I'm back from vacation you guys ! So here's chapter 13, finally ! I hope you like it, I myself rather enjoyed writing it :)
On an unrelated note, I wrote a one-shot set between acotar and acomaf from Rhys POV. It's kind of free-writing, but I'm happy with the result so I've decided to post it. It'll be up shortly after I post this chapter if you want to check it out.
As always, thank you so much for reading and commenting, I love every single one of your comments!
Cassian knocked on the door but didn't wait for an answer before he entered Mor's apartment. He found her seated on the floor of her living room with Azriel, a game of chess between them. They didn't turn to him when he approached and sat on the coach behind Mor, too focused on their game to bother acknowledging his presence. Cassian watched them in silence for a few minutes and then started talking:
"When are you guys going to be done? We can't play chess if we're three people and I'm bored."
Azriel snorted and, moving one of his rooks to take Morrigan's bishop, answered: "I'm winning, we should be done in about two to four minutes now, depending on how fast Mor plays."
She shoved him at his remark, and took her time for her next move. But Azriel had been right of course, and he said "chessmate" about three minutes later. He got up from the floor to sit in one of the armchairs, but Mor stayed on her carpet and simply laid her back against Cassian's legs. She looked up at him and said:
"I'm pretty sure I lost because of you."
"What did I do?"
She looked at the bag he'd left on the kitchen table and said: "There's food in that bag, it smells good and I'm hungry. You distracted my stomach, and therefore, I couldn't win."
At the mention of food, Azriel had gotten up and was now opening the bag to pass them boxes. "Don't find excuses Mor, I'm better than you, you need to accept it."
She snarled but accepted the box he was handing to her, opening it eagerly.
"Chinese food! Thank you Cass."
"Where did you get it?" Azriel asked, sitting back on the chair and diving into his own dinner.
"It's Thursday night, where do you think I got it?"
"You're unbelievable. The fact that they made a '3 for 2' deal on Thursday nights doesn't mean we have to eat there every Thursday, Cass."
He brushed of his brother's remark and started eating too. Mor turned on the TV and started browsing to find the movie she had been talking about all week, but Azriel said:
"Shouldn't we wait for Rhys to arrive if you want to watch this one? I thought he wanted to see it too."
"Oh he does, but he was 'busy' tonight. I'm guessing he's on a date with his mystery girlfriend no one is allowed to meet, so I figured if he's getting laid instead of hanging out with us, he can watch the movie with her."
Cassian rolled his eyes. "You could have told us, I wouldn't have bought food for four."
"But that way I couldn't have eaten what you were bringing for him!"
"Will you pay for his part then?"
She gave him her puppy eyes and he sighed, "Why am I not surprised? Anyway, I don't think we're not allowed to meet her, she joined me and Rhys for lunch on Monday."
Mor paused the opening credits of the movie and turned to him.
"What? You met her? When he refused to tell me where they were going on their date because, and I quote, 'he didn't want me interrupting'?"
"It wasn't like that Mor, she just happened to pass by and he invited her to join us. She stayed like five minutes and then she had to leave for a meeting. It's not like you barging in on their date, which is something you have done in the past."
She sat beside him and took the box from his hand. He snatched it back immediately.
"Oh no, Mor, we can talk about Rhys all you want but you are not depriving me of food."
"So tell me, how is she?"
Azriel sighed from his chair and said: "So I guess we're not going to watch the movie then." He seemed exasperated but leaned towards them nonetheless, clearly not wanting to lose any juicy information.
"She's pretty enough. She's almost as tall as him, she has brown hair and... not exactly blue eyes, they're kind of grey, but they're beautiful. She has a cute smile, and she certainly has some backbone. She seems to have a good sense of humor. She was going to a meeting for work so she didn't stay long though."
Mor was grinning: "Finally, I get to hear something more than 'she's beautiful, will you leave it alone?'. What did you talk about?"
"I don't know, basic stuff? My summer in the camps, mostly. Oh yeah, she knows that Rhys' father owns the company, and he told her about what I was doing in the camps."
Azriel had been quiet until then but he raised an eyebrow at that and said:
"He told her about his father? And the camps? How long has he known her for?"
"Two weeks or so, I thought it was strange too. He usually doesn't open up like that to people."
"Oh and did he seem like over the top joyful when he was with her?" Mor weighed in, "Because every time he talked about her he had this sweet expression I hadn't seen on him in ages!"
"He did actually. But it was nice, seeing him like that. He seems to really like her, and I don't know her, but she seemed to really like him too. This might be the start of something."
"Then we'll have to meet her soon enough, won't we? I can't wait!"
"Don't do anything stupid Mor. You know he won't like that," said Azriel, and he added: "Can we watch the movie now?"
Rhys went into the kitchen to grab two more beers, and Feyre, seated on the coach, enjoyed the view of his broad back as he moved around the kitchen. They had spent the previous night at her place, and he'd slept there - although "slept" might be exaggerated to talk about their heated night together. Tonight, they were enjoying their Friday evening at his house with pizzas, beers and a movie. She was wearing a short but comfortable woolen dress, and was curled up on the couch with a slice of pizza in her hand. She smiled at his back, marveling at how easy they had slipped into this strange dynamic between them. She wasn't sure she was ready to call him her boyfriend yet, but with every minute spent in his company, she had less and less doubts about wanting something with him. He was nice and considerate, never pushing her into anything she wasn't comfortable talking about. And the sex… Gods, it was incredible. She couldn't seem to get enough of him. Every time they touched, she wanted more, more, more. They had barely slept the night before, both craving so much of the other that they had been incapable of restraining it, and she had spent her day exhausted, nearly falling asleep at her desk.
He came back to her, handing her a bottle before cuddling against her and pressing play on the movie. The night before, full of hungry desire, had been amazing. But this was a different kind of intimacy, the one she'd been afraid of the week before, but was now craving for, even more than their lovemaking. He bent down to grab a piece of pizza and pressed a soft kiss to her temple before leaning back against her. They watched the movie in near silence, Feyre simply enjoying the warmth of his body against her, but after a while, she started drawing lazy circles on his thigh. She felt more than she saw a smile forming on his lips, but he didn't move, as if he'd barely felt her. She didn't back down though, and brought her lips to his face, placing the smallest of kisses on his neck, his jaw, the shell of his ear. Meanwhile, her fingers moved upper on his thigh, brushing against his core but not quite touching him. She felt him shiver, but still he didn't touch her. Only when she slipped a hand under his shirt and began to caress his abdomen, did he talk. She knew he wanted to keep his voice calm and steady, but it came out hoarse instead.
"Don't you want to watch the movie?"
She whispered in his ear as she pushed his shirt upper: "There are other things I'd like to do first."
"You wicked, beautiful woman," but he finally turned his face to her to kiss her fully. She sighed and tugged at his shirt, urging him to take it off. He obliged her and discarded it on the floor in seconds. Feyre went to sat on top of him, but he wasn't having it. "Not this time, Darling," he murmured against her neck, laying her down on the couch. He had a mischievous smile on his face and when he lowered on top of her, he didn't go to her mouth, his lips finding her collarbone, his hands exploring her calves, the back of her knees, the insides of her thighs, always moving closer to where she wanted him. She was on her way to removing his belt when the doorbell rang. Rhys froze, and she was about to rise up when he resumed his kisses on her.
"Aren't you going to answer?" She asked feebly, barely aware of anything that wasn't his lips slowly moving towards her breast, that wasn't his fingertips caressing her legs. He mumbled a sound that was probably a "no" against her skin, and she couldn't stop the laugh that came out of her. The doorbell resonated again but neither of them made a move to get up, until a different sound came from the entry hall, as if someone was inserting a key in the door. Rhys rose and looked towards the hall.
"I'm going to kill her," he said before getting off Feyre and moving towards the door. She sat straight on the couch, trying to calm her raging heart and to arrange her dress a bit. Rhys opened the door and said sharply to whoever was there:
"What do you want?"
"Hi! You have a problem with your doorbell," said a female voice, "I tried twice but you didn't answer so I just used my spare key."
"I don't have a problem with my doorbell Mor, I just didn't answer." Mor, his cousin Morrigan then.
"Why didn't you answer me? And why are you half nak…" she stopped mid-sentence and lowered her voice, though not enough because Feyre still heard her say : "You're not alone, are you?"
Rhys sighed but Feyre laughed and started to get up. He'd told her his cousin had been insisting to meet her, but barging in that way was certainly a radical move. She tucked her hair behind her ears and walked into the hallway, finding Rhys standing at the door in front of a very beautiful woman who seemed to be about his age. She was rather small, with long golden hair and deep brown eyes. The smile she gave Feyre was radiant, and she pushed his cousin aside to walk towards her, and hug her. Feyre started, surprised at the unexpected familiarity of the gesture, but smiled and answered her hug. Behind them, she saw Rhys roll his eyes and close the front door. Apparently, Mor was going to stay.
He watched his cousin finally release Feyre from her embrace and take a step back to look at her. Feyre was still flushed from their little make-out session on the couch, her hair disheveled and her cheeks slightly pink. But then again, seeing as he had opened the door half-naked, there was no point denying what they had been doing.
"You're Feyre, right? I'm so glad to finally meet you! I'm Mor, Rhysand's cousin, I don't know if he told you about me?"
"He did, it's really nice to meet you too," Feyre answered, a gorgeous smile on her face. He was going to kill Mor for interrupting them.
"You know Mor, it's usually good manners to warn someone before coming into their home at night. If you wanted to meet Feyre so badly, you could've asked."
She turned to him and grinned.
"You know asking for permission is against my beliefs! Besides, I didn't know you weren't alone."
He raised his eyebrows at her and she laughed.
"I swear! I was coming to see if you wanted to have dinner together, and then meet up with Cass to go to Rita's."
"Well we have pizza if you want some," Feyre said, inviting Mor into his living room. He followed them, picked up his shirt from the floor, and was fully clothed once more when he sat beside Feyre on the couch, Mor on the other side of her. His cousin had already grabbed a piece of pizza and started showering Feyre with questions. Not that she seemed to mind, she was leaning against him and smiling at his cousin, answering her eager questions with ease. He settled for watching them talk, incapable of restraining a grin.
"So Feyre. Rhys told me you're an illustrator? What does that mean? What do you do?"
"Well mainly I work on book covers, I read the manuscript, run some ideas with the author and the editor, and work from there. I sometimes have bigger projects, like illustrated editions, that kind of work. But it's mainly covers."
"That's interesting! How long have you been doing it?"
"For nearly three years now."
"You started young! You're 23 right?"
"Yes, I had a job as a waitress for a few years but it wasn't really what I wanted to do with my life, so I seized the opportunity to change when I saw it."
"Good. And where are you from? Velaris?"
"No, I grew up in Springfield, it's a small town south of Velaris, you probably don't know it. My parents still live there."
"I grew up here in Velaris. We all did. Well I mean, if you don't count the boys' yearly trips to the countryside."
They kept on chattering, and Rhys didn't interfere, enjoying looking at them interact with such ease. He could have stayed that way for the whole evening, not caring that Mor had interrupted them when she'd arrived. But she had other plans, because after about forty minutes of questions and laughter, she looked at him and said to Feyre:
"So what do you guys say? Rita's tonight?"
He felt Feyre stiffen slightly against him, and her smile faltered just a bit. Mor didn't seem to notice it, but he'd started to know her enough to register these changes in her. She didn't want to go, but she probably didn't want to disappoint Mor. Now, he didn't want to go either, he had never been a big fan of clubs, and he wanted to spend the evening here with Feyre. But she started to look a bit like she had the week before, when she'd ran away from his home all of a sudden. And that wasn't something he wanted her to go through again.
"Actually Mor, we sort of had plans."
"What? Watch TV and make out? You can do that some other night, but karaoke night at Rita's is only once a month!"
But Feyre seemed to relax a bit when he declined the offer, and he thought maybe by saying no, she hadn't been afraid of disappointing Mor, but disappointing him.
"Actually, I'd really prefer to stay in too. You can stay with us if you want. We still have plenty of pizza and beer, and we'd just started the movie."
Her third piece of pizza in hand, Mor seemed to consider for a half second before agreeing. Feyre looked at him and warmth flooded his heart when he read the gratitude on her face. He didn't resist kissing her quickly and holding her against him during the rest of the movie.
Mor left them three hours later to join Cassian at the club. Rhys had practically pushed her out the door but Feyre hadn't been able to resist chatting with her by the front door for an extra ten minutes. Mor was extremely lively, always smiling, talking, laughing. She and Rhys had seemed to get along really well, and they'd spent the whole movie whispering sarcastic comments to each other. After the movie, they'd moved into the kitchen and Rhys had mostly let them talk together, as it seemed that Mor wanted to ask Feyre every possible question about her life. So it was nearly one in the morning now, and after Mor waved at her and got in the taxi, Feyre closed the front door and found Rhys leaning against the wall, staring at her with the barest smile on his lips. She smile back and said:
"I'm sorry, I talked a lot with her, I hope you don't feel too left out?"
"Left out? Feyre I'm glad. I love seeing you two getting along so well."
She restrained from biting her lower lip at that. The idea that he was glad about her meeting his family… It was unsettling, but in a good way. She advanced towards him and grabbed his hands, stood up on her toes and kiss him gently.
"I really like it too, Rhys." She felt him smile against her lips and answer her kiss. They broke apart after moment later, and when she opened her eyes, she found him looking at her, as if he was studying her.
"What?"
"Nothing, I… are you ok? I know Mor was a bit insisting about going out with them."
"I'm fine Rhys, I mean, I'm the one who should be sorry. I would have liked to spend time with your family tonight, but I was a bit… overwhelmed by the idea. Sometimes I just don't have the energy to cope with too much noise and too much people."
"No it's fine. You shouldn't force yourself into situations you're not comfortable with." They stayed in that position for a while, standing in each other's arms, Feyre enjoying the weight of his body against her as she felt his chest rise up and down. And then Rhys murmured into her ear: "Do you wanna go to bed?"
Smiling at the familiarity in his words, Feyre nodded and they'd started to move upstairs when a knock echoed from the front door. She saw Rhys' shoulders tense and he blurted as he reached for the door: "I swear, if it's Mor coming back…."
But it wasn't Mor standing under the porch, it was a short, fourteen years old girl with black hair and deep blue eyes.