Malachite | L. S [Completed]

12: Wise Men

A dreary spell fell upon the haunts of Dirthfall as rain cascaded in the dark of the night. Louis lay awake, yearning to be near his precious as he recalled the omega's dislike for such gloomy skies. He knew Harry's heat was over and that the omega needed to rest, so Louis had refrained himself from visiting the omega knowing Harry's displeasure with Louis' mere existence.

The sky steadily cried with winter falling into the gaps left between the raindrops. A week had swept by as Louis pushed himself into the squall of duties and pending promises. Albeit having the physician's disapproval regarding his recovery, Louis found himself consumed with the dukedom's worries and necessities.

He still had the vision of Harry's flushed skin poisoning his mind, of his pleading eyes and his desperate pleas. However, Louis knew what he had done was the only solution he had, no matter how hurt Harry's wolf had been at that moment but Louis could not vision another outcome.

Wise men had said that the one who failed remains the most successful of men, for he knew what his mistakes were and how he must obviate them. Louis had learned enough from the heartache and Harry's hatred towards him that he mustn't ever enforce Harry into being his, he shall wait until the day Harry allowed Louis to love him, even though that connoted the possibility of Louis having to wait for an eternity.

But the wait would be worth it because he was in love.

"Lou?" Voice so frail and uncertain, Louis had almost mistaken it for a mirage until the swirls of sienna peaked through the hide of the curtains of his bedpost and Harry's head was in front of him, eyes wide and cheeks rosy. "May I spend the night with you?"

Louis blinked.

"Certainly," he said, mouth ajar as he allowed Harry's request to seep into him. Harry climbed into his bed until he was under the quilt, his frigid limbs painful against Louis' warm ones. It settled in when the omega buried his nose in Louis' neck, pressing against him as a little whimper slipped past his lips. "Are you cold, my beloved?"

"Numbing," Harry replied, pressing himself further into Louis until Louis wrapped his arms around the trembling thing and pressed his lips to the crown of his head. He knew the omega was direly craving the touch of an alpha when Harry calmed immediately, purring. "You feel summery," he said. "Like cakes and the essence of the sea."

"Has the frost found its way to your brain? Of all things, you weigh me with a season?"

"Pray to the Gods that I have not made you into a kind of horse faeces." A laugh rippled through Louis's chest. It fell silent too soon as Louis held the omega, running his hand through the expanse of Harry's back until it rested atop the knot of his nightgown, finding it excruciatingly tight.

"Do you wish for me to loosen it, precious?"  He asked, pulling the knot slightly as he felt the omega nod against his neck, mumbling a 'please'. Louis' heart fluttered in his chest before the blood rushed to his cheeks. He felt like an adolescent having his first omega as he untied the knot with shy fingers as though he had not seen the omega bare a thousand times before, and felt the gown loosen, Harry's chest pressing against Louis' with no barrier between them.

"Louis, "Harry called after a few moments, just as Louis' eyes began to yield to the weight of sleep. Louis hummed, pressing a kiss to Harry's temple. "Thank you... for not -- not accepting. Although, I fail to forgive you still."

"I won't accept your forgiveness even if you do forgive me now. I know I have not earned it yet."

☽

"You are stenching my nest. Do not come near it!" Louis stood wide-eyed as he watched Harry growl at him like an angered rogue, and Louis almost wondered if Harry was snarling too. He had merely returned from his duties to his chambers, only to find the love of his life nesting in his bed, placing a myriad of both their clothes and pillows they had used the night prior.