Tears streamed down her face as she lay curled up on her bed, the unforgiving moonlight pouring in on her.
Throughout the day the feeling had steadily grown worse. The hum under her skin began to burn shortly after the day's training, and Gwen made Arthur dismiss her early as the woman was the only one to notice Merlin's discomfort. That was five hours ago. Since then she had completely collapsed and had been given all kinds of foul tasting potions from Gaius to ease the steadily increasing pain.
Her hands fisted her sheets so tightly her knuckles went white and sweat glued her hair to her forehead. She barely registered the door open and Gaius shuffle in.
"Oh my girl" He sighed. The bed dipped as he settled down beside her and his cool hand on her burning face was met with a scream, muffled by teeth digging into the rugged pillow. "I shall inform Arthur that you will not be fit for work tomorrow..."
Words sat on his tongue as he gazed down at his niece's agonized frame. She did not have a fever, nor was her heart rate any higher. Medically she seemed fine, but his own eyes told him otherwise. With another sigh, Gaius got up off the bed and left the room, planning on returning to his books to try and find a remedy or at least a diagnosis for Merlin's condition.
No sooner had he made it down the steps, a flash of blue and black whipped past him. He barely had time to register it before the door was swung open. It clattered against the wall and the papers on the table danced as though a strong gust of wind had blown through.
"What on earth..." He uttered, looking back into Merlin's room where the strange phenomenon had originated. His heart froze when he saw that the room was empty. "Merlin?"
Mordred. Mordred. Mordred. Mordred. Mordred. Mordred.
It was a tattoo inside her mind. Throbbing. Burning. Craving. Her eyes glowed gold as Gaius walked away and time slowed. With all her might she tore off the bed and out through the door. He was there. So close. So close.
Servants and lord's alike moved as if walking through thick water as Merlin scrambled her way through the corridors, gasping as Mordred's trail grew stronger with each leap. There. Not much further. Almost there. He's so close. Close.
Close.
Here.
A feral snarl escaped her throat when he collided with her, and his echoing growl rumbled deep from inside his chest. Two forces clashed in the corridor at what felt like a hundred miles per hour. Their magic slapped together with an almighty sound that thundered through the castle.
He pushed her into the wall, she yanked him with her.
Hungrily they battled with their lips, tongues and hands. Teeth gnawed against jaws, necks and bruised mouths, and nails scraped over sweaty skin and obstructing fabric.
Now. Now. Now. Her mind screamed. His roared back approvingly. Now. Now. Now.
She pushed him off of her and he landed back onto a bed. Neither cared how they got there, only that they were now rolling on the soft linen of Mordred's bed: the idle decorations of his chambers faded into the background as she threw herself onto him, straddling him and attacking his neck with frenzied kisses and sharp nips.
Mordred's hands clawed through her hair, tearing it out of it's messy maid's bun and pulling so hard her scalp burned. Their breathing was loud and heavy, barely audible over the sound of clothes ripping: seams giving out under the strain of grappling hands and merciless fingers. Mordred's shirt tore completely down the middle and was roughly pulled off their side down his arms while Merlin's dress ripped down her front, exposing her pale chest.
Merlin threw her head back, hair whipping through the air, as Mordred leaned forward and sucked on the skin revealed to him: his hands dragging up her waist and cupping each breast. His teeth grazed across one pale globe and caught the nipple there. A long and loud moan drew out from deep in Merlin's throat at his ministrations, and with a tight tug on his hair he repeated the gesture on the other breast.
Need her. Need her. Need her now. Mordred's mind thrummed, his heart beat a bass.
How he had come to be here he wasn't sure. All he knew was that his skin hurt, and that it had gradually gotten worse as the days passed. It started out as a dismissible tingle, but by midday, just after training, it was near unbearable. He would have gone to Gaius for a remedy, but that meant seeing Merlin and disrespecting her wishes. Groaning as her hands brutally yanked at the laces of his trousers, Mordred concluded that this was more than likely disrespecting her wishes, but before he knew what he was doing he had gone from wreathing in pain on his bed to clashing with her in a corridor.
A low growl tore from Merlin's chest as she dipped onto her hands and knees and mouthed Mordred's tattoo. He leaned back against the wooden headrest, combing his hands through her hair and watching half-lidded as she gnawed at the skin of his collar bone. Then his torso. Like he had done her, she bit his nipples and licked them, igniting a moan from the Druid knight. Satisfied with this reaction, Merlin continued her journey down to his stomach and dipped her tongue into his navel. All the while her hands prized his trousers off of him, the sound of seams tearing loose crackled through the hot, streaming air.
Mordred barely had time to adjust to the freedom being trouser-less gave him before Merlin's head dipped and took all of him in. The fire sprung into life as his back arched and his lips parted to release a loud, bellowing cry. Her hot tongue swirled around his length and her hand fisted around the base. Merlin did not suck for long, and her lips released him with a wet pop. Her neck, chest, stomach all rubbing against the throb as she eased her way back up to connect their mouths in a passionate fight. The fire once again illuminated dangerously as Merlin whimpered: Mordred's fingers massaged over her buttocks and one dipped into the wetness between her legs.
Vision hazing with nothing but Merlin. Merlin. Merlin. Mordred rubbed around her hips and slid his hand down her stomach and between her legs. She hovered above him on her elbows and knees, face flushed and eyes closed as his fingers grew steadily more brave and pushed in. Soundlessly her lips parted. The sight was beautiful. Too beautiful that Mordred could not resist arching up and capturing her bottom lip between his teeth, breathing in her low, pleasured groan as he began pumping his hand.
He would have been content just to watch her as he worked. Her full lips. Pale skin. Tangled dark hair falling around her face. The scorching firelight haloing behind her, giving her an almost ethereal glow. Her magic rushing in the air, wild and passionate: pulsing with each hitch and heave of her chest.
Merlin's hand shot down and halted his movements suddenly and his eyes cleared to peer at her in confusion. With hunger and lust dancing in her vibrant blue eyes, Merlin shook her head and hissed out.
"No... You... Now... Mordred, please!"
She barely finished her strained words before his hand was gone and replaced by his thick, warm hardness. As they had done in the forest, Merlin sat on his hips, but this time he laid back down fully onto the bed, gazing up at her and seeing her above him, glowing with firelight and magic like the goddess legends of prophecies preached her to be. She rolled, coating him in her wetness before reaching down and guiding him into her.
All the candles in the room lit as their chorused cries spiked the air. She leaned forward: palms pressing down on his pecs for support as she lifted herself up and plunged back down again.
His hands slapped against the skin of her hips as he grasped them desperately, trying to make her go faster. One wandered up her body, to her neck and cupping her face as she thrust. Up. Down. Their eyes never parted: blue on blue.
Only the second time they met this way, the pair came quickly. Merlin's arms gave out and she fell on him, the Druid knight catching her as she collapsed. Hands clawed into skin. Teeth bit down on lips and cries intermingled alongside charged magic. Together they worked through their completion. Long, choked gasps shuddered their bodies, and mutual tears welled in their eyes. Their mouths twitched into dazed smiles. They flopped, like a puppet's string cut. Exhausted.
Wrapping around each other, all they knew was fire. They knew faintly that the sheets were singed and the fire in the hearth was burning away to itself, having long since consumed what was left of the wood. The candles had eaten away the wax, and instead floated aimlessly around the room like stars.
Kissing the top of her head, Mordred peered up above them and reached up as a wick danced past at a leisurely pace. It drifted past his fingers without burning him and he let his hand drop back to rest on Merlin's shoulder. Merlin rubbed her nose under his jaw and too looked as another different flame hovered next to his head, unnoticed by the Druid. She kissed behind his ear lazily, and his thumb began to rub circles onto the soft skin of her shoulder.
"Mordred...?" She whispered, her voice croaky.
He hummed "Emrys...?"
She wanted to move, to look up at him but she couldn't move. Her body was heavy. Sated.
"What... What ha-" She yawned suddenly. "Uh... nevermind"
He huffed a laugh as his eyes grew heavy. It was not long until he drifted off to sleep. Merlin followed shortly after: curling up in his arms and all thoughts on how she should hate him, and what she Saw left her mind as the unending blissful hum of Mordred. Mordred. Mordred. wrapped around her in a soft, safe cocoon.
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