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Character of the Season
Frail in body but dangerously quick of mind, Nikandr is the sort of character who proves that curiosity can be just as perilous as any weapon. A necromancer, inventor, and problem-solver with more ambition than self-preservation, Niki approaches the world like a puzzle box begging to be opened, even when what’s inside has teeth. Blunt, dry-witted, fiercely independent, and carrying a history best left partially buried, he has a knack for making even failure feel fascinating. Whether he’s raising the dead, moving across Caido to King's End, or experiencing a hangover for the first time, Nikandr brings a wonderfully strange spark to Caido, and we can’t wait to see what trouble his brilliant mind wanders into next.
Congratulations, Niki!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
OG Skinning provided by Kaons, with functionality and many custom plugins made by Neowulf!
It wasn’t the lack of immediate victory that made her breath catch—it was how close it all suddenly was. The way Liam didn’t drop her; didn’t flinch. Didn’t fumble or flush too hard or stammer out an apology the way she would have expected. No, he just shifted—smooth and confident—and pinned her tighter, locking her arms down and catching her wandering hand with enough control to make her stomach flutter.
Delighted and just a little disappointed—because she hadn’t gotten the easy win, and gods, she loved a win—Flora exhaled a sound that was half-laugh, half-huff of surrender. Not that she planned on staying that way. "You're better at this than I thought you'd be," she murmured, still breathless from the sparring, but now with something else coiled warm beneath her skin. The brush of his arm across her chest hadn’t gone unnoticed, and neither had the solid heat of his body against hers. She let her hips shift against him, the curve of her ass teasingly drawn from side to side to see if she could get him to tense again.
"Guess you’ll find out," she panted in his ear, her grin wicked even if he couldn’t see it.
Quickly, she bounced on her toes just once before jumping, drawing her legs up like a dancer mid-spin so that her weight pulled down against him, her arms still bound tight. It wasn’t much—she didn’t weigh much—but it was hopefully enough to force a shift. To test his balance and see if he’d hold on or stumble forward or—gods willing—tumble them both to the ground.
Every single thing I touch becomes sick with sadness 'Cause it's all over now, all out to sea
Feeling distinctly out of control and more than a little uncomfortable with the direction that their little spar had gone, Liam nonetheless laughed at the backhanded compliment, the sound vibrating in his chest against Flora's back. "In retrospect, I can see why you'd think that given that I just told you a story about my miserable failure as a trainee," he teased. "But that was a long time ago."
Flora shifted then, her ass drawing from side to side, forcing a sharp intake of air as Liam realized that he was stuck. He couldn't shift away without releasing her - and now that his pride was on the line, he found that that was something he couldn't quite bring himself to do. But nor could he stay pressed against her like this - not without her realizing that her ministrations were having exactly the effect that she likely imagined they would.
But then she bounced, just enough to surprise him, and then her weight was fully in his arms. "Shit -" he muttered as he stumbled forward, trying to keep ahold of Flora even as she dropped. For one, he didn't want her to fall; for another, he didn't want to lose. But he hadn't been ready for things to go in quite this direction, and he found himself teetering forward with her, falling unceremoniously to his knees and throwing out an arm to catch them before he crushed her beneath his weight. Now Flora was trapped between Liam and the sand, and he tried to pin her against the ground with his hands.
She heard it—that sharp inhale—as clear as the pounding of her own pulse, and gods if it didn’t put a wicked spark in her chest. Teasing Liam might’ve started as a distraction, but the way his arms tensed, the way his breath caught—had the queen's own breath growing a touch unsteady.
When he toppled with her, trying so very earnestly to stay in control, she took full advantage. The sand cushioned her fall, and before he could fully settle atop her, she twisted beneath him, spine sliding like silk against the grains. His arm snagged around her didn’t stop her—in fact, it helped. A flick of her fingers turned the ring on her hand and her body disappeared from sight for a breathless instant, making it look as though he'd just tripped and fallen.
Her legs curled tightly around his waist, ankles locking behind him like a snare, dragging her hips up, her lower back off the ground until her entire front was flush against him. "I think," she said softly, her voice a curl of heat against his ear, "that I’ve got you a bit more than you’ve got me right now." Her smirk burned brighter as she shifted her hips once—slow and unmistakable—her calves pressing into him to keep him there. "Unless you’ve got a secret move I don’t know about, soldier," she added, voice laced with challenge.
Every single thing I touch becomes sick with sadness 'Cause it's all over now, all out to sea
Flora twisted beneath him, and he reflexively backed off, as though to check and make sure she was alright - and then she was gone, disappearing from sight, although he could still feel her. "What the -" Suddenly, her legs were clamped tightly about his waist, her hips pressing against him until she was flush. With one arm wrapped around her back, and the other holding them up off the sand, Liam reddened further. It was a dangerous game he was playing, and now that he was in it, he wasn't sure how to extract himself without making a complete fool of himself.
Flora spoke, shifting her hips against him once, and he froze momentarily before lowering her to the ground, effectively pinning her beneath his weight with his own hips. "No secret moves," he said, "But it appears we're at an impasse. Unless, of course, you have another trick to get away." Which he didn't doubt, having thus far seen what Flora was capable of. "If this was a real fight, you'd be at a disadvantage." Why he was goading her, he wasn't exactly sure - but the challenge in her voice begged for something more.
The scream that had been caged in the back of Flora’s throat, feral and breathless, began to shift, unwinding into something hotter, hungrier, as Liam’s weight pressed her into the sand. He couldn’t see her, not with the ring twisted on her finger, but she could see him. Every flicker of hesitation, the way his muscles tensed to hold back, the way his eyes didn't quite know where to land.
So she leaned up, slow and deliberate, brushing her cheek against his until her lips hovered near his ear, her voice a velvet purr. "I could have a dagger in my back pocket," she whispered, breath hot against his skin. "You can check if you like. They are my preferred weapon so it would make sense for me to have one." Her thighs flexed again, lifting her hips against him, making just enough space for his hand to descend toward her ass to confirm her bluff, he dared to reach.
He said she was at a disadvantage, but was that really true? Even if he couldn’t see her grin, he’d hear it in her voice, wicked and wild and bright as ever. "Is that so?”' she murmured, before leaning back just far enough to crash her mouth into his. It wasn’t slow. It wasn’t gentle. It was a dare wrapped in a kiss, want and heat and the restless need to feel something that wasn’t pain.
Every single thing I touch becomes sick with sadness 'Cause it's all over now, all out to sea
He’d never fought against an invisible opponent, much less one so inclined to use her feminine wiles to her advantage. They should teach this to dragoons, he thought, just in case they ever found themselves in such a strange position. Certainly, he was learning something today.
Flora’s voice was a purr by his ear - strange to hear and feel without seeing her body beneath him. He hesitated as she lifted her hips, shifting up and away to avoid her pressing even more tightly against him. There was just enough space between her and the sand that he could reach to check her for weapons - and in a real fight, it would be an advantage he wouldn’t hesitate to press - but this was a young woman who seemed intent on antagonizing him more than fighting him, and that after she’d been so thoroughly upset not so very long ago.
Even if he wanted to press his advantage - and he didn’t, not really - he would have hesitated on that count alone.
He was about to lecture her on the many ways she could be disadvantaged in this position, but he never got the chance; her lips, invisible but oh, so soft, crashed into his. For a moment, he was startled enough that he forgot himself, tightening his grip on her waist to kiss her back - but then he realized what he was doing, and who he was doing it with, and he broke the kiss with a gasp, scrambling off of Flora and backwards into the sand, sitting up on his knees to make some space between them.
”You win,” he said, glaring in the general direction that he thought her face might be, holding up his hands in surrender. It irked him to have been bested, but more than that, he was astonished at the lengths that Flora would go to win. And that kiss… it had been a challenge, and one that he was quite sure that he’d both failed and won. He wasn’t sure which was worse. ”You are… really quite formidable, you know that?”
He kissed her back, just long enough for her to rise into it; for her body to arch, to press herself eagerly against him, already half-lost in the rush of sensation and the burn of her own breath. Her fingers were already curling behind his neck, drawing him closer—
And then he was gone.
Sand scraped against her calves as she dropped, the knot of her legs uncoiling, her ring twisting between her fingers with a practised flick. The world blinked her back into view in a wash of sunlight and breathlessness: cheeks flushed, braid mussed, tank top wrinkled and tugged half to one side, exposing more skin than she'd intended.
But the worst of it was the look on his face. Hands held up like she was some sort of threat. Like he needed space.
Flora blinked. Once. Twice, and just like that, the scream was back—coiled tight in her chest, trying to claw its way out.
Formidable. Gods, that’s what he’d landed on?
"Formidable," she echoed, voice flat and raw. "Right."
Pushing herself up from the sand, she knelt with her arms loosely braced over her thighs, eyes fixed on him like she was trying to read a book she didn’t remember checking out. It was only a second—two, maybe—but the silence between them pressed heavy.
"Is it..Maea?"
Every single thing I touch becomes sick with sadness 'Cause it's all over now, all out to sea
Flora flickered back into view. Her cheeks were flushed, her hair tousled, and more skin exposed than he’d been expecting. He looked away, trying to be respectful, responsible, even. Not that he’d been doing a very good job, pushing her closer and closer to the brink. What had he expected to happen?
When she spoke, her voice grated, something coiled and caged underneath her words that had him rapidly backpedaling. ”Flora, I - I’m sorry, that’s not -“
Is it Maea?
Liam rocked back, his hands dropping to rest on his thighs as he blinked at her, surprise etched into his features. That was not what he’d been expecting. Nothing about this encounter had been, though, so why was he taken so aback? ”I… look, Flora, it’s… I didn’t mean to take things that far,” he said desperately, trying to salvage the situation, earnestly trying to chase away that look on her face. ”I - you’re beautiful, and smart, and formidable,” he told her, as though that should be a good thing. ”And I’m -“ Just an old soldier. He shook his head. ”You deserve romance, not just - sex on the beach. And I’m… not…”
He was fumbling for words, for an explanation, and he was coming up empty. The truth was, he had never been a casual sex kind of person, and he wasn’t in a position to give her the romance she deserved. And maybe, just maybe, that was a little bit because of Maea. But mostly… mostly it was because of him.
Flora blinked as Liam stumbled over his words, offering compliments that suddenly felt like they came wrapped in caution tape. Romance, not sex on the beach. Sure. Right.
A touch egotistically perhaps, she'd asked if it was someone else because that was easier than considering the truth, which was apparently just nahhh, no thanks.
Her cheeks flushed deeper, hot with something worse than arousal now—mortification and embarrassment. Obviously, it had been stupid to think that sparring would turn into some sand-slick fantasy out of Mateo’s library stash. That her sweat and breathlessness and the way her body moved could temporarily alleviate all the things she was feeling; that tension might give way to something softer.
Stupid.
Flora didn’t answer him right away. Just stood, shook out her legs, brushed sand from her thighs with quick, sharp swipes. One hand tugged her shirt straight as the other combed her braid back over her shoulder. "Yeah. No, my bad," she said breezily, a little too fast. Her voice was still breathless, but now it was trying hard to be easy; flippant, casual, like nothing had happened. "Got a little carried away. Training’s supposed to be training. You were just helping. I get it."
Stepping to the side, she reached for the discarded boxing gloves. Even if the bag did hit back, at least it didn't leave her feeling like shit.
Every single thing I touch becomes sick with sadness 'Cause it's all over now, all out to sea
Liam watched, his cheeks hot with mortification that he'd managed to inadvertently hurt Flora in the process of trying to do the right thing. He'd meant what he said - she was beautiful, and she was fierce, and she was strong in a way that had nothing to do with physical ability. But anything he said now sounded hollow in the wake of his rejection, and so he bit his tongue.
All of her earlier mischief was gone as she breezily dismissed him, leaving him kneeling in the sand as she went to gather her boxing gloves. And, really, what else was there for him to say? Sorry I snubbed you, see you later didn't have the nicest ring to it. But pouring out all the reasons why getting involved with him was a bad idea - aside from the fact that he may or may not have feelings for someone else - seemed like a similarly poor decision.
Liam stood, knocking sand from his own legs. "Right, just training," he agreed slowly, but his unease was clear in his eyes. He paused, clearly unsure what to say or do, before he added, "Remember to keep your arms up, even when it's just practice." And then he turned to stride down the beach.
And if he was running away, he kept that to himself.
