Golden eyes watching our every move
Losing time without the sun or moon

He has grown so comfortable within the darkness that it never occurred to him to question it. To watch for it within others. To him, the darkness is as encompassing as the light is for most, comforting and safe. He does not associate the shadows with a blackened soul or evil heart. Where others see them as foreboding, filled with ill-intent, he sees them only as benevolent and protective.

It is an odd way to live, perhaps. To be so closely associated with the darkness, with what others see as a manifestation of evil, yet distinctly not of that pre-determined nature. Perhaps it is why he has been alone so long, why others have avoided the dark reaches and shadowy corners he has always called home. Perhaps they believe him as blackened of heart as his skin is. As though the shadows have chosen to be terrible rather than benign things too often used by those with ill-intent.

But she does not seem to see such things, instead peering at the man he is rather than the creature he has become. Choosing to look past his darkened skin and eerie yellow gaze to the heart that beats beneath.

Perhaps if others were as she, he might have ventured from the safety of his shadows long ago.

The way her eye lights at the endless possibilities as he peels open reality causes a curious kick inside his chest. He cannot seem to pull his gaze from her as her lips curve into a delighted smile. She is enchanting like this, the emotions changing her features from attractive to mesmerizing, as though that simplest of things was all she needed to release the magic residing within her. Not magic like his, or like any other creature one might stumble across in these lands. No, something entirely different, but just as powerful.

It seems there is a great deal he has yet to learn of this world.

“Anywhere you wish,” he offers in answer to the breathy question, his golden eyes gleaming in the dim light. His skin shivers beneath her light touch, a faint wash of heat crawling across his dark form. A blush, though it is invisible in the pitch of his pelt. After a long moment he finally manages to tear his gaze from her. He steps forward without hesitation, allowing the shadows to swallow him with their cool welcome. He turns then, a silent invitation for her to follow him into his world.

ether

Golden eyes watching our every move
Losing time without the sun or moon

It has been a long time since he has paused to consider the shadows he has so long called his own. It’s odd, in a way, to see them as though through the eyes of another. To consider them as Briseis must. What to him offers comfort and a unique sort of warmth must seem yawning and cavernous to another, empty of all things but darkness. As the portal seals behind them, he peers around with new eyes, taking in the impossible pitch of the shadow realm.

Briseis has tucked herself closely against his side, her dark skin lost amidst the endless pitch of this world. He presses closer, surprisingly comforted by her presence here with him. He brushes his muzzle softly against the curve of her neck, saying without words that he would not leave her side. She is warm against him, a living, breathing thing to counter the still coolness of the dark. He can hear her breath in the silence, recognizing with surprise that he is unused to hearing such things here. When the shadows had consumed him, they had driven away his hunger, and his breath too, he realizes. Only habit kept him breathing and speaking in the world of light. Here, he has never had need of it.

Her question brings a faint smile to his lips, his yellow gaze shifting to consider the darkness. “Only if I allow it,” he murmurs into the still hush. He could bring light in here too, he supposes. He had never needed it, but perhaps she did. It’s a simple matter to thin the veil that separates them from the outside world just enough to allow the faintest of gray lights to leak through, muted and diffused by the thickness of shadow. Enough for him to make out the shape of her features, the gentle curve of her ear.

He touches her again, his skin (as pitch dark as the world had been just moments ago) a stark contrast against the more lovely, gleaming black of hers. He doesn’t respond immediately when she suggests Nerine, as though unsure where else she might like to go. But then, she had no clue just how far he could go. Beqanna is so small in comparison to the places he could take her.

Her final question stills him, the faint warmth of his muzzle still pressed against her neck. He had been idly toying with a silken strand of her mane without realizing it, caught in his own musings (unused to company, too easily distracted by his own thoughts). He withdraws slightly, a faint frown touching his lips as he peers into the endless distance. “I suppose it is,” he answers slowly.

Then, as though recalling himself, he brings his gaze briefly back to hers before shifting those yellow eyes to a nearby point. There he peels back the shadows to reveal a sandy shore framed by cliffs, glittering waves lapping against the damp beach. They are tucked deep into a shadow beneath those towering cliffs. He does not step out, however, instead turning to consider his newfound companion. Letting her make the decision. She had requested Nerine, but they could just as easily go anywhere else or nowhere at all.

ether

Golden eyes watching our every move
Losing time without the sun or moon

He is so closely attuned to her in the darkness that it is impossible to miss her subtle reactions. With no one else to share this silent space, to interrupt them from one another, there is only one thing to focus on. It makes each small movement and breath seem much more audible, more noticeable, than it might have been in the world of light. At first he had thought it simply her normal reaction to new things, to a mixed curiosity and fear. Certainly anyone might have such reactions to entering an entirely new world.

But they are alone, and with no one and nothing aside from her to focus on, it soons become clear there is something more. He can feel the subtle heat from her skin, the way she shivers each time he inadvertently brushes against her. Perhaps that is why, unconsciously at first, he had begun to touch her more. There’s something wholly pleasing in those small reactions, and as he becomes more aware of them, he grows equally more entranced, more curious.

Even now though, he has trouble putting a name to what stirs between them. It is something he has never experienced before. But he finds himself wishing to know more, to discover more. To find what causes her to draw closer rather than pull away.

I think it’s lovely. The admission brings a faint smile to his lips, an appreciation for her candor. “Me too,” he says softly, his lips hovering once more just over her skin, breath a mere whisper over her warm flesh. He skims his muzzle lightly along the sleek curve of her neck, this time more deliberately, his actions fueled by his curiosity.

She stares out into the seaside kingdom for a moment, and Ether stills, watching her rather than the view outside. When she hesitates, he shows little reaction beyond a slow blink of his yellow eyes. Her comment confuses him, and for a moment he can only stare, wondering what it is she asks for. He had always been different, but truth be told, he could not pinpoint why. Was it because he loved the shadows so well? Because he had lived a terribly lonely life? Or perhaps it was merely because he had known the love of his parents, and knew that kindness existed in the world. So many reasons and yet none at all, because surely he is not the only one to have known these things.

“I… don’t know,” he admits, a faint frown tugging at his lips then, betraying his bewilderment.

ether

Golden eyes watching our every move
Losing time without the sun or moon

Everything with her is so new and different, unlike anything he has experienced before. He isn’t entirely certain he knows what to make of it, isn’t sure how she might wish him to respond. Her features shift subtly, softening almost, as he watches her, brows furrowed in his confusion. His golden gaze uncertain as she expounds on her previous statement.

She steps closer then, and he stills, his entire body freezing beneath the inviting heat of her skin and the subtle caress of her breath on his cheek, his neck. When her words sink in, his entire body blushes as he realizes he had misinterpreted what she had been trying to say. Though the color cannot show through the flat black of his frame, his skin flushes with heat, a stark contrast to the coolness of the shadow.

“Oh.” The single word escapes, colored with his surprise. His mind races as he tries to piece together a suitable response. The darkness shifts around him, melting together to hide the shores of Nerine once more. Only the muted glow is left, the light so subtle yet impossibly enticing against the dark lines of her feminine form.

She presses closer, her lips almost a brand against his skin, so aware is he of them. You must feel it too, she whispers. Suddenly everything seems to click into place. His unusual reaction to her, the shivers that race across her skin at every touch, the heat that seems to infuse him, spreading from every point of contact. Foreign and brand new, yet as timeless and ageless as the sky and earth itself.

“Yes,” he admits softly, his lips drawn almost involuntarily to the sleek curve of her shoulder, to the elegant slope of her spine. Another wave of heat flushes through him with the admission. Embarrassment at his delayed understanding, and something more. Something hot and wanting and demanding. Something he struggles to put words to, but maybe she would understand anyway.

ether

Golden eyes watching our every move
Losing time without the sun or moon

He remains motionless beneath her touch, hardly daring to move for fear this might only be a fevered fantasy. But he has never known anything quite like this, never dreamed of such things. Until this moment, desire and lust had never been a part of his world. He hadn’t realized he could hunger so greatly for something, that his entire body could feel so hot and foreign. Never known that his body could belong so completely to another.

Ether. His name on her lips breaks the spell she had placed on him. He turns to look at her, yellow gaze heating to molten gold. She presses so closely to him, her soft, feminine body fitting perfectly against the broader, more masculine lines of his own. For the first time in his life, becomes aware of the distinct differences between them. Becomes aware of the needs flesh could have beyond hunger and thirst.

If he’d had any questions about whether she felt as he did, her words erase them, his mind blanking beneath a wave of desire. He buries his nose in the wild, silken tangle of her mane, his lips trailing helplessly over her skin. He presses closer, exploring her skin with his touch, suddenly finding himself wanting to explore every inch of her. To find and taste each sensitive hollow and soft curve.

“I want you,” he breathes, emboldened by her admission. She had offered herself to him, and selfishly he would take it. He should have stopped to question it, but long denied instinct now drives him, demanding he take what she’d so freely offered. No longer is he slave to the doubt and fear that has so long held him. Instead the beast that had settled in his soul so long ago rises to the surface, needy and wanting and possessive, bringing with it everything he’d forgotten he could be. He presses closer, his lips firmer against her skin now, trailing along her shoulder to her spine. He scrapes his teeth almost tenderly across her withers, mindful of their sharpness. Even the beast doesn’t want to hurt her, but it wants her to know without question she is his.

“I want you to be mine,” he rumbles, his voice dipping lower with possessive desire. As though daring her to say otherwise.

ether