Under the Protection of Stars
Challenge Nineteen: Bring Out Your Dead!
Title: Under the Protection of Stars
Author: seaislewitch
Wizard/Witch: Regulus Black/Bliss Fairchild (OW)
Rating/Warnings: PG-13/R for sexual situations
Genre: Romance
Word count: Exactly 750
Prompt: 15. quickening pulse
Summary: After escaping to France, Regulus recognises his true fortune. A continuation of Death Wish Upon a Star.
I would be dead in a cave if it weren't for the extraordinary witch poised to make love to me. Hazel eyes burning into mine, golden-brown hair cascading over pale shoulders, Bliss sheathed me in velvet warmth, and I was forever at her mercy.
Robes wouldn't blend-in, so I donned the jacket and plaid trousers Bliss nicked yesterday. "I look like an idiot!"
She scowled at the reflection of her sack-like dress. "At least yours fits!"
"We won't need much clothing on Circeula."
"Where?"
"Our new home, if you agree. It's an unplottable wizarding colony off the Spanish coast."
"How do you know of it?"
"From researching other options this summer."
"Oh." Bliss looked on the verge of tears.
Merlin, I was daft! "I wasn't thinking rationally. I underestimated--"
"Me?"
Cursing my short-sightedness for not confiding in her, I drew her close. Bliss was brilliant and capable of great acts; I was living proof.
"The truth is I feared for your safety, but I should have told you. We could have planned. Forgive me."
"No more secrets, Regulus."
"I promise." A kiss sealed my vow.
She smiled, pardoning me. "How will we travel to Circeula?"
"We'll take a Portkey from Paris to Barcelona and then another to the isle."
"I have no gold."
"We have enough to get to Barcelona. I'll manage something for the rest."
"We will," she insisted.
I nodded, learning quickly.
After burning our robes and broomsticks, we slipped out the backdoor of the inn and walked to the village café packed with Muggles. Our proximity to them was repellent, but it was exhilarating to be adventurous with Bliss.
"How will we pay?" Bliss whispered, brushing hair off her rosy cheeks.
I flashed my mysterious smile, and she smirked.
We dined, and then I surreptitiously cast a Confundus Charm, making the sourpuss waitress believe we had paid. We left promptly, dashing into an alleyway, laughing hysterically.
I Side-Along Apparated with Bliss to the Eiffel Tower, my one clear vision of Paris. As we walked southeast, Bliss used the Blood Disc to obtain better clothing for us, and a careless Muggle paid for our coffee.
At the Catacombs Wizarding Office, we purchased a Portkey for ten Galleons, which transported us to the Wizarding Services Centre in Barcelona. There we found the journey to Circeula would cost twenty British Galleons each.
"Why is it so expensive?" Bliss complained.
"It's an exclusive sanctuary," I reasoned. "For now, we can dupe the Muggles at a hotel--"
"I want to look around first."
We browsed an area reminiscent of Knockturn Alley, where an unsavoury-looking wizard beckoned us into his shop.
"What's around your pretty neck?" he asked in English, leering. "A Blood Disc?"
"Let's go," I urged, but Bliss didn't move.
"A Blood Disc of Morgana," she replied. "Number two of only three."
"Let me see!" he demanded.
"Don't take it off," I murmured.
Nodding, she held it toward the wizard.
With shaking hands, he waved a crystal rod, an Authenticity-Validater, over the Disc, and tiny gold stars formed inside. "I'll give you twenty thousand Galleons!"
Bliss looked bored. "We are headed to Paris for an offer of seventy-five."
He slammed his fist on the counter. "Eighty thousand British Galleons!"
"Very well," Bliss replied.
While following him to the bank, I held Bliss back. "That's an heirloom. We'll find another way--"
"The Blood Disc is Dark Magic," she interrupted. "Selling it will give us the means to establish a new life, one without evil spoiling our happiness."
"You continue to amaze me," I said, kissing her tenderly. She was right, but we wouldn't live off her gold for long. I'd soon find an income.
That evening, outside our Circeula bungalow, we stripped off our clothing and knelt on the beach, arms entwined, wands touching. The salty breeze whipped her hair around. She looked wild and sexy; my pulse quickened.
"I, Regulus Arcturus Black, give myself to you, Bliss, with all that I am. I will love, respect, and cherish you as your faithful husband for eternity. Uxorem Ducere."
Bliss recited her vows, her voice strong and clear over the crashing waves. The shimmering magic of the spell encircled us as we kissed, trembling in the intensity of the moment.
Smiling, she reclined on the quilt, looking to the sky. "I see Regulus."
"And I see my bliss," I murmured, kissing every luscious bit of my radiant wife.
Under the protection of stars, we made love, beginning our new life in mutual ecstasy.
Author's Notes: Circeula (named after Circe) is located in the Balearic Islands. Don't bother looking for it; it is not on Muggle maps. Thanks to missblane for her Proof Witchery.
This is a continuation of the story told in The Disposition Discerner and Death Wish Upon a Star.
Proof-reader: missblane