Soon All the Suns Will Rise

Something Like a Death Kiss

Chapter title from "Killshot" by Magdalena Bay.

⚠️ Explicit kink warning for later in chapter— including a magical twist on blood kink, bondage/whipping, and double penetration. Yeah, this chapter's crazy, just like these characters.❗️
I would say it's skippable, but...y'all know by now that I develop my characters through their sexual encounters. This one's no exception. Hope you can appreciate it even if it's not your thing. :)
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Colleen awakened to streaming sunbeams of a lovely fall morning, robins singing in the aspen outside the bedroom window, and the smell of breakfast as her boys proudly delivered it to her bedside.

"Happy birthday, Mummy!" Ben placed a delicate trio of scarlet hydrangeas in a tiny glass vase on her breakfast tray and climbed next to her, giving a kiss to her cheek.

"Thank you, sweetheart. Breakfast looks delicious."

Sirius smiled as he set the tray on her lap. They'd made her coffee and traditional British pancakes sprinkled with sugar and lemon juice, topped with a blueberry jam they'd jarred over the summer.

"Happy birthday, darling," Sirius murmured, crawling to her other side and wrapping a warm arm around her neck. He kissed her sweetly, and Colleen melted no differently than her first birthday with him one year ago. Everything he did still had the power to make her weak in the knees.

Sirius said it was the first of the day's surprises with more to come that evening. But The Daily Prophet brought its own surprise that no one had bargained for.

"Sirius!" Rhiannon called with alarm, rushing out to where the Blacks were working to prune the flower bushes back in preparation for the upcoming frost. The witch thrust the paper toward him and pointed to whatever the offending words were. Colleen's hands tightened on the roses, and she was promptly met with the stinging of a thorn.

Sirius's jaw tightened and he shifted up on his toes, his whole body suddenly tense. He was silent for a few moments before finally giving a nod.

"We'll figure it out," he said with forced confidence.

"Figure what out?" Colleen said, closing her eyes with dread.

"The wizard priest that performed your wedding passed away," Rhiannon explained quietly.

Well, that wasn't that much of a surprise. He'd been simply ancient and had only come out of retirement to handle the onslaught of wartime weddings.

"That's sad," Colleen said. "Is there an obituary?"

Sirius handed her the paper. "Yes, and a footnote article mentioning the backlog of Ministry records discovered in his home. So it's only a matter of time until..."

"Until the Ministry knows of our marriage and that you're alive," Colleen supplied, sinking down onto the chilly ground, her head resting on her knees.

She wished they could have signed their marriage license with their pseudonyms, but of course it wouldn't have been legal that way. They had both known it was a risk getting married in the wizarding world at all, but Sirius had longed to bind himself to her with the magical rites. As soon as Colleen had experienced them, she'd understood why. It was the most beautiful expression of love imaginable— like all the things Muggles tried to capture in novels, films, and poetry. Magic allowed it to be on display, and to electrify the skin and course through the veins. No matter what came of their secret being exposed now, Colleen knew it was worth it to experience that with Sirius.

The setting sun that evening brought Colleen's next birthday surprise— an event Rhiannon, Tonks, Sirius, and Ben had been working on all day. Tonight was a full moon, so Remus had to give his regrets before taking off for his monthly isolation, aided by the Wolfsbane potion Colleen had watched Severus brew days before.