Fireheart [Fanfiction - Alternate Universe]

Breaking Bonds

[Header image is Elide Lochan]

"You look pissed off, what happened?" Nehemia asked as she sat next to Celaena in the cafeteria at lunchtime.

"I'm fine, girl."

Nehemia looked at her, poker-faced, and waited.

"It's... nothing, really, I'm just tired."

"Let me guess, you didn't sleep too well this weekend." She winked, and Celaena covered her mouth with a hand as she swallowed her food.

"I will repeat this one more time, I'm not seeing anyone."

"So you're telling me I'm imagining the hickey on your neck that you tried to conceal with makeup?" Celaena's food got stuck on her throat, and she coughed once as she swallowed. "You did a pretty good job, but darling, I'm an expert."

She had spent a lot of time concealing the bruises from her face, but she hadn't paid much attention to the ones from when Cain had strangled her. Looking around the cafeteria, she made a fast decision.

"Okay, there's a chance I spent some time with a guy this weekend," she said begrudgingly. That was not a lie, there had been several guys after all. As if on cue, her phone vibrated, and she looked at it quickly. It was a text message from Fenrys.

'I know you miss us, come visit whenever you're in the neighborhood. XO'

She dropped the phone back into her bag and found Nehemia looking at her intently.

"Stop it, I will tell you soon, okay?" She needed a little while to make sure her plan could work.

Nehemia crossed her arms over her chest as she pouted. "Friends tell each other shit, you know?"

There wasn't a whole lot she could tell Nehemia, but there was a chance she could do something to get answers for some of the questions that were going to keep on raining on her.

"Give me one minute, okay?" Celaena smiled at her only friend and stood up. She might as well just get it done and over with.

She crossed the cafeteria towards the table where Dorian was sitting and pushed an empty chair next to him. He raised his eyebrows at her as she sat down, and smiled a wicked smile.

"Missing me already?"

She was probably going to regret her decision, but it was a good bet, it could work in her favor in many ways.

"I know what I need from you, ready to pay me back?" she whispered into his ear, making sure no one else on the table could hear them.

Dorian's smile grew wider, and he leaned to whisper in her ear. "And what would that be?"

Damn, she was certainly going to regret this sooner or later, but if she had read Dorian right during the last couple of weeks, she knew she could handle it, and he would be up for it. She hooked an arm around his shoulder as she leaned into his neck, and whispered against his skin.

"I need the school to think we're dating, just for a while."

She pulled away slowly, biting her lip as she looked at him in the eyes. Those impossibly blue eyes traveled down to her lips, and he set one hand on her thigh as he leaned forward to whisper against her neck once more.

"I knew you wanted me, babe." His tone was mocking, and he laughed as he pulled away. He seemed to think it over for a moment as if evaluating the pros and cons of the arrangement.

After a minute, he nodded almost imperceptibly and then lifted a hand, holding her chin softly with two fingers. He leaned forward slowly, his eyes glued to hers as if waiting for her approval. As she blinked once, slowly, he pressed his lips gently against hers, barely touching her. "You should go finish your lunch, babe, I will catch you later." He said the words loud enough for the whole table to hear him, and then winked at her. Celaena got up slowly, her brain all fogged up.