Entwined | 𝘠𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘳 𝘍𝘢𝘯𝘧𝘪𝘤

Home is Where You Are

Happy one year anniversary to this story! (And to my Wattpad account 🍾🎊🎉)

Charlotte held up a dusty book, the pages weathered and corners bent in varying angles. She let her eyes absorb the once-familiar cover before placing it gingerly in the spatial container. All her belongings were being packed away, orderly and neat in a one-size-fits-literally-everything box.

Once she left the old Blue Rose Knights Headquarters, all her life would be either tucked away in this box, or carrying said box to their new home. The Black Bull's Hideout had been relocated closer to the Capital, but Charlotte insisted it remain on the outskirts of the city.

Though the inhabitants were rowdy 24/7, the natural surroundings of the Hideout complimented the Bull's affinity and reliance on instinct. She deemed that a change in scenery would also benefit her ladies, and most were looking forward for the chance to "let their hair down".

The option to offer a bid to join other squads was offered to every Magic Knight this year, giving squads the chance to restructure and reunite. About half of her old squad was looking to go elsewhere, and though she was reluctant to part from them, she knew managing a squad the size of both her's and Yami's together would be trickier than she'd like to handle.

"I've never seen anything that belonged to you as ragged around the edges as that book, it mean somethin' special to you?" Yami asked, bringing Charlotte back from her thoughts. He placed a stack of books— traditional folklores and an encyclopedia of magical items— inside the container.

She smiled, chuckling to herself. "Haven't you seen yourself? Of all the things precious to me, you are by far the most ragged around the edges."

Yami scoffed, then hugged her from behind and placed a kiss on the top of her head.

"Yes," she answered, basking in his embrace. "It was my diary from when I was little. I would pretend it was my grimoire before I received mine, running around the halls and pretending to cast made-up spells."

When she thought of home, fond memories of her mother and father came to mind. Before her curse had caused constant worry to overshadow their lives, her family had very little disturbances. Not all wealthy families were solely focused on climbing the latter of status and royalty. As a child, she never worried about where her next meal would come from, or if her parents were carrying burdens to heavy to bear, neither did she need to worry if she was enough to earn their praise or meet their expectations.

At first she bore all the guilt of marring their simple life, all because she was targeted by a devil and hadn't been strong enough to resist. Yami's words that day he saved her removed more than briars around her heart. They gave her purpose and opened the door for her to create her own family: her squad, and eventually, to rely on him as an equal.

"You sure you want to move? We can call it off— keep the Headquarters as the new base," Yami said.

She turned in his arms, placing her hands on his chest and gave him a look he was becoming increasingly immune to. "When I make up my mind, it's final. I want to live with you, in your home. The Hideout is as much a part of the squad as its own members, and if you can insist I take over as Captain, then I can insist where and what we use as the Black Briar's base."

Yami grinned. He was supposed to take her stance seriously, not find it amusing that she had to repeat herself so much!

"Don't ask again," she pouted, unnerved that he could push her buttons so effortlessly.

"But I'll never get tired of hearing you chose to move in with me willingly— and no one will believe me if I say it was your idea." That was true, the other Captains hardly believed he hadn't coerced her into combining squads just so he didn't have the responsibility of showing up at meetings anymore. But as vice-captain, she was going to make it a point to drag him along anyway.

"Well it is, and if they have issues with it, they can bring it up with me."

"No issues here."

She knew she should unwrap herself from his arms and pack the last of her things, but she couldn't gather the strength to detach herself. Would moving in with him make these feelings easier to deal with, or harder? Any night they spent apart she found herself staring at the ceiling for hours before grabbing a couple pillows and pretending Yami's muscles turned squishy and soft, instead of how they felt at the moment— hard and solid, but tender as his hand slid up and down her back.

He leaned forward and she met him halfway, melting into warm lips. His hands wandered to her bottom where they grabbed a handful of supple skin under the fabric of her dress. His tongue slid over hers and she sighed as briars wrapped around him, betraying her intentions of breaking the kiss and returning to the task at hand.

"What am I going to do, with you in my bed every night, hum?" Yami hummed, hovering his lips over her cheekbone.

Honestly, she couldn't wait to find out.

A/n: This scene just thawed the wintery chill right out of me! Blissful sigh...