[open] you are an animal with an animal's desires; any

[magnus]

desire consumes me like a fire consumes me

She has the spice of another world, another life, and he finds himself intrigued by the calm flow of her words, the way she does not react at all to his somewhat prodding words. His gold-flecked eyes darken and then spark with pleasure at her reaction, his crooked smile warming as he nods.

“I have a feeling that language truly fails you.” He laughs, low and deep, the husky sound natural as a muscle jumps in his jaw. “Perhaps I’d prefer you tell me what you think I am.” Humor weaves in and out of his gaze, the tangled locks of his onyx forelock slipping from his broad forehead to rest near his cheek.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve heard the honest appraisal of a near-stranger.”

Not quite a stranger—after all, the two have brushed across each other’s paths before in the name of diplomacy—but still separate enough. She does not know, he would believe, of the lives he has lived and the sins tattooed upon his very flesh. The wars he has done his part in starting, the murders committed by the hands so many believe to be wholly good. Such thoughts, murky and no longer stained with the weight of regret, darken his smile, make his eyes nearly unreadable as he watches, letting silence stretch.

good shouldn’t need to tempt us above

@[kota]