ᴀꜱʜᴇɴ ꜰʟᴏᴡᴇʀ || ᴘᴀꜱꜱɪᴏɴ & ᴅᴇᴠ

[Devils Temptation]

Land of Flowers

Here, the earth breathes softly,
its skin covered in a living tapestry of color.
Each blossom opens like a whispered secret,
revealing its heart to the sky.

The air is thick with the scent of life,
wild and unashamed,
and the wind moves gently,
as if careful not to disturb the fragile beauty.

In this place, time forgets to move.
The petals fall slowly,
not as endings, but as beginnings—
a cycle of quiet rebirth.

This is a land where sorrow cannot root,
where even the stones are cradled
by the soft embrace of green,
and all that blooms, blooms forever.

---

---

Ash, blood, and the sounds of pleading screams. There were few hallmarks as potent in war as the scent of death. Oftentimes, that stench and noise clung so tightly to the survivors that it followed their every movement and thought until their very last dying days. Unfortunately, that was hardly the worst aspect of it all. Those who perished in a battle were oftentimes the lucky ones. Those that remained? Soldiers that lived were a commodity. Refined gradually through one Hell-like battle after another... each and every single one culling off more and more. Some might have described it as a blessing to make it from one battle to the next, others would refer to it as a curse. Everyone that fell lingered somewhat on the people who remained. Every ally, every family member, every life taken hung on like a ghoul to the backs of those who treaded onto the next day. With everyone single departed, that weight only grew heavier and more bitter.

That desire for revenge only grew stronger.

The hatred only seemed to seethe more, as if everyone taken had collectively aimed their grievances into the remaining few that survived.

If he closed his eyes, he could remember them. Those flowers. Clouds above like pure wisps of sugary floss. Brisk, chilled that slipped into his lungs like a fresh sip of cold water on a hot day. If he kept his eyes closed for too long, that sight was inevitably replaced by the sight of something else -

-

Ash, blood, and the sounds of pleading screams.
​

---

​

"You must understand, don't you?! Just like with us, that foul bitch stole everything that was precious to us! You must have been a good man once, you must have seen what the Empire leaves in its fucking warpath!" Pleading words from a hoarse throat, the palm of an older man clenching the chest plate atop himself. Numerous scarring had woven down the entirety of his facial features, a carve to his lip, a nick to his ear... an eyepatch lingering over his left eye likely after being lost in battle. Saddled against the right half of his chest were numerous medals and honorable accolades from his time in battle, but in that moment he had been steadily tearing them off one by one. Each and every single one was cast onto the ground with another thrust.

Each one at the foot of those black greaves that stood right in front of him. Torn and shattered apart. Stomped furiously as if every shove of his heel would smother the actions that had awarded him those medals in the first place. Pleadingly, he wrapped his hands together and lowered his forehead to the younger raven-haired knight in front of him.

"Why are you throwing all your awards onto the ground? They're the evidence that your loyalty belongs to the Empire. In this world, where the Empire is the one faction that rises above all... you're casting away everything that gives you value." Calmly, with a tone like pure ice, the younger man knelt and picked up the stomped down medals. Five of them that had been torn off the side of the older soldier's jacket. Nestling them into his grip like a delicate bouquet of flowers, he shoved one back onto the man's chest.

"Battle of Nightfall Creek. You bravely lead your cavalry amongst a larger force of infantry and completely eradicated every man in the platoon. To the point that the entirety of that tribal nation's population collapsed and was assimilated over night." One instance of genocide. Not too unusual, for the Empire's tactics. Feeling through the other medals, he picked up another and smashed it next to the first - right back on top of the knight's chest.

"The Siege of Kyraust. For fourteen days and fourteen nights, you sat valiantly at the gates of the fortress city and starved out every man, woman, and child within those walls until - by the end of the siege - the city you entered was so famished and broken that you could count the number of families that survived could be counted on one hand." Smudged the medal with his thumb, he moved to a ribbon next... preparing to award it back to the night once again before his wrist was clenched.

"Please... you know. You know why it had to be done. I live with those mistakes every day of my life... I have had enough. We need to stop the destruction - the loss of life. Somewhere, deep down, you know that too! Do you remember?!" One more plead to the younger knight's sensibilities... a tremor of happiness flickering along the older man's expression when he saw the knight's eyes flutter close and that faint hint of stress to clench against his jawline in a look that was equal parts pensive as it was introspective. Yes. He understood it well... the Empire was the strongest of all the nations on the continent. Spearheaded by an Empress with ultimate control and power over the whole of her empire, they operated through a system of warfare and assimilation. Neighbors and borders were constantly being raided and overtaken. Those who survived the bloodshed were given a place in the Empire - after all, it was a society that put strength above all else.

Former royalty. Generals. Anyone who could have even an ounce of value to the Empire was inevitably assimilated into their territory and their political system. They were given a place in the machine that continued to devour and take in all of those around them who were too weak to defend themselves. He was no different. The former prince of a small, mostly passive nation in the North - a place known for its flowers and a holy site for many. The type of country that one would have never expected to be raided and razed. He remembered it clear as day, when the first regiment of cavalry trampled past those meadows and set one of his villages aflame. The first of many. No amount of pleading or diplomacy would have absolved them - the Empire needed complete control of that small little nation in order to solidify a glaring hole within their borders... and so? They killed everyone that had once been in charge, they left no one but those that could be incorporated.

Out of the nearly fifty-thousand that had been living in the Principality of Floara, one hundred and fifty people survived.

Out of those one hundred and fifty who survived, one hundred and thirty were enslaved.

Nineteen were conscripted into the Empire's army.

One had been given a place among the generals of that Empire.

Prince Tyre Floara VII

A young man that had risen staggeringly quickly amongst the ranks of the Empire as a genius tactician and a fearsome general in war - capable of employing both brutal and courageous tactics while also handling himself with grace and eloquence. Soft spoken at the right times but strong and firm in the others.

When his gaze fluttered open once more, a bittersweet look lingered in his inky black eyes while his gaze remained cast down to the remaining medals on the ground. "You asked me if I remember... I do. Every time I close my eyes, I remember." Solemn, soft words that dripped a sense of understanding at the man's plight. ...And, for just a few moments, there was such an overwhelming look of relief atop the man's expression until the sudden --

CRUNCH.
SPLATTER.
SMACK.
​

One smooth draw of the sword at his hip, drawing one slice vertically along the man's neck to cut straight through his throat and decapitate him cleanly. A faint splash of blood danced along the tip of that blackened blade to dust Tyre's right cheek and before the head had fully rolled atop the ground, he would catch it by the hair to hold it in front of himself all while that splatter of blood wasted all over the discarded medals below.

"It is precisely because I remember that injustice that I cannot let a sloppy rodent like you get in the way. Do you understand that? You and I are not the same. You lost the moment you tried to strike at the pillars supporting this Empire." Dropping the head atop that fallen body, Tyre would let out an all too gentle laugh for how brutally he had offed the man beneath him.

"There is only one thing that you should've struck. Her Highness, the Empress." That was the only damage that would do anything worthwhile. Swiping his blade off to the side, he let a slick arc of blood splatter onto the ground off his weapon before he sheathed the sword and turned around with one flourish of his cape to make his way out of the barracks where the two had been speaking to one another. It was a simple, poorly thought out plot from one of the more senior generals to recruit Tyre into a coup to overthrow the Empress.

One that failed miserably because of how laughably sloppy it was...

Seemingly from the loyalty of one of her subjects.

But...

That could not be further from the truth.

Tyre would not bother to report this incident to the Empress, however. Something so insignificant was not ultimately worth her time, he had deemed. Indeed, there were countless attempts at rebellion from within the Empire that assimilated all those that it had once declared war on and crushed beneath its boot. In that sea of those who it took under its mantle, there were many who wished to enact revenge. The larger the Empire grew, the more unstable it became. The more common these attempts had become.

Every day was another attempt to overthrow the Empire and the powers that sat atop the throne...

Every day was another failure.

They were sloppy. Their resolve was not ironclad enough. He would show them what it really meant to overthrow an Empire.

---

There were many pitiful attempts that oftentimes missed the ears of the Empress, but the one Tyre thwarted a few days prior was too momentous to not be heard of, whether through advisors or through traveling gossip - he would've inevitably been summoned to the royal capital to explain why he had kept secret his merciless execution of a senior general. The Royal Capital was a bastion of a city, built atop such profound hordes of gold and riches that some described it as the cradle of Heaven. No less was expected of the one woman who forged the entirety of the Empire, who ensured that all those riches - all that power - all the talent would funnel back into that one city that sat at the very center of the empire.

Tyre had arrived immediately upon being sent the letter demanding his audience to the Empress. Fresh-dressed in similarly dark colors, not a single blemish or hint of mess anywhere along his faintly pale features. Nor was there any type of concern on his expression. Keeping such information from his superior officers, in itself, could have been seen as treason. That he merely killed an accomplice that had gotten too sloppy. Treason was met swiftly with execution. In spite of it all? He merely lifted his index finer within the handle of that tea cup, bringing it to his lips for another leisurely sip until an attendant entered the waiting lounge and gave him a brief salute before announcing firmly.

"The Empress will see you now. Please leave any weapons within the lounge. They will be handled delicately and given to you upon your return!" To which Tyre had grasped the sash holding his sword to his hip and lifted it high enough to sling his arm underneath it and settle it down atop the table. With that, he followed the attendant as he was lead through those massive halls. Past several lines of infantry and numerous royal guards... and then finally brought to the towering red gates of her Highness' throne room.

​

He had seen those gates only once before. One mere week after his country had been razed to charcoal. When he was forced to meet the Empress' summons and she immediately took him within her army and her country... a night that replayed in his head time and time again. Silently, he treaded towards those gates to push them open with one hand and proceed into the throne room. Exactly five steps. No more, no less, before he settled into a kneel atop that red carpet and in front of the throne.

"My Empress. You have called and I have answered. Please allow me to apologize for keeping the execution of General Garm from you - I wished to lessen your work by keeping the squashing of an insignificant bug from your attention." Holding his head low, he kept his fist on the carpet and kept his other arm folded behind his back - not daring to raise his head to her. "I will accept any punishment you deem fit for my actions." Insignificant. To describe the killing of one of the most affluent and powerful generals of the Empire insignificant was nothing short of amusing. Yet, he had always been like that. No matter what problem she may have had - no matter how overwhelming or how soul-crushing it felt to resolve... he always remained in her shadows and swept it all up. Every single time.

Even this coup was no different. All of it was resolved before she even had a chance to lose a single second of sleep to the thought of it...

 

[Devils Temptation]

I never had the chance to ripen sweetly before I matured into someone bitter, but at least I have survived.​

"You played the hand you were given, as all must do. It has brought you here. To me. You cannot reclaim what was taken to you... but there is always more to be gained if you move forward." Not just for her but for him as well. Even as she continued to chew those bitter thoughts of their delay, that irritation that briefly spiked was only met with a gentler touch. Sweet, fleeting caresses and the soft assurance against her ear that everything would work out just fine. Moving too ahead meant nothing if the army did not make their way to them. They had this night and hopefully, they would transition to a more measured pace in the future. A commander was nothing without his army. Keeping his lead tight around his knuckles, he would continue past the woman to tie his own horse up to a post nearby to an open clearing. Momentarily, the man would pause in the midst of it to quietly stare back at her in response to those skeptical words of hers. "You will let me worry about that, Veah. Whether I can, or I cannot... isn't that what drew you to me in the first place?"

A chance to show her that warmth, that intimacy. A chance that he took and proved to her that he was well beyond the others. Once his horse had been properly tied, the soldier would move on to setting up the camp supplies first. One tent because ultimately, in private, both of them knew they would not keep their hands to themselves. Grasping along the iron stake, he would be quick to set up the essentials. Body laid atop a higher patch of smoother grass before he set up the grommets and then eventually pitched the tent - pressing just a bit of pressure onto it from the side to ensure that it would hold comfortably through the colder winter breeze. That request to kiss more had not fallen on deaf ears. Even the simplest intimacy was a new spark for someone so starved and he was more than willing to nurture it for her.

We probably could if we were in fucking Kyrel like we should be.​

"But we are not. We are here. In each other's company. Sometimes the world sends us fights we are not capable of winning. It is for that reason that we plan and we adapt... we overcome. You know that best of anyone, Veah. Don't you? Now... come here." Tyre had given her some time to start preparing a fire but not enough to finish it up. An arm curled around her waist, bringing her back against his chest before he took over for her. Settling onto the colder ground, he sat her atop his lap and cupped her jaw - forehead pressed to her own for the two to look into each other's eyes for a few fleeting moments. "What else would you want to do with me? I can tell you a world of what I wish to do to you. Most of which would certainly get me executed." ...Brief, playful smirk covering his features and a quirk of his brow and a passing kiss before pulling away. A joke. Yes... surely.

Sparking against some starter, the flames would rush to life and with it he would nestle a little closer against it - taking a moment to undo his overcoat to guide her a little closer and drape the larger fabric around both of them while they warmed up in front of the flames. "So...what should I fill your mind with today, Veah?" Traces of his fingertip over her collarbone. The fire had grown to a level that the heat was cast upon the entire clearing. Warm breath brushing against her jaw, the constant temptation was right there to grow achingly soaked in the warmth he provided to her. Kissing down her neck and jawline, every word he spoke was a delectable rumble against her bare skin.

Before the heat grew too overwhelming, Tyre had taken the opportunity to leave a pot of snow atop the flames - water to prepare food and to drink later... but it only took a few moments to turn his attention entirely back to her. "I enjoy it when you cry for me, Veah." Cupping her chin, the roam of his thumb over her lower lip was deliberately slow and sensual -- as if at any moment he would tug on her chin or her lips to crash them to his... just to leave her wanting and needy by brushing down her jawline or neck. "Should I care? That you are the strongest woman in this Empire? The one that stands at the top? For me... you embody just one identity. My woman. You are my Veah. Nothing will change that, my little winter blossom." Brushing her locks back, he pressed one more adoring kiss to the center of her forehead... followed by the faint unbuckling of her armor to reach to her undershirt. Broad, masculine palm flattening against her bare breast with a firm squeeze - right against her heart. Possessive, but not necessarily sultry. It was had been less of a grope and more of a mark of ownership.

That she was going nowhere now that she was in his arms. That she fit perfectly within his grasp.

"Would you like to know something vile? Surely something that will make you upset with me -" Tracing his free palm down her stomach, he planted his palm just a moment above her thighs. "-that night I restrained you, I had that temptation you told me never to entertain. I wanted to finish inside of you. More than just for that craving to bury you in warmth, I have urges to claim everything about you. I, too, had a family before the Empire killed them. Did you know?" Perhaps not. His relationship with that woman was a secret. An uglier blight on the royal family that was hidden until the very last moment - she would not have known about Marisol. "So perhaps this is an unsightly, unpleasant attribute for you in a man - I think of us quite a bit... more than just bed warmers. Lovers in proper who can fill that void of what we call family for one another. We have both lost so much, after all..."

Another embrace, hand grasping through her locks to bury her face against his chest. "...Tell me about your family, Veah. Right here, in a place and a time where I alone can keep you safe. I want to know. I want to know about the love you lacked and then... I want you to surrender to me so I can provide it to you. Not just for tonight, but always. You can do that for me, Veah... can't you?" The further she sank into her trust for him, the tighter his grasp around her became. The warmth was the least of her concern now - even though that, too, had began to overwhelm their bodies. The way he held her heart, that was quickly becoming the true danger.

 

[Passion]

As he set up the tent, Veah gathered stones and sticks that could be used as firewood. Luckily, there was plenty around, but it was difficult to find dry wood. At least they shouldn't need their fire for long, although she still was having daydreams about unraveling near a plush fireplace. Such a strange thought for the empress to carry since before Tyre, her fantasies were simply void. Just as she laid out the stones and sticks, he scooped her up by her waist to have her sit on his lap on the ground. Veah was known for her confidence, but she felt meek when it came to the delightful feelings she had for him. She didn't know how to express them very well, but she could no longer deny them.

Her arms wrapped around his neck, and she nuzzled her nose with him. "Like you haven't already done things that should have gotten you executed." And yet… it was those things that pried her open and allowed him to touch not only a different side of her but her heart. "I… I don't have the words to describe all I want to do with you." Her arms squeezed him a bit tighter, practically clinging to the man. "I guess I would boil it down to saying I want to keep exploring these feelings in as many ways as we can." She wanted to understand; she wanted to sate the soul-deep ache in her core. One that had only been patched up with coldness and bloodshed in her life.

He would manage to kindle their fire, and she would glance at it as he took off his coat to wrap them up. Her icy eyes would flicker back to him, and her breath would still as his question caused her blood to rush. Had he known how much she had been thinking about him? Like a song stuck in her head, she couldn't stop. She kept trying to drown away and control the thoughts with her missions and even tried to turn them into wrath, but… it all just led back to him and the warmth. Not only that, he had shown her that when he filled her mind, she could find a quiet peace. It was one reason why she had slept so soundly and deeply by his side.

It was as if he had known that her emotions were surfacing as his lips teasingly trailed down her neck to her jaw. His words regarding her tears caused her to stir. As a woman who hated weakness, she hated to cry. Or...- "I enjoy it too, even though I shouldn't." That was what truly made her a hypocrite, but was that bad if she was weak but happy when off the battlefield and throne? To let down her title, walls, and personal fears to be raw was nothing short of a breathtaking experience. It was so messy but so liberating.

She could feel that unexplainable magnetic force again as he carefully touched her face; their lips lingered close and yet didn't connect. She would have labeled herself as a woman who didn't like intimacy, but when caught up in his arms, he had a way of making her not only crave it but want to overdose on something she hadn't realized she had been missing.

He had claimed her with his words before unbuckling her armor to physically grasp her as well. With her soft breast in his hand, he surely would have felt how her heart was fluttering and her usually cool skin was warm. She could tell the gesture was beyond sexual. He hinted to her heart... her core… was in the palm of his hand.

This power over her was so utterly dangerous.
Even more so than having his rageful hand around her throat.
He now had the power to break her beyond the physical.
In a way that might bring her to her end without him lifting a finger.​

She leaned back a bit to search his face as he hinted at a secret she might not like. She hoped his truth wouldn't pop the bubble of warmth she was wrapped up in. Listening to him closely, her eyes widened slightly as he revealed his craving the last time their bodies were tangled as one. He then mentioned his fallen family, and while there were many reasons people could meet their end in this world, she already knew she had a high chance she was involved, especially since she was there when his homeland was set aflame. Did she feel guilt? No, not really. Honestly, with how many sins she had committed in this world, if she ever started to feel guilt, she simply would not survive. The only hope was to stop her or to use her position to bring healing.

He wanted to be a family? With a woman like her? Even though their hearts were becoming tied, it didn't take much logical thinking to know it was probably a bad idea. Even still… "I am happy you kept your promise to me and didn't." It was more than just the risk of what could happen, but he had kept his word to her. "I've never thought about being part of a family but… I kind of understand. My instincts wanted you to too. I never had such an impulse. I wanted to give you everything." Her lack of self-control in the heat of the moment was quite flustering to the woman who held herself to high standards. "Maybe you can if you somehow make my instincts flare up like that again." She was learning there was a reward in giving into him and the moment. She would try to let her mind stay present and not trip over the consequences. In the end, she was sure she could handle just about anything given the fact she had already conquered more hardships than one girl alone should ever have to handle. So many she spitefully spread her misery as a form of power and control, but what if she could spread something... warmer?

She squeezed him close to her as he brought her in. and she refused to let go as her system realized how much she had already missed his embrace. She wanted to stay locked up in his arms until they collapsed. He had told her to not just open up but surrender to him. He was always so incredibly bold each and every time they were together. Perhaps what was even more puzzling was how she usually went along with it or at least considered it. With everyone being stuttering fools around her, it was a man who spoke clearly and directly that she listened to the most closely.

"There is not too much to say about my family. They handled me like a cursed object until they decided to throw me away since I was not worth the risk and tarnish to the royal name." There simply wasn't any love. She didn't know of love, and there wasn't actually much to say about it. In the absence grew a bitter cold. "I have to wonder, will you feel the same for me if you knew the same truth as my family?" She paused before she explained. "I am not just mad, and it is not just a fable; Xemva is real. This empire is not for me; it is for her." She took a breath, trying to keep herself relaxed enough to keep speaking to him and trusting him. "You must believe me that she is real. Once I have enough control over this world, I will push for religious reform; I will be the icon of Xemva. The more they worship Xemva and I, the stronger we will become. I am willing to do this all for the only one in this world who has always been there for me" She pulled back enough so she could search his eyes that flickered with the reflection of flames. Would he really accept her dark and divine truth? In a twisted way, Veah had proven she would go excessively far for the one who was constantly there for her, even her empire. "But when you are close, her words and influence soften… she doesn't like it but…"

She paused as emotion again gripped her heart. The way he had said her name still resonated in her mind. "This... feeling…" Her blue eyes started to glisten with welled-up tears. She hated how these new emotions and chemicals gripped her, but she loved how they flowed through her and coated her scars. She thought about how he could keep providing these feelings to her, how he sparked her in a way that she could give them back. He was the only soul that could, the only one who knew how to touch her heart and the only one brave enough to even attempt.​

What would this unlock in her?
How would she change?

"Am… I in love with you, Tyre?" A question another person shouldn't have to answer, but she was emitting love, and her skill with intimacy was practically nonexistent. "It has to be love... I've had so many highs in my life, but nothing has felt like this. It reminds me of books, songs, and plays… I… thought it was nothing more than an illusion the weak fell for." This is what she had been without? This is what she needed? The emotions and new perspective were getting under her skin to the point she felt dizzy and slightly faint; however, she would not be fading out on him. She needed him far too badly at that moment as her mind and heart blossomed.

Her hand slid over to the side of his face, her forehead again butting against his. "It is so dangerous to need you like this… to have you weaved in my heart… and so if this is all true… if you mean what you said, it truly can't just be for tonight." It was far too profound. "I still must appease Xemva but... I need you, Tyre. I need your love..." With her next blink, tears rolled down her cheeks. - She would surrender.

She could wear all the armor she wanted, and still, she would be defenseless to the man who cultivated and bloomed these feelings inside of her. She was regrowing not as a thorned rose, but as his delicate and beautiful winter blossom.

 

[Devils Temptation]

Something warmer... to think that the two of them would ever even contemplate a thought like that in the world they had created. Carnage-soaked wasteland where a person's life amounted to nothing more than a smear over a dirt floor. Tyre would not even bother to entertain that thread, or that thought for anything more than a few moments... it was too intense of a thought to think of in that moment and something that would invite a far more messier dynamic into something that was already a tangled nightmare. Rather, he turned to her talk of her family. A story passed along through rumors and gossip, some of which immortalized into myth but nothing shed light onto that rumor like words from the woman herself. Every few words, he would squeeze a little tighter around her or press another kiss to her jaw or her cheek to gentle coax her to continue on.

I have to wonder, will you feel the same for me if you knew the same truth as my family?​

"This is a relationship not driven by fear. You know that as well as I do. When I made the mistake to think you would despise what you saw on the battlefield... it harmed our relationship. Do not think the same way. You know what this relationship is truly driven by." Passionate, overwhelming heat and a love for one another that practically started to dip into the territory of adoration. Perhaps it was too soon, perhaps she was putting him on a pedestal, perhaps they were merely love starved... but he did not operate on fear, not when it came to her. That was the last thing he felt towards Veah. Until she had finally admitted that 'truth' that had caused her family to so mercilessly ostracize her. Xemva. The Dark Goddess. Words that seemed better comin out of the lips of a religious fanatic rather than the woman grounded in harsh, pragmatic realism that he had come to know the Empress as. There was not a look of acceptance in his eyes, nor was there a look of rejection. Just a simple, passive stare that held no real opinion in particular of what she had said to him. "...Why does she not like it? Does she not love you herself? If she is what has kept you alive, I will adore her all the same... surely she must know that too." No. SHE KNEW WHERE THE LIES STARTED AND WHERE THEY ENDED. Although Tyre himself had not understood that in the moment... he felt a small twinge of longing towards that Goddess.

Not the exact same as the one that they worshipped in the North, but one that was adjacent enough for his head to fill of thoughts of her. Cold, merciless chill that was like the embrace of returning home once more...

...had that been why she had turned out so warped? Divine providence coaxing her to destroy and raze to satisfy her Goddess' tendencies and urges? Maybe there was a split... maybe there was a Veah without the world burning around her. Those absent-minded fantasies would cease at the sudden drip of tears along the edge of her eyes. "...Ah, there you are again. You pile up too much, far too often." As if deliberately encouraging her heart to ache even harder, his tone only grew sweeter and softer - a brush of fingertips on velvet, that was what his voice would feel like against her ear. Pressing a kiss right on to her lips, he nudged his thumb over her lashes for that slow, leisurely acceptance. For a few moments there were no words. Just the intense stare into one another's eyes, the way their foreheads nestled against one another, or the intimate - slower nuzzle of their noses warming one another in the merciless winter night. Tyre had not spoken until she had spoken up herself.

Am… I in love with you, Tyre?​

He wished.

He wished he knew.

He wished that the concept of love was something he understood. There was only one woman in the world who had made him taste it and that woman was long since gone... what was it that he felt towards Veah? Or that Veah felt towards him? Obligation? Lust? Some toxic dependence on a scrap of affection? WHAT WAS IT? It drove him wild to try and rationalize it, to reason as to why they were so overwhelmingly attracted to each other. "Would you like to find out, Veah? I hardly have all the answers you seek. A firm and to guide you, yes, but I am learning as much as you are in this moment. You are not the only one who feels in moments like these... I want to wrap my hand around your heart until your pulse quickens and your only thought is that single-minded, obsessive craving for me. Do you know why...?" Grasping her collar with a tug of his fingertip, his achingly hot breath growled against her nape in a small trail of kisses up to her ear.

"...Because every single day you have had me fantasizing about you. In my thoughts. My every waking moment. Filled with you. Your voice, your smile, the sensation of your body beneath me or how you cling so desperately to me as if I have any attention to leave you. Such a fucking joke. I would sooner die before letting anyone else have you." ...Words that might have even reminded her of how possessive her Goddess was over her, now reiterated in the man that made her feel so much more aching heat.

I still must appease Xemva but... I need you, Tyre.
I need your love...​

"Shhh... do not worry about your Goddess. She will not turn her back on you. I will make sure to cultivate her as much as she pleases if that is what is required... on your behalf." If what her Goddess wished for was the growth of the Empire, the growth of her faith -- he was happy to provide it to her... but there was no mistake to be made, he would be taking Veah in return. In that moment, the thought of food had long since been forgotten. The raw vulnerability and heat they felt for one another had his hands wandering far more possessively over her frame. Slender, softer feminine curves squeezing and groping along her body before the general picked her up effortlessly. One forearm tucked beneath her rear, another slipping onto the back of her hair to tangle his fingers between her silver locks along with the low drag of his fingernails down her scalp.

"Do you want me tonight, Veah? Then..." Every step they took, she felt that trail of kisses wandering elsewhere. Down her cheek, over her neck, along her collarbone... opening her top up before pressing along her cleavage until he had navigated their way to the tent and the softer furs of their makeshift bed would clash against her back with a softer thud from the larger man pinning her down. Both palms flattened on the ground on either sides of her waist and though she was freezing cold and bitter a mere hour ago, now it felt as if things were too hot. That the clothes were a nuisance atop both of them and they could not wait a single second to strip them off.... if Tyre would allow her. One hand kept grasped tight around her wrist and his lips wandered a little lower to press a line of kisses down her stomach and right against her inner thigh.

"...Should I give you a love mark here, Veah? To show you are mine? Do you really think I will let you have another concubine at this point...?" A deliberate brush of his fingertips against her warmer core, thumb grinding against the softer, clothed entrance. "...All your desires are mine to satisfy. I refuse to fuck you tonight until you tell me how much you love me and how loyal you are to the pleasure only I can provide you tonight." At some point it may have very well been humiliating to her... but now, there was a different tint. Liberation. Pure, complete surrender and admitting whatever was in her heart and on her mind - to let someone else handle everything in that moment instead of constantly having to fight every second of her life, to plan and manipulate with every thought, to ALWAYS struggle to be alive -- he would let her live and feel safer and more loved than she had at any point in her life in the past.

 

[Passion]

Did he not see that what he hated most about her was tied to the Xemva? The goddess was said to bring death, coldness, and war. The problem was that they were mere mortals. This was a force beyond them. Was there a way to free Veah from Xemva's grasp? Would she still breathe if they did? Veah didn't have any plans on leaving the goddess who helped her survive this long, but she did notice her upset ever since she started to develop feelings towards Tyre.

"I believe she doesn't want me to grow close to another or it could distract me from my mission." It already was. She should have forced her men to march even if they fell, but instead, she was camping out with her lover. It was changing her, and if Tyre wanted to help her appease the goddess, he would be feeding her most monstrous side. The side of her that deserved to be killed slowly and painfully. "You soften her voice and her chill… She sees you as an enemy. I always listen to Xemva, but these feelings…" These feelings kept her on a tight leash. "… she does not possess me, but she influences me. She taps on my brain, and whispers to me nearly every night." But... now she had him and the thoughts of him to whisper to her.

Experiencing emotions other than the bitter cold was difficult for Veah. She used to cry so much as a child due to her cursed fate and rejection, but over the years she had accepted it. It was the only way she could keep moving forward with her life. It left her out of touch and with parts of herself frozen away. The warmth of emotions she felt for and from Tyre continued to melt away her ice, lifting the numbness from her heart. It allowed her to cry, to care, to be the girl she was meant to be before she was swept up by the cold.

With her forehead against his, he thumbed away her tears as they kissed. She held that kiss for as long as she could as if desperate for his taste. It was hard to think of the cold or even her once-pressing goals when so locked in this moment with him, allowing him to engulf her senses. So, even though the air around them was freezing, she kept melting to the point she questioned love. His response and confession had her speechless as she did her best to process his words.

How would they find out if this was really love?
Did he truly want a broken and bitter woman so fixated on him?
Did he really think this fondly of her in a world that hated her?

Veah would nod in approval when he spoke of helping her appease her goddess. While right now he was at the forefront of her mind, she knew the divine couldn't be ignored. "She shouldn't interfere as long as I keep making progress." It was a problem that they would have to figure out or at least balance. However, could Tyre stomach growing the brutal empire with her? It was a question for later, as right now their biggest focus was on each other and the warmth between them.

He picked her up, and it made her realize how lightheaded she was feeling. Once motivated with strength to keep marching on, her body now felt feeble as her emotions blazed. He showered her with affection. The kisses had her squirming, tensing, and taking sharp inhales. It even caused her eyes to shine with another round of tears. She was sensitive to the affection that she had been without. It wasn't just the affection but who was giving it to her. The only man she had ever felt this way about…

They would escape the cold wind by entering the tent, and when he laid her on the fur, she felt a wave of intoxication. She would whisper a confession while her mind swam in an ocean of him. "I've wanted you every night since the first time you kissed me." Their first time had horrified her, mostly because she could feel herself being pried open as it was one of the only ways to actually impact the empress. However, lying under him like this, she now felt like her heart was bleeding out for him. She still had clothes on and yet felt bare.

With her armor off, all she had on was a lightweight tan shirt and a pair of fur-lined pants to try to keep her warm. However, under it all, the heat in her core was boiling over, causing her to sweat. The oversized outfit was easy to get into. Allowing his hands and lips to easily explore her flesh.

"Do you really think another could make me feel the way you do?" She let out another shaken exhale as she felt the pressure of his touch between her legs. Subconsciously, she opened up her thighs a bit wider for him. "Or that I'd settle for anything less now?" He was the one who melted her heart, and he may be the only one capable of it. Maybe this was the work of another god, as the way it all aligned floored her.

She squeezed the hand that caught her wrist. "If you want to satisfy my desires, if you want me to speak from the heart, if you want my loyalty… then… you have to be mine too for as long as these feelings last." A month… an eternity… She had no idea if what had bloomed between them would wither or keep blooming anew, but just as she was driven to reach her goals, that drive was now aimed toward him. - Would he regret having the intense woman's fixation that was strong enough to burn down nations?

"But you are supposed to help me figure it out...!" She didn't 100% know if what she was feeling was love or a strong form of infatuation; both she was rather inexperienced with. "But it has to be something deep. Deep enough for Xemva to notice and even bring me to tears." She could feel her heart aching for him. "It has me worried about your happiness, and how you view me, and it has even caused me to fear you slipping away from me or avoiding me." The thought alone caused her lower lip to tremble. "These feelings make me so weak, so vulnerable. I can't stop thinking about you, yet I can't turn away." She let out a sigh. "I need you to keep me safe in a way not even Xemva can..."

She squirmed into the ground a bit more with her heart pounding hard enough she felt the thumping throughout her body. "It has to be love… how else could it be explained?" She was still trying to come to terms with it and wrap her warped mind around the concept before she could speak about it as he commanded.

Her icy eyes melted into clear seas as she allowed her emotions to be verbalized:

"I love you, Tyre." ​

She had said it without hesitation and let it hang in the air between them to see how it felt… how it fit… and how it seemed to align well. "I've never loved anyone else in this world other than Xemva, but you… somehow captured my heart. I didn't even know it was possible." The corner of her lips curled up for a smirk at the twisted situation she found herself in.

"I love you so much that it makes me want to cry. That I'd allow you to do some unspeakable things to me. That you steal my attention away from my duties and even my goddess. I love you so much I feel like I'm an entirely different woman." It was frightening how deeply these feelings ran, but she wasn't going to turn away while on the cusp of something so sweet and warm.

"My loyalty and my trust are right before you. Me, the queen of many crowns, the empress of the New World, the Crimson Tyrant, lay here with an open heart." He could RUIN her. He could get his revenge or receive the love she was emitting.

"These feelings make me weak, but it is oh so strong. The feelings you give me make me feel… awakened. I need more… I need your love to flood my senses. I need to overdose on you. I need to breathe you in. I want to become so tangled in you that I don't know where I end and you begin." She trembled, holding back the tears she was still ashamed of. "Tyre... I don't want you to fuck me. I want you to make love with me." Were people like them even capable of such tenderness? She would always love the aggression of being fucked, and maybe their love would always have a bite to it even in sweeter moments, but tonight her focus was on trying to understand these feelings. It was why she had been rambling. It wasn't just to communicate, but Veah trying to process it all.

"Will you give me the love I need and desire? I want to forget about everything but you."