"Let's head inside," Graven whispered again, but each word was interrupted with a kiss in between.
Serana nodded. They tried to walk as they kissed, chuckling when they kept bumping into the corners and the door. Inside, things were knocked over and crashed, where some shattered, but the sounds didn't reach their own little world. The way Graven panted against her mouth, starved of oxygen, made her cheeks hurt when she put more effort not to smile widely so that she could keep kissing him. She wound her arms around his shoulders and threw her weight against him to wedge him against her desk.
"He's still innocent with his hands," Serana thought. "It's a little irritating, actually. Not something I can... find the courage to say out loud."
Graven was still clothed in nothing but his loin cloth, and she wanted to instigate something in him. His legs were pushed apart when she fit between his thighs, and her heart hammered with blood buzzing in her ears over how bold she was. She wanted more and she wasn't shy to coax it out of him.
She faltered when he broke the kiss.
"Sera," he rasped. His head fell on her shoulder, and his fingers dug into her hips. She felt more awkward stuck in this embrace with him than kissing him.
"Is something wrong, Graven?"
"N-no, everything's right. But..." Graven fell to a low and shy mumble. "Well, you already know I have no experience with women. I have no clue what to do. I'm afraid I'll disappoint."
"Is that why he's so passive?" It was an easy remedy, or at least so she thought. She leaned back and cradled his jaw to encourage him to look up at her. "Good. I don't want you to have experience with women, Graven. I want you to have experiences with me."
That got his attention. She smiled when his eyes met hers, and she explored all the new hues of red that intertwined in his irises now. He really was a vampire. His entire life has changed, for better or for worse only time would tell, yet he was concerned about disappointing her more than that. Graven hadn't changed who he fundamentally was.
"Not yet. Here's hoping he never will."
It was an impossible wish, but she was allowed to dream.
"Besides, you're a quick study," Serana smirked. "You're not warring with fangs as much anymore."
One of his poked out in an endearingly lopsided smile, infused with pride. It might have flared a touch bit too much. "As a professor, I always prided myself on being driven to learn and experiment during my tenure, and there were many enlightening lessons as a result. You'll find I rarely make the same mistake twice."
"I lost count how many times he's bumped teeth with me after 14." Serana wisely kept that to herself, because she wasn't in the mood to debate semantics. She was in the mood for something else entirely. Graven continued to talk, something about the college and magic, and she grew impatient. She grabbed his hands and guided them to rest on her hips, and cradled his jaw to pull him in for a kiss he wouldn't be able to break so easily again.
Graven's hands eventually became more courageous, lured out of his shell. Serana took it as the go ahead to ramp it up just a slight bit of a notch and gently sucked on his bottom lip. She smirked in the kiss when she enticed a groan from him, and his movements lost precision. His touch grew adventurous and he got his revenge. She gasped when he pulled her closer by her rump, but then he tensed against her and stopped kissing. His hands slid back to rest on her hips.
"Um... was that too much, too soon?"
Serana bit the inside of her cheek to stop her smile. She angled her head and tried to coax his lips into moving against hers again, to avoid a direct answer and scandalous confession.
"Sera?"
And her tactic failed.
"I'll let you know if you've gone too far," she whispered. Her hands fell and she hooked her fingers on the string of the loin cloth. It seemed to be too much, too soon for Graven, when he grabbed her wrists with enough gentle force to usher a silent plea not to do more. "Not that I would. I'm not that bold." But she was surprising herself with her actions. She never thought of herself to be a leader, especially in this, but there was a sense of security to be had in the way Graven fretted over her experience.
There was a sense of thrill to be had in the way she was flustering him, too. No more composure. She was sick of him being so calm and controlled. "Maybe sick is too strong."
Maybe she still viewed him as a prey to chase and play with.
"I need more to work with," Graven murmured in between kisses. His hands remained stagnant on her hips. "What's out of bounds?"
"I don't know," she confessed impatiently. She broke the kiss and went for his neck to instigate action rather than thought. She needed help shutting her own brain off, and now she was working double time to shut his off too. "There aren't any rules like your wards. We'll find out where the line is when we cross it."
"That's the thing. I want to build trust, Sera. I don't want to do something your body will forever remember me by. I don't want to engrave trauma in your muscles."
This was beginning to get irritating. She broke the kiss and leaned back to give him a long hard stare. It didn't faze him. He had that calm aura about him and that just wasn't fair. She wanted him to be as flustered as her. "You won't. Do you think I'd be kissing you if I had thought you'd do such a thing? You're not without ears nor wit. I trust you'll listen to what I have to say if you ever make me feel that way, but I have no doubts that you'll ever make me feel that way to begin with." She narrowed her eyes. "Is that satisfactory or is there something else?"
Graven blinked as if he was surprised that she was short with him. Then he bit his lip. Subtle, like the rest of how he handled this, and that was exactly what was maddening. It kept her wanting for more, and it was as if he was rationing... whatever he was rationing. Now he was stripping her of her logic too.
"You are a force to be reckoned with," he murmured, eyebrows risen as if he was still surprised. Abruptly, that changed. A dark and hungry look glossed his eyes and it woke something up inside of her. He smirked, seductive in it's own quirky way. He tenderly nudged her jaw away to expose her neck, and planted a soft kiss on her pulse, his voice dropping in an alluring rasp that seemed to make such a simple statement dance. "I love it."
They both jumped in their skin when sharp knocks cut into the room.
"Lady Serana? Are you and the new blood in there?" Came the voice on the other side of the door.
Serana's head dropped on Graven's shoulder as she muttered, "I'm going to kill them."
Graven had the audacity to laugh. He struck before she could and wove his fingers in the back of her hair, tugging enough to lift her head off his shoulder so that he could nibble on her neck. She hissed and sank her nails in his shoulders. Something ignited in the pits of her belly, and she swore she was going to explode when the knocks came through again.
"Yes, we're in here!" Serana fought to retain composure, no matter how much she wanted to snap. "Who is it?"
"Garan, Lady Serana. I have an invitation your father urgently wanted me to extend to you. Do I have permission to enter?"
"No!" She bit her tongue before she hissed a little louder, when Graven sucked in a patch of skin and rolled it between teeth. She tried to give him a warning look, and she was sure he deliberately positioned himself in the way that he had so that he could pretend he didn't see what he knew he was getting. Serana could almost sense Garan's awkwardness outside the door and sighed. "What does my father want with me?" She huffed sarcastically. "Let me guess: the elder scroll?"
There was a notable pause. One Graven extended tortuously when he had the audacity to laugh, silently, by stopping his kiss. His body trembled as he fought to suppress it.
"Well, yes," Garan admitted hesitantly. "That as well, but that's not why he sent me. He is throwing a party to celebrate your return, Lady Serana."
Serana dropped her head on Graven's shoulder again and groaned. "He is, is he? When is the party?"
"Tonight, Lady Serana."
Serana cursed under her breath. Not because of the loyal foot soldier outside the door, but the man that tormented her with teasing touches. Graven's hands wandered to her rump and experimentally squeezed as if he was still afraid of crossing her, but it made her blood run hot as lava. He hissed when she ran her nails down to the corners of his shoulders to his biceps. Angry red lines blazed on his grey skin.
"Lady Serana?" Garan poked the atmosphere. The messenger was very close to dying. "We're all looking forward to your attendance. What shall I tell our Lord?"
She shot a dirty look at the door. Graven smiled like a fool as he tended to her neck, whispering. "Play nice."
She shot a dirty look at him, too. "I'll show him my definition of nice if he keeps this up." She was going to take his amusement away. He was having far too much fun with this, and she huffed as she pushed him away, heading to the door with poised stride. She fixed her clothes and hair quickly before she answered the door with a sweet smile. "Very well, inform the Lord that he can count on my appearance. Is it formal attire?"
Garan's spine straightened in her presence. "It will be provided. Lord Harkon has already fetched the seamstress to make your dress, as well as the new blood's outfit."
"Fetched as in kidnapping an innocent, or has already made one a thrall? Must it be a dress?" Serana maintained appearances with her smile and nodded. Anything to get this done and over with sooner, and spare her the impending drama of the court. "Lovely. I'm looking forward to it. Extend my gratitude and thanks to the seamstress, please." She closed the door on Garan after he bowed and turned around to face the man casually sitting on her desk, his heels tapping against it, his hands curled around the table edge as they rested between his legs just enough to rouse heat in her cheeks from how his loin cloth showed the slightest glimpses of what rested beneath.
"He isn't going to get a rise out of me that easily." The corner of her lip tugged up and her eyes narrowed dangerously, meant to instill fear in her prey as she approached. For a moment, Graven looked afraid, but he stood his ground. Or sat. She enjoyed their little game, for it took her mind away from here.
"But I need to warn him about what to do in court to protect himself."
A good-hearted intention that didn't last long the moment he hopped off the desk and framed her jaw, pulling her in for a heavy kiss. And he broke it. A thin strip of saliva connected them, and Graven was more out of breath than her. His head remained tilted, his mouth an inch away, panting against her lips. The hungry look in his eyes never faded.
"What should I do at the party, Sera?"
Serana wanted to groan. She had to be the stronger one of the two, and she gently pushed him away, turning around to help resist this nagging temptation that taunted her. Maybe her feelings were amplified by the turning, but she had never seen any of the other vampires even remotely intimate with their new bloods. She shuddered when his hands rolled up her arms, squeezing her shoulders.
"Lady Serana?" It danced off his tongue.
She rolled her eyes. "I want to say don't call me that, but you'll have to in court."
"Not a problem."
"Why do I have a feeling him being subservient won't be an issue for anything? I'm worried to ask if it's actually an act or not." Serana strode to the bed and picked up his clothes, turning around and throwing them at him with a smirk. "And tell no one what we do."
"In general, or in here?"
"Both, but especially tell nobody about me and you, or they'll recognize you as a threat. Then they'll challenge you to climb the ladder of hierarchy and power."
Graven, thankfully, clothed without protest. And she hated that. "Would it kill him to look as bothered as I feel?" She wanted to strip him back down and continue where they left off. She wanted to test her own boundaries, to tackle her fears, to sate her curiosities, to feed and fuel desire. Now that she had a taste of how touch could actually make her feel good, she needed more. She wanted to explore him, but most of all, she wanted him to explore her. There was something endearing in watching and being the receiving end of his growing confidence. She wanted to make a memory, an experience, one that would erase the last.
"Sera?"
Serana snapped out of her stupor and realized she was gawking at him. He blinked innocently at her. It instigated a predatory instinct in her.
"This just isn't fair. I hope I look as calm as he does, and that he feels as flustered as I am."
Graven had that worried look again. He wore a meek smile. "Was all of that satisfactory, or was there something I could improve on? I'm open to constructive criticism."
"Oblivion take him. What am I supposed to do with this sweet fool?" Serana shook her head and approached him, taking the laces out of his hands to thread them through his shirt's collar for him. She 'accidentally' skimmed her nails against his skin as she did. It drew the effect she wanted and he grew antsy in his spot, struggling to maintain calm. She smirked at him. "You should get some rest, you're going to need it for tonight."
With that subtle double entendre, she left him and purposefully strode to her desk, searching her drawers as an excuse. In his mind, this table had already made a mark, a memory, an experience. One she fully intended to taunt him with as she resisted every attempt from here on out. She was going to have and hold the upper hand in their little game.
A game she apparently was playing by herself.
When she looked up next, Graven had actually taken her word as an earnest suggestion and made her sheets so that her bed looked immaculate, before he laid on top of them in his clothes. He didn't seem the slightest bit affected, and he was sure to display nervousness over such a blatantly sexual hint. Perhaps he had already known she wasn't going to go through with it, because she wasn't. She wasn't ready. But there was the other possibility that... could it be? Could it actually be? Had she met her match and found someone that rivaled her difficulty at grasping innuendos? She never thought of herself as a scandalous woman, nor thought of scandalous things and was sooner to avert them, but it seemed Graven was even worse than her.
"Serves me right. This is the man that kept saying 'experiment' after all."
Graven lied on his side to face her and folded his arm under his head instead of using one of her pillows. He smiled, honest and sincere, as he patted the spot in front of him. "If you have nothing pressing that requires your attention, I cordially invite you to an evening of napping with me."
A chuckle bubbled in Serana's chest. She leaned on her desk, the old wood groaning beneath her palms, and in the back of the naughtier part of her mind, she wondered if it would have even been able to support them. They had gotten a little carried away on it. She snapped out of it and her cheeks warmed from the thought. This was his fault. She wasn't that kind of woman.
"I suppose I could use a nap," she conceded coolly. Truthfully, it made her nervous to actually sleep beside him, but she wanted to see if she could do it. She moved stiffly and had to force herself the last couple of steps. A knot balled up in her throat. She stood staring at the empty space in front of him, and she could see his worried look in her peripheral vision. "I don't have to stay if I'm uncomfortable. I have that luxury, with him. He wouldn't want me to be uncomfortable."
"Sera..."
"We're both in our clothes. It will be fine. I will be fine. He won't hurt me. I can ask him not to touch me."
"Of course, not a problem. If you want, I can sleep on the floor or the chair instead."
Serana's gaze snapped to him in confusion. "I... did I say all of that out loud?"
Graven smiled as if he was embarrassed for her. "I'm afraid so, yes."
Heat throbbed painfully under her cheeks. She wanted to retreat, and begun to turn, but he caught her hand and pulled her enough to hit the edge and stumble for balance.
"It's alright, Serana. I want you to be honest with me. I want you to be comfortable with me. And I want you to enjoy your time with me, rather than fear or regret it."
Serana still couldn't bring herself to meet his eyes. "How foolish of me. I can't believe I said all of that out loud. Of course, why wouldn't I?" It made her incredibly conscious and certain she locked up every precious thought now. She still couldn't remember saying it out loud, and that was just as terrifying as Graven hearing it all. He smiled that damn smile, all quirky and sweet, that it made her war with her doubts if someone like him could even exist, or if it was all just an act. That was just the dark voice, the livid one that was also responsible for communicating a vampire's baser and more vicious needs. "That has to be it, right?"
"Come on, Sera-Sera," he quipped playfully. She rolled her eyes. "What? You said I have to call you Lady Serana."
"In the court."
"Mm hm."
"And? This isn't the court."
"Neither did you say that I couldn't say Sera-Sera."
"I do vividly recall kicking you in the leg. If you've forgotten, I'm sure we can jog your memory."
Graven laughed. It pulled a smile out of her, however stubborn she was not to make one because of shame, and he pulled a yelp out of her too when he literally pulled her down onto the bed. He wrapped his arms around her, and one of his legs tangled in between hers. His mouth buried at the top of her head, where cool breaths seeped into her scalp. It made her miss his warmth terribly.
It made her regret her decision to turn him.
Her heart retreated in a shell to stave off the pain. At least he had a soothing quality to him, one that tamed and lulled the senses that screamed at her to get away. She was as tense as a rock, she was sure, but over time it melted in the pockets of silence between their breaths. She turned to make herself comfortable and he lifted his arms off of her, waiting until she had, then embraced her again when she stopped moving. It made her want to squirm. Her ear was over his chest, his heartbeat incredibly slow compared to when he was 'alive'. It almost brought her spirits down again until he pressed his mouth harder against her head.
"Sweet dreams, Serana. If you do get uncomfortable, please, I urge you, do not hesitate to let me know."
Serana smiled. "He's not like that. He will never be like that."
"Okay, Sera-Sera?"
"This is not becoming a thing, Graven."
"This has already become a thing, Sera-Sera."
Serana didn't stop her laughter in time. She pinched his hip in revenge. "Stop it, or I'll do worse than that."
Silence abruptly fell. She worried if she had said something wrong, and she was about to lift her head to get a good look at his face and see if she had.
His whisper made her worry about something else entirely.
"What makes you think I'd object?"
Serana almost choked on her own breath.
"I don't think this is an act."
