AN: This fic is the sequel to my first story "How to Make a Birthday Perfect". It's mostly just an excuse to let Cedric and Sofia get busy, so you probably don't need to read that to pick up this one, but if you're looking for context reading that one will help.

This story will be a two shot. Smut first, then a light sprinkling of plot in the second chapter which I'll probably post tomorrow.

Disclaimer: Sofia is 18, Cedric is 34, and I don't either of them or anyone else mentioned in this story. I'm just perving on them for fun.

.o~O*O~o.

Cedric was warm.

He couldn't remember ever feeling so warm in his damp, drafty tower; or sleeping so well.

As his mind swam towards awareness he marveled that he felt so rested and refreshed. He'd suffered from insomnia all his life, often unable to sleep for several days at a time. Since childhood he'd needed potions and spells to counteract the worst consequences of whatever glitch kept him from enjoying the respite others seemed to take for granted.

Fuzzy at the edges of his consciousness was the whisper that something momentous had happened to bring him to this current state of fulfillment. But still indulgently half asleep, the memory eluded his attempts to capture it.

Just then a soft breeze ruffled his hair and passed warm and sweet across face.

No.

Not a breeze, a sigh.

Suddenly it all came back: Sofia's birthday, missing the party to brew a rejuvenation potion for her beloved rabbit, combing the castle looking for her, finding her. He remembered her tears, their dance, her simple, heartbreaking declaration of love.

He remembered fighting her too, telling her he wasn't a good enough man for her. Lying here so blissfully, he couldn't understand why he'd done that? They were all right he supposed, he really was a fool. Who, offered the only real thing they'd ever wanted, would push it away.

He was lucky "no" wasn't a concept she understood. Had he ever won an argument with her? Had anyone? He didn't think so. Even at the tender age of eight she'd had him wrapped around her finger. He was incapable of denying her anything she wanted. And for some unimaginable reason she wanted him.

He'd challenged her to teleport them from the ballroom to his tower. She'd been cocky about it, but they both knew it was a difficult spell. Getting it wrong could have dire consequences. She was no second rate carnival magician though. From the moment he'd started teaching her in earnest she'd done nothing but surprise and delight him with the depth of her talent.

If he was honest he knew, deep down, he was an incredibly gifted sorcerer. It was one of things he'd always hated, the knowledge that he wasn't even scraping the surface of what he was capable of. He bungled things (much less so these days) because he got in his own way. He let his nerves and insecurities get the better of him. But even if he were to someday reach his full potential he had the suspicion his gifts where nothing compared to what Sofia would someday achieve.

They'd reached his tower with no complications as he knew they would.

Standing in his darkened workshop he'd gently placed her back on her feet and taken his robe from her, tossing it on his work bench, heedless of the stacks of papers and notes it sent spilling to the floor.

Turning back to her, he'd taken both her hands in his own and bent down slowly to claim another of her transcendent kisses.

The tower was dark, but they were standing in the single pool of moonlight streaming in from the balcony above. It was enough for him to see her face, her eyes, as their mouths met. He'd never looked into a woman's eyes as he kissed her before. With anyone else it probably would have been off putting, unnerving, but with Sofia…it was as if she were inviting him to slip inside her and see all the parts of herself she hid from others.

He could see every emotion the press of his lips on hers evoked. He saw love, devotion, adoration, desire, pleasure, and passion all reflected in the dark pools of her beautiful blue eyes. Could she see those same emotions reflected back at her? He hoped so. He needed her to understand just how deep his feelings for her ran.

Giving him a gift so precious, it left him feeling as though he'd been shattered. That he was nothing more than shards of glass in Sofia's hands. It was her decision now whether to put him back together or let the pieces of him fall to the floor discarded. If she could do this to him with a single kiss, what would lying with her be like? Cedric shuddered, nearly as frightened by the intensity of what was happening between them as he was excited by it.

They broke apart gently and he looked around the room. Except for this one spot, the room was completely shrouded in shadow. Looking down at her again he pulled her close, pressing their still clasped hands to his chest.

"This room," He whispered, the moment seeming to sacred to speak any louder, "It's us. It's what you are to me, a single, beautiful ray of light sweeping away some of the darkness."

Sofia bowed her head overcome by emotion at his words. She brought her lips to each of his hands, and then laid her cheek against them. He knew she was trying to tell him with touch what she felt too affected to put into words. That she would always be there shining her light down on him. That she would fight to her last breath before she let the darkness take him.

It was time.

They both knew it.

Kissing one of her hands he dropped it.

Walking side by side, hand in hand, they made their way through his workshop and down the stairs to his bedchamber. He led her to his writing desk. Sparking one of the matches he kept there, they walked slowly around the room, lighting the small sconces that dotted the walls, and finally the candle by his bedside.

They faced each other again.

Sofia was the first to move. Reaching out she caught the end of his tie and pulled gently until it gave, the silk slipping away. Moving closer, she began working on the buttons of his vest, and then his shirt.

He had resolved to go slow.

He wanted to take his time, to commit every moment of what was about to happen to memory in case the day ever came when she realized he wasn't worth wasting her life on. At least he would always have this moment to look back on. One perfect memory of the beginning; when there was nothing but happiness.

He also wanted to make her feel as safe and cherished as he could.

The nobility kept their daughters in shameful ignorance when it came to the realities of sex . Girls routinely went to their marriage beds with no clue of what awaited them. And what went for Nobility went doubly so for Royalty.

Cedric was sure Sofia had never seen a man naked before. He didn't even know if she grasped the basic mechanics of what was about to happen between them. He owed it to her to let her take the lead for now. To let her touch and explore him, without feeling as though he were rushing her to a conclusion she had only the haziest notion of.

When she looked back on tonight he wanted her to know she'd been loved, worshipped, to the full extent one person could love another. He might not be what she deserved but he would give her the first time she deserved.

The last button on his shirt slipped free and Sofia sucked in long breath as she slid his vest and shirt off in one fluid motion.

She seemed entranced. At first he wasn't exactly sure why, but then her hands came up and began tracing the spells tattooed on his arms. He had four of them, one on each bicep and one on each forearm.

"They're… beautiful. What are they?" She asked still caressing them gently.

"Spells. Which ones a Sorcerer chooses to wear are unique to each person. Each spell represents an aspect of the wearer. Once they heal they become channels, enhancing your power. It's tradition for a master to give his apprentice their first tattoo on the day they earn the title Sorcerer.

A teacher's last gift before he and his student stand before one another as equals. If you wish it, I will give you your first one the night we return from your testing."

"I'd like that," her voice was low, breathy, "I have a feeling there isn't a 'first' I won't enjoy as long as it's with you."

Her eyes locked with his then as her hands wrapped around his arms. She leaned forward brushing her lips against the hollow indentation at the base of his throat. Never breaking eye contact with him, Sofia's tongue began to explore the expanse of his chest and stomach.

Cedric fought the urge to close his eyes and let his head fall back, wanting to keep the link between them even as a groan of pleasure escaped his mouth.

He was by far, the more experienced of the two of them and yet tonight she had shown him how much deeper, how much more honest and raw it could be when you bared not just your body to your lover, but your soul too.

He couldn't suppress the need to touch her any longer, but he wasn't ready to take control away from her either. So he settled for tangling one his hands in the long auburn curls at the base of her neck. The other went to her back, beginning the arduous process of loosening the thousand tiny hooks that held her dress together.

While Sofia's mouth continued its assault on his restraint, her hands where not idol. They snaked around to his back, grasping and massaging in a similarly maddeningly wonderful way.

He smiled then, remembering how she'd reacted to the spells on his arms. If a few lines of script had caused such a heated reaction from her, he wondered what would happen when she eventually saw his back.

The symbols and astrological signs there covered over half of his skin.

That thought died a swift death when her hands suddenly came back around and began working the clasps to his pants. He sucked in a breath and began trying to remember the ingredients for every potion he'd ever brewed… in alphabetical order.

The last clasp on Sofia's dress popped just as his mind suddenly scratched like a broken record. All it seemed capable of was doing was repeating 'dragon's scales' over and over again as she smiled up at him, flushed and victorious in her battle with his trousers. She wasted not a single second hooking her hot little fingers into the fabric and pushing it down.

His legs seemed to move independently of his malfunctioning brain as they obligingly kicked the puddle of clothing, now around his ankles, away along with his shoes.

He was completely naked now.

Under normal circumstances he would have been overcome with self-consciousness at the reality of being naked in front of someone who was completely dressed. But Sofia's eyes wouldn't allow it.

She had taken a step back to look at him, so he could see her pupils had grown to twice their normal size. Her beautiful sky blue irises had already darkened quite a bit, but they became the ocean during a gale now, midnight blue and fathomless. Her chest rose and fell as though she were drowning, fruitlessly trying to get air.

"Cedric you're so beautiful."

The earnest simplicity of her declaration broke him for what felt like the hundredth time tonight.

He closed the distance between them then and brought his hand to her face, cupping her cheek. Tilting her eyes up to meet his, he kissed her deep and long, their tongues dancing around each other.

When they broke apart long minutes later he nuzzled her nose with his own.

"Whatever I am, Dearest, all of it is yours to do with what you please."

"Then you'd better take me to bed Cedric. I want to do everything with you and I can't wait anymore."

Working in tandem they removed her dress and the endless layers of undergarments beneath.

When she stood as naked before him as her had for her, he returned her simple, sincere declaration before picking her up again and laying her on his bed.

In the hours that followed, he did as she had bid him and showed her everything. Touched all of her, kissed all of her, tasted all of her and she'd returned his ardor inch for inch. He'd never had a lover so willing, so determined, to give as much as she took.

There wasn't a part of him that hadn't felt the wet slide of her tongue. Not a part of him that hadn't felt the caress of her soft fingers or the burn of her searing lips.

Cedric knew what it was now to feel the silken sweep of Sofia's hair tickle his legs as her exquisite lips moved up and down on his cock, urging him to empty not just his seed, but his soul into her waiting mouth. He knew now that she not only smelled like lilacs but tasted like blossom nectar. That she would run her hands obsessively through his hair as she neared her peak, needing to touch some part of him as his face moved between her thighs. He knew what it was to grip her hair in his hands, angling her head this way and that to accept his kisses as he thrust into her slow and deep.

The vision of her, hair a wild halo framing her face, her mouth open on a scream that was meant to be his name, as she rode him to a shattering climax so intense it forced his own, was burned into his memory.

He would forever crave the feel of her sweat slick body pressed to his as they gasped for air in the afterglow of passion, her arms wound as tightly around him as his where around her. He didn't think he could ever fall asleep again without her head resting on his shoulder and her auburn hair spilling across his chest.

And as he finally opened his eyes to the brightness of a new day, he knew what it was to wake beside her. To watch her, still partially asleep, instinctively reach for him.

And now he knew, he wondered how he would ever live without it. If she were to leave him, if something where to happen to her, he'd be nothing more than a shell of a man, retreating from the world to live with his memories. A ghost going slowly insane as the aching need for her consumed him.

"Good morning." She said, opening her eyes, bright as the bright blue day outside his window.

"Good morning Dearest." He said back, pulling her to him and taking her mouth with the hunger of a man who'd been starving.

They couldn't have slept for more than a few hours.

He remembered dawn had already been breaking over the horizon as they'd held each other through one last climax. They'd both been fairly exhausted by then, but the way they'd made love that last time had felt somehow… more poignant than all the other times combined. That last time they'd been gentler, softer, sweeter with each other. It had been more about love than desire. More about cementing the bond between them, than working off some of the ridiculous amount of lust they'd managed to store up over all those years of denial.

But now it seemed as though all their efforts had barely scratched the surface. Apparently a few hours was all it took to make him crave her just as much as he had last night, all over again.

She wrapped herself around him and laid her head in the crook of his neck, nuzzling her nose just below his ear.

"We missed breakfast," she said conversationally.

He was about to remind her he never ate breakfast when the implication of her words sunk in.

She missed breakfast. The morning meal she took with her family every day. And if she'd missed breakfast, that meant she'd also missed being woken by her maid, who had, by now, surely found her room empty and her bed still made. If so the King, the Queen, Baileywick, every servant from the ladies maids to the scullery maids knew Princess Sofia hadn't slept in her bed last night.

He was surprised they hadn't been awoken by an armed contingent of guards hauling them out of bed and dragging him down to the dungeons. Baileywick must be getting sloppy in his dotage.

"I see." He said stroking her hair while he stared up at the ceiling and wondered if they'd already reached the end of their time together.

Everyone knew she'd slept elsewhere last night. She either needed to own him or come up with a plausible lie. He'd never been a confident man, though she'd helped him make leaps and bounds in that regard, but he didn't intend to be anyone's dirty secret, no matter how hopelessly he needed her. Nor would he dishonor her in that way.

"And what do you think we should do about that." He asked, keeping his voice level, trying not to betray his doubts to her.

She left his arms then to prop herself up on one elbow, her hand in her hair, her breasts completely, unselfconsciously exposed to him, for him. Her other hand reached out and started playing with his hair, fingers gently combing the silver strands out of his eyes.

"I know I said last night we could work out the details later, but I think later just caught up with us."

He nodded, silently agreeing with her assessment of the situation.

"I guess I have to ask you a question Cedric." She said biting the corner of her lip and suddenly shifting her gaze to the spot on the pillow next to him.

"What would that be?" He returned, not giving her a read on the turmoil brewing inside him.

"Well, it's too late to sneak back down to my bedroom, even if that's what I wanted. I think I probably did want that… at least for a few days, just have you all to myself for a little while and not have to deal with everyone else. But I suppose now or next week makes very little difference in the grand scheme of things. So I think we should go talk to my parents. It's Sunday, Dad doesn't do any work on Sundays. It's strictly a family day. Which means they'll all go down to the family room in a little bit, to read the papers and have mid-morning tea."

He closed his eyes at her words, the knot of pain that had been forming in his stomach releasing.

"You mean to own me then?" He blurted, cursing himself internally for revealing his insecurity when the hurdle had already been crossed.

"Of course I do," she replied somewhat incredulously, her hand leaving his hair to cup his cheek.

Leaning in she pressed her pressed herself against him as she lowered her face, taking him in an open mouth kiss that was unmistakably possessive.

"The question isn't whether I want everyone to know I love you, Cedric. The question is how much you want to own me. If we go to my parents, especially knowing I never made it to my room last night, they aren't just going to give their blessing to us changing the current sleeping arrangements. They're going to insist you marry me."

Cedric leveled her with an arched eyebrow and a sarcastic sneer.

"I see age has not tempered your boundless optimism, Dearest. What makes you so sure your father won't just lop off my head? As you say it's no longer a matter of accepting our feelings for one another, it's a matter of my having…defiled you."

"Pretty thoroughly too." She added, a wicked smirk lighting her features.

He laughed at that, he couldn't help it. Sofia might be sweet as pie but she had as cutting a sense of humor as he did. She might have even gotten it from him.

"My parents are not going to kill you Cedric, or maim you, or throw you in the dungeon. Remember what you said last night about my father letting me find love in my own time? I think he understands people in love don't just stare at each other chastely from across rooms.

I… I am sorry to have basically forced you into marriage though. It was never my intention to corner you into something like this." Sofia looked away from him then, the sadness in her eyes achingly apparent. And as always it spurred him to reveal more than he intended.

Rising from the bed, he went to the writing desk that held almost all of his worldly possessions. Opening the smallest drawer in the upper corner, he pulled out a little box and brought it back to the bed.

He kneeled back down on it as Sofia rose to a sitting position.

He handed her the box and sat back on his heels not caring that he was naked. Hoping he wasn't about to be burned despite the odds seeming to be in his favor. That was basically the story of his life, but when Sofia was around she always seemed able to change his luck.

Sofia opened the box and gasped, looking up at him.

"What is this?" She asked, her voice little more than a whisper.

"It's yours. I...I bought it for you.

I found it years ago in a jewel shop in Friesenburg. You remember the time your Father insisted the entire court pay an official visit. I had no idea at the time what possessed me to part with a small fortune to acquire a ring I had no use for. But it caught my eye and I found I couldn't pass it by. All I could think was how exquisite it would look on your finger.

You were fifteen at the time, and once I'd paid for it and walked out of the shop I realized I must have been temporarily relieved of my senses. I could never give it to you. For a grown man to give such a gift to a half-grown girl, for a servant to give something like that to his Princess, it broke all the bounds of propriety and decency in one fell swoop.

So I kept it. And as you grew and my feelings grew with you, as friendship turned purer and became love, and love deepened into something less chaste and more…earthy, I would sometimes take it out and sit there," he gestured to large armchair by the fire, "and imagine you wearing it.

When I used to dream of you wearing it, it was never just a gift. I imagined you wearing my ring, with all the expectations inherent in that.

So, you see, you aren't cornering me into anything. I've wanted to marry you for years."

She took the ring out of the box then and slipped it on the fourth finger of her left hand. The large amethyst at the center winked in the morning sun, while the smaller rubies and diamonds that surrounded it sent rainbow colored shards of light dancing around the room.

Cedric couldn't help but notice the ring was a perfect fit.

Or that she'd managed to outdo his most outlandish daydreams without even trying. Never once had he dared to imagine she would slip it on her finger while naked and glowing in his bed.

Seeing her in his ring and nothing but his ring made him suddenly rock hard.

Sofia seemed to notice his state at the same time he did and before he could grab the sheet to cover himself, she had moved from her position to straddle his thighs. She kissed him long and hard as she lowered herself onto his straining erection.

When he was fully sheathed, she broke their kiss and took his face in both her hands.

"Just so there's no misunderstanding happening here…yes. I will marry you."

"I'm glad we cleared that up." He quipped, taking her hips in his hands and helping her set an energetic pace.