Fire Rises

Bursting Bubbles

I awoke with a start, my body jolting upright in bed. Maverick’s head quickly lifted from his pillow and began swiveling around the room checking for danger. 

After dinner that night, the long day finally caught up to me. All my excitement over sharing a bed with Maverick for the first time had been temporarily moved to the back burner the second my head hit the pillow.

“What’s going on? Are you okay?”

“I don’t know. Something isn’t right, but I’m not sure what.”

“Go back to sleep, Love. It’s late. You probably just had a bad dream.” He laid his head down and pulled my body to fit perfectly into the curvature of his own. He started rubbing circles on my back to soothe me. I couldn’t be calmed so easily, though. As much as I wanted to enjoy his closeness, the feeling that something was off wouldn’t be shaken. 

I slowly and reluctantly removed my body from his and peeled back the covers. My feet touched the cool floor and I immediately regretted not trying harder to overcome the sinking feeling. I tip-toed towards the bathroom to wash my face and gain some clarity on the peculiar feeling.

“Do you want me to come with you?” Maverick sleepily called from behind me.

“No, that’s okay.” I stepped into the bathroom, the candles magically illuminating upon my entrance. I opened the sink faucet and splashed some on my face. It felt so nice and reminded me I hadn’t taken a bath the day before. I lifted an arm and sniffed.

Oof, I offend. My inner monologue was too sassy for this hour. Still, I decided to draw the water for a bath. Once the tub was full, I gingerly stepped in and sank beneath the decadent cloud of bubbles. Just as I was getting cozy, movement by the door caught my attention.

A small chasm in time and space broke open and suddenly Archer was standing in the bathroom. His face wasn’t burnt anymore, which was surprisingly relieving to find. But he was in my bathroom, which was unsurprisingly unpleasant to find.

So much for Prince Charrr-ming. Ari is going to be so disappointed.

Much to my astonishment, he didn’t look angry. Instead, confusion and concern consumed him. I sank lower beneath the bubbles to hide my naked body. I wanted to scream, but couldn’t find my voice. I laid frozen in my own vulnerability. His eyes landed on mine and relief washed over his face.

“I was so worried about you! I’m sorry if I was being inappropriate! Is that why you ran away? I know burning me was an accident-”

“Archer, what are you doing here?” My words pierced the cool night air like knives, but the aim of my sharp tone didn't so much as braise Archer's thick skull. 

“I should be asking you that! Did… did he kidnap you?” His perfectly sculpted brows furrowed in worry.

“What?! No!”

“Then why are you…” He trailed off as he finally took a moment to register his surroundings. This bathroom was far too grand to belong to a guest room. It was far too grand to belong to any room besides that of the crown prince. His eyes flashed back to me… a very naked me… in the bathtub… in this bathroom. Suddenly his concern was tainted with disgust. His teeth ground together as conspiracies began flooding his mind and coursing through his hard pressed lips. “Did he put you under some kind of spell? Did he... did he touch you? I swear to every and all gods, I'LL KILL HIM-”

“Archer!! STOP! You’ve got it all very, very wrong.” He was already to the bathroom door with his sword drawn… again. 

God, men and their swords. I fought the urge to roll my eyes and tried to regain his attention.

“WAIT! Listen to me, I need to tell you something.”

He spun around lowering the sword to his side. He moved back to me and kneeled down beside the bathtub. 

Um, geez, ever heard of personal space? He clearly had not. Instead of recognizing my overt aversion to his nearness for what it was- and, in turn, providing space for my comfort- he reached to my face and began caressing my cheek. I folded my arms over my chest in an attempt at regaining some semblance of privacy for myself given his close proximity. “I’m so sorry I let this happen to you. I will break the spell and defeat this evil prince!" He balled the hand opposite of the one pawing at my face into a fist, slamming in down the bathtub wall.  "But, first I need to get you to safety. You don’t need to see what I’m going to do to him!”

I was very aware that the physical contact on my cheek would be enough for him to take me away, so I jerked my head back, smacking it against the tub. “Ow, ow, owww!!” I rubbed the back of my head. “Archer, please give me a chance to speak. I’m going to say this as clearly as possible-” As I spoke, I realized his face didn’t look dark anymore. It didn’t have that evil tone to it that it had in his office. 

Strange. My thoughts were momentarily derailed. As annoying as this asshole was, I didn't want him to spend his life as a brainwashed clown. “Archer I have a weird question to ask…”

“Anything, but can we talk somewhere els-” He was reaching for my face again, but I pulled back, taking care to not knock myself unconscious this time.

“Archer, did Autumn or Sophia give you anything yesterday? Did you take anything voluntarily from either of them? A piece of clothing or jewelry?”

He lifted his eyebrows and his mouth quirked into a playful smile. “Ohhh, I see. You were a little jealous again? Is that why-”

“Archer! Focus! Please! This isn’t about that at all! Did you take anything voluntarily from either of them?”

“Evie, you’re looking a little green my jealous queen…”

Gods save us all. If this is the level of stupidity I have to deal with, I'm going to fail. 10... breathe... 9... breathe... 8... breathe...

“GET AWAY FROM HER!” Maverick was standing in the doorway, naked from the waist up and breathing very heavily.

Oh f**k yeah! I'll have two orders of that with a side of sanity, thank you very much. I knew it wasn’t the opportune moment to check out my boyfriend, but I couldn’t help myself. Boyfriend? Is he my boyfriend? Eve! Focus! 

Archer stood straight up and drew his sword at an unarmed Maverick. He lunged forward, but Maverick swirled into colors and disappeared before reappearing in the bathtub. He grabbed my slippery body and transported us to Lucian and Clara’s room. 

*****

Moments later we stood covered in suds smack dab in the middle of Clara and Lucian's room. They apparently had more energy than us, because they were still awake and deep in the thralls of… passion. Clara was bent over the edge of the bed, screaming in satisfied pleasure as Lucian gripped her hips from behind. He stopped mid-thrust as we his brain processed out presence in the room.

“Oh, what the f**k you guys? Get out of-” Lucian seemed to notice my naked and terrified face. He stepped away from Clara who quickly wrapped herself in the disheveled duvet. My brother tossed me the closest blanket and threw on his sweatpants that had been laid on the nearby chaise.

“Archer was in the bath-” 

Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Archer materialized in the room with us.

“A-f*****g-mazing! Now it's a whole party! We were a little busy here assholes! Someone better start explaining and quickly. Why the f**k are you here? And Why. The. f**k. Is my sister. CRYING?!” Lucian’s eyes were glowing brightly. 

Archer seemed to be on a mission to have his face nearly burnt off again. He moved toward me with an outstretched hand. The saddest part was that he seemed to actually believe I might go with him. “Eve, come to my queen! I will save-”

Maverick placed his body in between my own and Archer's. I didn't need protection. Maverick knew that. Hell, Archer was probably starting to get the idea, but still I appreciated that Maverick wanted to keep me safe. Maverick's voice was always deep, but it reached a new and bellowing low when he announced, “Get the f**k out of here Charming! You aren’t saving her from s**t-”

 Lucian wasn't here for this melodrama. He wanted me safe, sure, but this was all shaping up to be what I'm sure he'd describe as 'some messy bullshit.' “Seriously, why are you all having this conversation in my room? I was in the middle of some-" He was in Maverick's kingdom and in Charming's world of delusion, so his complaints were cut short.

Charming had gone by many names. Tonight the 'Prince of Hallucination' seemed perhaps the most fitting name tag he'd yet to wear. He dared another step closer, his arm still earnestly outstretched and his demeanor still assuredly that of someone with good intentions. “Darling, please, come take my hand and I’ll take you far, far away-”

“Don’t you dare come any closer!” Maverick's voice bellowed through the room. I truly did appreciate how he stood up for me and how insanely tantalizing those low cut gray sweatpants he wore were, but I am a f*****g dragon. And I was tired. And naked. And a little hungry... again. 

“EVERYONE JUST SHUT THE HELL UP!” My voice was animalistic. The glow of my eyes was illuminating the small room. Fire hemorrhaged from my mouth as I screamed. A deafening silence fell and I took a few deep breaths to calm myself. The next words to leave my mouth were clearly artificially calm, even by Charming's idealistic standards. “Archer, your sister and Sophia have been plotting to con you into using my powers to take over the world. This afternoon you were definitely under their spell. We all saw it. You may annoy the living f**k out of me with all your singing, but you aren’t evil. I know the way you were acting today wasn’t you. Autumn is only claiming that Lucian is her true love to double down on the dragons at her disposal.” His sinking bravado was evident on his face. As he shook his head in disbelief, I stepped towards him and added, "Please, please Archer. Believe me. That wasn't you. This isn't you."

“No… you’re lying. It can’t be… no... NO! You’ve got it all wrong. You are under a spell. You burnt my face half off today and that isn’t you. You only did that because Prince Maverick has you under a spell because he wants to use your power for evil. Autumn saw it in your eyes. Sophia confirmed the symptoms… it all... it all fits!" His breathing was becoming labored  And you love my singing!” He squared his shoulders and looked me directly in my glowing eyes at the finality of his sentence.

I decided he didn’t need the blow to his ego, so I let the singing thing go for the time being. “Did you take anything voluntarily from them today, Archer?”

“Stop that! I won’t let you poison my mind. I-I-I… Argh!” he grabbed at the sides of his head, pulling his hair in frustration.

Same, Archer, same. The situation was very confusing. Truthfully, prior to meeting Maverick, there had even been points in the past few days when spending my life hiding away in the Dark Place almost seemed preferable to this madness. Almost. 

I softened my voice. “I’m not the one trying to poison you, Archer. No one here is. We just want peace. We want the children from the Dark Place to have a chance at a better life. That’s it.”

He continued to grip at his hair and sway his head to and fro in attempts to shake the confusion. “They said you would do this to me. They said not to come… but I-I had to save you… I won’t let you down Eve. I won’t!” Tears spilled from Archer's eyes. "I promise, I will save you... I'll... I'll save you." His trembling lip pulled at my heart strings. Whether I loved the man romantically or not, I never wanted him to feel like this.  He started to fade from the room before vanishing completely.

“Well. s**t. That isn’t good.” Clara spoke for the first time since we had brought the drama into their room.

“At least no one set fire to anything this time around.” Lucian nonchalantly shrugged and sounded almost proud of that fact. 

Maverick pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut. “Thank. You. Lucian! Yes. No one burned anything. Great!” 'Great' came out a high pitch, exhausted squeak. 

“It’s only a matter of time before he tells Autumn that we know…” Everyone nodded in agreement with my obvious statement, but no one else spoke. “Alright, you’re up Maverick. Whatcha got?” His fingers were still pinched on the bridge of his nose when his eyes met mine in question.

“Huh?”

“The man with the plan! Let’s hear it!” Lucian shot finger guns at Maverick.

“The plan…? Ugh! I’m too tired to think! First things first, we’re going back to bed. Everyone be ready bright and early tomorrow. Maybe by then Plan D.5 will have taken some kind of shape.” He reached for my hand and brought us back to our room.

I put my sleep clothes back on and climbed into bed, snuggling up next to Maverick. I was exhausted, but after the excitement I didn’t think I’d be able to fall back asleep anytime soon. Maverick seemed to have the same issue. His light petting of my hair turned into nibbling of my ear. He moved his lips along my jaw to mouth. His hands moved along my stomach to my chest causing me to arch my back and moan in response. I tried to flip over to face him but his hands held me firm in my position. As I pushed my body back into his I felt a thrill of excitement at what I found. 

Through baited breath I managed to say, "Plan D, you say? I think I'd like a sneak peak."

His low chuckle vibrated my neck.

“I’m not sure why you put these clothes on. I’ve been waiting for this for too long, Love.” His hands slipped below my waist band and pushed my shorts beyond my feet. My heart beat relentlessly in anticipation. One hand lingered on my thigh while the other made quick work of removing my shirt. 

He cupped my breast while simultaneously playfully explored the curvature of my inner thigh. My body writhed urging his hand higher and higher, but he was determined to take his time. Finally, he rotated my body to face him just as his forefinger sunk deep within my core. 

More. Give me more. I couldn't stop my hips from lifting and dropping on his hand all the while he watched my face contort at the sensations. The hand on my breast began flicked at pinched at my sensitive n****e. My past told me I needed to center my brain, but when his face dropped down to take my sensitive bud between his lips I lost all ties with reason and cried out.

More. Please, more. I wanted him to continue sucking and biting at my chest, but I knew where I really need him and couldn't help but wiggle my body to encourage his beautiful face further down. With one hand he sunk deep in and out of me while the other held my hips steady, fighting my efforts to connect his lips with my most sensitive parts.

With one hand still firmly securing my pelvis to the bed, his tongue moved to my other, neglected n****e, flicking across before biting down. Hard. My back arched in reaction, and despite needing him further in me, filling me more, his hand left me.

Momentarily, his eyes lifted to meet mine, before rolling me to my back. I reached hand up to caress his stumble. I could feel him at my entrance, but his firm grasp withheld my attempts to push him in. His turquoise eyes bore into mine with all the sincerity in the world as he whispered, "I love you," and plunged within my depths. 

I gasped at the fullness, and gasped again as he continually moved in and out, all the while whispering sweet nothings into my ears. This was heaven. This was  perfection. This was home.

Despite the horrible means to the end, I was ecstatic to say this bed was christened tonight after all.