ghost of a king

Each sound the other made beckoned focus, turned an ear and drew unseeing eyes toward her in mimicry of the years he’d held sight. A time before ever meeting the woman yet still it twas a habit one found difficult to simply cast aside. Not only did it provide a small sense of structure behind a pointless act but it seemed to make other more inclined to believe he listened in full. That he indulged and hung upon every phrase which may flee their maw rather than be plagued by disinterest, allowing it to drift in one ear and out the other lest lyrics grate upon the nerves or bring venom to rise. Then he was quick to fixate. Ever unwilling to let things go.

In these moments however, there were no more words to give as tensions seemed to melt away from the autumnal woman. A noticeable relief washing over her upon acceptance of proffered drink as each puff of breath pulled further back against the glassware, avoiding brushing lips to his own in an unsanctioned act of tenderness. Something Mithras remained thankful over though such an utterance would never flow from his tongue as that vile mixture seeped within in reluctant acceptance. Bidding himself not to sputter at the taste, willing a body to merely accept it.

A notion clung to even as the steady clink of that emptied vial pulled his attention. Hoping to take in where it was placed in hopes to avoid finding it later in a clattering of steps and broken glass. Only for discontentment to seize him anew as breath fled him in a harshened scoff. The little draconian had plenty of fur, he certainly didn’t need any more adorning him from some awful beverage… he cared not if it were merely a turn of phrase. It would not stop the thoughts from drifting into mind even if they may not grace the air, but lyrics would still rise.

“I somehow doubt what is sold tastes any better,” a fact he would continue believing lest she bothered to prove him otherwise. There was no truth seen behind her claims without the evidence to back it up so a ‘critic’ he shall be. If it bothered her enough she could tweak the recipe to account for taste, make it something more palatable and refined despite being one of her proclaimed medicines. However, it seemed refinement wasn’t a strong suit of hers. Never quiet holding an air to blend with the nobility she had so desperately wished to become. Quirks of hers still needed worked on but those were matters for another time as exasperated breath fled his lungs.

Admittance lacing his tongue, “It hardly sounds the same. You are far harder to understand with something in your mouth,” especially with the way words twisted around whatever object she carried at the given time. “So it matters to me,” and wasn’t that reason enough? While he couldn’t say he was bothered by it - having witnessed far more embarrassing manners from both Bellatrix herself as well as others he kept the company of - it was not an ideal behavior to behold. Surely she had been taught better than this over her years yet a mind was swiftly wrenched away from such ideations when a firm, wet press ran over torn flesh.

Even if it had not sparked a new wave of pain against the nerves, it would have stirred his usual discomfort. It still would have brought muscles to tighten in building desire to pull away, a want to snap and snarl in hopes of driving another’s touch away. Though here he needed to refrain. Forcefully reign in the ways a limb twitched, redirect the festering desire to shove her back into the aggravated lash of a tail. Bellatrix’s answer leaving much to be desired as ears turned, near pinning to his skull at the thought of it.

Hesitant to admit the truth behind what she said all while knowing she had likely already felt the chill which permeated through star marked fur when he’d been buried within her own pelt. Unabashed in the ways one sought to siphon the very warmth which radiated from her hide until that ungraceful dismount. Now she was just as near with a face so close he could drag fangs against it should he wish to… and a part of him did want to but instead he listened. Knew she only intended to help where she could with this, not make it anything weird yet he clung to his distrust.

“Let’s just get this over with, just… give me a bit of warning alright?” Hints of where she shifted next or if there was need to rearrange himself to allow her easier access without merely attempting to scoot him around herself. Upon hopeful agreement he allowed a broken frame to relax once more against the bedding, a crown shifting to seemingly stare off at nothing in particular as he awaited for either the proclaimed medication to kick in or for Bellatrix to be done with this form of slobbery torment. Which ever came first.

The woman’s eyes narrowed as he berated her potion further instead of just taking her word for it, making her tail thrash that he couldn’t ever just let her say anything without retaliation. “Seems like ah challenge to me. Guess you’ll get to be my first customer when I open up shop down ere. That reminds me, sugar plum, I’m gonna move in with cha, hope ya don’t mind,” she grinned, awaiting a reaction that would likely be just another roast on the fire he liked to keep between them in the most unattractive way possible. One might take it as a joke but she was serious in this sudden proclamation, having been thinking about it on her travels to get him home safely. With Jacob and Adamh still alive, travel would likely just get even more difficult since it already was such a headache to get between the two political realms. With the College also being target practice gone horribly wrong, there was no meeting up half way all the time anymore since a wolf couldn’t exactly build one of those structures.

Push come to shove, it would look better if she lived with him in the first place, with them being married and all. She could only imagine with him and his image problems, he should be jumping for joy at her decision to crawl under his roof. Plus, she felt a need to watch him while he healed no matter how much he ticked her off.

She would only catch part of what he had started to say about why she shouldn’t have bad manners with things in her mouth, not catching the very last thing at all as her attention had shifted well enough away from his mouth at that point. With a blind man, she would think it wouldn’t matter in terms that he couldn’t see her doing it anyway, always thinking that manner was more made for visual effect. An ear twitched to the thought that it would impair him any if she talked with or without it, perhaps because when she could hear once upon a time she also had sight. If one sense failed her, the other could fill in the dots. He didn’t have that luxury it would appear.

Maybe she should have kept the bottle in his mouth so he couldn’t talk till she was done, then again he had full ability to spit it out of his own free will so that wouldn’t have done much. She just didn’t want to seem like she was entirely ignoring him but that was exactly what she was doing until he more physically interrupted her from her task.

While she watched him silently, she grumpily tried to scrape some of his blood glued to her tongue that came back alive with her saliva. Thankfully he couldn’t see the funny scrunched up faces she was making or she was certain he would cry about that too. When he didn’t put up a further fight, however, she stared at him frozen for a few long seconds as if processing a limerick that didn’t line up or make sense. She almost wanted him to speak again, thinking heavily on it so she could make sure she read his lips right but she decided to go with what she was certain she read that he was fine with it.

There was a sudden hesitation, as if she was walking on thin ice and perhaps, she was as she returned. “Well expect a tongue on all your bloody spots,” she forewarned this time, starting with the least intimate spots first. Her tongue gently rasped against his spine and up along his shoulders, feeling swelling from likely bruising under the surface. She made poultice of more directly applied herbs that could numb the wounds and starve infection, using her paws and teeth to mash it, applying it as she went along. She was surprisingly gentle with each action she made, which hopefully he preferred over being rougher to avoid tickling him.

She moved onto the part that worried her the most, noticing more than one set of teeth in the curves of his neck, doubting it all from a single wolf. “Roll over so I can reach ya throat and face easier,” she instructed and used the top of her muzzle to help him if he needed it. This spot made her a little more anxious to touch, knowing how vital this particular spot was on both a life and intimate standpoint. Assuming he listened, her tongue would tenderly swipe away and clean the matting, finding it fairly surprising he was trusting her to touch here at all, even if he agreed with her reasoning. Her heart hammered in her ears, not really sure what to make of it but she would try to solely focus on her work at hand.

After a few probably agonizing minutes for him, she would have cleaned him all up and applied salves as she deemed necessary. There was the addition of aloe and mallow paste once she got to his face, applying it on each mark. “These herbs usually reduce the appearance of scars,” she would add once she was done. “Any other places? If not, we are all done on applyin wound care,” she said, taking a step back to look down at him, gaze searching for any places she might have missed.

Lilac eyes could not help but to roll at her issue of a challenge as, in the moment, he glossed over the mention of her opening up shop within the mainlands. Perhaps business was not as great as she’d once proclaimed within those distance lands, “Now who says I’d want to-” A phrase that never finished as a mind caught up to what all had laced the air in her delighted utterance. Jaws hanging agape for a ticking second before they would morph into a grin, “You’re what? Moving in?” Such lyrics lay tainted by the laughter which wished to rise alongside them, twisting a tone into clear amusement even if she would not be able to hear the difference.

“You’ve got to be joking, why the sudden change of heart?” For what ever happened to her stubbornness? The wish to remain within the highlands, of being close to home? Here within the reaches of Rionna she could not be further from it or the courtly tones of her father. While he was unsure of her actually dwelling here there was truly no reason she could not. He had nothing to hide from her and besides that they shared a name. If any had discovered a bond - even one forged upon falsities - it would look better to share a roof, rather than declare one ‘away for business’ at nearly ever meeting. That would look far worse.

And yet merely thinking of hearing that resounding voice echoing down the halls every day, well it was already giving him a headache… or maybe that was just senses being overwhelmed as so much still sang against his flesh. An ungodly touch that could not be silenced as it clung against fraying nerves. There would be no peace from this lest it was treated, healed either by her assistance or anothers. It brought fangs to grit as it all ran through his mind until reality tugged him back upon the press of her tongue. Unseeing to the ways she scrunched her visage nor swiped at a blood coated tongue or, perhaps more importantly, the way she stared.

How those eyes never seen watched him so carefully when a form of permission lay granted. So long as there came warning, a chance to anticipate where agony may flare anew from even the passing lap of her tongue or the cooling press of mashed poultice. Something that would no doubt be a pain to wash from his coat once it dried. Already he dreaded the thought of potentially needing assistance to ensure all was removed though such were matters for another time as she gave way to warning. Even with her words it made him no more eager to endure all that was required, all one proclaimed would be slathered and bound to his hide as her weight settled over top of him.

Each new texture brought him to flinch in part to discomfort, the other to knowing just how much saliva now mixed against skin with both cleaning and the herb filled paste. That first touch to his shoulder bringing a hide to shrink down. Wanting to move away from the sensation despite knowing Bellatrix only intended to help - a visible huff fleeing his lungs in the sudden motion of ribs yet he did not slink from beneath her. At least not until those phrases reached him and a muzzle pressed in her insistence. The draconian reluctant to heed such a request but still found himself following through with the motion. And while he could not see her, all which radiated from her foretold her own hesitance.

The way her heart leapt within her chest, a hammering beat that echoed through heated skin and while his own would never echo that rhythm in tune breath stuttered upon that first fleeting press. Catching in the very throat her tongue drug over in what felt to be agonizingly slow motion, settling at the hollow of his neck where that final set of teeth had made contact. It took all the draconian could muster to resist the desire of kicking out against her, his back had been a far different matter than this and there was certainty each knew it. For with the vulnerabilities of an underside exposed it brought him to tense, to question if this was truly necessary despite finding agreement with it prior.

And it is not until that weight pulls back once more, basically removed from the bedding entirely that muscles would steadily relax and a slow breath fled his lips. He stayed in place for a moment longer before a figure would right itself though remained nestled against the plush embrace of fur and feathers. Nothing more than silent consideration taken toward the work done, each place where it felt like electricity hummed beneath his skin from that residual touch and each plastered herb which rested against him now.

Sensation one could do without but he had to admit, whatever she’d given had lessened the pain nearly leaving him numb to it. Just as parts of it seemed to muddle the mind and coax it into a sense of relaxation with all said and done. “No,” phrase spoken even before a muzzle slid over furs to better face her, “That was everything.” And now she could leave, though such a command did not rise as instead Mithras was silent for a moment. Debating on leaving her with that alone and yet upon his next breath he found lips parting once more, “Thank you Bellatrix.” She at least deserved that much he supposed.

She would see his face twist into a mixture of emotions as she spoke her conclusion of her next steps in life, ones she wasn’t sure he would agree with or start a fight over but she expected a mixture of both. It would look better on him, though he sure seemed to not want her anywhere near him most of the time so would that really be a wish even if it was beneficial for his image? It didn’t really matter to her as her tail swished in silent contemplation for only a moment, unsure how to take his smile that crept over his face, seeming mocking maybe but she couldn’t really tell. The word joking was a clear enough word for her to maybe put it altogether. It was sarcasm more than likely, at least that made sense with his attitude since she found him. She would refrain from taking it personally this time.

Shaking herself a little of his blood on her, she would let out a breath that seemed to have been captive since she stopped speaking as her lungs burned for fresh oxygen. “Not a change of heart. Travel won’t be all that easy after this war I’m sure. Can’t go anywhere without a guard sniffin your ass already and I don’t see work being a casual meet up anymore. Place was in shambles when I passed it before findin ya,” she snorted, wondering if she would be out of work at the college now and would be forced to just do her wares for profit. Would stink either way but it wasn’t like their paws could build these weird structures she was currently in. She didn’t foresee a chance of them repairing it, at least not to what it was before.

“Sides, I got ya to look after now to make sure that face stays pretty, huh?” she grinned with a wink, forgetting her mannerisms were invisible to him. Probably. She wasn’t sure how gone his sight actually was, if he had it when he was younger there was probably still some function, no matter how minimal.

She would notice how he tensed and shifted under her touch and it prompted her to move faster but he just acted like he was being tortured, it made it all uncomfortable for the both of them. Flustered or not, she felt bad for making him uncomfortable. Felt too much like she was forcing herself upon him even though none of it was even meant to be sexual but the vulnerability he allowed toward her made her question that very thought. She was starting to want it to be over with, just so she stopped feeling disgusted with herself for subconsciously enjoying that closeness to some capacity. It wasn’t right if the other was suffering for it.

She would watch him intently after she was done, spitting out a few hairs and slime in wait for his answer, being sure not to miss what he might say. A sigh of some relief would flood out when he claimed they were done, more auditory than she meant to. That calm would quickly short circuit when he would thank her, feeling her cheeks grow warm all over again and she shifted between her paws in a bashfulness that wasn’t all that common for her. “Awww shucks Mithras, ya do have nice bones in ya sometimes. Catch some lambs into la la land and let that body heal. Sure the potion is kickin in by now,” she said a bit quietly but with a more happy tune than he was probably used to. Gently she’d grab a pelt lying around to toss over him before turning with her tail wagging, prancing out of the room with far lighter feet than she walked in with even if she was close to collapsing herself, her heart wrenching in her chest from overstimulation.

-exit bell unless stopped-