Chapter Text
Hugo really did look like stone when he slept, Winifred thought as she peered up at his face from where her chin rested atop his chest. He was so still, the sharp lines of his face so stark in the darkness, like he was carved out of the pillow beneath his head.
She brushed her hand up his cheek, reminding herself that he was flesh and blood, his skin as soft and warm as his heart. He let out a heavier breath at her touch, but otherwise did not stir.
But when her hand ventured higher, sliding up over the curve of one of his horns that grew from his forehead, he let out a low rumbling sigh and shifted beneath her. She smiled, knowing how sensitive his horns were, and petted over it more firmly, making him moan faintly.
"Hugo darling, do you remember," she whispered, "when you told me I could always touch you anywhere I like?"
"Of course," he said in a low, rough voice without opening his eyes. He had told her this on their wedding day, during their first flight together, when she had first touched his wing.
"Do you ever regret it now that I use it to wake you up most unkindly?"
He caught her dainty wrist in his huge clawed hand and opened his eyes, his silver stare pinning her golden one. "Never." Gently, he pulled her hand away from his horn to rest against his jaw. "I will always love this sweet little hand touching me anywhere it likes, whenever it likes."
And then he lifted it to his mouth and slowly pressed his lips to the middle of her palm. Warmth soared out from the lingering kiss, radiating down her arm to swell her chest with his affection. He turned her hand over and kissed the back of it as well, his stone-gray lips as soft as sun-warmed flower petals.
"Your touch is a precious gift, and how can such a gift ever be counted as unkind?" he said as he curled his fingers around her hand to squeeze it to his chest. "I should far rather be touched by you than sleep, Win."
His eyes darkened on that last bit, and Winifred felt an answering pull of heat in her belly. "Is that so?" she asked.
He released her hand and rolled to the side, tipping her off so he could rise over her, caging her little body beneath him without crushing her. "Touch me again, and I will prove to you how little I want to sleep at present."