The swamps had become her home, her sanctuary, but truthfully that not what made this home, none of her surroundings mattered, only that dark prince who'd crossed her path fat too many times to be just luck. The bright eyes girl left the comfort of their shared den to take a walk, to think.

It had been months since he brought her home, and they acted all the parts of a couple, and he claimed her every night. But she did not truly feel claimed, she did not feel like the were real some nights bit tha could be her PTDF.

Solanum continued her rounds, patrolling even though she was not much of a fighter, she refused to be some prince's lazy harem, no she wanted to hold her own here, to show that her and Hubert worked together, that she may be small, but she gets shit done

Rarely does the Prince choose to roam along the borders nowadays without some undertone of purpose coloring his every step. Since the day his Vater had lost his throne, Hubert has held less and less interest in being just another mindless sentry sent to pace endlessly the swamp's thorny edges day after day. So long as the Mire remained one frustrating half-step away from being his, he was content to leave such dull tasks to the 'common folk.' Plus one curly-haired beast who dared to call himself King.

Yet every rule has its exceptions, and there are appearances to be kept up, wells of knowledge that must be consistently maintained.

@Solanum has a shadow today, one bearing hungry eyes and a lofty smirk that the lifeless echo of darkness clinging to her paws lacks.

"Take care that you don't stray too far, Blümchen." His purring voice winds down from up above the chimera's head, where the ebony Starke's striped hide could be just barely seen flitting across the leafless, frost-touched branches, the glow of the moon highlighting the sharp angles of his cheek as Hubert peered down at his wandering lover.

"I'm sure you don't need me to remind you of all the savage dangers that roam freely beyond the wall." Though were the likes of Aeistrios truly any less dangerous than the vicious beasts that lived within their spiny fortress?

Hubert needs her to believe that it is so.

---

1. Little flower.

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Night cascaded around the Mire and helped cloak the chimera almost perfectly, though she knew she'd never be able to just disappear from her prince's grasp, not that she wanted to. She always half expected him to appear somewhere behind her, in front of her, seemingly appearing from the very shadows. Her tail flicks gently behind her while she slinks long the darkened paths, she had no set path, no set destination, so she continued this mindless journey.

His voice comes from the darkness and she stops for a second, her eyes peer around, and finally she can figure out just where his voice is coming from.

Bright yellow eyes look up through long lashes, though he wouldn't be able to see them perfectly at the moment, he would know just how she always peers up at him through fluttering eyelashes.

""Of course not, love... I was just exploring while you were busy." She didn't know what kept him, didn't mind at the moment, their time apart was not very often, and she much rather cling to her "safety net." He'd rescued her, at least in her mind, now whether that was her traumatized mind making things seem different, making him some huge hero, she didn't question it? She had no reason to.

She gives a small chirp up to him, purring softly as she trails under him, a teasing smirk on her lips as she continues her stroll, with a little more hip sway added to entice him.

The night is a friend to them both, and Hubert knows these shadows exceptionally well indeed. Better than any other who lived here - or so he liked to believe. And there is certainly no shortage of intrigue to keep one busy beneath the cover of darkness. No shortage of hushed wanderings and devious experimentations to keep a certain Prince busy, most of all.

It will not be a simple task, after all, to secure for himself all that he deserves.

But all ambitious dreams must start somewhere, and Hubert supposes that he has managed to win a generous start, indeed. Across the gloomy space between them, he cannot quite make out the finer details of @Solanum's eyes, besides their vibrant amber glow. It does not matter, for he can picture them just as well as he can imagine each groove upon his mud-stained paws. A fascinating consequence that comes with familiarity, he's learned. It surprises him sometimes still, though he imagines it should not.

The intensity of his obsession is concealed only when he suspects the Mire's shadows of hiding too many eyes.

'Of course not, love...' He is not so childish as to say that the endearment sets his heart to fluttering - but the feeling that captures him so fully within the bubble of her easy adoration does come alarmingly close. "Hmph." He grumbles, weaving after her through the interlocking paths of tangled branches that offer him such a delightful view of the chimera's serpentine curves wherever the moonlight caresses them. (Oh, but the moon will never be able to touch her like he can.) "And have your explorations turned up anything worthwhile?"

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Solanum did not share the same exact fondness for the swamp as her lover did, she had not found things that kept her intrigued for long periods of times, other than her lovely garden that had been planted to perfection by her prince charming himself.

She purred and beckoned to him with a gentle sway and twirl of her long tail, her ears flicked back and forth, hearing his descent from his perch. Her smirk grew a little more as she reveled in the fact that he was just like her, never needing more prompting to follow each other where ever, because at the end, they always found themselves tangled in each others arms.

She can hear him weaving his way behind her, and she does her best to stay ahead, playfully teasing him. There was a thrill, a kind of primal excitement that came with knowing that no one and nothing would ever touch her, would ever look upon her like he did.,

His words have her humming softly, looking back over her shoulder at him briefly, giving him a playful half smirk before she shrugged and turned back away, ""Nothing yet.. But the night is still young..."

It was true enough, perhaps, that the swamp was not the most welcoming of places, at least for those who'd not been granted the opportunity to regard the mud and thorns through the rose-tinted lens of childhood. Whatever 'rosy' might mean to the children of the Mire.

But no matter - @Solanum would grow used to it in time.

She had Hubert to nudge her along in the right direction, after all. Amongst other things.

Much of the novel excitement that had once come with hunting had long since worn off of him in his adolescence, when his mind had begun to turn to challenges more complex than a battle with mere prey. It wasn't as if the swamp had a shortage of huntresses more suited for the task, anyway. But this chase is distinctly different from those old, mundane routines.

This is a hunt that thrills him.

Her teasing beckons him ever onwards, mud-toned toes splaying wide to better grip at the rough bark splitting beneath his claws, the maze of the canopy blurring by at a quickened pace foolhardier than what he would ever admit to. Oh, but the risk is half the fun, is it not? The tantalizing chimera's voice chimes out across the silent night, and pale fangs gleam beneath Hubert's smirking lips in answer. "So it is."

The Prince makes his move then, pouncing into open air, paws stretching out to try to drop upon the feminine curves of the petite woman's back and ensnare her in his possessive embrace. A move that he doubts Solanum would be able to fend off as effectively as a certain brother of his...though he has no desire to think anything about Wolf in this moment. "But why should we waste it on the boring things, hmm?"

Especially when her alluring form inspired so many ideas for such fun instead.

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It didn't matter where she spent her days now, as long as she had him with her, she had went from the beautiful lands of the Brook, her young cub days were spent in Andal, but she mainly remembered the sunny days in the Brook. In Vermeda. Where her home was, her fathers, her siblings, and of course she missed them with every fiber of her being, but the kind of home she felt when she was curled up next to Hubert was something no one else could fill.

Solanum never had a mother to teach her the ways of seduction or attracting men, Hell, she'd never even thought about boys, men, mates, and all that until she'd bumped into a certain mysterious male...Or more like he'd wandered into her Gardens.

Everything she did to entice him into her arms was just instinctual, the sway of her hips, the slightest curve of her body to show off the angles he liked, the teasing glint in her eye, the come and get me smirk she flashed back to him. It was all things she did just so he would give chase and do what came naturally to them both...Claiming her as his.

She can hear him getting closer, the thrill of being the hunted would never get old so long as it always end their way. She feels the moment his body makes contact with hers and she gives an excited growl, turning on the spot to try and flip around so that she may "fend" off his "attack," but he easily brings her down under him, her chest rises and falls with a heavy breath as she looks up into his eyes, her heart fluttering as she rides the adrenaline high.

""What will you do with me now that you've caught me, my prince?"

She all but purrs the words out, her voice coming out with some husky undertones in the soft tenor that escaped from her parted lips.

It would not have mattered to Hubert, if the entirety of the Brook with all the richness of its rolling fields had been burned to ashes by the relentless assault of that frenzied plum King who so desperately sought to consume everything in his path. And yet it pleases him beyond measure to know that he'd been able to pluck away the most beautiful flower to safely nestle it away within the forbidden kingdom of the swamp.

Aeistrios could not consume this place, though he had certainly tried. And soon, the betrayer would find himself devoured by the nests of snakes he had stirred.

But that is a fate to be unraveled all in due time. For now, Hubert seeks to let his mind relax, the sharp edges of his attention melding fully around the sensual curves of the woman he pursued, all the while knowing that she'd already been caught in his web long ago. @Solanum has learned to play the game quickly - but so has he. Even as she pulls his strings from the trails below, the Prince grounds himself with the instinctive knowledge that he would always win.

So it seems to pass just as he'd predicted, when his weightless flight finds its end in his touch against her soft skin, a rough snarl both amused and exhilarated rumbling through his chest when he felt his flower buck and twist beneath him, her spine curving only to reveal the soft expanse of her belly to his verdant gaze. He falls with her heavily, the rapid rise and fall of his chest pressed against hers, the drum of his own pulse echoing in his ears as he lifted his darkening eyes up to meet her amber gaze, dark lips curling into a knowing smirk in answer in answer to her husky purr.

The innocent act cannot fool him any longer - if it ever had.

"Hmm, whatever shall I do with you, indeed?" He growls, teasing tone existing at odds with how deep his voice now runs. The chill of the winter night goes unfelt beyond the heavy blanket of warmth that seems to settle over them, the tangled shadows of their surroundings falling away from the trance of desire that's so firmly captured him in her grasp.

"Perhaps I should let it remain a secret." He purrs, leaning in closely enough to just barely brush his lips over Solanum's muzzle. "You do like surprises, after all - don't you?" He nips her cheek lightly, paws shifting to pull her ever closer into the heat of his embrace.

What a hopeless thought, to think that the Prince's greedy intentions could ever be kept a 'secret'.

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The small chimera tumbles down with the Mire prince, hears the way he snarls and grunts when she tries to squirm away, but that all falls silent when she twists and turns in his arms, moving so she is chest to chest with the beast. One front paw moves to wrap across his shoulder and mane area, while the other rests between them, placed gently on his chest, curling into his mane as she pulls him even closer. Their chests rise against each other quickly as their blood rushes through their veins and their pulse quickens with the excitement of being pressed so close to one another. The girl feels her breath hitch as she is pressed into the ground beneath them, her eyelashes fluttering as she gazes up at him through hooded lids and long lashes that brush her cheek when she bats them at him.
His words cause a rush of heat and butterflies to frenzy inside of her, the way she grips a little tighter with her claws into his mane a telltale sign of her wants at his mercy, as if the way she trembled against him wasn’t enough. Her pink tongue would peek out from her lips to lick at them as nerves gripped her abdomen, her breath now shaking as he brings his lips even closer to hers. When his lips just barely brush hers like a whispered caress, she all but melts and groans, she pulls him against her as best as she can to crash their lips against one another. "“Don’t be such a tease..” She growls lustfully, nipping with her teeth at the crook of his neck and chin.

Don't be such a tease.

He laughs despite himself, a low rumbling chuckle that is more vibration than sound, humming where their lips connect, graceless and desperate. They're so close now, midnight fur weaving together until their hides might as well be of one tapestry, the chimera's delicate paws tangling into the umber-tipped locks of his mane with a force both surprising and titillating, the pinch and pull of her teeth against his sensitive skin shifting the sounds of his amusement into a deep grumble.

He half-way thinks to pull away just to be contrarian, just to see how far @Solanum might scramble to pursue, just so that he can bask a little longer in the intoxicating knowledge that he is desired so fiercely.

But to be a tease is to deprive himself as well, and if there is anything that could be better than the game of wanting and being wanted, it is the thrill of having and taking. Patience was not a quality that came naturally to him.

"Just this once." He acquiesces with a heavy exhale, the heat of his gaze blazing into something all-consuming as he pressed his lips to exposed skin with a carnal hunger, mirroring the flames licking greedily at the depths of his belly.

Perhaps this shady trail is not as secluded as he would normally prefer, but such concerns seem terribly insignificant compared to the electricity of shared touches touch, all to easily burned away too ashes when the Prince grips his lover more tightly so that he might meld his body to hers entirely.

And they both know that 'once' will never be enough.

fade-to-black/exit(?)

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