
Through the Fire
Link found Victoire inconsolable in the Ravenclaw Common Room that night. Between gasping breaths as she cried on his shoulder, she told Link about Salvatore's reaction and he grimaced. Their soulmate bond made him want to rip Salvatore's insides out for making her cry like this. He's even warmed up to him slightly tonight as they bonded, albeit forcibly, with Kit in the kitchens.
"I promise you that if he's your soulmate and feels the way me and Kit do about you, he'll come around. You would never be mated to someone stupid enough to reject you. I have my doubts about Teddy's wits," he said, earning a sobbing laugh from Vic, "but I've seen the way Salvatore looks at you and well...It almost makes him look human. The man has no life in his eyes normally but he lights up for you. Just give him time to process everything. Not all of your soulmates can be as perfect as me and accept everything right off the bat," he teased, earning a wet smile from Vic.
"I'll keep that in mind, Link," she whispered, leaning on him more than just physically. He kissed her forehead, rubbing his hands along her soothingly as he embraced her.
***
A few days later, Salvator was pissing in a urinal when he heard someone cluck his tongue behind him.
"What a mess you've made of things, Sally," Kit said disapprovingly, shaking his head in an infuriatingly holier-than-thou way.
"Don't fucking call me that," Salvatore snapped. The last thing he needed while his own heart was breaking was to deal with this dumbass. "And get the fuck away from me while my dick is out, you pervert."
"Woah, dude. Big accusation. I've only got eyes for my soulmate. I don't mind getting a little touchy-feely with Link for her benefit, though - she likes when we-,"
"I don't want to know, so save it," Salvatore hissed, quickly zippering himself up.
"She's hurting really bad, you know," Kit said, suddenly serious. More serious than Salvatore knew Kit Stone was capable of getting.
Salvatore had no answer for that. He himself was hurting, and he didn't want to discuss this with anyone. It required a familiarity and vulnerability that Salvatore didn't have with anyone, save for Victoire, but he wasn't ready to talk to her. He wasn't convinced that she wasn't over him already - how could she even care about him? He'd saved her the trouble of his company, as far as he was concerned.
"Look, I know you care about her, dude. I trust her judgment, and she says she cares about you as much as she cares about me and Link and Teddy. Just give in to your feelings for her. I know you don't let people in - you've done everything you could to keep me out this past year, despite my best efforts. But don't shut out Victoire. She needs you, and I know you need her. And I'm not just here for her sake. I'm here for your sake, too. I know you must be hurting too under all those layers of macho-man, tough guy bullshit you have going on. I don't know what you were going through last year when I saw you in this very bathroom, but I do know that you seem a different person around Victoire - one who smiles and looks happy. No one can care for you unless you let them, Salvatore. So let Victoire in. Let me in. Let all of us in."
Salvatore felt as though he were being choked. Kit couldn't have possibly known what it meant to him that someone cared. That someone acknowledged how broken he was and didn't want to look away. It added another layer of fear within him that if he were to let in Victoire, he'd be letting in the other men, too. He didn't know how to let someone care for him, and was scared he'd only be subjecting more people to the disappoint that he was.
He strode from the bathroom, feeling Kit's eyes on his back as he did so.
***
Potions class was extremely awkward and uncomfortable for the next following two weeks. At first, Victoire stole covert glances at him, hoping his mask would fall. But it remained, and he didn't so much as look at her. Despite the love she received from Link and Kit, her very soul knew the balance was off. Salvatore and her belonged together, too - and to have him pretend otherwise was destroying her.
It was a mark of how thoroughly his parents destroyed him inside that he kept up his unfeeling facade while the best parts of him suffocated. It was a special kind of hell pretending like he wasn't affected by Victoire, like he didn't yearn for her every second of every fucking miserable day without her. For the first time in two weeks, he looked up at her. She felt his dark eyes on her as tangibly as if he were holding her. All she could do was stare back and guess at what he was silently communicating. But she felt something shift, though she didn't know what. She didn't dare ask, wanting to give him all the space he needed to come to terms with their situation.
Salvatore decided as he looked into Victoire's eyes that he didn't give a fuck about anything else beside her. And he was about to pick himself up by the balls and finally tell her all that he'd been withholding.
***
That night, Salvatore saw Link and Kit sitting together. It was quiet as Salvatore approached them.
"Are you looking for Victoire?" Kit asked, his eyes wide with hope and a tentative quality to his voice.
"No, actually. I came to talk with you both."
The next second found Kit dog-piling on top of Salvatore. He tackled him, placing a wet kiss on his cheek before whooping out of pure joy.
"He LOVES me!!!!" Kit screamed.
"I changed my fucking mind, get the fuck off me," Salvatore groaned, throwing Kit off him. But Kit suspected that Sal was holding back a lot with the force he used to toss him. Link laughed, helping Salvatore free himself of Kit.
"Look, I know I was an ass to Victoire," Salvatore started, highly uncomfortable already but resolved to do this.
Link arched a brow. "Agreed. Continue."
"I need your help," Salvatore admitted, looking between the two of them. "I have a plan, but I'll need the two of you in on it."
"Omigosh, it's our first ever secret boyfriend-in-laws mission," Kit said, beaming like it was Christmas morning.
***
"Ready?" Link asked, holding Victoire's hand as he guided her outside of the common room.
"I'm not sure," she replied honestly. The boys refused to tell what special plans they had in store for her tonight, but she was given a beautiful red dress to wear. In hopes of another threesome, she wore red lingerie underneath.
Link chuckled, kissing her hand and sending her off with Kit, who waited outside the common room and threw the cloak of invisibility over them (borrowed again from James for the low rate of five sickles in the name of Kit's coolness).
Kit left her on the seventh floor corridor in front of the Room of Requirement. "This is where I'm told I'm supposed to leave you, babe."
"What" she asked, nerves filling her as she realized the only person who she knew who knew about the Room of Requirement was-
"Salvatore's waiting in there. He says you know the way in?" he asked uncertainly, glancing at the wall.
She nodded and Kit handed her the cloak. He kissed her and gave her an encouraging smile before he walked away wordlessly.
She thought about Sal as she paced, and soon the familiar door appeared and she entered.
A giant fireplace roared and crackled, Salvatore in front of it as he turned to look at Victoire. His tattoos peaked out from under his dress shirt, his tie undone making him look like a sexy, disheveled gentleman. Victoire looked stunning on her part, her red silky dress revealing her long legs and sitting on her curves just right.
"Fuck me, you're gorgeous," he breathed, like he hadn't meant to say it but it slipped out. She stepped towards him tentatively, unsure how to proceed considering those were the first words he'd said to her in two weeks.
"You're not bad yourself," she said, struggling against her need to rip his clothes right off him and trace his every tattoo with her tongue.
She looked away from him to contain the feeling, noticing a ring of candles surrounding them. Fire. Could that mean -
"Victoire, I'm sorry. I owe you the truth. And the truth is, I can't stop thinking about you. I've never wanted anybody the way I want you. Since the moment you've came into my life, I haven't been able to think about anything else. You've been right about me, you know. About the masks I wear. At first it was to lock down my emotions, the way I was raised to. Then it was to keep everyone away so they wouldn't pry into my business. Then it was to keep you away, because if you knew the truth about me, about the shit I've done..." he trailed off, shaking his head. "I don't care if I'm not your soulmate - I just want to be yours in any capacity that you'll have me. I need you, Victoire. I want to be yours, because you'll always be mine."
He unbuttoned his shirt, revealing a new tattoo on his chest over his heart that said her name. She reached out to run her fingers over it and kissed it before reaching up to kiss his lips. "You're mine, Salvatore Rookwood. You'll always be mine, and I'm yours."
He grabbed the back of her neck, holding onto her so tightly and never wanting to let go. They were in no rush for anything else when Salvatore pulled away, pulling Vic's long hair behind her back gently. The room summoned a bed for them, and he pulled her onto his lap. She cocked her head, looking at him questioningly as he steeled himself to open up to her at long last.
"Talk to me, my love," she whispered, running her thumb along his furrowed brow.
"Before you agree to do this ritual with me and become my soulmate, I need to tell you the truth about me."
She held his face, looking at him in a way that made him feel truly seen for one of the first times in his life. "I know all the truth about you that I need to know, Salvatore. I know that you are good. I didn't at first, I'll admit that. You successfully hid those parts of yourself from me at first, but I know without a shadow of doubt that at your core, you are everything that is good and worthy of receiving love. Let me love you, Salvatore. Please," she begged, and he couldn't resist any longer. He kissed her, more intensely and deeper than ever.
She wrapped her self around him, straddling him as he pulled away only to whisper, "I love you."
"I love you, Salvatore" she panted into his mouth, a need for him so great burning through her she couldn't stand any more barriers between them. He lifted off her dress, his gaze and hands running along her body in her sexy lingerie.
"You are so fucking beautiful, baby," he growled into her ear a moment before kissing her neck in a way that made her shiver against him, pleasure rolling through her body.
"I'm all yours, daddy," she panted, knowing how crazy that would drive him as she unbuckled his pants. He placed her on her stomach on the floor, placing another kiss on her neck and leaving a trail of slow, torturously sensuous kisses along her back; biting and kissing her ass in a way that made her arch her back and stick her ass up in a silent plea for him to satiate her need for his cock buried deep within her to claim her as his own.
He leaned over her once more. "Do you trust me, baby?"
"Yes," she moaned.
He slapped her ass hard, making her gasp and then moan again from how good it felt. "Yes?"
"Yes, daddy," she corrected.
He grabbed a candle, letting the hot wax fall in the curve of her spine. She arched her back again as it fell, the heat burning her in a delicious way that felt so right. It burned and it hurt so good, and she needed more.
"More," she demanded, and he spanked her hard again, making her cry out in pleasure.
"Are you being willful with me?" he smirked, more than willing to comply with her demand as he grabbed another candle and let the wax drip all over her back. He lifted her up from the floor, perching her on all fours as he pulled down her thong.
She looked back at him innocently, though her smile was anything but as she wiggled her hips in a clear demand. Salvatore laughed darkly as he knelt down to lick her pussy from bottom to top, gripping her ass as he did so.
She cried out again as he ate her pussy like it was his last meal, flicking his tongue over her clit again and again until was screaming his name like a prayer for her salvation. He stuck two thick fingers into her pussy as his tongue rolled over her clit and she rode his hand and tongue until her orgasm tore through her.
He flipped her onto her back next, and he leaned in to kiss her, the taste of her still on his lips. He lifted her legs up until they were folded against her and he lined up his cock with her entrance. He slid his tip in, going in slowly and watching as her face betrayed just how much he was affecting her with every inch he put inside her.
"Salvatore," she breathed, and he leaned in, staring into the blue eyes of the love of his life as he thrusted within her. Missionary felt so right with Salvatore - his cock hitting places inside her she didn't know existed. He was owning her with every thrust, their soulmate bond snapping into place as she cried his name out in pleasure. Her pussy clenched around his cock as she came again, and he could no longer contain his own pleasure as he burst inside her, breathing her name - because she was all that mattered.
He felt it instantly; their soulmate bond in place. She smiled so brightly at him as he reached in for a kiss, switching their positions so that she lay on top of him.
"My soulmate," he murmured, stroking her face more tenderly and lovingly than he ever thought he could be capable of showing. Knowing that it was safe for him to do so.
"Yours," she whispered, parting her lips in an invitation he took up right away; kissing her needily.
A blanket was conjured on top of them as they snuggled in front of the fire. She stroked her finger along his Victoire tattoo.
"Kit wanted me to get one that said '#Salvatoire'," he rolled his eyes.
Vic giggled, warmth spreading throughout her as she thought about her men bonding and getting along like best friends. No more than ten blissful minutes passed of them cuddling before a sound alerted them.
Link and Kit appeared within the Room of Requirement looking worried and upset.
"What's wrong?" Victoire asked immediately.
"It's Jade," Link answered. "She was ambushed and - she's gone."