"I'll be a mess."
"I love you."
"I can't think of anything more nerve-wracking."
"You're so brave," Regina reminds her, kissing her cheek. "You're the bravest dragon I know."
"Lily's far braver than I am." Maleficent pulls Regina closer in the darkness, smiling up at the stars beyond her head.
"Lily's going to be a wonderful big sister. She's already so good with Henry." Stroking Mal's cheek, she kisses her neck, then up to her mouth. Mal's lips press warm against hers but they tense, like Mal does beneath her. "We can wait." Regina pulls back, sitting up a little so Mal can see her eyes. "It doesn't have to be tonight."
"I'll be just as nervous on the next dark moon and the one after that." Mal traces her chin, then smiles. "And we're all the way up here."
Regina shifts her hips over Mal's stomach, looking out at the trees and the sea beyond. "Are you sure we have to be at the highest place in town?" A windswept, exposed clifftop would be freezing without the ring of dragonfire surrounding them.
"The only thing better is flying. We need the stars at their brightest-"
"A ring of dragon flame, water sweet and clear, and-"
"You," Mal teases her. "A willing spark."
"Let's hope my fireballs have improved." The very old joke makes Mal smile easily, and their hands met between their stomachs, fingers entwined.
"I don't think you should use a fireball."
"Isn't that a spark?" Regina leans down and kisses Mal's chest, then her breast. "I feel like that's a very willing spark." She nibbles and calls little sparks to her fingertips even though it's not the moment yet. Around them the ring of fire crackles, building with Mal's arousal.
Calling a fireball to her hand, Regina lets it float over Mal's stomach. She could let it slip within, tug on the spell and set the spark now, but that seems too quick, lacking in reverence. They're making a child together, not starting a bonfire. She wants it to mean something. "Besides, I brought you those rubies, this is what comes next right? I bite your neck and-"
Mal squirms beneath her, laughing and curling to her side. "You make it sound so unromantic. Those rubies are beautiful and you went on a grand quest."
Regina eases Mal's shirt open while she's laughing, exposing the dark lace and smooth satin of her bra. "It was nice to take Henry."
"See!"
Leaning down to kiss her breasts, Regina licks and teases until Mal finally stops chuckling and moans. Lifting her head, Regina meets her eyes, watching them darken. "There you are."
"I've been here." Mal sits up to meet her lips and tease her tongue and now she's the one moaning in Mal's mouth.
"I wasn't-"
"Now you are." Mal's fingers dance through her hair, run down her neck and leave a burning trail behind them. Her clothings fits too tight, too constricting and Mal's seems cold compared to the heat of her skin. They strip each other, kissing and nipping.
Mal's teeth brush her neck and she gasps. Magic rolls around them, fire gleams on Mal's skin, reflecting in her eyes. They're wrapped in fire, in each other, hands hot, skin slick, wet-
Mal's thigh slips beneath her legs and she grinds herself on it, panting, gasping, demanding. Her breasts ache to be touched and Mal sucks her nipple and fuck- they're on fire. They are fire, roaring and rising, finding each other in soft little ways, licking at their weaknesses. Pressure builds, roaring within her like the flames without. She has too much life, too much hope, too much affection for her skin. She's too hot.
Mal tilts her head, exposes her neck and she bites, tasting copper and spice. Magic sparks between them, spinning within the spell.
She's more, Maleficent is more, and together they're greater, stronger. Life sparks between them, brighter than flame, dearer than the stars, for an instant it's sharp, like Mal's teeth on her skin, like the pleasure coursing, raging.
She's sharp, trailing over knife edges, soaring, falling-
Rising. She's in Mal and Mal's in her and they're fire together, pure, uncompromised by flesh or thought. They're love, burning each other until something cracks. For a moment, she shares Mal's heartbeat as their pulses merge.
A child is born of one blood.
One fire.
Ancient lore, dragon spells scratched on stone, creation as old as the stone beneath them.
Sweat cools on her skin, but Mal's tears are fresh and hot. Panting, they cling to each other, and now she laughs because within the spell their daughter vibrates, a tiny spark of life, the melding of both of them, fragile and new.
She's here.
Regina knows her.
Then she's gone, sleeping, eclipsed in the glorious heat of her mother. Regina's love. Her family. Her mate.
"Did it?"
Mal can barely nod, she holds her so tight.
"That was her, we felt her."
Holding her face, Mal kisses her over and over, clumsy and raw. "We made her."
It's only a start. Their baby has to grow, take hold, become flesh, blood and bone.
But she's started. They've made her. She's theirs.
Regina rests her hand on Maleficent's stomach, reverent and sure. "I love you both."
Mal sobs, laughs, holds her so tight they could be one again.
"I-"
"We," Regina corrects, full of hope so bright she could continue burning.
"We love you too."