shiegra (shiegra) wrote in no_true_pair, @ 2010-03-31 10:03:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! 2010 harlequin challenge, author: shiegra, crossover: black jewels/legend of the se, pairing: kahlan/surreal |
Risque (Legend of the Seeker/Black Jewels, Surreal, Kahlan)
Title: Risque
Author/Artist: shiegra
Fandom: Legend of the Seeker/Black Jewels trilogy
Pairing/characters: Surreal/Kahlan
Rating: PG13
Prompt: The heat between Surreal SaDiablo and Kahlan Amnell was becoming impossible to resist.
Kahlan hadn't said a word, but her disapproval could hardly have been more clear if she'd shouted.
She greeted the children playing with their tattered red ball at the border with a gentle smile, and spoke with compassion concern to the border guards with their haphazard armour and hard-worn weaponry. But the cool black weight of emotion, tightly controlled, hummed at the back of Surreal's mind. And it was not a positive sign.
"I was trying to help," Surreal said. She hadn't even realized she was going to say something before the words burst out from her lips, and she was annoyed at the tone of them, not nearly confrontational enough.
Kahlan hitched her pack higher on one shoulder. Her smile was thin and cool, utterly distant; the kind of diplomat's smile she used on ambassadors she strongly disliked. "You'll do what you think best, Surreal."
Surreal gritted her teeth. She was tired and sore, and the dissonant ringing in her ears from the blast had barely faded; but she couldn't stop worrying at the tight knot of anger between them like a sore tooth. She always pushed, pushed, pushed, and if Kahlan wanted her distance so bad she shouldn't have accepted the assignment in the first place and gotten stuck with Surreal.
"Don't be an ass," she snapped. Kahlan reared back like she'd been slapped, her shoulders going rigid. All Surreal could see was the iron line of her back and the dark tangled tumble of her hair.
And then she saw her face, eyes glittering and ferocious, as Kahlan rounded on her. She grabbed her upper arm, fingers almost bruising, and hauled -- startled, Surreal had to almost scramble after her over rubble, less than graceful. In the shadows and dubious smells of an alley, Kahlan melted into the shadows, but her arctic blue eyes were perfectly visible.
"That was not your job," Kahlan said in a voice that should have drawn blood, a deadly near-whisper. "That was stupidly reckless and should have killed you. I am resign -- I know my duty -- " She cut herself off again. Her mouth twisted viciously, frustrated. "I could have saved her," she completed, biting out each word as though they stung her mouth. "You took an unnecessary risk."
"Sugar, I can handle myself." This was not the best way to go about this, it really wasn't, but Surreal couldn't stop herself. "And if you don't like the way I do things, maybe you shouldn't have signed up for me."
Kahlan's eyes flared. She took a single, deliberate step forward until only the faintest breath of air separated them. Surreal didn't back down -- wouldn't back down -- but all of a sudden she was grateful for Jaenelle and the Queen's rage, because suddenly she could feel Kahlan's power pressing against her skin like a thunderstorm -- could almost taste her anger, hot and coppery on her tongue. She wasn't quite as scary as Jaenelle, but she was damn close and that margin didn't mean much when you were dealing with it right now.
"I am your superior," Kahlan said, perfectly even and soft, voice almost reasonable, "and if I give an order, you will obey."
Their breath mingled, and she could feel Kahlan's heat from shoulder to hip, the warmth of her skin, the smell of sweat and metal and concrete dust. For a second or what? Bubbled rebelliously at her lips, but she swallowed it down, slow and deliberate. It was hard to concentrate on anger when Kahlan Amnell's skin was about a centimeter away. Instead she said, "I'll think about it."
To anyone else's ears it was a ridiculous, mutinous statement, insolent and rude. Between them, it was a carefully selected and meticulously given step of ground. Kahlan took a deep breath, the line of her shoulders slackening, and their breasts brushed.
They took a mutual step back. Kahlan's cheeks were suddenly flushed, and her eyes darted away; the delicate seesaw between imperious commander and embarrassed girl fascinated Surreal, though she supposed it wasn't surprising for a woman who had been forbidden to touch anyone since her childhood.
"We should head home," Kahlan said awkwardly when the silence stretched.
Because she wasn't a saint, Surreal drawled, "and what exactly have we been doing so far?" But the twitch of Kahlan's lips, pinned between amusement and irritation, was familiar -- back on steady ground, and welcome there.