A/n: Finally some relief from the UST! Here is Part 2 of this scenario. Pretty much PWP. Probably have lots of mistakes, I rush too much when writing smut. Please let me know what I need to fix!

Part II

Sofia took a deep breath, pulling the ties of her robe tighter. She was once again in the workroom she'd spent so much of her time in as a child and then as a teenager and true apprentice. It smelled of Cedric – herbs and vinegar and honey and just….him. It was simultaneously comforting and arousing, and she shifted from foot to foot, waiting nervously for everyone to be done below and for the chance to be alone with Cedric – to fix whatever madness she had begun for them both on that night almost two years ago.

Waiting was almost painful. She was full of energy - she almost vibrated with it, and it crackled over her skin in eager little flares. She should be beyond tired. Given that they'd been racing toward the dawn to chase the sun, it had been a bit less than a full day from the moment Aunt Tilly and Miss Winifred had burst into her room in Avalor. It had seemed longer. She'd fallen into an exhausted sleep the moment the Jaquin-pulled carriage had taken off after she'd waved goodbye to Elena and Mateo. Two hours later she'd woken up, disoriented, to see Aunt Tilly calmly working on her knitting while Miss Winifred snored softly beside her.

"Oh good, Sofia, you're awake. I'm glad we have this time to chat," she glanced over at Winifred, "Alone."

What followed was an embarrassing conversation about sex, in which Sofia had admitted to having studied a fair few erotic texts in order to impress Cedric with her commitment to knowledge, and to him. Relieved that Sofia would be an eager and knowledgeable, if not experienced, participant in any sexual activity that resulted from magical bonding, Tilly then went into excruciating detail with regards to methods of preventing pregnancy and thus delaying the need to marry, or even to tell King Roland, about the bond between Cedric and Sofia.

"You see, my dear, it will take time for Roland to fully warm up to the idea. He will get there, he usually makes the right decisions in the end, and he loves you and will want you to be happy. But more than that, you are a newly made Duchess, with new and valuable lands. A lot of diplomatic coups can be made if the idea that you are an eligible party is still on the table. Obviously, it would be impossible for you to marry anyone but Cedric, but that doesn't mean you can't use whatever advantages you can to solidify your position. Just wait a few years if you can."

Sofia had been uncomfortable with the idea of lying and delaying a marriage for the sake of politics, but the more she thought about it, the idea of sneaking around with Cedric was actually rather thrilling. She had so many fantasies of the two of them in illicit situations throughout Enchancia and beyond, it would be a shame to not be able to realize them. And she certainly understood the political advantages. It wasn't truly lying – for she was a terrible liar. It was just letting people believe what they wanted to believe. That she had been able to do blissfully well for years.

Then Aunt Tilly fell asleep, and Miss Winifred cracked open an eye. "Oh good, she's asleep. I need to talk to you about so many things, love! And I know you'll probably turn red with embarrassment, but there are things you need to know before you can help my Ceddy."

Sofia had an eerily similar conversation, managing with surprising ease to assure Winifred that she was not naive as to how sex happened, without having actually experienced the act. Winifred had heartily approved of her search for knowledge, bemoaning how so many girls were not suitably curious and were not taught even the basics! Then she'd started in on birth control.

"You know how much I've longed for more grandchildren before I get too old to make them flycakes and chase after them, but I'm not completely decrepit yet. Cedric still has a few good years and you are still very young. And let's not think about the difficulties that a new duchess will have in establishing control over that beautiful little island! No, you don't need children yet. Just have some fun with my boy. He deserves it!"

Sofia feared that she would be permanently scarlet, when they had finally come in to land at Filamondria. Her beautiful island – she was so happy to be back, even for just a little while. It was not quite fully dawn when they arrived, and the sky was a cerulean blue touched with the pink and orange of the coming sun. Her heart sang when they landed, as though it recognized that this land would one day be home.

She'd thanked the Jaquins profusely, and as the carriage was prepared with the rested flying horses, she'd then spent a few hectic moments with a sleep Ruby, her island steward, as she listed all of the ongoing projects and accomplishments of the colonists. The trolls had performed wonders carving homes in the rocky volcano cliffs to the east of the island, and the merpeople had a thriving community in a pretty little gulf on the west side at the outlet of the major river. Fields had been worked and planted, and animals had taken well to what pasture was available. With a shared hug of deep affection and thanks, Ruby had sent her off with an admonishment to finally, "Get your man!"

The rest of the trip was mostly in silence as Tilly and Winifred both slept, and Sofia poured over the scrolls that Mateo had magically copied for her. So still couldn't understand a word of the beautiful pictoral script of the ancient Maru, but the detailed pictures depicting massage strokes and directions and key energy points seemed mostly self explanatory. She did her best to stare at them and memorize them, but with each mile she'd grown more distracted, her magic pushing within her skin and she tried more and more to reign it in and keep her magic from inundating the carriage. The closer they got to Enchancia, to Cedric, her magic knew that its partner was close.

It was deep midnight when they had arrived with a muffled thump and no fanfare in a field behind the stables. No hugs from Mom or dramatic squeals from Amber. Instead, Tilly and Winifred alone had smuggled Sofia into the castle swathed in a heavy cloak and hood, and she could enjoy only the scents of the grass under her feet and then the crunch of pebbled paths in the garden before they were at the secret garden door of Cedric's Tower and then up the stairs.

The Tower fairly buzzed with magic, as though the stones themselves were getting ready to fly apart. Wormwood had squawked at her raucously, "I blame you, Princess, for this horrid mess! You have been gone far too long. Fix it. Fix it this instant!"

"I plan on it. Now shush! Go out and fly about and bother some owls!" She shooed him away, not wanting him anywhere near for what she was about to have to do. Tilly and Winifred stared at her, perplexed as ever by her behavior with animals, as Cordelia came up to the workroom from Cedric's hidden apartments beneath.

"Thank the Goddess and all her lovers you are here, finally! I thought I would never get a break. My brother is a very difficult man to keep in a magically induced coma, stubborn fool that he is!"

"Cordelia! Be nice to your brother. He is very very ill."

"He's also damn lucky to have found someone willing to bond with him. Goddess knows how powerful he is going to be after all this and he'll hold it over my head for the next century. I'm going home!" She stomped her foot, her wilted but still incredibly colorful skirts swirling around her ankles, and the next moment she was gone in a puff of green smoke. Sofia smiled softly. She knew Cordelia loved her brother, and the exhaustion that had been written on her face showed how much.

"Stay here dear." Tilly patted Sofia's arm, then looked her up and down. "You might want to try and freshen up a bit. It's likely to be a long night for you, after a very long day. We'll be up soon and then you can see him."

Tilly and Winifred went down the stairs to Cedric's bedroom, and Sofia was left alone with her thoughts. Plucking her wand from the sleeve of her simple blue traveling dress she'd donned back in Avalor, she whispered a series of spells that cleaned her skin and her hair, then transformed her chemise and bloomers into a night dress, the traveling dress into a blue robe, and her shoes into slippers. One more spell to make certain that she was not fertile, and she set her wand on the old scared worktable, home of a thousand potion mistakes and even more successes, and so many memories. And then she paced, pulled on the ties of her robes and fiddled with her Amulet, and waited.

She started like a scared rabbit when the door finally opened below and footsteps started up the stairs. A very tired Goodwyn the Great, his wife Winifred, and Aunt Tilly all looked worriedly at Sofia.

Goodwyn spoke, concern thick in his voice. "I've taken away the heavy suppression spells on his consciousness. He should be awake soon, and the flares will hit hard. Are you certain you are willing to do this, my dear. You...you know..."

"I love Cedric, Mr. Goodwyn. I've loved him for a long time, and I could not imagine anyone I would rather be bonded to in any way." Then she silently asked the amulet to cease its aid, and let a flare blossom out from her skin, showing them all how much she'd been suppressing of her own predicament.

"Go, go now! My goodness child, hurry." Winifred pointed down the staircase, and Sofia scampered down the steps, filled with nervous energy and the simple joy of getting to see Cedric for the first time in over six months.

She closed the door behind her with a thud, and the sudden silence of being alone with him seemed to buzz in her ears. No, it wasn't silence, it was power. Sofia bit her lip hard, her body tingling with the power that was slowly starting to ooze from every pore, rose and pink and scarlet crackles of her very life force, her magic made manifest. She gazed at the figure lying on the high four poster bed. He was tall and skinny, his nose was too long and his hair was strangely two colors and a bit too long for fashion. He was clumsy and lacked confidence, but to her he was beautiful.

His skin, that which was uncovered by the cream robe, was pale, almost blue white from the deep blue and green energy which sparkled along his skin, dancing in desperate, angry patterns and flaring out toward her, as though pulling her forward. She fiddled again with the ties of her robe, still desperately nervous, worried that somehow Cedric was going to hate her, that she would ruin everything between them, that she was about to lose her very best friend.

But he needed her.

He opened his eyes, eyes which glowed with greenish blue fire. And he whispered softly, achingly - "Sofia…"

"I'm here Cedric. I'm here."

He whimpered softly and closed his eyes, a tear trailing down his cheek. "No, you can't be. You are safe. Far from me and safe."

Sofia worried at her lip again, filled with sudden decision, and pulled at the tie of her robe, letting it drop to the floor and leaving her in nothing but her conjured cotton nightdress. She shivered in the chill air, her skin prickling with crackling flares of her power. Walking forward across the thick rug, she stared at his beloved face, the stubble on his chin, the exhaustion and tension in every muscle. When she was at the foot of the bed, she kicked off her slippers and then boosted herself up awkwardly on to the high mattress, shuffling on her knees until she was kneeling at his feet. He moved slightly, as though trying but failing to flee, and thin misty tendrils of colored fire swirled out to meet skin, his to her, and hers to him. She reached out and placed her hand against the top of one long bare male foot.

She moaned at the pleasure that flowed up her arm, so sweet it made her teeth ache and her nipples pebble instantly. But Cedric, Cedric practically flew, his entire body arching off the bed, a harsh scream erupting from his throat. His skin sizzled with power, and thick flares of blue and green flowed across her skin, caressing, drawing her closer.

She obeyed, crawling forward, her hands skimming across his feet, his ankles and calves. She pushed at the bottom edge of his robe, her hands stroking along the outer muscles of his thighs under the cream fabric. His eyes opened again, the fire blazing high as he gasped with her every touch. She straddled his calves, and gingerly sat on him, simultaneously heaping blessings and cursed the thin fabric that separated her skin from his.

The instructive pictures from the scrolls flashed in her minds eye - she'd read it as quickly as she could, and the patterns of the movements seemed engraved in her memory. She wondered how much of him she could touch without moving his robe - how much of his dignity she could leave intact, no matter how much she was curious to see the skin and surprisingly firm muscles she was stroking. His power surged again, and this time the fabric was no barrier at all, and the inside of her thighs burned where his calves erupted in magical flames, her most intimate flesh throbbing. She screamed, short and sharp, slamming her eyes closed and trying to breathe deep and pull herself back from the brink of climax.

"Sofia?"

She opened her eyes, and stared straight into brown - still too bright, still burning, but at least not that unnatural color. This time Cedric knew she was really, truly here.

"Hello Mr. Ceedric." Her hands stroked upward, farther under his robe over his hipbones and bypassing the interesting bump in the center of him, following the pattern she'd seen in the book while trying not to relish the feel of his muscles under her fingers, the warmth of his skin. She had little idea that bending forward this way made her nightdress gape open at the neckline, revealing a great deal of her breasts and stomach to Cedric's stunned gaze. He gulped loudly, his Adam's apple bobbing.

"How…why…."

The robe had been stretched past endurance and fell open, splitting from hem to the loosely tied belt, and the thick erection that had been hidden beneath the layers of linen bobbed up practically under her chin. She gasped. He gasped louder.

"Merlin's saggy balls - Sofia, run. Get out of here. I'm not sure how long I'll remain sane. I'm so sorry for…"

Sofia cut him off with a whisper. "I love you."

He swallowed thickly, his eyes darting between her face, and his cock throbbing under her chin. "Sofia, you can't, you don't…"

Sofia's voice grew steadily stronger. "I know you don't want to bond your magic with mine, but I know that right now you need me. Even if you or I weren't magical, I would want to touch you, to feel your skin next to mine, to make you mine. Even if I had to do this just to save your magic, to save your life, I would gladly do so. But look at this!" She let her magic flare without restraint, and the red and gold pulsed in waves through the room, rippling and flowing through the blue and green and purple fire until they were surrounded by a pulsing rainbow that slowly became a soft white mist. "My magic, my life is at stake as well. If I can save us both by doing something I long to do anyway...why is it so terrible? If you truly can't stand the thought of me…"

"How could I not love you, Sofia?" His eyes were warm and dark and naked with what she realized was longing. "How could I not want you, to bind you to me forever, but you are far far too good for me, don't waste…"

But Sofia had heard enough. Forget the scroll. Forget trying to do this the polite way. For once in her life, she decided to do something bad. She bent her head, and softly licked the very tip of him.

He groaned, and began to thrash under her, the blue green fire returning to his eyes. "Damn you, Princess. Save yourself while you still can."

She smiled softly at him. "No, Master Cedric, I'm saving myself right now."

And she ran her tongue around the pulsing head of his cock, tasting him on her tongue and feeling her womb clench in response. The fire of his power was so strong, her tongue tickled deliciously, as though was was kissing lightning itself. He growled in response, a sound low and surprisingly sexy. She looked up at him watching her, his lips parted in shock and what she hoped was desire. She moved her hand to grip him, and the fire from her own hands combined with the glow of him, so concentrated around the pulsing length of him. She had never even seen an adult male's erect penis before, only what was on statues and badly drawn sketches in the girl's restroom at Royal Prep, and some very interesting books in the Royal Libraries in Tangu and throughout her travels. She'd heard whispers of the strangeness, the awkwardness of male anatomy, but she had to disagree. She found this part of him fascinating as all the rest.

She reached up her other hand to pluck loose the tie of his robe while sucking softly on the head of him, drawing another soft growl from him - he seemed once again unable to form words as the fire in his eyes burned bright enough to burn her clear to her center. The robe peeled back, revealing the plains of a firm stomach and the black swirls of tattoos covering his chest and outer thighs, just as she remembered from the one glance she'd had of him years ago. Her eyes widened, watching blue and green sparks swirl, following the runic patterns and her fingers reached up to trace a spiral below his left nipple. She left a rainbow behind, as the pink and gold of her own flames combined and merged with the burning green blue of his. She pulled back from him, letting him drop from her lips, and saw that everywhere she had touched him, she'd left the same burning multicolored paths, and as she looked at her hands, she realized she too was being altered, her hands full of a tingling rainbow of power more potent than she'd ever wielded before.

"Please…please…don't….don't stop." he gritted out though clenched teeth, and Sofia smiled up at him wickedly. She wrapped a shining palm around the base of him and sucked him into her mouth as deeply as she could, enjoying the firm pressure of him along her palette, and trying not to choke as he bumped the back of her throat. She still was working only from confusing instructions from books, but the interesting noises he was making, the roll of his hips toward her mouth, and the unending tingle of increasing power as he grew impossibly harder in her mouth made her feel confident that she was doing something right.

Her long travel braid fell to the side, tickling his inner thighs as she began to move up and down his length, simulating what she felt must be the motion of intercourse. She wanted to heal him, give him pleasure, but she didn't want to trap him into bonding – their magic or their bodies. Not that she was unwilling - not by any means, but he had never, in all the days she'd spent as his apprentice, all the hours shut away with him in his cozy tower, made the slightest inappropriate move, never once had she caught him looking at her with anything but friendship in his eyes before that fateful night they'd partially bonded.

He may have said he loved her - the words had been sweet, but she wanted to give him a choice.

She pulled away with a soft pop. "I want you, I want all of you Cedric. Say yes."

There as a long tense silence. Then a growl. "Yes, Titania's Tits, yes. You always get want you want Sofia."

She smiled that wickedly smug smile again, and lowered her head, sliding him and all the buzzing power of him into her mouth and brushing her tongue around the head of him, tasting the earthy salt of his flavor. She moved her hips where she straddled his calves, pressing her mound against the hardness of his shin. The power flowing both their skins pooled there against her heat and she moaned against him.

His hands finally moved, his long fingers threading through her hair as she took more of him deeper into her mouth and pressed him against the roof of her mouth, sucking hard. He gave a deep throated bark of her name and she felt him harden further and then flood her mouth with his salty, earthy essence.

And his power. So much power. Power slid down her throat and swept throughout her body, filling her from deep in her bones to surge into her skin. She let him slip from her lips as he continued to shake with his release, and she sat up, her body ablaze with light and her soul filled with a strange combination of unbearable arousal and sheer terror at the sheer volume of sensation. She never noticed when the clasp of the Amulet fell apart with a tiny click and slid down her body to lay unnoticed in the mussed sheets of the bed.

Sofia was shaking with the power she held, unable to see or hear or think, her body demanding something she couldn't fully understand. When Cedric laid his hands on her upper arms, she screamed, not sure if she was suffering with pain or extreme pleasure. He moved his hands soothingly over her arms and she calmed somewhat, the contact with his skin helping. She lifted her hands blindly to press against his bare chest, his skin so hot, the sparse hairs there tickling her palms deliciously. She moaned, then pulled away, yanking on the uncooperative fabric of her night dress and wanting no more barriers between them.

Cedric spoke softly, "Evanescet vestimenta" and then she was blissfully bare. He pulled her into his arms and she was sitting naked in his lap, his arms around her, her breasts pressed against his chest and his quickly recovering maleness trapped against her lower stomach. She gasped in shock and then moans, moving her breasts against his chest and relishing the sensations this caused in her hard nipples.

He kissed her then, his lips capturing hers and holding her as a willing captive. His mouth opened and she opened hers as naturally as breathing, welcoming his tongue as it taught hers to dance. Power surged between them, back and forth, colors swirling through them both, combining into a cocoon of rainbows to celebrate their union.

He moved to twist them on to their sides, and finally hovered over her, his wiry strength pressed against her own curves in all the best ways. His skin pressed against hers and she wrapped her legs around his thighs, arching her body into him, feeling sweet relief everywhere they touched, and yet her desire grew with those same sensations. He moved away from her mouth, pressing kisses to her jaw, her neck, her collarbone, as his hands skated over her hips, her ribs. One hand cupped a breast and Sofia opened her eyes wide, her vision returning to take in the glorious riot of color around surrounding them. She looked down to watch as he pressed a soft kiss to the hard peak of her nipple, the red gold flames dancing along her skin then disappearing into his mouth as he sucked the bud deep into his mouth.

She keened loudly and arched her body toward him. He cupped his hands around her shoulders to pull her flush to him, his body pressing her into the bed, his cock hard against her right thigh. She thrust her hands into his hair, holding him to her as he kissed and bit and sucked at her nipples, first one and then the other, and a tight, bright pleasure began at each nipple and sank into her womb where it waited hungrily for more.

Everywhere their skin met, flames of every color rose from their skin and combined, swirling and playing and breaking into white foam like a waves crashing into the coastline. It was a sensory feast that had Sofia shutting her eyes once again to retain her sanity in the blaze of pleasure and anticipation she was burning in.

Then Cedric nipped the skin on the underside of her left breast, making her gasp and open her eyes once again as he let go of her shoulders and pressed a line of quick, hard kisses to her stomach, one hip, and finally he settled his lean chest between her spread thighs and stared in open contemplation of her femininity.

She watched his face, wondering what he was thinking, trying to push away the sense of embarrassment that threatened to flood her. She knew she was slick and wet with need for him, and she knew what that meant – that she was more than ready to take his cock inside of her, if only he'd get on with it!

Instead he stared at her, his mouth slightly open in what she was beginning to believe was shock. Was something wrong with her down there?

Then he bent forward, pressing his long nose against her slick folds and he breathed in deeply. A single long, elegant finger stroked up her inner thigh and though those folds, exploring tentatively.

"You're so beautiful, Sofia. So soft and delicious. I never thought, I never could have hoped for this beauty." He spoke into the skin of her thigh, not taking his eyes from her vulva, from where his finger had found the swollen button at the top and had begun to stroke gently, lightly. She sucked in an enormous breath, tears gathering in her eyes at the sharp sweetness of that touch.

"Cedric!" was all she could say in response. "Please!" She hooked her legs over his shoulders, drawing to draw him closer.

Then his finger found her entrance, and Cedric pressed the tip of his tongue against her clit, and she couldn't stop her moans and screams and quick panting breaths as he took her higher and higher, holding down her hips with one hand as the other stroked that one finger within her tight channel. Then it was two fingers, exploring, caressing, and then stroking harder and faster, scissoring and pressing her open with gentle but firm pressure as his tongue and lips at her clit and folds drove her mad.

When he sucked her clit into his hot mouth, she broke, screaming his name and bucking her hips like a flying horse with a burr under her saddle. But he held her down, made her come hard enough to see stars, and the colors around them intensified, solidified, the flares growing hotter like actual flames as her bliss crested.

Cedric pushed his tongue into her entrance after sliding his fingers free, and he drank her down, the flood of sweet tangy pleasure irresistible, as was the flood of her power into him. He glowed with it, shone with it, his eyes burning with a thousand colors of flame as he looked up at her, his mouth and chin slick with her juices.

"Sofia." He spoke reverently, lovingly, yet his voice echoed deep with ancient power, making her stomach knot once again with intense need, despite the release she'd just had. "Sofia, I don't want to hurt you, to lose you. Our magic wants to combine, to bond us completely, and I'm terrified."

That he could admit such a thing was amazingly brave. She smiled at him as he hovered over her, holding himself over her, waiting for her. She buzzed with magic and lust and need for this man on every level – her heart, her body and her soul.

"This has been done before, Cedric – both recently and in the ancient past. The Maru had whole scrolls devoted to bonding. This is completely natural, and completely what I want. I want to bond with you more than anything."

He closed his eyes, almost with pain, before opening them to smirk at her, "And you couldn't tell me this before and relieve my misery? You couldn't come and try to make me give in to all your teasing seduction?"

She raised an eyebrow in perfect imitation of him. "I only just found out today. I came as soon as I could."

"Oh, you'll come all right. I may not have any experience but I have a very very good imagination when it comes to you, and a very extensive library."

She grinned in response and sat up enough to curl her hands over his shoulders, pulling him upward. He crawled up her body, and she could feel the hardness of his throbbing cock settle into the cradle of her thighs, brushing through the wetness of her recent pleasure. She thrust her hips up and Cedric groaned loudly.

"You are going to make me into a liar and make me come again before we can finish this bonding, Duchess."

She moaned at the word on his lips, unsure why it made her throb with need. "So stop all the delays and come inside me, merge your magic and your body with mine."

He stared into her eyes, and she grew silent and serious. Ignoring the power surging over her skin or the heat in her womb, she laid her heart open. "I love you, Cedric. I am already yours, and have been for a very long time. I will be yours forever."

His mouth fell open again, his eyes losing the fires of power to be replaced with his own liquid amber, and she could see so much there – awe and need and fear and love – so much love. "I love you, Sofia. You've broken me and remade me whole. I've been yours for a long, long time. I'll be yours always."

Those vows filled her heart, and happy tears stung her eyes. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down to kiss him. They kissed for long, passionate minutes, where they learned each other's mouths, the rhythm of each other's breath, and tasted the flavor of their own pleasure on each other's lips. Eventually, their instincts could not be denied, and Sofia rolled her hips in impatient circles, and Cedric groaned and thrust against her. Magic flared out once more, twisting and turning and merging around them, filling the room with more and more light, until they made love in the bright light of noon rather than the depths of the night.

There was no room for shyness though. Cedric reached down between them, once again thrusting a long finger inside of her, testing the slickness he found there, then he moved up once again to her clit, rubbing her in soft circles until she screamed out in frustration with this lonely pleasure.

"Now, Cedric! I need all of you!"

He swallowed thickly. "I don't want to hurt you."

She blew out a frustrated breath, and placed her hands against the tattoos on his chest and directed her flares straight into his skin. He groaned aloud, pumping his hips against hers as he glowed with the flood of her power and need. He was gorgeous as his power, green and purple, red and gold and brilliant white, flared out of him and back into her, desire made magically potent.

"Now!" she whimpered, desperate.

He finally gave in, and it was a wonderful surrender. He grasped his cock and placed it at her entrance, and she was so lost in her need she didn't tense up, welcoming the slow push of him, the slight burn of her slick walls as they stretched farther than before. He fought with everything in him to go slow, to let her adjust, he wasn't even halfway with in when she lost patience with him. She needed him, his body, his magic, inside of her completely. She wrapped her legs around the hard muscles of his arse and pulled herself up, impaling herself.

She sucked in a breath at the burn, but it was pushed aside completely as the magic surrounding them seemed to enter into her as his body had, thrusting into her body and straight into every nerve, bringing a tingling pleasure from her quim to her fingers, her toes to her nose. She tightened her legs higher, her feet pressing into his lower back, her hands wrapped around his ribs to stroke over the swirling tattoos on his upper back.

He hissed between clenched teeth, his eyes shut tight as he stayed preternaturally still except for the throbbing of his pulse within the stiff cock inside of her. She wriggled, impatient, needing him to move inside of and instinctively rubbed her clit against the sharp bone of his pelvis as he pressed into her.

"Stop, Sofia. You impatient, impossible woman. I can't...this...this in beyond anything I could imagine and I'm trying very hard not to disappoint you by spending my seed in the next three seconds." He kissed her lips softly, barely moving his body, and it was so innocently sweet that it shocked her with the sense of complete adoration.

So she waited, letting their magic swirl together inside of her, feeling as it moved back and forth between them with every shared breath, moving with the throb of their pulses. There was no going back. Their magic could never be torn apart now. They could never be torn apart. The realization made her heart swell. She would never be away from him for so long again.

She was so lost within them, in feeling their shared magic, that she gasped in shock as Cedric withdrew slowly. The loss felt devastating, terrible and burning and ….oh goddess, he thrust back in and it was so good, so right. Again, and again, out and then in. She learned to move her hips in his rhythm, their rhythm. The sensation of him sliding within her, of their magic twisting and merging, was addictive, and went from good to great to amazing to...guh, no words. Nothing but heat and sweat and light and magic. Faster and faster. He angled his hips differently, testing her reactions, and she adjusted her grip on his sides, moving her legs higher until – oh, there! There!

Hard thrusts, fast breaths, teeth biting into a shoulder, nails raking over hot slick skin. Magic merged, fractal rainbows turning to white clouds of hot mystical steam. His pleasure was hers, and hers was his. She clenched internal muscles she had only read about, knowing it would drive him over the edge and feeling his shock and pleasure as her own. He pressed fingers to her clit, knowing it was what she needed, feeling the bolt of pleasure swirl up her spine as though it was his own. Names were spoken into the hot air, thick with magic, names and pleas and sharp grunts and unspoken promises made binding vows. And after long moments hovering at the peak, they shattered, pleasure blazing, shrieking through her, and then him, and the magic exploded out of them both.

The tower shook, solid rock grating and shivering, and the room was a brilliant white, brighter than the hottest midday in the deserts of Tangu, bright as burning magnesium for his most arcane potions. Magic glowed through them, around them, and threatened to destroy them, except for a small sucking sound, so quiet neither of the exhausted and terrified lovers could hear it over the sound of their harsh breaths. But soon enough, the tower stopped shaking, and the light that made them both clench their eyes shut and hold each other so tightly in the fear for the other's safety dimmed to soft gold, and then orange, and then there was no light in the room except for a soft rose pink glow hidden beneath the cream flannel sheets.

Still embedded within Sofia, unwilling to be parted from her, Cedric flicked over the fabric and picked up the broken chain of the Amulet of Avalor, holding it gingerly in one hand. They both stared at it, and Cedric began to chuckle softly, and Sofia was shocked by the oddly arousing sensation of feeling him laugh while he was still within her. She thought she would be utterly drained from the incredibly intensity of pleasure followed by sheer terror that they were about to die, but no, she still wanted him. She chuckled too, and then they were both laughing hysterically, then kissing, then moaning as he hardened once again inside of her, and she arched her hips into his, asking for more.

He pulled away slightly, reluctantly kneeling and sitting up, though she still had her legs wrapped around him and she wouldn't let him go far. "I find it very entertaining that a magic object which has been used for centuries to aid the princesses of several realms with potent magic, apparently obtains the power for that magical aid from a very non-innocent activity."

Sofia chuckled again, moving her bare foot along his spine and enjoying the instinctive thrust of his hips at the sensation. "It's an artifact from Maru. And apparently they were not nearly as prudish as most cultures seem to be today."

She clenched those newly discovered muscles again and Cedric tensed, his teeth gritting as he sucked in a breath. Still holding the Amulet, he leaned down to grab her upper arms and hauled her to sit on his lap. He slid out of her during this process, and she whimpered in disappointment. "You must be hurting, Sofia. I was not nearly as gentle as I wished to be."

"You were everything I needed. And The only pain I feel is the pain of wanting you to be inside me once more." His eyes flared with fire once more – and magic crackled softly over his skin, pure white this time but softer, subtler, but still potent enough to make her burn for him again. With his empty hand he reached for her bedraggled braid, gently pulling the strands apart and watching as her auburn hair fell to her waist in soft waves. She shook her head slightly, delighting in the heat in his eyes as he looked at her.

Then he reached his hands around her neck, draping the Amulet across her collarbone and whispering a spell to mend the clasp perfectly. He stared at the jewel for a brief moment, before his eyes fell to the dark pink peaks of her nipples, and she felt his lust throb against her folds. She moved her hips, straining to move him inside her again, and he helped, pressing just so until he was sliding inside of her easily, and she felt all was right with the world once again.

"I think you better keep the Amulet on for a while yet, Sofia. It probably needs to be recharged thoroughly, given how much trouble you've gotten into over the years."

She wrapped her arms around his neck, and pulled him in for a kiss as she rolled her hips, and let her own pure white magic link again with his, and they were lost to anything else for the rest of the night.

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In the morning, The show of lights had to be explained away by the assorted magic users as part of Cedric's fever finally breaking. It took days for him to recover, and none of the Royal family was allowed to visit, for fear of contagion. The day he finally was recovered enough to leave his tower, Sofia unexpectedly arrived with no announcement and without fanfare, saying that she was just too homesick to wait another moment to come home. Strangely enough, neither Cedric or Sofia seemed to be able to walk very well, and seemed every bit as close as if she had never left. So odd.