IV. Fire

Diaval takes Maleficent's hand and helps her to lie down in the nest he's built for them. It is not an easy thing, this careful arranging of wings and horns. He folds his discarded tunic and tucks it beneath the curve of her neck—seeing to her comfort before she even need ask.

Familiar territory, in a situation altogether unfamiliar.

This cannot be an easy thing for her either - such intimacy - for many reasons he knows and for others he perhaps never will. For all that she has opened her heart, she keeps a hundred private hurts and joys and fears as closely drawn around her as the robes she wears.

Robes that lie pooled beneath her now.

Diaval lets his eyes take her in for the first time, and can scarcely breathe. She is more exquisite than he could have imagined. The most beautiful creation on the earth—his own mate. His wife.

He stretches out beside her, trembling, too awestruck to touch her.

She watches him, still and silent. Waiting.

Diaval understands what she will not voice, and it does strange things to his heart. Always he has followed her lead, awaited her command. Now, she needs him to be the one to go ahead. To be the first to take the risk.

And so he does.

His first caresses are tentative, and achingly tender. He cannot stop his hands from shaking—half from excitement and half from fear, for he has no idea how he might please her.

But then Maleficent smiles and places her hand on his, and both their fears melt away.

They lose themselves in the joy of discovery. Scents, tastes, textures (so many). Sounds that take Diaval apart and put him back together again, all in an instant. And through it all is a stirring of embers between them, smoldering hotter and hotter with every passing second.

Maleficent's cool fingers somehow turn to fire, setting Diaval's every nerve alight as they crackle against his skin. She tastes of lightning, burning his tongue. He thinks he could turn to ashes in her arms and never let go.

They join at last, and their connection is the molten center of the entire world. They solder themselves together, body and soul—forming a bond stronger than any iron man has ever forged.

Indestructible.