Note: In 4/2017 I posted a request of this same name. It can be found as Chapter 1 here and Chapter 68 of Prompt Requests. This continuation will be a total of three parts including the original chapter. It is a princess/knight-ish story but there's some elements of it that may require suspension of belief. The language is somewhat dated and formal but kevlar and firearms exist.
i.
The braids were a nod to her mother, of course, but Erza was in far too petty a mood to have only one reason – perhaps another nod to her mother. She knew he'd hate them and that was just fine because she wanted him to hate them. He'd been gone for nearly a fortnight on some ridiculous royal nonsense and as such he should be punished. Erza knew better than to truly blame him – as the First General of the Secretum Oficii he answered to the queen alone and carried out her official, and sometimes personal, business with the utmost secrecy – but she still wanted to blame him. And would.
Erza's fingers tucked the last strands of her hair into the complicated twist of braids and stood. Her hands ran downward over the corset that had been made especially for her. The silk was a deep crimson and covered by a complex Bedfordshire lace design of the darkest black. Curls of clothtrail had been embroidered over with a shockingly scarlet thread. The skirt wasn't much more than a gauzy wrap about her hips. She didn't bother with anything else.
A breeze ruffled the drapes at the edges of her window and the faint sound of the vine leaves whipping against the brick outside pricked her ears. Erza's hand dipped quickly into the top right vanity drawer. Her blood red lips twitched into a smirk as she slipped behind the drapes that brushed the floor.
She saw his gloved hands first before he leapt soundlessly over the edge of the open window into a crouch on the floor. He'd barely stood to his full height before the metal of her knife glinted in the candlelight. Erza pressed the blade against his neck just shy of drawing blood.
"You're late," she whispered hotly in his ear.
"I came as soon as time permitted, your Royal Highness." His voice was strained and Erza enjoyed his care of her knife against his neck.
"I don't believe you." She dropped the knife to the place on his hip where his body armor had a small gap – a bit of information not well known to anyone outside of an intimate space with a member of the Secretum Oficii. Erza poked the tip of her blade through the small gap. "I should gut you here and now."
"To think my blood should spill on your skin would be an honor, Your Highness." The tone was unexpectedly reverent and Erza faltered. In that fraction of a second, he spun on her and took her wrist in an iron grip. She felt the cold brick against her arms as he lifted them and towered over her. "But I don't think that's going to happen today."
"Your arrogance is unbecoming. Release me at once." Her words came out less forceful than intended, so she resulted to physical violence. Erza's knee swiftly shot up – only to be caught with his free hand. The leather of his glove was warm against her thigh. The First General wasted no time in sliding past the thin fabric at her hip.
"You must release me first, Your Highness. My heart and body have long been in your possession." He held her thigh at his waist and leaned in so that his nose brushed hers. "Am I free, Princess?"
"How dare you employ seduction against me!" she huffed, her eyes falling to his lips.
"Are you offended it is you against the wall and not me at the end of your blade?" He grinned and brought his body further against hers. "The very same blade I put in your hand when we were children? I'm the offended party, Princess."
He released her and stepped backward into the low light of her bedroom. Erza caught her breath before stepping from the shadows herself. On the cusp of forgiving him for the crime of leaving her for so long, she instead felt a surge of wickedness when his eyes lit on her hair.
"Does your cruelty know no ends?" He grinned and rested lightly on the edge of her bed. "I suppose I should expect as much from the daughter of the Queen."
"You very well should." Erza left the knife on the surface of her vanity and crossed the room to stand between his feet. "I look forward to your struggle in untangling them."
"Perhaps I should shave it all off with your own blade? Your vanity is appalling."
"You wouldn't. I think that would upset you more than me." His gloved hand rose to touch one of the braids but she caught his wrist. Erza met his eyes and peeled the glove off one finger at a time. "I would have your skin on mine, First General."
The pads of his fingers brushed over her cheeks first before touching the coils of braids. Erza brought her knee around his hip and balanced against the mattress. She took his other hand and let the second glove fall to the floor. Without breaking from his eyes, she pulled his cloak loose and ran her fingers over his still covered chest before wrapping her arms around his neck. He secured her against him but his hands didn't venture below the corset. One finger traced the embroidered clothtrail thoughtfully.
"Are your thoughts wandering?" she asked with more trepidation than she'd like. He smiled and the lines of the tattoo that had been on his face for as long as Erza could remember, crinkled.
"When I'm away from the palace, my thoughts are ever wandering but not tonight. They have nowhere else to hunger for when I'm with you." He first kissed her with the kind of sweet devotion one expected from the blossoming love of youth – but his second kiss stirred the fire in her soul. She rose on one foot and her knee slid further onto the mattress. Erza marveled – as always – at how he fit so impossibly perfect between her legs. Perhaps they'd been formed in the womb with one another in mind.
"Were you in danger?" she breathed when his mouth dropped first to her shoulder.
"I'm always in danger." He sucked lightly on the skin of her neck and Erza shivered.
"My mother should –" Without warning he pulled back and his green eyes pierced hers.
"Use me at her convenience? There are places only I can go and missives only I can deliver. I am her willing servant."
"But –"
"This is our dance, Princess." His ever so light emphasis on her title stung her eyes. "Easy is a luxury those in our stations do not have."
"She knows," Erza whispered. He smiled.
"Of course she does, love. She knew long before I ever had the audacity to enter through the window." Erza pursed her lips and inched her fingers under the body armor at his waist. She wanted it off. He obliged her and pulled the black turtleneck over his head before tearing the thick velcro straps from his shoulders. Once free of the kevlar, Erza pressed herself against him once more. The swell of her breasts spilled over the bust of her corset.
"What if –" The First General pressed his thumb to her lips and swiped the ruined lipstick away.
"What if, why not, how come... we could pose these questions forever." He kissed her softly and Erza's toes positively curled. "I would put your lips to better use."
Before she could even lose her balance he was behind her with firm hands on her bare shoulders. His fingers deftly tugged on the laces of her corset. As it fell from her body his hands curved around her ribs to cover her breasts.
"The world is what it is, Erza." Her eyes slid closed at the breath of her name on her neck. "Spending my nights with you is more than I have ever deserved. The Queen favors me and chooses not to have me executed for the crime of loving her daughter." The tips of his fingers tickled the sides of her neck before picking through the coils of braids. "You are the most valuable thing to her. You are the reason the King has been cold in the ground since before you took your first step. She will let you keep me as long as you please."
She wasn't surprised at how quickly tangles of her hair whispered against her shoulders and back. The golden hairpins tinkled against the tiled floor.
"You aren't my plaything," Erza said quietly. He gathered the crimped mass of scarlet to one side and kissed her neck again. His lips found the shell of her ear.
"No?" he asked, his breath sending a shiver down her spine. "It is all I aspire to be."
When Erza's back hit the mattress he kissed her with bruising force. Her legs wrapped around his waist and she realized he'd – at some point – left his pants and boots behind. The First General had always distracted her so. She arched her back and he took the pink tip of her breast into his mouth. Erza grasped at the tufts of blue hair and pulled him to her lips. He exhaled against her mouth when he entered her and his fingers dug into her thigh.
Erza didn't give him time to catch his breath before shoving him to his back and perching on his hips. She moved in a slow rhythm taking in every flutter of his lashes and every twitch in his belly. The quilted pattern of her duvet would leave a mark on her knees but Erza was unconcerned.
He was a thorough but demanding lover. As quickly as she'd unseated him, he grabbed her waist and flipped her around, the last of her lipstick smeared on the duvet. His chest was hot against her back and his fingers between her legs, unapologetically nimble. He dragged her over the terrible ledge of her desire in a moment that felt too swift for comfort. A hand planted in the mattress near her head and Erza craned to press a kiss to his wrist.
"Jellal," she breathed, the air stirring the moisture on his wrist and sending a chill down his arm. Erza never said his name beyond the confines of her bedroom. She couldn't. One day, perhaps, but for now he would remain First General Fernandes of the Secretum Oficii.
His body fell to the bed beside her and Erza shifted into his waiting arms. Just below his shoulder was a still-pink scar. She touched it lightly before pressing a kiss to the spot.
"Does it still hurt," she whispered.
"Not as much as the other outcome." His eyes fixated on hers with a humor Erza didn't think appropriate.
"I don't like to think about you dying." She clasped her fingers around his wrist when he cupped her cheek. His lips curled into an affectionate – but exhausted – grin.
"Then don't." He kissed her once before pulling her against his chest. She thought for sure she heard him whisper her name once more before, "I love you more than my whole life."