What Art had done had called into everything into question. It had made her doubt everything. Everything that she had believed about him, everything she had believed about them, about their relationship, about their lives together. How could he saw that he loved her and do something like this? How could he claim to love her and carelessly release an epidemic that got her and his daughter sick? And even more than that, even looking at the bigger picture, how could he do something that could get him arrested? Something that could get him sent to Azkaban, with them throwing away the key?

Was that what he wanted to subject his family to? Having to visit her husband in Azkaban, his kids having to visit their father in a cell. Would he even be allowed visits? Probably not. She didn't know, but that wasn't the point. The point was, he had acted carelessly and he had not thought anything about what it would do to the rest of them. As she was standing here now, she knew that she should be thinking that. A man that would do something like this to her did not care about her. Could not care about her. Or his family. If he had, then he wouldn't have done it. He would have used his head, and he would have thought before he acted. He would have realized all of the reasons why it was a horrible idea to follow through with what he had been planning.

And she wanted to continue to hurt him. If she could get him upset, if she could make him mad, then he would hurt too, and then he would hopefully leave. At this point, that was all she wanted. "The man that was making me moan earlier might disagree with that." She retorted, prepared to be absolutely explicit if it meant pissing him off.

317

Art was not ready for the proverbial punch that his wife had thrown. He had been grown more flirty, so she had redoubled her defense. Her tongue lashed out at him and this time, the ginger found her mark. The wizard was not going to let it show. He had to keep up his bravado.

"Bullshit," he rolled his eyes. He was not buying it. He refused. There was no way that bloody prat got his wife off in public. There was no way that arse could do what he did--he could not possibly know her like Art did. He had decades of learning her body. The wizard knew every sensitive spot, and every delectable curve. He knew her. That passion they had shared could not be matched by whatever she had with this fling.

Art's fingers bore down on Titania's hip, the fabric bunched in his grip but did nothing to lessen the pressure on the curve of the woman. It was the first real manifestation of his anger since the pair had shifted from bickering towards flirtatious sparing. A flash of anger could be seen in his eyes. Words were snarled off his tongue, hard and cruel: "I doubt you can even feel it when he shags you." He wanted to believe that the bloke was rubbish...that he had nothing on Art. Because how could he?! With some itty bitty European endowment. The bullshit about the motion of the ocean was just that: utter and complete bullshit. The size of the boat mattered...and Art had a really big boat. 

266 ✧ sans hat

At this point, she was willing to say anything if it meant making Art mad. If it got him to leave. Having him here was doing her no good at all. It had been better when he had kept his distance. It had been easier. Him being this close to her was anything but easy. It tested her restraint, it made it easier to miss him. Of course, it did. She loved him. She had never stopped loving him. She had just stopped being able to recognize him, and that had somehow hurt worse. Knowing that he had done all of those horrible things, and knowing that she still loved him. Knowing that she would stand by him through anything if she allowed herself to do it. And she couldn't. She could not be a party to this. She could not be a part of what he had done. It was wrong. That was all there was to it.

The thought of someone else shagging her should have been enough to get him to leave. She had hinted and implied, she had talked about her knickers and lack thereof, but nothing had worked so far. If anything, it seemed to only put it more into his mind that he needed to be the one touching her. She could tell that her words were finally starting to get to him. His hand tightening on her hip was proof of that. She needed to keep going. Eventually, she would push him too far.

"Oh, I can feel it," she promised, not daunted by the tone of his voice or the anger in his eyes. If anything, it meant that she was getting her point across. "And if he hadn't silenced the box, the entire theater would have heard it too. You know I'm not good at being quiet." That was absolutely accurate, and he knew it. She thought that bringing up details would certainly make him start to believe her.

307

Titania was flaunting the affair in his face. She was stoking the embers of the anger in him. She knew how to make the flames ignite. She had been his wife for twenty years. The woman knew how to get the reactions she wanted. Them being so close much have gotten to be too much, because she was prodding him. She was trying to piss him off.

And it was working. Art was so fucking angry. So, so, so very angry.

He  tried not ot believe it. He tried to not to let her get to him. He was trying his damnedest not to believe the things that she was saying... but Merlin's saggy sack, the witch was making it really bloody difficult. 

Art did not want to let it show, though, that T was getting under his skin. He knew she could see the flames of angry flashing in his eyes--and when he spoke, his voice bordered on cruel as he asked: "You never wish it was me?" Art kept pushing, continuing on with his taunt: "Pretend that it's me?" He did not really like the idea of her imagining him shagging her while some other man was...but that was much better than her just banging some bloke. Art wanted to have always been in the woman's mind, because she was supposed to have belonged to him. She was supposed to be for him and him only. That was what she had promised. That was the vow they had taken. 

255 ✧ sans hat

After all of this time, she knew how to make her husband angry. She knew exactly what riled him up and made him mad. They had always been good at fighting. Mostly because they were even better at making up. When it came to their relationship in the bedroom -- or wherever else they happened to be, Titania was unsure if they were better at having an angry shag after a fight, or a make-up romp when tempers had cooled and they didn't want to be fighting anymore. They were quite good at both. They always had been. There had certainly been times in her life when she tried to rile him up on purpose, just like there were times when he did the same to her. Of course, there were other times when they were both legitimately pissed off, and that did usually end with more blood drawn and bruises formed, but it was always good.

But she had never had something like this to taunt him with. Never had the ability to piss him off by getting him thinking about the other man that she had been with for months. She had never been able to talk about what he had done to her to try to make Art jealous and piss him off. She was just getting started. She could get so much more explicit with details if she really thought that it would do the trick. This time, riling him up to kiss him or get him to bend her over the counter was not her goal. She just wanted him to leave. Or so she was telling herself. And she thought that it was working.

His hand on her hip was distracting her, though, and she had to clear her throat before answering. "Maybe you're not as good as you like to think you are."

310

He had nearly bought the lies. Titania had been so very close; she had almost convinced him. Almost... but the clearing of her throat. That one little reaction-- It gave her away. Art was emboldened again. His fury could be funneled into possessive lust. Strong fingers bore down into her hip, urging her closer. He brought his other hand up to her face. Long, strong fingers caught her smooth, soft jaw. It was effortless to slide them back into the woman's silken bright red hair. "You sure about that?" Art challenged. A gentle guiding gesture tilted her face upwards towards his. Every aspect of their proximity was still so familiar to him. 

Dark eyes were searching her bright one. He could drown in those pools. He had lost himself in them so many times before. He wanted more-- He wanted to touch and feel more of her. It had been far too long. The moment drew out as he thought about kissing her. Memories of the times his lips had been against hers flashed through his mind. Longing for her made his heart ache. It drowned out the rage. It let int the pain. 

And it did not prepare him for what was about to happen. It did not prepare him at all. 

His other hand had finally managed to conquer the length of her skirt. He had it all bunched up to her hip. His touch slipped beneath the white fabric. Now the wizard would find out whether or not she had been lying about her knickers. 

261 ✧ sans hat

He was too close to her now. It had been what she was trying to avoid this entire time. Even allowing him to touch her hip had been a bad idea. It had made him bolder. And that made it hard for her to keep her wits about her, which was something that she desperately needed. She needed to have control over this situation, and she thought that continuing to rile Art up about Marcus definitely put the odds in her favor. Titania just couldn't let the tables turn. As long as she didn't let his touch get to her, she thought that it would be all right. Clearly, she was pissing him off. It wouldn't be too long until he realized that she wasn't bluffing about Marcus. She just had to last that long.

But his hands trailed into her hair, he pulled it enough to tilt her face to his, and that hint of roughness was almost enough for her to call the battle lost. She did not look away from him, even with their proximity making it more difficult for her. If she showed any sign of wavering, he would see it. She knew that. She just had to keep it from happening.

"Yes," she snapped, no longer stopping him as he bunched her skirt up in his hand. The flash of anger was still in her eyes. Even with his hair tangled in her hair. Even with her dress up to hip. Her knickers were still likely in Marcus's pocket, after all. She had not been lying about that.

264

Art liked her anger. He enjoyed her passion. Both had been something he had missed. In truth, he had missed that fire terribly. He had missed her terribly. Wendy was part of him, but so was Titania. His twin was the other half he had been born with. His wife was the other half that he had chosen. ...Even if she had kicked him out of their house. 

The man felt like such a fool right then. He thought she had been bullshitting him. He thought Titania had just been trying to rile him up. He needed that to be the case. He needed her to not have been had by another man on this very night. The man could not stand the thought that another man had actually just had his wife. That was not a turn on.

That was punch to the gut. 

He had thought he would feel the silk and lace of knickers under his fingers. But he did not. There was nothing there. Just her smooth skin. He found himself pulling her hair harder. Anger flared in his handsome features. "Good that you have decided to be his whore then." The words were hard and spat with hurt. It was not fun flirtation or sexy confidence now that shown through. He resented her. Just like she resented him. 

She did not know what kind of man could do what he had done with the squib flu... and he, he did not know what kind of woman could abandon her wedding vows so quickly and easily. He had not dated. Not one measly date. He had not shagged anyone else. He had not been with a woman since before September. But Merlin, he was sorely tempted tonight. If his wife could ride some import in a balcony, he could find something willing to bury himself inside of. He just didn't want to. Even in the moment of pain and disgust, he still just wanted Titania. 

332 ✧ sans hat

The decision to date had not been one she'd been planning on making. She had just been asked out, so she had said yes. Marcus had proven to be a good distraction from the fact that her husband was... well, the fact that he was the love of her life but also the man who had wiped people of their magic and killed people -- the epidemic had had its fatalities, after all.

She had needed that distraction, and so they had continued to date. It had been casual, but it had been fun. He was charming, and it was nice to be around him. There were no titles to their relationship, they had just gone out on occasion. And tonight, they had gone to the orchestra. He had taken off her knickers and had his hand up her dress in their private box and she had not been lying about the box needing to be silenced. She was bad at being quiet. But he had not shagged her. She didn't mind some risk, but shagging in a public theater was too much, even for her.

Still, her knickers were in his pocket and she could make that seem like more than it was if it got the job done. A sharp inhale of breath was her only reaction to his tightened grip on her hair, and she could tell that he was hurt. Good. He had hurt her first. "What did you expect me to do? Wait for you?" He was never going to apologize for what he had done. She would be waiting the rest of her bloody life for that.

273

She had been with another man. It was not an abstract thought. It was not something someone told him with a mock look of sympathy on their face. Titania had been with someone else tonight. This very night. Visuals of what could have transpired were suffocating him now. He hated it. The hand tightened in her hair. It was not a voluntary or intentional motion. It happened out of sheer instinct in reaction to the words she spoke.

"Wait for me?!" He snapped. The volume of his voice was tremendous even to his own ears. He didn't care. How dare she say that?! How dare she act like her whoring around was his fault. She made him leave. He never chose that. 

"YOU kicked me out." The wizard was angry and hurt-- Art felt so betrayed. This was not a game he wanted to be playing anymore. But he could not just quite. He couldn't just leave... Not when he was this close to her.

But what was the point? Why was he still here? Why was his hand still in her hair? Why were his fingers digging into her hips? How could he know she had been with someone else mere hours ago and still want her so bloody badly? ...He knew why. Because no matter what she had done, no matter what he had done, he still saw her as his wife. He still saw her as his life partner. Artunakara Zuberi Buchanan was as in love with Titania Galadriel Prewett today as he had been any day of their lives. She was the One. 

270 ✧ sans hat