Warning(s): fluff, slight jealousy on reader's end, Medieval-ish setting, friends (master-servant relationship) to lovers, slight angst if you squint, not proofread
Word Count: 2.5k words
Synopsis: The tension between the eldest princess and the chief guard of the dynasty has been growing for years. What would become of her and the chief guard when they travel together across the ocean, the confinement of the ship seemingly bringing the two closer than ever as a secret is revealed?
🕊️ hi! I know it's been a while and this is a shorter chapter, but I knew I needed to post something after being out for a relatively long time. I hope you like it, and it would be so lovely if you could leave a comment and/or reblog since it keeps me motivated!
Part 1
Under his mask, Ryugen smiled as he saw your sleeping form, your cheeks squished up against his arm that made your usual stoic face more child-like and frankly adorable. He traced your hair with his fingers, making sure that his claws were just scraping your scalp ever so lightly—whenever he did, he chuckled as he saw your nose scrunch up at the feeling unconsciously in your sleep.
Doubt swirled in his chest, as well as regret, as he winced at the memory of the hurt that ran across your face at his reaction when you asked him about his mask. How he would love to tear his mask away from his face, to press his lips on your skin, to feel your warmth linger on his hands as he cradles your face.
Yet, he knew he couldn’t—he shouldn’t. The adoration and affection and love he felt for you was nothing but futile, despite it all being reflected in your eyes. It was all there… in the beautiful light that softly radiated in your gaze as you looked at him, whether that was when he passed you in the hall, or when he visited you in the night as he effortlessly lied that it was for duty’s sake, but in truth it was just to get a glimpse of you as you open your chamber door to bid him good night in a soft caress.
Deep down, he knew his gestures strayed from the rationality that he prided in himself—it was all because of you. The absolute desperation in his lingering touches, words that sound too sweet coming from his own mouth, and the instinctive need to add ‘my’ to address you, despite the countless times he felt revolted from his own audacity to call you, the beautiful princess he admired, his, that made him want to claw at his throat for thinking such things—it was all because of you.
He touched his grotesque mask, the sleek sheen of lacquer feeling cold under his black fingertips. His hand twitched, the instinct to pull it off more profound than he had ever felt in his time in the palace, because of you.
Ryugen let out a sigh, a deep rumble that revereated in his chest and into you with the simple exhale of breath. Glancing at you once more, he softly caressed your cheek with his knuckles before blowing the fire of the lamp out, darkness shrouding once more over him and your sleeping form.
———
Your nose tingled with the smell of saltwater that sprayed in the air, the water shining as the ship split through the sea with a rush of adrenaline in your veins. A soft smile hinted at your lips as you held onto your bamboo hat between your fingers, avoiding the blazing sun above.
It was a couple of weeks after that night that you have found yourself brusquely stepping foot on ship to Arathia, the excitement buzzing on the deck with the hint of anxiety of the journey there that added to the thrill Xaenait lacked.
“My princess.”
You tilted your head, face immediately scrunching up as your eyes slitted into a thin line, trying to look at the oni while facing the glaring sun.
Ryugen chuckled softly and shifted so that his shadow graced over your face for some solace. His hands briefly adjusted your bamboo hat, making your heart involuntarily flutter in your chest with the simple proximity, only to sink as he retracted his hand, flinching at the brush of your hair against his finger.
“My apologies, my princess. I was wondering how the ride is treating you.”
“Quite well,” you replied with a nod, swallowing a lump in your throat. You tried your hardest not to stare at his glistening jet-black skin that glimmered lustrously like silk, yet you found it was a hard feat to achieve to tear your eyes on his neck and the expanse of his chest away with the way a thin sheet of sweat shined mesmerisingly.
Ripping your field of vision away from him, you cleared your throat with a graceful lift of your hand in front of your lips and stared out at the sea once more, hoping to hide your flustered cheeks.
“How are you liking this trip, Ryugen?”
“Quite well,” he replied.
You smiled gently. “I am glad to hear that.”
Ryugen stared out at the sea, a small silence lingering as he stared at something across the waters. You narrowed your eyes as well, seeing the small ship a distance away—it was definitely not a ship from any place you knew.
“What do you think…”
Your entire body went rigid as you felt the oni’s hand gently seeping warmth into your shoulder. Looking up at him, you saw the way his mask continued to scowl at the ship far ahead, an air of apprehensiveness clouding around him.
“It is best to take rest in your room, my princess,” he finally said after a pause. He looked down at you, his thumb tracing tenderly along your collarbone over the silk of your clothes. “Staying out in the sun for too long in this sea is not recommended.”
Ignoring the rush of pumping blood you felt travel across your body, you nodded, albeit absentmindedly. “If you say so.”
In the back of your head, you briefly thought that his piercing golden eyes softened under his mask, but the thought was quickly tossed away as he guided you back inside, ordering something to the guards gruffly. Though, his hand was still gently placed on your shoulder the entire time.
“Tea?” he asked as soon as you entered the room.
You nodded as you took a seat on a cushioned chair next to the window of the quite expansive room located at the top of the ship, placing your hat to the side. Looking around, the furniture, the room, the ship brought you in awe—the feeling of this whole vessel moving was surreal to you. But at the same time, the nagging feeling that this ship was developed and built upon your people’s money and labour ticking uncomfortably against your head.
“My princess.” Ryugen’s voice snapped you out of your thoughts as you hummed in reply. “Are you thinking of something you do not need to worry about instead of enjoying your trip?”
“No…”
Approaching you, he placed a pot of tea on the table and two ceramic cups. His mask blankly grinned at you wickedly from across the table, but you knew well enough that he was more amused than anything, given by the slight shake of his head and the faint breathy chuckle escaping him.
“This journey will allow our kingdom to thrive,” he said calmly, pouring the liquid gold inside the cup. The wisp of steam carried the scent of fresh jasmine. It was too easy how his deep voice and the floral smell of the tea eased your unease. “The establishment of a more effective trade routs for imports and exports of goods with two kingdoms will benefit us all.”
You sighed softly, a defeated smile tugging at your lips at how well he seemed to read you. “This ship is still built on massive support— well, tax collection from our people, Ryugen.” You traced the rim of the cup as your reflection rippled in the circular frame. “And this trade route is not going to ensure the benefit of everyone…”
“You do not need to worry about that for now, my princess,” he said softly. He tapped his hand on your cup, sending a ticklish yet comforting feeling that jolted through your entire body. “I advise you to enjoy your tea at this moment.”
Chuckling, you smiled reassuringly. “I will.”
You opened your mouth to call for your poison taster, only to stop when Ryugen tapped your hand once more.
“I will check for your drink myself, my princess.”
Surprised, your eyes widened as you protested, “No, what if you—”
“As you are aware, oni have higher tolerance to poisons and have better senses.” He took the cup into his hands, his black larger hands making it look like a doll’s utensil. “Besides, it would be better to lessen the anxiety of your little poison taster.”
Worry etched on your face, all the while you felt your chest tightened with ugly jealousy at the slight fond way he referred to your poison taster. A pretty servant girl that was quite unafraid of the oni despite his mask that usually scared people off. It was ridiculous and selfish and so utterly unjust as well, but the prospect of him sharing his gentle touches with anyone else made your stomach churn with fury and heart with throbbing aching.
Pursing your lips, you sigh as your shoulders sagged in defeat, desperately trying to ignoring the unpleasant envy swimming in your chest. “If you are so eager to, then I would not hold you back.”
“Thank you, my princess,” he said, and you can sense the smile behind his mask. With that, he took a thin bamboo straw and drank the tea, his mask glaring down at the cup in his hand with a scrutinising gaze.
You watched Ryugen closely, unconsciously focusing on his adam's apple bob as he swallowed the fragrant tea. After a while he gave a nod of affirmation, and you let go of a breath you didn’t know you were holding back. Murmuring your gratitude, you took the tea in your hand and took a sip.
Warmth filled and spread through you as the hot tea trickled down your throat, your eyes closing and a soft sigh escaping your lips at the feeling of your tension loosening out. You felt Ryugen’s golden eyes watch you, making you straighten your spine as you placed the tea cup gently back to the table.
You met his eyes with practiced aloofness. “Is there something you would like to share, Ryugen?”
The oni languidly shook his head, his eyes unreadable and shadowed behind the grotesque mask. “No, my princess.”
You didn’t push further as you leaned back against the chair and looked out at the ocean, eyes heavy with whatever emotion toying inside your heart.
At the sound of rapid knocks on the door, your head perked up and you saw one of the crew, a normal human, take a deep bow and salute at the two of you.
He shifted anxiously between his feet as he announced in a tentative voice, “There is a storm approaching. It is best to be prepared for an unpleasant ride.”
Ryugen’s golden eyes narrowed while you nodded with a troubled, stoic expression. From the corner of your eye, you observed the stiff muscles on his forearm as he kept his hands politely placed on his lap.
“Thank you for the notice. Tell the others to continue this journey with caution,” you said, dismissing him away.
As he bowed once more and left the room, you returned your attention back to the oni, taking a sip to hide the small frown at the tips of your lips.
“It would be an interesting journey for the next few hours,” you finally said after a short silence.
Ryugen hummed in return—a deep rumble from his chest—his eyes still narrowed as he stared out at the window, where in the fast distance, a dark swarm of clouds drifted every-so-slowly yet certainly towards the direction of the ship. He met your eyes, a sombre glow in them as he leaned slightly, a hand firm on his sword.
“My princess, please be careful within the ship.”
“I’m not the one carrying a sword in a ship, Ryugen,” you said simply, lips twitching in an amused smile.
His mask remained impassive, yet the slight tilt of his head suggested the smile on his face, a gesture you picked up on as a sign of amusement and mirth.
“You have caught me well.” His voice was slightly strained.
You chuckled weakly, the back of your mind catching onto his slight tense behaviour, and the small laughter disappeared slowly as your eyes caught once more on the grey clouds. “We can only hope that nothing will happen to this ship.”
“We will ensure your safety, my princess,” he said, a deep rumble of determination that erupted from within his stomach. “With my life.”
You watched him carefully from across the table, your head screaming to him desperately, don’t. This was one of the things you hated about being a princess, the system of monarchy… the fact that many of your people were willing to die for you, whether that is Ryugen—someone you loved with all your heart despite your vehement denial—or an absolute stranger living in the outskirts of poverty. Eitherway, it pained your heart.
Despite the prickling itch running across your skin, you swallowed thickly and raised your chin and nodded, not daring to to speak in the fear of not finding your voice properly.
“My princess…” His voice was soft, sympathetic like a cooing mother soothing a child.
You cleared your throat, standing up as you realised he caught on your discomfort, and your cheeks flushed faintly in embarrassment. Murmuring something about getting fresh air, you turned away and you started to walk towards the door with long abrupt strides but froze, shivering at the slightest tickle of his claw brushing against your finger gently, so tentatively. Sucking in a nervous breath, you slowly faced him, eyes slightly wide from curiosity and the feeling of getting caught in your weakness, heart pounding profusely against your ribcage.
Ryugen had his eyes on your hand, his claw still faintly brushing against the tip of your skin. You followed his gaze, finding his finger twitching as if to grasp your hand. Much to your heavy heart, he pulled it away and firmly gripped on his sword, the shining obsidian skin stretching across the protruding knuckles across the expanse of his large hand.
Silence lingered as both of you didn’t quite know whether it would be appropriate to meet each other’s eyes. He broke the silence first.
“My apologies, my princess.”
Your eyes flickered up to his mask, finding the gruesome face lowered down to the wooden floor. “For what?”
“For stopping you.”
Your lips twitched, finding it slightly amusing considering how the other night he has carried you in his arm and jumped out of the palace without a warning. You replied brusquely, “I do not find any offence in that.”
His eyes still lingered on the floor, still perhaps guilty for whatever logic he follows. After another pause, he asked softly in his gravelling voice, “Would you like to be escorted out the room?”
You thought for a moment before shaking your head. Your heart was beating to wildly and you weren’t confident if you could tolerate his presence being so close to you anymore.
“No. You can rest here, Ryugen. I will be back.”
As you swiftly turned away and headed out, you failed to observe the slight sag of his shoulder, dejected as he watched you leave the room, his fingers reaching towards you in a silent plea of words he would like to say to you.
Check out my other stories set in the same world! (It might help with understanding some of the overlaps mentioned in this story)
Swords Clashing (Orc x F! Reader)
Weaving Through Complications (Tiefling x F! Reader)
Warning(s): fluff, slight jealousy on reader's end, Medieval-ish setting, friends (master-servant relationship) to lovers, slight angst if you squint, not proofread
Word Count: 2.5k words
Synopsis: The tension between the eldest princess and the chief guard of the dynasty has been growing for years. What would become of her and the chief guard when they travel together across the ocean, the confinement of the ship seemingly bringing the two closer than ever as a secret is revealed?
🕊️ hi! I know it's been a while and this is a shorter chapter, but I knew I needed to post something after being out for a relatively long time. I hope you like it, and it would be so lovely if you could leave a comment and/or reblog since it keeps me motivated!
Part 1
Under his mask, Ryugen smiled as he saw your sleeping form, your cheeks squished up against his arm that made your usual stoic face more child-like and frankly adorable. He traced your hair with his fingers, making sure that his claws were just scraping your scalp ever so lightly—whenever he did, he chuckled as he saw your nose scrunch up at the feeling unconsciously in your sleep.
Doubt swirled in his chest, as well as regret, as he winced at the memory of the hurt that ran across your face at his reaction when you asked him about his mask. How he would love to tear his mask away from his face, to press his lips on your skin, to feel your warmth linger on his hands as he cradles your face.
Yet, he knew he couldn’t—he shouldn’t. The adoration and affection and love he felt for you was nothing but futile, despite it all being reflected in your eyes. It was all there… in the beautiful light that softly radiated in your gaze as you looked at him, whether that was when he passed you in the hall, or when he visited you in the night as he effortlessly lied that it was for duty’s sake, but in truth it was just to get a glimpse of you as you open your chamber door to bid him good night in a soft caress.
Deep down, he knew his gestures strayed from the rationality that he prided in himself—it was all because of you. The absolute desperation in his lingering touches, words that sound too sweet coming from his own mouth, and the instinctive need to add ‘my’ to address you, despite the countless times he felt revolted from his own audacity to call you, the beautiful princess he admired, his, that made him want to claw at his throat for thinking such things—it was all because of you.
He touched his grotesque mask, the sleek sheen of lacquer feeling cold under his black fingertips. His hand twitched, the instinct to pull it off more profound than he had ever felt in his time in the palace, because of you.
Ryugen let out a sigh, a deep rumble that revereated in his chest and into you with the simple exhale of breath. Glancing at you once more, he softly caressed your cheek with his knuckles before blowing the fire of the lamp out, darkness shrouding once more over him and your sleeping form.
———
Your nose tingled with the smell of saltwater that sprayed in the air, the water shining as the ship split through the sea with a rush of adrenaline in your veins. A soft smile hinted at your lips as you held onto your bamboo hat between your fingers, avoiding the blazing sun above.
It was a couple of weeks after that night that you have found yourself brusquely stepping foot on ship to Arathia, the excitement buzzing on the deck with the hint of anxiety of the journey there that added to the thrill Xaenait lacked.
“My princess.”
You tilted your head, face immediately scrunching up as your eyes slitted into a thin line, trying to look at the oni while facing the glaring sun.
Ryugen chuckled softly and shifted so that his shadow graced over your face for some solace. His hands briefly adjusted your bamboo hat, making your heart involuntarily flutter in your chest with the simple proximity, only to sink as he retracted his hand, flinching at the brush of your hair against his finger.
“My apologies, my princess. I was wondering how the ride is treating you.”
“Quite well,” you replied with a nod, swallowing a lump in your throat. You tried your hardest not to stare at his glistening jet-black skin that glimmered lustrously like silk, yet you found it was a hard feat to achieve to tear your eyes on his neck and the expanse of his chest away with the way a thin sheet of sweat shined mesmerisingly.
Ripping your field of vision away from him, you cleared your throat with a graceful lift of your hand in front of your lips and stared out at the sea once more, hoping to hide your flustered cheeks.
“How are you liking this trip, Ryugen?”
“Quite well,” he replied.
You smiled gently. “I am glad to hear that.”
Ryugen stared out at the sea, a small silence lingering as he stared at something across the waters. You narrowed your eyes as well, seeing the small ship a distance away—it was definitely not a ship from any place you knew.
“What do you think…”
Your entire body went rigid as you felt the oni’s hand gently seeping warmth into your shoulder. Looking up at him, you saw the way his mask continued to scowl at the ship far ahead, an air of apprehensiveness clouding around him.
“It is best to take rest in your room, my princess,” he finally said after a pause. He looked down at you, his thumb tracing tenderly along your collarbone over the silk of your clothes. “Staying out in the sun for too long in this sea is not recommended.”
Ignoring the rush of pumping blood you felt travel across your body, you nodded, albeit absentmindedly. “If you say so.”
In the back of your head, you briefly thought that his piercing golden eyes softened under his mask, but the thought was quickly tossed away as he guided you back inside, ordering something to the guards gruffly. Though, his hand was still gently placed on your shoulder the entire time.
“Tea?” he asked as soon as you entered the room.
You nodded as you took a seat on a cushioned chair next to the window of the quite expansive room located at the top of the ship, placing your hat to the side. Looking around, the furniture, the room, the ship brought you in awe—the feeling of this whole vessel moving was surreal to you. But at the same time, the nagging feeling that this ship was developed and built upon your people’s money and labour ticking uncomfortably against your head.
“My princess.” Ryugen’s voice snapped you out of your thoughts as you hummed in reply. “Are you thinking of something you do not need to worry about instead of enjoying your trip?”
“No…”
Approaching you, he placed a pot of tea on the table and two ceramic cups. His mask blankly grinned at you wickedly from across the table, but you knew well enough that he was more amused than anything, given by the slight shake of his head and the faint breathy chuckle escaping him.
“This journey will allow our kingdom to thrive,” he said calmly, pouring the liquid gold inside the cup. The wisp of steam carried the scent of fresh jasmine. It was too easy how his deep voice and the floral smell of the tea eased your unease. “The establishment of a more effective trade routs for imports and exports of goods with two kingdoms will benefit us all.”
You sighed softly, a defeated smile tugging at your lips at how well he seemed to read you. “This ship is still built on massive support— well, tax collection from our people, Ryugen.” You traced the rim of the cup as your reflection rippled in the circular frame. “And this trade route is not going to ensure the benefit of everyone…”
“You do not need to worry about that for now, my princess,” he said softly. He tapped his hand on your cup, sending a ticklish yet comforting feeling that jolted through your entire body. “I advise you to enjoy your tea at this moment.”
Chuckling, you smiled reassuringly. “I will.”
You opened your mouth to call for your poison taster, only to stop when Ryugen tapped your hand once more.
“I will check for your drink myself, my princess.”
Surprised, your eyes widened as you protested, “No, what if you—”
“As you are aware, oni have higher tolerance to poisons and have better senses.” He took the cup into his hands, his black larger hands making it look like a doll’s utensil. “Besides, it would be better to lessen the anxiety of your little poison taster.”
Worry etched on your face, all the while you felt your chest tightened with ugly jealousy at the slight fond way he referred to your poison taster. A pretty servant girl that was quite unafraid of the oni despite his mask that usually scared people off. It was ridiculous and selfish and so utterly unjust as well, but the prospect of him sharing his gentle touches with anyone else made your stomach churn with fury and heart with throbbing aching.
Pursing your lips, you sigh as your shoulders sagged in defeat, desperately trying to ignoring the unpleasant envy swimming in your chest. “If you are so eager to, then I would not hold you back.”
“Thank you, my princess,” he said, and you can sense the smile behind his mask. With that, he took a thin bamboo straw and drank the tea, his mask glaring down at the cup in his hand with a scrutinising gaze.
You watched Ryugen closely, unconsciously focusing on his adam's apple bob as he swallowed the fragrant tea. After a while he gave a nod of affirmation, and you let go of a breath you didn’t know you were holding back. Murmuring your gratitude, you took the tea in your hand and took a sip.
Warmth filled and spread through you as the hot tea trickled down your throat, your eyes closing and a soft sigh escaping your lips at the feeling of your tension loosening out. You felt Ryugen’s golden eyes watch you, making you straighten your spine as you placed the tea cup gently back to the table.
You met his eyes with practiced aloofness. “Is there something you would like to share, Ryugen?”
The oni languidly shook his head, his eyes unreadable and shadowed behind the grotesque mask. “No, my princess.”
You didn’t push further as you leaned back against the chair and looked out at the ocean, eyes heavy with whatever emotion toying inside your heart.
At the sound of rapid knocks on the door, your head perked up and you saw one of the crew, a normal human, take a deep bow and salute at the two of you.
He shifted anxiously between his feet as he announced in a tentative voice, “There is a storm approaching. It is best to be prepared for an unpleasant ride.”
Ryugen’s golden eyes narrowed while you nodded with a troubled, stoic expression. From the corner of your eye, you observed the stiff muscles on his forearm as he kept his hands politely placed on his lap.
“Thank you for the notice. Tell the others to continue this journey with caution,” you said, dismissing him away.
As he bowed once more and left the room, you returned your attention back to the oni, taking a sip to hide the small frown at the tips of your lips.
“It would be an interesting journey for the next few hours,” you finally said after a short silence.
Ryugen hummed in return—a deep rumble from his chest—his eyes still narrowed as he stared out at the window, where in the fast distance, a dark swarm of clouds drifted every-so-slowly yet certainly towards the direction of the ship. He met your eyes, a sombre glow in them as he leaned slightly, a hand firm on his sword.
“My princess, please be careful within the ship.”
“I’m not the one carrying a sword in a ship, Ryugen,” you said simply, lips twitching in an amused smile.
His mask remained impassive, yet the slight tilt of his head suggested the smile on his face, a gesture you picked up on as a sign of amusement and mirth.
“You have caught me well.” His voice was slightly strained.
You chuckled weakly, the back of your mind catching onto his slight tense behaviour, and the small laughter disappeared slowly as your eyes caught once more on the grey clouds. “We can only hope that nothing will happen to this ship.”
“We will ensure your safety, my princess,” he said, a deep rumble of determination that erupted from within his stomach. “With my life.”
You watched him carefully from across the table, your head screaming to him desperately, don’t. This was one of the things you hated about being a princess, the system of monarchy… the fact that many of your people were willing to die for you, whether that is Ryugen—someone you loved with all your heart despite your vehement denial—or an absolute stranger living in the outskirts of poverty. Eitherway, it pained your heart.
Despite the prickling itch running across your skin, you swallowed thickly and raised your chin and nodded, not daring to to speak in the fear of not finding your voice properly.
“My princess…” His voice was soft, sympathetic like a cooing mother soothing a child.
You cleared your throat, standing up as you realised he caught on your discomfort, and your cheeks flushed faintly in embarrassment. Murmuring something about getting fresh air, you turned away and you started to walk towards the door with long abrupt strides but froze, shivering at the slightest tickle of his claw brushing against your finger gently, so tentatively. Sucking in a nervous breath, you slowly faced him, eyes slightly wide from curiosity and the feeling of getting caught in your weakness, heart pounding profusely against your ribcage.
Ryugen had his eyes on your hand, his claw still faintly brushing against the tip of your skin. You followed his gaze, finding his finger twitching as if to grasp your hand. Much to your heavy heart, he pulled it away and firmly gripped on his sword, the shining obsidian skin stretching across the protruding knuckles across the expanse of his large hand.
Silence lingered as both of you didn’t quite know whether it would be appropriate to meet each other’s eyes. He broke the silence first.
“My apologies, my princess.”
Your eyes flickered up to his mask, finding the gruesome face lowered down to the wooden floor. “For what?”
“For stopping you.”
Your lips twitched, finding it slightly amusing considering how the other night he has carried you in his arm and jumped out of the palace without a warning. You replied brusquely, “I do not find any offence in that.”
His eyes still lingered on the floor, still perhaps guilty for whatever logic he follows. After another pause, he asked softly in his gravelling voice, “Would you like to be escorted out the room?”
You thought for a moment before shaking your head. Your heart was beating to wildly and you weren’t confident if you could tolerate his presence being so close to you anymore.
“No. You can rest here, Ryugen. I will be back.”
As you swiftly turned away and headed out, you failed to observe the slight sag of his shoulder, dejected as he watched you leave the room, his fingers reaching towards you in a silent plea of words he would like to say to you.
Check out my other stories set in the same world! (It might help with understanding some of the overlaps mentioned in this story)
Swords Clashing (Orc x F! Reader)
Weaving Through Complications (Tiefling x F! Reader)
Warning(s): Medieval-ish setting, enemies to lovers, kidnapping, ocean setting, mention of blood, slight angst if you squint, I swear it's fluff
Word Count: 6k
Synopsis: Kidnapped by pirates for a ransom, you wonder if you could ever come to terms with the captain who drives you crazy from how beautiful he is.
A/N: This is so long for a chapter, and I thought of splitting it in half but here we are. I hope you like it! because I sure did have a fun time writing this.
Part 1
You were jolted awake when there was a series of coughs echoing across the cell. Sitting up from the hard floor and rubbing your eyes, you squinted in the darkness and groaned at the slip of light that filtered from the gaps of the door. With a start, you remembered that the blue-scaled naga was keeping watch on you—and he was shivering inside his coat.
Not knowing what to do, you silently watched him cough and rub his arms to keep himself warm.
“What?” Tamva said, glaring at you. You thought that you saw a slight blush faintly burn his cheeks but ignored it.
“Are you— Are you all right?”
You slowly pushed yourself towards him, slightly flinching when his tail sneaked between the iron bars. It must have been done unconsciously as his cheeks coloured into a deeper shade, yet his tail settled around you, making the air around you drop a degree or so.
“Are you cold?” you asked, hesitantly placing a warm hand on his tail. Beneath your palm, you felt the ripple of his scales of what you thought was a shudder and heard him sigh, sounding relieved.
Tamva didn’t answer, instead, he looked away and continued to cough into his fist.
An awkward silence befell upon the both of you. Although your anger and irritation towards him didn’t cease over the night, the persistent sound of his cough was enough to bring a frown to your face. You also didn’t have it in you to mention how his body was leaning closer to you, as if he was seeking warmth without noticing it.
“Did you catch a cold last night?”
“No,” Tamva hissed, curling one side of his lips that brought the fat of his cheek to thin his eyes into a disgusted glare.
Growing annoyed, you reached your hand out of the bar cell and grabbed the collar of his coat, harshly pulling him closer with a glare. His thin pupils dilated into a circle as his eyes widened in surprise, his forked tongue making a hiss against your lips.
“Your cough is disturbing me, so please, let me check you.”
“I hardly think that you’re capable,” he said with a raised brow, trying to hide his reddening face.
Scoffing, you squeezed his cheeks together with your fingers, making a forced pout form on his lips, which earned a good glare from him. “I study medicine. I’m taking an apprenticeship under the best healer in Xaenait.”
Tamva placed his hand on yours that was on his face, and ripped it away from him. You were shocked at how cold his touch was.
“Is it the fox my crew knocked unconscious?”
You huffed out a tired sigh and replied, “Yes, it’s him. So are you going to let me check you or not?”
A tentative pause followed. “Be my guest, princess.”
You earned another raised brow once you told him to open his mouth, but he complied nonetheless. Sharp fangs were revealed that made your heart leap from how much it resembled that of a snake. Cupping his jaw with both hands, you tilted his face, so that he was facing the light, and leaned a little bit closer to check his tongue and the back of his throat for any spots or other symptoms of a cold.
Nodding to yourself, you let go of his jaw and hummed in satisfaction. “You just have a normal cold, it should be harmless. You must have caught it since it was quite chilly last night.”
Although it was not winter yet, the autumn winds were chilly enough to have goosebumps appear on your skin.
Tamva just nodded mutely and rubbed his hands for friction, his form still leaning against the bar to be closer to you, but not before quietly saying his gratitude. The slit of his beautiful eyes thinned as his brows furrowed in concentration, trying to gain some warmth in his palm and fingertips. In all honesty, you found it quite endearing how childish he seemed—yet immediately shook your head to get rid of those thoughts.
Biting your bottom lip nervously, your eyes flittered across his hands to his face, to his tail that snuggled around you loosely to the strands of his silver hair that shined lustrously.
“What is it?” he asked, looking at you suspiciously from above his hands that he started to blow into.
“Well…” You sighed in defeat. “If you still have it, one of the pouches I had has astragalus root and honeysuckle flower, which prevents the cold from getting worse and helps with recovery. If you let me, I could brew some tea for you.”
The naga’s entire body tensed at your words. “How do I know you’re not trying to poison me?”
“I’m not dull enough to kill you off when you promised me to bring me back safely.” You rolled your eyes. The power of money that held over the naga seemed powerful enough that you almost snorted. “Also, I can’t have the captain of the ship I’m being held captive to be slacking on his job of bringing me back.”
Tamva let out a sudden laugh, genuine and quite warm that made your heart flutter. It was followed shortly by fits of cough that he covered up with a fist and looked away from you, which showed his blushing neck. Embarrassed, he peeked at you over his shoulder, looking quite bashful, unlike his usual arrogant self.
“Would you… would you actually brew the tea for me?”
“You will have to let me out of this cell though.”
He hesitated for a moment but started to fumble with the keys to open the cell door for you. Surprised that he would actually accept your offer, you stared up at him with wide eyes.
“I’m honoured to be worried by a princess,” he said with a smug curl of his lips, outstretching his hand out for you.
You rolled your eyes with an annoyed frown. Nevertheless, you took his hands, slightly jumping as his other hand was placed on your shoulder to push you outside from behind. You didn’t hear the quiet sigh Tamva let out, relieved by your warm hands.
The smell of saltwater and a blow of cool air greeted you outside, the sound of the waves crashing against your ears in a steady rhythm.
“Good morning, sir!” the crews yelled with a grin, each of them partaking in their respective jobs.
“Morning, boys! Grace our princess with a greeting!”
“Morning princess!”
You froze at the loud voices, silently glaring up at Tamva for his rather flamboyant way of starting the day.
“I regret offering to brew that tea for you,” you mumbled, not knowing whether to reply to the crew or not.
Tamva let out a noise between a chuckle and a scoff, rolling his eyes at your grumbles as he continued to navigate you inside the captain’s cabin. “Don’t also make me regret letting you out of the cell.”
Forming an angry frown that slightly twisted your lips into a snarl, you walked into the cabin. The first thing that caught your eye was a nest-like bed that sat behind his desk, it was so big that it took up a lot of the space of the room, which made you realise that this ship was quite small. Next were the beautiful spines of colourful books that were lined neatly on the shelves, the hue shining brighter from the simple-patterned stained glass. There were also many books scattered across his desk and tables, which you realised were all written in different languages that you’ve studied before.
“Do you read all of these?” You picked one of them up and turned around to face him, but jumped when Tamva’s face was closer than yours.
Both of you recoiled back briefly from surprise. Seeing his pupils gradually turning into a circle, you couldn’t help but admire the way his golden and turquoise eyes shone under the light and how his silver hair tickled his long, white eyelashes. Heat crawling up your neck, you looked away quickly and coughed. Tamva’s eyes returned to its normal slits when he blinked, and his entire body backed away from you.
“I-I do.”
He let out another fit of coughs, that deeply shook his shoulders and his tail to swish side to side as if uncomfortable. You frowned worriedly, albeit unconsciously, and led him into his seat—but not forgetting to push him roughly to the chair when he sent you a small glare.
“Stop glaring at me. I’m trying to be nice.”
“You always glare at me too, princess.”
You huffed out a tired breath. “Where’s my pouch?”
Tamva’s sharp claw hooked the knob of the drawers and opened it eloquently, his other hand scooping up two of your pouches and placing it on his desk with a small thud.
Looking around, you found a teapot but briefly stopped in your tracks as you wondered how you were supposed to boil it aboard a ship.
“Have you ever not ridden a ship before?”
“I have! It’s just…”
Tamva laughed—it was a cocky yet teasing laughter that brought a deep shade of pink to spread across your cheeks. “Oh, how spoiled you are, princess.”
Hoping to cover your brush, you tossed the empty teapot at him and faced away. “Well?”
The naga let out a hissing chuckle as he caught it before yelling out an order to the crew to fetch some water and boil it on the way. While he was busy laughing at you, you grumpily found a bowl and started to prepare the medicine.
“I could get used to a princess brewing me tea every morning.”
You scoffed. “Who’s spoiled now,” you grumbled, angrily snapping and crumbling the herbs into the bowl.
There was a small knock on the door before a tanned arm opened it, revealing the grey spots across the skin. The human who was a part of your kidnapping scheme entered with a cheerful smile.
“Here you go, sir!” he declared, proudly setting the pot in front of him on the desk.
“Thank you, Kaipo,” Tamva said, accepting the pot.
Looking at his patches of pattern more closely, you tentatively asked, “You’re a selkie?”
Kaipo grinned at you, a dimple showing on his handsome face, and gave you a small bow. “Yes, Your Highness.”
“I never met a selkie before,” you admitted, a smile blooming.
“And I have never met a princess before! And a pretty one at that,” he said with a flirtatious wink, which made his doe-like eyes shine brightly.
A blush appeared on your cheeks and you thanked him embarrassedly.
Tamva narrowed his eyes. “You can go now, Kaipo. Thanks for the water.”
A knowing smile widened across the selkie’s mouth and he saluted. “Yes, sir!”
Once he left, you turned towards the naga and approached him with the teapot. As you poured the mixture of herbs into the pot, you murmured calmly, “You could attempt to be more like him.”
Tamva’s forked tongue hissed between his lips as his eyes slit dangerously thin. “Please, I know you enjoy my company.”
“You called me pathetic when we first met.”
He sneered. “I still stand by that statement.”
Glaring, you debated if it would be better to just poison him and kill him off as you watched his long lashes touch his high cheekbone like soft-falling snow. He was so stupidly beautiful you wanted to slap him across the face.
You glanced inside the teapot and saw the swirl of colours moving in the water, and then back to him. “I really regret this.”
“Too late, princess. I’m waiting.”
Begrudgingly, you found a blue-rimmed teacup and poured the tea in. Slowly sliding the now-filled teacup towards him, you gestured for him to drink. Steam twirled around the liquid as it rose, and Tamva studied it in his hands sceptically as if he was still not convinced that you didn’t add a peculiar herb that disrupted its healing property to a poisonous one. His eyes quickly flickered up at you and you nodded.
Just as he brought it to his lips and tipped the cup up to let the first drop of the tea grace his tongue, you murmured, “It’s bitter by the way.”
The tilt of his teacup stopped when you said that, and his eyes widened in shock. His long, forked tongue slipped out of his mouth as he made a slight gagging sound.
“You could’ve told me sooner!” he coughed, breathing frantically to alleviate the taste.
“Come on, drink up. I brewed this just for you.”
“It’s foul!” he exclaimed, scrunching his nose. “You were lying when you said you weren’t poisoning me.”
“It’s just a little bit of bitter tea,” you chided with a furrowed brow, amused yet annoyed at his blatant disdain. You took the teacup in your hand and pushed it against his lips from across the desk, making sure to dig the ceramics into his skin as he tried to lean away. “You’re pathetic.”
His sharp eyes snapped back at you, narrowing them with a hiss. “I am not—”
“Then drink up. As I said, I brewed this just for you.”
His shoulders sagged down when he coughed furiously again, accepting defeat. He let out a dramatic sigh and brought his cool hands on top of yours on the tea cup and brought it closer to him. Your heart raced as you watched him tilt the teacup and let the tea slide down into his mouth and to his throat.
Swiftly letting go of your hand, he gagged, looking as though he was about to throw up.
“It wasn’t that bad, was it?” you said, placing it down. Finding another cup, you poured one for yourself to finish the pot and drank it with one quick swig.
Tamva stared at you carefully, looking at you with eyes filled with shock and disgust. “I’ll make sure to never drink your tea again.”
“As if I’ll ever want to serve one for you again.”
He rolled his eyes looked over your shoulder to the door and shouted, “Kaipo! Bring the princess down to the cell!”
You felt a prickle in your chest, which was ridiculous since you expected this. Yet, a small part of you softened at the childish antics that he had shown to you, which did indeed make your face scrunch up at the thought when you remembered all of the threats and insults he spat at you.
Kaipo appeared once more, yet with a slight frown on his face this time. “So soon?”
Tamva nodded and gestured you to follow the selkie, and you complied mutely. As you were about to leave, your shoulders tensed in anticipation as you turned around to face Tamva, who called your name for the first time.
“Thanks for the tea,” Tamva mumbled, eyes flittering across the room to avoid your pondering gaze.
Not knowing how to answer, you nodded, offering a hesitant small smile, and faced away from him once more, letting Kaipo lead you back to your dark, damp cell.
———
A couple of hours passed by slowly, followed by another stale bread like last night for lunch and another hour drifting away ever so sluggishly. When it was Kaipo’s turn to keep a watch on you, he thanked you personally for brewing the tea—according to him, it worked ‘wonders’ on the captain.
You and Kaipo stayed in a comfortable silence with occasional conversations, laughing quietly at each other’s jokes.
Just as your body finally relaxed against the ship’s wall, there was a giant rattle of the ship, which made the selkie stand up on his feet, quick as lighting, and instinctively placed his hand on the sword hanging on his hip.
“W-What is it?” you asked, also standing up and gripping the cell bars nervously.
“Not sure.”
There was another rattle that shook the ship so deeply that you almost tripped.
“Stay here, Your Highness,” he said. “I’ll go check.”
Before you could say anything else, he pushed through the door in a flurry, leaving you alone in your panic.
After a while, the door opened once more and your head perked up at the sound, only to feel the blood rush out of your face into a white sheet when an unfamiliar orc appeared. Unlike the half-orc in Tamva’s ship, he was a pure-blooded orc with deep green skin and a ridiculously buff and tall form.
“Hello there, princess. Care for a different ride?”
Your body recoiled in pure disgust at the nickname, back pushing harshly against the wall.
Swallowing, you replied with a shaky snarl. “No. And I think you are mistaking me with someone else.”
The orc simply laughed and bent the iron bars with pure force. You screamed as you were roughly pulled to his chest the moment he stepped in with a wicked dagger pressed into your throat.
“Let me go. Now!”
The orc ignored you. “Heard that stupid snake got a ransom from kidnapping you. Thought I could do it myself.” He pushed you forward outside, the blade dangerously cold against your skin. “Now be a good princess and walk out the door, and make sure you don’t make any sound when we head out.”
Stricken with fear, you walked out just as he said and watched in horror as you saw the chaos on the deck. Everyone had their swords out as they fought back the intruders, all of them orcs, their blades shining brightly from the reflecting sunset. Right next to you, you saw a bigger vessel pushing threateningly at the ship.
Immediately, your eyes landed on shimmering blue scales that moved across the deck graciously and ferociously as Tamva attacked the offenders.
Tamva found you out of the crowd and widened his eyes. “Princess!”
You felt the dagger dig deeper and you stopped yourself from calling out his name.
“Don’t you try it, you bastard snake,” the orc sneered.
The naga’s eyes flared into fury. “Let her go, Baugh.”
Baugh, the orc, laughed scornfully. “Trying to keep all the money and the pretty girl to yourself, eh?”
With a chill-inducing hiss, he lunged at the orc with bared fangs with such speed that Baugh didn’t have time to react. Tamva’s blade swung just above you and the orc let out a rattling roar and you felt sticky blood drop onto your head, and as you jumped away and looked back from a fair distance, you saw that there was a slah across the orc's eyes. Your horror was soon followed by shock as Tamva’s strong tail struck Baugh’s chest with such force, that he stumbled back and was knocked out cold. The naga pulled you into his bare chest and arms, and for once, you complied in relief and pressed yourself against him.
“Your captain’s down! Get out of my ship immediately!” Tamva bellowed, catching the other orcs’ attention.
Seeing that his statement was true, all the orcs rushed to their captain’s side and started to jump back into their ship, two of them carrying Baugh’s cold body back as well. All of Tamva’s crew stayed where the two ships met, making sure each and every one of them was chased away.
“Are you all right, princess?” he said, cradling your face to look over at you closer.
You nodded. “Thank you, Tamva.”
Just as he was about to answer something, his crew shouted in warning. Looking over your shoulder, his golden eyes shined in panic and he twirled you away to completely envelop you in his arm. As all the sounds of the world were muffled, you distinctively heard three thuds that alarmingly reminded you of your archery practice.
“Tamva?!”
Leaning away, you gasped in horror to see three arrows lodged into his body; two on his tail and one on his right shoulder.
“Please help!” you yelled, to which all of the crew rushed over to you without hesitation. “And don’t pull the arrow out yet!”
They gently laid him down on his stomach, all the while Tamva groaned in pain.
“Those orcs,” you heard Kaipo mumble, “always trying to step out of line.”
Seeing a bow and a few arrows left behind by the intruders, you took it in your hands and directed it at the orc who held the bows, successfully shooting them in their chest. Growing wary and accepting defeat, the ship started to sail away, leaving you behind a bloody naga behind.
Throwing away the bow but keeping an arrow in your hand, you knelt next to him and you checked all of the places that he had been shot.
“Does any of you guys need my immediate attention?” you asked while you kept your eyes on Tamva. There was a series of ‘no’ and you sighed in relief. “Then can you get me what I need?”
“Of course, your highness,” Kaipo said, worry creasing his face.
“Get me alcohol, clean bandages, a needle and threads, and all medicine and herbs you have.”
They quickly hurried away while Kaipo and some others remained with their captain. Taking a good look at the arrow you had in your hands, you sniffed the nib, relief washing over as you realised that it wasn’t poisonous.
“Don’t move, Tamva,” you ordered sternly as Tamva tried to shift.
“It hurtssss like hell,” he hissed, the consonant making a loud hiss. In the back of your head, you faintly realised that his usual speech was pronounced carefully to prevent the hiss from his forked tongue—your heart clenched tightly to see him in such pain.
You cursed as you saw that the sun was setting, casting a shadow over the naga’s body and cool air to breathe, making him shiver in the cold. “We need to get him inside. If he starts coughing from the cold, the wound on his shoulder would just get worse.”
“Don’t worry,” the half-orc who stayed behind grumbled. He glanced at the others and they all nodded. “We should take him into the captain’s cabin.”
You nodded and watched in surprise as they all lifted Tamva up, the naga barely moving under their care, and you quickly opened the door for them to get inside. Once he was laid on his stomach on the floor in his cabin, piled up with blankets that the crew made a make-shift bed for him, you got to work.
Ordering for only some of them to remain to help you, you pulled the arrow out carefully—wanting to bandage him completely while you were here—and immediately applied pressure on it with a clean cloth. Making sure that the bleeding stopped, you poured rum over the wound and stitched the skin back together. Once the poultice to cover the wound was done, you finally wrapped it with a bandage, sighing in relief as you saw that the white cloth didn't bloom into a scarlet colour. You repeated this twice for the rest on his tail.
Many times, his eyes started to droop, and you pinched his cheek and shouted at him to not leave you just yet.
Every time, Tamva replied softly, “I’m not planning to leave you jussst yet, princessss.”
When everything was done, you crumbled to the ground next to him from fatigue and gripped the blankets to stop your hands from shaking so much. Breathing heavily, you couldn’t stop the tears falling from the shock that continued to deeply rattle your bones in fright. Your days at the palace were always peaceful; as an apprentice, you mostly learned about the properties of herbs and some occasional sessions on treating wounds. You just never experienced this much raw violence.
“You can leave ussss now, Kaipo,” Tamva said as he watched you worriedly, shifting to his uninjured side to face you with a hiss.
Kaipo hesitated but nodded nonetheless, not before thanking you with a deep bow. You nodded mutely and tried to stop your crying.
“Thank you, princesssss.”
You looked up at him to see the full sincerity in his eyes.
“Of course,” you sniffled. “You saved me first.”
Just in case, you placed your index and middle finger under his pulse on his neck, letting out a relieved sigh when it was steady and that his skin didn’t feel too hot under your touch—an indicator that there was, in fact, no poison in the arrow.
After a moment, you tentatively asked, “Why did you save me?”
Tamva paused. “I need you for that ranssssom.”
“You could have just pushed both of us to the ground to avoid the arrows,” you pressed, eyes narrowing as the worry washed away and anger filled you for making your heart race from fear.
“Your father told usss explicitly to keep you ‘unssscathed’,” he said calmly.
At that, you didn't know whether to laugh or cry. “For only three hundred gold coins for your life!?”
His eyes widened briefly but quickly thinned into a glare, but it wasn’t directed at you as he looked away. “You won’t underssstand.”
“What do I not understand!? What’s the point of getting that money if you died!?”
“I ssssurvived, didn’t I?”
You scoffed exasperatedly and let the silence linger between you bitterly. Only the sound of the waves crashing outside echoed inside the room, and you watched the window's reflection of the lamps that made the glass shine faintly of its stained hue.
Suddenly, your ears caught Tamva’s voice as he spoke, “I need that money to buy a bigger ship.”
You paused, then blinked as you realised that he was talking to you.
“…Why?”
“I… I have a dream.”
Tilting your head curiously, you asked gently, seeing the slight blush on his cheeks, “What is your dream?”
He looked away from you and instead looked at his arm. Following his gaze, your eyes landed on the tattoo on his arm, but upon closer look, you realised there was an ugly patch of skin underneath the ink that oddly looked like multiple scars crossed over.
“I usssed to be a sssslave,” he finally said.
You took a quick breath, eyes widening at his confession. Swiftly looking back at the scar, you touched his arm and furrowed your brows.
“Then, is that a…”
“There ussssed to be a burn mark on my arm. A ssssymbol representing that I’m the property of my ex-sss-owner.”
“Oh, Tamva…”
He shut his eyes tightly, his uninjured hand finding solace in your hand as he squeezed it. “I got kidnapped from my home village by some bandits for my rare tail colour and got sold into a rich, human family. I was fortunate enough to not be sold into a brothel, though. And after all, I was able to escape from there. I got this ship from the captain who took me in after all of that. But…”
He slowly breathed out and continued. “I don’t want any more victimsss like me.”
Suddenly you remembered the day when you got kidnapped, the bomb demolishing the lower-rank brothels near that port market. The place was notorious for the smuggled girls, yet Xaenait couldn’t do anything due to the high tax it collected from their profit. The business was not under working hours at the time, so you could only assume that the workers there were out of the building.
“Is that why you bombed that brothel in the port?”
He nodded. “I need a bigger ship to sssstop all the sssmugglerss on the ocean.”
Squeezing his hand, you smiled softly. “You are very strong, Tamva. I really admire you.”
“Even though I kidnapped you for my goal?”
You chuckled. “I’m still salty about it. But if you need anything… I’m more than willing to help you.”
Tamva smiled at that as well and brought your hand to his mouth to press a soft kiss on your knuckles. You could only hope he didn't feel the hard pump of your pulse as he held your hand.
“Thank you, princessss.”
Tamva hissed as he tried to move.
You placed your hand on his chest, digging your fingertips into his bare skin to stop him from moving, worry clouding your mind.
“But I told you already, Tamva. I need you to bring me back home safely. A-And, you could’ve died.”
“I’m sssorry.”
Tamva’s cold hand touched your warm face, his thumb tracing your cheek lightly as a feather. When you looked up, your breath hitched as you met his eyes that beautifully gleamed under the firelight. His thumb moved down to brush your lower lip and you shuddered at the touch, finding your other hand gently lay on top of Tamva’s as you leaned into the touch. Tears prickled your eyes once more.
“Don’t cry, princessss,” he pleaded, gently wiping your tears away.
“Don’t you dare make me so worried again,” you said, blabbering away at this point. “I-I can’t handle the thought that someone… you, dying under my hands.”
“I won’t.”
You vaguely saw his eyes flicker down to your lips, his pupils dilating as his forked tongue revealed itself between his thin lips. Your eyes instinctively fluttered shut as he pulled you closer, yet snapping them back open when you felt his cool lips gently press on your forehead. Under your touch, you felt his chest breathe heavily—as well as yours—and you pulled yourself away from him abruptly, the reality of it all hitting you like the cold water outside.
“I-I, need to… I need to go,” you said shakily, standing up on your feet. “I’m going to go check on the others.”
Tamva parted his lips for a moment, as though he wanted to say something else, but closed them and nodded. “Of courssssse. Thank you for everything.”
“I’ll come back to check on you again.”
Giving him a weak, reassuring smile you hurried away before he could say anything, and stepped out into the cold air, shadows hiding over you from the roof above.
Choking down a sob, you tried to calm yourself with deep breaths. You wondered how your older sister, Lan, was able to keep her composure as she stared longingly at the black oni, whom she was so convinced that her love was unrequited and futile to even act upon it. Then again, Ryugen wasn’t exactly a bad suitor for her—being the chief guard of the Xaenait force and being a prestigious rank of oni. She had a chance.
However, Tamva had nothing. He was a pirate, a former slave who kidnapped you for a ransom. Xaenait wouldn’t accept this—your own family wouldn’t accept him for the dangers he has put you through. Also, his dream to end the slave trade was so ambitious, a completely different world from what you’ve been aiming for as a simple healer your entire life in the safe grounds of the palace. Not to mention that this incident was obvious in letting you know of your incapabilities on the battlefield.
And most of all, you hated him, loathed him for his beauty, the way he makes your cheeks turn a deep shade of red, and how he makes you dizzy just by thinking about him. But despite all of this, you couldn’t help but feel your heart flutter.
Letting out a jagged breath, you shut your eyes tightly before walking out of the shadow to check on his crew. Knowing deep down, it was just vain to even let your feelings for him to continue.
———
“How’s the crew?”
That was the first question Tamva asked you when you entered the cabin, and you smiled gently at the worry in his eyes, despite all the conflicting swirls of emotion swimming in your chest.
Apparently, the recovery system of nagas was much more heightened than that of a human, because only an hour after the treatment, Tamva was able to bring himself to carefully slither his way into his bed and his speech mostly went back to normal. Which at first made your heart leap out of your chest in fright when you went to check on him briefly earlier, worried that he had somehow undone your stitches. He assured you that some of his crew members helped him to get into his bed.
“They are fine. Their wounds were mostly light grazes that can be treated with alcohol and bandages. Unlike someone who got shot by three arrows.”
Tamva sighed in relief, then proceeded to narrow his eyes at you playfully. “At least someone was unscathed by my heroics.”
Approaching him, you softly asked, “How are you feeling?”
“It’s not pleasant, I assure you,” he groaned. He let out a loud hiss as he tried to shift his long tail into a more comfortable position.
“I will keep watch on you to make sure your wounds won’t open up again during the night,” you said, helping him with the cushions so that it was positioned more comfortably for him, making sure to cover him with his soft blankets.
He let out a weak chuckle. “How ironic. Just to think that I was keeping watch over you last night.”
A genuine smile widened across your face and you laughed softly.
His body relaxed at your laugh, smiling along with you with soft eyes as he watched you fuss over his wound, pupils dilating into a wide round. “Thank you, princess.”
Heat rushing into your cheeks, you hummed. “You better recover quickly.”
“I will.”
After making sure that all of the bandages were secured, you sat on his desk chair tiredly with a loud thud. “Sleep on your uninjured side, or else the wounds may reopen from the contact with the surface.”
He nodded and turned to his left shoulder, now facing you at your seat.
“Are you going to sleep there for tonight, princess?”
“I am.”
A frown creased on his mouth and as he tried to support himself with the uninjured side of his arm, about to stand up from his bed. You quickly rushed to his side to stop him.
Placing one hand under his cheek, and another gripping his hand tightly, you warned, “And don’t try to move in your sleep.”
Both of your eyes widened at the proximity between you, faces only centimetres away from touching. You could see the slight glaze over his gaze as if he was thinking hard about something, and it was not helping with the rush of blood pumping across your body.
He squeezed your hand back and whispered against your lips, “Sleep beside me.”
Shaking your head, you tried to gently pull his hands away from you “I can’t.”
You couldn’t take all of this. Tamva’s soft voice and all of his vulnerability shown in his full-blown eyes—it was too tempting.
“Why would you offer me to sleep with you anyway?” Your voice quivered and you cursed yourself for asking the question, knowing that if he answered, and if his reply was something that explained why his pupils were round like a cat in dark light and why his forked tongue was slithering out of his lips as if to taste your lips, you wouldn’t be able to think straight anymore.
Tamva looked down, seeming to think of how and what to answer you. “I’m cold, princess. You don’t want me to cough all night and undo all of your hard work stitching me up, right?”
“But…” You paused as his thumb made soothing circles on your hand, knowing better than to continue your inquiry. “What if I accidentally hurt you?”
“Oh, princess,” he said, eyes thinning in amusement. “Do you think a little human can hurt me?”
“I’m the healer here, Tamva. I know—”
“Please. It's captain's order.”
Tamva raised a brow as you took a step back, and you heaved a large sigh, shutting your eyes to shortly run away from his piercing, gold eyes.
“All right.”
Hesitantly and quite nervously, you stepped into his bed. With his good arm, he wrapped it around your hip and let you sit down next to him. Looking at the bed more closely, you noticed that the rim of the bed mimicked that of a snake nest was actually a woven basket that completely enveloped you around. With a proper cushion underneath and a heavy blanket over you, it was cosy and much more comfortable than the dungeon, perhaps more than your room back at the palace.
Tamva’s scent of musk mixed with rum and herbs for his arrow wound lingered around you like a vice, making every breath effective in dizzying your senses.
“Make sure you sleep on your uninjured side,” you reminded him, standing on your knees to check on his shoulder one last time.
From underneath you, Tamva smiled and hummed in acknowledgement. “I love it when you fussss over me, princesss.”
Glancing down at him with frigid muscles, you saw that his eyes were half-lidded and on the verge of closing them completely. His tail curled around you, just like this morning, but more tightly and protective, and his subtle warmth seeped into your skin snugly. Biting your lip to stop the unwanted tears from spilling as you reminded yourself that this would end soon, you laid down next to him and stroked his untied silver hair that felt so soft under your touch.
“Good night, Tamva. And thank you.”
Tenderly bringing the blankets up to tuck it under his chin, you faced away from him and settled into sleep. You were frozen in place once more when his hand gingerly found its place on your head, and you shuddered as his claw faintly traced your scalp.
“Good night, princesss. You’re welcome.”
Just for tonight, you thought. You let yourself seek comfort in Tamva, accepting your beating heart as his cool scales caressed your skin into sleep.
After all, there was only one day and one night left now.
Part 1
Check out my other stories set in the same world! (It might help with understanding some of the overlaps mentioned in this story)
Swords Clashing (Orc x F! Reader)
Weaving Through Complications (Tiefling x F! Reader)
Synopsis: Kidnapped by pirates for a ransom, you wonder if you could ever come to terms with the captain who drives you crazy from how beautiful he is.
A/N: Just like last time, this story is set in the same world as Swords Clashing, Weaving Through Complications, and my latest addition, A Crown & Masks! The reader will be the middle sister out of the three, who isn't mentioned much previously. This story is currently living in my brain rent-free because I love the thought of enemies to lovers, featuring a ruthless(?) and cocky naga who slowly shows his vulnerability as he starts falling in love and who doesn't.
As a heads-up, there will be lots of world-building, social issues, and history-related topics in the future, so I'm not quite sure if you will enjoy it. BUT, nonetheless, I will absolutely adore you if you do!
Part 2
The port market was bustling as usual, with the smell of all kinds of seafood caught in the neighbouring sea being filled in the air and the sharp tang of spices lingering here and there. Merchants were shouting their products, trying to best their competitors with the promise of better quality and cheaper prices.
You were with your mentor, a wise and knowledgeable healer from the Xaenait palace—Tokimune—whose nine fox tails trailed graciously behind him. He could sometimes be quite above the clouds, where his responses to certain questions were sometimes so bizarre that it took you a while to understand their meaning—it took a long time for you to come to a conclusion that he was not naive, but in fact was just simply a kind and easy-going soul that never really cared about anything outside of medicine. As if to prove it, he didn't bother to change his fox form into a human, showing all of his soft-furred ears and muzzle proudly.
“May I have those astragalus root and honeysuckle flowers?” Tokimune brought two pouches out of his sleeve and handed them to the seller. “Also, do you by any chance have peppermint and cumin in stock?”
Despite having all of those herbs in the palace storage, your mentor always loved to bring souvenirs from these markets, never failing to make you chuckle in amusement.
“Unfortunately, we’re out of peppermint and cumin,” the seller said, scratching his head sheepishly. Nevertheless, he swiftly and effortlessly packaged the astragalus root and honeysuckle flower in the pouch that was displayed, checking for the right amount that the kitsune wanted to have.
“Ah, no worries,” he replied, his eyes thinning from smiling like a fox. “I assume that the trade route between Slainem and Arathia will solve this shortage.”
The seller nodded, excitement twinkling in his eyes. “I can’t wait for it to be done. If you come by in the future, I’ll make sure to have that peppermint and cumin for you.”
Tokimune chuckled. “That will be delightful.”
Once it was done, you accepted the pouch from the seller's hand, and the kitsune gestured for you to walk with him, away from the herb seller.
“Do you know when the trade route is going to finish?” Tokimune asked with his archaic smile still in place.
“I’m not quite sure,” you said, thinking back to your oldest sister, Lan, rubbing her temple tiredly as she attended meetings and read through the paperwork for the project. “But my sister is working endlessly. Especially during the night.”
“Ah, I will send her some lemon balm tea to encourage her sleep,” he said with a chuckle. Your older sister was infamous for her tendency to stay up late to finish her work. "Perhaps Ryugen would be fit for the job."
“You will also have to tell him to watch her until she drinks it all,” you joked, to which the kitsune laughed heartily, showing all of his sharp teeth.
Alongside you and your mentor, disguised officials surveyed the market to check for any illegal imports that frequented the trade from pirates that entered the port. Many of them reported back to you, assuring that most of them were fine and that they were taking care of the ones that weren’t.
Just as you were about to thank them, a loud bang! sent a shock through your ears and the next thing you knew, one of the buildings blew up—you noticed that it was one of the lower-rank brothels. The market immediately tumbled into chaos, with screams and hurried footsteps rumbling to the ground.
“Your Highness!”
Two officials came to your side and swiftly escorted you through the haze of dust and avoiding the tightly packed people by navigating through the less crowded places. Tokimune placed a helping hand on your back, gently ushering you forward, which you were grateful for—despite all the training you had with your sisters, your fear got the best of you in these situations for a lot of the time.
“We are almost there to our carriage!” the senior official shouted over the noise, guiding you and the others by braving the front.
As the carriage came into view, you sighed in relief and got onto it quickly, followed by Tokimune, and you immediately relaxed in the seat as the horses started to gallop, gradually picking up speed. However, the carriage came to a screeching halt and the door suddenly opened, and the next thing you knew, hands were shooting out to grab you. One of them caught your arm and roughly pulled you out of the carriage.
Finding your footing on the ground, you unsheathed your knife and tried to attack the offender, yet it immediately got knocked off of your shaking hand and the next thing you knew, your hands were tied and you were thrown onto their shoulder. With your levitated line of sight, you felt the blood rush out of your face once you saw that all of your guards, officials, and Tokimune were knocked out on the ground.
Trying to wriggle out of their grasp, you demanded with a snarl, “Let me down!”
“No can’t do, your highness” a voice said in front of you.
Looking up, a dark-skinned human man smiled—albeit slightly apologetically—at you. There was another, taller and buffer man that scowled at the easy-going nature of the other; with light green skin and small tusks protruding out of his thin-lipped mouth, you realised that he was a half-orc.
The half-orc grumbled something under his breath before he brought out a cloth and pressed it against your nose and mouth, filling you with a sickly sweet smell through your senses that gradually dwindled your anger into drowsiness as your vision enveloped into a black veil.
———
Once you woke up, you immediately felt the unstable ground, rocking back and forth in a steady rhythm that occasionally made you slide across the wooden floor where you were lying. Voices and grunts filled your ears, alongside the recognisable crashes of waves of the ocean. You were aboard a ship, and god knows how far you were away from the port.
Gasping in shock, you sat up with a jolt, only to feel the tightness of the rope digging into your wrist and ankle painfully.
“Finally awake, princess?”
A shadow towered over you against the setting sun. Taking your eyes off of the wooden deck, the first thing you saw was a glimmer of bright pale blue scales that seemed to trail endlessly into a snake tail. Slowly, you looked up to see the scales morph into a tanned human skin, bare and muscular, with intricate tattoos circling around his biceps. Finally, your gaze landed on his face—he was so beautiful that it made you dizzy and light-headed. His long silver hair was tied up in a messy bun above his head, with some strands falling gracefully down his cheekbones to his glimmering collarbones. His eyes shined a beautiful golden colour around the centre, turning a gradient to a turquoise colour around the rim, and his thin, vertical black pupil pierced you to your spot.
“What do you want from me?” you asked through gritted teeth, desperately trying to ignore your heart that was powerfully beating against your ribcage.
“I expect a ransom out of you,” the naga said, a furrow covering his brow as you asked the question, twitching ever so slightly in irritation.
“How did you know I’ll be at the ports today?”
“Luck seems to be on our side today, princess.”
Blood rushed up to your head, and you couldn’t tell whether it was anger or his deep voice that reverberated inside you sultrily.
“Do not call me that.”
“I make the rules here, princess,” he said as an arrogant smile nestled widely on his face. “Captain Tamva, at your service.”
The tip of his snake tail swished to the side as Tamva placed his hand on his chest and leaned forward into a mocking bow.
“How bright of you to let me remember your name,” you said, sarcasm dripping venomously. Scanning the ship nervously, you tried to see if you could see any land across the ocean, only to find nothing but endless water.
The naga narrowed his eyes as his forked tongue slipped out from between his lips, revealing his sharp fang. “I’m not worried about my crew getting caught. Xaenait never had any control over the waters to begin with.”
You winced. That was a sore spot for you, especially when you had just been at the port market alongside officials to check the illegal imports brought into the dynasty from pirates like him.
“I will personally find you,” you spat. “And make sure you will be chained and thrown in a cell to rot.”
Something in his eyes darkened, and ever so slowly, he started to slither towards. Just as he was right in front of you, he lowered his face to you, harshly grabbing your jaw in a painful grip as he forced your eyes on him.
“You threaten all those things, yet I heard that you couldn’t even start a fight when we captured you at the port,” Tamva said, an ugly curl in his lips and eyes that looked at you with such disgust in his eyes, your breath hitched into a stop. “Pathetic.”
Eyes wide from fear, you felt a shiver run down through you when his forked tongue ever so lightly grazed your lips, all the while fuming at his insults.
Satisfied to see your eyes flaring in anger, he lets go of you with a rough push, turning his back on you.
“Bring her down the cell, boys!”
“Yessir!” the crew all shouted in response.
The human and the half-orc from before took your arms and lifted you up, dragging you into the dark cell.
———
The cell was dark, damp, and cold. Although your ropes were untied and you weren’t chained, the iron bars didn’t forgive any possible escape. All of your belongings were stripped away from you, including the pouch of herbs you bought at the market with Tokimune, and angry tears prickled your eyes at how helpless you felt.
Night apparently has fallen, as a gnoll brought a plate of stale, hard bread and cheese to eat for dinner. He slid it under the cell and seeing your apprehensiveness of accepting the food, the gnoll let out a high-pitched laugh, assuring you that it was bought from the market today. Still tentative, you took a bite, and devoured it down as your stomach rumbled with hunger; the gnoll was there the whole time, keeping watch. Once you were done, you begrudgingly thanked him and slid the plate back at him and he accepted your gratitude with a chuckle.
Before he left, he told you, “I was surprised, you know, when you pulled out that knife when I grabbed you out of the carriage. Wasn’t expecting it.”
With a start, you realised he was the one who carried you to this ship and you narrowed your eyes at him, to which he responded with another howling laugh that lasted even after he closed the door behind him.
Another hour or so passed when the door opened. Your head perked up at the sound and you watched with a racing heart as blue scales emerged from the entrance, glimmering against the lamp.
“You,” you sneered, nose scrunching from distaste.
“Yes, princess. It’s me.”
Tamvan gave a little scoff as he slithered inside, curling his long tail, at least thrice your height, in a circle around him before closing the door. Unlike earlier, he wore a navy-coloured coat on his broad figure, the silver embroidery blending in well with his hair. The urge to stab his tail and ruin his beautiful scales was so great, that your fingers tightly gripped the cell bar until your knuckle turned white—alas, your knife was somewhere in the port when that gnoll slapped it away from you.
“What do you want?”
“I’m here to keep an eye on you.”
You were surprised at that, and equally vexed by the thought that he would be here the entire night as you slept.
“Don’t worry, princess.”
From the pouch hanging lowly on his hip belt, he brought out a neatly folded paper, and with a start, you noticed the Xaenait emblem—a wax sealed with the shape of a magnolia flower.
“Your father promised to pay an extra three hundred gold coins if ‘the princess is unscathed and unharmed’,” he read from the paper, a taunting smile plastered on his thin, pale lips. “How generous of his highness.”
He rolled his eyes at the fierce glare you sent his way. Nonetheless, he showed you the paper, and relief washed over you at seeing your father’s handwriting and the vermillion, square stamp at the end of the paragraph.
“The deal’s settled. You’ll be released back to your little palace in three nights.”
An unconconscious sigh left you, your fingers on the bars loosening as well.
Tamva chuckled obnoxiously. “How delightful to see you’re finally in a good mood.”
Your body tensed at his unneeded comment. “How would you feel if you were kidnapped and thrown in a cell?”
“Be thankful that you’re not in chains, and that none of my crews are laying a hand on you,” he hissed. “Most pirates aren’t as generous as us.”
“Thank you so much for your hospitality, then,” you said, rolling your eyes. “Could you also be ever so kind and give me a tour under the starry night?”
His powerful tail hit your cell bars, narrowly missing your hands as the impact rattled the iron. You yelped as a great wave of fear hit you, the sound of his tail striking the bars ringing in your ears unpleasantly.
“I will say it once and I won’t repeat it again,” he said through gritted teeth, “you may be a princess in Xaenait, but as long as you’re on my ship, you’ll learn to know your place.”
Recovering from the shock, you leaned closer to the bars and retorted back at him in a low voice, trying to keep your voice from shaking, “Well, let’s see what happens to that extra three hundred gold coins then.”
Tamva let out another great hiss, his forked tongue tasting your fear in the air, yet didn’t say anything back at you, knowing that he was greatly risking your father’s offer. He heaved a sigh and sat on a stool, arms crossed as he watched you with a cold gaze.
Ignoring his stare, you turned away and hesitantly settled on the wooden floor, shutting your eyes in hopes of finding sleep. All the while, Tamva watched you unwaveringly, laughing to himself incredulously at how quickly you fell asleep despite being held hostage. You smelled of herbs that left a tang, bitter smell on his nose, while his tongue captured the sweetness of your scent that lingered in the air like a vice.
All those glares and scowls you gave him were quite amusing to him, but also ever the more irritating and confusing to see how much you fought back futilely despite your helplessness and fear. But now, seeing the gentle rise and fall of your body from snoring softly in your sleep, his eyes unconsciously softened, and his heartbeat quickened its pace ever so slightly.
A breath of cold air entered through the gaps in the door, which made a shiver ripple through him despite the coat he wore. He cursed himself for not bringing a thicker coat, not realising how cold the cell was for his cold-blooded body. Glancing at your sleeping form, he felt the heat radiating off of you pleasantly, making him wonder if you would screech at him in rage if he were to curl his tail around your body.
Shaking his head to clear those thoughts away, he hugged his coat tighter and leaned closer to the lamp instead, trying to alleviate the cold and perhaps to ignore the slight longing he felt to feel the warmth from you.
Part 2
Check out my other stories set in the same world! (It might help with understanding some of the overlaps mentioned in this story)
Swords Clashing (Orc x F! Reader)
Weaving Through Complications (Tiefling x F! Reader)
Warning: Medieval-ish setting, friends (master-servant relationship) to lovers, slight angst if you squint, mostly fluff
Word Count: 4.6k
Synopsis: The tension between you, the eldest princess, and the chief guard of your dynasty has been growing for years. What would become of you and the chief guard when you have a secret rendezvous out in the forest?
A/N: This story is set in the same world as Swords Clashing and Weaving Through Complications, and the reader will be the eldest princess featured in the latter story! There will be lots of overlaps so it may be a good idea to read the two series as well! I guess there's more plot than usual, but honestly, this may be one of my favourite stories I've written so far, so I hope you guys enjoy it!
Also, it's my longest writing so far and per usual, it's not proofread
Part 2
“My princess.”
Your heart fluttered at the deep, grovelling voice from behind, making your hair stand up almost as if you felt the breath up at the nape of your neck. Exhaling slowly to release your tension, you merely glanced at the black oni for a brief moment to give him a nod of acknowledgement, before turning around to your desk once more to read the paperwork your father had assigned to you.
“Ryugen.” Pushing the vermillion-coloured square stamp onto the paper, you placed the completed form onto the tall pile at the corner of your desk and brought another document before you with a sigh. “Is there something you need to report back to me?”
“His Majesty asked me to check on you.”
You quietly snorted. You were currently inside your resting quarters with a single bright candle to light up the words in front of you, too tired to work in your office with your formal attire on. Of course, your father knew you were working in the late hours of the night.
As for the chief of the Xaenait royal guards, he was standing with a perfect stoic posture behind you—his large arms crossed and hands tucked into the loose sleeves of his kimono, a traditional clothing that Ryugen wanted to continue to wear from his village, with his sword neatly secured on his waist. His shining coal-black skin gloriously blended well with the black fabric that he adorned, so much so you had to stop yourself from staring at his pretty collarbones and his prominent Adam’s apple that had a faint glow on them from the flickering flames around the room.
Instead, you looked at his face, disguised with a grotesque white mask of a grinning face; its black mouth stretched widely to the ears with jagged teeth lining inside, and a chunk of skin protruding under its eyebrows, which was curled downwards in a mocking snarl. A single, sharp cone-shaped horn peaked out of the mask on the split middle of his forehead—glinting like a radiant white pearl that signified his race as an oni. Underneath the mask, you could see the startling golden eyes that never failed to make you feel like being torn apart under them when you met Ryugen’s sober gaze.
The curiosity that ate you every day of his actual face was so great, yet you couldn’t bring yourself to ask him, or even order him, to take off his mask since you saw the uncomfortable tension on his shoulders when someone else asked that question.
Ryugen cocked his head to the side, upon seeing the pile of paperwork which you completed and still yet to look at.
“If I may ask, what is the paperwork for?”
You pinched and rubbed the nerves between your eyes tiredly as you answered, “They are requests from the merchants who wish to partake in the establishing trade route between Xaenait and Slainem.”
“My understanding of it is that it is an arduous proposition for both empires to come to an agreement.”
“They are wishing to seal the negotiations with a marriage vow.”
Ryugen gave a low hum. “It is not quite like you, my princess, to push an arranged marriage to execution.”
There it was again, that unconventional form of address that was kept for you when the two of you were alone, never once hearing him say to your sisters. It was such an intimate way to address you, something that has been kept for years of knowing each other, yet it was never mentioned by the oni on the meaning or intention behind it, always staying silent in amusement when you confronted him about it. It was a constant, painful reminder that he will never be yours and you can never be his—though you have always kept your affection towards him a secret to even begin with. Although it may be inappropriate to let him call you that, you never once stopped him, wanting to at least treasure that signature of affection.
“Is there another reason behind the marriage?” he asked.
Staring out at the window into the dark landscape of the bamboo forests outside the palace, a smile bloomed softly at his inquiring voice that you found quite endearing from his usual stoic composure; and also from your distant memories of your youngest sibling, Lei, and her adorable interactions with the youngest orc prince, Karguk.
“Although my little sister does not recall, she and the youngest orc prince were quite close when our family last visited the Slainem Kingdom when we were little children. I am certain that fate will pull them back together once more.”
“And if your prediction fails?” he asked. “What will become of it when they fail to come to an agreement?”
“My father and the Slainem king are simply ‘hoping’ for it, Ryugen. In order to strengthen the promise,” you replied dryly. “We have faith that the bond between the emperor and the king, as well as our people, is enough to achieve this negotiation, even without the camaraderie of marriage.”
You shut your eyes tightly at the sudden tense pain behind your eyes when your sight landed on the characters written on the paper. You faintly heard Ryugen ask the lady-in-waiting for a warm cloth, dismissing her with a polite thank you as she scuttled away clumsily, probably from fright at his usual chilling demeanour that can be seen when he is out in the field.
“I recommend you to take a rest out of those paperwork for the night, my princess. From what I have heard, you have been working the entire day reading those papers.”
“Perhaps,” you said, yet ignored his advice and continued to hold the document in your hands as you read over them.
Ryugen sighed at the sight, too used to but also exasperated at your stubbornness. As a mere guard, he knew he didn’t have a say on your decisions, but his body was twitching to simply scoop you up and place you on the bed so that you would immediately call it a day and sleep peacefully for once.
Just then, the lady-in-waiting came back with a plate of warm cloths that were neatly rolled up, to which the oni respectfully gave a curt bow at her as he accepted the plate from her. Once the door shut behind him, he walked over to your chair and placed the plate on an empty space of the desk and took the cloth to unroll it.
You saw the soft steam coming out of the cloth and Ryugen’s silky black fingers holding it before you felt the warmth of it under your eyelids as they were placed on your shutting eyes. Feeling the gentle caress of his hands on top of the cloth, your body instantly relaxed at the sensation and you leaned back against the chair in peace.
“Thank you,” you murmured.
Ryugen hummed as he silently watched you slowly drift off to sleep, only to try your hardest to wake up. “Are you willing to go to sleep now?”
“I guess so.”
He let out a deep rumbling chuckle, which you cherished from how rare it was for him to laugh, letting the gentle, muffled sounds tickle the shell of your ears.
“I will take my leave then,” he said, patting your head gently.
Heart racing, the sound of footsteps and the click of your door opening made you take off the cooling cloth away from your head and you stood up to see his tall frame hovering on the door.
“Ryugen.”
He stopped on his track and looked back to you, waiting for you to reach his place where he stood when you walked towards him. Once you stood before him, you had to crane your neck to look at him in his piercing yellow eyes from below his towering stature.
You offered a small smile.
“Thank you for the cloth.”
“Of course. Have a good night, my princess.”
He gave a final bow, a hand on his sword before he swept away once more to leave the door.
The urge to grab his wrist, to feel his supple skin and to tell him to stay was too much, so you simply told him good night as well and forced yourself to close the door behind him.
———
It was decided later that your youngest sister, Lei, was to travel to the Slainem Kingdom to deliver the orc king a letter from your father. Because of how carefree Lei was, always out in the field riding her horse and training with her sword, she had no idea what the letter secured in her pouch contained, and neither did she know the agreement your father had written—that if her visit to the Slainem Kingdom were to be fruitful and if it was under his daughter and the orc king’s son’s wish, he will accept the courting for the two to be wed. You couldn’t help but roll your eyes and laugh that this engagement proposal was like a little prank from the two good friends between the Xaenait emperor and the Slainem king, who remembered the bashful yet bold interactions between your sister and the youngest orc prince who were inseparable when they were just but little children.
Now that the day had arrived, your anxiety and worry for her spiked and you rummaged through her luggage just in front of the gates to make sure that she had everything for her trip.
“Do not even dare to forget your extra waterskin and food supply,” you warned Lei, eyes narrowing as you stared up at her from where she was sitting on her white stallion. “You need to keep in mind and fix your tendency of skipping meals when you get overly excited.”
“Relax!” she said with a grin. “I’ll be mindful and careful, so don’t worry.”
Ercus, your personal tiefling guard, tapped your shoulder to keep you calm as he gave a broad smile at her. Ryugen narrowed his eyes at Ercus’ hand on your shoulder, to which the tiefling, noticing it, grinned and put his hand away from you—you were too preoccupied with worry to even realise it.
“Have fun, Your Highness,” Ercus gave a respectful bow.
“I will Ercus.”
“Lei,” your middle sister, Lin, interrupted, “you forgot this.”
Lin opened her hand to show a knife wrapped in a vibrant vermillion handkerchief, to which Lei looked at it curiously, then your youngest sister widened her eyes and smiled.
“That’s my knife!”
Lin rolled her eyes affectionately and handed it to Lei. “I checked your room after you left, knowing you’ll forget something.”
“You’re the best Lin.”
“I know, I know. Now go before she fusses over you more,” she said, gesturing at you.
You narrowed your eyes at Lin, who smiled teasingly at you, but simply watched Lei tap her horse, trodding away towards the gates.
Ryugen, who was waiting at the gates, nodded at her politely. “I hope you have a safe trip, Your Highness.”
“Take care of my sister while I’m gone like you always do,” she said, smiling cheekily from her horse down at you upon seeing the frustrated furrow on your brow.
“Understood.”
Ryugen gave you a tender smile under his mask, and although you couldn’t see it, you could tell the shift in his demeanour that left your heart racing under his gaze. Ignoring the feeling, you glared at your sister and pointed an accusing finger towards her.
“You should take care of yourself, you little—”
Ercus turned you around so that you would stop your rage towards your youngest sister. “She’s only worried about you. And she says to have a safe trip to the Slainem Kingdom.”
You huffed out a breath and turned around to give her a warning look. “If you do not come back alive, I will personally search for your soul to kill you again.”
Lei gave a chuckle and hopped off of her horse to rush you and Lin into a bone-crushing hug.
“I love you. I’ll miss you two a lot.”
“Have a safe trip and have fun,” Lin said quietly.
Relaxing at the embrace, you sighed and wrapped your arms around your sisters, burying your nose in the crook of Lei’s neck. “I will miss you too. Have a safe trip.”
“Mmmm.”
Once you broke off, Lei went to say her goodbyes to your parents as well. As she walked away, Ercus stalked over to you, giving you a light bump with his shoulder mischievously.
“I’m sure Ryugen will take great care of you,” he laughed.
You raised a brow sceptically at him. “Are you trying to slack off on your duty as my personal guard?”
“I’m sure you don’t want little old me sticking around you constantly when you have that big, scary fella over there.”
A sigh tore through your throat in exasperation, annoyed that despite your best efforts at keeping your adoration towards the oni to a minimum as possible, it was futile when it came to your siblings and close friends. Glancing over at Ryugen, you caught his startling eyes that petrified you to a stop. Before you could look away, he gave you a quick nod and turned away.
Giving up on your attempt at acting ignorant, you grumbled a simple, ‘shut up’, knowing that it was a waste of your energy to fight against Ercus who understood you like the back of his hand.
“Ryugen was always quite fond of you ever since he first joined the royal guards,” Ercus said, chuckling at your attempt at ignoring him.
“He did take good care of us three,” you agreed, to which Ercus frowned at the slight digress of interpretation on your hand.
Ryugen joined the Xaenait force when you were slowly nearing your coming of age, where your insecurities and responsibilities as the future ruler of the dynasty were laid too heavy on you, feeling constricted every day. His appearance in the palace was a shockwave—after all, oni was a very rare species of demon, choosing to keep it to themselves for most of the time. Not to mention that the black onis were the rarest and believed to be the strongest, high-ranking of them all. All of the people were quite scared of him for his cold, stoic composure, yet he quickly rose in rank as the chief guard of Xaenait and gained the trust, respect, and admiration of others—which in response offered more chances of seeing him around you.
When you first introduced yourself, you asked about his age, curious and cold-headed enough to boldly indulge yourself in a conversation. He answered that he was no older than you—perhaps two years or so older in human age—telling you that the growth of an oni was similar to humans, except for the difference that they live older.
Since that conversation, you and Ryugen greeted each other every time you saw each other, with a pleasant smile on your end, and a soft tone in his voice to his usual monotone words. One thing that you found was obvious between your interactions with him, however, was how he took you under his wing like a caring older brother. He will always warn you to sleep early with an amused light in his eyes, ask one of the servants to get you blankets when he finds you in a library during the cold season and gifts you snacks from the kitchen whenever he has the chance. As years passed, your soft spot for him turned into something deeper, something you acknowledged to never attain as your status as the heir of the throne—all these interactions with him gradually clenched your heart in longing.
“Her Highness is heading off to the Slainem Kingdom!” Ryugen bellowed once your youngest sister was ready, snapping you into reality. All the soldiers present on the palace grounds outside gave a salute in response. “Wish her Highness a safe journey.”
All the guards said their blessings and they all gave a deep bow at your sister, who smiled graciously before heading off outside the gates where her journey begins.
———
You were at a meeting with your father and the officials later that day, discussing the establishment of the trade route that was happening across the kingdoms and dynasties that were all in close ties with each other. The meeting was held at one of the chambers—your father sat at the end of a long table and you sat diagonally next to him with all the officials lined up. Ercus was standing behind you as a personal guard and Ryugen stood behind your father as the chief of guards. Today was the meeting on the trade route to the Arathia Kingdom, of which you were planning to depart, to act as a diplomat to come to agreements on some terms with their government.
“Ryugen,” the emperor of Xaenait called out to the black oni from his seat.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Ryugen replied, bowing deeply at your father.
“Would you be open to escorting my eldest daughter to the Arathia Kingdom?”
Your eyes widened slightly at your father’s proposal, and you looked up to where Ryugen was standing to gauge his reaction. Unlike the Slainem Kingdom that your youngest sister has travelled to alone, the Arathia Kingdom was further away from Xaenait, with a need to sail across the ocean for a good while. And since you were the eldest sister, it was necessary to have extra protection; Ercus was automatically a part of your escort, but you didn’t expect your father to ask Ryugen as well.
Ryugen glanced at you before nodding at your father. “It will be my honour to escort Her Highness, Your Majesty.”
A deep exhale escaped your lips from holding it in unconsciously, and you nodded at your father who sought your agreement.
“I will be happy to have you on our journey to Arathia, Chief Guard Ryugen.”
“Thank you, Your Highness. I will promise you a safe journey.”
“I know you will.”
———
Another night was almost approaching, and you were once more in your room, taking a look at the never-ending pile of documents and books to learn more about the trade route of Arathia. The sun was setting, casting a bright orange light across the room like a crystal. A knock was heard and you answered, thinking it was one of the maids that brought a cup of tea for you.
“My princess, why are you working whenever I check on you in your room.”
Intaking a sharp breath of surprise, you shut your book and took a look back towards Ryugen. He closed the door, and you saw the glimmering skin of his muscular chest that peaked under his clothes. Shaking your head to get rid of all these thoughts, you looked up to see that Ryugen was already staring at you
“Apologies for my sudden appearance, my princess.”
“Did my father send you here again?” you chuckled in amusement.
“No,” he said, a lilt hinting at his voice. “I was worried that you were overworking yourself again.”
You yawned and stretched your arms above your head. “Well, I need to finish this in a couple of days. I might as well complete all of this earlier and rest.”
Ryugen came up to you and placed a hand on your shoulder. You froze under his touch, more so when his face neared you.
“My princess,” he whispered next to you. “You need to rest.”
“I-I—” You cleared your throat. “I am fine, Ryugen.”
There was a small pause on his end before he gave a sigh. You furrowed your brows and looked at him, jumping slightly when you realised that his mask was closer to you than you realised.
“I am tired, my princess. If you would enlighten me with your presence, could you accept my humble request to rest with me?”
Feeling heat rush through your cheeks, you tried to remain your calm and gestured at the couches and cushions in your resting chamber. “Be my guest, Ryugen.”
An unexpected laugh bubbled out of Ryugen and you widened your eyes at him. The oni brought his hand to your cheeks, albeit hesitantly, and rubbed soothing circles on them that tickled from how gently he was touching you, making your head spin like you never felt before.
“No, my princess,” he chuckled. “I want you, out of these paperwork.”
“But—”
“I will come and pick you up after supper.”
That was all he said before he walked out of your room silently, leaving you there in shock and confusion. Rubbing your temples, you tried to stop the prominent pumps of blood that were rushing through your veins that echoed in your head distractingly.
“Damn you, Ryugen. Now I can’t focus on my paperwork.”
———
Supper went along as usual, although the loss of Lei and her bubbly personality was something that toned the conversations down quite noticeably. No one noticed your nerves, except for perhaps Lin, who gave a quizzical look at you from the constant tapping of your feet under the table. As it came to a close, you said your good night, reassuring everyone that you would sleep early for tonight, and unhurriedly, yet nervously, walked towards your room.
In front of your chamber door, Ryugen awaited your arrival, perking up at the sound of your soft footsteps.
“Did you enjoy your supper, my princess?”
“I did,” you said. “Where are we going, Ryugen?”
He gestured you to the room, and you raised your brow and opened the door, entering your resting chambers with him falling in the tail.
“My princess,” he said, making you crane your neck to look up at him, “would you be against spending time together outside?”
“Outside?” you mused. Trailing your eyes out to the window, you could only see the endless blackness of the night with some flickering flames for the guards stationed outside, three storeys below you. “I… would not mind…? But I do not see how we can go outside during curfew hours…”
While you were saying this, you apprehensively watched Ryugen open the big window of your room that you were staring at, letting the cold air of the night drift inside.
“What are you doing?”
“We are sneaking out, my princess,” he said bluntly, a mirthful smile in his voice.
A surprised silence followed after, your lips parted while you stared at the oni with wide eyes. Ryugen walked over to place his thumb just under your bottom lips, the flat of his black claw gently pushing your plush skin to close them together. A blush rose across your cheeks and you tried to hide it by pivoting away from him and approaching the now open window.
“Through the window?”
Ryugen now stood right in front of you with his back to the window, as he outstretched his calloused hand towards you and leaned down to your ear.
“If I may,” he murmured.
You were unsure of what to expect next, but you nodded, offering a nervous smile and placed your hand on his large palm. A small yelp escaped you as he gently pulled you towards him and scooped your knees from underneath with his other arm, strongly bringing you off the ground in a bridal carry.
“R-Ryugen?”
“Hold on tight, my princess.”
Wrapping your arms around his neck, you buried your face into his chest to stop the scream that almost tore through your throat as Ryugen placed one firm foot on the windowsill and jumped out of the room. That uncomfortable feeling of your heart being pushed up by gravity felt like it lasted forever until you landed on the ground, to which Ryugen stood on his two feet so sturdily you almost forgot that he jumped out from four storeys above.
Catching your adrenaline-rushed breath, you looked around to see that you were a fair distance away from the palace, where just in front of you, the bamboo forest lay ahead in a mysterious veil.
“You… you could put me down, Ryugen.”
From the moonlight, you could see the deep shadows on his mask, grinning down at you hauntingly as Ryugen studied you. Without complying, he started to trod across the grass, quickly finding ground on a hill.
“I do not want you to hurt yourself walking here.”
You were about to assure him that you were fine, having trained countless years, both day and night, to prepare for any battlefield with your sisters, but you thought against it—you quite enjoyed the warmth radiating off of him. So, you simply nodded, trusting his sight in the darkness, and tentatively leaned your head against his chest. You felt his heartbeat under your eat, thinking that they might of have raced a little bit faster under your touch.
“I forgot how reckless you can be,” you whispered to him, making sure to keep your presence discreet.
He tilted his head. “Am I?”
You snorted in amusement at how he oblivious he sounded, and let the comfortable silence wash over you two as he walked up the hill, where you soon found one, beautiful sakura tree standing tall and powerful on top of it.
Once you were right at the trunk of the tree, Ryugen kneeled down to one knee and let you down on the grass, making sure you were seated comfortably against the bark and sat next to you with his arm brushing against your shoulder. You found yourself almost resting your head on his arm but stopped yourself—instead, you watched quietly as he pulled out a small lantern from the sleeve of his kimono and lit it up with a match.
“Why did you exactly bring me here, Ryugen?” you asked, watching the flame flicker instead. Although you didn’t want to admit it, his mask was still quite intimidating after so many years, especially under the firelight.
Ryugen paused for a moment, seeming to find his words.
After a while, he replied, “I already said it, my princess. I wanted for you to take a rest.”
You let out a little sigh, realising that he was trying to avoid telling you his real intentions. “But you did not have to inconvenience yourself carrying me here.”
“Did you… did you find it bothersome?”
You could hear the slightest insecurity quiver in his voice. Despite all the kind and considerate gestures he always offered to you, you always forget the awkward difference between you two—you, as a human, and him, as an oni.
“No, no, no.” You shook your head, giving him a gentle smile. “I appreciate your thoughts and actions, Ryugen. Thank you.”
He hummed in response.
Glancing at him, you bit your lips nervously as a question arose from how comfortable the atmosphere was. Thinking better of it than the consequence, you asked. "Why do you keep your face hidden behind a mask?"
His body tensed at the question, just like you saw before all those years ago. It slightly hurt you to see that, thinking that he would at least feel a little more comfortable with you than that servant who asked the same question years ago—after all, the trust you built between him was something you prized. Nevertheless, the guilt was greater than the pain and you patted his shoulder, hoping to make him relax.
“Nevermind, Ryugen. Do not dwell on it so much. I am terribly sorry for the question.”
“My deepest apologies, my princess.”
Shaking your head and reassuring him once more, you leaned back against the bark of the tree, shutting your eyes tiredly as sleep threatened to fall upon you.
“Ryugen… would you carry me once more back to the palace if I sleep?” you asked drowsily, voice almost inaudible from how foggy your mind was.
Feeling his calloused hand lay on your cheek and the other arm delicately circled around your waist, you jolted awake slightly from surprise; heart beating faster as he tenderly brought your face to his chest to rest against him.
“Of course, my princess.”
From his body, you felt the deep rumble of his voice that pleasantly echoed through your entire body, to which you unconsciously smiled and leaned in closer to him.
“Thank you.”
Letting sleep befall you, you spent the night resting on him as you enjoyed the gentle rhythm of his chest moving as he breathed—his arm around your waist keeping you warm against the cool air in one of the best sleeps you had in your life.
Check out my other stories set in the same world! (It might help with understanding some of the overlaps mentioned in this story)
Swords Clashing (Orc x F! Reader)
Weaving Through Complications (Tiefling x F! Reader)
Warning: Medieval-ish setting, Fluff, not proofread
Word Count: 3.4k
Synopsis: What happens when you meet your lovely tiefling when you're invited over by a curious princess for tea, in hopes of seeing you two together?
A/N: A fun little writing I did (a while ago, which I finished) with a little bit of world-building that I've enjoyed a lot. Not sure if people would like a really bad world that I had in mind, but I hope that at least it's enjoyable for some people.
Part 1, Part 2
It was early in the morning in Arathia, the sun just rising over the tall buildings, and the light beams peaking in between the gaps. A single letter was held between your fingers as you fiddled with it against the sunlight, a small frown creasing on your lips. On the slip of the envelope, there was a stamp of deep rose red wax pressed with three magnolia flowers—the seal of the Xaenait royals.
This letter was delivered to you only a few moments ago by a messenger, yet you weren’t sure if you were ready to open it just yet. You already knew who sent you this letter—Princess Lan, the eldest princess of Xaenait. The only thing that was troubling you was why she had sent you this letter. Most likely it was to inform you that she’s not going to be able to come to your shop just like she said just yesterday afternoon, but then again there were too many possibilities of what the letter might be about.
Pushing the parchment momentarily away, you scrunched your nose with a sigh before taking it into your hands once more and broke the beautiful wax seal away. Hesitantly, you tilted the envelope open took the letter out and slowly opened the crisply folded parchment, wincing at yourself as you prepared for whatever you were about to read.
Deep down, although you wanted to deny it, you wished that the letter came from Ercus, the tiefling that was starting to crawl his way into your heart to deeply engrave himself into you. His easy-going smile and the bright twinkle in his eyes were too infectious, and just the thought of him brought a curl to the tips of your mouth.
Breathing out again, you skimmed rather thoroughly over the writing, which was written with a dark shade of red and in clean handwriting. The first half of the letter did not surprise you as it mentioned that Princess Lan indeed was not able to come over to your shop and wanted to reschedule your meeting, yet what you didn’t expect was one sentence that included the words along the line of ‘inviting you’ and ‘Sun Temple.’ Your breath hitched loudly and your chest rose only to stop midway, too shocked to even move an inch of your muscle.
The Sun Temple. Of all the things Princess Lan could’ve rescheduled, she had to choose the Sun Temple. It was a relic building, built just next to the royal palace and it was an extremely popular place for wealthy tourists that visited the country. The name in itself was just a decoration that the Arathia royals named the building before their reign fell, constructed for the purpose of famous revels that lasted for weeks when an important event bestowed that day. Now in the present, it was used for tea and night dinners to watch the architecture of the royal palace, serving one of the most elite people in society.
The only problem was that their regular customers were the people from the Society of the High Council of Women. Aadil, your sorceress friend, once took you there for tea, but to say the least, you have not really enjoyed the looks you’ve got from the council while you tried to enjoy the strong, bitter tea and biscuits.
Yet that was a few years ago, you were not sure if your grudge against that place solely for its customers still lived inside you. Nonetheless, you didn’t want to offend Princess Lan by declining her kind offer, so you took out a rough piece of parchment and a quill to write a response.
———
Ercus, the tiefling, followed Princess Lan with a mortified face across her room in the royal palace.
“But Lan! You can’t possibly even consider having tea with her!” His tail swished side to side anxiously as he trailed after Princess Lan with brisk but clumsy steps.
The princess of Xaenait simply hummed, her mind occupied as she searched for something in her luggage. A knock was heard and she pushed past Ercus to open the door, thanking a servant who brought her a fresh pair of Arathian clothes and a pot of tea. She placed the tea tray on a small table and gestured it to Ercus.
“Would you pour me some tea?” she asked while she went back to her search.
The tiefling narrowed his eyes yet did as she asked nonetheless, but not before muttering, “You’re not even listening.”
“Are you possibly afraid that I will say something embarrassing about you to her that will ruin your all-mighty charm?” She glanced at him, the corner of her lips mirthfully pulled up. “But I cannot recall her as someone who falls for your charms quite easily as others, or as you would like to believe.”
Ercus stopped pouring the tea in the dainty small cups. His mind wandered back to your confident and mischievous words that tore his ego as sharp as the princess in front of him. It brought a blush on his bright orange skin that made it look like his face was brightening the room like a fire-lit lamp. “You’re such a sly woman.”
“You are complimenting me by saying that I am cunning, Ercus,” she remarked, a condensing smile on her mouth. “But unfortunately for you, one of the reasons why I have agreed to come here is because I wanted to commission your dear sweetheart with a tapestry.”
Ercus couldn’t say anything to that and simply resorted to a defeated sip of tea from his cup. Princess Lan, finding what she must have been searching for, sighed in relief and took the tea to drink as well. After a while though, Ercus found himself not being able to contain his running thoughts from the princess, and he opened his mouth that he was intending on closing until he finished his tea.
“Would you at least promise me that you will not even speak a word of something embarrassing about me?”
Princess Lan considered him for a moment—she shrugged. “I promise,” she said sincerely, yet the tip of her lips twitched. “Since I doubt we will be talking about you for so long.”
“Lan!” Ercus yelled, not knowing whether to be thankful or offended by what she had just said. He decided he would feel the latter.
“However,” she emphasised, “I’ll let you come with me to the Sun Temple since I do need a guard, and you will be following me there to spy on us either way.”
He grew incredibly flustered at the last comment, but a smug and satisfied smile found its way. “Good.”
“About the fact that you will be spying on us?” Lan arched her brow questioningly.
“Why do you always have to have the last word?”
“Because, frankly, you are too slow.”
———
Aadil decided to tag along on the way to the Sun Temple, beaming excitedly as you two walked closer to the relic building.
“I can’t believe you were invited by Princess Lan,” she said.
You nudged her softly to the side. “You shouldn’t be mentioning her name loudly when we’re not taking the chariot.”
“Unless they believe us,” she remarked.
You nodded in amused agreement before it dwindled down at the sight of the entrance. Grimacing slightly, your eyes narrowed at the sight of the pristine yet ancient architecture that loomed over you. There were twelve pillars lining up together in a circle and a hollow roof was arched on top, an immaculate stained glass of a sun filtering the sunlight from above. Although it was called the ‘Sun Temple’, the prayers sung in this place were long forgotten once democracy and trade became the centre of the organisation. It was now used as a villa to host luxurious tea parties and such. It was truly a beautiful sight if it wasn’t for the distasteful feeling hung in the air—of arrogance and pride.
“Don’t scrunch your nose like that,” Aadil chided, “you look like a displeasured child.”
“That’s the truth, Aadil.”
She rolled her eyes and pushed you by your shoulders. “You’re not a child anymore. Get over it and appear pleasant as much as possible for the princess.”
“That request is harder than the landscape tapestry my last customer ordered a while ago.”
“Was it the one that occupied your room for three months?” she asked.
Nodding, you rolled your shoulders unconsciously as you recalled the arduous work that was one of your best accomplishments (and revenue) that left your whole body aching.
“Don’t be so dramatic and go.”
Breathing out tiredly, you nodded again soberly and gave her one last wave as a parting goodbye before you went your way to the reception. Smiling nervously, you greeted the person behind the desk, brushing off invisible dust from your dress that you’ve borrowed from Aadil since you shockingly found out that your own few dresses that you’ve owned were dusty and the colour turning dull like a longly-forgotten-washed tea stain.
A human woman led you to your table, not forgetting to bow with a subtle smile before leaving you to sit on the cushioned chair. It was a secluded room, covered in white curtains that didn’t reveal the inside of the space, and it was just right next to the lush trees that surrounded the temple. Just as you were about to rest your hand on the chair, a hand swooped your fingers gently into the waiting lips of the owner, and you could only blink as the person placed a kiss on the back of your hand with courtesy.
“How lovely to see you here, my dear. You look beautiful under the sun.”
Your brows furrowed, yet an amused, flustered smile lingered on your mouth as you took in the stormy grey eyes belonging to the tiefling, who was grinning widely. All the anxiety and discomfort that you were feeling in the temple vanished in an instant as your eyes set on his charming face.
“I wasn’t planning on seeing you though,” you replied dryly, to which Ercus laughed tenderly.
“You could have at least entertained the idea of finding me a pleasant surprise of your day.”
The tingling sensation tickling your fingers from Ercus’ warmth was making your head quite dizzy, but you mustered up a voice to speak softly, “Well, I never once said I didn’t like your presence.”
His eyes thinned happily at that, and he opened his mouth to say something when a stern voice echoed from behind.
“How many times have I told you to stop wandering away from me? Need I remind you that you are supposed to follow me to guard my safety?”
Instinctively you pulled your fingers away from Ercus and bowed deeply. “Princess Lan, it is my greatest honour to be in your presence once more.”
“And it is my pleasure to make your acquaintance again,” the Princess smiled warmly. “I am deeply sorry for the sudden invitation; my advisers wanted me to meet you at a ‘respectable’ place.”
“Of course, your highness. Thank you so much for your invitation.”
“So?” she glared at Ercus with a raised brow, a scowl engraved on her face deeply. “Do you have anything to say, Ercus?”
You snickered quietly at the interaction, trying to hide it away from the two as much as possible.
Ercus, who was frowning at the loss of your warmth sulkily looked at the princess. “I’m sorry, Your Highness, but we all know that you are much capable of defending yourself. Ask your little sister—she went to the Slainem Kingdom all by herself.”
“She is known as the best woman’s swordsman in our kingdom.”
“Also, I have better things to do.”
“Such as?”
“Such as,” he started out very confidently yet lost his voice as he glanced at you and your little giggles, “…… umm, er like… finding my beloved weaver!”
He pulled you closer by your shoulders and you couldn’t help but tense up at the contact. When you looked towards him, his sunshine-kissed orange skin glowed through the gaps of his shirt, making you quickly look away in embarrassment, focusing instead on his handsome face.
“Beloved?” you asked.
You saw his Adam’s apple bob nervously. “I mean, yes, I—”
Suddenly, Princess Lan let out a laugh. “Oh, you are helpless, Ercus. Get us some tea, if you can be so kind.”
Ercus widened his eyes and pointed at himself, incredulous. The princess simply nodded and waved him off. He rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath as he walked away.
“Is… is he allowed to act that way with you?” you asked hesitantly, looking at the interaction with wide eyes.
Princess Lan chuckled at that. “He is the son of one of the most renowned noblemen in Xaenait, trained as a high-esteem soldier. Since children, we grew up like siblings.”
“Oh.”
The remainder of his status was a painful slap to your face—you heard many stories surrounding the government in Arathia, of their love affairs and flings with commoners like you. Perhaps Ercus was just as well—
The princess gently placed her hand on yours on the table and gave a reassuring squeeze with a smile. Surprised at the contact, you looked back at her and wondered if it was even appropriate for her to hold a mere commoner’s hand. You vaguely recalled that she was the eldest daughter of her siblings of three.
“Do not worry. His affection towards you is real, if not leaning towards obsessiveness.”
Before you could question her last comment, Ercus came back with a tray of tea— which he could have easily asked one of the waiters to do for him—dutifully following the princess’ request, which you found quite endearing. The look of shock that washed over his face was hilarious as he stared at the connected hands between you and the princess.
“Lan! What are you trying to sweep her off her feet!?”
“You are too dramatic, Ercus.” She gracefully brought her hands away from you and brought a parchment out of her pocket, showing an elaborate list. “These are some of the ideas and requests I have in mind for the tapestry I wanted to ask. Is this possible?”
“Why are you always ignoring me!?”
———
After an hour or so, you wrote down some notes of your own in your notebook and received her parchment with careful hands. Many times, when you glanced behind the princess where the tiefling was, you saw him wink at you or make faces at the princess, which made it difficult for you to contain your chuckles. You told her the estimated period of time that it may take for the tapestry to finish, and Princess Lan reassured you that there was absolutely no pressure to rush your process. Smiling in gratitude, you thanked her for the job.
“Now that my wish has come true,” she announced just as the sun started to set, “I will move along to make your wish come true Ercus.”
“Huh?”
“It was nice meeting you again,” she said as she stood up from her seat, bowing respectively at you.
You hurriedly sat up and gave a clumsy courtesy. “It was my honour.”
“But how are you going to head back without me?”
“I brought Ryugen with me. He is waiting for me outside and he will be escorting me back.”
“What!? You brought another guard with you when you had me? How offensive!”
Princess Lan simply rolled her eyes with the slightest trace of amusement. “You are not the only capable guards or warriors out there in our kingdom. Need I remind you that he is the chief guard of Xaenait.”
“Ah, how hurtful. But touché.”
Laughter tore through you once more, and you couldn’t help the spill of loud giggles that erupted out of your chest. Ercus had a gentle smile on his lips as he watched you, seeing you for the first time so freely laugh in front of him.
The tips of Princess Lan’s lips curved up into a smile, looking proud, as she saw the fondness that adorned Ercus’ eyes.
“I will leave you two alone now. I hope you have a lovely day.”
You courtesied again and watched her leave the temple, admiring the crisp stature as she walked with confidence between the people.
“She reminds me of a big sister.”
Ercus had a slightly sad expression on his face next to you as he also watched her leave. “Her position as the eldest daughter has inevitably left her pressured with responsibility. But, I think Xaenait is ready to change for her happiness.”
Tilting your head to the side, you curiously looked at him. “What do you mean by that?”
Lifting his vivid orange hand, he caressed a strand of hair away from your eyes, ever so gently as if he was touching a precious piece of glass under his skin. Heat rushed across your cheeks under his adoring gaze, yet couldn’t find yourself to look away from him. If it wasn’t for the fact that you were secluded by curtains, you might have pushed him away from sheer embarrassment.
“I’m here to spend time with you. I don’t want you thinking about someone else when you have me,” he said teasingly.
Letting out a small chuckle, you lightly pushed his chest and looked away. “You are quite insufferable sometimes.”
You jumped lightly when you felt his tail gently wrap around your lower leg, both of your faces burning from embarrassment. Ercus still seemed quite shy about his tail as he looked away from you, his cheeks turning into a deep scarlet—yet not attempting to uncoil his tail away from you like last time.
“I-I—” Ercus huffed out an indignant groan as he turned to look at you with furrowed brows, a slight pout, and glistening eyes that were just so mockingly cute, it was hard to keep your calm composure. “How does my charm fail me when I’m around you?”
Grinning, you softly touched his pouting lips and enjoyed watching as his pupils blew up widely from the feather-light touch. “Well, you were charming when we first met. If that helps.”
He raised a brow. “When we first met?”
A laugh bubbled out of you. “Mmmm.”
The next thing you knew, Ercus intertwined both of his fingers with yours and leaned forward so that your noses were almost touching. You felt his warm breath against your face, which sent you a shiver down your spine.
“Even now?”
“It depends on what you’ll do next,” you smiled.
Adrenaline swam throughout your body when strands of his long, dark-red hair tickled against your face as he leaned closer into a soft kiss, quick but sweet enough that left you breathless in a second. The bump of his horns dug into your forehead gently as he pressed his head on yours, accompanied by a joyful laugh, showing the pointy tip of his two sharp teeth. Your ear rang with the furious pumps of blood from your stuttering heart, or it was also perhaps the sounds of Ercus’ heart racing. He looked glorious in the golden sunlight, with his back against the glowing sunset, which cast a sharp shadow under his high cheekbones that reminded you of how hauntingly beautiful he was.
“I enjoy your presence,” Ercus sputters out, “so so much. I think of you every day when I’m not with you, ever since the first day. When I am with you, my heart beats so fast I think I’m going to faint.”
“So much for being ‘charming’,” you chuckled.
He placed a peck on your nose in response, rolling his eyes fondly at you.
“Don’t you feel the same way?”
Tilting your head to the side, you brought your intertwined hands to your lips and smiled up at him, who blushed at your affectionate gesture. “You make my heart flutter like it has never before, Ercus. Since you came to Arathia, I… feel more lively and at peace, and I can’t stop thinking about you.”
His expression melted in ecstasy as your words rang in his head like a soft prayer sent by your sweet voice.
“Is it… Is it okay to say that I love you?”
Eyes lighting up at his words, you nodded. “I think it’s more than okay. I love you too.”
Ercus sighed in delight, pressing another kiss on your lips as both your eyes fluttered shut from the bright sun that watched over the kingdom.
Part 1, Part 2
Check out my other stories set in the same world! (It might help with understanding some of the overlaps mentioned in this story)
Warning(s): loneliness, fluff, slight change of perspectives between writing, rusty writing
Word Count: 3k words
Requested by @anonymousinsomniac: Maybe something about a dream eater or some other kind of dream creature? Maybe the reader is lonely or has nightmares and the creature notices so they keep them company when they're asleep.
A/N: Hiiii it's been literally 2 years since I got this request and since I last posted in this blog, which is crazy!! But, I decided to take on writing again! Thank you so sooo much for requesting!—I had so much fun writing this and I'm also really sorry that it took literal 2 years for me to write this :(
Requests are always open and appreciated! (since I have no idea nor inspiration on what to write about) so please please feel free to request me! Your ideas are always amazing❤️
Hope you guys enjoy!!
A tear fell down your cheek as your eyes slowly fluttered open to find the darkness of your room. You breathed slowly and heavily as you tried to calm your fast heart that was beating wildly inside your body, blood ready to pump out at any moment from your veins. Letting out a single loud sob, you brought your knees against your chest in a fetus position and let all the tears leak out of your eyes like an uncontrollable tide of water—the dam that held them all together breaking as the silent loneliness brought another wave of fear through your bones.
It’s been weeks since your nightmares started to frequent a visit every day, with such vigour that it didn’t give you the peace of mind to rest yourself into sleep that you hoped you could find solace in on your bed. You couldn’t quite put a finger on the reason behind why those nightmares happened; some days repeated the same nightmares over and over again every time you drifted into sleep— other times, different views played out so vividly it was hard to recover from each of them. One thing was sure, however, that those nightmares filled your head every night and day, and with no one to comfort you into slumber again, all you could do was let your fear crawl in through every pore of your skin until the sunlight filtered through the curtains, or to find yourself tumble into another scene of fright.
Wiping away the wetness from your eyes that turned cold from the winter air, all the way down to your chin, you numbly pushed yourself off the bed to search for the switch of the lamp to find some tissues to blow your nose. Just as you found it, a shiver rippled through you so deeply a scream left your mouth.
A single stroke of pressure trailed down from the nape of your neck to the bottom of your spine, sending a ticklish yet nerve-freezing sensation. Oddly enough, it felt as if a finger found its way to your back.
You kicked off your duvet and frantically looked around your familiar room for any figures that were lurking in the dark, before clicking the switch to your lamp to bring the room into brightness to take another good look. Yet, all you could see was the same darkness, the same items of furniture, the same shadows, the same light, and the same fear that lingered in your limbs for the past week.
Another sob tore through your throat so hotly and painfully that all you could do was shut your eyes tightly in hopes of calming your nerves.
“Human.”
Your voice hitched loudly as a voice whispered into your ear, its breath cold and a hint of a growl echoing at the end of the word.
“Who-Who’s there? Is, is some-someone… someone there?”
The heavy movement of your chest stopped when slowly, something settled on the crook of your neck, flinching at the touch of the coldness that it brought. Eyes wide and frozen in fright, you couldn’t bring yourself to move your head to where the owner of the voice was supposed to be.
“Sleep,” the voice growled once more. It was a rich, deep voice, with each syllable pronounced slowly as if its tongue was sticky with honey.
“H-Huh?”
“Sleep, my human.”
Feeling a weight pull you down once more to the bed, you wondered how your racing heartbeat was slowing down, and why your eyelids were starting to flutter shut into a sleepy drowse. Looking up at the illuminated ceiling with no sight of the stranger, you felt a finger with a sharp tip tenderly move your hair away from your face, then moved to cup your face to caress your cheek. A deep purr reverberated against the shell of your ear, lulling you into complete comfort—unconsciously, your heart stuttered at the sound.
As you slowly drifted into sleep, you faintly heard a deep breath taken just above your head, then a soft exhale that tickled your eyelashes.
“Sleep tight.”
———
Morning came, the chirps of birds and the freeze of winter waking you up into a pristine moment of awake-ness that you haven’t felt in a long while.
Blinking lazily, you enjoyed how your eyes stayed open wide without a hint of tire, how your head sweetly embraced the brightness of the sunlight without the heavy ache, and how your limbs weren’t sore when your muscles creaked as you turned over to read the clock. Realizing that your duvet was beautifully tucked underneath your chin and your lamp turned off contradictory to the bright room last night, snippets of scenes rushed and swirled inside your head as they played out before your eyes. You stripped your blankets away and sat up with wide eyes, once more checking around your room now with fresh sunlight flittering around your walls with shadows of leaves swaying against the wind.
“Are you still here?” you asked out loud, nervously awaiting a response.
No trace of that rich, deep voice can be heard in your lonely room and a tide of disappointment washed through you in a flurry, your heart squeezing uncomfortably as it sunk as you thought that perhaps that incident was a mere pleasant dream that helped you to sleep more peacefully last night.
Sighing, you brought your legs to the ground and started to prepare for the Saturday morning, free from work but enslaved to chores that you failed to finish the past days from your nightmares as your loneliness enveloped you in a vice grip.
———
Night fell, and you once more nervously lay on your bed, preparing for the nightmares to approach you once more.
Despite this morning’s ecstasy that filled your body from the delight of a dreamless or a pleasant dream of sleep, your hopes were low and you just knew that yesterday was just a lucky day for you.
Lying on the bed on your sides, you wondered if this series of frightening nights would disappear with the warmth of someone to hold you at night before you sleep, or there to comfort you as you wake up from a nightmare. The loneliness that digs towards your heart every night is just so overwhelming sometimes that tears streak down your face unstoppably as you hug yourself to sleep.
Shutting your eyes, you steadied your breathing, hoping that just shutting your eyes would provide a sense of fulfilment of a good night’s sleep.
Then, the winter cold air gradually shifted to a subtle warmth that spread along the back of your body. Eyes fluttering open, you stopped your breath as you waited, feeling a lightweight placed gently on your shoulder as it spread a spark of warmth that trickled slowly, trailing down your arm down to your waist as it circled around your stomach.
“Is it you?” you croaked out. Gulping nervously, you regained your voice and tried again, “Are you the one who helped me to sleep last night?”
No response was made, but you faintly thought that the weight around your stomach grew tighter, heat kindling in your core.
“Please,” you whispered, voice cracking as your eyes prickled. Gaining confidence, you boldly turned yourself around to face the other side of the room, keeping your sight clear. Another wave of warmth spread across your face, all the way down to your feet that you previously felt across your back. Although no presence graced before you, you were so certain that this wasn’t just a hallucination. The heat, weight, and quiet breath that tickled so softly on your face was too real to even convince yourself it was not.
“Please,” you said once more. “I’m so sick… and, and tired of my nightmares, and feeling so lonely and cold in this room. Last night, when y-you were here– I-I felt at peace since such a long time. So just please, please, show yourself, say something so that I know that last night was real, and it wasn’t just a lucky dream I had.”
Nothing happened.
Sighing, you closed your eyes and accepted your crippling loneliness and troublesome dreams.
“Human.”
You gasped, opening your eyes in surprise at the voice, and more shocked at the sight in front of you.
All you could see was dark blackness at first, but as your eyes trailed around you realised that the wisps of mist took the shape of a human form, although vague; the figure was larger than a normal human man, enveloping you into pitch blackness with its ominous presence. Two horn-like shapes jutting out of his head and a long tail wavering behind like a lazy cat, it was the epitome of a demon you had in mind for your entire life. The thing that stood out to you the most was the yellow glow that was present on its face—two sharp eyes and a wide mouth that created shadows for rows of razor, black teeth. In all honesty, you couldn’t lie that its presence left you petrified from heavy fright.
“Do you regret your wish to see me, now that I presented myself to you?”
The demon—you thought—chuckled softly, bringing a claw to your face to trace the curve of your nose. The only thing you could do was stare at it with doe eyes, yet unconsciously you sought out its warmth by bringing your hand to trace his chest, surprised to feel a solid surface sink under your fingertips. The lack of space between you two was so intimate that you could feel his oddly cool breath against your lips.
“How sweet,” he purred, a deep rumble that rattled against the shell of your ear. Despite the shock and fear, his voice was enough to calm you down, just like it did last night.
“I-I— What are you?“
“You can think of me however you want, human. But, if you must know, you humans call me a ‘dream eater’.”
“A-A dream eater?” Your mind spun dizzily at the comment, with all of your questions spurring out of you in a rush, “Did you come here because I keep on having nightmares? Do you know why I’m having these nightmares? Do you have a name?”
“My my, so many questions,” he said, amused at your bewildered expression. He touched your bottom lip with the tip of his claw to shush you, grinning widely as he saw your pupils dilate at the contact. “Which one do you want me to answer first?”
Thinking for a moment, you leaned your head back, away from his claws that sent your heart into an eternal flutter. “W-What’s your na-name?”
He tilted his head against the pillow, and you couldn’t help but be endeared by it, reminding you of a curious cat.
“I have no name.” His eyes thinned and the glow resembling his mouth wavered into a slight frown but soon widened into a mischievous smile. “Perhaps you can name me one. I do deserve a gift from you for eating your nightmare yesterday.”
“Is that… Is that really enough of a thank you gift?” you asked, dubious about the offer.
“Mmm,” he hummed.
You blushed under his intense gaze and looked away, trying so hard to think of a name. “H-How about we keep it simple? Like Dream?”
“I think it’s quite a charming name,” he said. “How about I learn your name?”
You told Dream your name shyly, to which he repeated with his sultry deep voice that gave you shivers down your spine.
“As to your question regarding why you are having those nightmares, I unfortunately do not know. But seeing your distress, I couldn’t quite bring myself to ignore your suffering.” Caressing your cheek, he brought his face closer and asked worriedly, “Are you feeling all right now?”
“I— Yes, thank you. I had a wonderful sleep last night,” you said, giving him a sweet smile that sent Dream’s heart into a flutter.
“You are more than welcome, my dear.”
The urge to hug him and bury your face in the crook of his neck was alarming, to press yourself against his warmth emanating from him, to touch the cold air from his lips, and to find the peace that you can’t find in your long period of loneliness. You fiddled with the mist swirling around his wrist instead, blood rushing to your face as you tried your best to ask your question.
“Could you… Could you stay with me? At least for the night?”
Dream smiled ever softly and sweetly, finding it adorable as your eyes glossed over and tears threatened to spill. Stroking your head, he gently cradled your face and leaned closer as he murmured, “Of course. I’ll make sure your nightmares won’t visit you tonight as well.”
———
The next morning, when the sun was just about to rise, Dream was surprisingly still there, sleeping soundly next to you with his arms wrapped around your waist in a tight grip. Shuffling against your pillow, you tried to find a comfortable position, yet accidentally woke up the dream eater who snapped his glowing yellow eyes open to look at you sleepily.
“Is something wrong, human?”
You shook your head, smiling up at him. “Thank you for staying with me, Dream. I really appreciate it.”
“I’m glad you enjoy my presence,” Dream grinned, teasingly bumping your nose with his. His grin widened at your furious blush colouring your cheeks. “However,” he drawled out sadly, “I cannot stay here any longer. My form is unable to handle the energy of the day.”
“Oh.” Your shoulders slumped disappointedly, feeling your heart clutch in pain.
“Worry not, my dear. I’ll see you tonight.”
“Really?”
Dream chuckled. “Someone has to keep your nightmares at bay. I will see you then.”
“See you, Dream.”
He gave you one last squeeze of his arm around your waist and vanished into thin air, his wisps of black smoke disappearing as well.
———
From that day, Dream visited you every night. Every visit, Dream’s affectionate and flirty gestures increased—if he wasn’t already touchy enough. From gentle touches, he started to nuzzle into the crook of your neck, purring into your ear at any given moment, and placed gentle pecks around your face, smiling against your skin happily. The more time you spent with him in the darkness, your affection and attachment towards him grew into one of deep love, to which you couldn’t stop falling more and more as you saw his soft smile before you slept.
One night, Dream told you how he sustains his life through eating dreams, which left you to ponder into deep thought. Both of you were lying on your sides, just like the day you two first met
“I was wondering,” you started, to which Dream curiously stared at you with his unwavering, glowing yellow eyes, “would… would you leave me once I stop having nightmares?”
There was a slight pause before Dream spoke, “I came to you that night after watching countless nights of you suffering, hoping to alleviate your pain. Recently, your dreams are recovering, so my wish has come true, and I… do not have to be at your side anymore in the near future.”
Your eyes glossed over with hurt and disappointment, and seeing that, Dream smiled tenderly and brought his clawed hands to your chin to bring your eyes to his.
“And besides, you wouldn’t want all your happy dreams to be eaten by me as well, would you?”
You looked away from his lazy, glowing eyes, pursing your lips in deep thought. “I don’t… really mind if all my nights are dreamless.” You looked up to his pondering eyes, watching as they widened as you continued your words, “As long as you’re here with me.”
A purr deeply rumbled from him, the sound’s vibration gently pressed against your own chest. You felt Dream’s palms cup your cheek and a smile forming his mouth. “You’re too precious for me, love. You deserve so much more than me.”
Burying your nose to his chest, you pulled him closer to you in a tighter embrace. “You’re perfect, Dream. I won’t trade anyone or anything else for you. I love you so much.”
You felt Dream’s chest stop breathing and you looked up at him to see the mist surrounding him freeze in place, processing everything you've just said.
“Do you… do you really think that? Do you really want me in your life? Even if I’m not a human to be there to support you in your living world?”
“What more can I ask for? I mean what I said when I look forward to these nights, knowing that you’re always there for me to help me through my dreadful nights. And I—”
Dream shut you up with a kiss, fervently yet softly pressing his lips against yours, desperate to feel your warmth and sweetness. One hand found your cheek, his long fingertips caressing your hair out of the way, and the other circling around your waist. You brought one hand to where Dream’s hand rested on your cheek, and you intertwined his fingers with yours, to which he responded with a smile against your lips. When you leaned away from him to catch your breath, you saw Dream heaving as well, cold air blowing your hair softly as he grinned teasingly at you. Rolling your eyes, you bumped your forehead against his, feeling the slight curve of his horns against your skin.
“I love you too,” he said sweetly, stealing another kiss from you. “I love you so so much, I can never think of leaving you.”
“Me too, Dream.”
The dream eater sighed in delight, embracing you tightly and purring deeply, leaving traces of kisses along your jaw to your ear until you slept another dreamless, blissful night.
Part 1 and Part 2 for those who would like to read it!
With your neighbourhood decorated in red and pink hearts, taking a walk outside your home in the morning was quite pleasant. Chocolates, sweets, and other special foods were displayed in every shop possible and you took your time viewing and choosing to pick the most memory-engraving one to eat for the day.
This was your routine when a special event rolled in; the only thing missing was a particular demon. Since you’ve met Fateh, everything you think about seemed to revolve around him. And when Valentine’s Day came, all you could think about was imagining your day with him, with his warm hands clasped with yours and his brilliant smile dazzling upon you.
Yet you had no idea if demons—particularly the ones that aren’t in the title of Christianity—celebrates Valentine’s Day. So you kept your mouth shut and didn’t bring the topic up when talking to him.
You peeked through the transparent glass window that showed the various sweets and foods. Glancing at the window area just above the display, you were met by five midnight-black eyes that sparkled with mysterious mischief.
Gasping quietly, you turned behind and smiled up at the person.
“Hi,” the demon said. Fateh had a shy smile on his face and he shuffled on his feet nervously. Occasionally, his eyes looked up to yours before flickering away and a deep colour of red appeared on his face.
A/N: Although this is a slightly slacking way of celebrating Valentine’s Day, I hope everyone would enjoy this short bonus story I’ve written for our fabulous shy demon, Fateh.
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone❤️❤️❤️
Bonus:
“Can I get one more box of chocolate?” Fateh asked tentatively, his breath brushing your temple.
You blinked. “Another box?”
He nodded enthusiastically, his face bobbing up and down like an excited puppy’s tail and you couldn’t help but melt at the way his five eyes shimmered against the sunlight that peaked through the leaves. Chuckling like you were almost about to burst out laughing or perhaps cry, you sunk your head to his chest.
“I don’t know if I should be mad at you or concerned about you,” you said, grinning against his shirt.
“I… I prefer not to have you feeling either way about me,” he said, slightly nervous.
“Then how should I feel?” you asked. Looking up from his shirt, you leaned closer to him and smiled teasingly.
He looked away and his skin glowed a shocking colour of neon red and you tried not to laugh too much. “I would like you to think that I am… rather endearing of wanting to eat another box of chocolate.”
You became quiet at his unusual boldness and the longer you stared at his face, the more he started to squeeze your waist and in the end you found yourself being squished by him, your face popping on the crook of his neck. You finally laughed at his too-warm skin and wrapped your arms around him as well, rubbing soft circles on his back. He nuzzled his nose against your cheek in response, and you swore if he was a cat, he would’ve been purring by now.
“Do demons get side effects from consuming too much sugar?”
“N-Not that I know of.” You felt his face shift against your hair. “So, is that a yes?”
Pushing your torso away from him, you placed a quick chaste kiss on his lips and you nodded. “Let’s go, sweet-tooth.”
Fateh gave you a dazzling smile that showed his sharp teeth and gave you another kiss, which he immediately pulled away in embarrassment.
“Will that be my nickname from now on?” he asked.
You grinned. “I’ll definitely start calling you that, sweet-tooth.”
Fateh let out a bashful laughter. “Then I should be coming up with a nickname for you.”
“Like what?” you teased. “Something ironic like ‘angel’?”
“Actually,” Fateh said, his face contorting seriously as a beautiful but unnerving smile graced his lips, “I like that.”
“Oh, Fateh,” you said, half cooing and half cringing. Placing a hand on his warm cheeks, you smiled. “You’re really too sweet.”
“Not as sweet as my angel,” he said, tracing your jaw with his slightly claw-tipped finger, an innocent smile stretching on his red lips.
“Are you flirting?”
His cheeks glowed once more and you smiled as he returned to his normal endearing self. “Is—Is it bad to compliment someone I lo-love?” he said quietly, looking at you from under his lashes.
It was your turn for your cheeks to heat up, leaving you a blushing mess. “No, it’s not a bad thing.” You gently touched the horn that curled on either side of his head like a ram, and chuckled. “I love you too, Fateh. Now, let’s get that box of chocolate for your sweet-tooth.”
Fateh beamed happily. Bringing your knuckles to his lips, he kissed them gently and let you lead the way to the market once more—his fingers intertwined with yours as they swung back forth under the setting sun.
Does anybody wants to request a monster x reader story? Because I’m in desperate need for ideas that I’m literally banging my head on the keyboard in hopes of writing something.
14 notes • Posted 2021-11-04 09:44:34 GMT
#4
Swords Clashing - Part 4
Male! Orc x Female! Reader
Warning: Sword fighting, Fluff
Word Count: 1.6k
LIKE, COMMENT, REBLOG, please!
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
See the full post
91 notes • Posted 2021-03-20 07:25:34 GMT
#3
Crawling at Night: Valentine’s Day Edition
Male! Demon x GN! Reader
Warning: Valentine’s Day, Fluff
Word Count: 1.5k
Part 1 and Part 2 for those who would like to read it!
Warning(s): Snow mountain setting, implication of death (?), literal ball of fluff
Word Count: 1.5k
Request by @palelandhandspainter: What about a fic where the reader gets stuck in a snowstorm and a yeti shows up to help keep the reader warm with lots of cuddles and fluff
A/N: I fell in LOVE with this writing prompt and I'm telling you, this is full of the fluffiest fluff!! Thank you so much for the request and I hope that it's enjoyable.
The sky was still light and there didn’t seem to be any trace of the sun setting just yet—that is, as far as you can see from the thick layer of grey cloud. From above, feather-like snow fell, yet it was too much, too heavy as it clouded everything in front of you.
Trudging through the earth of snow, you couldn’t help but let out a little whimper of fear and dread when another ripple of shiver went down your spine. It was too cold moments ago until everything was too numb and you stopped worrying over the cold. You already knew your fate on this mountain, but you kept going because you hoped that somehow you’ll be able to live through this snowstorm and go back to somewhere safe, somewhere warm.
Finally, your legs gave out underneath you, and you fell down, body buried deep in the snow. Your eyes fluttered repeatedly before they shut, only sensing the snow that fell to your bare cheeks that melted into droplets of water eventually. You couldn’t open them anymore, and perhaps you didn’t really try to at the end, because you were tired—so tired and cold that you just gave up.
Listening to the strong currents of wind that howled against your red, pain-stricken ears, you let the last of your hope drift away with the snow, consciousness wearing down one last time…
Or you thought.
The heartbeat that was slowing down just a moment ago doubled, no thrice in speed when something rough and warm (at least warmer than the snow) touched your forehead. You gasped and opened your eyes from the rush of newly-found adrenaline, and you almost fainted on the spot at what you saw above you.
A beastly, almost humanoid face was looking back at you, sharp yellow eyes glinting as they blinked lazily, surrounded by white fur. The thing that terrified you the most was the large set of teeth that were lined raggedly, half of the length jutting out of its mouth and the tips looking too sharp for your comfort. You realised with a start that it was a yeti, and the thing that touched your forehead was his hand, calloused and spreading wider than your face.
You yelped when he leaned closer to you and sniffed your face, the big teeth almost touching your skin. Yeah, he was definitely considering eating you.
Amazingly, you were able to get your hands moving, and you tried to crawl away from it but of course, you failed and caught the creature’s attention. He cocked his head and you shut your eyes tightly as he reached his hand towards you. You sucked in a breath when his hands gently laid on your shoulder and pulled you up from the snow; a shiver rippled through your body, and it wasn’t from the cold when its fingers rubbed oddly comforting circles on your back.
It opened its mouth for a moment, looking unsure, before it gruffed out roughly, “Are you okay?”
You stared back at it and blinked, dumbfounded. The shock of the fact that a freaking yeti existed already hijacked your mind, but a yeti that talked? You were definitely hallucinating.
Perhaps it was the haze of the situation, or just that your brain was frozen, but you didn’t notice the yeti’s hand when one of his hands slid from your shoulder to underneath your knees, and you almost screamed when it tucked you closer to his chest. You almost wanted to jump away from his surprisingly gentle grip when you realised that the yeti emanated with warmth, and you unconsciously leaned closer to him, nuzzling your cheek to his chest.
You sluggishly felt a shiver go down the yeti’s body, but you paid no mind to it—at least for now.
“Are you okay?” he asked again, with that slightly off-sounding pronunciation and deep voice.
You looked up and felt his hands guiding your body close to him. Slowly, you opened your mouth and chattered out wobbly, “I-I-I’m mo-most likely n-not.”
He looked at you for a short while before he started to walk, every step sturdy and large as he crunched through the thick layer of snow that barely reached his ankle while it was able to completely cover your knees. Every now and then, he would brush the fine sheet of snow off your jacket tenderly and shield you from the wind by lowering his head to fight it off.
You weren’t sure how long it took, but from the constant view of the grey cloud, a rocky surface appeared in front of your eyes, ears getting relieved when the howl of the wind stopped, replaced by the pleasing sound and smell of crackling fire.
The yeti laid you carefully on thickly-woven rugs that you had no idea how he got hold of, but you’re not complaining to the least. He helped you take off your gloves, boots, socks, your jacket and draped you with warm, heat bathed blankets that warmed you to your core.
Resting your cheek on your knees, you sighed happily as you watched the fire flicker, completely forgetting the yeti behind you.
———
Yawning, you nuzzled onto something fuzzy and soft that surrounded you warmly. Your brows furrowed when the pillow beneath you rose and fell repeatedly, a snore-like sound echoing against your ear. Slowly, you opened your eyes and looked up, meeting the peacefully sleeping face of the yeti—you were lying on the yeti.
Now you understood what the heavy weight was on your back: it was the large arms of the yeti hugging you over multiple thick blankets, keeping you incredibly warm. Unconsciously, your body flared up, possibly from embarrassment, as you stared at the yeti’s rather endearing face as he breathed deeply, his bluish-grey skin wrinkled on his forehead.
You practically melted in his embrace, smiling softly and reached out to his face to touch the tuft of white fur on his chin and cheeks, curling it between your fingers with intrigue. You didn’t know why your heart beat a little bit too fast and hard, but you think it was most likely because of the fear of him waking up and finding you playing with his fur.
As if on cue, he woke up, his frightening yellow eyes instantly training on you sleepily.
You blinked with the smile still on your lips, too shocked to even change your expression.
He sat up, cradling you like a baby, and settled you on his lap. “Are you warm?”
“Hmm?” you hummed dumbly, still not used to him speaking. “Um, I—Yes, I’m very warm.”
The yeti adjusted the blanket on you, finishing it with a small pat on your head that left you blushing furiously. “Do you have a name?
You told him your name without much hesitation. “Do you have a name?”
He nodded. “Juma.”
“Juma,” you smiled. “Thank you for rescuing me, Juma.”
His face softened and cradled your head, placing his thumb on your cheek, and brushed a strand of hair away from your face. “You are welcome.”
“Can…” you trailed, gaining Juma’s attention. He tilted his head to the side and tapped your back ever-so-slightly as if to urge you on. You cleared your throat. “Can I ask you something?”
“You can ask me anything,” he said, smiling a slightly odd smile that made the tip of his lips curl up.
“Well, can I ask why you know a human language?”
You looked away for a moment at the deep, intimidating gaze he kept with you.
Juma caressed your cheek with his thumb, and you froze at the tingling feeling against your skin. “I lived with an elderly man for a short amount of time when I was a child before,” he answered. “I adapted the language very quickly during that time.”
“I didn’t know there was a village around here,” you murmured.
“It is located in a humble place below the mountains.” His bushy brows furrowed. “Do you have anywhere to go?”
At the mention of it, your shoulders dropped and the blood rushed out of your face. The fact that you’re alive was a miracle enough, rescued by a yeti nonetheless, and the thought of going back to your town didn’t come into your mind. “Oh, I haven’t really thought about it.”
Tears pricked on your eyes the more you thought about it and they almost trailed down your cheek. Juma, noticing this, stroked your head and shushed you tenderly, rubbing the space between your shoulder blades. You sighed, pressing your forehead on his hard chest, calming yourself with the sound of his strong heartbeat.
“I don’t know where to go,” you said quietly.
“You can stay here with me for a while,” he cooed, something you didn’t expect him to do.
You looked up. “Are you sure?”
He nodded, resting his chin on the top of your head. "You are welcome to stay here as long as you want."
For the rest of the day, he held you against his chest, keeping you warm and safe in the cave while the snowstorm bristled outside. You knew you would eventually go back to your home, but for now, you’re content staying in this cave, inside Juma’s warm embrace.
Does anybody wants to request a monster x reader story? Because I’m in desperate need for ideas that I’m literally banging my head on the keyboard in hopes of writing something.
Okay, so I'm working on some of these requests that are in the comments, but if any of those that have requested are looking at this, or is going to request me, should I tag you?
If you’re like me at all, then one of the hardest parts of writing is… actually writing. Getting started is hard. There’s so much to say and do all at once and you can only put one word after the other.
So I thought I’d write out a short guide on getting started and getting past that block.
1. Let go of insecurity and perfectionism.
I’m a perfectionist, and I’m sure a lot of you are too. I’m well aware that this step is easier said than done, but it’s so important. To break through the beginner’s block, we have to let go of our perfectionist ideals. We all want to write the perfect story, and we want to do our characters and audiences justice. That’s what editing is for!
No one has to see your first draft but you. There’s no need to be embarrassed or upset by mistakes, especially if you are the only witness. So do your best to let go of the insecurity and perfectionism that’s holding you back. You can stretch your perfectionist muscles during another draft.
2. Start with an outline or guide.
I know there’s a big debate in the writing community about pantsing vs planning, but planning has its uses! If you’re not sure where to start, an outline is a good way to organize your thoughts. If you have a dozen scenes and lines and ideas running through your head, write down a line or two to describe them and use the click and drag function on Word or google docs to organize where each scene goes. Once you have an order you like, you may find a starting point that feels more natural.
3. Just write.
I hate this bit of advice, but it’s important to remember: your story is not set in stone. If you write a scene and you don’t like it or don’t think it works, you can always throw it in the deleted scenes document. So don’t be afraid to just go ham and write whatever comes to mind. Eventually, you will find a direction.
4. Remember that no writing is ever wasted.
If you don’t keep something, that’s okay! No writing is ever wasted. Every minute you spend writing is a minute learning and honing your craft. Even if that scene or line doesn’t make it to the final cut, that doesn’t mean it was a waste of words! It made you better, even if the reader never sees that.
I hope this helps someone out there to get past that block and start their story. Remember the world will be better for it!
