"Good job, my boy."
The praise filled him with more warmth than he had ever remembered feeling in the Hall of Believers. The scars on his back tingled, having never healed properly. The whippings had been frequent. But this man, this odd man, made him feel more welcome than any other person.
"Come, let us wash off the labor of our day, hm?"
It was in the spring that his new master had stopped him. He was terrified. Had he made the wrong decision? Would his new master take advantage of him?
"Velstadt. You have the curse."
He furrowed his brow. "Curse, master?"
The man's fingers plunged into a hole in the back of his left shoulder. Velstadt gagged, wretched, a bit of their lunch spilling into the water. "You will be summoned when you are older, Velstadt. You must be prepared."
He became aware of fingers entwined with his. Of hair tickling his nose, warmth against his chest. He didn't want to open his eyes. He wanted to stay here, remain with this warmth. He wanted more of his memories, more of his time back. He wanted her with him every day, every morning.
She shifted slightly, her arm shifting over his in her sleep. Her hips wriggled her body back against him, reawakening his lust against her backside. He shook his head gently and pressed kiss into the back of her neck.
"Vel…" Her voice fought through sleep to reach his ears.
"Hush, Lady. Go back to sleep."
She grunted slightly and removed her fingers from his. "I need to roll over, Vel."
He hummed and kissed her neck again. He rolled onto his back, shifting the sheets up a bit to make the movements easier on both of them. He opened one eye carefully into the darkness of the room and watched the outline of her form as she turned, the curve of her body in the dark, the flash of her eyes when she looked up to him. He arched a brow as she moved closer to press a kiss to his sleepy lips, then rest her head on his chest.
He curled his arm around her shoulders, careful to avoid the void at the back of her left shoulder. Cursed undead. What a pair they made. He swallowed and met her hand over his abdomen.
"Vel?" He acknowledged her with a kiss against the top of her head. "I love you."
He smiled softly into the darkness. "I love you, too, Liandra."
They lay there for several more moments. She shifted absently, pulling her body closer to his, her legs closer, shifting the angle of her shoulders. Her hair stuck up in various places and tickled his lips, his nose, his cheeks. His arm started to go to sleep in one of her positions, forcing him to ask her to shift again.
"Liandra." She muttered an apology. "No, no need for that. I just… I had another dream."
She lifted her head. "More memories?" He nodded. "Tell me?"
He smiled slightly. She was always interested in others. "The man I took as my master, he discovered my curse at a young age." He could feel the frown in the dark. "What about you? When did you discover yours?"
She rested back down against his chest, her hand shifting from his abdomen to his chest. "My mother died giving birth to me. Never really had anybody to look at me without any clothes on until I discovered binding in my teens, I suppose. Then I felt more comfortable walking around in the heat without a shirt. That's when one of my brothers pointed it out."
Velstadt couldn't lie to himself; he was glad she had not learned of it during a tryst in her youth. "Must have been difficult on your family to lose your mother that way."
She shrugged. "Nothin's ever easy, is it, General?"
His brow furrowed. "Back to General already?"
She chuckled and pulled herself close. "Habits, Vel. You know who you are to me."
He rolled his head on the pillow and kissed her head again. "Tell me more about your past, Liandra."
Her head lifted off his chest. "You really wanna hear about my childhood?"
Velstadt's brow lifted. "Should I not? Are there things you want to keep secret?"
He watched the outline of her head tilt. "No… No, it's just… No one's ever asked about me before. Not directly." She groped at his face carefully to pinpoint his lips. He purred into the kiss she pressed to them. "Especially not you. You have enough on your plate as it is. The whole of Drangleic?" She kissed him again. "The war, the King." She kissed him again. "I just realized I never told you how much I admire you."
His brow furrowed. "Me? My lady, I am nothing spectacular."
She shook her head and he felt her shift, her chest pressing against his. "You really are, Vel. You take it all and you sort it out. You're very good at your job. And you do it without complaint."
He rested his head back against the pillows. "I could complain, my lady. There is much to complain about."
She kissed his nose this time. "But you don't."
He smiled and slid his hand down her back. "We should get back to sleep, my lady. I shall have to return to my liege on the morrow, and I fear I pulled you from the work you had planned to catch up on today. For that I am sorry."
She sighed. "I wish this night could last a bit longer, Vel." She moved to settle back into a comfortable position.
He kept his arm out, giving her room to resituate. He released a sigh as well, closing his eyes. "As do I, my love."
She stopped. He opened his eyes to the darkness. She placed a hand on his chest. "Really?"
He lifted his right hand, carefully finding the side of her face. "I would never lie to you, Liandra."
Warmth covered his hand on her face, her head turning to press a kiss to his palm. She chuckled once. "No, you wouldn't. You're a good man. Far too good for this world."
His brow furrowed in the dark. He struggled to make out her outline, to see the melancholy in her face, but the dark swallowed them both. She wriggled a bit, resting her arm over his midsection, her legs against his, her head in the bend of his shoulder. He settled for resting his hand on her arm and staring into the darkness above him.
"Liandra." He couldn't let it go. "Liandra?" She hummed quietly, pulling back from the brink of sleep. "You, too, are good."
She hummed again and kissed his chest. "Go to sleep, Vel. We can discuss this tomorrow."
He frowned into the darkness. His arm curled around her, lifting her slightly to angle his head to press a kiss to her head. A burst of air through her nose belied her chuckle, but she drifted off to sleep immediately following. He kept his thumb on her shoulder, careful to avoid the Curse, absently drawing circles in her soft, scarred skin.
They both knew the consequences of being Good in this world. Fear clutched his heart. How long did they have before the darkness came for them?