A Dragon's Heart (Book Three in the APK Trilogy)

Extras (Fan Requests) | Four

PLEASE READ: These two fan requests are canon, with the first written before they get married, and the second written after (not that it really matters for context!) The second one is a little bit ... spicy. So I am attaching an R16-18 warning to the 2nd part of this chapter only. Please use own judgement. There is implied nudity, but NO s*x or adult language.

I was a little bit conflicted about whether or not to post it as I wasn't sure if Obsidian was acting out of character ... but then I thought that these two, as married pirates, would definitely play this script out at some point xD

I recommend listening to this song for the first one! It's what I was listening to while writing.

1. Cloak of Darkness

Circe still dreams of Obsidian's death occasionally.
Angst, love, and a touch of nostalgia.

( I was listening to the slowed/reverb version of 'Pieces' by Redand omg I got way too angsty and emotional I'm sorry)

The night was still, and the ship was silent, but Circe couldn't sleep.

She sat up in their bed, running one hand through her heavy golden curls as she attempted to shake the nightmare that had caused her to wake. It had been a bad one, they had been on top of Oroden Anar in the Elven Kingdom, and although those memories had not haunted her in some time, when they did, they were as clear as if they had happened merely yesterday.

Sighing, her other hand reached out to rest on Obsidian's chest, his steady breathing offering her comfort. Her gaze lingered on his sleeping face, and unable to help herself, she curled over him protectively, placing a chaste kiss on his cheek. Carefully, so as not to wake him, she nuzzled her nose against his, her eyes slipping closed as she breathed him in deeply.

It was alright. He was right here in front of her. He was still alive.

But for some reason tonight she just couldn't shake the memory of that moment. The moment golden hellfire had raged down upon the only man she loved, scorching his existence from the earth in a matter of seconds. The rapidness with which her world had crumbled had been breathtakingly fast.
She felt the heat as clearly as if she were there, felt the strain in her throat as she had screamed in anguish, felt the ugly blistering of melting skin as she had reached into the flames in a pitiful attempt to salvage anything ... anything that was left.

Her eyes burned hotly now, stinging with unshed tears and she pulled away from him, unwilling to wake him. Trying to force down the lump in her throat, she slid out of bed on silent feet and grabbing his large coat from the hook by the door, she slipped out onto the moonlit deck.

She was being silly, she knew this. As she steadily climbed up the rigging towards the crow's nest, she berated herself in vain. Obsidian was alive. He was by her side every day, they lived on a ship after all. Everything had been resolved in a manner that she only could have dreamed of during that horrible time in her life.

She had been stripped of meaning once before, had loved and lost, been betrayed and left torn, scrambling to fit together pieces of her life that had no interest in connecting.

And now she was more fulfilled everyday than she had ever been in her entire life. She had everything she could have ever wanted. She loved without abandon, she made the most of every second, she tried to act without regrets – was it because of this, because she had so much, that she then felt so incredibly fearful of losing it all again?