and you say that i hurt you in a voice like a prayer, leliana

[vulgaris]

VulgariS

take me, take me back to your bed. i love you so much that it hurts my head.
say, i don't mind you under my skin. oh, let the bad parts in, the bad parts in.

Looking at her, it’s so easy to imagine how many times he would walk through fire just to stay near her like this. Shiya fades from his memory when he looks into her eyes and all the shadows flee in the light of her love. The world goes quiet when she’s around. His thoughts don’t race to violence, to disaster, and back again. She is an oasis in the desert of his life, he thinks, and he wants to stay with her until the end of time takes them both. She says his name and it’s the first drink of water he’s had in a hundred years.

He lifts his chin to fully expose the most vulnerable parts of his neck. This is a solemn promise of trust, of the absolute love he feels for her and their growing family. Vulgaris lips at curve of her neck when she buries her face in his neck. It feels wrong not to kiss her skin every moment they’re pressed tight together like this. She explains how she never wanted to leave Loess or him and the relief washes over him to hear her say it.

But they have to face the dangers that lie ahead. He knows this.

“No one will harm our family, Leliana. I won’t let them,” he explains as he kisses along to her shoulder, relearning the curves of her body. His pale green eyes examine the swell of their next unborn child within her belly. “Come home. We’ve found somewhere protected from the plague for the Loessians and Sylvans to stay for now.”

His eyes betray the fear seeping into him, though, knowing that Shiya has already found her way to the Pampas. But if he can keep Leliana safe, if Adna gets to come home, then he will do whatever it takes. Even if it means tearing his sister apart. (He dreams of it, knowing that she swore to harm his children. He craves it now.) Vulgaris pulls his head from her shoulder and rests his lips gently to her forehead as he tries to come to terms with what lies ahead.

“Once you’re home, Wolfbane and the others can watch over you while I go get Adna.”

But they each know things won’t be quite that easy. It’s going to have to get worse before it can ever get better.

@[leliana]