Aurelia awoke to a dark room, the moonlight spilling in through the windows was the only shred of light. She sat up realizing that she was unsure of where exactly she was, her clothes had been changed and there was an unfamiliar scent surrounding her.
She pulled her legs to the side of the bed and looked out the window. A breeze blew through the air as she looked from above to the tall grass. She was on the second floor of a building. The scenery took her breath away, as it had when she had first crossed through the portal from the human world. She noticed that there were no other buildings, just the tall trees and grass.
“I’m sorry I didn’t wake you,” a deep voice from behind said, causing her to jump.
It was Noxus, standing in the doorway with only sweatpants on. His chest was large and muscular, with a small amount of short dark hair that made its way down his happy trail over his slightly toned abs. When Aurelia’s eyes met the base of his happy trail, he cleared his throat.
“The bathroom is in there,” he said with a smirk as he pointed to a door on the wall. “The kitchen is downstairs and to your right, and my room is on the other side of this hall.” He raised his hand above his shoulder and gestured behind him with his thumb.
He had a warm smile on his face. There was stubble on his chin and upper lip that hadn’t been there this morning.
“Thank you. Why do I smell like..” I couldn’t put a finger on the smell. “This?”
He chuckled, it was deeper and more profound than his voice, as he put his hands in his pockets and leaned against the door frame.
“I had to mask your smell until we can present you to the Court.”
“May I ask why?” She was confused but didn’t want to come off as strange about the way of life here.
“You may. We have to have the Court’s approval for you to be here,” he said.
She stared at him. More questions found their way to the tip of her tongue but she held them back. This was a lot all at once.
“I have not been completely honest with you, and I apologize. There is another reason I did not follow through with the faes and brought you back here,” he started.
Aurelia could feel the lump in her throat forming. She thought this was the part where he admitted that he would keep her as a slave or eat her himself.
“You are my ethereal mate. I know it may be difficult to understand, and you probably don’t feel it, but it is a strong pull. I had debated asking the Court for their blessing of our marriage, but I don’t want to rush you into that. I am capable of making you, but I will not do so until you have decided for yourself,” he finished.
“So you brought me here and kept part of the truth from me? I have nothing now but you. That isn’t fair and screams Stockholm Syndrome.” She was livid all the way to her core.
Noxus gritted his teeth and pushed off of the door frame, leaving his room to go to his.
Aurelia flung herself back onto the bed and screamed into the pillow.
As Noxus paced back and forth in his room, he felt the desire within him for his mate nearby to reach a peak. He tore off his pants and found himself in the shower.
Washing his hair and scrubbing his body, his hands made their way to his cock. He tugged on it and felt the pleasure he had been giving himself for years. He imagined Aurelia and the way she had touched him before they had entered the portal and the way her body felt so close to him within his serpent form.
He jerked harder and faster as he pictured how she had looked as he removed her clothes to place clean and comfortable ones on her with her taught nipples and her plump and perky breasts.
He thought of what it would be like to kiss her and hold her in his arms. Before he could think further, he erupted his semen into the shower stream as he let out a deep moan.
As the night furthered, Aurelia found herself unable to sleep. She opened the door of her room to explore her new home. The thought of a home felt weird. She had only ever had the orphanage with her sister. There were a couple of foster homes scattered in there, as well as her apartment but none of those had ever felt like a home, the thought of it was surreal.
Stolen novel; please report.
She walked to the marvelous stairs with gold railing up both sides. As she walked down them, she felt like a princess from a movie, expecting a prince to be waiting at the bottom.
Coming up more doors, she made her way inside to find a dining room that could seat at least 100 people. She swept her hand over the dust sitting on the golden chairs and marveled at the beauty of it all.
Next, she found the kitchen. There was a smaller, four-person dining area where she could picture sitting and eating breakfast. The cabinets and appliances were all gold along the gigantic walls. She imagined this place had several cooks and maids.
Leaving the kitchen, she noticed a closed door across the hallway. She opened it and walked into an extensive library with books from floor to ceiling. She marveled at the sight, spinning around to take it all in. On the wall was a large window with a bench on it. Approaching it, she admired the moons through the window.
“Do you like to read?” Noxus asked as he walked into the library.
He had followed her through the house as she marveled at all of the sights. He was unable to hide the smile that had formed on his face from the excitement that he could feel.
Aurelia stood and looked at Noxus as if she was in trouble. “I do. Do you?”
“Yes,” he said quietly.
There was silence as they stood across the room from each other, staring.
“You know, I’m starting to feel a lot like Belle,” she said, breaking the silence.
“Belle?”
“From Beauty and the Beast. You take me to your castle in the woods, away from the only family I have, and offer me refuge in a huge library. Plus, there’s the part where you’re..” she stopped herself, not wanting to upset him.
“Say it,” he encouraged.
Looking into his gold-speckled eyes, she said, “A beautiful beast.”
His cheeks flushed red. “If I’m the beast, then that makes you the beauty.” He took her hand and spun her as if they had been dancing. “You’re free to leave whenever you want. I am sorry that I have made you feel trapped in something you don’t want to do. That’s a difference between our situation and Beauty and the beast. Plus, I don’t have talking furniture,” he said with a smile, “We’re all alone.”
The words should have worried her: being alone with a man. Instead, she found herself intrigued.
“You live here alone? Aren’t there maids?”
He shook his head and walked to the window. “Before our worlds collided, this place was much different. When the war was going on between the Humans and what you refer to as the creatures of the Otherworld, there was also a war going on here. Between dragons and basilisks. The dragons were upset that we were not taking part in the raid of the human world, and we battled.” He looked at her with tears in his eyes. “I’m the only one of our kind left. My father, the king, had sent me away on a fake quest before the attack. This was all that was left, as well as stories from the other species who helped try to save my kind. There are a few wandering basilisks, but…”
As the tear slid down his cheek, he turned away. Aurelia made her way to his front and wiped his tears away. He made a slight jerk as she touched his skin. He opened his eyes, and she froze before he engulfed her mouth with his own.
Electricity pulsed through their bodies. Aurelia’s skin was littered with goosebumps. Her insides were on fire, feeling as if something within her had finally found a missing piece.
His tongue parted her lips, wanting more access, and she allowed it. Her tongue explored the inside of his mouth as if she wanted to remember every part of it. He pulled her bottom lip out with his teeth, forcing a moan from her mouth.
Hearing the noise, Noxus lifted her to his level, forcing her legs to wrap around him as he walked to a table, where he laid her down while still keeping his lips entangled with hers.
He pulled apart from her and looked into her eyes. “We can’t do this, Aurelia. This is something only between husband and wife.”
He was serious. The Basilisk tradition was often not followed, but he wanted to make sure he did everything right. Especially since he was planning on asking the courts to allow him to step into his rule as the king of the basilisks.
She placed her hand on the back of his head, pulled, and met him halfway of their distance. She kissed him again, this time soft and tender.
“Okay,” she said as she looked at him through her lashes.
She was unsure what had gotten into her. Every ounce of her being pulled to him.
His lips found hers once more before he forcefully pushed himself away from the table and walked out, telling her goodnight as he made his exit.
Aurelia stared at the door for a few minutes, longing for his return, before she made herself get up.
She looked over the books as her mind raced with the thought of Noxus and how it had felt to touch him and kiss him. Her eyes landed on a book, and she grabbed it, taking it to the bench to read.
The book was of their past, the basilisks.
She read that the first basilisks were from Greece and Rome. They started out as a symbol of death but slowly decreased their bad omens over time to be seen as more of just dangerous creatures, even though they were still able to kill with just one look.
The thought of every chance Noxus had had to kill her with just a simple glance formed in her mind and she swept it away as she smiled.
Continuing the book, she read of the basilisks’ threats. The biggest were dragons and faeries, who could attack them from above. She sunk her head, thinking of what he must have gone through with losing his family. She could relate to that in a sense. As she thought of how he must feel, how alone he was, she drifted off to sleep, dreaming of him.