More Than Starlight (Lady Midnight Julian + Emma)

Chapter 1 - Why Lie?

"I can see why you chose me. I am here, and close, and it would have been easy for us to begin a relationship. We are neither attached to someone else. And you are, as I said, a beautiful girl, and hopefully you don't find me hideous."

"No," Emma said. Relief and a thousand other emotions sang through her veins. "Not hideous."

"So I suppose I only have one more question," Mark said. "But first -" He turned around, and very deliberately closed her door.

When he faced her again, he had never looked to her so much like one of the Fair Folk. His eyes were full of a feral amusement, a carelessness that spoke of a world where there was no human Law. He seemed to bring the wildness of Faerie into the room with him: a cold, sweet magic that was nevertheless bitter at the roots.

The storm calls you as it calls me, does it not?

He held out a hand to her, half-beckoning, half-offering.

"Why lie?" he said.

***

Emma was sitting on the bed, her blood turning to ice. She had prepared herself for all different possible outcomes of Mark's reaction, but none of that planning had prepared her for this. His mouth was quirked up at the side as he sauntered towards her. Her mind was racing with a thousand ways she could react, the mere seconds that passed seemed like hours. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. She had no response. No reason to tell him yes, but also no reason to reject him. Here he was, a beautiful man who cared for Julian as much as she did, she should consider herself lucky. But she didn't want that. She couldn't date Mark while she was still caught up on Julian, maybe in time but not now while she was still hurt.

"Mark, I told you. I don't want a relationship," She willed her voice out strong and arrogant but she could hear the uncertainty and weakness in it. His eyes were still fixed on her, his faerie grin unwavering.

"You don't have to want that. I will lie about the relationship for you, but your need to lie about us kissing among other things seems unnecessary. Surely we'll have to kiss in front of other people, much easier to do if we practice," He had reached where she sat on the bed and stood between her legs and spoke softer, lifting her face up with his finger, "Who knows," He leaned closer still, his eyes half-lidded, "Maybe you'll change your mind about  that relationship."

Part of her mind told her to back away, but the other part was so full of Julian and how pained she was to think about what she'd said to him that she welcomed anything else to fill her thoughts. Her skin aching to be touched and her lips aching for the warmth of someone else's drove her forward, crashing her lips against Mark's. He seemed almost surprised at her response, as if he had expected rejection. She looped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer, feeling tears stinging the corners of her eyes. Every kiss from Mark was a reminder of Julian, the reminder of what she had lost, but also what she never really had to begin with. She hadn't let herself cry over Julian, and she wasn't going to start now. Mark's hands moved from her face down to her back as his lips moved gracefully against hers. The way Mark kissed was different from his brother, more expert and precise rather than the inexperienced passion that Julian had. He placed one hand on the bed and kept the other on the small of Emma's back, lifting her slightly as laid her back on the bed, crawling on top of her. His tongue grazed the inside of her lip, something snapped inside of her; whether it was from grief or pleasure she didn't know. She gripped her nails hard into his back, tearing into his t-shirt before pulling it over his head and throwing it onto the floor. His multi-colored eyes darkened, one the color of the ocean during a storm and the other one copper. He surged forward, pushing her further up the bed with his hands gripping her hips. A low moan escaped her lips as his hands slide up the sides of her stomach underneath her shirt. She pulled at his bottom lip with her teeth, feeling a growl rise in his throat. He pulled her upright and lifted her shirt over her head, his lips barely leaving hers with enough time to catch a breath. His hands went up her back until they found her hair, she could feel a smirk on his face before her wound the ponytail around his hand and yanked it back, moving his lips down to her neck. Emma let her head roll back and her eyes close as his lips moved against her collarbone and the base of her neck when there was a knock at her door.