Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it's not mine, I'm borrowing characters, realms, and magical elements from T. Pierce.
A/N: This does contain graphic sexual content. If you don't like it, don't read it. This is intended as a one-shot, but I may make it into a multi-chapter story if anyone asks, or if I feel like it. That's all.
A mage sat at his desk, papers strewn everywhere, and ran his hand across his face. He'd been sitting there, staring at the same papers for hours, it was well into the night and his hair had almost freed itself from the tie he'd put in it. He'd just picked up his quill when his wrist warmed, he glanced down at it, annoyed, until he realized it was the bracelet he wore as his focus. He stood up too quickly and knocked his chair over backwards. He held his hand in front of him and a black and silver ball grew out of it, he spoke into the ball and waited a few seconds before allowing it to vanish and rushing out of the room.
The heat from his bracelet was not painful but the thought of Daine being in trouble sent him into a panic. With the unanswered speaking charm in the back of his mind, Numair rushed past the riders' training fields and towards the forest. He could feel something pulling him in, he didn't think of how late it was, or how veiled the moon was behind clouds, he just went to Daine. Once he was deep into the trees he could feel branches tearing at him and his clothes, but he didn't care, he could see puffs of air leave him as he pushed further into the cold forest.
Entering a small clearing, only eight feet wide at its stoutest, his heart stopped. All the blood drained from his face, and his whole body went cold. Someone was lying on the ground, unmoving, the face was hidden but the brown curls everywhere, and the sinking feeling in his stomach told him exactly who it was. He sank beside the figure, moving the hair off her face; he pushed with his gift, and found nothing that meant life, no breathing, no pulse, and the copper that was her magic was beginning to dim. Without a second thought, he lifted her and ran back to the castle faster than he had left it. Numair struggled to form a speaking charm while running with the girl, but managed it and sent a brief note to the King's champion.
My room. Emergency. It's Daine.
He had just set the girl down on his bed when a short woman ran in, looking disheveled and as though she'd dressed in the dark. Eyes assessed Numair and then Daine.
Numair stepped back allowing her to get closer to Daine, he raised his hand pointing at the girl on the bed and whispered "Fix her."
She stepped to the bed side and placed a hand on Daine's forehead and one on her abdomen, trying hard not to pull her hand back at how cold the girl's face was. Alanna's eyes closed as she reached for her gift and tried her best to push life back into the girl. Daine's chest began to rise and fall, and soon color returned to her face.
"Numair what the hell-" Alanna began, reaching for a blanket to cover the girl.
"I don't know. Is she going to be okay?" Numair answered quietly, breathlessly.
"She will return to health in a few hours, she needs a lot of rest now. Was she attacked? I didn't sense an illness in her."
" I said I don't know! I wasn't with her, I was reading through those damn Karthos papers again. I didn't even know she was hurt until my bracelet lit up. I wouldn't even have known she was out of the castle…" He sat at the foot of the bed and placed his head in his hands.
The short woman placed her hand on his shoulder, and when he looked up she said, "Numair, Daine is an independent woman- you can't expect to leave her alone and think she won't come up with something to do. It's not your fault- you can't be with her all day, every day, and if you tried, you'd smother her."
"I should've just come to bed at a reasonable hour. I would've known sooner that she was in trouble."
"I should think you need some sleep now, too," with her hand still on his shoulder she pushed a small amount of her Gift into him, and he began to feel more tired than before he went outside. "Now you go to bed, we'll talk tomorrow."
Numair was sitting up in bed beside her when her eyes finally opened. Daine opened her mouth, as if to speak, but Numair put up his index finger, indicating that she should not speak.
"I thought, before you attempt to explain to me that you're just fine, and that you'd only gone to help a friend, that I should tell you that you died. I thought that before you try to justify your actions, you should know that I carried your lifeless body back here- that you were not breathing when I found you, that looking at you, completely white, without a heartbeat- cut me more deeply than your words ever have. So now that you have that valuable information, do tell me what was so dire, so necessary that you left the castle in the middle of the night to do, that resulted in your lack of signs of life." He had to speak the last three words through his teeth as his jaw had locked in barely controlled anger.
"Numair-" she reached towards him, but he pulled his arm out of her reach. "Numair, I had to go, there were rabbits in pain. Something has poisoned their leaves, and it was killing them, I had to whatever I could."
"Not die, never die. Did you learn nothing as my student? Did you not learn how to tell when you are nearing your limits? How to tell when you are running out of energy? How to tell when you've gone too far? Did you not learn that you should always tell someone when you plan to leave the castle in the middle of the night? Did you not know that there are people that would die themselves, if anything happened to you?"
She sat up, and swung her feet out of bed, "I'm not a baby, Numair, and I'm not your student anymore. I'm sorry that I've broken one of your rules, but I'm not going to run to you for permission to go outside and I couldn't find anyone to tell, and I didn't want to wait around for someone because there were People in pain." She attempted to stand, but her knees gave way and she would've fallen had it not been for a black and silver cloud that caught her and deposited her back on the bed.
She huffed a sigh but did not try to stand again. This time, Numair was the one to exit the bed, he walked to the far side of the room and grabbed a cup and a plate of cheese and bread. Having followed him with her eyes she realized the curtains were drawn, so the darkness she had thought meant "pre-dawn" was just a closed window. She accepted the cup and plate and began to eat.
"What time is it?"
"Just after noon, I didn't want the sun to wake you- so long as you're sleeping I can make sure you won't get into any trouble."
"AFTER NOON?!" Daine struggled to swallow her mouthful of juice before questioning him. "Odd's Bobs Numair, I'm supposed to be in the stables by 7, Onua will be in a foul mood that I haven't shown up."
"Don't worry about Onua, I believe Alanna has apprised her of your situation." Numair tried and failed at hiding his resentment that she cared more about Onua being upset that she wasn't at work, than his being upset that she had almost slipped through his fingers.
"Alanna knows, too?" Daine groaned, "Must the whole castle know that I went a little too far?"
"Daine, as you should recall, I don't have the Gift for healing, certainly not to the degree that you needed. I had to call Alanna last night to come heal you back to life." He stepped closer to the bed until his knees were touching the mattress.
"Numair, I needed to help them, just like I need to talk to King Jonathon about the plants, there is something wrong in the forest. "
"Well you're not getting up right now, it can either wait, or I'll call a messenger. I'm not leaving you to do something foolish again."
Daine felt herself melt just a little bit more as she realized how upset Numair really was. She reached out a hand to his, and pulled him down. She let go and tugged at his shirt until he realized she wanted him to lie down.
He sighed but lifted the covers and got in on her side, he lay on his back and she snuggled up to his side.
"You're not forgiven, magelet." He stroked her curls as she snuggled closer still, and put her head on his chest.
They lay comfortably together for a few very quiet moments. All of a sudden Daine swung her leg over him, so she was straddling his waist. She put her hands on his chest and lowered her mouth to his.
"Daine, stop, you need to rest." He placed his hands on her wrists, and pulled his head away from hers.
She kept eye contact with him and rolled her hips, letting out a soft groan. She could feel him becoming aroused and rolled her hips again.
"Numair, let me make it up to you. I'm sorry I made you worry, I'm sorry I didn't stop sooner, I'm sorry for a lot of things, but let me show you how much you mean to me."
"No, sweet, you need to rest; you need to let your body restore its energy. You need to-"
He trailed off when her mouth dipped down to his neck, licking and sucking. Her tongue traveled up to his earlobe, where she sucked then blew cold air, making him gasp. She trailed light kisses down his jawline and then to his mouth. She deepened the kiss and when she felt him start to pull away she rolled her hips, making him groan and open his mouth.
He placed his hands on her cheeks, and pushed slightly. She began to get irritated when she realized he only meant to shoot silver at the door to keep anyone from opening it.
"Are you sure you're strong enough, magelet?" He asked, and when she nodded, he moved his hands to her waist and rolled them so he was over her. "Just to be safe, we're going to make sure you don't use too much energy.
Her hands were on his broad shoulders when he pinned her hips with his and drew her hands above her head. Thin strands of magic wound around her wrists and then the headboard, effectively immobilizing her arms and hands.
"Are you still sure about this?" He asked, his voice husky and his eyes on fire.
All Daine could do was nodded silently and try not to groan when he changed position, and rubbed against her warm center.
Numair reached for her shirt and began unbuttoning it, he pushed it up to her shoulders and then left it, moving down to her breeches which he untied and removed quickly. He moved over her again, his mouth going to her neck, licking, sucking, kissing, then he moved his hips against her, creating friction and she groaned.
"Not as funny when you're on the bottom is it?" he asked. She closed her mouth and didn't utter a sound, but when he moved his hips again a gasp escaped. He grinned.
He lightly kissed all over her face, and then on her lips, she opened her mouth begging him to enter, but he refused and moved to the other side of her neck. He licked and nipped along her collarbone, and then got to her breasts. He took one in his mouth a sucked, then blew lightly, as she had done with his ear. Her back arched up, and her nipple hardened. He took her other breast in his hand and began to massage it. He sucked once again and then switched to the other nipple. When her back arched again he rubbed his hips into hers.
She wrapped her legs around his waist and began to rub, looking for friction. Numair pulled back, breaking the hold her legs had on him, and got off the bed. The lust in her eyes was hard to ignore, and he took off his shirt and breeches and then climbed onto the bed again. He began to kiss and nip at her stomach, his tongue sliding from her rib cage to her hip bones and back again. She had just moved her hips around in search of some sort of friction when he placed a hand, fully splayed, across her hips. His other hand moved even further south, his thumb began circling her hot button, and soon a finger entered her.
Her hips shot off the bed, and he pressed lightly with the hand that was still across her lower abdomen. He pressed warm kisses to her stomach again and added another finger inside her. He looked up at her face, she'd been oddly non-verbal, and her eyes were full of a passionate fire. Now, she mouthed, I need it.
He sat up on his knees, and slowly pulled his fingers from her. He lifted her legs, so they hooked onto his hips, and he leaned forward. He met her eyes with his, and placed a light kiss on her lips. Then, slowly, he pushed himself into her; he put his forehead on hers as he pushed in deeper. Her eyes closed, and she exhaled shakily, and then he was fully inside of her.
"I can't lose you. If I lost you, I fear I'd lose myself. Lose who I am. I was so worried, you were so cold, what if you couldn't have been pulled back?" He let his eyes close.
"Oh, Numair" was all she said.
He pulled back from her, almost completely, and then slid in again, sighing- reveling in her warmth. Back and forth he moved in her, slowly, showing her all the love he had for her, all the fear he had when she was almost lost.
Daine tilted her hips to meet him, accept him, and show him that she understood. Just before they came together, he released her hands, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him close.
Afterwards, they just lay in a tangled, sweaty, loving mess and fell asleep together.