Paradise Found

Kalt I say goodbye to my weakness, So long to the regret, and now I see the world through diamond eyes.     He remained where he was, watching her, observing her, seeing her. It felt like it had been too long since he had. For years, Kalt had watched her from afar. The few times he actually did interact with her in Northaven, it was never directly and she never knew. He stuck his hands in his pockets, the only sound between them being the soft sound of birds and the babbling of gently running water.     Glancing down at the grass, he drew a slow breath, inhaling the fresh air, crisp with the changing season. His eyes found her once again, and he smiled, starting to approach where she was standing by the pool of water.     Moving towards her, his steps were deathly silent. No matter how long he was technically no longer in the Guild, what he learned there would be with him forever. That was what he told Ashe that night up in the rafters of the Temple. It was forever a part of them, whether they liked it or not. The way they both walked was just the smallest example of that life never to be lost.     He closed the distance and would gently run his fingers down her one arm, while his other hand would slip just beneath the bottom of her shirt. Kalt didn’t try to journey beneath the fabric in any inappropriate way, but just to touch her. Just to feel her differently than he had for over two years. Skin to skin. It kept them going through the Guild, that contact they received with no one else, and he found himself craving it. Regardless, he wouldn’t push her. If she moved away, he wouldn’t chase after her. Chasing Ashe was like cornering an injured animal, and he knew better than to do that, especially when she wasn’t entirely herself.     Kalt would lower his head once again to touch a small kiss to the side of her head, his eyes flickering closed for a moment. He made sure not to squish the tipsy arachnid as he would lean closer to her, taking in the scent of her and mixing it with the fresh air, the sweet plants, and the cool water. His eyes opened again, and he grinned softly. ”When was the last time you saw any place like this?” He asked quietly.

ashe They may say, "You're too small, you're too young to do it all," But you're a giant on the inside. They may say, "It's not enough, leave your dreams collecting dust," But there's a fire that you can't hide. Ashe had nearly burst out laughing when those gourd guts had splattered past his hand and onto his face, just barely smirking at his warning that he'd get her back. She had just rolled her eyes and busied herself with finger combing the rest of the shit from her hair, catching her breath. She finally took a moment to look about at the place they had found themselves. The leaves were full and barely turning, the occasional red leaf drifting by on a breeze that smelled of sweet grass and damp earth, carrying with it the sound of water that splashed into the crystal clear pool behind her. Ashe blinked and glanced at the water, and for a moment she was brought back to Northaven as she wondered about fishing from it. Satisfied with her hair, the assassin returned her attention to Kalt as she reached her hands up to the golden clasp of her cloak at her throat. She froze however, for the other assassin was slowly approaching. Her heart started to pound in her chest, her hands stalling on that clasp as she kept sharp eyes on him, watched him move with a predatory sort of silence - one she knew and had mastered well. Where she expected him to stop, he kept going, closing the distance between them until she had to tilt her head to look up at him. She still didn't quite know what to make of what happened, of what they were to each other. He was as infuriating and stubborn and egotistical as he always had been, but there was something fundamentally different in him. In both of them. And then there were moments like this, when she looked up at him as his fingers dragged veins of blue down her arm and - She inhaled sharply and held her breath when a warm hand slipped under the hem of her shirt, just over her hip, and ignited sparks under her skin there too. It was moments like this that felt both so familiar and foreign at once. He kissed her head and leaned in closer, and her heart stuttered as she looked down, listening to the sound of his breathing and remained keenly aware of where his skin touched hers. She knew she should step away, she should tell him not to touch her like that. She should. But what did she want? Kalt's voice drew her attention, and she lifted her head and glanced about them at this little paradise. Her lips hinted at a smile as she dropped her hands and propped her leg on a toe, leaning her weight to the one that hadn't been bitten. ”Those eight months in southern Northwind,” Ashe replied. ”Those people I trained with lived in practically a desert - nothing but cacti and shrubs, lizards and hare, flat land everywhere. They had this big oasis right on the grounds of their estate. They were grossly rich, loved to flaunt it. Theirs was smaller than this and maintained in that oh so blueblood way.” The last bit was said with a mockingly posh tone. ”But it was nice at night. I managed to slip away from my guards a few times to be out there.” Ashe fell silent for a moment, remembering the way she would lie flat on her back and stare up at the star-filled sky - a sky that seemed so much bigger in the desert. The she wolf turned her head up to look at the sun-bathed trees and breathed in the crisp air of fall, still so warm for this time of year. As she breathed out, she still couldn't keep her focus away from where Kalt's hand rested over her hip. Idiot girl, came the unbidden hiss in the back of her head, and her jaw feathered as she forced herself to step back and out of his grasp. Her skin was left cold where his hands had been, his proximity reluctantly left behind. She glanced up at him as she both coaxed a stumbling soot into her hand and removed her cloak. The vibrant, deep blue fabric was draped over a stone, and she used the excuse of pouring a small bit of wine into a dip in the stone for pulling away. The wine spider’s only sound was a soft hiccup as he settled himself down with the little pool of red wine. She took a brief drink of the wine before she corked it and set it down on her cloak before she turned back to Kalt, one side if her mouth feathering with an almost-smirk. Stay, she had pleaded. ”When did you last find a place like this?” she countered. She tilted her head at him in an almost-canine like way with the question as she leaned her weight to one leg.

Kalt I say goodbye to my weakness, So long to the regret, and now I see the world through diamond eyes.     She didn’t pull away from him (at first), and he leaned just a touch closer to her, a gentle smirk on his lips as his eyes studied her face, his smile flickering slightly larger when she started smiling. Kalt listened perhaps a little more attentively than he had initially planned simply because it wasn’t common that she talked about the eight months in the south when they had been in the Guild. Then again, he hadn’t asked very often. A piece of him liked to live in a world where those eight months apart didn’t actually happen, where he hadn’t nearly become an alcoholic and she hadn’t completely disappeared from his life for an amount of time he didn’t know could feel so long.     Another smile broke onto his lips when she mimicked the posh blueblood way of speaking, and he chuckled breathily at the mockery. He didn’t remember the last time he had genuinely enjoyed being around another person - of course not counting his daughter - without wanting to go home to the company of his books.     When she finally drew away from him, he didn’t make any effort to hold her where she was, though his hands might have trailed over her skin longer than he would have done so for anyone else. While she found a reasonable excuse for pulling away from him, Kalt knew that her spider wasn’t why she separated. And if she thought he would fall for that, she clearly needed to be reminded just who it was she was dealing with! He didn’t like seeing her drink, but she wasn’t drowning herself today. If she had been, he would have had no problem breaking another wine bottle, but a drink now and then was normal for anyone, so he couldn’t open his mouth. Well, he certainly could, but he wouldn’t.     He thought about the returned question quickly, a quiet smirk pulling at his lips. ”Back in Northwind,” he said with a light shrug. ”Found it a little before the fall of the Guild when I was coming back from a job. It was outside the kingdom borders, and I didn’t have the chance to show you or go back myself, but it was a beautiful spot. A lot like this one, but there were wildflowers covering the ground everywhere you looked.”     Drawing a slow breath, Kalt stepped over to her and would once again close the distance between them, his eyes practically glowing as he met her gaze, hands carefully taking hers. He flickered a grin to her briefly, standing with only the sound of the moving water. ”What are you afraid of?” He whispered to her, only releasing one hand to tuck her hair behind her ear. She wasn’t herself. She didn’t have to be completely, but she would have to acknowledge the reason why she wasn’t, otherwise she never would get back to living as she was supposed to live, back to enjoying life for what it was. Ashetta

ashe They may say, "You're too small, you're too young to do it all," But you're a giant on the inside. They may say, "It's not enough, leave your dreams collecting dust," But there's a fire that you can't hide. She watched him speak, took him in, and it hit her again all the time that was lost. My fault. If she had just gone to him with that arrow in the first place, he probably would have shown her the spot he was talking about. Where would she be now? What if, what if, what if. It was staggering how often she was asking herself that lately. Ashe glanced away from him and to the trees surrounding this tucked away place of beauty, something heavy settling in her chest. What if. At the flicker of movement, the assassin looked back to see Kalt carefully approach her once more. Every muscle coiled, but he took her hands and smiled. She couldn’t muster one back as her heart thudded powerfully in her chest, only looking up with round eyes to Kalt. ”What are you afraid of?” She froze, scarcely daring to breathe as he tucked erent hair back from her face, and she glanced down to where her small hand was held by his. ”I’m not afraid,” she said stubbornly. Her brows pulled together as she worried her lower lip in her teeth, painfully aware of how close he was. How far away he was. ”I’m not,” the wolf insisted, and she flicked a glance up at him. She moved to step back again, turn away, but her hand squeezed his fingers as she moved. As she stepped away, she still held onto him, looking down to where her fingers held tightly to his hand. What was she afraid of? ”I can’t,” she said quietly, fire-blue eyes still resting on their hands. Ashe took a subtle and slow breath - in through her nose and out through her mouth. ”My family.. I’ve done enough, no matter how much I want to - ” She broke off abruptly as her stomach flipped, eyes glancing up at him and back to their hands. She was trying to do better, like her mother had told her, part of doing better was suffering her consequences. I don’t deserve to have what I want, I don’t deserving to have y- She finally broke away from Kalt and approached the water’s edge, listening to the birdsong and moving water as she gazed down at the reflective surface. Every move she made directly defied her proclamation of not being afraid, but she pretended for all the world that she wasn’t resisting powerful impulses regarding Silver Wing. ”They know as well as I do that all of it was my fault, I fucked up too many times,” she said as she looked into the pool of water. ”So I can’t.” Can’t what? she asked herself. She didn’t even know what this was yet. She knew what she wanted. And she knew what she could not have.

Kalt I say goodbye to my weakness, So long to the regret, and now I see the world through diamond eyes.     ’I’m not afraid.’ He simply raised his brow at that, using all of his willpower to keep from outright laughing at that bullshit statement. Not afraid. Yes, she was. It was written all over her face, never learning how to properly control what her emotions looked like when she outwardly wore them.     He felt the conflict her words and her wants, her needs, suddenly sprouted. She tried to back away from him, but her body rebelled against her, holding tighter to his hand, and his grip tightened just slightly in response to her, almost without his conscious consent. Kalt listened to her, an unwavering form, both of them so strangely out of place in the vibrant paradise. Not a single sentence had made it all the way through, and once again, he shoved down a grin at that. Ashetta didn’t look him in the eye for any longer than absolutely necessary, darting between his eyes, their hands, and the beauty that surrounded them. Whether or not she couldn’t look at him or wouldn’t look at him was a question he didn’t need answered.     Finally, their hands separated, and he watched her walk around him, watched her near the shimmering pool. Kalt observed quietly, turning to face wherever she moved. He listened to her words, the statements drawing a frown over his lips, his brows meeting for a fleeting moment.     Once again, silent steps brought him briskly towards her, stopping behind her as his hands brushed over her waist. He would take her hands, wrapping her arms around herself with his own resting over them. ”Ashe, you didn’t fuck up,” he said, his voice hushed and gentle. ”You tried your best for someone who was unable to meet you halfway. That wasn’t your fault.” He lowered his head, pressing a soft kiss to her shoulder before speaking once again. ”It’s no one’s fault. He wasn’t able to understand you, and good for him. He didn’t live through what we did. He’ll never know that kind of hell, so it wasn’t his fault that he couldn’t meet you in the middle. But you? You survived it. That doesn’t mean it’s over, but you survived. We survived.”     He didn’t bother try to stifle that chuckle, the breathy sound of smothered relief that he didn’t know was waiting to be accepted. They survived. They got out, and they could live.     ”You can’t have a normal life,” he muttered. ”No one who lived through what we did could ever have a normal life, but believe it or not, that’s okay. Normal’s fucking boring anyway. He didn’t understand that, none of them ever will, and you should be thankful for that. But you should also know...” Kalt released her then, walking in front of her and tipping her chin up to face him. ”...experiencing what you did doesn’t make you any less worthy of loving someone and being loved in return.” He brushed his finger along her cheek, flickering a smile to her. ”I’ll be here for when you realize the first part...because you’ve never been without the latter.” He leaned down slightly, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead, squeezing his eyes shut for just a moment before drawing away again. Ashetta

ashe They may say, "You're too small, you're too young to do it all," But you're a giant on the inside. They may say, "It's not enough, leave your dreams collecting dust," But there's a fire that you can't hide. Ashe watched the water as it glimmered under the pale golden sunlight, and it finally occurred to her how out of place they were. Or maybe it was just her. Kalt seemed at ease here, like he belonged. Ashe... she was a storm with skin that did not belong anywhere destruction wasn't wanted. Her breath caught as broad hands slid over her waist, electrifying her nerves for a moment as he wrapped her arms around herself. Her breathing grew heavy as his voice sounded - it was soft in a way that ached. She stared hard at the water, what he said creeping it's way into her head. Alistair... he had more than met her half way, didn't he? He came and chased after her when she got into trouble, waited so patiently for an absent wife that didn't know how to remain in bed, stay home and wake him when she was afraid. Instead she would wake up from her night terrors in silence and run. She couldn't ask him to understand, gods, she had been so selfish to let him love her. Ashe leaned back against Kalt as her stomach did a backflip with his lips on her shoulder - just where the collar of her black shirt hung off of her just slightly. Her lowered intake of food was starting to show. Still, her head tilted, and she wasn't quite aware of it at first. As if her response to him was still the most natural thing in the world. Idiot girl. They survived. He chuckled and it skittered along her bones. They survived. It hadn't particularly hit her. She had told her mother, told everyone really, that it was over. It was all over. But survived... Ashe's thumbs brushed over the top of his, and she frowned out into the water. They survived Northwind's Guild of Assassins. They survived their Master and the personal hells he constructed for the children he owned... and he was dead. The Guild was gone, and she had killed their god. Kalt was right. Normal wasn't in the cards for people like them. Ashe tore her eyes away from the water and up to Kalt as he came to stand before her. He tilted her chin up, touched her cheek, and she was entirely caught by the way he looked at her. Experiencing what she did... Ashe leaned into the kiss to her forehead, her arms reached out rested over his hips as she let silence lapse again. To be loved... she knew her family loved her. They shouldn't, and she kept hurting them, even as she kept her distance. Then what he said hit her fully, and all at once. ”I’ll be here for when you realize the first part...because you’ve never been without the latter.” She pulled in a sharp and shaking breath at that, her heart plummeting into a free fall. Ashe's chest was caving in as the other assassin drew away from her, and she flashed her eyes up to look at his. Her eyes filled as her chest rose and fell quickly.. and she moved forward to rest her forehead over his chest. One hand stayed resting over his hip, the other rising to his back as she breathed in, tried to think. "Kalt.." she murmured, his name falling from her lips like a precious jewel. She stayed that way for a moment before she picked her head up to look at him, face lifted up from where she held herself to him. "You really don't hate me," she said in more statement than question, her voice soft under the sounds of the oasis.

Kalt I say goodbye to my weakness, So long to the regret, and now I see the world through diamond eyes.     While her touch was intoxicating in every way possible, it wasn’t what held his attention. Kalt grinned down at her when she pressed against his chest, never taking his eyes away even as she moved back. Ashetta looked up at him with tears lining her eyes, and he  suddenly had the urge to wipe them away before they had the chance to fall, but he decided not to. She knew how to keep her tears at bay, had done it multiple times before, so if she allowed herself to cry, it was her decision to do so.     Kalt ran his fingers through her hair slowly, drunk on her voice, on her scent, on her. She had such a power over him that no one had come close to touching, and he felt drunk with just how closely she stood to him. It was unbelievable how much of an effect she had on his life, on his soul without even trying...even when trying not to.     He flickered a soft smile to her when she spoke. ’You really don’t hate me.’ He had tried to hate her. He had really, really fucking tried to be furious, to be envious, to allow darkness to consume him completely until the only relief was through exacting some kind of revenge on her. But it couldn’t be done. Even before he discovered the truth... Even before he understood why she had left him, why she turned everyone in the Guild over to the king... Gods, he had never been able to hate her. Anger, yes. Anger was easy, especially when confusion ruled the emotion, but hate? Never for even a thought.     His hand rested on her waist, tugging her just slightly closer to him, as his other hand remained in her raven locks. Kalt smiled at her, his thumb rasping over her jaw gingerly, while he gave her a flickering smile. ”It’s impossible to truly hate someone when you’re in love with them,” he whispered, as he leaned down and claimed her lips.     In the Temple rafters, he had kissed her tamely, gently, almost reassuringly to tell her he wasn’t going to leave. Here, now, every sense within him completely imploded, and he didn’t try to silence the hunger, the desire, the consuming need for everything that was her. He kissed her deeply, passionately, having been starved of her entirely for two fucking years that seemed to disappear in that moment.     If it had been possible to survive off of a person alone, he never would have parted from her. He would have given his whole self over to her and just melted into her beautiful soul, but that wasn’t something he could do, and he hated that he knew it. Kalt only parted their lips when he thought he might drown totally in her touch, releasing an unfortunately shaky breath through parted lips. He thought to apologize, to tell her he knew that she wasn’t ready for something like that, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. It would be a lie. He wasn’t sorry. He couldn’t be sorry, not when he was holding her like this again.

ashe All the dreams that I’m chasing break my heart then replace it. love is all that I have, so let me love who I want Gods, the way he looked at her as his fingers pushed into her hairs, as he traced her jaw… Hope. It was hope she found when he looked at her, smiled at her like that. It wasn’t right, couldn’t be - she would end up crushing that hope and she wouldn’t even try. When Ashe had first begun connecting with people, she hadn’t understood just how much of a mistake she was making. Ashetta Yla, Assassin in Blue, greatest assassin Northwind had ever known… And she was so fucking naive. She’d had no idea what real life was outside of the Guild. She’d had no idea how hard it would be to adjust to things like love from people who had never been broken like she had. She had never been shown anything beyond her hyper-controlled time with her father. Nothing beyond this, that she had been lead to believe had been a lie the entire time. Things like love and hope and connection were things she destroyed without even realizing she was until it was too late. Alistair had spoken the truth: You are incapable of such things. Only pain drives you, pain and anger, and misery are the trinity...your truest loves, and your heart, soul, and body belong to them. But Kalt’s eyes were shining down at her, and he was smiling as if she had never left him in those cold dungeons for execution, as if she hadn’t spent two years putting him behind her, forcing herself to hate him and forget him for things he had never done. Her eyes searched him, looking for the hesitation that should have been there, the anger, the hate, the hurt. She thought to break the moment right then. Step away and make the excuse of wanting to take a look around, because she did want to know more about this place.. But his hand just found her waist and drew her to him with a gentle guidance, and then as he spoke…  her breath left her all at once. Fuck. That was the last thought she managed before his lips were on hers. Sparks and embers ignited in her veins as his mouth slanted over hers, deepening the kiss until her legs threatened to give out beneath her. Her heart strained and raced as she leaned into him, parting her lips for him, tasting him, breathing him in until her head was spinning. Her hand tightened over his back, and gods this wasn’t like being drunk on the rafters and realizing she didn’t want him to go. This… this was wildfire. Raw and utterly consuming. Kalt broke the kiss, and Ashe’s breathing was ragged as her chest rose and fell in an uneven rhythm. She kept herself leaned forward and into him, brow-to-brow as she fought to regain her breath, herself. At some point when their lips had been joined, she had near molded herself against him, and she could feel his heart beating against her. ’It’s impossible to truly hate someone when you’re in love with them.’ It echoed in her head, and she began to tremble. This was wrong. Selfish. Wasn’t it? Her eyes opened, and she was staring at his chest as if she could see the heart that beat beneath. She had asked her mother if she was allowed to want what she didn’t deserve. Love. She had felt more love than she ever thought she would in her entire life in three years, and she had experienced heartbreak, pain, absolute terror she never knew existed. She had hurt people. People had been killed for loving her. She had opened the door to her blackened soul for someone that she should have pushed away, and he had suffered for it. She had found friends that loved her, family. Real family. Gods, and she had fucked up, she fucked up so many times and ruined it all, crushed it. Would they hate her more now, for this, for… for whatever this was? Ashe tilted her head to look up at Kalt, her eyes searching his face. She had suffered too. He had. They had suffered through more than anyone should ever have to, should ever be able to. This… hurting people, hurting herself.. Is this was she was going to do with her second chance? Her crusade was over, and the collateral damage in her quest to end their Master was immense… but it was done. She was left with this life, this worthless fucking life that did so much more bad than good, kept doing bad because it was all she knew. She was taken back to her conversation with her mother then, and something seemed to click into place as she looked up at those crystalline eyes. Would her mother hate her for this? The men she called her brothers? What would they think of Kalt? One of her hands moved to the back of his neck, small fingers curling into the hair at the nape of his neck, the other fisting into the fabric of his uniform where it rested on his chest. She wanted to be better. Maybe she didn’t know how, didn’t even know where to begin. Maybe she didn’t deserve this, maybe she didn’t deserve to feel love again after what she did to Alistair. Maybe she deserved to burn in the blackest depths of the five hells for who and what she was, for everything she had done and failed to do. Fuck that. Ashe leaned up and her mouth crashed into Kalt’s, and lightning burst from her in a powerful pulse outwards - through her, into him, out into that water and grass and earth and the world around them - and she kissed him without restraint, deeply, openly.. full of want and need and hope.

Kalt I say goodbye to my weakness, So long to the regret, and now I see the world through diamond eyes.     He felt her against him, felt the way she molded herself against his form, pressed herself into him. Despite the minimal true skin contact they had right then, his entire body was absolutely blazing with her touch. He felt her breath against him, held those fire blue eyes for as long as he could before he thought his heart might implode from racing. He breathed her in, held onto her scent, her warmth, her until he felt her fingers curling in his hair, around the cloth of his uniform, which made him nearly lose his ability to draw breath. After two years, he had almost forgotten what it was like to be completely enthralled with someone.     Before he could even begin to gather his thoughts, her lips were against his with as much - if not more - ferocity and desire as he had kissed her with. He felt the fuzzy vibrations of electricity surge through him as her lightning shot outward around them.     His fingers gripped at her sides, deepening the kiss and pulling her further into him. He couldn’t help the slight pull of a grin on his lips against hers, didn’t even remotely attempt to keep it hidden. Part of him was trying to keep his own mind tamed, as though he didn’t truly believe it was happening...he was holding her again, he was kissing her again. Surely, this was some sort of fucked up dream that he would wake from with a disheartened sigh. That was the only explanation for the feeling of such purity then, the only way this could really truly actually be happening.     Fucking hells, he had almost forgotten how smitten he was with her.     Let the other men bow down to their kings, their emperors, their masters...he would bow only to one woman, and gods, then and there, he would have given her his life if she asked it of him.     Kalt made his hands finally release the grasp on her skin, traveling over the curve of her backside down to her legs. Once again, he smiled into the kiss, as he lifted her off the ground, his hands securely under her legs, as he took a few steps, pressing her back against a large tree. He pulled away from her lips for just a moment, his breath ragged and eyes searching, before he once again pressed into her, his lips trailing down to her neck while his hands gently squeezed her thighs with a barely contained hunger. Ashetta

ashe All the dreams that I’m chasing break my heart then replace it. love is all that I have, so let me love who I want He pulled her in closer, gripped her tighter, kissed her deeper, and Ashe lost her senses. She sighed into his smile, tasted him and breathed him in, and gods she was smiling too. Her heart was a wild beat in her chest and magic flickered across her skin - emulating her racing pulse. Her head was spinning but she didn't care - she moved into him when his hands roamed downwards, as if he was remapping the curves of her. Then in a fluid movement, Kalt lifted her. In moments her back was pressed against a tree, and the thought she was going to burst apart entirely with the hungry intent he matched her every movement with. It was just when she thought she was going to be seeing stars with her lack of air that he broke away. Ashe took plunging breaths, as her eyes met his. There were no words spoken, nothing needed to be said. Ashe tipped her head back, bared her throat to him as his lips moved down her throat. He drew a soft sigh from her, and her back arced from the tree when he took a firmer hold of her. Gods - burning, fucking gods, she had forgotten. Her fingers tangled into auburn hair as heat surged through every part of her, bright and unstoppable and telling her stop punishing herself - just this once, forgot who and what she had become. It was just her, just him. There was no looming terror that their Master would discover them, that they could have been killed if they made a single mistake. They made it. They survived. And they were here. He was here. For once, she wasn't thinking beyond that. Beyond where his hands where, or every part of him that pressed against her. Her senses seemed to narrow on his mouth and it's journey down her neck, surges of her own magic sending her heart racing wildly with every movement of his lips over her skin. Her hands tightened on him, her legs holding her more securely - and the protest of pain from her leg was as clarifying as it was maddening. Her eyes opened to the sunlit autumn oasis, hazy eyes looking outwards before her lids fell shut one again - coherency was a struggle. "This is a public and popular place," Ashe murmured against Kalt's ear, her voice breathless and shaking.

Kalt I say goodbye to my weakness, So long to the regret, and now I see the world through diamond eyes.     She leaned into his every touch, moving with him, and pressing together as though there was some soul-deep desire to become one being, one body, one heart. Gods, that was possibly his deepest desire then and there, and he had genuine trouble when the last time was that he wanted anyone but her.     Her back arched, pushing them together once again, as her fingers glided through his hair, and he bit teasingly on her neck, not hard enough to leave any kind of true mark on her. Her legs tightened around him, and he moved his hips slowly, forcing patience on himself in a torturous way. The only thing that just barely broke his attention was the shake of her voice that was breathed over his ear.     Kalt broke away from her neck, his lips claiming hers briefly. ”Yes,” he muttered, before delivering another quick kiss. ”It is.” He grinned daringly at her. When they had been together intimately years ago, the places they were together would have been considered insane to most people. Since then, as far as he could tell, she hadn’t exactly been with the most adventurous people. Well, Ashetta was going to be reminded who it was she was dealing with. He smiled into the next kiss, raising his chin just a bit and looking down his nose at her. ”Problem?” There wasn’t much time to answer before he would once again claim her lips.     Releasing a slow breath as he pulled away from her, Kalt would carefully lower her to the ground, removing his tunic with ease in one swift motion. It was a warm enough day, so he had no worries about cold temperatures perhaps being a hindrance.     He eyed her with desire burning to the point he felt that his skin might have been hot to the touch. There was a low, audible sound on his exhale, and he took a step forward, his gaze nearly equal to the hunter closing in on his prey. Once again, he pressed himself against her, his lips finding hers with insatiable hunger. He had been starved of her for far too long, and that famine was fucking over. His hands found their way back under her shirt, pulling her into him for a moment, before he would encourage her own shirt off of her body.

ashe All the dreams that I’m chasing break my heart then replace it. love is all that I have, so let me love who I want His daring grin sent a sharp chill up her spine, coaxing a smile of her own forth. She breathed in his kiss, and when he pulled back to look down to her.. There was a challenge in his tone, and she flashed her teeth in a feral smirk as he claimed her mouth again. Her teeth dragged over his lower lip with a sound of frustration when he pulled away from her again. No, she wasn't denying herself now, she was sick of it, sick of the fear of what her family would think, of the fact that she didn't deserve this. She wanted this. Wanted him. Her legs felt numb when she stood upon them, leaning back against the tree as Kalt stepped back. Ashe tracked every movement, every flicker of muscle and skin as his shirt came away with deliberate intent and control. Her eyes drifted over him, lingering on his bare chest and the harsh X branded into his skin. She swallowed, but her eyes lifted to meet his again and she froze entirely at the sound of what she swore was a growl. His expression turned ravenous. Her breath increased with his approach - there was no hesitation, nothing unsure, not a movement or breath out of place. Oh, gods, gods she was in trouble - she was in so much fucking trouble. He pinned her against the tree with his body, and one of her hands splayed across his scarred chest as she rose up to meet his lips with hers. He kissed her with such fire that heat pounded in her core, and she couldn't help the soft and high sound that slipped from her mouth and into his. She pushed herself against him, but there was little give between the tree and him. He gave way only for his hands to glide under her shirt, pull at it, and she smoothly aided him in lifting the black shirt over her head. Crisp air kissed her bare skin then, gliding over her stomach and for a moment, she left her arms over her head, wearing nothing but tight wrapping of cloth over her breasts from the waist up. With her eyes on him, Ashe flickered a dazed sort of a smile and wrapped her arms behind Kalt's neck. She became aware of every pore in her body when her skin pressed against his. A shaky breath left her lips. Kalt. He was here, right here. She had thought she'd never see him again, had been so absolutely sure she never would never look upon him without a lance of agony and fury in her chest. She had never dared to hope for this, to want it. For so long she had suffocated him in her memory, and loved and lost with the absence of him in her heart. Ashe hands drifted from his neck to cradle either side of his face. As her eyes danced over him, she brushed a thumb over the coarseness of his bearded jaw. Right here. It was amazement that was suffusing into the searing need. Ashe's heart was a wild rhythm against Kalt's chest as she slowly rose to the tips of her toes. She kissed the corner of his mouth, the bow of his lips, the other corner. She just barely brushed her lips over his mouth, and her teeth grazed his lower lip - soft and taunting kisses.

Kalt I say goodbye to my weakness, So long to the regret, and now I see the world through diamond eyes.     Her shirt came off, and he grinned, drinking her in with a near reverent gaze until her arms came to rest behind his neck. Kalt brought his hands back over her body, drifting down her exposed sides when she brought her lips against his. She kissed him slowly, painfully gentle, and his fingertips carefully caressed over her soft skin.     He released a heavy, slow breath, as she teasingly brought her teeth over his bottom lip, and a grin made a brief appearance, as his hands gripped playfully at her bare sides.     Across three worlds he had chased her. How? Honestly, sometimes he had no idea. He chased her in Northwind, caught up to her once and demanded an answer as to why they were apart, why she betrayed him, but received only a promise of death the next time they met. He chased her into Northaven, keeping his presence hidden, merely observing and gathering information, while trying to rid them of the shadow who followed them even still. Now, into this new world, the chase had been accidental, but he knew better than to question it. Now, he had his answer and disproved the lie Ashetta had believed. She knew about her father, about Theea, about the feelings for her he had never been able to smother no matter how hard he fucking tried. Only… Not once did he imagine this… Not once did he see once against having the opportunity to hold her, to kiss her again. He tried to keep his mind from wondering if it was actually real.     Kalt flashed a devious grin, pressing a kiss to her lips before carefully, slowly, trailing his lips down her body, until he was crouching in front of her. He started lowering her pants just barely by the waistline, and his eyes flicked upward with desire blazing in the gaze. The man rose once again, a wicked grin on his lips as he just barely brushed a kiss to her mouth, his fingertips sliding over her bare stomach.     He kept their lips hardly parted, but forcing the slight distance, while his hand moved lower, lower, into the fabric of her pants. He breathed carefully, determinedly, as he felt her, listened to her, touched her deeper still, as he claimed her lips once again, tasting any sounds that might have tried to escape.

ashe All the dreams that I’m chasing break my heart then replace it. love is all that I have, so let me love who I want A smile ghosted over Ashe’s lips with his as he held her sides tighter, as he pulled back from her enough to grin at her. Her arms curled over his shoulders, hands splaying across scars so much like hers as he claimed her mouth once more. Her lips parted against his only for him to drag the kiss away, down her jaw, her throat, her chest. Ashe’s head tipped back as he made a trail of slow, heated kisses down her body. Her entire world constricted to the touch of his lips on her skin. Everything beyond them, beyond him, was a cocoon of light and warmth. Ashe glanced down, and her breath caught as he reached the spot he’d once bitten. He was lowering her pants then, and gods, she was going to forget how to breathe with the way his eyes held hers… and he stopped. She let out a small growl of frustration as he stood, grinning that fucking grin of his. She wanted him, had been without him for too long, had been denying herself any sense of want for too long. She had half a mind to bite his lip until it bled as his mouth brushed with a teasing gentleness over hers. She wanted to kiss him deeply, taste him, lose herself in him, but he didn’t allow the contact as his calloused fingertips feathered over her bare stomach. Her breath shook onto his lips that were so close to hers. His hand slipped beneath the fabric of her pants, further - further, between her legs. She didn’t care about anything else, nothing beyond this - this moment when it was him and her and nothing between them … His lips claimed hers for his own the same moment his hand pushed down the center of her, and Ashe gasped into him, her back arching. He dragged a moan from her throat, one let out against his mouth, his tongue, and she was surviving on his breath. Gods, oh gods, her legs nearly buckled as he pushed deeper still. Lightning lashed through her veins, through the center of her as she moved on him. Kalt. She wanted to say his name, but she kissed him deeper with something that might have been a whimper as hands clawed into his back, his shoulders. Tension was building, acute and unrelenting, and she pushed against his hand with demand.