The babies were nursing again, and he'd left Heartfire to care for them and tuck them in for the night. He'd be back soon to hold them.
He loved their smell clinging to him. Like he could take them everywhere he went.
Everything should feel at peace tonight in this place of safety, his family all gathered up and cradled here where he could look after them. He still needed to return to Ischia, but he'd see to his babies first. He'd almost woken Briella to come with him on his walk, a patrol because he wasn't used to doing nothing. No threats were here and he should feel at peace.
That dream was nagging at him though, knuckling at his chest and making him sore. It was just a dream, no matter how real it had seemed so long ago. He'd been training too damn hard that day, was all. The magician worked him damn hard again, was all. Just a dream.
Heartfire had said Luster's baby was his, but that was ridiculous. Just an attempt to distract him away from her so he wouldn't follow. Well, it hadn't worked. There was no way her kids were from him. He hadn't actually slept with her, and even if he had, that was years ago. She had obviously gotten knocked up by someone else, and he was vehemently ignoring the flare of something iron hot burning inside him at the thought.
She was HIS.
No. Just a dream.
Every part of his life was kept sorted and locked away and he'd always avoided the place in his mind where Luster was hidden away. That damn dream tore him up, made his heart bleed fresh with the yearning for something he could never have. It was a glow of perfection, divine and so far above him, handed out to him in an open palm and he wanted it so bad he could just die. What he'd had with Luster was impossible, and he squinted from the brightness of it in his memories, turned his face away with so much pain at how deeply he wanted it but could never have it.
He could never have it.
His jaw tensed and his heart clutched, pulling open the tattered seams of his chest as those familiar lights floated to him so slowly. No. He couldn't. It hadn't been real. He should stay away from her. Her magic was so damn relentless, though, always burying itself in his hair and calling to him. Then that damn light shot to the sky and he froze in fear, knowing he had been so uneasy for a damn good reason and realizing it was for Luster.
He burst from his standstill, flying through the quiet night with a streak of stars at his feet as he navigated his way through the trees as quick as he could. It was so strange to think the last time he'd seen her she'd been protecting him from Heartfire. Well, before he'd just seen her hours ago as Heartfire stumbled away from the crowd.
She was there on the ground and he slowed, gradually forming from the night's shadows as he stepped silently closer, his black eyes trained on her. He held no expression as he watched her, sweat dampening her blue and white skin and her breaths coming shorter. The lights were a quiet aura around him, floating orbs of varying intensity, collected as he'd followed their trail to her.
He said nothing as he looked down at her, coming to a stop nearby and tracing the crescent scar of his teeth on her neck with a quiet gaze. Why was she here alone? Where was the father to her children? He didn't deserve her, whoever he was. Just as that jerk didn't deserve Leliana. That scar probably shouldn't be so attractive, a mark of his wild violence. It made him want to leave another, make her eyes pop wide as they had when he'd first thrust so sharply inside her.
Except that he hadn't.
She would not do this alone, though. He wouldn't let her. She was still his even if it hadn't been real. He'd marked her his so many years ago. His face didn't soften as he took another deliberate step closer, lowering his head to hover over her neck, lingering too long at his scar in her otherwise perfect skin. He blew a soft breath over it, kissed gently, then met her eyes as he dragged his muzzle to her jaw for a brief nudge of encouragement. He was here. He wouldn't let her do this alone.
She was his.
we're slaves to any semblance of touch
Lord, we should quit but we love it too much
