would crave feeling like she belonged to someone else. It chafed against what felt like the very fabric of her being, against the fierce independence she'd spent decades cultivating, but it somehow also felt right. She was his and he was hers, and it was how things were supposed to be. They belonged together, two pieces from vastly different puzzles who somehow fit perfectly.

She stumbled a little when he suddenly pressed forward, but he held her upright against his body as he steered her over to her recently vacated bed. "Quiero saborearte," he breathed in between kisses.

The backs of her legs hit the edge of the mattress, and Lucanis knelt when she sat with a gasp on the edge of the bed. "¿Puedo saborearte?" he said breathlessly, gazing up at her with those coffee-dark eyes.

She had no idea what that meant but considering that he was sliding the hem of her nightgown up her thighs, she had a pretty good idea. "Yes," she whispered, and he made a hungry noise in the back of his throat.

Rook was used to taking charge in the bedroom, and Lucanis had never complained. In fact, he always seemed to enjoy it and hadn’t ever really tried to take control. Before now, that is, because now he was pushing her onto her back and spreading her legs and holding onto her like he owned her, and it sent a shiver through her. She hadn’t thought she would enjoy taking a more passive role, but Lucanis was looking at her like he wanted to eat her alive, like he wanted to pin her down and make her his, and it was absolutely thrilling.

The first touch of his tongue made her gasp. The second made her whimper.

He used one hand to hold her open, pressing his mouth between her legs like a starving man. He may have come into their relationship with little experience, but he was a quick learner, picking up on what she liked and what she didn't, and using his considerable physical prowess to make her feel absolutely amazing.

"Oh," she moaned, tossing her head back as he lapped at her clit. "Oh, Lucanis, it's... you're so good, oh—"

He hummed his pleasure against her, and she bucked against his mouth, reaching down to sink a hand into his hair. "Right there," she whispered, screwing her eyes shut as he bore down on the perfect spot.

The orgasm rose up in her like a wildfire, starting with a tiny spark that flashed into a conflagration. Gripping his hair with one hand and a handful of bedclothes with the other, Rook bucked against his mouth and his hold on her. She knew she was making an unholy racket, but it felt too good for her to care if anyone might hear.

She whined when he took his mouth off of her, and by the time she had recovered enough to open her eyes, Lucanis had stripped naked, his clothes tossed haphazardly aside. Catching her by the hands, he pulled her upright and whipped the nightgown over her head, sending it fluttering to the floor somewhere behind him, but that didn't matter. They were both naked, and she was convinced she would die if she didn't have him inside of her in the next ten seconds.

"Necesito entrar en ti," he panted, letting her twist their bodies around and put him on his back. "Rook, te necesito—"

Straddling his hips, she sank down onto his cock, wrenching a guttural moan from his throat, and Maker, he felt so good inside of her. Puzzle pieces, she thought again, inanely, but they did fit together so, so perfectly.

He gazed up at her with hazy eyes, already lost in the pleasure of their joining, his lips parted so he could pant words in broken Antivan, words she didn't know but understood anyway: te sientes tan bien, que rico, te amo.

His hands were on her thighs, but that wasn't enough. She threaded her fingers through his, gripping his hands like they were the only things keeping her on the ground. Biting her lip, she rocked against him, gasping at the feel of him stretching her, at the delicious intimacy of it. Sex had never been this good before Lucanis, all the physical pleasure bound up in a love so deep, so all-encompassing it felt like it might drown her.

"Rook," he whimpered, his brow knit tight, and she pitched forward, pinning his hands beside his head, pouring all of the passion she felt for him into a desperate kiss.

They moved together like they were meant to do this, his hips rolling underneath hers as she rode him. Tugging his hands free from hers, he wrapped his arms around her, sinking a hand into her hair, pulling her mouth to his so he could swallow her moans, and Maker, how was she so close again? Maybe it was the thrill of sneaking around during their forced separation, but another climax was already coiling up in her body, the tension twisting up inside of her until she thought she might go mad from it.

His next thrust hit just right and all that tension suddenly unwound, shocks of pleasure skittering through her body. Rook buried her face in his neck, her breath shaking out of her in soft sobs as she clenched around his thrusting cock, and Maker, she never wanted to even look at another man. Lucanis was perfect for her: mind, body, and soul.

She gasped when he rolled suddenly, putting her on her back underneath him, catching her leg and bending it, holding her open and pinning her knee against his ribs. He was too desperate now to say anything; no more gasped Antivan words, just harsh breaths and urgent moans, music to her ears.

Catching her mouth in a desperate kiss, he drove into her, frantically chasing his own peak. And she knew he was close; she knew it from the stutter in his thrusts, the way his breath would catch on every inhale, how he clutched at her like she was his anchor, the only thing that kept him from being swept away.

He came with a harsh cry, burying himself deep, and Rook arched against him, whispering sweet words against his lips as he shuddered. I'm yours and you're perfect and you're so good, Lucanis, so good to me breathed to him as he slowly came down, resting his forehead against hers, shivering out the last drops of pleasure.

–

No one burst into the room to admonish the two of them for violating their forced separation, so either her room was unguarded or Teia wasn't planning on ratting them out to Caterina. Yet. Whatever the reason, Rook was glad for the privacy as they lounged on her tumbled bed.

"So, are you enjoying your accommodations?" Lucanis teased, brushing a stray lock of her hair away from her face

"Definitely nicer than my usual," she replied, stretching and twisting against the luxurious bedclothes. "I could get used to this. Though… I’d rather be with you. Tell me your bed is this nice, and I’ll marry you tomorrow."

"Mm, mine is even nicer," he said, pressing a lazy kiss against her lips.

"Then marry me tomorrow."

He chuckled, curling up against her, resting his head on her shoulder. "Never mind my grandmother, Teia would kill us both if we eloped," he said sleepily, wrapping an arm around her waist. "We let her plan this lavish thing, she will love us forever. And anyway. I will sneak in here every night if I have to. I wouldn’t want you to be lonely."

Rook smiled up at the shadowy ceiling, enjoying the way his body relaxed against hers as he fell asleep. Sleeping together here probably wasn't the best idea, considering she had no idea if a maid was going to come barging in to get her up for breakfast or anything, but she was entirely too sated and comfortable to give it much thought. Her eyes drifted shut against the moonlight slanting through the open window—

—and popped open to dawn light glazing the room pink.

"Venhedis!"

Lucanis jolted awake, pushing himself upright in a flurry of messy hair and hands searching for a knife to defend against whatever threat they were facing. "What!" he gasped, shaking the last dregs of sleep out of his head. "What is it— oh mierda, it's morning."

She had never seen anyone get dressed so quickly. He threw on his clothes as she sat naked on the bed, admiring the last glimpses of skin before they disappeared underneath fine linen. "Mierda, what time is it?" he muttered, stuffing his feet into his boots. "Caterina wanted to have a meeting at nine bells."

Sliding out of the bed, Rook peeked out the window. "It can't be that late," she said, amused at his panic. "It's maybe six bells? The sun's still low."

"Thank the Maker," he sighed, swinging his cape around his shoulders.

She laughed, kissing him on the cheek as he made his way to the window. "Climb carefully," she said, waiting for him to clamber gracefully over the sill before leaning on it to watch him. "I'll see you tonight?"

He paused in his descent, looking up and giving her a smile that promised so many delicious nights ahead of them. "I'll see you tonight," he said, clinging to the ledge and taking her mouth in the sweetest kiss.

Luckily no one noticed the First Talon clambering down the side of the Cantori Diamond. Rook watched him until he was out of sight; before he turned that last corner, he looked up at her window and smiled, and she blew a kiss as he disappeared.

She had no idea if not allowing the prospective bride and groom to stay together was actually an Antivan custom or if it was just Caterina's personal power play, but in the end it didn't matter. Rook was staying at the Diamond, lying in this lonely bed instead of lying tangled up with her soon-to-be husband.

'Not soon enough,' she thought, sighing again.

And then something tapped at the windowpane.

This wouldn't normally be cause for concern—it could be a tree branch or a bird—but her rooms were on the highest floor of the Diamond, and there were no trees nearby. She supposed it could be one of the ubiquitous crows, but it could also be one of the other ubiquitous Crows, and that uncertainty called for caution.

Palming her focus orb, she slipped out of bed and crept to the window, her fingertips tingling with readied magic. She couldn’t see anything on the other side of the pane, but that obviously didn’t mean that nothing was there. There were still pockets of Antaam within Treviso, and who knows how many allies Ivenci might still have lurking in the city. And there were Crows unhappy about Lucanis’s ascension to First Talon…

Holding her breath, she unlatched the window and flung it open, ready to sling lightning magic into the face of the intruder, whoever they might be…

But it was just Lucanis, clinging to the side of the building like some sort of monkey.

"Kaffas!" Rook exclaimed, closing her fist on the spell she’d readied. "What the hell are you doing?"

He gave her a slightly amused look, his fingertips digging into a joint in the stone panels. "What does it look like I’m doing? I’m trying to sneak in your window," he replied, as cool as could be. "Now will you move over and let me in? This isn't as easy as it looks."

"Spite has wings. He'd catch you if you fall."

"Rook."

Tamping down the urge to laugh at his exasperation, she stepped aside so he could hoist himself over the windowsill. "What are you doing here?" she asked again, watching him unclasp his cloak and lay it over a chair.

It didn't escape her notice that he was also unbuttoning his waistcoat. Nor did it escape her that he was giving her the hungry sort of look that promised a very enjoyable evening; her body flushed with warmth as his eyes raked across it, taking in her fine nightgown and everything hiding beneath the silk.

His waistcoat ended up on the floor, but he clearly wasn’t bothered, because he was suddenly on her, hands roaming, mouth fastened to hers in a passionate kiss.

The warmth his gaze had sparked suddenly roared to life, heat sweeping through her. Rook melted against him, letting him mold his body to hers, sinking her hands into his hair as he deepened the kiss. "I missed you," he breathed, breaking away from her lips only to trail kisses down the side of her neck.

It was getting a little difficult to think straight, between his mouth working at her throat and his hands getting thoroughly reacquainted with the curves of her ass, but she persevered. "It's... oh," she moaned, shivering as he scraped his teeth delicately over a sensitive spot. "It's only been two hours since dinner, you know."

He came back up for another kiss, sighing his pleasure against her lips. "Yes, and I missed you," he said, his voice a low purr.

"I missed you, too," she breathed, stroking his cheek, enjoying the soft prickle of his beard against her palm. "I'm going to go mad sleeping here without you."

Admitting that felt like baring her throat, and it took a second to rein in the urge to take cover behind her usual emotional walls. Vulnerability was still new, still unfamiliar, but she didn't want to hide from Lucanis. She needed him, and she wanted him to know that.

His smile was soft, as if he could tell she was waging an internal war against her instincts, and it made her heart jump in her chest. "Then I will have to sneak in your window every night, mi amor," he murmured, sinking his hands into her hair, "until you are mine."

He took her mouth again in a toe-curlingly deep kiss, molding his body against hers, and she shivered at the possessiveness of his words and his embrace. She had never dreamed she would crave feeling like she belonged to someone else. It chafed against what felt like the very fabric of her being, against the fierce independence she'd spent decades cultivating, but it somehow also felt right. She was his and he was hers, and it was how things were supposed to be. They belonged together, two pieces from vastly different puzzles who somehow fit perfectly.

She stumbled a little when he suddenly pressed forward, but he held her upright against his body as he steered her over to her recently vacated bed. "Quiero saborearte," he breathed in between kisses.

The backs of her legs hit the edge of the mattress, and Lucanis knelt when she sat with a gasp on the edge of the bed. "¿Puedo saborearte?" he said breathlessly, gazing up at her with those coffee-dark eyes.

She had no idea what that meant but considering that he was sliding the hem of her nightgown up her thighs, she had a pretty good idea. "Yes," she whispered, and he made a hungry noise in the back of his throat.

Rook was used to taking charge in the bedroom, and Lucanis had never complained. In fact, he always seemed to enjoy it and hadn’t ever really tried to take control. Before now, that is, because now he was pushing her onto her back and spreading her legs and holding onto her like he owned her, and it sent a shiver through her. She hadn’t thought she would enjoy taking a more passive role, but Lucanis was looking at her like he wanted to eat her alive, like he wanted to pin her down and make her his, and it was absolutely thrilling.

The first touch of his tongue made her gasp. The second made her whimper.

He used one hand to hold her open, pressing his mouth between her legs like a starving man. He may have come into their relationship with little experience, but he was a quick learner, picking up on what she liked and what she didn't, and using his considerable physical prowess to make her feel absolutely amazing.

"Oh," she moaned, tossing her head back as he lapped at her clit. "Oh, Lucanis, it's... you're so good, oh—"

He hummed his pleasure against her, and she bucked against his mouth, reaching down to sink a hand into his hair. "Right there," she whispered, screwing her eyes shut as he bore down on the perfect spot.

The orgasm rose up in her like a wildfire, starting with a tiny spark that flashed into a conflagration. Gripping his hair with one hand and a handful of bedclothes with the other, Rook bucked against his mouth and his hold on her. She knew she was making an unholy racket, but it felt too good for her to care if anyone might hear.

She whined when he took his mouth off of her, and by the time she had recovered enough to open her eyes, Lucanis had stripped naked, his clothes tossed haphazardly aside. Catching her by the hands, he pulled her upright and whipped the nightgown over her head, sending it fluttering to the floor somewhere behind him, but that didn't matter. They were both naked, and she was convinced she would die if she didn't have him inside of her in the next ten seconds.

"Necesito entrar en ti," he panted, letting her twist their bodies around and put him on his back. "Rook, te necesito—"

Straddling his hips, she sank down onto his cock, wrenching a guttural moan from his throat, and Maker, he felt so good inside of her. Puzzle pieces, she thought again, inanely, but they did fit together so, so perfectly.

He gazed up at her with hazy eyes, already lost in the pleasure of their joining, his lips parted so he could pant words in broken Antivan, words she didn't know but understood anyway: te sientes tan bien, que rico, te amo.

His hands were on her thighs, but that wasn't enough. She threaded her fingers through his, gripping his hands like they were the only things keeping her on the ground. Biting her lip, she rocked against him, gasping at the feel of him stretching her, at the delicious intimacy of it. Sex had never been this good before Lucanis, all the physical pleasure bound up in a love so deep, so all-encompassing it felt like it might drown her.

"Rook," he whimpered, his brow knit tight, and she pitched forward, pinning his hands beside his head, pouring all of the passion she felt for him into a desperate kiss.

They moved together like they were meant to do this, his hips rolling underneath hers as she rode him. Tugging his hands free from hers, he wrapped his arms around her, sinking a hand into her hair, pulling her mouth to his so he could swallow her moans, and Maker, how was she so close again? Maybe it was the thrill of sneaking around during their forced separation, but another climax was already coiling up in her body, the tension twisting up inside of her until she thought she might go mad from it.

His next thrust hit just right and all that tension suddenly unwound, shocks of pleasure skittering through her body. Rook buried her face in his neck, her breath shaking out of her in soft sobs as she clenched around his thrusting cock, and Maker, she never wanted to even look at another man. Lucanis was perfect for her: mind, body, and soul.

She gasped when he rolled suddenly, putting her on her back underneath him, catching her leg and bending it, holding her open and pinning her knee against his ribs. He was too desperate now to say anything; no more gasped Antivan words, just harsh breaths and urgent moans, music to her ears.

Catching her mouth in a desperate kiss, he drove into her, frantically chasing his own peak. And she knew he was close; she knew it from the stutter in his thrusts, the way his breath would catch on every inhale, how he clutched at her like she was his anchor, the only thing that kept him from being swept away.

He came with a harsh cry, burying himself deep, and Rook arched against him, whispering sweet words against his lips as he shuddered. I'm yours and you're perfect and you're so good, Lucanis, so good to me breathed to him as he slowly came down, resting his forehead against hers, shivering out the last drops of pleasure.

–

No one burst into the room to admonish the two of them for violating their forced separation, so either her room was unguarded or Teia wasn't planning on ratting them out to Caterina. Yet. Whatever the reason, Rook was glad for the privacy as they lounged on her tumbled bed.

"So, are you enjoying your accommodations?" Lucanis teased, brushing a stray lock of her hair away from her face

"Definitely nicer than my usual," she replied, stretching and twisting against the luxurious bedclothes. "I could get used to this. Though… I’d rather be with you. Tell me your bed is this nice, and I’ll marry you tomorrow."

"Mm, mine is even nicer," he said, pressing a lazy kiss against her lips.

"Then marry me tomorrow."

He chuckled, curling up against her, resting his head on her shoulder. "Never mind my grandmother, Teia would kill us both if we eloped," he said sleepily, wrapping an arm around her waist. "We let her plan this lavish thing, she will love us forever. And anyway. I will sneak in here every night if I have to. I wouldn’t want you to be lonely."

Rook smiled up at the shadowy ceiling, enjoying the way his body relaxed against hers as he fell asleep. Sleeping together here probably wasn't the best idea, considering she had no idea if a maid was going to come barging in to get her up for breakfast or anything, but she was entirely too sated and comfortable to give it much thought. Her eyes drifted shut against the moonlight slanting through the open window—

—and popped open to dawn light glazing the room pink.

"Venhedis!"

Lucanis jolted awake, pushing himself upright in a flurry of messy hair and hands searching for a knife to defend against whatever threat they were facing. "What!" he gasped, shaking the last dregs of sleep out of his head. "What is it— oh mierda, it's morning."

She had never seen anyone get dressed so quickly. He threw on his clothes as she sat naked on the bed, admiring the last glimpses of skin before they disappeared underneath fine linen. "Mierda, what time is it?" he muttered, stuffing his feet into his boots. "Caterina wanted to have a meeting at nine bells."

Sliding out of the bed, Rook peeked out the window. "It can't be that late," she said, amused at his panic. "It's maybe six bells? The sun's still low."

"Thank the Maker," he sighed, swinging his cape around his shoulders.

She laughed, kissing him on the cheek as made his way to the window. "Climb carefully," she said, waiting for him to clamber gracefully over the sill before leaning on it to watch him. "I'll see you tonight?"

He paused in his descent, looking up and giving her a smile that promised so many delicious nights ahead of them. "I'll see you tonight," he said, clinging to the ledge and taking her mouth in the sweetest kiss.

Luckily no one noticed the First Talon clambering down the side of the Cantori Diamond. Rook watched him until he was out of sight; before he turned that last corner, he looked up at her window and smiled, and she blew a kiss as he disappeared.