Author's Note: Since finals have ended, I have been able to dedicate a fair amount of time to this particular chapter, making it the longest one in the fic at a crazy 7,397 words! That being said, I think Sub Rosa will be coming to an end within a chapter or two, which is exciting and sad at the same time. But hey! I'll start another fic soon enough! As soon as I get an idea who or what to write about...
Anyways, I hope you enjoy the newest installment of Sub Rosa!
Though Lux had been thoroughly embarrassed about her encounter with Talon in the library two days before the wedding, the uncontrolled emotions and heated kiss turned out to be the least of her humiliation. No, what bit at her the most was the fact that she had mindlessly left two very important books sitting on a simple wooden desk. Now, she'd be lucky if the books were even in the library at all, given Talon's trust issues. But it wouldn't have mattered anyway, for the mage was continuously busy the day after with a trip to the train station to retrieve, more or less, twenty Demacians, predictably apprehensive about having a wedding in Noxus, a chaotic family brunch, and an irritatingly long rehearsal dinner. The only saving grace in the whole ordeal was that Lux had learned that she would, in fact, not be walking down the aisle with Talon, despite his groomsmen status. There was no doubt in her mind that she had Garen to thank for that, and not Katarina.
The wedding itself had been undeniably beautiful, centered in the Du Couteaus' gardens, the open space surrounded by dahlias, all during an early summer sunset, not a cloud in sight. Watching her brother declare his vows to the woman he intended to spend the rest of his life with, more bashful than she had ever suspected him to be possible of, Lux couldn't help but wonder when the same sort of romance would happen for her. So much of her life had been about the military, about espionage, that she hardly ever had time to think about what her wedding might be like, or what kind of man might await her at the end of the aisle.
But the sense of awe that encompassed Lux as she wondered favorably about her future soon passed, and she was drawn back into the real world. The ceremony had ended at around seven in the evening, just in time for the much anticipated reception. Many things concerned Lux about the event, conversing with Noxians and dealing with Ezreal were just two of the many. The real question lay in knowing where her seating would be and, more importantly, whom it would be with. So Lux approached the assignment table with Ezreal, rather nervously, each picking up their little card with the letters "Table Two" printed nicely in black ink.
"I wonder who will be at our table." Ezreal mused aloud, voicing Lux's concerns.
"I suppose we will see in due time." She said cryptically, a sinking feeling in her stomach told her she would not like the results.
The pair began to approach the table that was surprisingly empty. Ezreal and Lux sat next to each other at the round surface and immediately the mage began to read the other place cards. The first three she noticed bore unremarkable names such as "Cassiopeia", "Vladimir", and "Riven", only one of whom she was familiar with. The fourth, of course, bore Talon's name, but this was something she had been expecting, given the little she had heard from Garen about the seating arrangements.
Supposedly, Katarina had decided to have different seating than is typical with weddings, given the tensions between the two states and also Jarvan's appearance at the reception. Katarina and Garen sat with their parents at a small table upfront, and had proceeded to group people by affiliation from there. For the most part, the Demacians sat with Demacians and the Noxians sat with Noxians, but from the sounds of it, Garen and Katarina had wanted their closest friends and, of course, siblings at tables near them, which required some compromises. So, it was the case that Lux had been seated at the "siblings and dates" table, and as it would happen, she was also the only Demacian.
"Cassiopeia and Talon?" Ezreal said with no small amount of disdain as he read the titles on the nameplates. "Why didn't Garen sit us with Jarvan? His table is only Demacians. I don't understand."
"I think they wanted to sit the siblings with each other." She explained. "They know that we, at the very least, will behave ourselves."
"Well I know we will." The explorer stated confidently. "I can't say that for the Noxians."
"Careful what you say in this hall, Ezreal." A dark voice spoke from behind the pair. "It's full of misbehaving Noxians I'm sure have no qualms about dealing with Piltover pretty boys."
Lux could tell Ezreal's eyes had gone wide in shock and fear, but she cared little about that. Instead, she turned to face the aggravating assassin she had spent practically every moment of the last twenty-four hours thinking about. The one man who wouldn't leave her alone.
She looked up at him coldly, more than a little mad about how he made her feel, but all the while undeniably attracted to him in his clean tuxedo and ever-present stubble. It wasn't until Lux had given Talon the once over that she noticed the woman standing next to him, a white-haired beauty in a long, sleeveless green dress, eluding to a certain maturity that Lux, quite frankly, did not possess. Immediately she felt rather girlish in her lavender bridesmaid's gown, with three-quarter length sleeves and a tea-cut skirt. Even the bodice line was a cute heart-shaped one; it did very little to make her look like a seductress. It figured that the one time Katarina offered her clothing that was actually respectable, she'd wanted something more risqué.
"Well if you Noxians, as you say, 'deal with Piltover pretty boys', then you will only prove Ezreal's point." She glared icily up at the man. "We Demacians are better behaved."
But the assassin just chuckled, deeply and sexily, sending shivers down Lux's spine. Walking over to his seat, he responded. "I doubt that."
A flush burned on the mage's indignant cheeks as she watched Talon pull a chair out for the white haired woman to take her seat. He then took his own seat next to the woman and offered her a more than charming smile, to which she, a woman who seemed experienced with men like Talon, blushed. Lux hated her instantly.
"I'm afraid I missed your name." Ezreal smiled at Talon's date, relieving Lux from the pressure of giving a reply.
"Riven." The woman smiled kindly back at the explorer. "And you are?"
"Ezreal." He replied. "And this here is Lux. She's Garen's sister."
"A pleasure." Riven offered Lux the same smile she had just given Ezreal, and Lux, being the lady that she was, returned it.
"Likewise." Lux's smooth voice glided over the table, though it held just the smallest amounts of classic Demacian condescension. She had learned that tone very well throughout her childhood. But the white-haired woman seemed unphased.
"It must have been quite the shock." Riven remarked. "To find out your brother became engaged to Katarina, a Du Couteau."
"Actually," Lux began to correct her. "I wasn't too surprised. I had seen them at the Institute of War time enough to be suspicious. That and every infantryman in the military talked about how smitten Garen was."
"I can imagine." Riven commented. "She is quite the captivating woman."
"The red hair, I think, is very stunning." Lux replied, for a moment forgetting her crusade to shun her.
"Every guy in the League was after Garen's blood once the engagement was announced." Ezreal laughed.
"He held his own." Lux smirked, having heard similar versions of that story. Garen had done Demacia proud.
"I heard your brother will be moving to Noxus after this?" Riven asked, clearly curious about the situation.
"It's true. Katarina is head of household, so it would be a touch irresponsible for her to move to Demacia." Lux explained. "Besides, Garen's a big boy. He can handle himself, even in Noxus."
"You don't seem that concerned." Riven chuckled.
"Not particularly." Lux shrugged. She wished the woman would just stop talking to her and let her go back to brooding. Hating her was becoming more and more difficult as she proved herself to be a sociable person. "Noxus isn't that scary a place once you get to know it."
"You've spent a lot of time in the capital?" Riven inquired, keeping Lux engaged in conversation.
"Lux used to be a spy." Ezreal laughed. "One of the best."
"Oh, but not anymore? What made you quit?" She continued with the questions.
But there was one she hadn't answered in a long time. Of course, most Demacians never really asked why; after all, it was a dangerous job and retiring from such a perilous career is never surprising.
"I went on a mission that basically revealed my identity to certain people whom I needed to be unaware of my existence." Lux explained briefly, neglecting certain pieces of information.
"Swain was on to her." Ezreal clarified. "And with such a high profile man like that suspecting of her espionage, it becomes increasingly dangerous to travel to Noxus and get the sort of information she was looking for."
"Did he ever find out?" Riven was an inquisitive one, that was for sure.
"Yes." It was Talon who answered. Riven turned to him with a surprised look, curious as to why he could answer that question. "I told him."
"How did you know?" She was hooked now. The white haired woman was uncovering a very interesting story, one that Lux had tried to keep secret for nearly three years.
"How did he know?" Ezreal turned on Lux, accusation in his eyes. She hadn't told him all of the details.
"Now that is a long story." The assassin smirked, leaving an air of mystery around a situation, and Lux knew she was in for a whirlwind of questions later.
But before Lux got the chance to tell Riven and Ezreal that it had just been, more or less, a simple case of Twisted Fate recognizing her, she was interrupted by two more incoming people.
"Hey Talon, Riven." A sleek voice said from behind the mage. Lux turned her face to recognize Cassiopeia. Next to her walked a classy looking man, with relatively long strawberry blonde hair, whom she vaguely recognized to be Vladimir, another champion in the League of Legends.
Cassiopeia and Vladimir took their respective seats and immediately the conversation shifted away from Lux's espionage.
"Long time no see, Cass." Riven smiled at the snake lady. "And Vlad, always good to see you're in good… health."
"Oh don't give me that look, Riven." He shot her a smirk Lux guessed was meant to be charming, but wasn't quite.
"Sorry but I'll never get used to your profession. If you can call it that." She shrugged.
"Profession, perhaps not." Vladimir admitted. "But it is an art. Few appreciate the full beauty in hemomancy."
"Don't start on this again, Vlad." Cass shook her head as she readied for a long tirade.
But he did, and went on for quite some time until Katarina and Garen finally arrived in the ballroom and dinner was served. For the most part, dinner was relatively peaceful, Lux chatted almost entirely with Ezreal, an exception or two being when Cassiopeia mentioned the bridesmaids sleepover or her talent with cards. Talon had raised a very curious eyebrow at that, but the moment soon passed and Lux returned to conversing with the explorer. Lux had noted that the assassin had not been particularly vocal in his side of the conversation, but something told the mage that was due to his generally elusive nature. She did develop some pity for Riven, though, for being saddled with such a quiet man. Or rather, she told herself she'd hate to be his date. Whether or not she believed it was a different case.
Eventually, the dinner was finished, and as is tradition with weddings, a dance soon followed. The first dance, between Garen and Katarina, had been particularly romantic, and for the first time since Lux could remember, she was actually jealous of her brother. But that dance soon ended and then Garen danced with his mother and Katarina twirled with Talon, in lieu of their father. The mage was decently surprised to find that Talon was a capable dancer, and actually, by most standards, fairly talented. It was not something she would have expected from the assassin, but then she remembered a certain amount of dexterity that came with the job.
Once those two waltzes had completed, the floor was open and Ezreal seized the moment.
"Care to dance?" He looked at her with a striking amount of sincerity, and immediately, Lux began to blush, but not because she was flattered. No, she was embarrassed.
"Sure." She replied carefully, accepting his hand gracefully and following him out onto the dance floor.
His other hand found itself at her waist while hers rested gently on his shoulder. Lux still kept a respectable six inches between their chests, demonstrating exactly how not intimate the dance would be. Ezreal either didn't notice or was too shy to close the gap, but regardless, the duo danced properly, just like the teachers in Demacia had instructed. A string quartet coupled with a piano played gentle music in the background, vaguely happy in nature, but altogether very boring and fitting of a waltz. In her time twirling around the ballroom, Lux tried to determine if Talon was out there too, dancing with his white-haired beauty, but Ezreal interrupted before her search could get very far.
"How did Talon find out you were an undercover spy?" He cut right to the chase. Clearly that had been bothering him since the assassin had mentioned it.
"Twisted Fate gave me away." She replied simply. Hopefully she could get away without revealing too many details.
"You told me that you escaped on your own. That you had found an opening." His brow furrowed. "Why did you lie?"
She sighed. Now that was a question that was particularly hard to answer without revealing too much of the truth. And, in all honesty, she didn't know why she had. A better lie would have been to say that Twisted Fate had recognized her and given her away and that there had been no kissing involved, but, for whatever reason, Lux had not told that lie when she met up with Ezreal. Instead, she'd tried to deny the encounter had happened at all.
"I was ashamed, I suppose." She replied honestly, though perhaps leaving Ezreal with the wrong interpretation.
"That Twisted Fate recognized you?" He questioned. "Something like that happening is incredibly rare. Besides, everyone makes mistakes."
"Not Crownguards." She replied.
Ezreal sighed at her statement. She knew how he felt about Demacia's fire and brimstone methods, but Demacians just didn't have the same luxury as Piltoverans. No offense to the Piltover, but Demacia had bigger things to worry about than a one-hundred pound girl bombing things. That and, were she in Demacia, she'd be in jail already.
The pleasant, nondescript waltz soon ended, but as the next tune began to take form, Ezreal held on for another round. The next piece seemed to be, from what Lux could tell, a sarabande, and a minor toned one at that. It was slow and pensive, and after a few measures of silence between the pair, Ezreal found his voice.
"I don't like the way that Noxian looks at you." He admitted.
"Which Noxian? There are so many these days." She sighed, gazing out at a room full of them.
"Which do you think, Lux?" The explorer's irritated tone told Lux there might be strong emotions driving his statements.
"Talon doesn't mean me any harm." She said with a surprising amount of confidence. "Why does everyone think that?"
"Because he's an assassin. A Noxian one." He said simply.
"What, and he's going to take advantage of me, helpless little Luxanna Crownguard? That's bullshit." She was getting annoyed.
"Is it?" He had the gall to question her. "I've seen you on the rift with him."
"The rift is nothing." She said forcefully, in order to defend her strength, but perhaps leaving Ezreal a little more curious than she would have liked.
But the explorer turned out to be wise, for the first time that night, and did not push his luck. Instead the pair went back to dancing quietly, until, at the end of the second song, Lux watched a large hand come to rest on Ezreal's shoulder.
"Do you mind if I have the next one?" Talon stared down at the explorer with dark eyes that mirrored the emotion in the new tune being played by the quintet, his expression intimidating and almost laughing, as if he expected Ezreal to flee in terror.
But he held his ground, a frown forming on the explorers face. For a moment, Lux was concerned that Ezreal would deny Talon, but then he stepped aside and allowed the assassin to take his position.
When Talon's hand met her waist, Lux could notice a distinct difference in the touch. It was not just that the assassin had a manlier hand, large and lean. Rather, his touch contained a certain sort of energy, almost like electricity, that shocked through her as his fingertips grazed against her back, something she most certainly did not feel around the explorer. And as her hand came to rest on one of his broad shoulders, and her eyes fluttered upwards to cautiously meet his, Lux knew that her attraction to this man was one of the few things in the world she could not hide.
The waltz continued with its eerie theme, nearly macabre in nature, though a hint of humor played in the high strings despite the dark motif resonating in the piano. Once Ezreal had left earshot, leaving Lux alone with the curious assassin, Talon spoke.
"You didn't look too happy dancing with him." He remarked, a calm expression painted on his face as he gazed down on the mage.
"So you're doing me a favor?" She raised an eyebrow at his implications.
"You'll have to answer that one yourself." He replied with a slight smirk. "But if I had to guess, I'd say so."
"Then this is a first. Talon Du Couteau, doing a Demacian a favor." Lux mocked as she twirled in accordance with the music, undeniably graceful.
"Anything for my dearest sister-in-law." His smirk transformed into a downright devious smile.
"I'd prefer not to think of us as siblings." She admitted with a slight hint of disgust.
"No I suppose you don't kiss your brother quite like you kiss me." He taunted.
Lux flushed a bright red, only half in anger. "Now here I'd make a comment about you being promiscuous with your sister, but I know she's too in love with Garen to fall victim to your debauchery."
"Debauchery?" He raised a laughing eyebrow. "I'll have you know I'm quite the gentleman when it comes to romance. I don't kiss just anyone."
The blush was reaching her ears by that point in the conversation.
"Gentleman?" She questioned almost too loudly, but then dropped her voice low. As her next words crossed her lips she knew it wasn't the proper thing to say, but the sentence tumbled out nonetheless. "What you did in the library wasn't very gentlemanly."
"It couldn't be helped." He shrugged lightly. "I was being seduced."
"Seduced?" Lux couldn't believe this man. "You weren't being seduced!"
"Oh so tugging on my jacket and brushing your lips against mine doesn't count as seduction?" He had a fair point.
For a moment, Lux just danced with him, moving along to the spooky waltz, trying to figure out a decent explanation for the behavior. However, she found none.
A triumphant look soon twinkled in the assassin's eyes as he realized he'd won the debate. The couple continued to dance as the assassin drank in his moment of glory, but Lux took that moment to catch her breath, perhaps cool her head.
"Are you packed for Shurima?" He started.
"Yes," She replied easily. "Ezreal took me shopping four days ago. Got stocked up and everything. He even taught me how to navigate in case you get us lost."
"I won't get us lost." He said confidently. "I bet he gave you a hard time about travelling with me. Quite frankly, I'm surprised he's helping you at all."
"He doesn't know." Lux conceded sheepishly.
"A wise decision, I think."
"I'd prefer not to lie to him, but it was hard enough to get Jarvan to agree. Ezreal would be far worse."
"Well, I won't tell him, for what it's worth." Talon chuckled lightly.
"He'd probably run with his tail between his legs before you could even approach him." She laughed. "I don't understand why he's so scared of you."
"Maybe because he realizes how dangerous I am." And as Talon's dark eyes gazed down into her light blue ones, Lux began to wonder if perhaps she had bit out more than she could chew. But her pondering soon stopped as the song came to an end and the assassin gently released her, leaving to return to his own party of Noxians.
Dazed, Lux found her way to a group of Demacians, including Ezreal and Jarvan, both of whom initially gave her a hard time about dancing with the Noxian, but eventually, with the help of a woman named Quinn, the conversation shifted away from her relationship with Talon and towards politics, ever a popular topic amongst Demacians. They talked and debated for hours on end, and Lux was presented with the occasional dance until the hour grew late and Katarina and Garen eventually said their goodbyes to everyone, effectively ending the reception. Lux found herself wandering back to the guest room in the Du Couteau residence, awfully tired and ready for some well-deserved rest.
The next morning Lux woke to another flurry of chores, such as another brunch, another trip to the train station, and another obligatory dinner. Brunch had not been so difficult, for all of the issues she had with Noxians, she could at least say they had good taste in food. The train station had been troublesome, Lux's grandmother in particular had tried to convince her to come back to Demacia with them right then, but her mother and father had deemed it too rude to bow out of the situation so early and without any prior notice. Then there was the whole ordeal of getting Jarvan and his army of soldiers in the train car. After two hours of loading friends and family onto multiple trains and sending them back to the homeland, Lux finally retired to the Du Couteau estate.
Of course, after that, she had been engaged in a variety of activities with Katarina's relatives, which was, not surprisingly followed by dinner. After dinner, free time began to pop its head in for Lux, and while she had taken an hour to herself to sit and read a book she had been working on before the hectic trip, a little novella named "Luck be a Lady", eventually she found herself plotting once more, setting her life back into commotion.
In all of the chaos of the wedding day and day before, Lux had not had anytime to search for the books she had discovered in the library two days earlier. It only took a short searching spell, a particularly useful one if you happen to know what it is you seek, to determine that the texts she sought were somewhere in what she recalled to be Talon's room, sitting on a bookshelf, if she had to guess. Of course, retrieving the items would be much more difficult, and for this, Lux had several courses of action.
The first, and by far most dangerous, would be to wait until two or three in the morning, pick Talon's lock, and steal the books while hoping the assassin remained asleep. For obvious reasons, this plan was not a very good one, because neither was Lux sneaky enough to be silent as to not wake the sleeping assassin, nor was Talon oblivious enough not to wake from a mage sneaking into his room. Then there was the question of what he would do when he caught her, and as much as Lux might have liked to think about that scenario, there was no way she'd be getting the books from that encounter.
The foil to that plan was to sneak into his room when she knew he would not be there. Of course, given the fact that she was leaving the following day, that left little time to keep an eye on Talon and know when he would be absent from the room, but ultimately Luc decided it was worth a try. So she waltzed back down to the common room, dressed in the same sundress with adorable butterfly sleeves she had been wearing earlier that day, ready to keep an eye out for the assassin. As she entered the room and immediately struck up conversation with her mother and Katarina's aunt, Lux was dismayed to find that Talon was not present.
"And where have you been, Lux?" Her mother asked, almost accusingly.
"Oh I was just reading some." She replied sheepishly.
Katarina's aunt, Ophelia, if Lux remembered correctly, responded warmly to the mage. "Books are always so captivating, are they not?"
"Indeed." Lux smiled back appreciatively.
"That doesn't mean you should be reading at such important times as these." Lux's mother continued to lecture her. She went on for a little longer, but Lux heard none of it for all sound seemed to vanish as she watched a particularly notorious man walk into the common room and start conversing with some Noxian relatives.
"If you'll excuse me." Lux said hastily to the ladies, and while she was sure her mother was berating her as she left, she had a job to do, and no one was going to stop her. Nagging mother aside, the mage slipped out of the room relatively quietly and unnoticed, but, as is typical with the assassin, she could feel his eyes following her as she opened the door and entered the hallway. He missed nothing.
Immediately, Lux knew she was working on a time sensitive schedule. While she considered her plan fairly impromptu and not easily predicted, she knew Talon was a suspicious one, and it was in her best interest to consider him already knowledgeable of her scheme. She had, at best, five minutes to find his room, pick the lock, retrieve the books, and get out, lest she be cornered by a very curious assassin.
Walking briskly down the hall, Lux tried to recall the location of his room, and her memory did not fail her. Within two minutes, she found the door, and started on picking the lock. But, unfortunately for the mage, it had been a very long time since she had done that sort of thing. She muddled with the lock for the better part of three minutes, and she knew her time was running out. As the door handle became turnable, Lux took one last look down the hall to make sure he hadn't caught up to her yet. By the looks of it, she was safe.
So the mage entered his room briskly, hastily shutting the door behind her, walking towards a bookcase she spotted on the north wall. However, she didn't get two steps in the door before she noticed a presence at the desk, and a deep voice rang out in the cool air.
"Well this isn't very ladylike of you, Crownguard." Talon chuckled as he regarded her smoothly from his desk chair.
Her head whipped to face the assassin, mouth wide in disbelief. "How did you…?"
Even though her question remained unfinished, Talon seemed to understand what she was asking.
"Seriously Lux?" He smirked. "This is my house, I know all of its secrets, passageways included. You might have beaten me, though, if you weren't such a bad lock picker."
The mage flushed red in anger. "How did you know I was coming here?"
"Well I knew you'd be after the books soon enough, and given your ingenuity, I figured you would realize they had been relocated to my room." He explained. "I have actually been expecting you for two days now, but once I saw you leave the common room so hastily, I knew you were headed here."
Frowning, Lux said the only thing that came to her mind. "Shit."
Then, in one last effort to save herself from what she suspected would develop into a precarious situation, Lux reached for the door handle. But the assassin was on her before she even got the chance to turn the knob. One of his palms was planted on the left side of her face, effectively pinning her against the door. The other had made its way down her her wrist, wrenching it away from the handle and bringing it up to shoulder level.
"Lux." He said almost scoldingly, his dark gaze burning into her eyes. "Your shenanigans aren't working."
"Maybe they are but you just don't realize it." She shot back, hoping to unbalance him.
But the assassin remained cool as ever.
"I doubt that." Talon regarded her coolly, as if he liked watching her squirm.
"You could just let me leave." Lux offered, knowing there was little chance he'd accept it. "I won't be able to steal the books then."
"Hmm…" He pondered the suggestion, his eyes moving from hers down to her wrist, regarding the flesh almost like food, and for a second, as he brought her hand towards his lips, Lux thought he might bite her. Instead, he placed a firm kiss against her pulse, beguiling eyes flashing back to hers, sending a shock of anticipation shooting through her gut.
"You're seducing me." The mage spoke plainly, realization dawning on her.
"You snuck into my room." He reasoned, lips moving against her skin as he kissed her palm.
"I only came to steal the books!" She retorted, hoping to dispel the misconception, if it truly was one, that the assassin seemed to have. But she knew that with Talon kissing her hand like he was, with his dark eyes piercing hers, there was little chance she'd be able to turn and leave him.
Her declaration drove all hints of playfulness out of his laughing eyes and flirtatious expression. His stare turned awfully dark, almost ominous, a certain intensity glinting in his hard eyes. He watched her carefully, examining her expression, which must have seemed rather stunned, as if trying to discern which of words she had spoken, if any, had been true.
The two stood there for what felt like decades to the mage, the assassin trying to read her cryptic countenance, and the mage trying to determine what he was trying to accomplish by staring at her so fiercely. Slightly intimidated, Lux shifted a little bit against the door, trying to gently work her hand out of his grasp, but he did not let go. Instead, he stepped the tiniest amounts forward, keeping the silence but not breaking eye contact. Lux watched in anticipation, waiting for Talon to make his move, whatever it might be.
With a husky voice, the assassin finally spoke. "Kiss me."
She didn't have to be told twice. Lux wrapped her arms around the assassin's neck, dutifully pressing her lips against his. Talon pulled her close, molding her body to his in a manner that evoked a small whimper from the mage. The hand that had been holding her wrist instead fell to her waist, his thumb running over her ribs. She sighed against his lips, caught up in the feeling of kissing a man she had been dreaming about for the better part of forty-eight hours, and as her lips parted slightly, Talon took that opening to catch her bottom lip in his mouth, repeating a knee-weakening trick he had played on her years ago. His upper teeth grazed lazily over her lip, sending shivers through the blonde's spine, and as her fantasies became a reality, Lux found her nails digging into his muscled back.
"Wait, Talon..." Lux breathed, despite herself, as she began to remember exactly who she was kissing.
But the assassin made no motion to stop. Lux considered pushing him away, but then a hand slithered up her hamstring, settled on her rear, and lifted to press her hips against his. All opposition was lost as Talon flattened her back against the door and shifted against her womanhood in a way that sent a rush of pleasure through her abdomen. Talon caught her breathy moan in a heated kiss while Lux, succumbing to a rush of lust, ran her hands down his toned chest and began to unbutton his shirt. His hands pushed the sleeves of her dress away, uncovering her bare shoulders to the cold air. Brushing her hair away, the assassin exposed her neck, leaning in to suck on her sweet flesh. Lux writhed under his touch, nipples hard and thoughts muddied as he began to kiss down her neck, all the while peeling the dress away from her.
Deftly, he unhooked her bra, removing the final barrier before planting a cool kiss on an exposed nipple. Lux breathed a strained moan, twining a hand in his hair as she processed the jolt of pleasure shooting through her body. A teasing tongue flicked against the tip of her breast and Lux felt her breath hitch in her throat, captivated by the sensation, but needing more than just the tap of a tongue. Squirming beneath his touch, Lux found herself grinding against his groin, attempting to release some of the pent up anticipation that was only building within her. But the assassin soon put a stop to that, gripping her hip firmly and holding her as still as he could.
"Careful." He breathed huskily, almost as if he was having difficulty controlling his own desire.
He moved back to her lips, capturing them once again in a hungry kiss, while his knuckle came to brush over the top of a wet nipple. Grabbing his hand forcefully, Lux pressed his palm into her breast, as if to tell him to forget the teasing and just touch her. The assassin seemed to have no qualms about molding her flesh to his touch, working her soft skin in his hand, on occasion gently pinching a nipple and playing with it in a manner that made Lux forget about the rest of the world, if she hadn't already.
Conjuring all the wherewithal she could find, Lux released her hold on the assassin's hair and relocated her attention to his belt buckle. She unbuckled and unzipped his trousers easily, and effortlessly slipped a hand in his pants. With a delicate stroke of his manhood, Lux felt the assassin release a shaky breath and press his forehead into the crook of her neck. Repeating the motion twice, she heard the smallest of grunts escape Talon's lips, and she intended to unravel the assassin as much as he was unwrapping her, but he stopped her before she could go too far.
Strong hands wrapped around her wrists, pulling them above her head and pinning them to the door, securely fixed to the surface by only one of his own hands. With his free hand, Talon slipped beneath the line of her panties and teasingly brushed his forefinger against her clitoris. Lux bucked her hips against the assassin's finger, yearning for more pressure. But none was given. The assassin's hand shifted, thumb replacing the forefinger, but no less teasing in its assault of her nerves. The mage let loose a frustrated cry as the assassin's middle finger began to ghost along her slit, tormenting her and offering no method of release.
He continued to tickle and toy, nearly driving Lux insane. Her back arched off the wall as she ached to come in contact with his flesh. The tops of her breasts brushed against his muscled chest, once again igniting lust within the mage. A deep chuckle sailed past Lux's ears, heightening her frustration as she realized exactly how much enjoyment the assassin was receiving.
"Talon," She breathed. "Please."
Lux watched a dark smirk play on the assassin's lips as he slipped a finger inside. The mage released a cry of satisfaction, and barely managed to register Talon's following words.
"You have no idea what it does to me to hear you moan at my touch," He ground out huskily as he slipped in yet another finger and began to stimulate the mage.
"To feel you beg for me," He continued, quickening his fingers. With eyes shut tight and eyebrows pulled together, Lux gasped for air as he played with her, feeling the oncoming rush of an orgasm.
"To watch you come." Talon finished as she felt the surrender of her senses, overcome with only the intense feeling of pleasure.
The assassin captured her post-orgasm breaths in a steamy kiss, all the while Lux tried to regain her sense of mind. Clarity came back to the mage and she felt a momentary pause while she realized what had happened to her and who had caused it. As that realization dawned, Lux knew she was faced with the decision of either continuing down the path which she was headed, or denying the assassin altogether. She knew which was the more responsible decision, which was more proper, but, as the assassin moved against her lips, hungry and passionate, Lux knew she was too far gone to ever deny him.
Talon, for his part, wasted no time, releasing her hands and sliding off her underwear. Lux offered the assassin the same favor, until the two were standing stark naked, panting in heat for the other. He gripped her rear again, lifting her hips and allowing Lux to wrap her silky legs around his waist. Slowly, the mage guided his length into her, feeling his fingers pinch her flesh as he experienced the wave of pleasure. Lux rocked slowly against Talon, breathing heavy sighs in his ear, full of need for the assassin. She held tight against him as he moved from the door over to the plush bed, gently laying her back down against the sheets.
From there he continued to thrust harder and faster into the mage, seeking his own release. Pulling on his neck, Lux directed his mouth towards hers, trying to enjoy the feel of his lips while he moved within her, but soon the tension became too high, the pace too fast, and the blonde could only lie there, close her eyes, and feel the bliss coursing through her.
"I'm… close…" She somehow managed to squeak out as the tension continued to build.
Talon grunted as his pace quickened until it eventually became erratic. A sensation of pleasure crested in Lux for the second time that night and, not too long after, she felt her partner find a release of his own.
All that the couple could do in the moments following the orgasm was breathe. Lux stared up at the assassin with glazed eyes and what she was sure were incredibly red cheeks. Talon gazed down at her almost tenderly, but still decidedly intensely. After a moment of staring, the assassin grabbed a hold of her waist and moved her over on the bed, shifting her head near a pillow, before laying down on the mattress himself. Turning to face the man, Lux watched him as he stared at the ceiling, chest still heaving as he tried to regain his breath. Once a few more moments of silence had passed, Talon finally spoke.
"Fuck." He exhaled slowly, echoing Lux's sentiments entirely.
Shifting closer to the assassin, Lux carefully placed her head on the area between his shoulder and his pectoral. She let a soft hand place itself on his stomach, running over his abdominal muscles with her forefinger. Soon enough, she caught her breath, and the thoughts began to rush back to her.
The first thought was that she certainly couldn't sleep in Talon's room. She might oversleep and then there was a high probability someone might catch her if she didn't leave early enough. But Lux was an early riser, so perhaps she'd be able to make it back to her room before anyone noticed. That was, of course, if nobody noticed that night. There were still people down below, and while she had excused herself from the conversation, she hadn't properly said goodnight, and her mother tended to be fairly strict about those sorts of things. But maybe she could get away with it. A thumb ghosting along the skin of her back was doing little to help her depart. And the longer his digit pressed soothingly against her tense muscles, the less she felt like leaving.
"I should probably go back to my room." She sighed, staring at his bare chest. "The only problem is, I don't want to."
"Then don't." He replied calmly and easily, as if the decision was so obvious.
"I'll need to be in my bed before the household starts to get up." She reasoned, as if trying to explain her predicament, but Talon only grunted, effectively dismissing her argument.
In the end, Lux never did find the will in herself or the energy in her body to lift herself up and walk back to the guest room. Instead, she drifted off quietly into a sweet sleep, snuggled right next a Noxian assassin, a man she was sure had been trying to kill her for the better part of two years, Talon Du Couteau.
Fortunately for the mage, Lux woke early the following morning as the first rays of light streamed into Talon's room. Her eyes fluttered open, and it took Lux a moment to fully digest where she was and why she was there, naked, no less. But eventually understanding dawned on the mage and she sat up gently, careful not to wake the assassin. She gingerly got out of bed and began to dress herself, fully intending to return to her room and sleep the rest of the morning until her mother forced her awake and ready to leave for Demacia.
But as she pulled on her sundress, something stirred in the back of the mage's mind. The books. Glancing to the bookcase, she saw them sitting there plainly, nondescript, as if they might be just like all the other texts on that shelf. Immediately, she searched for Parfuin Gúl as well, but as was expected, that text had been hidden a little more secretively. She turned back to the two books she had spotted in the library and began to debate what to do with them.
While the scholar in Lux told her to grab the books and leave, there was some hesitation within the mage. Talon. She had slept with him. It was bad enough she was leaving before he awoke, but to steal the books as well? That was a certain guilt she'd rather not have. Of course, the other alternative was to just leave them be, but Lux could not agree to that either. Ultimately, she decided to take the books, but not before finding a pen and piece of paper to leave the assassin a note where the texts had been, stating simply, "I didn't do it for the books."
And so the mage left easily and without opposition, returning to her room with two invaluable sources of information. Instead of sleeping, like she had intended to, Lux immediately started to read, consumed by the knowledge finally available to her. The book titled Absolution revealed itself to be a confusing and thick read, especially without the definition of a fëa. So, Lux turned to the newer text titled The Intricacies of Ancient Shuriman and easily found the entry for the word which she sought. While the description could not have been more than a paragraph long, its effect on the mage was profound. She had finally discovered exactly what a fëa was, and safe to say she was chilled to the bone with the information she had gained. The fëa was indeed some sort of essence, almost a representation of life, an intangible thing with incredible weight. It was a soul.
Author's Note: By the way, if you thought you spotted references to the tunes "Danse Macabre" and "Luck Be a Lady", you were right! ;)