Archive of Our Own

Exquisite ache carved itself into her thigh along the trail  the crop traced. She squeezed her eyes closed, shutting out the  discarded clothes, the small guest chambers, the grey-gold of the stone beneath her palms. Focused only on when the next sting would land from expert hands-

There- yes. She swallowed the sound, only just.
“I didn’t hear that,” Maiev’s voice was rough, even lowered to a whisper, ” Did you say something?”

Say nothing, give no warning, rip her throat out with your teeth-

Cease these debasing charades, flee she cannot be trusted-

“Harder, if you would, Mistress Shadowsong.”

“I would.”

The sting, that crisp bite of leather. Again, and then, Again , and Again .
And for a moment, Aleria’s mind positively sang with quiet emptiness. Only the hot, bright little pains that blurred into a warm numbness and mounting want. The wine from dinner still buzzed pleasantly in her cheeks, and the effort of keeping herself motionless,  both  hands pressed against the cool stone with her legs spread, made her shoulders shake. Nearly. But Maiev had ordered her to stand still, to demonstrate discipline.

She had not fully expected Maiev to accept her advance. Cool, distant, militantly single minded Maiev- the last person Alleria should have considered for such an ill advised dalliance. Which, she reflected, was precisely why she had pursued her. The Void insisted Alleria should slaughter Maive, leave her corpse for the maggots - or, flee far from her.  It knew Maiev saw her for the Voidbeast she was, and would attempt to bind her. 

 It  whispered  all of the ways that Maiev would destroy her, shackle her deep below the earth and deny her her every privilege and birth right. All of that, yes, the Void’s dissaoroval and aversion was reason  to approach. That, and the fact that Maiev cut a striking figure, had muscles that spoke of diligence, brutality and efficiency. Traits that Alleria was eager to put to use to quiet the cacophony in her skull. She had guessed- delighted to find herself correct.

 The void fled in the  face of that truth; That Alleria Windrunner enjoyed being subdued-bound in this way, by this woman.

The Void could not understand the clarity of purpose submission required- the absolute relief that shedding control could bring. The sensation of safety in radical vulnerability.

Alleria could not remember the last time she had felt this understood. This perceived. It was unbelievably cutting- to be known, seen- and not accepted, not that, not yet- but not to be rejected as a matter of course. 

There were enough shades of grey, more than a millennia of isolation between them, enough darkness for mutually assured destruction-  the paradox of communion seemed a forgone conclusion.

Hence the wine, the torn clothing, a hasty exchange of boundaries - the finger shaped bruises forming on Alleria’s shoulder and the crop in Maiev’s sure hand. Alleria had to stop thinking about the woman’s hands. How wide the palms, how long and caloused her fingers must be- how deft they were. Her skill with her crescent must surely translate to other dexterity. For all she wanted them on her, in her, she’d yet to see her naked skin.

And then the blows stopped.

Alleria’s ears flicked back at the sound of the crop hitting the floor, the echo loud in Maiev’s quarters in Dalaran’s small garrison. Alleria almost asked if the warden had changed her mind. Perhaps she’d made some miscalculation. Long enduring Alleria certainly was- but not infallible. She could have been rash- acted too soon, may have rushed and mishandled her opportunity- it wouldn’t have been the first time. The silence stretched on. Alleria curbed the rising swell of toppled  expectations, prepared the words she’d need to exit- and then the faint click of a buckle being undone had her ears twitching all over again. Ceremonial armor chimed dully as it was returned piece by piece to it’s stand. 

Maiev answered the unasked question. “ I don’t like my things out of order- you are no exception. You will  wait where I left you.”

 The slow slide of silk and cotton, the whisper of buttons through their catches. The banal scrape of a  hanger across its bar. Alleria stared at the micah in the mortar between her fingers, did not give into the temptation to see what Maiev would look like, where she might have scars for eager fingers to trace or what muscles would flex along her torso or the cut of her hips.

Next, a surprising sound- a cork prized free from its glass neck and then liquid in a vessel. That shouldn’t have heightened the snarl of need in Alleria’s hips, but it did.

So too, did the low sigh, some scant meters across the room.

Alleria would have been embarrassed to shudder in front of anyone else. No, she was embarrassed. And that too fed the shame and the growing heat between her legs.

“Warden?”

“Ranger?” An audible sip and another low exhale.The woman was a recalcitrant menace, even in the bedroom.

“ What are you doing?”

“ Admiring my work.” Pewter on wood- the cup discarded. The slide of leather through pant loops. Breath hot on Alleria’s neck. “That’s what you’re here for. My experience. My work.”

A gloved hand pressed between Alleria’s shoulder blades, pushing her forwards and down - another taking her elbow drawing her arm behind her. She resisted. The force doubled, tripled -Alleria waited until Maive used her greater height as a lever. Waited until Maive’s clothed thigh grazed against Alleria’s core for a glorious burst of not-enough friction before her legs were parted further, her right foot skating to the side in a long slide. With an exhale,  Alleria bent. 

She wished Maive would touch her properly- take off her clothes, her gloves- the leather was lovely, yes , but she could not remember a time when skin had touched her own and not recoiled from her- not scalded her. The guilt of having to ask nearly boiled her, the unbearable weight of wanting had her head dropping further. She pressed her forehead into the cool stone, hid behind her curtained hair. 

She needed more, soon,or like hungry dogs the Void’s whispers would come skulking back.  She risked  peering  over her shoulder. 

A pearl of dark wine beaded at the corner of Maiev’s mouth. Alleria was struck by the desre to lick it. The room was dark, lit only by the faint ambient glow of half shuttered mage light. It ghosted over Maiev and her stoic self-possessed, self-satisfied expression, as attractive as it was annoying. She was still clothed- a pity - and her broad shoulders held an easy assurance that Alleria wanted to topple. To bite at and be bit by in equal measure. 

Yes, Goad her to violence an excuse to-

Not a bad idea actually.

“Am I supposed to just-“

The belt landed in a splendor of clear pain and Alleria’s eyes slid closed.

“To obey? Yes. But, I’m beginning to think you sought me for punishment because you enjoy disobedience.”

Another few well placed strikes had Alleria’s knees trembling.

“You think? And here I was trying to be obvious. Should I try harder, Warden?”

Maiev laughed, a rich sound, and the belt cracked twice more before dragging lightly up to where Alleria knew she had made a mess of herself. 

“I doubt you could take anything harder.” She appraised coolly. “Can’t you smell state you’re in?”

Maiev stepped away. 

Alleria opened her eyes, looked over her shoulder once more. Maive took a moment to strike a match- an oil lamp flared to life, the violet shade casting wild patterns of flickering flame out over the room. It sent bold contours and hard shadows over her long white hair and sharp, scarred features. She wondered why Maiev had bothered- but then Alleria remembered the glint of satisfaction, the timbre of her voice when she’d said she was ‘appreicating her work’. So she likes to watch. Alleria could watch too.

She watched the woman drink again, the slide of her throat as she swallowed- drained the glass-, the stream of wine that missed her mouth trailing down the gapped front lacing of her under shirt. Alleria was going to comment about how Maiev was still dressed, how Alleria had come  to fuck- to forget her name and obligations to seek relief.  Alleria was going to say something smart about Maiev’s trousers being half opened to lure the warden back across the room with some half threat and a challenge- but then she saw her own  desire staining the fabric of one of Maiev’s thighs and the words died in her throat.

Maiev caught her gaze then. Seemed to find the thread of her thoughts and dismiss them with a cock of her head. Unmoving against the sideboard, Maiev lounged drink in hand as if she were bored. Content to let Alleria wait once more. 

“Admiring again?” Alleria snarked, shifting slightly and feeling the sting of air against new welts.

Maiev said nothing, her eyes slow and appraising. 

“My work includes long hours of observation.” She replied dryly. “We only just started.”  She set her glass aside once more and began removing her gloves. “Unless you are dissatisfied?”

Alleria watched her peel the gloves away, swallowed dryly to hide her interest. It didn’t do to have all of one’s cards on the table.
“I doubt my satisfaction merits your interest.”
“You’re wrong.”

Anticipation bubbled  bright in Alleria’s chest. Suely Alleria had imagined the intonation there- Maiev couldn’t care, that was the whole point- wasn’t it? Alleria  hadn’t seen where the belt had gone before, but there it was again, the green dyed leather so dark as to be nearly black in the pale blue-violet of Maiev’s palms.

“Now, prisoner- answer honestly. Would you rather be bound, or receive further percussive treatment?”

“ I would rather you fuck-“

A hand fisted in Alleria’s hair, jerking her head back.

Belore, Maiev was tall . With little effort, Maiev crowded her, surrounded her closed off all else. Alleria could smell her sweat, the wine on her breath, the faint scent of cedar and incense. She glowered down, eyes narrowed, and Alleria might have been honestly worried if not for the set of her ears. Eager, interested- playful?

“ No preference? Noted.”

In a quick motion, Maiev looped the belt, drawing it tight around Alleria’s wrists and forearms. She did not resist, and a dizzying moment later she was forced to her knees, looking up.

Flustered by the spark of need in her gut, Alleria reached for sarcasm, something sharp to cut through the aimless vulnerability that would surely draw the Void’s attention back.
“ What- you miss being High Priestess so badly?”
Maiev’s lip twitched, and she took Alleria’s face in her fingers, tilting her head back, the grip on her chin firm.
“You give too much away, Alleria. If you want to play ‘confession’, only ask.” 

Alleria blushed violently, licked her lips. Maiev’s thumb chased the gesture, and she did not protest when it pushed inside. Maiev turned her head, tested the sharpness of her fangs against the  pad of her thumb.
She didn’t wince when Alleria bit down- no, she only watched. Feathered the knuckles of her other hand over Alleria’s cheek.

“I forgot you Quel'dorei have such small fangs. Domestic .”
Alleria did not answer, tasted blood. A tangle of alarm and desire had her ears ringing. She had never been domestic. Not once in a hundred thousand years. Not when she sought the field at every opportunity, preferred being barefoot in the woods  to the safety of spire walls. Not when she shunted her responsibilities, thrusting her two sisters together to raise their brother, not when she avoided her father’s funeral to be Ranger Captain of the Farstriders instead. Certainly not when she’d abandoned her infant son to her own baby sister to care for and plunged into the Void headlong.

Her fingers twitched, shadows bunching in her nail beds.

Sink your teeth into her wrist, tear out the tendons.
Swipe her feet out from under her, split her head upon the stone-
Maiev blinked down at her, cold and impassive, “Tell me what you’re thinking.”
She doesn’t mean that . Wasn’t actually offering. But the hand on Alleria’s cheek slid back into her hair, fingers rooting along the base of her skull. Her tone had been even hadn’t it, her stance steady. The worst Maiev would do would be to buckle her pants and leave Alleria there, humiliated, and alone. And she might still do that anyway. Alleria sighed.

“The Void wants me to kill you.”
Maiev snorted, “Is that what it said?”

Relief. And then the whispers.
Pry her insolent tongue from jaw, paint her blood on your chest and present the corpse to Jarod-

Alleria, to her own surprise, dutifully repeated what the void suggested, and Maiev only nodded.
“Not very original.” She tisked.

Then, she clapped her palm against the hollow of Alleria’s cheek. It was a petty thing, but it stung, it sang , it felt very like penance. And that felt good. Alleria closed her eyes, turned her mouth back along that palm, kissed the heel of her hand. Let the bloodied thumb trace the smarting outline of the blow.

Alleria looked up, and for the first time, Maiev looked carefully blank. There was no veneer of hostility, practiced arrogance or misanthropy. Only a cultured reserve. Alleria could not quite read what hid behind it.

“You will need a safe word.”
Alleria tried and failed to stop a smirk, “Domestic.”
Maiev smiled, but it was a predator bearing teeth.

Maiev’s skin felt too tight, too small to contain the hunger she had. She was seen, wanted, admired. She could not remember the last time she’d indulged in anything like this. And here was  Alleria Windrunner on her knees, Maiev’s own blood smeared across her face like a blasphemous brand. Maiev couldn’t believe it. Kept expecting the desire she saw there to fizzle out, to have it all been some terrible joke. But Alleria had wanted her as she was- wanted her , wanted to be strong armed  into submission, wanted the weapon Maiev had made of herself. 

She tried not to brood on it, tried not to think that their mutual Darkness was compatible. Companionable.  
No, it had only been too long since she had had a rough tumble. Foolish notions would be shed when she woke in the morning. When sobriety and sunlight cut into her skull like knives. Besides, It was only so often one had such a willing ward- such a pretty subject to mind.
But Alleria wasn’t pretty.

 She was stunning, looking up at her with mossy green eyes through impossibly long blond lashes. Lythe and dangerous and striped with the marks from her crop and belt. Incongruously like a tiger brought to heel. Maiev wanted to kiss her, feel the small points of her teeth against her own, made a move to do so- but paused.
When she’d asked Alleria what she wanted, as they’d made the short trip away from the ballroom, she hadn’t said kissing. She’d asked to be bound, to be hurt. Maiev suspected she knew why- but she wasn’t being asked to psychoanalyze. She was asked to be a Mistress, and failsafe should Alleria actually lose control. Maiev doubted she would, but the play of shadow beneath the angry red welts on Alleria’s inner thigh belied the danger her body contained.
Perversely Maiev longed to antagonize her. To push her, punish, to see how long she could endure before-
Maiev caught herself, realized she’d done it again- drifted as she’d stood over Alleria, consumed by her own inner thoughts as she’d watched. How embarrassing . How typical of a Warden.
And that really was the trouble with Watchers. Prone to intense obsession over their subjects. Prone to minding their care- for they were just as bound to their subjects as their prisoners were bound to the bars.
Or, as the case may be, belt.
She smiled as Alleria tested the belt impatiently- hissing as she found that the buckle, holding some small blessing of Elune, stung ever so slightly against the skin.

“What else does the Void say about me?”
Alleria cocked her head, listening to the silence of the room.

“That you’re a woman who enjoys the pain of others.”
“That is true.”
“That you would bind me in the dark, and study me, and discard me when I had outlived my usefulness to your war efforts.”
“On that I disagree with your Void masters.” Maiev shook her head circling behind the quel'dorei to admire the sleek muscles of her back, the definition of her arms. The bright red she’d painted into her ass. “A woman like you has more uses than war efforts.”

Maiev noted the hitch in her breath, the way her ribs expanded and the muscles slid beneath the slik of her skin. Planned to sink her nails in, just there, later. 

“Stand.”

Alleria managed it. Maiev gave a brief once over of the bindings. Brushed her fingers. Still warm, only slightly pink. Good.

“Bed.”

Alleria sat on the bed, knees together, rather awkward with the way her arms were bound.

“Knees together? Honestly Ranger, I thought you were here to fuck.”
Her thighs trembled, squeezed, and then slid apart.
“Better.”

Maiev wished she had thought ahead and refilled her wine. Wanted a distraction, something to curb the way she wanted to devour this woman. Instead she paced over, too close, stood between Alleria’s parted thighs.

“Do you want my mouth on you?”
“And more besides.”
Maiev patted her cheek. More a gesture meant to diminish, than comfort, but Alleria leaned into the touch like a starving woman, and Maiev had to look away from her expression of naked want. Surely that was because it had been as long for her too. That was all.
And it was easy to look away from her face because Alleria really was beautiful, and open and willing and wet.

Maiev started on Alleria’s left knee. Kissed, and bit and sucked her way across the satiny skin of her inner thigh, and worked her way up to the delicate hollow of tendon and flesh were her leg connected to body- and relished the stifled groan that escaped Alleria’s lips as she moved back down to the right knee to begin the process over again.

When she passed her again to repeat the process  Alleria bucked her hips up- Maiev was more than ready. Her hands snapped up, held Alleria down firmly, and she turned her head and sunk her teeth deeply into the top of her muscled thigh.
Alleria yelped, then sighed, and then moaned. She slumped slightly, first to the side, and then back. With her shoulders pulled by the binding of her arms, her back made an arch that Maiev had to work to ignore for the moment. She released her hold only when Alleria’s legs relaxed.
“I shall have to start over.”

“Sadist.”

“Yes.”

Maiev, to prove her point, started at Alleria’s ankle instead, kept her touch too light, too rough. Used her hands, her nails, her lips teeth and tongue. Watched Alleria twitch and wrestle with herself to stay still, and not chase her own pleasure. Admirable, because Alleria might have been the moon well for all her thighs glittered slick in the lamplight… 

Maiev caught herself before she lapsed into introspection. She stood, impatiently shucking her undershirt and breeches, enjoying the angry bruises she’d littered across Alleria’s hips.

Alleria, as if she sensed being observed, managed to crack an eye open.

She groaned, a surprisingly approving sound.

“Mistress Shadowsong, you’re beautiful.”

Maiev dismissed the comment with a flick of her ears.

“Lies will earn you nothing, Alleria.”

Alleria frowned, and Maiev looked away again because that was more dangerous than the situation needed to be. It was better that Maiev assume . Safer. Alleria would grow bored after a night anyway- the novelty will rub away and I will remain. I will be fine.  

Moving to lay alongside her, the differences between them were stark, lovely. Alleria was all wrought gold and fillagree, fine bones,  strong- certainly well muscled for her people. Dangerous  the way rapiers were; a wicked weapon of finess. Maiev, in contrast, might as well have been a violet battering ram. Broad and dynamic- that Alleria had called her beautiful- ridiculous .

Maiev toyed with her breasts until Alleria hissed in frustration. Then, with little preamble, Maiev straddled her shoulders,gathering Alleria’s hair out of the way for more purposeful future use. 

Face bracketed by Maiev’s knees, Alleria looked momentarily distant- and that would not do. Maiev stroked along one of her graceful ears. 

“ What did it say this time?”

“To chew on your femoral artery, to eat your liver raw while you scream.”

Maiev cupped her cheek again, because she had seemed to enjoy that before.

“You won’t. I wouldn’t let you.”

“I could.”

“You couldn’t.” Maiev slid her hand down, watched her eyelids flutter close as she exerted precise pressure against her throat.

“Now, be an obedient little monster.” She released her, reached back and easily palmed Alleria’s core,”Put your mouth to better uses.”

She did, Elune, she did. To think Alleria has such a delightful tongue . Maiev rocked down against her, carefully doing her part to drive Alleria senseless, tracing an even and maddening path over and around her clit.

When Alleria faltered, head dropping back to the narrow bed panting, Maiev stilled her own hand. She was certain Alleria was very close and been about to-

Alleria’s hips jogged up in frustration, eyes squeezed shut in pained denial.

Taught, bruised and glowing- Maiev was tempted again to kiss her, to taste the mess she’d made against her mouth and chin.

Ah well, she was used to disappointment. 

She did not think that Alleria would last much longer- and her arms could not be bound like that forever.

Maiev slid back, kissed and bit at Alleria’s throat instead. Listened to her whine as her weight settled more firmly on top of her- listened to her sentences break into incoherent sounds of encouragement as Maiev hands gripped her hips and she ground into her. Still, Maiev preferred to be sure.

“Do you want-“

Alleria growled, beyond words, bit Maiev’s shoulder and held. That suited Maiev  just fine.

Alleria parted warm and wet around her fingers and Maiev didn’t hide her approval. She thrusted evenly, steady and consistent, a pace meant to exhaust and overwhelm. It did- 

Alleria came, an abrupt, near violent tightening of her limbs. Followed by a languid relaxation and an exhale that seemed to unburden her in the most endearing of ways. But Maiev did not stop. 

Alleria gasped, shuddered started to protest, but Maive pinched her ear between her teeth, and Alleria groaned. 

“Do you need your safe word?”
Alleria panted, shook her head.

“Then, you are not finished.” 

“Finish- you?” Alleria raised her hips, managed to slide her leg between Maiev’s, offering the smooth muscle of her quad to ride against. 

Maiev would have refused if it had been someone else. Would have finished herself in private later- but Alleria didn’t need to know that. It didn’t have to be personal. It had only sounded sincere, that was all.

The relief it provided certainly felt sincere. Maiev kept Alleria skating the edge of release until her own stalked close to the limit of her self control.

“Can you come?”
“Please?”
“Now.”

Maiev allowed herself the vanity of coming at the same time. Of holding her close for a moment. And then she rolled, pulling Alleria on top of her to access the belt buckle. She slid the loops wide, and began massaging her arms, her shoulders.
She didn’t expect Alleria to nose in beneath her jaw or to stay sprawled over her when she’d finished. Alleria had seemed to Maiev  the type to roll away. To clothe herself and be on her way with little fuss, unheard from again. A busy, discreet woman.

She’d been wrong. Alleria seemed stunned, unable to move. Her breathing erratic, stirring the sweat slick hair along Maiev’s neck.
Uncertain, Maiev stroked along the column of Alleria’s spine, watched her shudder, then sigh.
Gradually, the woman’s heartbeat slowed. Maiev pushed her hair aside, tried to see her face.
Alleria’s eyes were closed, a lazy smile played across her lips.

Maiev dropped her head back, stared up at the little tiles in the ceiling. Felt keenly each place their skin met and blurred. Knew exactly where her weapon was, should Alleria falter.
She drew the covers over them both because she was cold, and for no other reason.

“Alleria?”
“Mmhm.”
“Come to the Outlands with me.” Maiev paused, swallowed. “I have better tools at my disposal there. Things that are to your taste.”