05-07-2019, 07:33 PM
VulgariS
" i could be ugly in loving you. filthy and soft-mouthed. wolf-tongued and terrible.
i could carry my heart in my mouth like a bird dog to you, so gently i wouldn’t leave a mark. "
i could carry my heart in my mouth like a bird dog to you, so gently i wouldn’t leave a mark. "
He has always believed that he is only as good as his word, that honesty was his only redeeming quality, if he had any at all. It keeps him here and forces his tongue when he proclaims all his sins against her skin like a confessional booth. Vulgaris trusts her with every ugly inch of him because in her palms they are raw and real and safe from being twisted into some beautiful lie. She is the only one who sees him for what he is and loves him in spite of it. Or at least, she used to be. Maybe now her collection of his secrets is just a grain of sand at the beach, innumerous and useless as the next. It used to mean the world for him to give them to her though.
She demands that their children relocate and he laughs, a sound like tired feet shuffling across creaking floorboards. Not even the greatest mages in all corners of Beqanna could command their brood to obey. They have raised their girls to be fierce and unyielding to even the heaviest hands. Their compasses point them to whatever bright future they hunt that day.
“Adna has started a family of her own in Loess. When her child is born, she won’t leave without a fight. And you and I both know Sabbath will follow her to the ends of the earth,” he says with a smile that is weighed down by the dreams it cradles. Did she know they were going to be grandparents, or would she have to use her magic to learn that? “Malca and Linnea will do as they please, but I will try to bring them to you. Larke and Chronos.. they need someone who will hold them while they sleep and kiss them when they have nightmares.”
He hesitates and lets his gaze drift toward the setting sun, washing the snow red and gold in Leliana’s likeness. He speaks as though he’s dying and he supposes that he might. To fall by her hand would be a suitable end, he thinks. One last war waged alongside Wolfbane after he kisses their children goodbye. Vulgaris can’t be mad at it.
“If you take one step into Loess with even the thought of her destruction, I will defend her until my dying breath.” He looks back at her, forces his chin up and dares to look her in the eye – sage green meeting depthless gold. The thousand suns of his heart burn bright as ever for her but he is only as good as his word, and he swore an oath to defend his home. “So you bring your heavens and I’ll bring you my hell.”
He wants to kiss her goodbye because he knows that the next time they meet will not afford him such luxuries, but he refrains. Vulgaris forces the emotion from his face as he turns to leave. Inside, his heart is nothing but a bloody pulp still slamming itself into her stone wall.
