Flora
there's no time to waste on loving badly
Flora draws in a long, steadying breath when Kaisel ’s question drifts toward her, the nervous edge in his voice twining neatly with her own. Her gaze sweeps the room once more, catching every flicker of candlelight against crystal, every mischievous ripple from the spirits, every careful flourish they’ve placed exactly where she’d hoped. She lifts one shoulder in a small, rueful shrug meant to look breezy even though her pulse feels as bright as the firelight. "It’s as ready as it’s ever going to be." And then his eyes land on her.The shift in him is so palpable that Flora feels it move across her skin like heat from an open flame. His inhale catches, audible and sharp, and she softens immediately beneath it, her body drawn toward him with something slow and feline. She steps into his space with lazy confidence, offering her hand as he captures it, allowing the kiss to sink warmth up her arm while her free hand rises to slip gently around the back of his neck. Gold rings whisper against his collar as she leans in closer, her lashes dipping as though she’s letting herself enjoy being looked at for once rather than performing for an audience.
"Because it’s new," she murmurs, the words slipping warm against the air between them. Before he can answer, she draws her hand from his and guides it instead to her hip, pressing his palm to the delicate red lace so he can feel how impossibly soft—and fragile—it is. "I’ll have to be careful not to let anything tear it," she whispers, her voice a slow curl of suggestion, and the way she looks at him then suggests perhaps that's exactly what she might like to have happen later on.
She’s still close enough that her breath grazes the side of his jaw when Asta arrives with a blindfolded Danta in tow, and Flora’s heart leaps straight up into her throat. She straightens, slipping from Kaisel’s touch with a quick spark of nerves as she turns toward the entrance.
Dantalion ’s face—once the silk falls—is everything she’d hoped for. Awe, delight, reverent greed as he tries to drink the room in all at once. Relief blooms so bright behind her ribs that she laughs, a breathless, sun-warm sound. "No, you’re ridiculous," she shoots back at him, glowing. "And I love you." She swans forward without hesitation, looping her arms around his neck and pulling him down into a joyous embrace. The scent of gold-threaded fabric and warm skin meets her as she presses her lips close to his ear. "Happy birthday," she whispers, soft and sincere.
And then, because the gods delight in timing, Charlie detonates across the room like a confetti cannon with legs, shrieking her greeting so loudly that even the spirits jolt. Flora laughs again, stepping back so the birthday boy can be ambushed properly. Only then does she drift back toward Kaisel, slipping comfortably against his side as though she’s belonged there all evening. Her fingers slide into his, her shoulder brushing his arm in a quiet, grateful lean. "So far so good," she sighs, bright and relieved.
Code stolen from Queen Sky
