She should have known that he would be waiting for her. She walked out of the bathroom with a comb in her damp hair and saw him standing in front of the open doors that led to the balcony. A blizzard was starting to grow, and snow was flying into the room behind him.
She put her comb down and stood in front of him. Goosebumps formed on the bare skin that wasn't covered by her clothes.
He had taken the glamour down. She had forgotten how magnificent he was. His mana poured from his skin in a soft, shimmering light, and his silver eyes were bright with it as well. His features were sharper, it showed the wolf that was lurking under his skin.
The double doors closed behind him. Silently, he grabbed her waist and pulled him to her. Talyn wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder. He held her tight enough to crush her ribs, but she didn't protest.
"I'm sorry I punched you." She mumbled.
He tightened his hold on her and buried his face in her hair. She heard him breathe in deeply.
"I should have expected it." He responded in a muffled voice, "you did tell me to leave you alone."
That just made the guilt clinging to her soul heavier.
"I hurt you. I'm worse than she is! Ir abelas, ma vhenan! Ir em abelas ma-"
"Shhh." Solas shushed her gently. He let go of her and took a step back. His eyes were narrowed in anger.
"I don't want to hear you say that ever again. She was a monster. You could never be like her, not even if you tried."
Talyn wrapped her arms around herself and looked out the window, at the mountains that surrounded her sanctuary. The home of Fen'Harel, left to rot for a thousand years.
"Then why do I feel like I am?"
Solas sighed in frustration. He gripped her chin and turned her head so she was looking at him.
"Do you remember when Mythal died?" He asked her.
Flashes of a midnight wolf blinked behind her eyes, his eyes red with his blood lust, and foam seeping through his deadly teeth.
"You lost control of the wolf." Talyn said.
Mythal had been the only maternal figure in Solas' life. Losing her had been horrible for him. It was completely understandable.
Solas' fingers formed claws, and he put them on her shoulder. He lightly dragged them in a diagonal line down her chest. His face was grim, and regret burned in his eyes.
"It had taken over completely. I lashed out at you, and my claws dug deep into your chest. Anyone else would have died from a wound like that. You had every right to kill me.
"Instead, you hit me hard enough to knock me unconscious. I barely woke up in time to heal you before you bled to death."
"Solas, that wasn't your fault."
He flashed her a smile, but the pain didn't leave his eyes. "I am to blame for that. But you forgave me, and we moved on. You and I are one of a kind, vhenan. We're beasts in elvish skin. We have strong emotions, and sometimes it gets bloody. It's just our nature. What we are is completely different from what you and she were. You were forgiven the moment it happened. So let it go, ma vhenan."
Talyn still felt guilty, but now that she had apologized for what she had done, it was time for Solas to give her answers.
The most important question in the world bubbled on her lips.
"Solas... What happened after the Veil?"
His face twisted with shame. "I went to look for you. But all I found was a graveyard. I searched every face, but I never found yours. I thought that you had somehow been trapped with the others. I thought that I..."
He couldn't seem to get the words out. Talyn reached out to him and took his hands. She hated the pain his memories were causing him, but she needed to know.
His voice dropped to a rough whisper. Even with her particular abilities, she could barely hear him above the wind that was rattling the frosted windows.
"I thought I killed you."
He looked down at their entwined hands. "After that, I chose uthenera. I couldn't stay and guide our people into the new world, not without you by my side. But without us to protect our home, our people... they suffered great tragedies."
Everything that the two of them had tried to save their people from had ended up happening again because Talyn had traveled a thousand years into the future. Solas' pack, her friends... they died for nothing.
Talyn closed her eyes.
"Oh, gods..." She whispered. "What did I do, Solas?"
"The fall of Elvhenan is not your burden to bear. It is mine."
She thought back to what the fear demon had said to Solas.
Does she know your greatest sin?
She opened her eyes and ripped her hands out of his grasp.
Her words were angry. The venom wasn't directed at him, but at herself. "I was the one who convinced you to stage a revolution. All of those lives are on me."
Randomly, she felt something tug on her shirt. She looked down and saw that that top button of her shirt was undone. As she was staring at it, the one underneath it undid itself as well. As if by magic.
She gave him an incredulous look.
"Really, Solas? I'm talking about some horrific shit over here and you're taking off my clothes with your mind?"
He smirked. "Would you like to do it? Because I'd love to watch."
Another button popped open.
She fought a smile. "I know what you're doing. It's not going to work."
She missed that mischievous sparkle in his eyes. It had been too long since she saw it.
"I'm not doing anything but staring at my beautiful wife. Who is still not naked."
There were four more buttons to go.
Her lips were twitching with the smile she refused to let loose. "So morbid subjects turn you on, now? That's a little strange vhenan."
"What turns me on is the woman who I haven't seen in days. I've been good. I didn't even visit your dreams. Don't I deserve a reward for that?"
She broke, and let out a laugh, the previous conversation temporarily forgotten. She placed her tattooed hands on his chest and started pushing, forcing him to walk backwards. He didn't fight it.
"Oh, I know exactly what you deserve."
She didn't stop until the back of his knees hit a chair and he was forced to sit. She stood in front of him, and reached for the last remaining buttons on her shirt. Slowly, she undid them one by one and let the material slide off her shoulders to fall to the floor. A warmth spread through her lower body as she watched his playful smirk turn into a primal look of desire.
He grabbed her waist and tried to pull her to him, but she slapped his hands away. He frowned, so she leaned down and rested her hands on the arms of the chair. Her lips hovered over his.
"You wanted to watch, didn't you?" She teased.
He went to kiss her, but she straightened her posture before he could. She hooked her thumbs into the waistband of her pants and peeled them off of her, just as slow as she had been with her shirt.
A low, gentle growl left Solas' lips as he caressed her body with his eyes.
"Come here." He demanded.
With a smile, she ignored him and started to dance for him. The beat of a long forgotten song echoed from her memories, and she moved her body to it's rhythm. The more time she took, the more desperate he looked. Every time he reached for her, she slapped his hands and told him to be patient.
When she finally straddled his lap, she felt his need for her, and it only strengthened her own. The moment his fingers brushed against her skin, her breath hitched. She kept moving her hips, and it didn't take long for Solas to finally break.
"I can't take it anymore." He growled.
Within seconds, he lifted her and they crashed onto the bed. Talyn flipped them so she was still straddling him, and she placed her hands on either side of his head. She leaned down and planted a soft kiss on his lips.
"It's my turn."
She dug her fingers into the material of his shirt and tore it off of him. His shredded clothes fell in a pile on the floor next to the bed.
You guys, something horrible happened.
I was a dumb ass and spilled soda all over my laptop. So I lost everything that I hadn't already posted. I'm so mad at myself.
Thank you for you patience, Talyn loves you 3
C.J.