Note: All of these drabbles are PG-13 to R. Read at your own caution.
Fever Dream
Rating: R
Summary:Fast and silent. Rating for sex.
Kel and the king caught each other's eyes over dinner, then quickly turned to chat cheerfully with others. Signal sent and received.
They met as always, in a dark dusty hallway in the dead of night. Sometimes the moon glared through a nearby window. More often, they found a corner.
There was nothing romantic about it as Jon unfastened his breeches and Kel shoved up her dress and he took her against the wall. They came together, fitting snugly, moving rapidly, a need being fulfilled that neither had known had ever existed.
His hand clamped down on her mouth as she tightened around him. Hers could not return the favor, clasped as they were around his neck, but Jon stifled his moan into her shoulder.
Nothing was ever said. Nothing need ever be said. Perhaps, if they remained silent, they could convince themselves it was a fever-dream, a wordless need that, being never spoken, was never realized.
In the Dark of Night
Rating: R
Summary: A midnight assignation. Rating for implied sex.
He crept to her door in the dark of night.
She knew to expect the quiet stuttering creak of the door as it opened slowly, slowly.
It was a trifling matter for him to escape his rooms without notice. He was highly Gifted, after all, and eyes could be persuaded to look elsewhere.
They did not speak of what they shared. How could they?
It was nothing more than a few frantic movements stolen from a few stressful anxious days interspersed between long periods of longing, loneliness, and lust.
He betrayed his vows.
She betrayed her honor.
Both meant more to them than nearly anything, yet the stolen moments in the dark, the whispered longing echoes that floated in the room, made it worthwhile.
Neither could abscond from their duties, for neither was capable of even considering the idea, yet neither could they contemplate the loss of their unnameable unity of emotion and want and need.
And so as the sun began to chase away the darkness, the King left the bed of the Lady Knight.
Playing Pretend
Rating: R
Summary: Kel gets a substitute for who she really needs. Rating for angsty!sex. Kel is over 18, even though not explicitly stated.
It was always quick, demanded at any moment and swiftly fulfilled. There were many unused rooms in the Royal Palace, after all, and by now, they both knew many of them intimately.
It was fast and dirty, lasting long enough for mutual pleasure, a few stilted sighs and moans behind clenched teeth as they rebelled.
He rebelled against his preordained destiny.
She rebelled against herself.
He felt guilty that he used her.
She knew that she used him.
It was always she who initiated their frantic trysts. She ambushed him in the empty courtyard, in his rooms, or a vacant corridor with convenient nooks.
Whenever they each returned from their knightly duties, they found in each other a quick release. There were no words of love or devotion or commitment.
He was bound to a state marriage.
She had no illusions or desire for a noble wedding.
They took their release where they could, and each choked down their lingering shame.
With her eyes half-closed, she easily transplanted his coal black hair and sapphire eyes onto another's face.
There was no way to have who she wanted, who she desperately needed. This frenetic affair was a poor substitute, a brief relief to the burning ache that could never be healed unless they both betrayed their very principles.
It could never happen, so she made do with clandestine trysts and a poor substitute who made too much noise.
Kel preferred when Roald was silent.
It was easier to pretend that way, pretend that he was the Conte she needed so desperately, Jonathan.
Strange Bedfellows
Rating: PG-13. I think.
Summary: Jon's got everything. Kel's pretty happy too. Rating for implied sex.
To Jon, life was good. More than good, it was excellent, spectacular, nonpareil. He ruled over a time of peace (finally), he had a healthy heir who was on his way to producing his own brood of heirs and spares, he was in the peak of health, and he had a beautiful devoted wife in Thayet.
And, of course, he couldn't forget his mistress, the strong, determined, courageous Keladry, who made him remember what it was like to be full of youthful vigor.
He felt the ache in his muscles and grinned lustfully. Definitely vigor. In fact, so vigorous that his needs must be filled immediately.
Jon slipped into a side passage and made his way to Kel's rooms. He knocked their secret knock, but when she didn't respond, Jon grumbled. He supposed Thayet would have to do, but she was always more grumpy in the middle of the day. It wasn't as if he interrupted anything that important.
Oddly enough, Thayet's chambers were empty as well. Frowning, Jon headed to his own rooms, thinking that perhaps one of them were there.
When he arrived, nothing was out of place except for one extra bit of paper that he didn't remember leaving on his night-stand.
As Jon read the neat handwriting, he grew more and more horrified, and when he was done, he sat disbelievingly on his bed and the paper slipped from his hands to land gently on the floor.
Dear Jon,
By the time you read this, I'll be long gone. It's been fun, I admit, but it was never meant to last. Our relationship was a hollow empty shell, and I've moved on. I don't need you anymore. I'm not the girl I used to be before you, and I thank you for that. Without you, I would never have met the love of my life.
By now, we'll be long out of Corus, and by the time you can organize any search, we'll be far out of reach.
You enjoyed us while we lasted, Jon, but we've had enough.
Love,
Kel and Thayet
Incurious
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Thayet makes an uninteresting discovery.
Thayet is not a stupid woman. She knows that her husband the king is unfaithful, but she had always expected it. Jonathan had never had difficulty in finding someone to warm his bed in his youth, and she hardly expected him to curb his ways now that they were set into his character.
What might be surprising, however, is that Thayet doesn't mind. It leaves her guiltless and free to take lovers of her own, usually the young knights, and induce a particular brand of loyalty. It amuses her, and after more than two decades as Queen of Tortall, little amuses her anymore.
As long as they were both discreet, not even the gossip-mongers could come up with a credible story of royal infidelity.
In fact, Thayet is so incurious about Jon's latest lover that when she sees a slightly-mussed Keladry of Mindelan leaving Jon's secret assignation room, she hardly bats an eye.
She can hardly blame his excellent taste, after all, and Thayet smiles a secretive smile as she strolls to meet one Anders of Mindelan.
The Blame Game
Rating: PG-13
Summary: It's someone else's fault. It must be. Rating for implied sex.
The first time, they blamed it on the thrill of the moment. With the adrenaline rushing through their veins, neither of them realized what happened until the deed was done. They swore never to speak of the unthinkable.
The second time, it was the fault of the wine. Undiluted, it hazed the senses and made simply terrible ideas seem not only possible, but seemingly vital.
The third time, they had to turn to the divine to find a scapegoat. They muttered oaths to the Crooked God, for who but the Trickster could devise such a scheme?
The fourth time, they simply shrugged their shoulders. It was getting too difficult to find an appropriate excuse. Then the king brightened and declared that they must blame Gary, for he must have laced their tea with some nefarious substance that caused them to sleepwalk. Kel decided that this was a perfectly reasonable excuse.
The fifth time, Kel made a paltry attempt at assigning blame, but it fell flat, so Jon and Kel decided that finding a reason required too much time and energy that could be used for other, more pleasurable activities.
The Room
Rating: PG-13
Summary: A room jealously guards its secret.
The room looked just like any other. A bit dusty, perhaps. Certainly more abandoned than most, being in an old part of the royal palace, but a room nonetheless.
Occasionally a person might wander in, drop off a bit of rubbish, and wander away.
Yet the room was not like any random room. It held a secret, and it held the secret jealously.
It was a secret of passion, of defiance, of sorrow and shame, of love and lust and longing as two star-crossed individuals stumbled into the refugee.
The room held a place of comfort for the sad king and the lonely knight, the tired blue eyes that gained a spark of life when they beheld the brown head and the scarred hands of the woman.
Yes, the room seemed identical to the numerous others just like it.
But those rooms held no secrets of their own.