Snowbaird Valentine Event!

Second day second prompt: rose

Snowbaird Valentine Event!

I want to thank @kpchrs for the first idea, then @burntblueberrywaffles who has create the event and then I tag the @snowbaird-events as usual u.ù

Rose

He has never understood the tradition of staying away for a full three weeks before the wedding.

The lack of Lucy Gray burns in a spiral of emotions that borders on paranoia, even though he knows she is perfectly safe and happy - with Tigris and Persephone in District One, pampered and pampered and immersed in what the girls call an 'intensive beauty treatment'.

Of course, his job as President allows him enough distraction... And, in his spare moments, he works on the secret project he only shared with Clemmy, to get her to help him out.

It all came about by chance. One day, while working in the rose garden with Grandma’am, he remembered their first meeting and wanted to taste a rose petal.

Puah!

The memory still makes him sick. So much for bedtime! Roses smell good but taste horrible .

So he decided to create a truly edible variety that would do justice to their aroma. Clemmy, who is also his personal secretary at work, got involved in the project in her spare time - and theirs turned out to be yet another winning partnership.

After all, she was the first to process his precious poisons with him.

Days slip by between them as the date approaches and, in the end, he has just enough time to make a shrub of red, edible roses bloom before the big day.

He instructs the pastry chefs and instructs the florist.

Everything is perfect for the surprise.

***

Lucy Gray strides through the garden bewitching everyone. Her wedding dress is a riot of light and color; he does not know what fabric Tigris sewed it with, but it is marvelous. The bodice is iridescent and is decorated with several colorful hand-stitched roses. It ends with a long white skirt that shimmers in the sun, soft as a cascade of fresh snow.

She wears a veil. He finds it a curious choice but, after all, Lucy Gray and Tigris know what they are doing. The comb of the veil is hooked under the elegant bun with which her hair has been gathered, and swirls of white tulle descend to the floor, mingling with the train of her dress.

Moreover, Lucy Gray is barefoot.

He immediately understands the reference: Lucy Gray, the little girl who was lost in the snow, has found her home in the snow.

Soon they will be a family. Coriolanus's heart beats fast in his chest as Tam Amber - doing the voices of her father - leads her before him and intertwines their hands.

They both stand under an arch of white roses and there become husband and wife.

When the ceremony ends, when they have exchanged rings and the first kiss and had the toasting, Lucy Gray looks for Tigris in the front rows and she nods to her. As Festus hands Coriolanus one of the special red roses, she brings a hand to her head and unhooks the comb of her veil, causing it to fall back to the floor, and turns to precede him down the aisle.

Coriolanus holds his breath, abrupt and surprised.

On Lucy Gray's back, naked, is tattooed a beautiful rose bush, studded with many different roses of all the colors of the rainbow.

So she. So them.

Roses, one of the meeting points of their love.

Lucy Gray turns to him and smiles, then grabs his hand, dragging him behind her.

They reach the end of the row of chairs, trampling the petals scattered on the lawn, and before the crowd can catch up with them, Coriolanus turns her towards him and hands her the red rose.

"Welcome to the family, Lucy Gray Baird Snow."

She giggles, her eyes bright, and as he had planned she plucks a petal from the rose, bringing it to her tongue. And when she swallows she bursts out laughing again, delighted.

"We almost had the same idea!" she exclaims, before the guests join them in congratulations.

Coriolanis squeezes Lucy Gray's waist and thanks and smiles and is happy, really happy, so happy that he thinks his heart will explode. He does not know if it is made to contain so much happiness all at once.

***

They toast and then the cake is brought under the gazebo lit by many small hanging lights - a copy of the stars in the sky above them. Coriolanus has ordered and obtained that all of Capitol City be in darkness that night, to allow him and Lucy Gray to seal their pact of love under the stars.

The cake is large and colorful, multi-storeyed. Every decorative rosebud is edible.

In a final exchange of promises Lucy Gray grabs two of the little flowers and hands him one. No need to speak because her cunning expression says it all. They feed each other that little taste of rose and then both burst out laughing as the guests applaud their love. 

***

It is not the last rose he tastes that night.

Coriolanus immerses himself in the perverse pleasure it causes him to lick every single rose drawn on Lucy Gray's back while she, quiet and relaxed after making love, simply lies on her stomach in the unmade bed, her head abandoned on her crossed arms.

They may not taste as delicate as the roses he produced in the lab - but they taste of Lucy Gray and her skin, and that's enough to make him want to taste them all.

💖💖💖

Link to the story on ao3: