Lily had spent the evening with her father and written him a long letter, assuring him that she would be well but that he should not expend any effort to find her, as he would not be successful. In truth, she wasn't certain of her own words. Would she be well? She knew not what she was embarking upon truly, but the princess did know that she was ensnared. She was a burden to her father, and she felt strongly that any love she found with some young man of high standing would be shadowed eternally by her dreams, that her lord Darkness would ever crawl under her skin and burn his touch into her until she could no longer ignore him.

She could not ignore him now. And, truth be told, she did not want to. Loathe as she was to admit it, already she craved his heat, his strength, the way her blood sang at his kiss. She ached to know what else he could make her feel. Besides, who did she risk but herself? No unicorns in danger, no grand consequences to be had from this decision. Her father would be fine. He would fret, he would grieve, and he would move on. What was at stake but her immortal soul?

Under the cover of darkness, the princess crept past sleepy night watch guards in her softest slippers. Her navy cloak shielded her, scampering down halls and slipping through barely cracked doors. Lily used the hidden servants' passages, all but deserted at this time of night.

Once she made it to the kitchen gardens on the east side of the palace, she crept behind shrubs and hugged walls until she was past the castle grounds, moving through back alleys in the dormant town. Her steps were quiet and roused no suspicion as she found her way to the forest, the grass growing tall and brushing at her skirts.

The path looked different without a thick blanket of snow, but Lily wandered until the slippery memory of her trudge to the great tree led her deep into the wood. She felt eyes on her more than once and knew them to be the fair folk, looking upon her in curiosity and in judgement. They knew, Lily realized, and perhaps some of them had known for quite a while. Perhaps they had seen it from the beginning.

Though she felt as though her journey should have been longer, more arduous, she spotted the gnarled, twisting black branches of her destination well before the sun rose. The shimmer and tang in the air hinted of dark power that eased her way, pointing her feet and shortening her path. By the time she ducked her head into the yawning hollow at the base of the tree the moon was barely past it's zenith, it's rays still bright. Lily glanced once more at the sky, then turned and descended.

She stumbled into a long, dim corridor just as she remembered. This time, however, she was not aimless or unsure of her direction. Lily walked, knowing that the great hall lay somewhere beyond. She passed jewels and riches strewn carelessly about as they had been the last time, pausing only to allow the heavy doors she came upon to swing open at her approach.

He was there as she knew he would be, and yet she felt stunned, unsure of what to do next. The expression on his face looked as she felt, though surely he had known she was coming.

"My lady," he breathed, taking a step towards her. She had come all this way, left her home and made the admission of how far she was willing to go to be here, with him. Why couldn't she complete the distance, why were these last feet of stone floor such an obstacle?

"What would you grant me for coming here to you, of my own will? For staying, now that I've come?" she questioned softly.

His eyes were soft as he replied, "Your answer remains, princess. Anything."

Lily's feet were slow to move, but as she began to tread lightly towards him she spoke again, "Will you always treat me with kindness and good faith, never to love another or show me cruelty?"

"I will, princess Lily," he responded fiercely. His eyes shone with such hope at her words that she longed to lay her hands upon his face and sooth him. He had never said her name before.

"And will I be your equal in all things, beloved, never to be forsaken by you?"

"You will." His hands fisted at his sides and he took a single step forward, restraining his impulse to go to her. She could see it in him, could hear in the solemn way that he spoke that he knew. These were vows not taken lightly. She was bargaining her life to him. These oaths were matrimonial.

"Then I swear to you the same," she said with finality.

His response was quick, a harsh breath leaving him as he started towards her. Lily had not taken another step before she was in his embrace, wrapped again in the iron of his arms. His lips were upon hers, his tongue in her mouth, and she could not believe just how much more he was in flesh than in dreams.

He was so much hotter, his skin through her dress and cloak made her feel like her blood would boil. His breath scorched her, and yet she wanted to feel it on more than her face. That thought made her blush, though she felt flushed to the hairline already.

His hands were pulling at her cloak and she allowed him to remove it without protest. He lifted her again, just as he had the previous night, and she wrapped her legs around him just the same. This time, however, he walked as he chased her lips, stepping through the great mirror in the room without ceremony and carrying her quickly down a path it seemed he knew well as he explored her mouth truly for the first time.

Soon enough he was laying her on a soft bed covered in furs, large and imposing. Her mouth went dry at this. She knew what came next, certainly, had allowed her curiosity to drive a longing for exactly what was about to take place. Still, she was nervous as a sparrow before first flight, and her heart seemed to beat twice as fast.

He followed her onto the bed, caressing her hip upwards, taking hold of a breast through the cloth of her dress. She had chosen burgundy for her journey, the darkest gown in her closet.

"How your heart thunders, my lady, how you shudder," he said quietly, close to her ear.

"I have never lain with a man before," she replied. His eyes closed as he dipped his head briefly, letting out a slow breath and nuzzling her neck.

"I knew as much," he said, "Your innocence lingers around you like the sweetest of perfumes. Indeed, it drives me to distraction."

"And will you still want me once you've taken it?"

His response was a possessive kiss, all tongue and teeth and breathlessness. "Eternity, my love. My plan for you is eternity," and his sharp kisses traveled downwards then, over her neck and sternum. He pulled her dress down, ripping at the cloth and tearing it open, heedless of the buttons. Lily thought briefly of her garment but decided that he could reduce it to ribbons for all she cared in that moment, especially when his tongue suddenly grazed her right nipple.

Lily moaned aloud and he hummed back at her, pleased. He traced a vicious path down her chest and belly, hotly nipping and kissing at her porcelain skin, pink with desire. The lower he got the more Lily squirmed, unsure but wanting. His hands were everywhere his mouth was not, skimming her breasts and tracing her ribs, barely pausing to tug her dress continually downwards. He finally pulled it completely from her legs along with her slippers, leaving her bare.

She half closed her legs to him, trying to calm herself and push down her shyness at being laid open. His hands came to her knees, gently parting them again. She jumped when she felt his lips back on her, this time just on the inside of her bare thigh.

His hands soothed her, rubbing up and down her legs, scraping gently with dark claws as his lips moved ever higher, closer to the place on her body that throbbed and ached when she thought too long about him, that throbbed more strongly the closer his hot breath came. When his lips finally touched her she cried out, arching up as he immediately and expertly found the center of her pleasure.

He lapped and sucked at her sensitive nub until she was a quivering mess, knees splayed and feet resting on his shoulders as she gripped the horns which caged her hips. Lily felt delirious, full of a need that she couldn't articulate. He shifted slightly, his large hands under her hips lifting so that he could push inside of her, and she'd had no idea from his kisses just how unbelievably long his tongue was.

It was thick and insistent, stretching her like she'd never imagined. She felt the sharp pinch of her maidenhead as he breached it without hesitation, the deep responding moan in his chest vibrating through her. The pain was brief and minimal, swallowed quickly by the pleasure which sought to drown her. In all of her exploration, she had never imagined anything might feel like this.

Lily felt her peak approaching quickly, that wondrous completion that her dreams had so recently helped her unlock. She gripped his horns tighter, pushing herself into him, to his apparent delight. He groaned again and used his thumb to rub at her while his tongue pushed further inside, stretching her body as much as he was able with the hot, writhing muscle in his mouth. Lily's hips bucked as she made inarticulate sounds of pleasure, her mind hazy and able to focus on nothing but the feeling of him.

A firm stroke of his thumb pushed her over the edge and she moaned loudly, holding his head close. She rode out the waves of her pleasure on him, stunned by the intensity of it.

When he finally pulled away she was boneless, her head light, but reaching for him still. He did hesitate this time, only for a moment. "You will have to be a ready enough, I will wait no longer," he said, beginning to strip what clothing he wore.

"Yes," she said, dazed, not quite caring what he referred to.

But then when he was bare before her she balked, for her earlier thought of his largeness did not quite live up to the reality of him. Her mouth hung open just a bit as she compared him in stature to other men. Jack was barely the height of his shoulders, she thought, which were broad enough that she could not complete a circle around them with her arms. She had not been completely ignorant, for her education was thorough and young friends were the same through every class of society, but she had been just ignorant enough not to consider the shape of him with too much detail. Though she feared, her insides clenched in anticipation and she felt the need in her bloom anew.

His hand caressed her cheek, nudging her head up and urging her to look at his face. She did so, meeting eyes which bore into her with arousal even as they sparked with amusement. "Yes," he echoed, somewhat smugly.

His hands urged her back and she went willingly as his lips followed. He kissed her deeply as he settled between her still parted thighs, stroking them gently and easing her knees up a bit. Lily's heart raced as she clung to him, trying to relax. He laid his thick, heavy shaft against her, rubbing, teasing, sliding his startling heat through her folds until she whimpered, squirming against him, unable to bear the anticipation and the shocks he was creating as his skin dragged across hers.

His sex finally rested against her entrance, pushing, probing, until the tip of him was nestled inside of her. Lily moaned, her face twisted in pain and pleasure. He was too big for her, much too big, but slowly he withdrew and pushed again, over and over, until she had accepted nearly half of his length.

He kissed her again, pushing further. The sounds she made as he struggled to keep his pace were testing his control, urging him to shove himself deep inside of her and swallow her screams as he felt her clench around him. He pushed a bit deeper still as she arched and clutched at him and made helpless noises. She was strung tight, mindless at the feeling.

He started a steadier rhythm then, a slow, dragging pace that left her restless. She was still not used to him, but the edge of pain made the pleasure all the more acute and she found herself meeting his hips with each thrust, urging him to move faster, give her all of himself. He did so gladly, wrapping his arms around her and holding her head and back as his hips snapped more harshly. Waves of intense sensation washed over her with every crash of their bodies and her ankles locked behind his lower back.

Lily screamed as he filled her roughly, clamping her teeth down on his shoulder, trying to find purchase in any manner she could. Her hands were on his back where her nails dug into his blood red flesh, scratching, clinging. Her treatment only spurred him to ride her harder, hitting every secret, sensitive place inside of her. Hot sparks shot through her skin at his every stroke, urging her back towards ecstasy.

An eternity they danced for, or so it seemed to Lily. He moved inside of her until she was dizzy, until her vision blurred and her core wound tense around him. On a downward stroke his hips tilted forward, his pelvic bone providing friction just so against her and she was flying, sinking, shouting, convulsing against him as he continued to thrust.

Her lord licked at her neck, groaning but not ceasing his ruthless pace. The steel of him slid more easily into her now, the slick juices of her completion easing his way. He worked her body with his relentlessly until unexpectedly her peak came again, exploding without warning as he surged against her.

This time he followed not long after, pressing close as he pulsed inside of her, his release carrying with it the frustration and loneliness of eons. He clung to her with a deep, gravelly moan as he emptied himself, lips seeking hers yet again.

They stayed that way for some time, neither of them eager to separate. He stroked her cheeks with his sharp nose as he lay still inside of her, listening to her breath calm.

"My lady's charms are most enticing," he spoke softly, "I find myself bewitched, my body stirs for you even now." He punctuated his statement with a roll of his pelvis, demonstrating that his desire for her was building anew. Lily felt the slow trickle of his seed spill from her as he pushed his still-hard sex deep, tearing a soft noise from her throat.

"But perhaps it can wait," he said, now slowly removing himself instead. Suddenly Lily was empty. The lack of intense pressure was a relief, but also a loss which left her bereft. She whimpered quietly, squeezing his neck. "We have much time together now."

He rolled to his back and sat up a bit, resting his broad shoulders against the etchings that adorned the headboard. A wave of his hand towards a table on the far side of the room brought a chalice drifting towards them, which he plucked from the air. He blew into the empty vessel and it filled itself from the bottom with a liquid dark and thick. He handed the cup to Lily and she propped herself up on one arm to drink. There was no need to be wary of his offerings now.

The wine was rich and cool and soothed her parched throat, unlike anything she'd tasted before. "Do you like it?" he asked as she passed it to him.

"Yes," she said quietly, simply, floating in the pleasant sensations the afterglow of their lovemaking surrounded her with.

"I think you will find many things here sweet. I have such pleasures to show you." His fingers swept her jaw, a quick brush that she followed. He took a long draft from the chalice himself before turning to set it on a low table near the bed. Lily took the moment to study him, observing his long, corded limbs as they stretched across the dark sheets.

He was so strange, so inhuman. From his powerful thighs downward he was covered in sleek fur, his legs tipped with the cloven hooves of a bull. Every line of his body was taught, every piece of smooth garnet skin stretched tight over rippling muscle and sinew. When once she may have been repulsed, instead now she was drawn, shifting to lay against him with her head upon his chest. Her hands smoothed over his abdomen, tracing the grooves in his musculature and moving up to graze one of his nipples. His breast rumbled beneath her as he chucked, curling his arms around her and pulling her body flush against his.

"Rest now, Lily. I would not want to overtax you on our first night together."

True enough, her eyes were heavy, her limbs felt loose and fatigued and she was sore between the legs, still able to feel him inside of her. The though sent a hot rush of desire through her, but surely her body would protest tomorrow. She set her arm down across his chest and closed her eyes instead, placing one of her legs between his. A large hand swept down to her hip and up her back, settling between her shoulder blades.

"That is not to say that I will not overtax you on another night," he whispered, and Lily could swear she heard the smirk in his voice as she drifted off, his claws tickling down her back.

Lily awoke not long later to the dim light of the fire. She lifted her head and cast her eyes about the room as she had not done before, intent on her dark lover. The space was vast and richly appointed, shadows half-concealing oddities she could scarcely guess at. Shelves stood, lined with books and trifles, interesting baubles and bits. Art covered his walls, paintings she couldn't decipher, tapestries worn with age.

She looked over her shoulder at the hulking form next to her, his smooth chest expanding against her back as he breathed evenly. He slept still, turned towards her with one leg pinning hers to the bed and one arm crossed over her chest. His forearm rested between her breasts as he held her securely, his hand curved lightly over her neck.

Though his body faced her, his head was slightly upturned, one horn resting across the bed above them, the other stretching upwards to graze the headboard. In sleep his face was sharp and forbidding as it ever was, though the absence of his burning gaze left her less on edge while examining him.

Lily looked at his dark, shapely lips and felt a stirring within herself. She turned a little in his arms and pressed her lips to his once, firmly, lingering. When she pulled back his eyes were open but still hazy with sleep. He blinked at her slowly, his smile lazy and lopsided, showing just one sharp canine. It was… endearing.

"Such dreams to wake to," he said, "My heart's desire. Roused by a kiss, my lady in my arms." His hand moved down to grip her breast in passing as she turned towards him fully, laying her arms against his chest. He gathered her up and turned onto his back, pulling her with him, on top of him. "Come, sit up, let me look at you."

Lily did as he bade, though she felt suddenly shy of it. She settled herself atop him, the fluids of their previous coupling still inside of her, seeping out to coat his abdomen. "Such glorious beauty," he said as she straightened, meeting his eye bashfully. He swept a tendril of dark hair behind her shoulder.

"My lord is a flatterer," Lily responded, though her smile said she was pleased that he thought so. His hands ran up her thighs on either side of him, stopping to grip her hips, to roll his spine and push his firm stomach against her oversensitive sex. Lily gasped sharply. Her core clenched around nothing and she rocked forwards in return, forgetting her shyness completely.

"Nay," he responded, "the most dazzling beauty of all, more precious than any jewel I possess." His spine rolled up again, his hands pressing her more firmly as she writhed. Lily's hands roamed his chest, hungry for his skin. He bucked upwards to lift her and directed her back down, settling her not on his abdomen but his hips.

His manhood was in front of her then and she reached for it a bit uncertainly, giving it a gentle upward pull. His answering growl sent a shiver through her and she pulled at him once more, the tip grazing her navel. He pulled her forward again, settling her atop him so that her slick folds rubbed against his shaft.

Lily grabbed at his horns for balance as he shifted, grinding on her tender flesh. She was saturated already, her own desire blending with the remnants from earlier, allowing him to glide easily along her, allowing the tip of him to slide into her when he pushed up at a different angle. Lily yelped, startled.

He rubbed her hips and thighs, soothed his hands up her ribs, probing her entrance again. Lily hissed. It hurt as he worked himself slowly into her, hurt as it had not last night. She was sore from it all, her body new to the sweet invasion of his, and yet she did not want him to stop. She wanted him to fill and stretch and hurt her until she couldn't stand it anymore, because with every inch of his burning heat came pleasure like she had never imagined. Even now as she cried out, overwhelmed, she could not distinguish between the pain and the beginnings of her body's rapture.

He sat up suddenly, her weight on his horns nothing to him. She was tipped off balance but he caught her, crushing her torso to his and kissing her, shifting to sit on his feet and resettling her in his lap, all while remaining inside of her. He held her tight, his hips rocking.

They stayed like that, he setting a slow, torturous pace, grinding on her until she felt like she would die from it. He was kissing her neck, biting at her softly while she moaned brokenly, squirming atop him, clinging to him. Her climax came slowly, built little by little until she rode the edge so long she was nearly in tears. When he finally took pity and started rocking more firmly, tilting his pelvis up into hers, she sobbed in relief, meeting his lips. She came apart violently, twitching and seizing and clutching at him as she screamed, as he joined her.

She felt him throb, release inside of her, and the feeling of it made her clench around him again. He held her tightly, his deep moan sending a shiver through her as they fell back into the bed, panting and spent.

"When is breakfast?" Lily asked, still breathing heavily. Her lover laughed at that, rich and full.

"It seems that my queen's appetites run high in the morning," he said, amused. He pulled a black pear from the air, it's skin supple and sweet-smelling. Lily reached for it but he pulled back. "What, no kiss for my gift?"

"Seems a perilous thing when breakfast is at stake," she responded, kissing him anyhow.

"Perilous, is it?" he said against her lips, nipping her.

"Indeed, my lord. Your kisses are the greatest of snares. Do not offer them instead of food, or I shall starve. Perilous, yes, offer me your lips or air and my life is forfeit."

He chuckled again at that, sitting up. "Then by all means, Lady, here. I do not wish you to waste away, though that you might do so for love of me fills my heart to bursting." He lifted the fruit to her lips, watching intensely as her teeth pierced the flesh.

Lily took the pear when he offered the rest, sitting up with him. Never had she tasted a fruit so succulent. "And shall you clothe me as well as feed me, another gown of shadows, perhaps? Or shall I walk your halls in the nude?" she asked boldly, her eyes shining with mischief. It had always been in her nature and she felt free with him, unbothered by how young ladies should conduct themselves.

Once more he laughed, amused by her. "Anything you desire, you shall have. Though, truth be told, the image pleases me. I imagine you now, dancing through corridors, all milky skin." His face came close to hers, his nose running along her temple. Lily shuddered. "Better yet, approaching me on my chair in the great hall some dreary night, climbing astride me." Her breath caught as his fingers stroked her hip, moving around to palm her most intimate of places.

"However, my dear, you must eat," he said, removing his hand. Lily bit the pear again.

"And so life begins," she said, suddenly sober. "I will miss my father."

"Are you sorry, then?"

"No."

He was satisfied with her answer and leaned back again, content. She finished eating and lounged with him, they speaking quietly of life and the future, of their new reign together.

Above, the sun rose over the spires of a castle where the princess had gone missing. A young man nursed a broken heart in a forest glade surrounded by the folk of the wood, and a sparrow sang it's own song in the tops of the trees, unconcerned with the rest.

I've noticed a trend in the traffic stats on this story- chapter three is far and away the most viewed. My theory is that you lot are here for the smut. Now, if that happens to be the case for you but you have not yet investigated the sequels I'm telling you: the smut levels are real.

Here ya go:

Archiveofourown.

Org (slash) series (slash) 1546699

Man, don't you wish FFN wasn't so stupid about links?

Just typing "ao3 legend lilith" into google also works. :)