Mia awoke from her sleep with a smile on her face. She was lying comfortably, warm, and felt perfectly safe. She hadn't had such restful sleep since...since she had arrived at the Arena. Everything seemed normal to her, even the arm around her chest as she stretched her legs under the duvets.

The arm?

When she turned her head and gazed into Ethan's, her brain froze. As the events of the night before replayed in her head, the Vila withdrew his embrace to give her space. She shivered at the absence of her bedmate's warmth and instinctively turned around to bury her face in his neck, pressing her boobs to his chest. He let her rest like that for a few soothing minutes before placing a kiss on the roots of her hair and pushing her lightly to observe her face.

"Can you tell me what happened now?" he asked in the softest, patient voice he could manage.

Mia had no more desire than yesterday to answer this question. Dumbfounded, she forced her way and repositioned herself in his neck, putting her arm around his shoulders so he couldn't push her away.

"It must be past noon, we'll have to get up at some point," he said with a smirk.

She mumbled "so what?" and the only response she heard was a sigh. During her college years, she'd gotten into the nasty habit of sleeping in whenever the day seemed a little too much for her to get through. This had earned her many remarks from her friends who then had the difficult task of sending her the class notes she had missed. Of course, they didn't mean the critics: half the time, she was the one who had to play the role of secretary for her absent friends.

"Mia," he said more sternly. "We must inform Professor Vassili, try to find-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Mia had grabbed his cheeks with both hands and pressed her lips to his in hopes of silencing him. Surprisingly, he wanted to protest, but the "shut up" she gave him in a whisper was enough to get him to cooperate.

When he finally responded to her kiss, shivers ran down the blonde's spine. She had had time to forget how intoxicating it was to be so close to someone and the little butterflies waking up in her lower abdomen confirmed the feeling. When he ran his hand over her neck to shelter her at the base of her neck, a moan escaped her. Ethan took advantage of her parted lips to run his tongue through them, lighting a fire in her insides. In one quick motion, he rolled her onto her back, positioning his knees between her legs which she wrapped around his waist. When the Vila's lips lifted from hers to spread kisses down her neck to her collarbone, her breath caught in her throat. A sudden frenzy of touching his skin made her unbutton his shirt, taking advantage of the opening to slide her hands against his chest. He wasn't extremely muscular after all, but he was lean and she could feel the birth of his abs and pecs under her fingertips. The unconscious friction of her hips against the Vila's already very present erection tore from him an animal growl that ended up setting Mia's body ablaze. If she had placed her lips on those of the Vila simply to silence him without any other ulterior motive, this concern was far behind her.

"Mia!" Lily yelled through the door, abruptly cutting them off in their activity. "If you don't open the door in ten seconds, I will, no matter what you two are doing!"

Suffice to say that ten seconds later, when Mia finally opened the door, Lily was greeted by two annoyed looks.

"Ah, I'm interrupting something I suppose. You wasted no time," she said giggling and winking at Mia.

The jovial attitude of the fairy chased a bit the cloud of frustration storming in the blonde's mind, at least relieved to see that she did not intend to question her and that everything seemed to be back to normal. A relief that did not last long.

"I didn't want to disturb you before, but Professor Vassili will be here in an hour to discuss the... events of last night."

Her jaw locked and she gritted her teeth at the flash of stress that rose in her body. She knew very well that she would have to reconsider the events sooner or later, but it seemed that they had decided that it would be as soon as possible.

"How does he already know?" Ethan inquired.

"I went to tell him that Mia had disappeared before we met you at the edge of the forest, just in case, and that everything was fine after leaving Mia's room last night. I didn't give him any details, as I don't know exactly what happened... He then said he would come by around one o'clock after lunch today to talk to you two."

"I'm going to get changed," Mia announced with a sigh.

Obviously, she wouldn't cut it. The shower would also wait since she had no desire to rush it. She didn't care if she looked bad. It didn't seem to bother Ethan when he pressed his body against hers, so it had to be okay.

Yes, as if a little dirt ever stopped hormones doing their magic, she thought ironically before opting for a quick wash at the sink when Lily had left the room to give them some privacy.

The blonde took advantage of being hidden behind the bathroom door to remove her prom dress and quickly inspect her body in search of injuries requiring treatment. Apart from a few bruises on her knees and arms, she was doing well. A faint red mark covered her throat, inflicted by the centaur's grip, but it was painless. Only little sores that would disappear in a few days, if she didn't opt ​​for a more drastic solution: apply magic cream so that they would heal in a few hours.

"There are baths in the Vilas' quarters," Ethan suddenly blurted out, waiting for her on the bed.

"Is this an attempt to see me naked or to invite me to move into your room?" she replied, a mischievous smile on her lips, poking her head through the half-open door.

"Both," he announced, copying her smile.

"We kiss once and you're already asking me to move in?"

The idea would have been outrageous a few hours ago, but the butterflies in her stomach responding to the first option seemed to have already made up her mind on the matter. That, plus the fact that she didn't want to be alone after being attacked. The shock of the event seemed to have dispelled all her doubts about him. After all, the promise of a few steamy touches was not equal to a marriage proposal. And it would have the advantage of distracting her from past events.

There are worse distractions indeed...