The things we do out of grief

[thewidewideworld]

{from here}

Sinric leads Eric out to the garden, both beautiful and eerie in the moonlight. Just as Eric is.

He walks to a spot in the edge of the tree line, not quite where he saw Eric and Athelstan but quite near. "How-" He cuts himself off and tries again. "What would you have of me?"

Comments

[onceaviking]

Eric takes hold of his neck, gently, and leans in to lick his neck with his cool tongue.

[thewidewideworld]

He shivers and pants softly. It's hard not to.

[onceaviking]

Eric's huge hand is gentle. But strong.

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric is small and delicate under his touch, warm and trembling.

[onceaviking]

Eric mouths Sinric's warm skin. Slowly.

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric stifles a soft grasp. Even cold, Eric's lips are powerful.

[onceaviking]

He laps at Sinric and then he moves his mouth away.
But he doesn't let go. Not straight away.

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric doesn't move away either, his heart racing like a rabbit.

[onceaviking]

"You are afraid of me," Eric says. Softly.
"That's very wise of you."

[thewidewideworld]

"You are... too powerful, too strong. It frightens me."

[onceaviking]

"As it should," Eric almost purrs.
"But now you know that I need not hurt you. Overmuch."

[thewidewideworld]

"Thank you, for healing my hand." He isn't sure what else to say.

[onceaviking]

"You are too smart to mistake it for kindness, I am sure," Eric replies.

[thewidewideworld]

He flinches away a little at that, his voice losing its subservient edge. "As you are too wise to believe I accepted your offer for no other reason but that."

[onceaviking]

Eric smiles at him.
His lips are still flecked with blood.

"It's alright to feel drawn to it. Many people do. To want to surrender."

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric chokes a bitter laugh. "I'm the one who is meant to be the temptation. The object of desire. Seeming to surrender is meant to be part of the act." He ducks his head again. "Not craving to be overtaken so I don't have to think."

[onceaviking]

"Plenty of people are drawn to us for that specific reason," Eric says with a shrug.
"They like the danger or the power or the dominance."

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric shakes his head. "I have been too near to the abuse of all those things. And have been wounded too deeply to crave it."

He rubs his eye with the back of his hand, as if trying to clear his head. "All the right I have done of late has come out wrong. It seemed wise to do something I know to be wrong, to see if that would felt right."

[onceaviking]

"And did it?"

Eric has stepped away now and has crossed his arms in front of himself. Observing Sinric.

[thewidewideworld]

There's a difference to him now, like seeing a different face behind the mask. Or perhaps a different mask. "It was pleasant, yes. But it would be both too easy and too hard to submit to your will."

[onceaviking]

"Because you get a choice here. You wouldn't if you had met me elsewhere. You would have looked into my eyes and then you would have surrendered. Gladly."

Eric shrugs again.

"But there is plenty of willing, yes downright eager, people here, so it hardly matters.

[thewidewideworld]

"And so I would be dead." Sinric states, "I felt that in your touch, how much you longed you kill me."

Sinric takes that as a dismissal and rises. "And I mean little to you now I have been had. I understand."

[onceaviking]

"You all mean little to me," Eric says, flatly.

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric's also very good at spotting a lie. But better at not calling one out.

"Very well." He bows and turns to go.

[onceaviking]

Eric watches him go.

Quietly.

Then he disappears into the darkness.