A Court of Fire and Starlight (ACOTAR Fan Fiction)

Temptation

ERIS

Every night since returning from Stormrun, the image of Astra's bare legs found him in his dreams. He was trying to forget how satisfied he'd felt seeing her in his orange tunic and was desperate to eliminate their mingled scents from his nose.

When those dreams morphed into nightmares, he was haunted by her blue lips, chattering teeth, and the complete panic that overtook him after feeling the iciness of her skin in Stormrun. When he awoke, he had to remind himself that she was warmed by the fire she kept lit in her room, though he refrained from easing his worries by checking on her through the flames.

He still couldn't fathom why she had thought it was smart to follow him, find trouble, and then try to run from him. How could the Cauldron have mated him to someone so rash? They were opposites. Eris rarely did anything without meticulous planning and he'd never almost frozen to death. Their stark differences didn't keep him from desiring her. 

A week had gone by since the incident in Stormrun and each morning, Eris had to remind himself not to stare at her too long as they trained together in the caves. It was becoming torturous, for he knew Astra was interested in him – she really wasn't as subtle as she thought.

Teasing her here and there had become his new favorite form of entertainment, but he hadn't let it go beyond that. It wasn't the right time - not yet. She'd begun making progress with her training and Eris didn't want to truly distract her from that task.

Plus, he had yet to decide how to prevent anything between them from reaching her parents. Astra was still young by Fae standards – only nineteen compared to his nearly six hundred years and immortality tended to give people a warped sense of time. Their steep age difference didn't deter Eris, but he worried it might make her think twice about having any kind of serious relationship with him.

It was obvious Rhysand wasn't quite ready to accept that his daughter had matured enough to make her own choices and mistakes, and though it annoyed Eris, he wasn't convinced he would act any differently if he had a child of his own. Fierce protectiveness was instinctual for faeries.

Eris had been instructing Astra in basic control involving deliberately isolating her energy. Letting a bit slip from her absurd door and allowing it to only flow to her hands or to her legs when running.

On the first day, Astra had managed nothing and on the second, she'd become so frustrated that it snaked all along her body and Eris had needed to protect himself with a semi-steady impenetrable shield while her magic flared violently from every pore of her skin. Each day since then, she'd seemed more determined and had succeeded in dictating its location underneath her skin by day five.

His mate had been so excited by her small success that she had needed to run off her boundless energy by sprinting through the nearby forest with his smokehounds chasing and nipping at her heels, though he suspected she enjoyed it despite her repeated snarls at them.

Vulcan didn't seem to know what to make of her. Eris caught his alpha hound sniffing her discarded cloak with interest and Eris wondered if the dog could scent their bond, though it must be incredibly faint since her end still remained hidden behind her door along with the majority of her magic.

The mornings spent with Astra were easily the best part of his day because when the afternoon rolled around, he had to return to his duties as High Lord.

The fallout from the mess in Stromrun was the cause of many headaches. Lord Wick had been infuriated by the destruction of so many ships that brought goods to the territory he governed.

Eris had nearly been forced to pin Astra down when they'd briefly crossed paths with the Lord before their departure. She'd thought it appropriate to properly terrify him into following the new rules Eris had set for him regarding what was to be done about smuggling.