#ch.: ⚜️

[movedto-mrs-bluemarine]

Made aware of things

[pursuitseternal]

“A Night with the Ascendant:” truths revealed and a delicious punishment is served

Ascended Astarion x F!OC (Lumina) |E| 5K

Summary: While the Master’s away, Lumina decides to take matters into her own urchin hands. Hooded and cloaked, she finds the book she seeks on the Lower City streets… but Lord Astarion finds her, too. She is willful and reckless and disobedient, and a fitting punishment is required.

CW: Grieving AA, Half-truths, manipulation, orgasm denial, Lumina fails her charisma and stealth rolls, “borrowing her bf’s clothing” for nefarious purposes, AA having too much fun for the first time in centuries.

Previous Ch | ao3 link | Masterlist

Chapter 4…

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Lumina was everything he ever dreamed someone could be—beautiful, willing, submissive. It was so easy to give her that final ingredient to remake her in his image, to dominate her so thoroughly. It shouldn’t have even felt like manipulation or deception to that matter, she drank the chalice of his blood so eagerly. He remembered the deep scarlet stain on those satisfied lips, the aftertaste of his power in the richness of his blood that lingered on her tongue.

But if she was so entirely his… why did it bother him to no end? He missed that edge of control, to compel her and weave his way into her brain like the beautiful marionette she had been. Where control and order once dictated his life, now all was replaced with… whims and desire.

With her smiles and her guile and her intelligence and her willfulness.

He hadn’t counted on such willfulness. Even if it was to insist on calling him hero. Hells. Heroes didn’t live forever with unrivaled power, needing to spend eternity numbing the pain of life. Heroes laid peacefully in their graves when all was said and done.

Graves like the five cut headstones that spread before him. They had never been this quiet, not when they were alive. The silence of the graveyard grinded at his resolve, eroding that perfect veneer of power and control crafted over two glorious centuries. He was weak right now, remembering the way his eyes would hurt as they rolled back every time Gale rambled… or the edge of sassiness in Shadowheart’s voice when she was peeved… or even Karlach’s hyena call of a laugh.

Instead there was only silence, the growth of moss on their stone tombs, and the rot of time on their remains, the same uncheck grinding of time that had swept them away and left him. Alone. Unaltered and untouched.

For the first time in ages, he stood in the wash of their memories, the ghosts of their voices and laughter and criticism and ferocity. In a moment, he would steel himself over once more, return to that visage of power and dominance and untouchability. But for now, he stood in silent remembrance, his damnable beating heart feeling the sting of emotions he had worked so hard to banish. Loss… grief… affection… desire…

A flash of bright blonde hair and crimson eyes passed through his mind. A tug at their bond that she was somewhere in the city, somewhere up to mischief and no good… if she was this petulant and unruly, why did he love her…

Love.

Hells dammit. He had remade her into something new, something even he had yet to experience in his centuries of vampirism—his Bride. But what was it she was remaking him into now?

Hungry for him, she paced between her suites and his sumptuous chambers. But there was one thing for which she hungered more—knowledge. What in the hells was she?

Every few turns around the room, Lumina paused at the window of his bedchamber, its arching frame overlooking the gardens, and the Lower City beyond. Creeping ivy trellised its way up the ancient stone walls. Every one of her urchin instincts screamed to escape—to reclaim the sun and discover all she could about her new abilities, to try to uncover more about her hero, her tyrant, and her love. She needed information, research.

She needed books. Or at least one. One to unlock what strange transformation had taken place to grant her safety from the sun like him.

How many times had she touched that green leather-covered tome, The Curse of the Vampyr? If only she could run to any book seller, Upper City, Lower City, surely she would find that book or… better yet… one that detailed the tether of a Master and Spawn. Fingers itched, mind whirred. She needed to taste her freedom, to learn what he wouldn’t divulge. Perhaps he would be impressed by her ambition, perhaps he would punish her for defiance.

But he wouldn’t begrudge her that freedom in the sun, not after all that she had just read about his past. Not when it was the same sweet prize he had sought and won to become the magnificent lord he was now.

He could be gone for hours, for all day, she decided. Sharp crimson eyes darted to his wardrobes packed with clothing. Practical clothing. Pants and tunics and cloaks. Maybe just… a quick rummage. Her light, little fingers danced over the rows of his garments, hoping to find something not too ostentatious or decadent. Black velvet trousers tied snug above her hips, a black silken chemise that wouldn’t reveal too much of her breasts with that low-dipped v cut—she was ready to climb and find her quarry.

Shoes slipped off, she knew it would be an easier climb barefooted, besides it’s how she had spent most of her time on the streets anyway. One leg out the window, and Lumina held her breath, that sunlight on her skin invigorated her. It bathed her, warmed her pale skin for the first time in weeks… it made every vein beneath her alabaster skin glow blue, it heated her bones and made her feel alive again.

Free again.

Emboldened by her freedom, she gracefully scampered down the vines. It was so easy to do, so glorious. She smiled to feel her feet in the dirt of the garden and vault over the stone walls back into the bustling streets of the Lower City.

Drawing the hood of his black cloak up over her head, she slunk in the shadows, surely a sight to behold. A small little girl, dressed in a man’s rich robes, stalking around like the urchin she was at heart. Bodies brushed against her on all sides, the pulse of the City, the bustling pace and breakneck ignorance of its populace for urchins like her… it would be so easy now to steal what she wanted.

Giddy, gleeful even, Lumina let her fingers dance into some fat vendor’s pocket to take their purse. It was just so easy, instinctive. Just a bump and an apology, and sure as Balduran’s balls, she was now one purse richer. Maybe a little weapon too… she smirked, mischievous and greedy. Just another helpless victim, another bump into her side and a mumbled apology… and now Lumina’s cool fingers closed around an elegant filigree hilt. She tucked its scabbard into her makeshift belt before continuing on to the closest book cart.

Her deft eyes skimmed the titles from beneath the canopy of her hood. Gold letters glint in the sun, her sharp eyes darting over every spine.

There… she gave a sigh of relief, the title she sought gleamed at her, brighter than a prized jewel. Stepping back, she eyed the cart vendor, a plump, stinking man who looked more interested in drinking than reading. She could practically smell the stale ale on his breath and scent the alcohol that tainted his blood, even from her distance.

Shaking her head, she tried to rid herself of these hypersensitivities, drawing back a pace until she couldn’t smell him anymore. Gagging, she tucked the purse of gold in her pocket; a man like that would be much more fun to rob than to waste her newly acquired money on.

All she had to do was wait…

After a few moments, he got up, lumbering around the corner, and Lumina smiled. Her undead heart would be racing with the thrill of the hunt, that rush of risk and reward, of being victorious or being caught.

Slinking to the far side of the cart, she pulled out the small green book, her quarry. Her steady hand began to slip it under her cloak until….

“What do you think you’re doing?” that stinking, sour breath was hot in her face as the cart keeper snatched her wrist and spun her around.

“Fuck,” Lumina cursed as fear gripped her soul and raced down her spine.

Out of practice, Little Light… she swore she could hear his mocking laughter in her head. Fuck, what would the Master say, she worried as she was dragged into the street.

“You wretched, dirty rat,” the keeper yelled in her face, spittle flying in her face and he yanked back her hood. Arresting the book from her hand, he flung her against the alley wall. “No one steals from me!”

“I have no need to steal,” Lumina lied, even as she caught herself against the brick wall. “My master is Lord Astarion Ancunín, and he will not like having his things manhandled thus.” She snapped, wrenching her hand from the man’s grubby fingers

More spit flew in her face as the man laughed, big and loud and rude. “Yeah sure, some hoity Council Member let his servant run in the streets barefoot to fetch books for them��.”

“I fear the lady is right,” a silken purr rumbled from behind them both. Astarion stood, perfect in posture and confident in stance. “My Mistress is prone to such wild fantasies, wandering the street unshod, fetching books on drivel from half-brined booksellers…” Astarion turned up his nose and grimaced as he too took in the foul odor of the rotund man. “Beautiful women have their indulgences, and we must allow them their indulgences. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Astarion smirked, his silver brow quirked high on his forehead as he dangled a fat coin purse at the seller.

“Of course, my Lord,” came the reply as his fat fingers snatched it midair. “Lord Ancunín, I didn’t mean to…”

A withering, crimson stare was all it took to send the fat man fleeing back into the shadows.

“Come, Lumina,” Astarion grabbed her upper arm, firm but with a sickeningly sweet smile, “it’s time we got you home.”

With one last ditch effort, she snagged the copy of her desired book from the seller’s cart, a victorious grin on her pale face as she followed her master into the City’s fray.

Her little arm threaded through his, he walked her towards the Park, his head held high as if the woman on his arm didn’t look like some barefoot vagrant. Finally, he drew them to a stop beside the fountain. His crimson eyes leveled at her, Astarion’s brows furrowed. “Was it worth it, Little Light?” he asked, cold and yet casual in tone.

Lumina fought the urge to tremble. “My little shopping spree?”

“Thieving spree, you mean…” his brow quirked as he pulled out the purloined objects of her own efforts from his own pockets.. He pulled out her purse, her book, and her new little dagger carefully with a wicked, conceited grin, watching in amusement as she patted the places on her lithe, little body from where he had stolen them. “A rogue’s dexterity is not to be outmatched, no matter how desperate or eager you are…”

“Please give those…” she wanted to say more, but his other hand flew towards her face, planting a single finger over her lips.

And Lord Astarion smiled. “Ah ah,” he chided, “explain yourself first, and your punishments may be lessened.” His voice rippled with promise, a teasing and yet desirous tone lacing into his words. “Why does my newborn mistress, a spawn of several weeks now, need to conduct some… research of her own kind?” He set the purse and dagger in his pockets, flipping the pages of the little green book. Pausing, he locked eyes with her, licking his finger first, slow and deliberate, before turning to the next one. “What are you so eager to learn that you could not dare to ask your beloved Master?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” she braced her hands on her hips, head tilting up at him in a show of confidence. “I walk in the sun, I can smell things… hear things… I couldn’t before.”

“Such as?” came his nonchalant reply.

“That oaf for one, I could almost taste the effects of his tenday long bender,” Lumina tried not to wretch at the memory. “And then there was the moment where I heard your voice inside my head…”

Something in his gaze shifted, something veiled now lifted, as if he was also surprised. “Indeed,” he purred, thumbing another page of the text. “And you decided to be disobedient and break my rules to seek out this uninformed drivel?” He scoffed, “Not to mention violating a few laws for good measure?”

“If you just gave me answers, Master; if you just gave me my own coin and a dagger, I wouldn’t need to steal them.”

“Oh, pet, I can deny you nothing,” he purred, “unless you might end up harmed in the process. You’re fortunate I stumbled upon you when I did, Lumina, or else you would be rotting in some Flaming Fist cell by now….”

“Pugh,” she folded her arms, that stare growing more defiant. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

Astarion couldn’t hide it anymore; his chuckle rumbling in the air between them. It was undeniable, her petulant spark, it made him grin just slightly, that youthfulness that he would have once been drawn to, instead of seeking a way to snuff it as he had done for centuries as Ascendant.

Perhaps he would indulge this spark, just a little more.

A wry look on his face, he extended the book towards her. “If you want it, it’s yours, but in exchange, you’ll be punished, my dear.”

Lumina narrowed her crimson eyes, weighing the cost. She smirked to flash her own fangs, “Alright, I’ll bite.”

Astarion rolled his eyes at her cheap humor. “Puns are beneath us, Lumina,” he scoffed, irascible in tone. “Perhaps I shall extend your punishment for such plebeian humor.”

“And just what will be my punishment?” she goaded, thumbing her way through her hard-won prize. “Once I finish my research, that is…”

“You’ll have your answers, but they aren’t found in that layman’s examination of vampiric bonds. You are a near-secret of our kind, and just as there has never been a Vampire Ascendant before me, there has never been a creation quite like you before.” His eyes darkened with lust and glimmered with impatience. “And there will never be another like you after, I promise.”

Then, his fangs glinted as he grinned wider. “But those answers will only come once I’m through with you. You wish to know your punishment?” He leaned in until his lips brushed the shell of her ear. “I'm going to make you scream my name until your voice gives out, Little Light.”

His form seemed to ripple, and with a snap of his fingers, they both burst into mist and flew from the Park.

A strange tingle on her skin, or what would have been her skin, coursed through her. Pure magic unmade her, shifted her until all that remained was essence. Wind rushed around her, the sounds of voices and the smells of the Park rushed past her consciousness. It was as if her very being was cradled in his arms. Astarion pushed into her, threading into the very fabric of her existence—everywhere, all at once. Inside her, on her, through her… nothing more tangible than the sensation of his power taking root at her core as he raced them both up his palace walls and into the window of his own chambers.

Gasping like one near-drowned, Lumina once again stood on her own two legs, on her own bare feet, facing his crimson stare of ire.

She winced, surely, he would be brutal, beat her and punish her for her insolence. He would make her scream, he promised, the thought of it making her back sting in anticipation of a lash.

As her old master would, she thought with a pulse of fear and disgust.

Astarion’s presence before snapped her out of that pit of self-loathing. For now, he just tilted his head and gave her that lazy, mischievous smirk. Long, skilled digits grasped her hand, pulling her against him to bring her finger into his mouth. With precision, his fang sliced into its pad, his tongue sucking the blood as it seeped. “Such sticky fingers need cleaning,” she heard him say, right into her mind, his mouth preoccupied and his eyes flashing a dangerous amusement at her shocked expression.

“What in the hells…” she gasped, the thought somehow making him smile around her bleeding digit.

“Oh, darling mistress, seems you have more and more to uncover by the second,” he purred, his voice now a caress in her mind, a tender brush up her spine to tingle her ear. He pulled his finger from her lips with a pop. His true voice was almost sticky with that ripple of danger and the lingering dregs of her blood. “But first, we must see to your punishment, my Light, as delicious as it might be.”

His grip on her waist was firm, guiding her towards his bed again. His teeth glinted as he grinned, that dark mischief shining in the crimson of his eyes. “By rights, you should be cuffed in a cell for thievery. I should know, I once, long ago, gave such sentences for urchins like you.”

Lumina caught it, just a glimpse, a far off look in his eyes, a dower frown, his mind recalling pieces of him so deeply buried by time and pain. Somewhere in her own chest, she could sense that grief, that ancient, nearly-forgotten longing. Then he turned away, and the feeling vanished.

“As your Master, I shall have to take matters into my own hands, I suppose,” he commented, reaching into his drawer, the one where he kept all sorts of things for play and punishment, Lumina knew. She heard his choice before seeing it, the heavy clanking of chains filling her with excitement and dread. “A nice pair of shackles will do, nothing elegant for my little thriving urchin of a mistress.” He rounded on her, the irons in his skilled fingers. “You know what to do, darling,” he just stared at Lumina, a challenge of a smirk on his full lips, eyes darting towards the bed.

Pausing, she waited for the tendrils of his compelling to take root, sought that shadowed presence to command her body, but they never did…

“Well, darling?” he just repeated, firmer and more agitated.

Lumina drew in a breath and moved to sit at the edge of the bed, her wrists in front of her, a smile growing on her face. He shed his decadent coat, his own silken shirt following to lie in a mess on the floor. His boots followed the same fate. “Now, Lumina, you seem rather youthful, bent on willful defiance, this need to discover who I once was and who you are now. Stuff of fools and children.” A chilling smirk on his lips, his eyes still sparked with a sense of mischief, the same she had found with increasing frequency in their fucking. “Since you insist on acting like a child, let’s play a game,” he smirked. “I will ask you a question, a simple one… and if you are correct, I’ll let you find your release…”

The implication as to her failure hung in the air, his hand firmly guiding her to lay in the center of his bed. Her shackles clanked as he drew her arms overhead and bound them to his headboard. His chuckle reverberated in her bones as he leaned to press a kiss on her pressed lips. “Now, here is your question… what are you?”

“If you had let me read my book…” she started to argue, but Astarion just shoved two fingers in her insidious mouth. His gag as effective and sudden, her tongue pressing against him, fighting for breath as he pumped his fingers slightly between her lips.

“Hush,” he smirked at her, condescending and delighted. “You are allowed one answer each time,” his smirk twisted all the darker, “and you just used your first one…” His hands splayed wide on her hips, pulling her taut against her restraints. Fingers dug into her ass, lifting her to rip off his own loosely fit trousers. Her pale legs writhed, rubbing together to already seek the friction she craved. “Ah ah,” he corrected with a low growl, “I’ll be the one to dole out your delicious punishment. Now hold still and take what’s coming to you.”

With that, he lifted her hips up, his mouth ready to lick her and devour that already dripping essence. Tongue parting through her folds, he lapped through her seam, teasing her, toying as he licked and sucked everywhere between her thighs but her hard little bud and her clenching channel.

“Master…” she whined.

He lifted his head slowly, eyes blown wide and dilated as he chuckled. “For what you are, my Light, you get the privilege of screaming my name as you beg and plead.” His tongue danced along the edge of her folds, sucking and nipping the flesh of her thighs until she bucked hard against him.

“Astarion…” she whined, nervous at first, as if unsure she truly had his permission for it.

“Louder,” he crooned his order, letting his breath alone tickle her clit.

“Astarion,” she whined full-throated this time, making him chuckle.

“That’s it, darling, you’ll grow sick of my name on your lips, soon enough, but for now, let’s drive you right to the edge….”

“Fuck!” she cursed, unable to hide her urchin-tongue as his finally swiped over her clit. Relentless, he swirled around it at last, making every nerve ending between her thighs burst into flame. She could feel her wetness leaking, summoned more by every pass of his mouth over her entrance.

But never in it.

“Please,” she yanked on her restraints, “your fingers too, please…”

He merely laughed into her folds, letting his tongue swirl and vibrate against her clit until she was gasping above him.

Then he sat back up, wiping the arousal off his chin with the back of his hand.

Lumina groaned and writhed, that wave of climax once so close, vanished just as quickly. Her little noises of frustration from her pale throat made him chuckle. He rose to his knees, a sinister and delighted smirk on his face. “So close, weren’t you, my darling?” he chuckled again, fangs peeking from his parted lips. “Care for another guess in our little game?” He tilted his head, a hand running through his shoulder-length waves of hair. “What are you?”

“Your obedient, loyal, loving spawn, master,” she answered dutifully. She smiled as he crawled closer, pressing his clothed hips against hers as he lowered into her.

“Tch,” he sucked his teeth, “closer, but still shy of the mark.” He ground his hips against that sopping apex of her thighs. The thick velvet of his pants was soon soaked by her, but he just gave that low, rumbling laugh. “Another round of punishment then, my sweet.” He yanked her by the hair, pulling her head back, his lips brushing her neck where it curved just right for him. “And you forgot to use my name, dear. Not master. Not when it’s just you and me…”

That grinding between her legs made her eyes water, just enough friction to drive her wild, but still not enough. It made her ache. Made her burn. Made her stare up into his face with utter desperation in her own crimson eyes as a few tears dripped down. “Astarion,” she whimpered, more pathetic sounding than she wished.

“Well, when you sound that remorseful, what kind of Sire would I be to deny you some of what you seek…” he crooned, an edge of victory in his voice, a shine of amusement in his gaze. Deft and quick, he unbuttoned his trousers, a low chuckle as he watched her strain against her shackles to watch. She practically drooled for him, her seam leaking in equal amounts of wet to finally feel that pressure inside her.

Gods, she was beautiful, wanting him.

“You’re so perfect, Lumina,” he growled, “and you’re so totally and utterly mine…”

Her shriek pierced the quiet of his palace, a heady mix in her tone of ecstasy and relief as he filled her to the hilt in one thrust. His breath was hot against her neck, his hands skating his nails down her sides, “But remember, my Light, you don’t get to come until I say you may…” His tone was venomous and playful, a promise and a dare all wrapped in the velvet notes of his voice. A slow, grinding pace he set, taking his time to savor every flutter of her walls. It would be quick, he grinned, letting his hips slowly roll into her, he didn’t have long to push her right to the edge once more….

“Think hard… my dear… just what are you?” his question rumbled in her ear, gravel in his voice making her shudder hard beneath him. He groaned, quickening his pace, his own need for release taking root. Easy, he warned himself, his eyes locked on her face, observing every clench of her jaw in bliss, every gasp she made as she grew closer and closer…

Just as her body began to buck and clench, his cock slipped out, his hand wrapped hard around it. His fist beating his length was good, but her cry of anguish was all the more exquisite, sending that burst of pleasure from his core to race through him as he came. Cum spewed out on her belly, her hips bucking and grinding before him as she bemoaned her fate.

“Fuck…” she cursed through clenched fangs, sweat dripping down her angelic face. “Balduran’s… balls…” she tried to clench her thighs together, but his hands pried them apart so easily.

That made him laugh, breathless and a bit exhausted through his open mouth. “Having met the legend myself, I doubt he would appreciate you speaking thus of his balls. And I certainly don’t approve of you speaking of anyone else’s either, pet…” his fingers stroked through her hair gently before giving her head a corrective yank. “My balls will just have to be enough for you for eternity.”

She stared at him, a mix of frustration and longing that set his heart racing again.

“Now, let’s try this question one more time for now, before I leave you to contemplate your choices, my love.” His gaze skimmed the sight of her half-naked in his bed, his own black silk shirt stained now from his seed and her sweat. “Think hard, my cunning Little Light, what… are… you?”

Lumina chewed her lip, her gaze flickering around his room, lost in thought as she considered her response wisely. “You said I was your… mistress… not your spawn, not your concubine…”

“That’s what I said,” he purred, sliding his fingers through his cum, gathering it on his fingers before he teased it into her folds. “My question, love, is what do you think you are now?” He let the slick sounds of his fingers inside her distract that train of thought she was clearly attempting to recover. “Well?” he insisted, catching her clit with his thumb and making her gasp another curse.

She seemed to relax, a serenity in her gaze, a softness around her mouth as she tilted her head most alluringly. “Yours… I’m yours,” she whispered, toneful and beautiful in its submission.

“Mmmm, a beautiful proclamation,” he crooned but withdrew his touch and stood from the bed, regardless. Flashing her a wicked smirk, he savored the look of devastation on her pale countenance. “While I thoroughly enjoy such a confession, it’s just… not quite the response I seek.” Fastening his trousers, he shrugged his shoulders, smiling twistedly like that arrogant bastard he truly was.

“Astarion, please!” she panted, wretched and devastated as she could only watch him depart.

He paused at his wardrobe, choosing a new shirt, sliding that crisp cream silk over his immaculate body as he turned one more time. “Don’t fret too long, my love. I’ll return soon. In the meantime, you can use your time wisely. Weigh your answers… Oh, and you can use this, if you can manage to open it, that is.” He tossed her that green-covered book, the title accusing her as it landed just within reach of her bound hands. The Curse of the Vampyre, indeed. He laughed merrily, low and rumbling in his chest. “I’ll see you later, I’m sure, darling.”

The thud of the door shutting behind him only spurred Lumina into action all the quicker. She would give him his answer and earn her release. Physically and carnally.

Hours it seemed creeped by, that little book her only distraction from the arch of her arms and the wet, lingering burn between her thighs. She awkwardly flipped pages, dropping it on her face from time to time when the shackles got in her way. Page after page revealed nothing new, and she cursed Astarion for being right, dreading how he would preen and gloat when she admitted defeat.

Food sources… seduction… vulnerabilities… that section no longer applied to her, she furrowed her brow. The creation of a spawn… the nourishment of her kind…

That made her hungry belly growl, and as if she wished it into existence, she smelled blood. The door creaked open, and Lumina fixed her gaze on the silver cup brimming with blood.

Only once that chilling laugh sounded from its bearer did Lumina glance at who held the cup.

“Morana,” she hissed fangs bared as she tried to hide her half dressed state.

“I just couldn’t resist the opportunity to replace a poor, freighted servant from entering the Master’s chambers to bring you your meal at his orders,” the tiefling’s dark eyes glimmered with hatred, her voice like vitriol as she sarcastically pouted and preened, “Is the Master’s Bride starving?”

“The… Master’s what?” Lumina went deathly still. There had been one line that book… the unknown characteristics of a Sire’s Bride or Groom. She had thought nothing of it an hour ago. “What did you just call me?”

[an-abyss-of-stars]

✨Fic Updates!!✨

✵It's Visceral And It's Cruel✵

I'M SORRY!! Writer's block is a bitch and she has me by the throat!!! I've been stuck on this chapter for agessssss and I can't seem to move past the blockage!!

I've got like 2k words done for it and I'm struggling, I have all the plot points in my notes, I just can't seem to verbalize themmm, UGH frustrating 😭😭 I'm going to keep trying this weekend though!! It's an Aemond focused chapter, and I am excited for it, I just need to find an angle on it and then I'll be good!

I might've shot myself in the foot by not including him in the flashback/prologue parts 🤣🤣 Because now I kind of need to catch up with the feelings of his childhood that lead up into the character/man he's become...or I might just skip to his feelings that immediately occurred after his first interaction with Rhaena and deal with the rest later 🤔 we'll see.

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☾ He Saw Her At Daybreak ☾

I'M doing a whole lot better with updating this fic! Idk what it is about smut/fluff that's just so much easier to write...well I do know...it's because there's no stress with this one 🤣🤣

Anywaysssss, I've started ch.6, there will be a couple of time jumps in this one. Without spoiling too much, this chapter is definitely the start of the preggo Rhaena arc! She's going to start *showing* in this chapter, cravings might also start!! Overprotective husband Aemond is coming into play, as well as is the horny-preggo Rhaena arc!! I'm actually VERY excited! 😌💖

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���️One Shots!⚜️

I'm going to blame this on my IVAIC writers block! But I've got a few Rhaemond plots that I really do want to write and I think they could definitely work as One Shots. They're ideas that either don't really work in either of my main fics, or they're not fully fledged ideas that could last for a multi-part series. So maybe I'll drop some! I figure most of them will have at least a little smut to them, knowing me they probably will 😂😂

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🔷Sequel Series!🔷

BUT FINALLY SPEAKING OF MULTI-PART FICS! If anyone remembers when I posted that little character bio for Vaella Targaryen from my Her Saw Her At Daybreak universe (Rhaemond's firstborn child...which by the way, I have another one ready to post in my drafts! Coming soon!) Anyways while I've been creating character art and personalities for all of their babies (6 in total at the moment) I started feeling SUPER attached to this next gen of Targ babies! And talking with a friend of mine who's been reading this HSHAD, I brought up the idea of possibly doing a Part #3 to this series!

So Rhaemond would still be the heart and soul of that fic. Except they'd be older and in a more Daemyra era position, like all 6 kids would be in their late teens/early 20s with their own shenanigans and drama, the chaos and wild love stories! We'd also have Jace and Baela's grown kids, Luke and Daenaera's (this ship will be hinted and shown during HSHAD) grown kids. We'd have grown Jaehaera, Jaehaerys, Aegon III and Viserys II too! Like I'm thinking a Bridgerton-type large family chaos mixed with GOT's general wildness, of course Targaryen incest is still a thing so expect some of those ships within this new gen 🤣🤣 but some of the kids will definitely fall for and make matches with other houses, Cregan will definitely make a return with his own son (and maybe more, if I have him marry someone and have more kids).

LIKE I can just see the potential!! 😂😂 Aemond's a very tired dad, his sons are wild, he's very overprotective of his daughters especially now that they're all of age and it's courting season 😂 Rhaena is the sweetest mom ever and she's handling courting season with their kids a whole lot better than her grumpy husband 😂😂 Daemyra stays ruling the kingdom and being the best grandparents 😂 Rhaenys and Corlys (Corlys might not be too present... I think Luke might be Lord of The Tides by this point ) will make appearances too!

So in a way it'd be like a trilogy! And I'm kinda super excited about it because it would all feel so complete if it was 💖✨💖

Idk if anyone would read this, but I hope y'all would! 😂😂

[podcasts-8-my-heart]

tagged by @elvisparklewriting

RULES: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have WIPS.

Under the cut since it’s a lil long?

📁pens rare pair fest ‘23

⤷ 📝 prompts 1-4 [redacted until mid May]

📁Prince of Boston

⤷📝 Ch 1: Foundations 👑

⤷📝 Golden ⚜️

📁 Bratverse

⤷📝 Kiss Me? 😘

⤷📝 Through Me (The Flood)

📁 vampire aus

⤷📝 Locked in a Cage ⛓️: Ch 2: Sunshine in a Rainstorm

⤷📝 I set my clocks early cause you know I’m always late ☕️

📁 Cherry 🍒 (Abo)

⤷📝 Strawberry 🍓 (Abo)

📁Misc

⤷📝 Everlong

⤷📝 The Milk Fic (Abo)

⤷📝 Love in the Deep (tentacle sex)

⤷📝 Closer (Abo)

⤷📝 Bloom Later (hanahaki)

I uhhh do not have the energy to tag people so, feel free?

[susieporta]

⚜️COMPRENDERE LA DIFFERENZA TRA I PIANI DELL'ANIMA E SCELTE DI VITA⚜️

Vuoi comprendere meglio il viaggio della tua anima? Se è così, non sei solo. Molti di noi desiderano svelare i segreti del progetto della nostra anima e allineare le nostre scelte di vita al nostro vero scopo.

In questo articolo, esamino la differenza tra il piano dell’anima e le scelte di vita, esplorando il modo in cui si intersecano e modellano le nostre vite. Comprendere questa distinzione può aiutarti a prendere decisioni più consapevoli che vibrano con i desideri della tua anima, portandoti a maggiore soddisfazione e gioia nel tuo percorso di vita e nel tuo viaggio spirituale.

Sono entusiasta di condividere con voi la mia ricerca spirituale e le mie intuizioni su questo argomento, raccolte osservando molte persone e come i loro piani dell’anima e i percorsi di vita si intersecano guardando nella loro anima e nelle energie del loro corpo.

Esplorare le nostre scelte di vita

Le scelte di vita sono le decisioni che prendiamo in base alla nostra comprensione e percezione limitata del mondo. Sono influenzate dai nostri desideri, ambizioni e attaccamenti personali. Sono spesso motivati ​​dalla paura, dall’ego e dal desiderio di convalida esterna. Sebbene le scelte personali possano portare a gratificazioni o successi temporanei, non sempre sono allineate con i desideri della nostra anima e con la nostra realizzazione a lungo termine.

Comprendere la differenza tra i piani dell’anima e scelte di vita.

Piano dell’anima e scelte di vita

Ho notato che la persona media tende a prendere decisioni su ciò che è bene o male per sé utilizzando criteri abbastanza semplici.

– Il bene è ciò che porta piacere

– Male ciò che reca dispiacere

Ciò vale per tutti gli organismi viventi sulla Terra che oscillano tra la ricerca del piacere e l’evitamento del dispiacere.

Una persona valuta tutto in base a come i fattori interni o esterni riflettono le sensazioni di piacere e dispiacere nel suo corpo. Ho però scoperto che ciò che fa bene o male al corpo deriva dalla biochimica dell’organismo:

– La biochimica del corpo (attiva impulsi corporei come fame, sete, paura, bisogno di sesso, ecc.)

– dell’ambiente

– Credenze subconsce

Ho scoperto che tutto ciò che ci accade si riflette innanzitutto energeticamente nei nostri chakra inferiori: il chakra della radice, il chakra sacrale e il chakra del plesso solare. Gli eventi della vita si riflettono nei chakra di una persona nei seguenti modi:

– Chakra della radice: paure legate alla sopravvivenza (ad esempio, paura della morte, della mancanza di cose necessarie alla sopravvivenza come cibo, riparo, acqua, aria, denaro).

– Ch sacrale: sensazioni dovute a intense emozioni intime, sesso, sostanze (farmaci, alcune piante, ecc.), sport estremi (adrenalina).

– Chakra del plesso solare – Sentimenti tipici dell’ego: riconoscimento, fama, autostima, controllo su tutto ciò che accade intorno a te, potere sugli altri, ecc.

Cos’è un piano dell’anima?

Veniamo tutti al mondo con un contratto d’anima, una sorta di elenco delle principali esperienze di vita e lezioni che abbiamo imparato. È un progetto che delinea il nostro scopo, le lezioni e le esperienze in questa vita. È l’essenza di chi siamo come anima e di ciò che siamo venuti qui a fare per adempiere alle nostre lezioni di vita. Queste lezioni possono riguardare cose come affrontare l’invidia, l’avidità, la paura degli altri, le preoccupazioni per il futuro, la gelosia, ecc.

Questo contratto dell’anima si sviluppa in un progetto dell’anima che guida il nostro viaggio attraverso la vita. Le scelte che facciamo lungo il percorso modellano effettivamente le nostre esperienze di vita.

Il nostro progetto dell’anima comprende vari aspetti, comprese le lezioni che dovremmo imparare, le relazioni che dovremmo avere e le sfide che dovremo affrontare. È una mappa stradale per la nostra crescita ed evoluzione spirituale. Sebbene il nostro piano dell’anima sia unico per ogni individuo, è interconnesso con la coscienza collettiva e il piano universale più grande.

Comprendere la differenza tra i piani dell’anima e scelte di vita.

Il percorso dell’anima si riferisce al viaggio spirituale che intraprendiamo per realizzare il nostro piano dell’anima. È il percorso di scoperta di sé, di crescita e trasformazione. Il cammino dell’anima non è sempre diretto; spesso implica superare ostacoli e affrontare sfide che mettono alla prova la nostra forza e resilienza.

Proviamo un senso di scopo, realizzazione e gioia quando siamo in sintonia con il percorso della nostra anima. Ci sentiamo tutt’uno con l’universo, attirando senza sforzo opportunità ed esperienze che supportano la nostra crescita. Tuttavia, quando ci allontaniamo dal percorso della nostra anima e ignoriamo i sussurri della nostra anima, possiamo sentirci persi, disconnessi e insoddisfatti.

Pertanto, quando si tratta del progetto della nostra anima nella vita, buono o cattivo significa:

– È Bene ciò che mantiene la nostra anima sul Percorso di Vita Ottimale per sperimentare al 100% il suo Piano iniziale.

– Tutto ciò che lo allontana dal Piano Ottimale è negativo.

Come puoi vedere, la nostra anima e il nostro spirito hanno visioni molto diverse sulla vita! Ricordatevi che per la nostra anima il corpo è solo uno strumento e che è il Piano dell’anima ad avere la precedenza. Se il corpo viene danneggiato lungo il percorso, per l’anima è secondario! L’anima è eterna, ma il corpo è solo temporaneo.

Comprendere la differenza tra i piani dell’anima e scelte di vita.

Il rapporto tra il nostro progetto dell’anima e le nostre scelte personali è strettamente correlato. Mentre il progetto della nostra anima stabilisce una sorta di progetto per le nostre esperienze, spetta a noi fare scelte che vibrano con i desideri della nostra anima. Le nostre scelte personali possono sostenere o ostacolare il viaggio della nostra anima, a seconda che provengano dal vero allineamento o semplicemente dal nostro ego.

Osservando molte persone nel loro percorso di vita e attraverso la mia ricerca spirituale, mi sono reso conto che la relazione tra la tua anima e il tuo corpo si riduce in realtà a due scenari principali:

Quando sei allineato con il tuo Piano dell’Anima, almeno per oltre il 50%, la tua anima è super entusiasta di mantenere il tuo corpo in buone condizioni.

D’altra parte, se le scelte del tuo corpo ti fanno deviare dal piano dell’anima, la tua anima non è così coinvolta nel corretto funzionamento del tuo corpo. Sfortunatamente, ho scoperto che l’allineamento medio di una persona con il progetto della propria anima in questa vibrazione 3D dell’umanità è solo del 10%!

Quando esci dalla rotta, la tua anima cerca di inviare un segnale al tuo corpo, sperando che tu possa ritrovare la strada del ritorno. Questo segnale può assumere la forma di prove, eventi, malattie, sogni, visioni o anche messaggi di altre persone. Sfortunatamente, la maggior parte delle persone non è consapevole di questi segnali e li ignora. Tuttavia, ci sono alcune persone che notano e comprendono questi segnali; in generale, sono persone spirituali piuttosto avanzate.

Se le strade dell’anima e del corpo cominciano a divergere troppo nettamente e per troppo tempo, si innesca un divorzio tra anima e corpo! Un’anima lascia il corpo quando:

– Il corpo è troppo usurato e non più utilizzabile (es. età avanzata).

– La deviazione è troppo grande e la speranza di un ritorno è disperata (morte prematura).

Quando le nostre scelte personali si allineano con il piano della nostra anima, tutto sembra andare meglio. Incontriamo le giuste opportunità, incontriamo le persone giuste e facciamo esperienze che ci aiutano a crescere. Ma se ci allontaniamo da questa strada, rischiamo di incontrare ostacoli, subire battute d’arresto e sentirci fuori sincronia.

Il nostro progetto animico e le scelte personali influenzano ogni aspetto della nostra vita, che si tratti del nostro lavoro, delle nostre relazioni, della nostra salute o del nostro sviluppo spirituale. Modellano le nostre esperienze, le lezioni che impariamo e persino le persone che incontriamo. Quando siamo in sintonia con il nostro piano dell’anima e facciamo scelte che lo riflettono, finiamo per creare una vita che risuona veramente con i nostri desideri e scopi più profondi.

Tuttavia, se iniziamo a ignorare ciò che la nostra anima brama veramente e a seguire ciò che vuole la nostra mente, rischiamo di sentirci persi. Questo percorso può farci sentire vuoti, insoddisfatti e come se stessimo perdendo qualcosa di importante. È quindi essenziale allineare il nostro progetto d’anima e le nostre scelte personali per vivere una vita piena di appagamento, autenticità e gioia.

L’importanza di allineare il piano dell’anima e le scelte di vita e di avere un carattere elevato

Trovare il giusto equilibrio tra il nostro piano dell’anima e le nostre scelte personali è la chiave per una vita significativa. Quando allineiamo le nostre scelte personali con i desideri della nostra anima, attingiamo a un pozzo profondo di saggezza, intuizione e guida divina.

Allineare il nostro piano dell’anima e le scelte personali richiede autoconsapevolezza, introspezione e volontà di lasciare andare credenze e schemi limitanti. Si tratta di ascoltare la nostra intuizione spirituale e fare scelte in linea con il nostro cammino divino.

Ho scoperto che per seguire veramente il piano della nostra anima abbiamo bisogno di una qualità speciale, spesso chiamata “carattere elevato”. Ecco come si scompone:

Carattere elevato: può ritardare o addirittura sacrificare la gratificazione immediata per principi più elevati.

Carattere inferiore: fatica a resistere alla tentazione dei piaceri immediati, come i bambini piccoli o, più in generale, le persone considerate di carattere debole.

Non ho mai incontrato né saputo dell’esistenza di un’anima illuminata, una persona che vibra al livello del settimo chakra, che non avesse anche un livello di carattere molto elevato. Pensa a profeti come Buddha, Krishna, Gesù, Lao Tzu, ecc.

Strumenti e tecniche per sbloccare il piano dell’anima

Imparare a conoscere il progetto della nostra anima richiede un’immersione profonda dentro noi stessi e ci sono tantissimi strumenti e tecniche per aiutarci in questo viaggio alla scoperta di sé e all’allineamento:

Meditazione. Trova un posto tranquillo e del tempo per stare con te stesso. Immergiti in profondità, incontra la tua anima e magari chiacchiera con l’universo già che ci sei.

Tenere un diario. Tieni un diario delle tue emozioni e dei tuoi pensieri quotidiani. Questo può aiutarti a individuare quelle subdole convinzioni negative in modo da poter sbarazzartene e migliorare.

Mindfulness È l’ideale per ascoltare le tue vibrazioni interiori e connetterti alla saggezza della tua anima.

Lavorare con una guida o un insegnante spirituale può fornire preziose informazioni e supporto nella navigazione nel progetto della nostra anima. Questi spiriti guida possono aiutarci a scoprire schemi, credenze e ferite nascoste che potrebbero impedirci di allinearci con i desideri della nostra anima. Possono offrire guida, strumenti e tecniche per liberare ciò che non ci serve più ed entrare nel nostro potere autentico.

Piano dell’anima, scelta di vita, viaggio spirituale, percorso dell’anima, contratto dell’anima

Percorrendo il percorso dell’anima

Quindi, prendi il tuo diario, trova il tuo angolo tranquillo e magari anche una guida spirituale per iniziare a scoprire l’incredibile viaggio della tua anima!

Cercare guida e supporto per l’allineamento del piano dell’anima

Non è sempre facile intraprendere un viaggio di allineamento del piano dell’anima. Ci vuole coraggio, pazienza e la volontà di affrontare le nostre paure e le nostre ombre. Cercare guida e supporto da mentori, insegnanti e guaritori spirituali fidati può fornire uno spazio per la crescita e la trasformazione.

Circondarsi di persone che la pensano allo stesso modo, impegnate nel percorso di scoperta di sé e di allineamento, come in una scuola spirituale avanzata, può essere fonte di ispirazione, incoraggiamento e potenziamento. Condividere le nostre esperienze, intuizioni e lotte con altri che ci capiscono può aiutarci a navigare nelle complessità del progetto della nostra anima con grazia e compassione.

Conclusione: abbracciare il viaggio alla scoperta di sé e alla realizzazione

Se vogliamo vivere una vita più lunga, più sana e più informata, ecco cosa dobbiamo fare:

Impara lezioni dal nostro viaggio di vita.

Ascoltare le reazioni o i segnali della nostra anima quando non siamo sulla strada giusta.

Aumenta la vibrazione (livello di coscienza) della nostra anima e del nostro corpo per cambiare il nostro destino a un livello superiore.

Aiuta gli altri, sia fisicamente che energeticamente.

Svelare i segreti del progetto della nostra anima e allineare le nostre scelte con il nostro vero scopo è un viaggio che dura tutta la vita. Si tratta di scoprire te stesso, crescere e trasformarti. Abbracciando il percorso della nostra anima e facendo scelte ponderate, sblocchiamo il nostro vero potenziale e viviamo una vita piena di scopo, autenticità e gioia.

Ricorda che non sei solo su questo percorso. Abbi fiducia nella saggezza della tua anima, ascolta i sussurri della tua intuizione e approfitta della guida e del supporto che ti vengono offerti. Allineando il progetto della tua anima e le tue scelte personali, accedi al tuo potere come co-creatore della tua realtà.

Versione inglese: https://www.bodyandsoulascension.com/

Letto su : https://pressegalactique.com/2024/05/04/comprendre-la-difference-entre-les-projets-de-lame-et-les-choix-de-vie/

Traduzione a cura di Cammina nel Sole

[ramon-balaguer]

What we need is a Third Awakening or Revival with a Prayer Fast as GOD’s👻 Conditional Promise declared by Him in The Holy Bible’s Book of Chronicles Chapter 7 Verse 14 to solidify our Judeo✡️Christian✝️ Faith Identity and Values and Incorporate JESUS🎚️ in our Hearts🫀 & Constitution📜 to Establish US🇺🇸 as a United Indivisible Mighty Christian Nation!!! 🧐🙏🇺🇸#REBTD😇 And we also need to Claim English🇬🇧 as our National Language and Spanish🇪🇸 as a Second Language‼️ 🤷‍♀️

We The People have been Greatly Damaged and Divided by Satan’s👿 Sin😈 Sick😵‍💫 Anti🙅‍♂️Christian✝️ Hypocrite🎭 Lying🤥 Leftist✊ Liberal👩‍🎤 Foreign🌍 & Domestic🌎 Democrat🏳️‍⚧️ Donkeys🫏 Unicorns🦄 Gender⚧️Junk💩 LHBTTTABCDFIGMNOPPQZ+🏳️‍🌈 Transwhatevers🧔‍♀️ Fairies🧚‍♀️ Pixies🧚‍♂️ RINOs🦏 Atheists🙋 Humanists💁‍♀️ Occultists🧙‍♂️ Cults🔮 Circuses🎪 Clowns🤹 Squads👭👬 and Unnecessary🙅 Unions⚜️ Enemies⚠️ of our Constitution📜 and Republic🇺🇸‼️ 😡 https://pin.it/6MDFisYpO Look at this... 👀

[fiadhaisteach]

‘Tis Impressed Reader Touting Works - 2022.02.12

Hamilton x Dragon Age series by @buttsonthebeach - Solas/F!Lavellan, OFC(e)/OMC(h), other pairings listed w/each story - 515,688 words (combined) - all Primary Story Line Works complete

"Despite the name, only "The World Turned Upside Down" has "Hamilton" lyrics in it as a major feature. The odd lyric shows up here and there in the others!"

      🔸 This series is epic in scope & intensity, matching its length, while staying character focused.       🔹 A "Fix-It" series featuring a badass rogue Ellana Lavellan, who succeeds in capturing the Dread Wolf, then creates a life with Solas.       🔸 The canon characters grow, without losing their voices & her original characters are just as complicated, vibrant, and loveable as the ones we know from the game.       🔹 Very importantly, this is the series that introduced me to Dev Patel. I mean, the last two full works both heavily feature Solas & Ellana's child, Ashara, who's romantic partner looks like Dev. I haven't been the same since. 😄

 To read the series in perfect order, follow below:     1. Like You're Running Out of Time (Companion Story)     2. Chapters 1-7 of Who Tells Your Story (Companion Story)     3. Chapters 1-11 of The World Turned Upside Down     4. Chapter 8 of Who Tells Your Story (Companion Story)     5. Domestic Life     6. She Moved Through the Fair     7. Chapters 12-13 of The World Turned Upside Down     8. Body of Knowledge     9. Awakened    10. Reckoning   What Did I Miss? features missing scenes and AUs scattered throughout these! (Companion Story)

This gets long, so have a cut.

Primary Story Line

⚜️The World Turned Upside Down, ⚜️Domestic Life, ⚜️She Moved Through the Fair, ⚜️Body of Knowledge, ⚜️Awakened, ⚜️Reckoning, ⚜️What Did I Miss? (Ch. 1-15) - Solas/F!Lavellan, OFC(e)/OMC(h) - 453,440 combined - complete

Chapters: 78/78 (plus Ch. 1-15 of WDIM) Fandom: Dragon Age: Inquisition Rating: Explicit (except Domestic Life's 'Teen') Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Primary Relationship: Female Lavellan/Solas Other Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Male Character, background Iron Bull/Dorian Pavus Characters: Female Lavellan, Solas, Vivienne (Dragon Age), Varric Tethras, Iron Bull, Dorian Pavus, Cassandra Pentaghast, Blackwall | Thom Rainier, Original Lavellan-Solas Child(ren), Original Female Character(s), Original Male Character(s), Sera (Dragon Age), Dagna (Dragon Age), Ashara Lavellan, Briala, Cole, Cullen Rutherford Additional Tags: Trespasser DLC, Song Lyrics, Fluff and Smut, Spoilers, Explicit Language, Oral Sex, Smut, Vaginal Fingering, Angst, Minor Iron Bull/Dorian Pavus, Masturbation, Alcohol, Post-Canon, Angst and Humor, POV Solas, Arlathan, Dreams vs. Reality, Explicit Sexual Content, Porn With Plot, Established Relationship, Weddings, Mutual Masturbation, Dirty Talk, POV Alternating, Fade Sex, 69 (Sex Position), Vaginal Sex, Semi-Public Sex, Very Brief Non-Con Reference, Hand Jobs, Unplanned Pregnancy, Pregnant Sex, Childbirth, Intimacy, Inner Circle Cameos, Magic, Action/Adventure, Canon-Typical Violence, Mirror Sex, implied Sera/Dagna, Latin as Tevene, Very Brief Torture, Family, Coming of Age, sub!solas, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Loss of Virginity, First Love, racial politics of Thedas, Character-Driven Plot, clearly marked and easily skipped Depression, chapters dealing with that are also clearly tagged, First Time Together, One-Shots, AUs, Magic used in sex, Parenthood, Male Solo, Pre-Relationship, Sisters, Terminal Illnesses, Blow Jobs, Morning Sex, VERY light bondage, one-shots and missing scenes from my main fics [Additional tags combined & truncated]

Summary: A retelling of the Solavellan romance in DA:I (tWTUD chapters 1-9), Trespasser (tWTUD chapter 10-11) and beyond (tWTUD chapters 12-13 & the rest of the Primary Story Line) - using lyrics from the musical "Hamilton" as inspiration. Come be in the room where it happens!

Even if Solas did change his mind and come back to Lavellan post-Trespasser, how would they reconnect with each other after everything that happened?

(BoK Ch. 1-5: Initial reconciliation, BoK Ch. 6-13 & rest of Primary Story Line: How their lives unfold afterwards. [Summaries combined (w/clarifications) & truncated]

      Companion Stories

⚜️Like You're Running Out of Time - Morrigan/M!Cousland - 13,589 words - HSE WIP (2019-06-26)

Chapters: 4/5 Fandom: Dragon Age: Origins Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Morrigan/Male Cousland Characters: Male Cousland (Dragon Age), Morrigan, Ellana Lavellan, Kieran (Dragon Age) Additional Tags: Vignettes, Character studies, Morrigan POV, Canon-Typical Violence, Smut, Sexual Content

Summary: "The statue is so still. The artisan put in no sense of motion. They make Zakir seem like - a bulwark against a tide. Resolute. Still. That is not how he lived - how he lives his life."

"Then how does he live his life?"

Morrigan could see him - feel him - so clearly in her mind's eye. So clearly it made her ache. She wasn't picturing him the way she’d seen him last, when he left her to search for a cure to the poison in his blood - or to die in the attempt. She could see him as he was ten years before, when they met. Nineteen, reckless, cocky, angry, grieving - and, yes, handsome as the day was long.

"He lives his life like he is running out of time."

***

10 years after the Blight, Morrigan reflects on the man she loves, and hopes she has not lost. A story chronicling the Fifth Blight through her eyes, and the troubled life of Zakir Cousland, Warden-Commander.

Zakir is my canon Warden, and my Inquisitor appears in the prologue, but this can be read without reading anything else in the series. More to come soon!

⚜️Who Tells Your Story - F!Hawke/Merrill - 16,806 words - complete

Chapters: 8/8 Fandom: Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Female Hawke/Merrill Characters: Female Hawke, Merrill (Dragon Age), Female Lavellan Additional Tags: Romance, Pining, Smut, Angst, Grieving, Canonical Character Death, spoilers for inquisition, Spoilers for Trespasser, Past Solas/Lavellan, One-Shots, Vignettes, Sexual content in chapters marked with an asterisk

Summary: A place for my Dragon Age II one-shots. Connected to the rest of my series, but can be read on its own. 1. "Who Tells Your Story" - Rated M for non-explicit smut. Merrill pined for Marian Hawke for years before telling her the truth. A retelling of DA2 from Merrill's eyes, focusing on her romance with Hawke. 2. "Immigrants - We Get the Job Done" - Rated T. Marian's Fereldan roots grow deep, and she struggles to find her place in Kirkwall at first. 3. "Cards and Letters and Stationary" - Rated E for smut. The morning after her first night with Merrill, Marian reflects. 4. "Dreams" - Rated E for smut. Merrill has dreamed of Marian for so long. 5. "Cold Hands, No Gloves" - Rated G. Merrill thinks nothing of using magic to warm her hands at the docks; a nervous Marian disagrees. 6. "Adjusting" - Rated G. Merill fusses over Marian on the morning of her departure for Skyhold. 7. "Legacy" - Rated T. Throughout the events of Inquisition, Marian reflects on her life and those she's lost. 8. "Tomorrow There'll Be More of Us" - Rated T. Heartbroken Inquisitor Lavellan goes to Kirkwall to see Merrill following the events of Trespasser. Spoilers.

⚜️What Did I Miss? - Solas/F!Lavellan - 67,481 words - Ch. 1-15, main story / Ch. 16-20, sad AU w/ OFC(e)/OFC(e) - HSE WIP (2017-11-12)

Chapters: 20/? Fandom: Dragon Age: Inquisition Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Female Lavellan/Solas Characters: Female Rogue Lavellan, Solas, Original Lavellan-Solas Child(ren), Cullen Rutherford, Dorian Pavus Additional Tags: First Time Together, One-Shots, AUs, Magic used in sex, Oral Sex, Pregnancy, Childbirth, Fluff, Parenthood, Masturbation, Male Solo, Pre-Relationship, Sisters, Terminal Illnesses, Angst, Blow Jobs, Morning Sex, Minor Adoribull, Several originally appeared on Tumblr, sub!solas, Orgasm Delay/Denial, VERY light bondage, All three of those tags are only in Chapter 10, All of these are one-shots and missing scenes from my main fics, But you can read most with no knowledge of them

Summary: 1. Ruin - E; Solas tries to deny his growing admiration for Ellana 2. Say Yes to This - E; Ellana's POV on their first time 3. Impress Me - E; their second time together 4. Magic - E; their third time together 5. Intimacies - E; Solas knows he needs to save up every memory 6. Unsaid - E; Ellana awakens to Solas's unexpected need 7. Unbent - E; Solas goes to Ellana at Adamant 8. Congratulations - T; a slight AU of "Body of Knowledge;" Dorian chews out Solas. 9. Ancient and New - G; Ellana feels inadequate as a new mother 10. New Again - E; Ellana learns that she likes to take control 11. The Story of an Hour - G; Cullen reflects on how fatherhood has changed Solas 12. River - T; Solas and Ellana reflect on the woman Ashara has become 13. Dreams - M; an AU of "Body of Knowledge;" Solas and Ellana have a second child 14. Blow Us All Away - G; Solas and his daughters grapple with the family legacy 15. Helpless (Reprise) - G; Saeris has her first crush 16-20. The Awakened AU - G-T; two sisters try to save their mother's life.

(previous TIRTWs & TIRTW Key/Legend)

[lesecretdelamaisondubourbon]

⚜️XIV⚜️: I am Dieudonné (Ch. I/Pt. VII)

My baptism was one week away. One morning, Philippe and I decided to make our way to the kitchen. I always had a voracious appetite for as long as I could remember. Philippe was a finicky eater. He would only put the finest of delicacies in his mouth. But if the food was good, he could eat as much as I could.

If our mother had known of our near daily sojourns to the kitchen, she would have locked us in our rooms. As royalty, we were fraternizing with commoners too much. How could we not? They were friendly to us. Their children were uninterested in our titles and more into play. On this day, there were few people in the kitchen but there was plenty of food.

Straight away, Philippe headed for the macaroons. I helped myself to the omelettes. While I poked a piece in my mouth, I saw Philippe reaching for his treats. He dropped one and chased it as it rolled under a table. One of the servants noticed him squatting down to reach it.

“Thank you,” he said. “I am Philippe.”

“Who are you talking to,” I asked him.

“A girl,” he said without looking up. I noticed a little hand coming from under the table holding the macaroon he dropped.

A woman gasped and reached under the table and pulled out a little girl. She was as little as Philippe, with a head full of long black curls covering her features.

“Tu es une mauvaise fille,” she said angrily. “Are you stealing food again?”

“No,” she said, tearfully.

“She gave me my macaroon,” Philippe said, his mouth full. He walked over to the girl, and handed her a macaroon. “Here.”

She took it, smiled and ran out of the kitchen. Philippe gave the woman a mean look.

“Come, Philippe,” I said. I could see he was about say something awful.

He slowly turned toward me, still scowling at the woman.

“She is not nice, Louis,” he said, looking at me. I looked at the woman as I took Philippe’s hand. I did not say a word to her but I could see she feared what we might say to our parents. I led my brother away putting the incident out of my mind.

**** **** **** ****

No more than a few days before my baptism, I was playing with Philippe in the hall. Our mother approached us followed by several ladies with 2 girls and boy.

Everyone stopped in front of us and bowed.

“Louis, Philippe,” Mother said sweetly. “This is Gabrielle, Louis and Diane-Françoise. Louis and Diane have come to play with you.”

I did not know what to say but Philippe did.

“Why,” he asked.

Mother seemed a loss for words as several of her ladies tried not to laugh.

“Philippe, be polite to our guests,” she said.

“Why?”

“Yes, Maman,” I said quickly.

She smiled and left us with the little boy and girl as the older girl left with mother and the other ladies.

“I am Louis,” the boy said.

“Me, too,” I said.

“This is my sister,” he said. “Her name is Diane but we call her Françoise because she is named after our mother.”

“She is a girl,” Philippe said.

“I know,” she said. “And you are a boy.”

Philippe stuck his tongue out at her.

“Who is the other girl,” I asked Louis.

“That is my other sister, Gabrielle,” he said. “Papa said Maman is going to have another baby. I hope it is a boy this time.”

“That is a lot of girls,” I said. “Philippe is my only brother.”

“He is little,” Louis said.

Philippe gave him a mean look before pulling Diane’s hair.

“Philippe, stop,” I said. “That was not very nice.”

“No, it was not,” Diane said, hitting Philippe on the arm.

“Françoise,” Louis said. “You cannot hit him. He is a Prince.”

“That is right,” Philippe said, hitting her back.

She hit him again.

“Mine is two,” Louis said, pulling her away.

“So is mine,” I said, holding Philippe back. “They are still babies.”

“I am not a baby,” they said in unison.

“Come,” I said. “We can go play in the garden. We have a puppy out there.”

**** **** **** ****

On the day of my baptism, I entered the chapel with my mother. Philippe was to remain behind in the pew without our governess. As always, Philippe had other ideas. He managed to escape her grasp, and follow me down the aisle to the altar. Our father was waiting for us beside the font. His skin was pallid and his eyes did not seem to have the shine I remembered. He never moved from his position. He smiled at us as we met him and the priest at the altar.

It was intimate ceremony with only important members of the household in attendance. I stood before the altar of the chapel, I knew it was a solemn occasion even as I was too young to understand its meaning. I stood with my parents before the baptismal font as the priest began to speak.

Suddenly, I heard a splash. At first, I thought nothing of it. Then I heard it again and again. I looked down to see Philippe reaching into the font. I gently nudged him to get him to stop. I should have known that would entice him to continue more vigorously. I noticed everyone trying to ignore Philippe. It was a feat that was futile to attempt. My father gently pushed my brother’s hand away, and Philippe put it back. Even our father knew it was best to let Philippe have his way. So as long as he kept quiet, there was no harm done other than a slightly damp priest.

Papa did not say a word nor moved through it all. He just smiled and nodded once it was over. He and Maman exchanged glances while the priest and I exchanged words before mother took our hands and us out of the chapel of Château-Vieux.

The next time I would see my father would be 23 days later upon his deathbed.

**** **** **** ****

It was a quiet morning. By I remember I was playing with Philippe in my room when our governess came in. Her face was stoic.

“Your Highnesses,” she began, her voice trembling. “His Majesty wishes to you both.

“Papa,” Philippe exclaimed excitedly. “I want to see Papa.”

I knew something was wrong. Everyone in the room seemed disheartened. She picked up Philippe and offered her hand to me. I cautiously took it and she led me away to my father’s room.

It was the last moments of his life.

In his room, I could smell the scent of death and feel the burden that was about to put upon me. Though I was only four years old, I knew my presence in the moment gave everyone a feeling of helplessness and hope. When I saw my father, I was frightened at how sallow he was. Maman, Mazarin and Bontemps held vigil by his bedside as we approached.

“Louis,” he said, weakly. “Philippe.”

Our governess put my brother down beside me. I did not dare move closer to my father. I was afraid; he looked like the corpse he was to become.

“Papa,” Philippe said. “You look sleepy.”

“I am,” he whispered, with a faint smile. “I am going to sleep, Philippe. For a very long time. Louis, remember what I say to you. You will make a fine king. I know you will.”

I nodded. I did not know what else to do. I was passed a torch I was not yet able to carry. Suddenly, Papa said something I could not hear, took two labored breaths, then fell silent. Mother gasped as others in the room weeped softly.

“It is a quarter past two,” Bontemps said softly.

With everyone around him, my father slipped away peacefully.

“Why is Papa sleeping, Louis,” Philippe whispered.

“I do not know, Philippe,” I answered softly.

I knew our father was gone forever, but I did not believe it. Even I thought he was sleeping. It would be a while before I realized he had said his dying words to me months earlier at the château. Watch after your brother for me. Take care of Philippe. Looking at my father’s corpse, I said to myself, But who will take care of me, Papa?

Soon after, everyone turned and looked at me.

“Le roi est mort,” Mazarin said. “Vive le roi.”

I was the King of France.

“You are the king now,” Maman said to me.

“I do not want to be king,” I said.

“Your father is dead,” she said. “You must take his place now, Louis.”

“I do not want to,” I said loudly. “I do not want to be king!”

“Louis,” she began.

“No!”

I ran out of the room and down the hall crying. I did not want to be king. I did not know what it meant to be king, much less what it was. When I reached my room, I expected to see my governess, but there was another woman in her place.

“Who are you,” I yelled.

“I am your new governess, Your Majesty,” she said.

“No,” I yelled, pushing her. “Go away!”

I threw myself on my bed and started to cry into the pillows. I cried myself to sleep. I remembered hearing soft whimpering next to me. When I opened my eyes, it was evening and I was dressed in my nightgown. Philippe was lying next to me, his eyes red from crying.

“You scared me,” he said.

“I did not mean to,” I said.

“Why are you sad, Louis,” he asked.

“I do not want to be king but Maman said I am,” I answered.

“You are too short to be king,” he said. “You have to be tall like Papa.”

“I think he is gone, Philippe,” I said.

“When he comes back, you do not have to be king,” he said yawning.

He fell asleep, leaving me to my thoughts. I did not think Papa was coming back to us this time.--The Secret of the House of Bourbon–XIV by Jaynaé Marie Miller. 5-07-2022

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[pursuitseternal]

Secrets and Sensuality in Chapter 3 of “A Night with the Ascendant”

Ascended Astarion x Spawn (Lumina) | E | 2.8K

🎨 by @snowfolly

Summary: Lumina confronts Lord Astarion about the sudden change in her abilities. She only finds more questions and a stronger curiosity over her possessive, obsessive Master who distracts her the best way he knows… in his bed.

CW: half-truths, smut as distraction, sneaky (not)-spawn Lumina, BG3 game references, No Tav, dom/sub dynamics, oral sex, throat fucking (that kind where she’s upside down off the bed).

Previous Ch | ao3 link | Masterlist

Chapter 3…

⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️

“What happened?” Lumina asked, direct but softly as he let her in through their conjoining door.

“Good morning, my little mistress,” Astarion smirked down at her, looming over her for a moment too long before he stepped back to allow her inside. “It seems to be a beautiful day out,” he flashed her a devilish smirk as she drew to a stop in the patches of sun spilling from his windows.

“What… happened?” she just repeated. Oh, she was good, he assessed. Eyes downcast, and hands clasped softly, but the tension in her shoulders and jaw, that hard press of her voice in her throat…. He could tell she was nearly ready to scream.

He looked at his nails, perfectly manicured, keeping his eye from her diverted, if furious, scarlet stare. “You mean what gives you the power as a spawn of mine to stand in the sun… to feel so strong and powerful?” He glanced up sharply to watch her give a single nod. Controlled and suppressed, daring of her. “Simple, it is I who give you that power… it’s because of my generosity and favoritism towards you. No others will call those powers their own…” he lowered his hand, half of a bow to her in mock deference. “They are yours alone, my treasure, because you are mine.”

Lumina drew her little frame to its full height, still only reaching her face to his neck. “That may be, my lord, my love, but I know magic when I feel it.”

“My dear, my very existence is magic,” he swept his arms wide. “And you, blessed you, are the only one to share in a mere sliver of that magic.” He reached for her jaw, cradling it to draw her face even closer to his own. “Let that answer be good enough for you, my mistress,” he breathed, his words sweet in tone but exacting as a command. “I would give you anything to make you happy… the world, my own essence, my magic… to keep you as mine.” I pulled her forward and ordered her, “Kiss me.”

Lips devoured hers, fangs clacking on her own, his kiss branded her mouth and flooded her senses. But her mind still raced, seeking out those tendrils of his power that usually accompanied his orders. But they never came. She sequestered away that observation as she soon grew lost in his taste and touch that permeated every following coherent thought. Her body lifted into the air, cradled in his arms to then be rested gently in those silken sheets across his familiar bed.

No more thoughts crossed her mind, not as he hiked up her skirts and his cock slid into her, that scent of his skin, of perfume and sweat and sex intoxicating her. More, she needed more after being at such a great distance from her heart’s desire for so long before this. His voice hissed into her ear, lustful words that made her quake with need. “My little mistress, my little treat to savour, all flushed now and hot for me…”

Lumina groaned, her body indeed on fire now, pinned and naked for their pleasure. “Yes, gods yes…” she groaned as he filled.

“Much more to me than a plaything, than some spawn,” he continued. “So much more…”

Limbs hummed and clung to his frame as he began to slowly thrust in and out, that devilishly tempting pace she had grown addicted to. “But you seem to be having… fun, my lord.”

He chuckled deep in his throat, the vibrations passing into her own skull it seemed. “I am… it’s hard not to with you, my Little Light.”

She rewarded that with a kiss, a never ending tangle of tongues and gnashing of fangs that stole her breath. Lost was the end of her body and the beginning of his—he was everywhere all at once, as if his presence raged in her very veins.

Pleasure swept her away, time after time, round after round as he had savored her affections before his journey. And in the end, even in the pooling sunlight of the afternoon, she ended the same—resting semi-conscious and sweetly smiling in his bed. The last sensation she recalled were his smoothe, dexterous fingers brushing through her straw-golden locks.

Then she rested.

The sun had risen high by the time Lumina stirred. She stretched her aching muscles, looking out the open window to see the City bathed in the sun, to hear the voices of life whining in the distance from beyond the place walls. She stood, scanning his rooms to find herself alone. It was such a bright and airy chamber, it stole her breath, never having witnessed it during the day… before…

…before whatever it was that had given her this power to stand in the sun and not char to a crisp.

Crystal chandeliers gave off sparkles of light, the brilliant hues of leather covers dotting the room in a prism of colors. Such decadence and luxury and beauty.

Just like him.

But as her wits finally returned, as the allure of his sensuality faded, Lumina couldn’t push away those suspicions anymore.

What had she become… what did he do to her, this gift of being made his mistress. What did it all mean?

Perhaps, he hadn’t meant for her to wake up alone, perhaps this was a chance.

And, from what she knew in life, urchin wretches like her had to take their chances.

A

On silent feet, she scrutinized his room, those sharp eyes that could find any object out of the ordinary, the keen sense she had honed as an indentured servant, a slave to a brute of man, came back raging full force as she looked for… anything.

She scanned his vanity, nothing out of the ordinary, kohl for his eyes and bits of fine jewelry, a basket of rings, a collection of scents and oils for his body and hair. Just looking at them made her smell his scent in her nose.

It made her salivate and grow insanely wet between…

No, no. She had to keep searching.

Shelves, lined with books upon books, cast some of the only shadows in his room at this time of day. Tidy and cared-for, well-loved and organized. Each stack held different topics—botany and necromancy, the magic of Karsus, the history of Avernus, the legend of the Blade of Frontiers, and Sharan worship… such a unique collection of topics, she observed.

But something drew her notice… a smaller bound leather journal wrapped tightly in its own little bindings. Glancing at the door, she pulled this one from the shelves. Nervousness shook her hands.

Surely… he had been so generous before, letting her choose any book at whim. Even if this was a journal, not a book per se.

Opening the cover, it was written in a tight and exact hand. Each page was speckled with regular updates, lists of quests and questions… Observations of Illithids and healers, Tieflings and Goblins in the… Emerald Grove… little notes about individuals… the Daughter of Darkness… the Wizard of Waterdeep…

Lumina paused. Titles that rang some bell in her head about the history of Baldur’s Gate. Her mind whizzed through the stories, accounts from the history books told by the actors themselves. The heroes.

Finally her eyes settled on one list of notes on the Pale Elf….

“Astarion…” she breathed into the silence, “the Saviours of Baldur’s Gate.”

She sat down with the journal, pouring over it as she settled cross-legged on the floor. So many details and intricacies and trials and tribulations, stated so matter of factly… words flew by her in a flash, she couldn’t devour the notes fast enough. They were fables, tales from two centuries ago, the literal stuff of legends—those six companions and their tadpoles who brought down the Dead Three and the plot of the Absolute.

She could feel her heart racing, the account of Astarion, a slave and spawn, seeking vengeance against his tormentor and master, taking his power, taking for himself everything that was so long denied to him.

Her heart could burst… from pride in him, from envy for a story not unlike her own. For as much as those in the Upper and Lower Cities whisper about the Ascendant as ruthless, a monster… a villain. For all of that, he was her hero.

Astarion, her dark saviour, scooping her from the darkness to give her light… sent to sweep her off to his palace, giving her a place where she belonged.

With a sigh, she lost herself tin that feeling, her fingers tracing over the worn vellum pages in a sort of bliss….

“Little Light, whatever could be the matter?” his voice purred from above her. Glancing up, he towered from behind, his elegantly stitched trousers hugged his muscles. The ivory of its silk let all the heat of his body radiate against her back. “Why ever are you on the floor?” He leaned closer, his breath seeping into the mussed curls of her pale blonde hair. “And what have you… found?”

His voice dropped from that sultry velvet of a purr to something deeper. A growl.

Lumina gave a radiant smile from the floor at his feet. “Oh, just a uniquely scribbled little journal from two-centuries ago…”

A slow roll of a laugh drew closer as he crouched beside her, deftly his fingers grabbed the journal from her hands and tossed it across the room. “You should forget what you have read, my love. Ancient records of people long gone, names all but faded from history and time, mouldering graves and dusty bones…”

Her nose wrinkled at him, her pale brows furrowed. “Not you, not the Pale Elf…”

The scowl on his face silenced her faster than if he had smacked her across her cheek. “You will not call me that,” he snapped on each word. Grabbing her by the arm, he dragged her to her feet before him to stop at the edge of his bed.

“I… I thought it would be acceptable to look through your books as you have allowed me to before…”

He laughed, low and quiet. Dangerous. “I leave you alone, my lovely little mistress for an hour or so, and you’ve gone and pried into things you shouldn’t have,” he hissed, bringing his lips right to her ear and nipping the soft flesh of its lobe. “Cheeky little pup. I’ll have to do something about it, like punish you.”

“P-punish?”

“Oh, no, nothing you won’t also enjoy, I’m sure,” he led her towards his bed, his hand wrapped firmly around her arm, touch hot through the silk sleeve of her dress. “After all, I am enamored of your spirit, your brilliance and sneakiness… but…”

He looked down on her, slowly slinking closer and closer until she butted against the edge of his bed. Instincts roared at her, she placed a hand on the thin fabric of his shirt and teased her fingers into the deep cut that ran down his chest. “If you want to play, all you have to do is ask. I don’t require threats of punishment to… be a good girl for you, my love.”

His grin spread like a shadow, silent and creeping, to twist his face. Lurching forward, he closed in on her, hands braced on the edge of the bed as she flopped down on her butt, almost bouncing on it. His smirk was elegant and dangerous. Just like him. “What a good little mistress you are… I’ll reward you for your spirit then, but I will remind you that I am no hero, Lumina. The man you read recorded in that journal is dead, along with all those other unfortunates…”

Those soft scarlet eyes reflected up at him, a sadness behind the shine of her lust. She licked her ruby lips and let a single fang bite into that pouting expression. Devotion incarnate, he grinned.

So many words filled her thoughts as she looked up at him. So many questions, all of them rooted deeply in her admiration for him and in the profound sadness she knew she saw behind his steely gaze. But every word, she swallowed down for now, parting her lips instead and pulling him by his collar to kiss her.

Devouring, consuming, his lips stole her air from her lungs and senses right from her mind. All she was now was need and desire, a whimper breaking from her throat as he pulled from her kiss all too soon. His look was pure lust, dark desire as he twirled his finger at her. An order to turn around. Obeying, she turned her back to him as she sat near the edge of the bed.

His breath was hot in her ear as he whispered against it. “Lie down, Little Light, and do try not to gag….”

Eyes shot wide, Lumina shivered as she scooted further into the center of the bed, laying on her back up at where he stood over her. His smile flashed at her upside down as she was, all the more thrilling and slightly sinister as she felt disoriented. Hands gripped under her arms and slid her just right, making her head hang off the ledge.

Her world practically spun, watching his fingers unlacing his breeches, that thick, hard, and veiny cock releasing from within to hang its shadow over her face. Fingers curled deftly around his shaft, stroking him harder, the other hand thrust a thumb inside her mouth to pull her jaw open gently. She could help but smile as his fingers stroked under her chin, that pink head of his cock slowly sweeping into her mouth and down her throat.

The undead beat of her heart pounded harder, already she could feel a light headed tingle as she felt him pull out slowly and thrust back in. Deeper this time. She laughed around his cock, feeling it twitching in her mouth as the vibrations tickled him.

Hips slowly pistoned back and forth. Every thrust sent the front of his hips to press against the top of her head, flooding her nose with the musk of his arousal. Lumina closed her eyes, keeping herself lost in the feeling of his cock in her mouth and his hands wandering over her neck and into her dress. Fingers latched around a breast, Astarion squeezed as he began to thrust harder into her mouth, leveraging his movements on that swaying fullness in her dress.

“Swallow around me,” he growled, “let me feel how hungry you are for your reward, even when you’ve been rather willful.”

She obeyed, her throat closing around his thrusts for a moment. A new magic pooled inside her mind and went taught, as if something was struggling to make itself known. A growl in his throat, and he just fucked her faster. “See, my naughty little minx, I am not some hero. A rake, a monster to some, a lover and master to you, Little Lumina….” He clawed his nails into her flesh, one around her breast, the other into the side of her throat where he gripped her now.

She needed to swallow again, drool running up her cheek as she hung suspended for his pleasure. A clutch of his fingers hard on her nipple, and she moaned with full voice. Suddenly, she tasted him, that sweet, warm bitterness that she knew so well filled her throat. As he groaned loudly over her, hands clawed hard into her skin, she felt a snap in her mind… images of Astarion, dressed in armor, blood spattered and beautiful, two daggers in hand as he tore through enemies…

She opened her eyes as he pulled his cock from her lips, letting a trail of cum dribble up her face. He stroked his finger through it, caressing her cheek. Palm at the back of her shoulder, he rolled her over and raised her up to his smirking mouth with two fingers under her chin. “Now…”

But she placed a hand on his lips to quietly hush him. “My love,” she whispered, looking up at him through her lashes. “You don’t have to be a hero to the City, or to the world, or in memory of anyone you lost. But you should know… you are a hero to me. You pulled me from a fate worse than death by giving me undeath.” She kissed his lips softly,”I will forever be thankful for that, my lord.”

His lips were frozen as she worked hers feverishly. Pulling away from her, he quickly stuffed his cock back into his trousers to run a hand through his hair. “I’ll see you tonight for dinner, my darling.” He tried to return to that velvety tone in his voice, that confident swagger in his stride, but he nearly choked and nearly laid himself out flat prone on the ground. “Be in the dining room sharply for me…”

With that, the door shut behind him. And Lumina was left perching on his bed, with more questions than answers and with a new tingling sensation in her mind.

It was different than his tendrils of compelling, brighter and stronger, a bridge and not a leash.

Perhaps… something would help her find the answer to what sort of magic he must have done to her. Whatever it was that gave her strength to endure sunlight, awareness to sense his innermost thoughts. Somewhere here… he must have the answer to his secrets. She just had to find them.

[aithusarosekiller]

Rej doesn't make sense from a linguistic standpoint why would he want it! G gets palatalised by the letters I and E following it, why would you palatalise without any letters after the G?

-⚜️

nO

In English, nicknames commonly have a soft ending, as either the hard sound is changed, or a soft sound like ie/y or soft s has been added to soften it, sometimes both. Nicknames with harsh endings aren’t common and are usually only between friends, not family or partners

My own name is an example of that. Archimedes has a hard ch and arch has soft ch

Emma is shortened to Ems, taking the harsh a and replacing it with a soft sound

Genevieve is Jenny

Louise is Lou, which cuts off the hard s

Matilda is Tilly or Matty, which both erase the hard sound d, matty also covers the harsh t with a softer sound added at the end

Jonathon is often shortened to John, n being a semi-hard sound, but is then also shortened to Jonnie

Even Frank is turned to Frankie as an intimate nickname because of the soft sound it adds

Nicknames ending with harsh sounds don’t get the gentle, kind intentions across as much, so they are almost always softened

A harsh ending would be used among friends, but for close family and romantic partners, there is almost always a softened nickname because it is more intimate

Soft nicknames just sound nicer and more intimate because they don’t have the harsh ending that makes them seem more friendly or aggressive

[uluwatucollection]

Stay GOLD 🌟 Sexy @florcitachina wears the beaded coverup dress ⚜️ Search : CH 3030 @florcitachina

[pursuitseternal]

Chapter 2: Jealousy, Lust, and Satsifaction in “A Night with the Ascendant:”

Ascendant Astarion x Spawn (Lumina) | E | 7.3 K of galas and smut

Summary: a tenday in his bed, a tenday bereft of his company in his absence, Lumina’s own plotting takes shape. With the perfect opportunity at hand, she tries to get under the Vampire Ascendant’s skin and steal his attention. Little does she know just how much she already has of it…

CW:(Spawn) harem dynamics, jealousy, manipulation, obsession, praise and dirty talk, A!Astarion being over the top possessive and sexy, possessive marking smut, suspicious drinks (magic, not noncon, I promise), “you’re special”

Previous ch | ao3 link | Masterlist

🔥⚜️🔥⚜️🔥⚜️🔥⚜️🔥⚜️🔥⚜️🔥⚜️🔥⚜️🔥

Blessed and blissed out for a tenday, that was Lumina’s life of late. Days spent feeding on the fresh kills of venison and cow brought to her cell by his armored guards, days spent sleeping off the burning ache he caused each and every night. There was no part of her little body he hadn’t sought pleasure from, no hole left unfucked, even those too tight to let him in without ample coaxing and touch and praise.

There was no need for compelling, those dark tendrils of his powers all but mute in her mind. Oh, she was his—obedient and pliant and eager. And she had been rewarded every night for such a stellar performance. He only used that connection as her master to summon her from her room. And each time, that Tiefling consort glared holes in the back of her head as she swayed her hips up the stairs.

Morana… she hadn’t been vicious. But she certainly wasn’t nice. She had seen this pattern a hundred times, some with Spawn that had since met their end. The obsession, the allure, the unbreakable infatuation from the newly born until he tired of them.

Tired of them all.

It was only a matter of time, she had mocked today… and then he would tire of those flexible and firm legs of her, of her human flesh and bright hair. He would tire of lending her books as payment for her unimaginative pleasure, the first consort had sneered.

But Lumina let it roll off her shoulders, washing it away in the baths she took each day now. A luxury and necessity to finally clean off all the dried stick of his cum from almost every crack and crevice of her body. He had sent her oils and soaps that smelled of him… it was addictive. Enticing. Every day, she could smell him in her nose, his sweat and perfume, his cum and musk. Made her mouth water for the chance to let her prove her ever growing affections for him.

Affections… she knew better than to set her heart on anyone. Yet, she couldn’t fight that gnawing of her gut watching time pass, reading her books. It should be about now… any moment and his power should tingle up her spine, the wave of his call for her like breath down her neck…

But it never came. She dug her nails into her thigh, where her flesh slipped from beneath the high dart of a slit in her skirt.

No.

Instead, she heard another gate unlock, another door swing with a creak on its hinges. Bolting from her bed, she had to see who he had chosen in her stead. Through her gilded bars, she watched that swishing dark blue tail of Morana wave at her. A flash of dark crimson in her dark eyes, and the Tiefling threw her a wicked, victorious smirk before treading up those stone stairs.

“Gods dammit,” Lumina cursed, her undead skin flushing hot with jealousy and rage. She wailed that book toward her bed, loving the distraction of how it smacked into the wall before falling unceremoniously into her bed. Pinpricks stung her eyes, tongue dry in her mouth. She curled into the corner of her bed, knees hugged into her chest.

Making her feel so empty, in her body and her heart.

She stayed like that, tears burning as they seeped out hot and angry, her face hidden in her hands. Her nails clawing into her cheeks, her neck, her knees, wherever just so she could feel physical pain to lessen the ache of envy in her gut.

It wasn’t terribly long, she thought, before that telltale step of feet on the stairs meant someone returned. She couldn’t look, didn’t want to see a flush on Morana’s dark cheeks or smell his spend on her skin. But there she was, stopped in front of her cell, her skirt parted around that slit to barely show the inside of her thigh.

His scent caught her nose, and she wanted to hurl. Even as her stomach gnawed empty. She carried his scent.

“Hmmm, little Lumina, you poor thing. You’ll learn,” Morana tutted her tongue, swaying on her legs enough to let the slick sound between them reach her ears. “He sends his warmest regards, however, but he will be away for a tenday now… And he wanted me to begin overseeing the preparation for his return, when we will be joined by several of his.. guests. He will need his best consorts and concubines ready to… entertain them all.”

“I believe I understand full well,” Lumina replied with a flat tone, ignoring the visions of clawing her fingers around that infernal dark neck.

“Lord Astarion wanted me to give you a little something,” those dark red eyes gleamed, her bluish lips smirking to reveal her own set of fangs. She ran her fingers up her thigh, gathering still-wet slick from her dark blue skin. Holding them out, she crooked her other fingers at the little blonde wretch who had lost her heart.

It was too easy, watching that little human tremble and sniff as she could scent his cum on her fingertips. “Open, he said to give you one last taste of him before he had to leave. A shame he couldn’t bid you farewell himself, he said, but he wanted some of the vintage he has savored the longest before his journey, me of course.”

Lumina gritted her teeth, it smelled so good, he smelled so good. She wanted it, licking her lips as she came closer and closer. It happened so close, so involuntarily, the way she licked those fingers clean with one hard suck.

“Oh, I can start to see why he’s liked you for so many nights…” Morana’s deep voice sliced through her flittering fantasy. “You’ll be part of this soirée, but you’ll have such a small role, fucked over some table by some rich, plump Patriar while I entertain his Lordship from the comfort of his throne as he barely glances at you from across the room…”

Lumina hissed, fangs bared before she turned and skulked back to her bed.

Morana flashed a smile, heading back to her room to clean herself. But the second her back turned on the little welp, she scowled. She had managed to obey… in her own way around his compelling magic. She slipped off her gown, conjuring and warming water in her bath in an instant with her limited magic. Letting the heat thaw that bitter shard in her soul at what had happened.

It shouldn’t have ended this way, not with how it had begun just like old times. His pride on his face as he sipped his last glass of wine, waiting for his carriage to be readied. He had patted his lap, a seat she had so silkenly sidled up to take. Her hand teasing him through that crushed velvet of his breeches. Only to find him soft and unaroused. She pouted, tracing her fingers over its tip, her tail swishing before wrapping itself nicely around his strong leg.

She watched him bristle at its pressure, a chilled smirk on his lips as he spoke about his trip, his return.

His instructions were clear and concise, his expectations for his return were the usual… and then he kissed her. Biting into her neck as she always offered…. Only to have him suck her blood and spit it across the floor the next moment.

It was her mistake next that turned the tide, her little sultry quip about how he must have lost a taste for the spice of Tiefling, preferring that bland milk of a human he had been tasting so often of late…

Morana sank deeper into the water… She shouldn’t have provoked him, shouldn’t have opened her mouth for anything but his cock.

No, instead she had to be insolent and find herself on her knees between his own, working his half-softened dick as he had to close his eyes and clutch the arms of his chair. Every trick she knew and he loved failed. Every suck and stroke of her mouth, every tug and grab of his balls, every push of her finger even into his ass… none of it made him hard as long as he stared at her or grabbed her black and arching horns.

No, he had to shut his eyes and grit his teeth, refraining from touching her anywhere to make him fully erect. It took her standing before him, his eyes still closed, as they pleasured themselves for him to finally have the right… enticement, he had said.

It took the wet and beating sounds of their own touching for him to finally come, coating her mound and thighs in his seed. And only then did she think she heard him sigh that most hated name from his lips. Lumina.

Once he opened his eyes, his gaze glinted with unsatisfied hunger and scorn. Looking her up and down, he sneered to hear the carriage rumbling up the drive. His voice had been like ice, exacting and sharp, ordering her to take his precious seed and make his Little Light suck it from her fingers. So at the very least she could have one last taste of him before he left… since his carriage was ready and waiting.

Lord Astarion had ordered her back to the cellars with a brush of his mind, one last reminder that she should not fail him again, that Morana had other duties to perform, an evening’s work of entertainment to flawlessly execute if she wished to be spared his wrath.

Perhaps his wrath would be better than his neglect, his loss of affection. But Morana rolled her shoulders and sank into the waters up to her horns. She had nothing but time.

But then again, so did they all.

A tenday was nothing for an immortal, but for Lumina, having to wander around the palace to avoid that arrogant Tiefling, not to mention the others, time dragged at a glacial pace. She kept herself to the gardens and her room when they were allowed to wander the Palace at night in his absence, but what she really wanted was him.

She would creep to the door of his rooms, his study, just to smell him. It was enough to ground her until she reached for her last book from him, turning back to page one to begin reading it all over again. This night, she fell asleep with her nose pressed into the pages, dreaming she could smell him, her master, his skin under her touch, his taste of salt and bitter and musk on her tongue… if only she could awaken at his side again, feel his fingers part her thighs again…

But instead it was Morana’s deep laughter that peeled into her rooms from the hall. “Time to perform, Little Light. The Master arrives tonight, so you’d best prepare yourself for his guests.” Every word panged her with hope and despair in equal measure.

Her wardrobe swung open under her shaking hand, a few deep cut, extravagant gowns waiting to be chosen. Her pale fingers settled on one, thin and black, one that would make her skin glow like pearls and her hair the deep lively golden of straw. Touch dancing over the gossamer and silks, she smiled, a plan to make herself simply irresistible forming in her lust-drunk mind. He would regret leaving her, if it was the last thing he lived to regret.

Once the doors were opened, the handful of consorts left to wander up to the hall, Lumina gave one last smoothing of her raven black skirt. And she smiled. Dressed for seduction. Dressed for revenge.

She filed in line, following in Morana’s wake and the handful of the rest of the spawn. Drawing short of the Ballroom’s grand door, Morana held up her hand. “The Master will want us to mingle, to entertain and sparkle and delight. We may feed from any of the guests, so long as they ask. Do not overindulge, do not divulge any of the Master’s secrets or habits, do not fraternize with the guests, or you will be punished. And remember, he is watching. He is always watching.”

Lumina locked eyes with the Tiefling the moment she looked her way. All her adamantine hardness steeled her over. She was ready. Whatever was to come. It wouldn’t be worse than her life before, she knew that much. Even if it was just the internal pleasure she would get from making him watch her perform for someone else…. She would make him pay.

But the second the doors opened for them to slip inside… she lost her breath. He was… stunning. Crimson gaze cut through the crowd, half-lidded and scanning each one of his spawn as they stepped in on preternatural silent feet. He reclined in that grand chair at the end of the ballroom, the likes of which she had never seen, wrought iron and wine red, winged and imposing. But not enough to take the eye off its occupant. Not when he was dressed so elegantly in gold stitching and jewels in his own midnight black tunic and trousers. Not when his pale face leered with distant promises of pleasure on his sharp features, his eyes ringed with kohl and ears bejeweled with shining hoops of purest gold. Those long, elegant fingers that had ruined her for all others’ touch teased around the edge of his goblet, swirling it lazily as he separated his crossed legs.

Letting them spread wide, as wide as that massive chair.

The second his eyes moved from the spawn before her to rest on her face, she felt that swirling tendril of his power in her mind. A caress, a beckoning, but not one that compelled her to his presence. She was sure for a moment she felt his touch raking her body from the inside of her mind but for as sudden as it possessed her, it was just as fleeting and gone. Then his eyes moved on to the next spawn behind her, and those sweet tendrils of desire dissipated.

Lumina let her breath go, her lungs burned even though she didn’t need the air anymore. It was more the burning of her cheeks as his eyes left her face. The fire of her need to prove herself. It was a good start at the very least, she smiled, wide and brilliant enough for her fangs to catch the candelabra light. Shoulders back, hips sauntering, breasts on full display, she wasn’t surprised as the mass of slightly tipsy Patriars approached the circle of spawn. Nor was she surprised when many of them sought her hand to kiss in greeting.

From the corner of her eye, she watched Morana sway her way up the ballroom towards their Master, bending to her knees before him, tail twitching from the slit of her sparkling sapphire gown. She waited at his feet the perfect paragon of obedience, but his chest only rose and fell faster, and she was sure if she looked, his eyes would be on her. Not the Tiefling at his feet. She gave a hearty, musical laugh at some comment about how she glowed once they all learned her name. Her circle of suitors. She could practically hear the metal in his hand bending as he gripped his goblet tighter.

For her, she may as well have been in a nearly empty room. The rest of the spawn had dispersed, already sequestered into corners or window casements for their guests' pleasures or to feed. She smelled blood in the air. Perhaps at the worst, she could drink tonight right from a vein.

At least the music was merry, and Lumina could sway to its beat as she crossed to the table of refreshments. The chatter of all the male guests faded from her ear the moment she heard heavy, measured steps approach from behind her.

“You’ll find the red to be to your liking, Little Light…”

She chuckled, reaching for the silver decanter of the wine he mentioned. “Thank you my lord, for your suggestion…” Throwing an easy smile over her shoulder, she caught a glimpse of just how close Astarion hovered behind her. Careful not to touch. Closer enough for his breath to wash down the deep v cut of her back. “You are always so… attentive… to my needs.”

He gave a little grunt of approval, taking the empty chalice from her cool hand. Filling it himself with the decanter, he raised it first to his lips. She held her breath, those wine-red eyes of his never leaving her face. Even as he swallowed loudly, she hid the little shudder that ran through her body and straight to her sex. “You had better ready yourself for the night to come… who knows whose blood you may consume or whose cock will end up buried inside you sweet slickness, my Light…” He handed her the half-drunk cup, scanning her every expression as she took it from his hands.

As she let her cool digits sweep tenderly over his in the process.

“If I’m lucky,” she flashed him that innocent and taunting smile in reply, “both will fill my belly before the night is through.” Head tilted, gaze lowered, she swept her skits to one side in a deferential curtsy, one that slid the slit of her skirt full up her thigh. Giving him a peak of the nothingness she wore beneath. Rising back before him, she met those half-lidded crimson eyes with a confident, impertinent smile. “I hope you enjoyed your journeys, my lord. It was ever so… uneventful without you. Peaceful, even.”

Before she could raise that cup to take the slightest fraction of a sip, his hand reached to close around her throat. Leaning in, he was all fangs and hot breath and hissing voice as he rasped against her lips. “Do not forget your places my sweet, precious, Little Light. I am not here for your peace,” he snarled. A ravenous, claiming, biting kiss consumed her lips and made her twitch in surprise and pain before he released her with the smallest of shoves. “You, Lumina, are here for my pleasure. And tonight, I get to decide just what that may entail and with whom you may seek it.”

And just as swiftly as he had appeared behind her, he quickly turned and made his way back through the crowds. Lost in the sea of bodies.

She stood trembling for a moment, lost herself somewhere between the victory of antagonizing him as he had her for a tenday, and the defeat of feeling his wrath. Of having him leave her body after barely touching her. Setting her cup back down on the table, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to take a drink without spilling it from how much her hand shook.

And then she felt a tug on her mind, an order from him to move to the library to meet her guest for the night.

Lumina grimaced, watching as all of the other spawn yet accounted for in the shadows began to move through the room, their patrons for pleasuring assigned too. Her head swam, even as she grit her teeth and locked her stare with Morana. That fucking Tiefling, standing at the side of his empty chair, tail twitching languorously, lips sipping from an even more elegant chalice than the one she had set aside.

Her feet moved of their own will, out the door and down the halls that brimmed with flickering light. Licking her lips, she set her heart on at least draining whatever plump patron was behind the thick oaken doors before her. She kept her gaze on her pale hands, steadying them as she turned to shut the door, her back to the interior of the room.

The scent of books, the crackle of fire in the grate, the distant whine of the music from the ballroom down the hall… it would be positively romantic, picturesque even, if only it wouldn’t be some unknown wealthy patron waiting behind her back. If only…

“Why the hesitation, my Little Light? Not in haste to please your Master?”

“M-Master?” Lumina spun on her heel, almost tangled in her slitted skirts to see him. Untroubled, lazy, and amused, he leaned against the rounded arm of the chaise longue. The perfect picture of the Sunwalking Regent—the scarlet of the chair was striking under the sable of his clothing, the firelight catching the jewels in his tunic, making his crimson eyes illuminated.

Licking his lips, she felt those tendrils tickle down her spine before releasing her. “Like I said… you were made for my pleasure, and you are mine to command, mine to decide with whom you will find your own pleasure.”

She had drawn so near, he grabbed into her skirts, inserting his fingers up her thigh already.

“And you will only be mine now…”

His touch was lightning itself, jolts of bliss wracking her as he slipped those two skilled fingers right for her sex.

Lumina bucked, but he only gave her a few shallow strokes before he pulled out. Swallowing her hiss, biting her lip, she couldn’t have felt more desired.

“Now, on your knees darling….” his voice rumbled as his hands pulled her down to the thick carpet, plush, elegant and bloodied in color. The same shade of his eyes as they glowed.

“Yes, my Master,” she breathed, obeying in an instant.

“Those eyes of yours glimmer with surprise, my Light,” he growled as he cupped her chin and dragged her closer until there was no space left between their bodies. “Didn’t think I would pick you, did you?”

“No,” she whispered, keeping her eyes on his belly, on the way the jewels sparkled with his every ragged breath.

“You are wise to be honest with me, little spawn. So I will be honest in return. I didn’t think so either,” he jerked her chin, making those eyes meet his, making her lips part in shock and a hint of pain. “It’s not what’s done on these nights, you know. It’s not how it has been for over a century…. But for you, Little Light, nothing is as it has been.” Eyes narrowed, his gaze flicked to her neck as he twisted her head in his grasp. “I am equally surprised.”

Lumina gave some half-hearted start to a reply, one he just swallowed with a kiss at any rate. Demanding, his kiss consumed her—all tongue down her throat to taste her in place of his fangs to devour her this time. “Trust me,” his voice like gravel in his mouth, “I was far from happy about it. You’ve really caused turmoil in my little kingdom. So much so, I’ve broken all my own rules just for you.” His brows furrowed, irritation coloring his voice. “I reject my oldest plaything for you, you unman me so much, I couldn’t even get hard in her presence before my departure…” He looked at her wide eyes, the memory obviously fresh yet in her mind. “I thought of you as I pleasured myself. I was angered by the hold you have on me, irritated that you have so much control over me, my Little Light. And yet…”

He ached. He burned. He pulled her dress right off her shoulders, the gossamer, light as spider silk, giving way with such ease. Snatching her hands, he slammed them on his chest, scratching them on the clasps of his ornate jacket. “Hurry,” he snarled into his kiss, giving that pouting bottom lip and bite just for good measure. “I know you have been burning up for me, Lumina, in my absence. I could feel it, my eager, ambitious, little spawn.”

A sigh passed her lips, her body betraying any lingering vestige of anger as it melted into him. Clasp by clasp, button by button she stripped him quickly and deliberately. While he made rough, tearing work of her dress, leaving it in shambles to puddle around her knees.

“Blazing for you, my Master,” she moaned into his kiss, his hands lifting her little frame by her waist. Nails dug into her flesh, making her clamber into his lap, making her legs wrap around his hips until her folds stretched and soaked him. It was a matter of moments for him to free his cock and bury it inside her again. A matter of bites and blood and scratching and bucking until she rode every vicious thrust he made into her.

She was a vision, the same he had kept in his mind all those days away. The firelight caught in the golden of her hair, her eyes glimmering as they fluttered open and shut in her own growing bliss. Her pale fresh stretched for him, so tight and wet instantly, her rounded hips bucking with smooth grace, her breasts swinging and swaying as she let him have her.

So soon, she unraveled, walls clutching him in waves, golden hair spilled back as she arched and twitched in orgasm on his thighs. Warm hands wrapped her hair around his fist, pulling her back hard enough to make her whimper. Fangs raked their icy points down her neck, the cold brush making her blistering orgasm flame somehow higher. “Please,” she moaned. “Please bite me…”

“Of course,” he nipped at her skin with smooth blunted edged teeth first. “You are mine after all, to do with as I wish.” Hard and colder than she remembered it, he sliced into her neck, the sound of skin giving way like the piercing of an apple’s flesh. She hissed and writhed, her own fangs bared as the pain swelled over her pleasure.

The moment his mouth flooded with her blood, he shoved himself to the hilt over and over again, letting his seed spill inside, letting her milk his every twitching spurt. Mouth filling even as he emptied himself.

Glorious. More than he had longed for in his absence.

He had stilled inside her, lips sucking and drinking down her blood. But that cock pulsed with each swallow, pushing at the end of her channel with how he just held her in his lap. The warm pad of his tongue swirled over those wounds, swipe and swipe licking her clean until it ceased to flow. “Such a good… delicious…” he licked again, “little spawn you are…”

Through her hazy vision, she smiled at him, the sight of her blood on his chin making her stomach gnaw and growl with her own hunger. A playful cock of his head, his crimson eyes scanned her in the flickering light, one hand pushing on her belly until it rumbled against his touch.

Until she could feel him pressed against her stomach from the inside and the outside. “I know you’re hungry, my pet,” he consoled her, that other set of skilled fingers teasing in her hair so softly, straying through the fluttering loose ends at her temple. “If only there was something I could offer you to… sate your hunger, Little Light…”

“Is there?” she squirmed on his lap, the slick between them still sticky with every movement.

A single brow arched, his expression one of inscrutability and lust. “There are many things I could offer you….” he purred. “I thought about it many a time when I was away.” His lips brushed her ear, his hands still lazily tracing over the pinpricked skin of her belly and teasing through her hair.

Lumina practically curled into his chest, the sweetest of simpers on lips. Glowing. She was glowing at him. Not a more aptly named being in all Faerûn, he decided right then and there. “You did?” she bubbled over, fangs showing in her smile.

“Mmm,” he hummed, another little shift inside her walls just for emphasis. “Many a time. And in all sorts of fantastic positions, the likes of which you have never known and will never try with another being… so long as you walk in this realm.” She would be blushing, he was sure, if she had any living blood in her right now. That would be… quite the sight. Her cheeks and lips and nipples and cunt rosy from blood and his constant stimulation. Astarion licked his lips just at the mere passing thought. “That’s what you want, isn’t it?” his voice rumbled as he asked. “To be mine… forever?”

“Is that not already what you have made me, Master?” she purred her reply. “For I am so very grateful you did.” She turned her face to hide her bashful grin against her shoulder. An error he corrected with a sweep of his hand back around her chin. “Not many go from mortal to undying, from raw hands and rags to swollen lips and fine gowns.” Her eyes darted to the side, hiding the flicker of ghosts behind that bright gaze. “Not many know what makes being a… spawn… better than being someone’s slave.”

He paused, scanning her face—so earnest, so eager. It made something inside his heart… hurt again. Something that hadn’t for almost two centuries. Not since... He shook his head.

“No need for anything like that from the past now,” he flashed her that sultry smirk. “I ask you of your future, one where I might provide for your every hunger, one where I would expect you to do the same for me, my Light.” He shifted her on his thighs, a hand absently stroking into those golden locks. “That is what you want, isn’t it?” Mouth brushed hers, his lips teased over her own as he lowered his voice into a rasp. “I am what you want, aren’t I?”

“More than anything,” she sighed. A hand stroked against his cheek, trying to pull him into her kiss. “Being apart from you was torture, my master.”

“More torture than the kind you enjoy at my fingertips, little spawn?” he slipped his hand between her thighs, catching that hardened nub of hers where it strained.

Lumina sighed, leaning away to allow him a little more room, booking her hands behind his neck as she arched in pleasure. His smirk at her reaction was feral, wicked, and possessive. But just as he could feel her reawaken for more, he slipped his touch away, pushing her off his lap, off his slightly softened cock. “Allow me to offer you amends, then, for the torture you had to endure to be parted from my side, my darling.” He swept his arm to the side, the columns of bookcases darkened the edges of the room, embossed titles and oiled leather spines glimmered through the shadows. “My library is yours. Choose as many as you like, come when you wish…”

He stood with a grunt, managing to lace his breeches back up absentmindedly as he watched her face melt into one of awe and wonder and adoration for him.

Making something in his chest grow painfully hard.

Ignoring that sensation, he reached for the pewter chalice on the side table before crossing over to where she had begun to peruse his collection.

Her nostrils flared at the scent. “For me?” She took the chalice in her hands, the metal still warm from the fresh source of the contents within. “A little blood to keep me going for you, is that right, Master?”

“Let’s just say,” he smiled, lifting her face, the pads of his fingers beneath her chin, “a little something to sweeten the deal. A little something to seal your admission that you wish to be mine for all time, Lumina.”

She doesn’t think twice before she raises the cup to her lips, but the instant it coats her tongue, she knows something is… different. It’s rich in flavor, strange and familiar in her mouth all at once. “This is still warm, my Master?”

“Indeed,” he leaned against the mantle, lazily watching her every move. “Warm, freshly spilled, living, thinking blood,” he paused, reaching for her as if he could touch her at this distance, “only for you, my Little Light.”

Lumina dared another mouthful, its power already making her body shake. Making her feel more alive than ever before. It felt so very good. Too good perhaps. She didn’t even give a second thought to its source, to whatever poor guest maybe was bled or left to die for her meal. It was.. addictive the way it made her feel. It made her nerves tingle, her face flush hot. It made her hands warm, her sex hot and dripping and clenching as she locked eyes with him from across the room.

Her hands shook as she tried to set the chalice down on its stem. The cup toppled over with her clumsiness, but she had drained every drop of that sweet, powerful elixir.

“Not to your taste, my love?” he purred, his hips cocking as her body shook, as she took small steps closer. Her eyes were dilated wide, her skin flushed and alive. He could smell her arousal, hear her heart pumping slightly harder. “I was so hoping you would say it’s the best you’ve ever had, my darling.”

Her nostrils flared as she crept closer. That blood was in her veins, the magic already taking hold, he could see it. And it made him smile.

“It’s nice to see you indulge,” he said, pulling her naked form against him the moment she was within reach. “How do you feel? Your first thinking blood, hmm?”

“I… feel…” she whispered, leaning into his body, shivering as her skin brushed against his smooth chest.

She hesitated as she scanned his face. “Do you feel alive?” He smirked, rubbing his hand across her cheek and into her shining golden hair. “Do you feel strong… happy?”

“Yes,” she sighed, her eyes locked into his face. Looking for answers to unspoken questions. “But I feel so much more than that. I can’t… tell you what.”

He cradled her against him, hands running over her body with a bit of tenderness and a bit of command. “Shh shh,” he hushed in her ear. “Perhaps the blood I harvested for you was a little strong. You deserve the best, my Light, only the strongest, most potent, most powerful blood will do for my… mistress.”

That power coursed in her veins, every sense sharpened with its vigor. Looking into his face, she would see every twitch of his brows, every flicker of his eyes on her own countenance. “Your mistress?” she hesitated to let the words from her lips as if she feared they were a lie.

His lip twisted to one side, an amused smirk as she licked her lips clean still. “Oh yes,” he hummed, pulling her across the room. A single door slide opened as he approached, hidden amongst the heavy-laden shelves. The darkness swallowed them as she followed him inside. His scent was heavy in the air as he called flames to light the candlesticks within. The chamber within was elegant and luxurious, a smattering of bright colors and pastels, on the walls, the curtains, the bedspread.

He stopped at the bedside, hands at her lower back to pull her flush against him. “You will be here, my Light.” He nodded his back towards the open door, “One door to allow you into my cherished library at your smallest whim….” A flourish of his hand, and one glowing Mage Hand appeared across the room, opening another broad door on the opposite side. “And another door to my chambers…” his brows furrowed into that look of possessive hunger and seduction, his voice dripping that warm and velvety promise of pleasure. “Since you will be in my bed every night henceforth…” Astarion gripped her ass hard in his palms, letting his nails dig into her soft and supple flesh. “Or I in yours, if you’ll have me.”

Something in her full belly swirled at his words, his invitation didn’t feel like one of his commands… there was no pull of his magic, no tendrils tickling her will. It was a true offer, a genuine invitation to let him into her bed and between her thighs.

She stared into that sultry smirking face, the light dancing off his sharp features, his eyes extra piercing with those lines of kohl making them captivating, intense. She shivered under that stare. He clearly had this all planned, prepared well in advance, every detail ready for her approval and admiration. And she loved it.

She turned to pull herself against his body, his skin so hot against her belly, his scent so delicious and familiar as she took a deep breath. “I’m always willing to have you, my master,” she sighed, blushing with hot cheeks for once as she met his ravenous gaze. “I’ll have you right now again, and again if you wish.”

“There is nothing… I’d like more,” he sighed, his mouth descending sharply. His kiss is all power and passion, his body pushed up against her bare skin until she was nearly tumbling into her new bed. Hers. It was all hers. As he pushed her down, as he pulled his legs free from his trousers and sank himself inside her again beneath him, he finally felt a burst of heat in his chest.

He had thought of nothing the last tenday apart from having her again, from giving her a place at his side where she couldn’t stray too far. He wanted nothing more than his cock buried in her, her hair wrapped around his hand or beneath his face as he slept, he wanted her with him always now. No other concubine would do.

She had ruined him. And so, he plotted to reward her with all this… the thought was almost too much, his victory at making her his alone.

This little girl from the little shop, pulled from the gutter by his hand to be his saving Light. He would give her everything, and he would take her everything from her. An equal exchange.

Something about her simmered beneath the surface since he had first caught a glimpse of her in that rank old shop, the keeper’s only piece of chattel worth offering for his debts. His chest had been tight, his throat had burned to see her being used and neglected. He would do so much better for her.

And now, as she bucked to his every thrust, hands clasped around his beck and eyes fluttered shut as she came so flawless on his cock, he had finally given her the value of her true worth.

She was his Light, his diamond in the rough. And now she was his forever. That blood in her body was already working its magic. Her flesh was warm, her power increased ten fold, not that she would know it… Soon she would do so much more than feel warm to the touch, but she would figure that out in due time.

A few final, erratic snaps of his hips, and he filled her, pulse after pulse as he groaned. Eyes locked on her face, he watched her lips tremble to feel him come so hard just for her. Breathless, he kept himself up on his arms, a few lingering drags in her channel for extra pleasure. “Perfect. You are perfect every time,” he breathed, leaning down just enough to catch those pretty pink lips in a kiss. “And you’ll be perfect forever.”

Slowly he lowered himself to crusch her little body into the bed. “It’s all I could do to think of you. When I wasn’t meeting with boring nobles, I would dream of your sweet lips and your even sweeter cunt.”

“I thought of you too,” she admitted so quietly. “I would sneak to visit the halls to your rooms, just to catch your scent…”

“Tch,” he teased, a dark arch to his brow, “naughty for a spawn… but it was your well-deserved right at my mistress.”

“You’re serious about all this… my master?” she barely spoke, eyes darting around her new room, how fine it was, how impressive it was.

“Do you doubt my sincerity?” He looked at her exacting and yet somehow playful. Mischievous perhaps. “Doubt my devotion to you?”

She smiled, again that luminous grin that made his heart ache. “I did, yes, in your absence, my lord. Your other spawn…”

“You’ll never have to worry about them again,” he interjected. “Not one of them will harm you,” his mouth turned in a sadistic, threatening smirk. “And godsforbid one of them so much as insults you, my mistress. They will wish…”

She put her hand on his mouth. “No one needs to die or be punished because of me, my lo… lord.”

His brow arched, curious, as her hand left his lips, revealing his smirk. “Your…? It seems there was more you wished to say.” His fingers softly grabbed her chin to open those pouting lips of hers. “Don’t make me pry the word from your tongue…”

“My love,” she blushed as she said. “I… I love you,” she paused and held her breath.

The look of pure contentment on his face made him appear… youthful, innocent, as if he hadn’t just been threatening to kill a spawn for insult it threat. “Do you know happy that makes me? To hear my feelings returned?” his voice low, pressed in his throat.

“You.. love me too?”

“Of course I do,” he smiled wider. “Why else would I bring you as mine tonight, give you such powerful, living blood and gift you these rooms as my mistress?” Those long, skilled fingers teased through her golden hair, his thumb dancing across her cheek. Her skin warm and flushed and looking alive with that fresh and potent blood in her body.

She giggled, giddy beneath him. “It seems far too good for me, my love.” She let the name free from her lips this time. Those lips were too much a temptation for him not to devour again. “Nothing is too good for you now that you are mine alone, mine forever, my Little Light.”

His… The possessiveness made her purr, curled in his arms, warmed and cared for. For once in her life.

“You’ll let me show you my affection for you once more, won’t you?” he rasped into her ear, cock still hard and shoved deep within her.

A cheeky smile on her lip, she rolled him on his back. It was so easy… in the morning she would realize it had been too easy. But for now, she was drunk on the sight of him under her, his tousled hair and rakish smirk as she began to grind. “More than willing to have you show me, only this time, allow me… my love.”

When she finally stirred, every limb ached, her legs dried and sticky. Her arm reached beside her, the softest sheets cocooning her in luxury. Slowly, the night returned to her… the rigorous fucking, the new chambers, his mistress, his chosen… his love. Her nerves tingled as she stirred. Opening her eyes, these new rooms were bathed in light.

Light.

Not from candles or fireplaces or torches. Daylight. The kind she had been barred from, the dangerous burn you to nothing kind of light.

But now, warm beams cut through the air, the particles of dust dancing merrily in their shafts. She reached a hand into the closest beam. It warmed her skin, bathing her in light she thought she would never see again.

The moment of euphoria and hope darkened even as she sat up. Alone in her new rooms, she could hear movement from his chambers through their connecting door. Her heart sank and fluttered, her mind racing.

What had he done to her…