show them the joy and the pain and the ending

He startles her in thoroughly unexpected ways. First in his response to her theft, then in response to her trickery. She has seen so much of the world, in a way few others could ever hope to. She likes to believe she is familiar with the nature of those she shares this world with; she has seen so much that it is difficult not to be.

But then, she had sought him out for just these reasons. He is unique, and she cannot resist the temptation of the odd and singular.

It does not stop her from being taken aback however.

For several long moments, she remains stiff beneath his caresses, his gentle kisses - true to her nature, icy and steadfast. His words are what undoes her however. Let me see you.

The words hold far more meaning than he could ever know. Only two others have seen the true Heartfire. Her brother (her dearest twin who would always hold a special place in her heart) and her once-love, from that long ago dream.

It is a terrible inclination, one she will no doubt regret, but still she allows the vision to melt away. In seconds blue and white replaces brown and red, wings disappearing as her own slender frame coalesces in his sight. Not her true self, but something the rest of the world had never seen.

Her chilly and overbearing demeanor had always worked well in keeping the world at bay. Until today, at least. No one has dared to touch her so boldly in a very long time. And she finds herself… enjoying it. Far too much.

Her breath hitches just a bit in her throat, her skin tightening, heating, anticipating the next touch. Her dark eyelids flutter before closing, shielding the brilliant blue of her gaze. ”This is a dangerous path you tread.” The words are spoken softly, with not nearly as much rancor contained in then as there should have been.

heartfire

i filled up my senses with thoughts from the ghosts

show them the joy and the pain and the ending

She should lash out. Should drive him away just as she had so many others before him.. She should do those things and so many others. But she does not.

Instead she sees nothing but the darkness of her closed eyes, allowing herself to feel those gentle touches. She doesn't open her eyes when he withdraws (he could not see the way they have changed then, could not see the softness or heat that have invaded), though her body almost quivers at the loss, in anticipation.

She is not quite certain why he persists. Surely she is not the most alluring, and certainly not the most accommodating, woman he could be with now. Given her character, he cannot even be certain how she might react. She does not even know how she might react, given the foreign and singular nature of this moment. Still, he does not disappoint, pressing against her once more, nibbling tenderly at her arched crest as his words echo in the air around them.

No, his words do not surprise her. They are of a similar mind, the two of them. Neither fearing danger in the ways they perhaps should. She is not entirely sure why, but the admission causes the stiffness she had been holding in her frame to melt away.

She becomes suddenly much more pliant, softer in the way that women should be. She finally opens her eyes, her dark, velvety muzzle drifting to his shoulder as she does so. She traces the ridge of bone there, a tenderness in her touch that had not existed previously.

”No,” she whispers softly, breath feathering against his skin. ”But given the circumstances, it is only fair you be warned.”

heartfire

i filled up my senses with thoughts from the ghosts

show them the joy and the pain and the ending

Oh yes, she did know that. She had seen the results, his lack of warning. But she is not so easily made victim. He had readily discovered the hardness and sharpness of her edges, just as she had discovered his. Just as she had discovered the softness that dwelled too closely beneath that terrible surface of his. She is not so easily hidden from.

She likes to think she has no softness beneath the finely crafted exterior of her flinty surface. She likes to think that there are none who could reach that deep. But he had proven her wrong. Proven that there is a woman who wants, who longs for what she cannot have, beneath the icy face of the once-queen.

That does not mean she would not try to take it however. He had shown her what she is missing, and she is ultimately a selfish creature.

But she lets him go. She lets him go because whatever else her faults, she would not force this one thing that should be given freely.

She feels the retreat of his touch, the retreat of his gentle caresses and heated frame. She had become so lost in the lazy patterns he traced upon her skin that for a moment, the loss disorients her. But it does not last. Cannot last.

Her eyes, so recently soft and a bit hazy, filled with an unfamiliar heat, sharpen and cool. Becoming once more the vibrant, distinctive stare that is so uniquely Heartfire. She does not speak, not even to mitigate the loss of that closeness she had not felt in so terribly long. 

Instead she lets him move away, leaving him with all of his faculties.

When he asks her if she will let him leave, she only smiles, the faintest curve of her lips, corners kicking up ever so slightly. And when he asks if she will find him again, she almost doesn’t answer. Almost gives him only the cool stare that is so familiarly hers. She cannot find it in herself to be quite that cruel however, not to the man who had so very recently shown her just what she is missing in this life. ”Perhaps.” The word is soft, almost a whisper, but there is promise in her tone.

heartfire

i filled up my senses with thoughts from the ghosts