Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Elizabeth sighed, relaxing into the tub of sweet-smelling bubbles. It'd been a long day waitressing and juggling the rather... forthcoming nature of the patrons, and of Meliodas. Diane usually worked as a buffer of sorts when they worked dual shifts, distracting a good portion of the crowd with her own charms and handling the less cordial offers with her merciless strength. But, with King and Diane getting surreptitiously closer recently, Elizabeth was handling more shifts herself. Of course, the patrons didn't typically grab her more than a few seeking, lingering touches; Meliodas's exuberantly fondling in front of everyone was a particularly potent deterrent. She breathed deeply of the steamy air, letting the gentle fruity scent of pomegranate and the overheated bath water wash away the feeling it all left on her skin.

She didn't like to admit it, but she minded those touches of his. Grabbing her like so, in front of everyone, when she had been raised a princess… it was flustering, but not in a sexual way. More than anything, it was embarrassing. Princesses were supposed to be prized possessions, treated with nothing but gentleness and respect. Since she was ten, she'd kept any touches with the opposite sex to an absolute minimum. It had been years since anyone had touched her more than placing a hand over hers while leading her through the castle grounds. Now, suddenly surrounded by these ex-holy knights, she's downright groped. It was less than pleasing. Of course, if Meliodas didn't grope her quite so roughly and in front of so many people…

A flush that had nothing to do with the heat of the water rushed up her neck and across her face. With a quiet squeak, Elizabeth shook her head of the images of Meliodas, her knight, gently running his fingers over her bare breast, pressing his lips to her neck, caressing her skin with a hushed voice… No, it would never be. Not until she was… something more.

Elizabeth raised her hand from underneath the layer of foam to examine it. The sins were all trying to raise their power levels. In light of the Ten Commandments, they'd all re-dedicated themselves to self-improvement, even non-Sins like Griamore and Gilthunder. Meanwhile she- supposedly an apostle of the Goddess- couldn't do a thing. The powers of the Goddess Clan would be invaluable against the Demon Clan. And she knew she had some sort of power. She had healed everyone during the battle against Hendrickson, after all. But it had been an accident, a slip of power brought on by a rather intense moment. Elizabeth dunked her hand to rinse the suds of her digits, then gently cupped it in front of her, trying to recall what it felt like to use her power that one time. The rushing feeling, the sensation of blazing purity, the adrenaline, the desire to help and heal and repeal all that was wrong with the world…

Nothing happened. Her hand remained raised above the bath water, not even a speck of light summoned to her palm. She was well and truly useless to them. She might love Meliodas with all of her heart and all of her soul, but she was sure, deep down somewhere in that very soul, that she was more. She wasn't simply the princess he had to guard. There was more she could do, more power she could use to aid their companions in the war against the Ten Commandments, more she could do to help Meliodas. But until she could stand side by side with him as equals, there's no way he could return her feelings. And the difference between both of their powers was, well, staggering.

Meliodas was a demon, after all. She didn't know much about it, since he wasn't exactly keen on sharing. She'd seen the red and grey demons, and he was nothing much like them. No, he reminded more of a few of the Ten Commandments. The way those black marks would coil around his body, those twisting symbol that would appear on his face, and how his eyes would sink from crystalline green to endless black: it was all a mystery.

Well, it's not like she bothered to broach the topic with him. With a sharp huff, Elizabeth dunked her head into the pomegranate-scented water one last time, then stood from her bath. Moping in her thoughts would do her nothing, and as long as she was stewing she might as well go to sleep and get rested for another busy day of waitressing and fruitless goddess training. Wrapping herself in a white fluffy towel, she took a good hard look at herself in the mirror before going outside. Her blue eye was a testament to her humanity, her orange eye a testament to her status as an apostle. A worthless apostle, but apostle nonetheless. Timidly, she traced the three-sided mark circumscribed by the carnelian orb in the steamy mirror, then copied the demon mark she'd seen on Meliodas's face next to it. She stared at the two symbols for a few measured moments, as if just looking at them would reveal all the answers she could ever want, then wiped them away with the edge of the towel.

Meliodas was finishing packing away all of the leftover merchandise from the sales tonight. The kegs were rather large compared to his diminutive form, but the weight didn't faze him. If anything, he enjoyed the pretense of struggling with the large clunky kegs, swaying slightly this way and that before setting them down with a decisive thunk. With the last barrel in place, the Boar Hat's doors soundly locked, and everyone settling down for the night, the Captian of the Seven Deadly Sins clapped his hands together and headed up the stairs to greet his favorite princess.

When he opened the door, he froze underneath the frame. The room smelled of sweet pomegranate. The fruit of our homeland. But underneath that scent was just a hint of something he hadn't smelled in a long time: goddess magic. The power of the Goddess Clan was supposed to smell acrid and unpleasant to demons like him, but the source of this particular power was extraordinary in his eyes. The touch of magic lent a gentle zing to the fruity scent, like crisp apples or meadow grass. Meliodas moved mechanically to close the door behind him, working to process the scent. Did Elizabeth get a new bath oil? His memory was a little foggy under the circumstances, but he did vaguely remember her saying she had run out and needed to pick up more in her next excursion to town. And the goddess magic?

When Meliodas rounded the corner, he spied his princess wrapped in a towel and searching through the dresser they shared. In every other incarnation of Elizabeth, the goddess part of her had been like a light switch: completely switch off until she regained her memories. But in this incarnation of his love, the goddess magic seemed like so much more, like it was ever-present but diluted. It'd been less when he'd first met her, so much so that he barely noticed it at all. Throughout their adventures the power had slowly gotten stronger, so much so that he was having a hard time ignoring it. The goddess magic had always worked up his demon, making him equal parts anxious of the dangerous power and eager to see that look of recognition from Elizabeth. Right now, the light of her goddess power positively sung, just underneath her exposed skin.

Her scent is missing something… But what though? The pomegranate, the zing of power, it was already enough to make his head spin as his demon nature threatened to rise to the surface. Paralyzed and taking in shallow breaths to filter through the flavor, it suddenly clicked.

You spent all night feeling her up, covering her with your scent. She just washed all of that off. Any demon could swoop in and grab her and be none the wiser of who exactly they were taking from. Grab her. Mark her. Then she'll never be able to wash off our claim.

Before he knew it, he was behind her, pressing his chest against her back and trapping her with his encircled arms. Elizabeth gasped in surprise as his hands landed on her towel-covered chest, and he almost wanted to purr in praise at the sound. Face pressed against the juncture of her neck and her shoulder, he drew his nose up from her collarbone to the shell of her ear.

"Enjoy your bath?"

"Umm… yes?" Elizabeth nearly squeaked. Meliodas tried to calm down at the sound, breathing deeply through his nose to slow the beat of his hearts. Too bad that only brought more pomegranate and zing to his attention, leaving his demon positively growling at the lack of his scent on his favorite goddess. One of his hands moved to her hip to hold her steady while he dragged his other up and down her exposed arm, slowly enough to make his scent linger on her skin.

"New bath soap?" He had to distract her, keep her calm while he calmed down himself. His demon was riled up, but adding his scent to hers would help. He just had to keep her still long enough to work.

"Mmhm," she confirmed. "I-it's part of a set. Lavender, peach, and pomegranate."

"I like it," he practically purred into the space behind her ear, despite his best efforts. He felt her shudder underneath him, a shudder that didn't normally accompany her reactions to his ministrations. What was so different this time?

"Sir Meliodas, umm… your, uh, marks…"

His eyes shot open to stare at their reflections in the mirror. There she was, Elizabeth's head tilted wantonly to the side to give him better access to her ear and neck. Her chest was bouncing from shallow breaths and her eyes seemed foggy with desire. And there he was, hands splayed across her skin, eyes black as the abyss peering possessively from behind her shoulder and a small spiraling rune etched above his brows. All of a sudden he realized exactly what was doing. He almost threw himself across the room, trying to put some distance between himself and his princess.

Elizabeth hadn't heard Meliodas enter the room. She knew he was capable of complete silence with his demon powers, but he usually made a point to make noises when he walked around. This time, he had just materialized, all of a sudden pressing against her back and gasping her breasts and her hip and sliding his fingertips sensually over her arms and breathing against her collar and whispering into her hear. They were alone, and she was breathless.

And suddenly he wasn't there anymore. Fumbling with the towel that threatened to fall at his abrupt departure, Elizabeth attempted desperately to catch her bearings. She could still feel the crackle of his demon energy, now dissipating against her skin. Grasping the towel more securely and wrapping her arms around herself, she turned and saw her knight pressed rather firmly against the opposite wall, eyes wide with too many emotions and flickering on the brink of dark green.

Something unspeakable hung thick in the air. She had to diffuse the situation. "Can-" she fumbled with her leaden tongue for a second, "Can you turn around? I, uh, need to get dressed."

After a counted second, Meliodas mutely nodded, then turned to press his forehead against the wooden wall.

Well, at least he wasn't running away. And this might be her chance to ask about his demon nature. Surely he'd confide a little in her, if not just to explain what exactly happened just now. He trusted her that much at least, right? Quickly, she turned back to her task of finding something to wear, only to remember what she had concluded just before Meliodas had… appeared.

She was out of pajamas.

"Can…" Breathe, Elizabeth. Just ask. "CanIborrowashirt?"

The words came out all at once, after exactly three seconds her demon nodded again against the wall. Elizabeth swiftly fished out one of his shirts and threw it on. There was a brief moment where the towel hit the floor and she was completely nude before him before shuffling into his normal white buttoned shirt, but her knight never moved from his spot on the wall. Stepping into a set of clean panties, she tugged the shirt as far as it would go over her thighs and settled herself to sit on the bed.

"It's okay, I'm good now." Her voiced contained a little waver in it, but Elizabeth was rather proud not to trip over her words this time. She was a princess, after all. Princesses didn't just lose command over their words. Of course, princesses don't normally get jumped by demons, either.

It took more than a few measured moments before Meliodas finally peeled himself off the wall. Elizabeth watched his nose twitch slightly, and then black in his eyes began to wane. Curious. She filed that question away to ask as well as the demon quietly joined her on the edge of the bed. She felt the mattress dip with his weight, but he offered no words to punctuate the tense air.

After a pause to steel herself for the conversation she was determined to have, she spoke softly, "What was that all about?"

Meliodas turned his face away, obviously less than eager to have this conversation. The move sent a spear through her heart. He didn't trust her with this. Remember, he was so much more than her. He didn't need to explain himself to her when he had enough power to cleave mountains with a just a reed.

But she still wanted to know. Cautiously, Elizabeth reached up to cup either side of his chin with her palms. The demon flinched, but allowed her to gently turn his face towards hers. His eyes were shut tightly, as if concerned what would happen if he met her gaze. Instead of forcing that, Elizabeth took this moment to study him more closely. His muscles were tense, for sure, but she only knew because she could feel the tightness of his neck underneath her ring and pinky fingers. There's no outward indication otherwise. She ran one of her thumbs against his cheek, feeling the smoothness of his skin. Of course, with his demon powers, he would heal fast enough that he'd never scar. She could heal other people that way, too, if only she could master her powers. Trying not to pout at the thought, she let the fingers of her other hand drift upward, then gently traced the shape of the absent mark she had just seen on his face.

Meliodas shuddered underneath her, though she wasn't sure if it was a positive or negative response to her explorations. When his turbulent green eyes finally opened to meet hers, she concluded that he might not know himself.

"Can you tell me about them? Your demon marks?" Maybe that was a safer starting place than outright asking what she was wondering. From the way he hesitated, she wasn't sure if this approach was any better.

"Can you tell me about your goddess mark first?"

The question struck her as strange. What exactly did he want to know about that? Tentatively, the demon reached up with his fingers to push back the silver bangs that hid her right eye. Alarm bells ringing in her head, Elizabeth sat motionlessly, determined to let him examine the stark orange eye bearing the symbol of the Goddess Clan on it, just as he let her examine him. Meliodas's gaze was intent, searching, and piercing all at once.

"I don't remember exactly when it appeared," she started, fixing both of her eyes on the wall he'd just left in an effort not to squirm under his scrutiny. She would bear herself wholly to him if it meant he might do the same for her. "I think I was maybe nine years old. I quite liked to explore at that age, climbing up trees and over walls rather than sitting still for my lessons. It was inevitable, looking back, that I would eventually fall." She felt Meliodas tense, the hand buried in her wealth of hair suddenly rigid against her scalp. But he didn't move, still examining her apostle's eye and waiting for her next words.

"I don't really recall falling. I remember slipping, the feeling of weightlessness, then waking up in a circle of daises. At the time, I didn't think much of it. When father finally found me, I think I was trying to braid the daises into a flower crown. He of course scolded me after I told him what happened, and very firmly explained that I was to hide the eye that had suddenly changed color. He kept me under lock and key after that, making sure I learned how to be a proper princess by attending lessons indoors instead of gallivanting outside where anyone could see me. No one but my father and my sisters have ever seen it. Not even the servants or knights that were constantly at the castle."

Meliodas had relaxed again, though still intent. "Do you know anything about the symbol?"

"I know it's a symbol of the Goddess Clan. That's about it. I was hoping that, actually, you might know something about it?" Elizabeth finally looked back to him, a sliver of hope brimming in her dual-colored eyes.

Her demon removed his hand from where it cupped the side of her head, letting the silver bangs fall back into place. Trailing his fingers down the length, he captured a few of the silver strands to fiddle with while he responded. "I don't. The goddesses were rather adamant in not sharing any important knowledge with a demon."

The way he seemed to spit out the word caused Elizabeth to flinch. Meliodas looked up apologetically, and she responded with a shy smile. "What about yours? Does it have a meaning?"

Still, her demon hesitated to respond. Tentatively, he began, "It's a family crest. All high ranking demons have them."

"High ranking?" Elizabeth paused before continuing, fingers dragging nervously against the soft quilted bed covers. "Can I, umm, see it again?"

"Hmm?"

"Show me. Show me your crest."

His lips had thinned to a terse line, and his eyes weren't meeting hers again. The smell of bath soap punctuated the moment of silence. "No. If I lose control again…"

"I trust you."

Meliodas swung his eyes back to hers at the sound of her eager voice. Mouth slightly agape and eyes widened, he seemed to look through her a moment before blinking out of his surprise. "Just… promise you'll call the others for help if I do anything, okay?"

She didn't like the way his voice seemed to tense up, like he was afraid for her. She trusted him wholly, but clearly this was a hard thing for him to agree to. Despite her reservations over the promise, she nodded her head affirmatively.

Her demon paused again to draw in a long, extended breath. With a sort of hesitant shyness unbecoming of a demon, Meliodas reached over to where her hand had fisted into the comforter to weave his fingers together with hers. Elizabeth could feel the crackle of his demon energy again, fizzing against his skin where their hands were joined. The sensation intensified all of a sudden; before her very eyes, his hair swirled in a burst of power, his eyes shifted from emerald to ebony, and the familiar demon mark manifested, just above his eyebrow.

Her breath was caught in her throat, but Elizabeth didn't mind. Squeezing his hand reassuringly and feeling the demon power tingle briefly up her arm in response, she lifted her unoccupied hand to trace the edge of the crest. Her demon purred from somewhere deep in his chest, leaning into the touch. Her heart thumped in her chest in a sudden thrill. Here he was, Meliodas, the demon, trusting her! She felt like she could touch the stars, but decided to play it cool. Stay calm. The demon in him seemed to respond well to calm.

Hesitantly, Elizabeth attempted to continue their conversation. "When we saw the Ten Commandments… all of them had this materialized darkness they could command. You can do that too?"

Without a word, tendrils of inky black crawled from his neckline down his arm. She watched, fascinated, as it spread across his body. "It's called hellblaze. It's the demonic fire that resides in all of us. Again, only the high ranking ones can command it. Lower powered demons are commanded by it."

Elizabeth wiggled her fingers to loosen her demon's grip, then traced the freed hand up his arm towards the hellblaze decorating his bicep. Meliodas's jaw tensed as her delicate fingertips drifted over the tendril of darkness, but it wasn't enough to block out the quiet moan that fought past his teeth. "Elizabeth, careful," he chided, but the words were cut short as he shifted his eyes back to her.

It didn't make sense, the two powers should in theory be repulsed by each other. But as soon as her finger traced the black form, she felt that something more jump to the surface. Like oppositely charged magnets, the undeniably demonic power drew her goddess magic into her hand. Beads of light, like luminescent droplets of water, gathered against her fingertips. Elizabeth drew her hand back from his skin to examine the goddess power she hadn't meant to call upon. How, how, what exactly caused this? She stared, fascinated at her own glowing hand holding beads of power suspended in the air just beyond her palm, as if it was an alien thing. If she could just memorize this feeling, re-create the gesture, maybe she could-

Meliodas pressed his black-clad palm against hers, all five fingers splayed perfectly against hers. The feeling of his buzzing demon energy came as a rush, and all of a sudden there was a zing from the center of her chest and then her whole hand was clothed in light. Elizabeth felt her lips split into a wide grin, the room now thrumming with energy. She was using her goddess magic! She had no idea how, but the thrill was undeniable. She turned her gaze to Meliodas, who was staring up at her like she was a real goddess. Eagerly, she placed her other hand on his shoulder where another patch of darkness resided. Another zing, and that hand burst into goddess light too. Her demon's eyes were closed and he was panting, the mark on his forehead shifting slightly, the lines becoming bolder and more ragged.

"Meliodas," she whispered breathlessly, "are you alright?" Concerned, she raised her hand to trace his demon crest again, dragging another moan from his lips in the process.

"Elizabeth," he panted, "please, you need to be careful."

She nodded, confused but agreeing placating. Was he in pain? Shifting her gently glowing palm away from his mark to the side of his head, she tried to re-capture the conversation. "The Ten Commandments… they all could use the hellblaze, but only two of them had a mark like this. Aren't they all considered high ranking?"

Her demon chuckled, a sound that was low and dark and laden with promise. When he opened his eyes, there was a primal edge that lit the abyss in his gaze. "Clever little goddess. Perhaps high ranking isn't specific enough. This crest is the royal family crest."

The room turned all of a sudden and her vision of the room was replaced with nothing but her demon's visage and the ceiling. She shuddered, his body pressing hers into the mattress. Pomegranate and power tickled her nose. How had he captured both of her wrists in the transition from upright to not? Her demon leaned his face closer, tracing his nose along the collarbone that the deep V-neck of his shirt exposed. Her breath caught as he trailed up her neck, tucking his nose once again behind her ear.

"My princess. My goddess. You have no idea what you do to me, do you?"

"What… are you doing?"

"It's what you are doing, little goddess. Do you still want to know about what happened earlier?"

He pressed his lower half more firmly against her, fitting their hips together. She felt something hard against her thigh and the ability to form words suddenly escaped her. Instead, her response came in the form in a nod and a shuddering gasp.

"Your scent… Did you know that pomegranates are one of the few fruits that will grow in the demon land?"

Elizabeth tried to grasp at the words he was saying. Pomegranate? Her bath oil? The gentle press of his lips against the outer edge of her ear was enough to drag another wordless sound from her throat. Halfway between a gasp and a moan, but it seemed to please her demon, as he purred in to hear ear in return.

"Of course, just a pomegranate isn't enough chase a demon out of hiding. Your goddess magic, your power, something about you in particular is positively… delectable…" The way he spoke in the low, powerful timber sung fire into her veins. He pressed himself again into her, the hardness against her thigh more distinct than before. She struggled to form words, though. She had to know, needed to know.

"S-Sir Meliodas, please- is this, is this just because I'm an apostle?"

He growled, actually growled, against her throat. She froze, then yelped as nipped her in chastisement. "Silly goddess, do you think so little of yourself?"

The feeling of his warm tongue soothing the teeth drew another strangled sound from her throat. Following the motion, her demon placed gentle kisses up the column of her throat, across her chin, and against her ear. "You are so much more than you could ever imagine, Elizabeth..."

Chapter Text

Meliodas wasn't quite sure how he got into his current… position. He distinctly remembered pushing his princess flat onto the bed, but he didn't remember when the decision to do so had ever entered his mind. He could feel her fluttering pulse from where he pinned her wrists to the mattress, but it felt like a distant ring instead of an actual heartbeat. He felt both present and incorporeal simultaneously. And he wasn't sure if it was the sudden surge of his inner demon at the surfacing of Elizabeth's goddess magic, or if it was the poignant sense of déjà vu settling under his breastbone.

He'd seen her like this before: pinned underneath him, silver-spun hair haloing her face against the darkness of night, alabastrine complexion flushed, delicate lips slightly parted, hazy carnelian gaze fixed on him. The only flag that this was now and not then was the beautiful azure of Elizabeth's human eye. The last time he'd seen her like this wasn't as an incarnation. No, the last time they'd been like this- his original Elizabeth, in all of her goddess glory- had been making a promise.

Meliodas pressed his lips against the lobe of her ear. How could he explain that to his princess? He couldn't just tell her about demon mating rituals, how there could only ever be one pre-destined mate and that theirs was the only mating between their two clans? They were a taboo, known but never acknowledged unless it was in punishment. It was after their binding that his father had cursed them alongside the Sovereign Deity. He'd always been bitter over how the only thing that brought the two clan leaders together was their mutual hatred over their mating.

Meliodas pressed his lips against the upper corner of her jaw. Even now, he could feel the connection that had long been dormant between them starting to stir. Forged using both of their magics in the ancient mating ritual, even the clan leaders hadn't been able to break it. Of course, stealing his emotions and repeatedly killing Elizabeth was pretty close to doing just that. For years, he had wandered the earth feeling the silent connection within him and praying he would once again feel her on the other side. It was the worst kind of amputation, where nothing looked wrong on the outside. But on the inside, he was always waiting for a response from his other half.

Meliodas pressed his lips against the peak of her cheekbone. Now, pinning his Elizabeth beneath him for the first time in 3,000 years, he could finally feel something. Their connection was finally starting to speak again. It was soft, barely even a whisper, but the presence of the demon's mate finally beginning to return to him was unmistakable.

Meliodas pressed his lips against the bridge of her nose. His emotions were still contradictive, swirled up by a turbulence of unanswered questions. What did this mean for the curse? Would she remember their past and inevitably die on him again? Or was this a sign that the curse was finally weakening? And what of the sensations that were quietly trickling to him through the connection? The sensation of love and trust, the pounding in her blood, her cherished familiar presence. But the sense of uselessness, and the desire to be more?

He would not allow his mate to feel this way. He was one of the most powerful beings in the history of the world and she alone had the power to bring him to his knees. And despite all of his questions and concerns, he refused to let Elizabeth continue to believe such nonsense. He refused to let her go unloved.

Meliodas pressed his lips against hers.

For a moment and an eternity, all Elizabeth knew was the gentle pressure of Meliodas's lips against hers. Her world narrowed to this one instance; the soft texture of his lips, the moist warmth, the tender force, then the slow drag as he gently drew away…

Elizabeth wasn't sure when she'd closed her eyes or when she stopped breathing. Willing herself to breathe lest she pass out from the dizzying effect, she looked up at her demon's unguarded expression. She could feel something turbulent tickling the back of her mind, mirrored in the controlled tension she saw in muscles around his jaw and eyes. She stared, transfixed by Meliodas, has he whispered her name in a shuddering prayer.

"Elizabeth…"

She wasn't sure when the thought had crossed her mind, she certainly had never given it permission, but suddenly she was arching up, stretching to slant her lips against his in reciprocation. Meliodas froze against her mouth for a single heartbeat, before he caused her world to detonate with sensation. He was pushing her back into the pillow, his lips moving in a delightful friction, his body suddenly against every inch of her in a blazing heat. She felt her goddess magic surge forward at the fizz of his demon power so close to her skin, but the illumination was lost on her as Elizabeth's eyes had snapped shut at the onslaught. Her demon switched needy lips for the tension of teeth against her bottom lip, and unthinkingly she let her lips part to follow the motion. A second later, his tongue was dipping between her lips to drag along her own tongue. Her body was responding as if orchestrated by him: her tongue twined against his, her hips curled slightly upward, and from some unknown place in the back of her throat- she moaned.

The sound was quiet, but it seemed to please her knight because she could feel the smile of his lips against hers. Still caging both of her wrists with his hands, he abandoned her lips in favor of trailing moist, forceful kisses down the column of her neck. She was thankfully breathing again, but in ragged pants that seemed to catch on wordless sounds every time he discovered a particularly sensitive spot. The juncture between her neck and her shoulder, right above her collar bone, served as one such spot, and when he kissed it she was surprised to find she could still speak two distinct words:

"S-sir Meliodas." The name was dragged from her throat breathlessly, and something told her that he liked it that way. So very many ways he must have heard his name said throughout the years, and that was definitely his favorite. A flare of frustration soon followed the knowledge, and then the thought was chased from her mind completely by the sharp bite of teeth at that same spot.

"Try again, Elizabeth." She shuddered against the slightly deeper timber that pronounced her name. Had that slowly growing itch between her legs always there? How was she to shape words when all she wanted was more of this insatiable friction?

Another nip to the same spot, and she was sure she would have a bruise. "Elizabeth," he drew her name out, as if savoring a sublime decadency, "say my name."

She fought to comply with his request, but her tongue was no good with words in this context. Were her lessons as a princess all for nothing? He breathed against her shoulder, ripping another sound from her throat. "Sir-"

She didn't even get past the first syllable before his teeth were against her again, turning the remaining syllables into a punctuated moan. Oh, he quite liked that sound, she was somehow sure of it. But the tang of annoyance was there again.

"Say my name, Elizabeth. Just my name." And then his breath was against her shoulder again, followed by his tender lips.

"Meliodas!"

Something rumbled from his chest, she could feel it against her skin all along her body. Her demon kissed her lips again in praise, but when he went to leave she drew her tongue along his lower lip in a plead to stay. The request must have been heard, for he growled and pressed down against her again, delving into her mouth while their lips explored a heated ebb and flow.

He finally ended the kiss with a quiet pop, then departed to keep exploring down below her chin. Why did he not want her to apply the honorifics to his name? He was nothing but deserving, and she so much weaker than him, wasn't it only fitting? She felt his teeth against her again on the top edge of one of her breasts, drawing another soft moan from her throat in both surprise and unnameable heat. Abandoning that thought, Elizabeth realized in a rush that she was still wearing nothing but his shirt and her panties. And though she had buttoned up the collar as high as it would go, the shirt still dipped rather deeply into her cleavage in this position.

The pressure on her wrists disappeared as Meliodas re-purposed his fingers to work on the buttons of her shirt while his lips explored the plane of skin above her breasts. "Let me know if you want me to stop." She wasn't sure if she heard his voice in her ears or in her mind, only that the ringing it left behind made her want to kiss him again. With her now-free hands, Elizabeth reached for his chin and guided his seeking lips back up to her face. Digging her fingers into his wild blond locks, she kissed his lips, his nose, his cheek, his ear. His skin tasted salty and spicy at the same time, a combination of sweat and magic. He groaned as she nibbled gently on the edge of his ear, and her heart fluttered knowing she could draw such a sound from him. One of his hands immediately went to her cloth-covered breasts, and her breath caught again on his name in her throat.

"Meli-odas."

A grin passed briefly over the demon's visage, before he pulled away slightly to sit against her hips. The added pressure against her core felt delectable, but the rest of her shivered at the sudden departure of his heat. The night air was thick with the sounds of their heavy breathing and rapid heartbeats, but Elizabeth was confused with his sudden withdrawal. Meliodas flicked his eyes down and back up to hers again, and she quickly brought her hands to her face in embarrassment. He'd finished unbuttoning her shirt, and now she laid pinned beneath him, a straight line of marble-white skin revealed all the way from her neck to where he was sitting over her panties.

Was he asking her permission? Flicking her eyes back to his blackened gaze, she knew the answer was definitive "yes". Elizabeth couldn't help but hesitate. She trusted him wholly, but she was raised a princess. Her body had never actually been looked at by any man before, really only the female servants that had helped dress her in her more complex outfits. And here Meliodas was, poised above her, still completely clothed…

Her thoughts came to a screeching halt when Meliodas placed his hands again in hers. Wreathed in hellblaze, her hands lit up again in response. Elizabeth gasped lightly, the feeling of her goddess magic activating still new and exhilarating. Her knight gently tugged on her hands, urging her to sit up. She complied, and he shifted off of her so she could tuck her legs safely underneath her. Sitting across from him with her shirt hanging open but still covering her breasts to preserve some semblance of modesty, she couldn't help be confused.

That is, until he gently guided her hands to the collar of his own shirt.

Elizabeth's flush darkened another shade and she ducked her head to hide her face in her bangs. Her knight let go of her wrists and placed his own hands on the bed, leaning back slightly in a completely relaxed manner. Her heart wanted to burst from her chest and begin to soar. Earlier he had been so closed off to her, but here, now, he was completely open. When she had asked about his demon mark, hadn't he asked her about hers first? She flicked her gaze up to the swirly crest on his forehead, knowing this was very much like before. He was asking to see her, well, naked, and he was willing to open up first if it would make her more comfortable. And, well, really, she was curious. She'd seen him shirtless before during battle, but those more anxious situations were hardly the proper context for noticing her companion's body. Now he was offering her the opportunity to do some exploration of her own, and she was far too eager to pass it up.

She began to fumble with the red tie against his collar, and Meliodas chuckled quietly to himself. It was a dark, promising sound, but he still waited patiently as she worked methodically to undress him, nibbling her lip and shifting her legs against her core to ease some of the tension that was still simmering in her veins. First the loose tie was unknotted, carefully slid out from his shirt collar, and dropped over the edge of the bed. Then the buttons of his black vest were undone. Elizabeth swallowed thickly as she eased the crisp fabric over his shoulders and off his arms, but her knight made no comment as he moved his arms out of the vest and let her toss that over the side of the bed too. She briefly made contact with the obsidian gaze, reading equal parts tension and hunger as he wet his lips, and couldn't help but burn a little hotter in memory of the taste of those lips. The princess quickly averted her gaze to her task and began to work on the buttons of his remaining white shirt, slowly revealing the skin underneath it.

Hands shaking, she released the last button above his hips. She could feel the warmth radiating from his skin, but she held on to the edge of his now open shirt and raised her gaze to his, asking permission. Meliodas blinked as if surprised, then smirked darkly and minutely nodded. Permission granted, Elizabeth reached higher up on his shirt to pull it open and back over his shoulders.

First she just stared, eating her fill of the muscular planes revealed to her in full. His skin was darker than hers by a shade, but still pale in contrast to the swirls of darkness winding like fire over his right shoulder and left hipbone. Holding her breath, she hesitantly reached forward to graze her fingers above his bare pectoral. The skin tensed underneath her, but Meliodas remained stony still, hands fisted in the bed covers. Elizabeth exhaled in a rush. So finally touching him had no dire consequences: no explosions, no reality ripping at the seams, and he was staying right where he was instead of running away. It seemed a little silly to be concerned in the first place, but considering their experiences minutes previous, the thought had still been there. Her demon snickered, flashing a cheeky grin that bared his teeth. Sending him a barbed look, Elizabeth turned back to the skin of his chest, tracing her fingers through the warm creases of muscle and around the corners of black decorating his shoulder. His skin twitched and tensed against her ministrations, but she got the distinct feeling that he was allowing her to explore while stifling his reactions. After the sounds he had just drawn from her throat? That wouldn't do.

Watching him for any indication she should stop, she seated her palm against his waist and slowly leaned forward. With aching caution, she pressed a gentle kiss to the space beneath his collar bone. His breath hitched, but the reaction was far too minimal for her satisfaction. Elizabeth kissed the spot more languidly, darting her tongue out to sample the salty, musky tang that was sweat and skin and power. She kissed and licked across to the other side, inhaling deeply a scent that was distinctly Meliodas but also something more. She shifted her legs underneath her again, seeking relief for the ache that had settled there with the heady scent, while drifting lower to gently kiss his nipple. Another hitched breath, but nothing more.

In a flash of frustration, the princess nipped her knight sharply on his pectoral. A deep growl vibrated the skin next to her lips, and she couldn't help but be pleased. She shifted her hands to knead against his abdominals while drifting upward again to nip the juncture of his neck and shoulder as he had done to her, and was rewarded again by a growl that sounded distinctly like her name.

"Elizabeth…"

She hummed, oddly pleased with herself, and gently pressed him down towards the bed to allow herself greater access to further explore. Her knight complied with the nonverbal request, leaning back onto the bed and propping himself up on his elbows. Elizabeth bent lower against him, determined to find every place on his body that might elicit similar sounds. The dip between his hip bone and abdominals made him twitch and growl some more. The edge of his belly button yielded a breathy gasp. And the corner of the twisting black fire spread across a downward-leading trail of fine bond hair bore a hiss of air between clenched teeth. Sensing his struggle to keep quiet against the onslaught, Elizabeth lingered in these spots with little kisses and nibbles while working with shaky hands to undo the button and zipper of his pants.

It took quite a bit of finagling for her trembling fingers to work the pants open, but when the task was done, the princess halted all other motion. Casting her gaze up the planes of his chest, Elizabeth tugged lightly on the edge of Meliodas's pants in askance. The demon faintly bobbed his flushed face in permission, the look on his face a mixture of lust, disbelief, and worship. Turning back to her task, Elizabeth wiggled her fingers into the waistband and cautiously tugged the pants down and off his legs.

Once the pants were dropped in a heap on the floor, the princess paused her endeavor again to observe Meliodas. Was it funny that she now knew that he wore boxers instead of briefs? The black fabric of his underwear was crinkled in various places- the wrinkly hem ending somewhere high on his muscular thighs. A significant bulge at the apex of those thighs was of particular interest, as the loose material hinted at something she was only familiar about in theory. Of course she'd been taught be bare necessities of such things, but it was hardly a well-explored topic for a princess's curriculum. Elizabeth found herself holding her breath again as she tentatively reached to gently grasp what was hidden below the fabric. The moment she grabbed it, Meliodas fisted his hands again into the bed covers and gasped wordlessly.

The, well, penis, was warm. Incredibly warm. And stiff, but not immalleable. It was also much larger than what she was expecting, though she didn't really know what to expect in the first place. She encircled her fingers around the considerable girth and moved her fingers up and down the length of it once to get a sense of exactly how long, and was rewarded by a strangled sound coming from her knight's throat. She cast a her gaze up at him again in response, and noticed his very kissable lips were parted slightly in desperate pants. Meliodas moved to grasp the hand grabbing him and tugged gently to encourage her to release him, which she did immediately. Then he placed the same hand against the waistband of his boxers before replacing his arm back underneath him.

Oh. This was it, she was going to see him naked. Her first naked man. Elizabeth shifted her heel against the heat pooling between her legs again, thinking about just where the thing she'd just been touching was actually supposed to go. Well, it didn't have to go there tonight if she didn't want it to, and she was still rather curious what it actually looked and felt like, and he had given her permission…

With slow and delicate movements, Elizabeth carefully peeled back the waistband of the boxers, the last vestige of clothing on her demon coming away. Every inch of skin revealed more muscle and more curly blond hair until the fabric caught. She tugged a little more forcefully to pull the boxers over the appendage, only to have it spring free.

Elizabeth froze now, staring up at her demon in his full naked glory. The black fire decorating his skin veered away from the v in his hip bone to curve up his backside, bearing open the long and thick column of skin to stand upward. She didn't really know what to think of it, other than it looked bigger than it had felt a moment ago, and it had felt awfully large. The base was nestled in a wealth of blonde curls, which also decorated the fleshy bulge that hung just underneath. She tugged the black boxers the rest of the way off his legs so that the night air carried the sounds of sliding fabric and bated breath.

Hesitant, she first trailed a single digit up the length of it. It twitched underneath her ghosting touch, and Meliodas hissed quietly as he struggled to breathe. Emboldened by his response, Elizabeth grasped the appendage more firmly, wrapping her fingers again around the naked girth. It was hot, the skin almost like warm velvet beneath her touch. She gulped, again thinking of how that heat was supposed to somehow fit inside her. Licking her suddenly dry lips and shifting her thighs underneath her, she gave the length a slow experimental pump, dragging her fist up and back down once. Her demon rewarded her with a growl that evolved into a strangled sound, wordless and breathy. Exceedingly pleased, she repeated the action. Twisting, alternating pressure, switching speeds, she found that Meliodas couldn't keep quiet as he'd previously endeavored.

"E-liz-abeth," he growled the broken syllables of her name. Heat bloomed around her womb at the sound of it, a pleased smile twisting the corner of her lips upward.

The grin turned mischievous, and Elizabeth gazed up at him with mock innocence. "Yes… Sir Meliodas?"

A snarl was her only warming. In an instant, she was flipped onto her back, her naked demon perched again above her. Her wrists were caged beside her face, the heat and power in his skin was swelling against hers, his bare length pressed along her abdomen. Her eyes went wide, hyper-aware of all of him and especially the piece of him that she had just been familiarizing herself with. Elizabeth swallowed thickly, lips caught between her teeth.

"I thought I told you to say just my name."

"I-" her response was silenced by his lips pressing urgently against her own. His skin seared against hers where the flimsy shirt lay slightly open. His tongue was in her mouth, demanding her submission with every forceful twist. Too soon, he released her swollen lips to stare heatedly down at her, something fierce burning in the abyss of his eyes.

His breath fanned across her face with every word. "You are the last person who should be addressing me with titles in tow, my goddess, my mate, my Elizabeth…"

Chapter Text

That damn title was going to be the end of him. He was a prince when he was owned by his commandment, and he was a knight when he was owned by his rage; he was nothing but a sinner who had murdered many under the direction of his father and murdered even more under the direction of his own wrath. And here was his mate, his precious goddess, who found him worthy enough to taint herself with his skin. He could feel her internal sense of inadequacy more clearly now through their burgeoning mate bond, a sour note within her tantalizing arousal.

He gently inhaled and exhaled her alluring perfume: grassy meadows, clear skies, the clean smell of rain, the zing of magic, and the tart fruitiness of pomegranate. "You are the last person who should be addressing me with titles in tow, my goddess, my mate, my Elizabeth…"

Meliodas drew his face back a hair's breadth to gaze down on her mussed countenance. Between the darkened room, her magic, and the way the moonlight dancing on her sweat-slicked skin, his mate positively glowed. She was the epitome of holy perfection and he was only a sinner come to her temple to worship. He was loving her in an ancient, universal language and still his mate could not see. A stubborn lump had formed in his throat, but this was Elizabeth. She above all else deserved to know these things in all clarity.

"Elizabeth I…" Damn he was never good with words. He licked his lips, and dual-colored eyes followed the motion hungrily underneath him. The air was stolen from his lungs in a whoosh, and the fearsome demon swallowed again.

"Elizabeth, my precious mate…" Damn it again even the demon in him couldn't possibly vocalize it. The goddess trapped blissfully underneath him squirmed slightly, unknowingly rolling her scarcely-clad hips against his very naked length. Meliodas gritted his teeth, the motion blooming the most delectable pleasure in his groin. Oh what he would give to be inside her already, thrusting hard and fast and mercilessly. No, he had to lock it down. This wasn't something you did just because. This was making love to his one and only mate. She deserved to know that this wasn't a one-time thing, that he had loved her for thousands of years and would love her for forever. She had to know she was worth that love. She deserved at least that much.

Before he knew it, he had dropped closer to her, pressing every inch of himself against her and nuzzling his face into her hair. She squeaked quietly underneath him, drawing a grin to the lips he pressed against her ear. Her arms wrapped around him instantly, unquestioning but pliant with need. His arms had gone rigid, completely encompassing her waist. He could feel the buttons of the shirt she wore press against his abdomen, focused on it and on the smell of pomegranate buried deep into her hair.

The words were whispered pleadingly against the shell of her ear as if confessing at an altar. "Elizabeth… I love you."

The words whispered against her ear were unmistakable. Elizabeth's heart froze somewhere in here throat and she fought to breathe past it. It wasn't true, it couldn't be true, but it must be true because her knight had spoken. And Meliodas was not one to lie, especially about these things.

"I…" the words were quiet and stuttered as she fought to speak them into existence. Elizabeth turned her face to nuzzle against her knight's wild blond locks. Saying them felt so inadequate after his confession to her, but she still needed to tell him. "I love you too… Meliodas."

A delighted purr rumbled in his chest, vibrating against her nipples through the thin fabric of her open shirt. Her lover pulled back slightly, propping himself above her so she could see the brimming joy in his darkened emerald eyes. Oh, what she would give to see that look more often.

She leaned up to kiss the corner of his jawline celebration of his joy and his love, only to be intercepted by his lips instead. He was languid and pliant against her, kissing her slowly and deeply. His tongue was dragging along hers unhurriedly, his teeth tugging against her lips, his breath fanning against her cheek. It was a heady, thankful, reverent kiss. She melted against him with a long, needy sound, trying to move her legs to relieve some heat building in her core only to find they were pinned underneath her knight. A low rumbling reverberated from the demon on top of her, and Meliodas placed one hand against her bare abdomen. He would love her thoroughly and unhurriedly. The thought had her squirming even more against the restraining hand.

"I love you." The pronunciation this time was in her demon's voice, a deep growl shaping the words against her lips. His teeth carved downward against her jawline, her neck, savoring her skin and her quiet moans like they were something delectable or divine. Meanwhile, the hand on her stomach became coated with darkness and edged upward against her body, tracing languid lines against the dip of her belly button, the swell of her rib cage, the seam between her breasts. There, the demon paused his ministrations and cast a hooded gaze at her, waiting.

Elizabeth waited in hot agony, panting slightly and pressing her legs together where her core was starting to ache. When she made no move with the pause, the demon placed his fingers gently against the edge of the white unbuttoned cotton shirt that was still barely covering his lover, then looked meaningfully up at her again. Asking permission, she realized with a lust-glazed mind. Oh. Her ability to make words seemed to have escaped her, she wasn't even sure if her tongue remembered how to form them in the first place, so the princess settled for a nod.

The look on her demon's face was equal parts awed, heady, and wicked. Meliodas ever so gently drew one half of the shirt apart, bearing a creamy breast to the moonlight. He paused again, staring and not moving, presumably drinking in the sight. Elizabeth shifted underneath him, a blush crawling from her cheeks down towards her chest. The movement seemed to call her knight out of his moment of awe. He shifted down to press a gentle kiss near the top of her breast.

"I love you so much…" These words were gusty, quiet, disbelieving, a prayer whispered against the sensitive skin of her untouched breast. The announcement was followed by a gentle kiss, and another further down, as her knight slowly drew his lips from the top to the underside of the immaculate round, then back up towards a dusky nipple. A soft gasp was pulled from her throat as he at last placed his lips against the peak. Once was chaste, then he returned to languidly press his lips against the pinkened circle. The slow friction was tantalizing as her knight dragged lips, tongue, teeth against the sensitive flesh. The gentle wetness of his mouth against her there was causing noises to catch in her voice, hitched breathes and mewling sounds that she was sure she couldn't duplicate under any other circumstances.

One quiet moan jumped in octave at the feeling of his other hand dipping under the other side of her shirt. Meliodas palmed the yet untreated breast, his fingers dipping into the inside valley and the back over the peak. Another pass, and the demon switched his attentions, nosing aside the last remaining scrap of shirt to dart his tongue out over her moonlit skin while his opposite hand played with the other, moistened breast. Goddesses, she was coming undone and Elizabeth knew it. Her skin felt hot. Her heart was hammering. The delicious treatment of her breasts was making heat pool at the apex of her thighs. And the cause of it all…

"Meliodas…" He was drawing his fingers back up towards her shoulders now to guide the sleeves down and off her arms. The knight paused in his ministrations, drinking in the sound of his name and only his name on her lust-laden voice. She knew he must love that, but the suddenly darker gleam to his eyes and the black flames shifting impatiently over his skin told her that he was determined to do even better. If she could still form a complete word, well he wasn't doing things right now, was he?

The thought passed through her as she shimmied out of the sleeves of the shirt she had borrowed from his dresser not long ago. As soon as the cotton was off her, he was against her again, more fervent than before. His tongue was in her mouth, demanding, dominating all over again, pulling moans from the crevices of her being. The princess's skin felt alive all of a sudden as their bare chests pressed together, soft breasts against hard muscle. His hands were running up and down her sides, tracing symbols into the dip in her waist and the swell of her hip. One snuck around to fully grasp her backside, encouraging her with a squeeze to arch closer to him. And she did, raising against him to seam their hips together and press his hard naked length into a warm moist dip in her panties.

The feeling of him pressed against her in her most intimate area was like a streak of white light through her being. This time her moan tumbled into his own vocalized need, a viscous growl that sounded more stifled than before. She pushed against him again, chasing the sensation that she had unknowingly been craving with every squirm and clenched thighs. She was rewarded with another streak of heat racing from her core outwards, all the way to the tips of her fingers. The sound she strung from Meliodas was an even greater reward.

"E-lizabeth…" Her name was spoken in a whispered moan. Something in her loved that she could elicit such a response from the big bad demon. As if sensing the rogue thought, her demon steadied his grip against her hips, fingers pressing her firmly against every inch of his body, and thrust purposefully against her covered core.

She forgot to breathe as the feeling of heat ripped through her again, stronger this time. She clung to his shoulders as he did it again, surrendering herself to the sensation at his will. Goddesses, she would follow him to the ends of time if he would just give her more. As if sensing the desperation in his princess, the demon ceased his actions, going completely still. Elizabeth whined plaintively, concerned suddenly with the unfairness of it all. Why would he just stop like that?

"Elizabeth," his voice was husky and commanding. The feeling of his dark voice against her sent her arching against him again, but uncompromising hands held her fast.

"Elizabeth, look at me," he demanded. She was not one to resist. The princess peeked through messy silver bangs with cerulean and citrine eyes, a gaze heavy and glazed with unyielding need. She was met with the blackened gaze of her demon. Her mate.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" A hint of green swirled against his void-black eyes, as one of his fingers toyed with the hem of her underwear. "I… I don't know if I'm strong enough to pull back."

The princess struggled to process what her knight was saying. Licking her dry lips, she pressed into him again. The friction was delicious against her core, drawing a demonic hiss from her lover. In a moment she was pinned more firmly again, hands on her hips unyielding.

"Elizabeth, stop for a moment, you have to understand." She paused at his command, spellbound by the concern in his dark emerald eyes and the shape of his lips. "I… if we go much farther, we may, well, go all the way. I'll try to stop if you tell me to, honest, but I'm not sure how much control I really have over him. I… I, we, I mean, we-"

Elizabeth watched transfixed as more and more green bleed into his eyes, the black beginning to fade completely for the first time since he'd come into the room commented on her pomegranate bath oil. And she could feel it, somewhere in her soul: Meliodas was clamming up. He was shutting her out again, after he had told her he loved her and everything. Did he regret it? Had he shown her too much?

She was laying underneath his naked body, completely bare but for the panties he still was fiddling with. They could never go back to the way things were before. And she wanted this now. She wanted him. The princess swallowed carefully, trying desperately to conjure words past the insatiable need that was still smoldering unquenched between her legs.

"I love you, Meliodas," Elizabeth murmured, drawing her hands up his naked chest and neck to rest against either side of his chin. "I love all of you. And I want this. I want you. I want all of you. Please, Meliodas. Please, mate…"

Chapter Text

She didn't know what had drawn the word mate to her lips. Perhaps because Meliodas had used it earlier? Though she didn't quite grasp the definition, it resonated with her somewhere in the recesses of her soul. She could tell it certainly meant something to him, by the way she could feel a fresh roll of turbulence in her mind and the skip in his heartbeat under her palm.

A breath passed between them where he beheld her in dumfounded awe, the word hanging in the air between them, before the blackness swirled back into his eyes with renewed vigor. Then he was against her again, dragging growls and skin and hellblaze across her skin. Somewhere in the onslaught she could hear the broken syllables of her name tumbling from his lips, and feel the gentle tickling sensation as he tucked a few digits into the hem of her underwear. Her mind was reeling, trying to take in all of the sensations at once while also hyper fixating on the progress of her demon slowly dragging her last vestige of clothing down her body.

The white panties held a bit of lace at the hem, decorating her pale moonlit skin as Meliodas tugged the cloth down her legs. He paused again there, his expression all heady awe and his nose twitching slightly. "Pomegranate and arousal," the familiar voice settling in the corner of her mind supplied. She meant to question it, but then Meliodas was leaning forward to place his lips again the inside of her knee while dragging his warm roughened palms slowly up her thighs, towards an aching, throbbing juncture.

Elizabeth forgot to breathe during the transit, but when his probing fingers finally met their destination, a hot sensation streaked through her womb. It was just a gentle drag of his fingertips over the edge of her lower lips, but the gasp drawn from her lungs felt like the life leaving her body, only to be replaced with ache and need. Another slow drag, this one dipping a centimeter deeper to part the lips and catch some of the moisture gathered there, and a primal part of her suddenly knew that this was what she her body was needing, seeking, craving more of. Another pass, a touch deeper still so as to tease the entrance of a cavern never previously explored. She couldn't help it; her hips chased the motion by briefly tipping upward.

Meliodas growled, though in warning or in praise was beyond her. Perhaps beyond him too. Her demon had been occupying his lips against the insides of her legs, but as she chanced a glance down her body with a half-lidded gaze, she spied his demon mark blazing raggedly against the whole of his forehead and his abyss-black eyes fixated on her most intimate area. His free hand shifted to press against the tops of her hips, effectively holding her in place, before making another pass. This time, a single digit snuck partway in, breaching a threshold previously untried. "Well, in reality we passed that threshold long ago." It didn't matter, the sensation was dizzying. Her chest was shuddering now. Why couldn't she seem to get a breath?

"Breathe, love." Her knight's voice punctuated the lust-laden air. How could she, with his finger halfway up her vagina? She could feel herself squeezing against the intrusion, foreign yet desired. Why had he stopped again?

His face was suddenly up near hers, eyes dark and commanding. "Elizabeth, look at me. Breathe, mate." Her eyes traced his, pulling out of the heady fog enough to force a gulp air into her lungs. Meliodas smiled down at her and rewarded her with another kiss on her lips. Alternating dragging his teeth against her lips and slipping his tongue against hers, her focus shifted in attempt to return his ministrations. Once the death grip she held against his intrusion lessened somewhat, he began to slowly pull out and push in again.

Though gentle, the sensation still left her feeling wound too tightly. The second time he pulled all the way out to draw a figure eight around a bundle of nerves near the top of the opening with his wet fingertip, then press back in again. Her hips tried to chase the feeling, but his other hand against her hipbone held her place. A third time and he repeated the motion, this time sliding his finger farther so his knuckles pressed against her, followed by a gentle rocking motion to grind his hand against her while curling his finger somewhere. She gasped, breaking the seal against his lips in a hollow, wordless moan. Goddesses, this alone felt so amazing, and he only had a finger inside her. How would she ever hope to hold up to more?

The thought was chased away as he now freed lips busied themselves in that sensitive space just above her collarbone, that same spot where her neck met her shoulders. A firm nip chastised the thought, followed by a growl and a kiss to the same patch of skin. He pumped gently in and out again and again, his breath fanning hotly against her while he dragged demon-sharp canines up the column of her neck in a series of nips and open-mouthed kisses. Was he getting faster? The change was too gradual to tell, her mind couldn't hold onto such questions for long in this state.

"Do you like this, Elizabeth?" Her demon purred into her ear, breath fanning there. Receiving no immediate response as surely words were well beyond her capabilities by now, he circled his tongue along the edge of her ear and placed a kiss where her jaw met her earlobe, followed by another swirl of his finger around her clit. Wetness and heat were soaking his finger and she mewled, unexpectedly frustrated by the missing intrusion but electrified with each circling pass to the sensitive nub.

"Because it sounds like you do." His voice was roughened by a hinted growl, low and heavy with lust, velvety with promise, dark with power, and all sorts of things Elizabeth's mind could not begin to place. His lips were against hers again, shoving his tongue roughly into her mouth while shoving his finger roughly back into her canal. It pulled a high, keening sound from her throat, a sound he greedily swallowed into the kiss. The intrusion was more now: two fingers? The stretch was uncomfortable but delicious, the sensation of stretching as he drew in and out of her again and again unexpectedly welcome. Like an itch was finally beginning to be scratched, or the fire in her womb finally being attended to. It was too much and not enough all at once. As she went submissive against his face, allowing him to dominate the kiss, her hips bucked against his hand with renewed vigor.

With a dark tsk, he halted his movement and pulled back far enough to look down at her face. Her eyes fluttered open, beholding her demon's smirking visage. "Eager, aren't we?" he goaded her, even though she could feel the desire thrumming barely restrained in his veins and see his engorged excitement nestled between his legs.

Her hips rocked against his hand again, his fingers still impaling her. He allowed her three more passes, scissoring his fingers to stretch her and pull another moan from her lips, before the free hand against her hip bones held her fast. The moan turned into an irritated sound as she flexed beneath him, her muscles clenched bowstring tight, but the hand against her was as unyielding as before. She looked at him, dual colored eyes foggy with lust and her expression confused.

"You've gotten a taste, quite literally even," he hummed from above her. "If you want more, you need to ask."

Elizabeth squeaked. Ask? As if he had a choice, his arousal was as obvious as hers. But despite the darkness on his skin and in his voice, his full demon heritage blazing proudly, he had not fallen into animalistic instincts. It was clear his faculties were much less… encumbered than hers at the moment. Putting her at a disadvantage, considering she'd relinquished that long ago.

He pulled his hand out from between her legs, dragging the moist digits teasingly past her clit before inserting them in between his lips. She watched, fascinated, the blaze in her womb wet and hot and needing something back in between her legs to give her the satisfaction she had only begun to taste.

Quite aware her eyes were on him, Meliodas took his time to lick both digits for a heavy moment, then turned to fit his hips between hers. Her legs parted to rest on either side of him. His erection was hot and velvety, pressed lengthwise against her folds. He hissed, feeling her moist heat placed skin to skin against the place he needed her most, gripping her hip more tightly to keep her in place as she went to rock against him in seek of friction.

He tsked again, void black eyes fixing on hers and licks of flame twisting over and off his skin. "Go on, Elizabeth," he drew out her name in that way he knew would get her. He leaned closer, pressing their chests together so every inch of skin was in contact. "Ask me. Beg me."

Maybe this was his instincts after all. Though gentle and loving this whole time, her demon had surely made it clear that he was the dominant one in this encounter. If her face could get any redder, it would, but she was well past embarrassment at this point. She tried to buck again, and felt his hand flex against her hipbone and hellblaze swirl from his hand against her skin. She whined against the fizzing sensation, rewarded only by an impatient twitch from his cock against her needy folds.

"Elizabeth…" he growled testily. She could feel it again, unquestionably familiar in the corners of her mind. Her demon needed to hear this, needed her to tell him it was okay to proceed while needing to dominate her completely. But oh, how was she to form words in a state like this?

She licked her suddenly dry lips, trying to summon whatever she needed to make words happen. He loved her, she didn't need to be more than she already was to have him love her, so she could do this much, right? The hand not fastened to her side drifted up to comb gently through her long silver hair. The loving motion sent tingles down her scalp to hear heart and to her aching center. Goddesses, was there any way he could touch her and not send her into a lust-filled craze? She exhaled, the space between them suddenly smaller as his face drew close again to hers.

"Mate, Elizabeth, do it. Say please."

Her voice was barely a whisper, a motion of lips with hardly any sound behind it. "Please."

The rumble from before returned, vibrating against her skin. "Please, who?"

"Please… Meliodas."

He kissed her then, all passion and love in his lips and in his heart. And he tilted his hips so that his tip pressed against her aching core. Another growl and a kiss, and he began to press forward. He was trying to keep her attention away from the intrusion, she could tell, but that was perhaps one of her last coherent thoughts as just the head of his cock entered her.

It was large, too large, unbelievably hot, stiff, unyielding, stretching, and all sorts of things all at once. Elizabeth shuttered, her voice gone again in a gasp. Her arms shifted to wrap around his shoulders like a vice, one hand sinking into her demon's wild blonde locks in an effort to ground herself against the invasion. Meliodas made a strangled sound in the back of his throat, the feeling of finally being inside her but just the tip was both heavenly and excruciating. He had to get her to relax so he could push further inside, the resistance his goddess was putting up was too great.

"Say it again," the demon ordered. His tone held no room to oppose. She could feel it, he would have her surrender to him, and do so over and over again.

She swallowed thickly, eyes closed and face buried into the crook of his neck. He smelled like sex and power. He smelled like her mate.

"Please, Meliodas."

He pulled out and pushed a little further into her, the stretching more intense. The rumbling growling purr returned to his chest. Oh, how he loved the sound of those words tumbling from her lips. The sweet, desperate submissiveness of the please. And his name. His true name, no titles or honorifics, nothing but just him and him alone.

"Again."

"Please, Meliodas." The words were shifting her focus from the invasion to her need. And this time when he pulled out and pushed in further still, the satisfaction and pleasure was returning. She was wet and warm and welcoming and he was filling her up. Her walls released and flexed against him inside of her, the sensation of him brushing certain parts of her as she was shifting, tilting, flexing, positively glorious.

"You are mine, Elizabeth." He pulled out- her walls fluttering around him- and pushed back in so he was sheathed to the hilt, all the way inside. She cried out in indistinct syllables that sounded vaguely like his name. The words sent a zing through her, but more so she was focused on the way he felt buried completely inside her, hot and rigid and sinful. Her legs had spread wide. Her ankles folded around his ass. Her lips were spread along the base of his shaft. His balls were warm against the base of her opening. He felt like a rod inside her, the tip pressing up against something. Her womb? Some other spot of pleasure?

Meliodas had frozen, feeling her take it all on while he was trying to do the same. But her walls were hot and wet and flexing. If he just stayed like this she would surely undo him. But she had stopped moans and wails in favor of ragged panting, and the demon would have her continue her sinful song, especially if it meant saying his name a few more times.

He began moving again, a slow undulation of in and out. Elizabeth clutched at him, along for the ride. She shifted her face from his shoulder to his neck, her breath panting across his skin. Another low moan dragged past her lips, far too quiet for his taste. He teased his hands up both sides pausing to grasp and knead her breasts, followed by a more forceful thrust. Her moan tilted on its end in a higher pitch. Better. Continuing his tantalizing slow pace, he traced up her arms to unwind them from the death grip on his hair and pin them above her head.

"Say it again, mate."

All she could muster was his name in broken syllables. "Mel-io-das…"

Oh did he like the sound of that. Her reward was a hitch in the rhythm has he slowly rode her. She strained against where her hands were pinned, stretched out for her demon to see. Her hips messily twitched and bucked in attempt to meet his, but for the occasional stutter, his hips kept steady, slow, painfully slow.

"Please," she repeated. "Please. More."

His control weakened. He wanted to draw this out, wanted her to set the pace where she was comfortable by making her beg and ask for more rather than offering it too early, and it was working. Why not reward his lovely little goddess? She felt his thought pass through mind like a birds wing, and then she was shifting and the room was spinning. Her demon changed positions in an instant, one hand on her hips holding them together and the other pinning her wrists behind her back. He was sitting on the edge of the bed now, his feet planted on the floor and his cock spearing upwards inside of her. He was deeper now, almost painfully so, but the feeling only made her core weep and her body blaze. Seated on his dick and legs spread on either side of his hips against the bed, her breath caught in another high pitched wail.

The hand on her hips guided her up and down, providing strength and support since her own legs had turned to jelly. She wanted to grab his shoulders, but his other hand held them fast to the small of her back. She may be on top of him now, but she was still dominated. She continued to bob, the sensation of spearing herself onto his hard shaft so unbelievable. In this position, he was brushing that spot even more, every few of her unpracticed thrust managing to hit in just the right way to make it happen.

She was moaning again, a high pitched keening sound now. He pulled her wrists a little, bending her shoulders back in an arch so her breasts thrust forward, her neck extended, and her hair cascaded in a silver waterfall behind her. As she ground out her own shuddering, uneven, delicious rhythm in on his dick, her demon busied himself nibbling her neck, shoulders, and breasts. Demon-sharp canines teased her skin and her nipples, each spot yielding more fire in her womb and little whimpers from her lips.

"You are mine. You always have. You always will be. My Elizabeth. My mate." He growled darkly into her breasts, fanning the flames even higher. She tried to pierce herself with his cock, coming down more and more forcefully, seeking something she couldn't name. She opened her eyes, seeing only the roiling blackness of his hellblaze cocooning them inside. When had that happened?

"Say it, mate. Say that you're mine."

She didn't hesitate, the next moan brought life to her voice. "I'm yours."

She felt like she was playing with fire. The demon had seized her soul as she was surrendering it. But in return, she could feel him surrendering his own. She seated herself again more forcefully, chasing those flames and but feeling that something just out of reach.

"Beg, Elizabeth," he commanded. She could feel him twitching inside of her. "I'll give you anything. Give in and ask."

She shoved downward again, spearing herself over him, feeling him fill her in a borderline painful way. No, she was almost there. She did it again, feeling him just barely brush over that spot inside of her again.

Her demon growled at her resistance. He gripped her hip and thrust up with her, causing her to cry out loudly. He pulled her wrists back just a little further, arching her deeper, and thrust again, hitting that spot more solidly. Oh, he knew how to give it to her. He did it again, proving it to her beyond any doubt. And then he froze, held her in place with the hand fastened still to her hip to keep her from continuing.

"Go on, Elizabeth." The sound of her name on his lips against her breasts, followed by fervent kisses against her sex-flushed skin, the feeling of her wetness dripping from their point of joining, the way he was seated up to the hilt through her core, stiff and unmoving and commanding- he knew how to get to her. He had such power over her. Part of her didn't want to back down, she was so close. And she knew he was close too, could see it in the way his chest rose and fell with every pant and in the edge of desperation in his demand.

"Elizabeth…" he growled a warning again against the junction of her shoulder and her neck, the same spot as before. She tried to shift, to move over him like before, but she was no competition to his strength. Meliodas could feel his little goddess testing him, though, his demon raging for surrender. He set his teeth against her neck again, with no pressure, as a threat. She whined, he could feel it under his lips.

Arched backwards, hands pinned behind her, teeth against her throat, and trapped with a demon in a cocoon of agitated hellblaze, Elizabeth knew she was in a bind. He thrust once more against her, against that spot inside her that sent fire through her veins, as if reminding her exactly what he could provide, if only she acquiesced to his command. The movement drew a high wail from her lips, frustrated and desperate.

"Please, Meliodas!"

His pleased growl at her surrender reverberated throughout their little bubble of darkness. He shifted the two of them, the room spun again, and she was underneath him, her chest pressed against a mess of bedsheets and her demon somewhere behind her. He grasped her hips and a warning whispered through her mind. Then he impaled her onto his dick.

She wailed, long and high and needy as finally, finally he rubbed firmly against that spot. Her ass cheeks were pressed up against him, his one hand still firmly gripping her hips, but the other released to ghost up her spine.

"Was that so hard, mate?"

He thrust again, hard now, and again she made that sound. Was this reward for surrendering or punishment for taking so long? His free hand went down and up her naked spine once more before dipping gently into her wealth of silver hair and encouraging her to arch backwards again. Leaning forward, he whispered darkly into her ear, "Both."

He thrust into her again, hard but still not fast enough for her taste. Bowed backwards and underneath him, though, she was at his mercy and thankful for it: each agonizing thrust was hitting that wonderful spot that had her seeing stars. And as she surrendered underneath him, pliant and receiving to his treatment, his pace slowly picked up speed. As his force increased, he let go of her hair to avoid hurting her and went to teasing her: grabbing her ass, groping her breasts, sending little tendrils of darkness into her skin. Elizabeth wailed her pleasure to the heavens, her anthem joined by her demon lover's own growls and moans.

"Mine, Elizabeth."

"I'm yours!"

His thrusts were frantic now, both of them careening towards that something that she was desperate for. She could feel his balls bouncing against her clit from this angle, both hands now holding her ass firmly in place. She stretched underneath him, hands fisted in the linens in front of her while her ass tilted higher in askance. He was fucking her, he was making love to her, he was worshiping her, they were standing on some sort of precipice to something together.

"Please! Meliodas!"

It felt like a detonation. He planted himself hard and fast into her as something hot and liquid shot against that spot in her and into her womb, and then she was crying out as heat flooded her insides and rushed from her core to her fingertips. She tightened around him and convulsed as he rocked tiny, deep-seated thrusts that shot more bits liquid fire inside of her. The world narrowed to the point of their joining, and something in her mind clicked into place. She could feel him clearly now, his thoughts, his emotions, and the sensation of him inside her and her surrounding him. It felt like she was more, like a limb she hadn't known she'd been missing had finally been replaced. She felt a bond in her soul that had always been unknowingly silent but was now finally there.

As the two came down from their high, the darkness surrounding them parted and disappeared, leaving them again in their shared bedroom. Meliodas drew himself from her, leaving her feeling surprisingly hollow after being so filled up before. The results of their joining dripped down the insides of her thighs. He never let go of her, though. She could sense a note of worry from the demon, as he oh so gently lifted her to stand.

She sighed, the two of them naked in each other's arms and completely spent. She was leaning into him, suddenly boneless and weak. She wanted to say something, anything, but words just weren't happening after something like that.

"Are you okay?" The sound of her knight's voice, shaky and uncertain, had her blinking her eyes open to look at her new mate. He was sweaty, hair messier than usual, and emerald green had returned to his gaze. She could tell he was almost too nervous to look at her after treating her like that, but he forced himself to not look away. Instead he was examining her, hands drifting and gently prodding as his eyes assessed her. She was glistening with sweat, skin flushed. There were light bruises and red teeth marks dotting her moon-bright skin. But the sensation of goddess magic and their mating was buzzing pleasantly in her veins. She couldn't muster herself to speak though, so she did her best to smile at him and think, "I'm okay."

His eyes darted to hers, his expression set briefly in surprise before settling somewhere that seemed contented. "Good. Well, let's get you cleaned up."

She hummed an agreement, and he guided her to the bathroom. Her knight made sure she had a firm grip on the sink counter before closing the door behind her, giving her a little privacy. Her legs trembling slightly from the exertion of keeping up with the demon during sex, she managed to clean herself up enough up that she didn't feel gross, brushed her teeth, and returned to the room.

Meliodas was at her side the moment she was back, holding her around her waist as he guided her back to the bed. Maybe it was a little unnecessary, but she didn't mind the gesture. He wordlessly tucked her in under the covers, kissed her temple with a "Be right back," and shut the bathroom door behind himself. It wasn't much later that he was nestling with her, naked under the covers.

Already the heaviness of her post-orgasm mind was drawing her into sleep. She only prayed that this wasn't a dream, and that she would wake up tomorrow with her mate still there cuddled next to her. Meliodas pulled her closer, sensing the doubts, and nuzzled reassuringly into her silver hair.

"I love you," she whispered again, her voice quieted by sleep.

"I love you too."

Chapter Text

Meliodas wasn't expecting to actually get any sleep, but after their exertions earlier that night and feeling Elizabeth's own sleepiness through the restored mate bond, he supposed it shouldn't have been a surprise. The demon in him chastised him. What if someone had attacked in the night while their mate was vulnerable? Well, then he would have woken up and there would be nothing left of them, he supposed, putting that train of thought to rest.

Holding Elizabeth closer, he still couldn't believe it was real. Pressed against her as he was, there were zero doubts that they were both very naked. In the night they had shifted so that, waking up, he had discovered their fronts pressed together, his face burrowed into her neck to smell that heavenly smell: that Elizabeth smell, the zing of goddess magic, the fruitiness of pomegranate, and now his own demonic smell burrowed deep into her pores. He had a great view, too, of the place he had bit her over and over again the night prior, now bearing a swirling black tattoo of his demon mark. She was his again. She was unquestionably, finally, his again.

He had shifted the two of them after that so he was lying on his back facing the ceiling and Elizabeth was draped against him. This way he could see if they had any intruders and react accordingly, though the way his mate's breasts pressed against him was not a bad bonus. The turbulence in his mind was back in full swing. His soul was elated, being reunited with his mate. He felt finally whole again. She wasn't just in his life like all the other reincarnations, but their bond was back. But what did that mean for the curse? Was the return of the bond a sign it was finally weakening? Or with the bond restored, would Elizabeth remember her past and then die in three days? Had she already remembered in her sleep? Was this newfound happiness doomed to end horribly in a few days' time?

He'd tried probing through the bond into her mind while she was asleep, but all he'd gotten was her own sleepy contentment. No answers to his questions. Next to him, Elizabeth made a quiet whimpering sound. Eyes shooting over to see what's wrong, Meliodas noted the way her brows were furrowed. No pain though, and her dream state hadn't seemed to change. His anxiety was probably bleeding over through the bond. He sighed, returning his gaze to stare at the ceiling while he forced his hearts to slow with controlled breaths. Things were the way they were, he sighed to himself. If he hadn't wanted this, then he shouldn't have let loose last night. He still could hardly believe he'd gone full demon on his mate. He'd tried to be gentle, but her need had fanned his desire out of control. Demanding her submission like that was out of line, but the way she'd surrendered, oh that was something he'd never forget. And she'd seemed to enjoy it. At least, she certainly hadn't minded, if her reactions were anything to say about it.

There were a lot of unanswered questions, but they were mates again. And he was sure Elizabeth would have questions too as she woke up. Lots of questions, depending on how much she remembered from her previous lives and how much she'd gleaned from his own mind through the bond. He'd have to feel out where she was at when she woke up and just play it carefully from there. Either way, he couldn't let her die due to the curse. Not again. With the bond back in place, he didn't think he'd survive.

No, they had to fix the curse this time. And they'd do it together.