Flowers bloomed across a canvas in fantastic twirls.
Flowers which were representative of ballroom attendees in gowns of intricate design, the canvas being the pearly tile flooring of a cathedral in Piombino, Italy.
Wizards with thick beaded beards, swanky neck bows, and strange hats upon their heads guided lovely ladies in Victorian garb with painted faces around in a monotonous waltz of epic repetition.
It was a magical October wedding of lavish proportions; the ceiling was swimming with an enchantment depicting a multitude of sparkly golden sea creatures.
Ghosts of long dead relatives from as far back as the Antonine Plague were floating about, many confused by the seriously contemporary rhetoric employed by their living ancestors.
There was an odd assortment of dishes available which were seemingly alive; one inebriated gentleman kept ranting on in outrage to a concrete statue with no ability to care, let alone understand, that he'd been bitten earlier by what he thought was a Renetta apple.
The statue was relieved of the slurring complainant by a rather rascal female attendant, scurrying for escape between the crowd.
"Dove stai andando, ragazza?" the rotund man who looked pregnant with no less than triplets patted his belly button curiously. His watery eyes trailed after the adorable little seventeen year old girl with a gigantic pink bow flopping around on the top of her head, meandering her way through a cramped room full of onerous obstacles.
One white silk hand glove held in pilot mode, Audette divided insipid guest after insipid guest, crouched hunchback and determined to escape the festive aristocratic attendees - but not for the usual reason.
No, this was out of pure joy and giddiness.
This was due to a certain tall, dark and handsome creature.
Faces whirred by, faces chalk full of judgment and authority. The odd snag of an ankle spat or a long dress train garnished notable disposition as she tore through the crowd at half height, hoping foolishly for invisibility.
Finally she was at the double doors which led out the back of the ancient building. She glanced backwards once for her parents, noticing them speaking with the Italian Minister for Magic and not at all concerned with her whereabouts, then to where her governesses were actively spinning around in search of their missing prisoner, then pried open the door and slipped away.
The cathedral overlooked the crystal Tyrrhenian Sea, a long banking expanse of dewy grass leading from the courtyard to the rocky waterline. Out across a channel, lights could be seen glowing from the largely developed island Archipelago Toscano in the distance.
The air was humid and wonderfully stinky with the blowing winds of the nearby ocean, and everything was warm and exhilarating.
Audette took off her high heels, throwing caution and all sensibility out of the window, and clasped clumsily at the faraway train of her darling pink pastel cotton dress; feeling hindered in basic function by the latest modifications to her attire that year.
Upon reaching the age of seventeen, Audette's evolving figure apparently required more *complex* integrations.
Overnight the corsets increased in both rigidity and crushing power against her delicate ribs, causing bruising on the outer circumference of her torso where her mother relentlessly instructed the Bellarose governesses to pull tighter and tighter.
This was only the beginning, seeing as her crinoline cages had also evolved from horsehair to unforgiving steel, and each lining of her four-layer gowns was comprised of imported materials of the thickest fabric possible.
The ridiculous expectation to appear paper thin whilst bearing the weight of the titanic was every noble woman's nightmare.
She ran bare foot past a cluster of smoking gentlemen who turned in wonder as she barreled towards two tall boys standing in the shadows of a varietal citrus tree, barely visible below the moon.
"Little rose," in a princely silver suit Theodore Nott stepped forward with his arms out to embrace her when she dove to hug him violently, squealing in excitement and effectively crushing the pink flower he had placed in his front pocket so that they would match.
Audette kissed his face multiple times like a deranged wood pecker, causing the boy to wince, "I've already had far too much wine, and I'm positively elated to sail! Did you get it?"
"Douse your fires darling, if you reach a certain point of blood alcohol rating then I shall be held responsible for your impending illness," Theo warned, but with a delightful smile on his face. He too was drunk, if their plans to escape onto his sailboat were any indication.
He had been standing with his cousin Vincenzo, given that it was a member of his family who was getting married that evening.
Vincenzo, who looked quite a bit like Theodore when stood side by side, raised an arm and swirled around a large red wine bottle, dusty and expensive, having spent many decades aging gloriously in the wine cellar of his parent's rural estate.
He smiled at Audette, "Lei è selvaggia, Théo."
Theodore grunted and carefully dropped Audette down onto her tippy toes, "Non avete idea, cugino."
"Now, now, I'm not a total barbarian. You realize I can understand some of what you are saying, boys," Audette smirked at the two, but her sentencing could not be more ironic. She was currently in the process of shirking off her crinoline cage, proceeding then to barbarically toss the metal frame a few feet away into the darkness.
It rolled into a detached tractor wheel comprised of thin alloy, appearing like a gigantic rat trap under the torch light.
That was only the beginning of the madness, as she went on to tear off her cover dress all the way down to her pastel pink underdress, turning around with big eyes to Theodore pleadingly, who had been watching her strip disapprovingly, "Please, oh please, undo this dreadful thing."
He sighed heavily and began to rip at the cords on her corset as his cousin snickered next to them, "Audette, this is unbelievably indecent. You are lucky I am in a rare mood for accepting your vagrant behavior."
Once she was freed of all painful attire, Theo took the bottle from his cousin and placed it in a bag he had piled up at his feet, "Vincenzo - you are not coming. I wish to be alone with Audette this night, you understand?"
Vincenzo took the news well, reaching a hand up to clamp it down on Theodore's bony shoulder, "Oh you think you are so swashbuckling, with that beautiful sailboat and your beautiful Irish girlfriend. Why would I want to get in the middle of your bachi bachi?"
Theodore silently glared at his cousin, and Audette did not have to speak Italian to guess what had been implied from the look on his face. Vincenzo then dipped down to kiss Audette on both cheeks as was cultural in that region, and left.
As his cousin meandered off - more like staggered off in his current state - Theodore slumped his bag over his shoulder, then rolled up Audette's disregarded clothing as she twirled on the lawn, popping up onto her toes in loose ballet.
She had been so caught up in the motion that when she dropped her arms, her face sweaty and hot, she was surprised to see him watching her pensively.
He shook his head and shut his eyes, "You are identical to the ocean, Audette. Uncontrollable, yet elegant and awe striking. A source of life. You will carve a path through rock if it stands in your way."
She moaned through a goofy smile and wrapped her arms around his neck, "Then you are identical to a boulder; grounded and far too serious, and I will carve a path straight through you time and time again."
He kissed her nose daintily, turning her around to guide her towards the beach where he had anchored his sailboat; Inamorata, "Well in that case I assure you I am geodetic; my interior composition is crystalline in chemical structure, and it is all for you to discover."
With his arm hanging around her shoulders, Audette was quite certain that night as they walked down to the sea that she was the most rapturous she'd ever been. Her match was respectable, intelligent, loving, handsome, and he brought her to Italy often for romantic outings.
Life was pristine.
Looking up at him she was reminded that each passing year he grew more refined and attractive in every way. As of late her favorite quality was his hair, which had reached a record length. She was in love with the way his chestnut locks curled gently at just the tips, dragging nearly to his shoulders.
It was the ideal length for playing with, and she certainly played with it - even though the action caused his nose to scrunch up.
The evening was spectacular and hot, little mountainous waves in the sea channel catching moonlight at the tips.
The silvery celestial planet above looked to be twice it's normal size, pock marked with cheesy indentations.
Scraggly Mediterranean trees presented almost like creepy human figures in the dark, bending over the pathway in ominous silhouettes.
Down at the beach, the sand was littered with local green crabs, shimmying sideways and snapping their tiny pincers.
Audette yelped when one caught onto her underdress with fierce regard, ripping her wand out to blast it off, only for Theodore to stop her with a palm to her chest. He lifted the dress train, placed his thumb to a pressure point on the back of the crab, and it released, falling into the sand with a gentle poof.
Theo pinched Audette's chin with a sweet smile, his dark beryl blue eyes dancing all over her face, "Carcinus aestuarii. Virtually harmless, yet fond of starting nonsense altercations. Easy enough to pacify if one knows where to push. You aught to relate, being a Cancer crab yourself."
The Inamorata was driven into the sand at the center of the unpopulated beach, a magical ward cast around it to prevent trespassing or thievery. Theodore lifted Audette up to a ladder hanging down the side so she would not have to wade into the water, then began pushing it backwards into the sea.
When he climbed up the side the normally mopey and reserved boy shot into spider monkey mode.
Audette watched him yanking strongly on pulleys and sail lines, entranced by the way his brooding gaze read the response of each mechanism to the mild wind they had to work with, and how he cast his wand with grace and assertion to command a smooth sail.
When they were floating out into the bay he ripped off his suit jacket down to his grey waist coat, pink bow tie and white dress shirt, causing Audette's heart rate to take off with the ship.
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The wooden boat divided the somewhat choppy sea like a knife, constructed in accordance with flawless mathematics. Theodore had built it himself, ensuring each plank of teak hardwood was smooth and elaborately shaped, and Audette had begrudgingly watched him working on it for two entire years.
She would sit in the field behind his home in Britain where the hull was mounted on stilts, a summer bonnet usually atop her golden hair, reading stories to him from classic novels as he cast spells that would carve materials with exceptional articulation.
It was not as though the Nott's lacked the funds to purchase a new sailboat at the drop of a hat, however Theodore was stubborn and determined, viewing the developmental project as a worthy challenge.
Part of his personality was finding joy in pioneering, and not an ounce of Audette would ever dare discourage his wonderous mind.
"Where ever shall we go?" she asked in utter swoon, watching him hang onto a mast pole like a well-dressed pirate. Her hair was whipping left and right chaotically and she reached up to tear off her ornamental bow, throwing it over the side of the stainless steel railing recklessly.
"Grotta isola Di Cèrboli," he responded point blank, dead eyes hooded on her face from above.
Oh, that accent.
Oh, those tortured, tortured eyes.
"A grotto?" Audette clapped her hands together rapidly then laid on her back over the stained wooden deck, stretching and releasing ear piercing screeches as she did so.
The stars in the clear sky were endless, stretching as far as the pale pink horizon; the effect giving her the impression that they were in a gigantic snow globe with glitter floating everywhere.
She had nearly fallen into a wine-induced nap on the deck, a blissful smile on her face as the world slid by, when suddenly a huge plonk aroused her from her peaceful state.
Not to mention the shocking little spritz of water droplets on her cheeks.
Theodore had just tossed the anchor off, and they were bobbing before a miniature island with a gaping rock opening; the apparent Grotto.
He checked a few lines, then sat next to her on the wooden deck with the opened wine bottle between his lanky knees, nodding his face at the island, "It is popular, with tourists. Much more delightful after dark without any shouting parasites crawling all over it. The foreigners, they are classless, and they bring plastic waste."
Plastic evidently was a sore spot for Theodore, who held an endearment for the endangered ocean of unparalleled registry.
Looking at the sheer formations of rock which towered over the boat several storeys high, Audette could see why the curious location was popular. There were tiers of stone ledges perfect for leaping from, and the cave at the center was daunting in such a way that one would risk it all just to peek inside.
She took a large swig from the bottle, then ran the back of her hand over her lips. He watched her stoically and she watched him back with a growing smile, "What is little rose in Italian?"
He glided his hand down her back and tousled hair dotingly, leaning in to kiss her cheek multiple times, whispering the translation into her ear in such a charming tone that her spine shivered in place, "Piccola rosa, mia ragazza."
At this Audette lost all self control, sighing dreamily in his arms, "Oh my, do say that again."
"Sei l'unica rosa che vale la pena raccogliere," he hushed in her ear, one strong hand cupping her jaw as he decimated her resolve with his engrossing Italian diction.
You are the only rose worth picking.
All training she'd received from her governesses was suddenly pointless, because her body had an agenda of it's own.
Theodore was a gentleman by all means and had been terrifically contrary with Audette in their private time, frequently expressing his physical frustrations yet never acting upon them. As such, they had yet to be intimate past touching, and she could wait no longer.
She crawled into his lap and plastered him back against the hardwood, both hands firmly flattened on his chest.
The boat rocked at the demand of every ebbing wave, and each kiss she planted on his lips was more and more wanton and wild, sensing he was feeling just as heated as she was when he clutched at her backside over her thin underdress.
He was as hard as a rock under his dress pants when he found the will to break her kisses and turn his face sideways, "You tempt me disastrously Audette. We are ahead of ourselves. There will come a time when we have earned this right, but we are far from it."
Bloody aristocratic boys and all of their stupid rules.
She sat up on top of him with luxuriant blond hair nearly tickling his face, dragging her nails over the multitude of buttons on his chest, popping them open one by one, "Then swim with your Cancer crab, because I wish for nothing less than a nonsense altercation. I did not come all the way out here just to stare at a pile of rocks."
"And," she added with emphasis, "I wish to swim au naturel."
He allowed her to unbutton his waist coat and dress shirt, his lips pressed into a hard line and eyes as concentrated as ever, but deep at the center of his gaze she could sense insecurity, "That is not advisable. Audette I've hardly seen your ankles, and that is how it aught to remain. Your father will obliterate us for this immodesty."
His chest was smooth and firm, and Audette ignored his meager efforts to slow them down while dragging her nails from his pecs to his abs, Theodore laying there with a palm over his forehead in overwhelm.
She couldn't help but giggle like a tiny monster as she undid his bow tie. When she shot her greedy fingers down to his belt buckle he lashed out and gripped her frail wrist, his vision flaring, "If we venture any further, there will be no turning back."
"Pretty please, let's never go back," Audette stepped away from a half-stripped Theodore in a tizzy of desire and wine, her hands high in her messy hair, then making to pull loose the final strings on her underdress before guiding it over her head.
Theodore sat up with his jaw at the bottom of the ocean, looking upon Audette in just her lingerie for the very first time.
Edwardian pink lace clung to her body, spanning from her breasts to her backside in unreal delicacy.
She could tell from his dopey fascination and lack of argument that he was struggling internally to do the right thing, as a young pureblood socialite who aught to be wagging a straight finger in her face. "You realize I cannot unsee this imagery," he gulped and swiveled his face towards the looming abutting island.
"Oh I'm sure you won't be too scarred," she turned confidently around, bare buttocks and all, and unlatched her bra, then wiggled out of her lace panties, pausing once to stare compellingly over her shoulder at the panting boy before stepping onto the edge of the sailboat and diving in.
The water was cool, but refreshing.
Salt on her tongue and a chill across her skin invited Audette as she resurfaced nude and free in the sea, hanging her head back to brush away feet of matting hair that had been decorated for hours by her burdensome governesses.
She levelled onto her back to float and stare up at the cosmological splendor of the universe.
No words could describe how truly free she felt in that instant, arms spread out at her sides, water freely gurgling in her ears.
To her great surprise a splashing next to the boat suggested he'd caved as well, and in a second his head reappeared, brown hair sopping down his forehead.
He swam directly at her and pinned Audette against the side of the sailboat, one veiny arm strung up to hang onto the railing, the other sliding down her naked flank hungrily.
They both sucked in exasperated breaths, water dripping down their hair and eyes, and Audette ran her arms up around his neck as their bare bodies pressed together for the first time.
He swallowed and cleared his throat, hanging heavily over her tiny frame against the sailboat. He had her fastened in place, groping her upper body as he kissed her neck lovingly, "I'm swamped with indecent thoughts, Audette. My body betrays my decorum."
"I too have indecent thoughts," she cooed enthusiastically.
When Audette risked wrapping her legs around his waist he groaned and hung his forehead against hers, "I love you little rose, and while these desires are natural between us I fear the consequences. We are not married."
She looked into his eyes drunkenly, and adoringly, "What is the difference should we wait until marriage? You do plan to marry me, do you not?"
"Eventually, but I wish to respect you until that time, and I wish not to rush an engagement," he readjusted her against the boat, the endless sounds of lapping water all that went on for about a minute as they exchanged soggy kisses in the water. His hands were on her bare body, his hardness rubbing between her legs, yet Audette wished for more from the brainy boy who was incredibly resilient even so.
He kept swirling his thumb over one of her nipples, pinching delicately here and there, and suddenly the throbbing ache between her legs was all too much to bare.
But just as she was about to reach down and up the ante he pulled away, "Your teeth, they chatter relentlessly. You're too cold - let's go back up."
She was cold, but that was no concern whatsoever. Theodore looked at her sternly, "Come now Audette, don't mope. You've had your hedonistic swim."
Another instance of Theodore Nott clinging to his reputation for being the perfect poster boy of pureblood aristocracy, and another night that Audette would have to go a virgin.
Great.
He allowed her to climb up the rear ladder first which was his biggest mistake that evening, because in a fit of insanity she decided to grab all of their fancy clothing and fling it clean off the bow.
"What have you done now in the ten seconds you had alone up here?" Theodore darkly inquired when he got to the top of the ladder and wrapped a towel around his body, his gaze caught concerningly on Audette's tell tale hysterical giggling that she'd in fact done something naughty.
The crime grew apparent quite quickly as he searched around the small ship, then she heard him catch his breath at the sight of the garments sinking away, "I see."
"Now you will have to cuddle me to warm me up, won't you?" Audette bit her lip and forced her way into his towel with him, kissing at his chin eagerly.
"And how do you suppose we get home later with nothing but the skin on our backs? This is blatantly irresponsible and perverse, even for you," Theo growled, but his hands had already begun to cling to her in return, pulling her into him as she shivered in the night air.
He might've been a pureblood aristocrat, but he was still a man, freshly turned eighteen and all grown up.
Audette kissed at his face until he caved and kissed her back, their warm, wet bodies tangling up under the towel.
Part of the design of the sailboat was a depressed day bed at the bow, where Theo had piled blankets and pillows. Audette backed up towards the fluffy pod filled with Mediterranean silks and draperies, pulling him by his hands. Her legs hit the edge of the bed and she tumbled obnoxiously, yanking him down with her in a fit of laughter.
Normally Theodore would complain about safety regulations and hazards in such a situation, but instead, lying over her with nothing separating them, he started to breathe shakily. His face was littered with guilt that gave away precisely what was going on in his head.
"I love you, Teddy bear," Audette calmed her snickering and whispered softly, combing through his soaking hair.
She shifted so that her legs were apart on either side of him, arching her back against the waterproof mattress of the day bed, and Theodore shut his eyes abruptly when their bodies aligned, "I love you so much more, Audette Bellarose."
She enticed him in for passionate embraces, just how he liked to be kissed with reverence and care, knowing she had him in the palm of her hand. He drew one of the thicker blankets over top of their steaming bodies, and soon they were grinding lustfully.
His hips gradually rocked, and by the graces of nature his cock caught on her entrance to slowly sink inside of her.
The gasp from his lips against hers when it began to happen was dripping with erotic satisfaction after years of desirous heavy petting. Absolutely trembling, he achingly slid back and forth until he was entirely inside of her.
"Dio santo, words cannot describe this ecstasy," he moaned boyishly, burying his face next to hers as he picked up the pace only minutely.
Audette was seeing stars in both reality and in her mind, heaving in breaths underneath him as he tenderly claimed her innocence. It was painful and it was forbidden, but it was everything she'd lusted after for many years, and the moment could not be more perfect with the moon beaming down on them and the sea crashing therapeutically in the background.
Knowing it was Theodore Nott left her feeling safe and unbelievably flattered that his incandescent mind had chosen her in return.
Being so helplessly virginial neither of them said anything, merely gasped nervously and dreadfully self consciously. Her thoughts were on fire; wondering if he was enjoying the intimacy, wondering if he was satisfied with her body, wondering she was supposed to be doing something differently...
Every book in the central library at the Bellarose castle that might explain anything other than biological purposes for sex had been removed on purpose, the ones left behind being divertive, scientific, and not at all informational for a young and curious mind.
She had been promised that on her wedding night her mother would explain how it all worked, but she was electing to instead blindly stumble into the racy act with zero comprehension.
Audette was surprised when his groans grew darker and suddenly, just like that, he slowed and stopped. She tickled his spine, her eyes shifting back and forth as he mysteriously laid there for a moment after the few short minutes it had taken him to lose his manhood to her.
"What have I done? I've sullied your value, the estimable Bellarose name," he let slip a harrowed cry, rolling onto his back with both hands over his face.
Well this was not exactly what she'd had in mind.
If anybody cried after sex it was Theodore freaking Nott.
She bashfully bent her knees together as the heat of his fluids collected between her legs, "There is no reason to feel ashamed, of course we shall hold our tongues wisely. I enjoyed our love making."
He sat up in the bedding and bent away from her, and she trailed her nails down his bare back where the odd mole popped out on his soft skin. In the lantern lighting hanging around the boat deck she could make out the side of his handsome face, pouting slightly, "There are a hundred reasons to feel shame, the largest one being that I enjoyed it as well. This will change everything. There are things that I...things that I may need to address before taking your hand, things that have begun to infect my life without warning, and now I shall feel obligated to make a haste decision."
She had not known why her heart had flooded with fear then, but looking back on it, it made perfect sense, "Please, find your way around these panicked beliefs. I do not require a haste decision from you whatsoever; I am in love with you, and you remain the most respectable man I know. It will be just as it was before, and no one will ever become the wiser."
Those tortured eyes rotated to her slowly over his shoulder, foreboding and anxious, "I never wish to do harm by you Audette, however that does not make me a saint. You see me not as I am, but through rose tinted glasses that have been placed over your eyes, and it is your sweet trust for me that banes me the most."
It would be just as it was for another few months in which his love seemed to retain it's shape and dedication, only to last until the springtime, when without further explanation he would shatter her heart on a rounded bridge amongst the blossoms.