Underneath It All

His fingers drew patterns on her side and he toyed with the fabric of the lingerie as he felt the pendant he always wore burn faintly around his neck. "I am far from perfect," Basil admitted with a heavy heart. Gracefully he folded his legs and sat crosslegged on the floor, Etta still in place on his knee. "I have kept a very big secret from you, Kitten, and I fear you may not want me because of it."

He leaned into her touches and nuzzled at her cheek. "In the words of my ancestor though all you have to do is 'fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave.' He was once in love with a younger woman and even when he proclaimed his love she rejected him. It drove him mad and the kingdom suffered. He eventually found his true soulmate and the world was righted again." Basil drew a shaky breath. "I don't know if my kingdom will survive if you were to walk away from me and I kept that side of me hidden for fear that you would. I tell you now so that you know who you intend to marry."

Etta wiggled slightly on his knee as his fingers moved against her skin, momentarily sidetracked. She blinked at him, cocking her head to the side slightly. A secret? It would have to be drastic if he'd proposed before he'd said it, and she figured that that meant......

At the mention of the word "Kingdoms", Etta let out a relieved sigh, a grin reappearing on her face. "Christ, Spice, don't worry me like that!" She inturrupted his words with a kiss, deepening it almost at once. "I thought you were gonna tell me you were dying or something." She mumbled into his lips.

"And before you ask, no, you being a Goblin King does not bother me in the slightest. Honestly, if it did, would we be engaged right now?" She tsked at him, grinning. "Anything else of dire importance?"

Basil returned the kiss as it was given blinking in surprise. She thought his secret had meant he was dying? When the next words slipped from Etta's lips the rocker sputtered in shock.

"You knew," he sputtered, eyes wide and mouth flapping. "You knew and you never told me? Why didn't you tell me you knew? How did you know? I mean there isn't anyone else in this world that really knows." He ran his free hand through his hair in panicked agitation and his breathing started to become more shallow.

Etta's eyes widened minisculely, and then she was soothing him, running her hands through his hair and cooing. "It's not really my place to know, is it?" She asked him. "And telling you... I didn't want you to act differently, you know? I like how we are together." She frowned and looked down at her feet, pouting slightly. "I worked at Gringotts for a time, and I still meet up with the Goblins there from time to time. We have tea and talk about life." She gently stroked a lock of hair behind his ear, smiling softly. "I didn't know initially, in case you were wondering. I told them about you... Last week, I think it was, and they were all in a tizzy. Goblin Royalty, they said."

She grinned sheepishly. "Didn't see how it changed anything. You're still you, aren't you? And I'm still me. And I love you. That's all that matters."

Remarkably enough Basil actually found himself calming at the carresses and the soft spoken words. It was almost like she had cast a spell on him or fed him a calming draught, but he knew both to be untrue. She was just that caring and amazing that she could calm him in a matter of minutes.

"I should have known it was the Goblins," he sighed, leaning into her touch. "I think they're amazing, I really do and they absolutely adore me, but they have such loose hinged mouths at times. Yes, I'm still me, but I was afraid that me being a Fae would be too much. I've had women leave me for less."

He blinked slowly, twice, as he registered Etta's last grouping of words. "You love me," Basil asked surprised. "How do you know? How can you tell?" He swallowed thickly. "What exactly is love? How do you know when you love something?"

"That's nonsense." She mumbled. "Leaving someone for things they can't control." She ran her hands through his hair again, pulling toward her and brushing her lips against his.

"Oh? That's easy." She murmured, sliding closer to him down his leg. "I care for you more than I care about anyone else on the planet. I would do anything to keep you safe, unharmed, and am ready to kill any two-timing bint who decides to try and make you their's." She growled slightly and looked down at the ring on her finger, watching it sparkle in the light. "All you do anywhere is think of them, even if you don't plan to."

She paused for him, sometimes, in her dreams, dreaming that had been building since that secret meeting ages ago. "Love is, I suppose, wanting to be with someone more than anyone else on the planet, and not being swayed by anyone else." She curled around him. "And I'm just sure. There's no particular way to prove it."

She grinned and moved closer to him, frowning slightly as she seemed to as close to the man as possible, and it wasn't close enough for her.

A warm fuzzy feeling erupted in Basil's chest as he held Etta close to him. He would hold her like this forever if he could. He would never let her go and would move Heaven and Earth (he moved the stars for no one), and would reorder time for her. He'd do it all for her and he would never tire of it.

"Then I think I love you," he replied picking her up bridal style as he rose from the floor in one fluid motion. "Yes, I'm almost sure that I do. I love you, I love you true. Everyday I'm learning about you. You've spun me around and I'm all shook up. I think that's okay because I'm sure I love you too." Smiling gently Basil set his fiance up on the bar like they had been before except on the opposite side.

"There's those perfect words again." She murmured, leaning into his touch as he set her on the bar, her legs wrapping around his waist. She pulled him in for a kiss, losing her fingers in his hair once more. She nibbled on his bottom lip, pressing her body against his.

"Spice...?" She asked softly, her brown eyes flickering between his eyes and his lips. "...I'm going to be a Skydancer." She said breathlessly. "Etta Skydancer."

A deep rumbling purr erupted from Basil's throat as he felt his lover press up against him and he lost himself for a moment in her delicious kiss and her touches. He was a true romantic at heart but now with her pressed so close and her legs wrapped around him, the rocker just wanted to have his way with her. To make her feel the pleasure she deserved.

"All mine," he rumbled. "My beloved Etta. A Skydancer forever and always." He captured her lips in a heated kiss. "And my future Queen." Basil licked his way along her jaw and nibbled at Etta's earlobe. "I want you," he whispered huskily.

Etta hummed softly, shivering against him. "All yours." She whispered, her entire body craving him. She wanted him. She wanted him like she wanted speed when snowboarding down a mountain, like she wanted air when she was doing a jump. She needed to have him.

"Then have me." She murmured breathlessly, tilting her head slightly so that she could press a kiss against his jaw, even as his mouth moved against her. She made a small sound in the back of her throat, her fingers caressing every part of him she could reach.

Basil gave a small wave of his hand and a small wall grew up from the bar right behind Etta. There was no way he was going to let her fall backwards off the raised counter. Letting his supple fingers wander, the rocker proceeded to divest Etta of her clothing, pressing himself against her.

"Tell me what you want, little Kitten," he purred. His arrousal was painfully apparent and Basil started taking off his own clothes as he teased Etta with soft, undemanding kisses along her jaw.

Etta shivered as she was undressed, her fingers following his shirt as it disappeared and tracing patterns along his chest before pressing herself against him. The skin on skin contact made her purr - a sound that quite surprised her, coming from her or not. Her mind hazed over as he continued his teasing, a high whimper slipping through her lips.

"You." She panted. "I want you... all of you... forever."

"I'll never leave you," Basil promised as he brought Etta closer to him and licked along her neck. He was going to claim her tonight. She was going to be his and his alone until the end of time.

Biting down on her neck he sucked on the skin before licking it to soothe it and repeating the process again. "I'm going to make you mine," he whispered huskily as he proceeded to make love to his fiance, his future Queen, his Etta.

Etta laid across the polished wooden expanse of bar, her eyes and fingers occupied with the simple act of tracing Basil's tattoos. She was transfixed with the Horntail circling his left arm now, and the flame shooting across his collarbone. The man's bodyheat and slight weight on top of her was something she had long since become accustomed to, and so she paid it no mind, favoring the Horntail instead. Leaning forward, she lightly pressed her lips against his flame covered collarbone, biting down softly before her attention was caught by the Fireball on his ribcage. Her fingers traced the dragon's outline gently, almost in reverance to such perfection.

Reverance to such love.

She pressed a soft kiss against the Horntail's head, her chocolate brown eyes once more transfixed on the dragon, her fingers tracing the flames once more. She shifted her weight slightly, moving herself underneath him -against him - and kissing the bare skin of his throat.

She was his.