Astarion’s kiss was one of possession and dominance. It was quick, firm, and to the point. He didn’t give Tav a second to process the presence of his mouth on hers for the first time since he ended things with her. The master of the house fixed his red eyes on the guardsman with a misleadingly charming smile. 

“Well, hello. Welcome to my palace. I see you’ve met the lady of the house. Introduce us, would you, darling?” His hand on her waist tugged her closer to him, and his right hand brought hers to her middle as he held her. Tav was reeling. Sure, Astarion was very hands-on recently, but this was an obvious and public display of affection. 

“I…I-erm.” She cleared her throat and stared at Astarion with confusion. Whatever he was doing, there was a reason behind it. There always was. “Well, this is Sir Loxley. He’s a Knight and one of the new City Guardsman.” 

“Was he?” Astarion’s smile was cruel and was laced with a promise. Tav didn’t understand why the once jovial and charming Knight was now as pale as Astarion. For very different reasons, of course. “Because it appeared like he was asking you to dance.”

“W-well I was, but, that is, I didn’t-”

“I thought guardsmen protected the city. Yet here Sir Loxley is, attending an exclusive party and coveting things far above his station. Honestly? How very droll.” 

“Astarion, what’s going on?” She tried to ask him under her breath, but Astarion’s gaze was firmly locked on Sir Loxley. It was the same expression he wore when they met the Gur Gandrel. Like a wolf in sheep’s clothing and so close to pouncing, his fangs were slick with spit and blood. This sheep had no idea that he was so close to the jaws of death locking around his neck. He must have sensed he’d stepped on a powerful Lord’s coattails, however, as he had his hands raised and began retreating before making his excuses. 

“Actually, I was just leaving.” 

“Oh, so soon?” Astarion sang with feigned disappointment.

“I need to return to my duties.” 

“While you still have them? Yes, of course.” Astarion tracked his retreat all the way to the nearest exit, before he chuckled and tipped his head to grin at Tav. “It appears that I shall have to speak to our guards about what it means to adhere to a guest list.” He turned her quickly in his arms so she stumbled on her ankles and fell into his chest. “Someone has been very naughty, and allowed Sir Loxley to either talk his way or pay his way into my palace.”

“I didn’t realise he wasn’t invited.” Tav was a little wary of the unhinged energy behind his grin. “He seemed harmless enough.” 

“I’m sure he was.” Astarion shuddered like he was brushing off even the thought of Sir Loxley. “Enough talk of riffraff. Ah, look at you.” He held her biceps, leaned back, and made a show of looking down at her attire. “Stunning.” He chuckled and winked at her. “Oh, and the dress is lovely too. I could take or leave the hair piece, though…” He hummed with thought, then nodded and plucked it out of her hair. He tossed it unceremoniously over his shoulder and ran both hands through her hair to loosen her locks into a windswept mane. “Oh yes, there you are, darling.” His hands moved to cup her cheeks and thumb her cheekbones. 

“What are you doing?” Tav flustered. This was too much touching. Too much attention. Too much flattery and affection. The taste of him lingered like a phantom on her lips, and she was captured in his crimson stare. 

“Thanks to you, you sweet generous thing, I am doing whatever I want.” He took Tav’s hands and backed towards the middle of the ballroom. He nodded to the bards playing on a raised platform and yanked Tav into a dance hold. “This city, and our future, are grand and full of possibilities.” The music picked up a frisky and playful tempo, and he began to promenade with her around the dance floor. Other couples took the cue to join in, and Tav wasn’t as stiff and clumsy at this as most druids would have been. Astarion has given her plenty of dancing lessons, after all. He didn’t count the one Wyll tried to give her months ago, as he interrupted that ‘innocent’ dance lesson with a better offer. At the time, that offer had been to join him for a stroll through the woods and to climb him like a tree. 

“You’re in a good mood tonight?” Tav asked with a chuckle as he twirled her and held her in an indecent proximity for a public dance. Not that she was afraid of scandal. She was no high society bell, after all. This was still very tame compared to how druids danced bare to the moon during lunar festivals. 

“I am, aren’t I?” He sang and for the first time in months, Tav felt like she was the only one Astarion was looking at. She had his full attention, and his gaze was penetrating her in all sorts of ways. “I wasn’t earlier. I was a tad vexed.” Astarion chuckled at his private joke, and tipped her over his arm in sync with the music. He leaned over with her and fucked her with his eyes. “To tell the truth, I was very cross.” He tutted with his tongue against his teeth, and then snapped her back up and into his chest. “Someone was trying to take something from me I have worked very hard to keep.” He twirled her again, and brought her close enough that he could have kissed her. “But as always, I’m quick to come up with a countermove to assure my victory.” 

“Who’s crossed you now?” She sang, playing along now she ‘knew’ he was high from a victory. “And did you hide the body?” Anyone who was in a position to cross Astarion wasn’t innocent, so she saw his removal of any competition as one of those grey areas. “Ah!” He lifted her up by her waist so she had to brace her hands on his shoulders and span with her. She laughed and landed with a giddy bounce before him. “Astarion? What’s got into you?”

“Nothing. Everything. I am free to be as deranged and depraved as I like, remember?” He raised a brow and spoke to her from behind one of his hands. “Quite frankly, I’ve been all work and no play for long enough. My throne is secure, the kingdom is practically mine, and so is the night.” And so are you. “What use is having all this power, if we can’t enjoy it?”

“I guess?” Tav had to admit that it was nice to see him apparently letting loose. “I have missed your playfulness. Oh, do you remember when you wanted to see if Gale was sneaking gear from our loot store?” She was already laughing before Astarion could answer her. He walked her off the dance floor on his arm and blanked three different people who tried to get his attention. “You boiled and distilled red cabbage extract, painted it onto a pair of enchanted boots, and set a trap for him.” 

“We literally caught him red-handed, darling.” Astarion had forgotten about that. His smile tugged with genuine nostalgia and the sound of her laughter was as wonderful as it was infuriating. He wanted to hear her bubbly laughter forever. Yet she wanted to run for the muddy hills and take that sweet sound away from him. “Ah yes, red.” He walked her to a moderately secluded nook of the dance floor. “My favourite colour.” There was a vacant grand piano forming a barrier to the bustling ballroom. He slipped along the wall behind it, leading her by the hand, and brought them to a back corner. There was a window with golden frames behind Astarion, which he noted as a potential escape route out of old habits. He used his foot to nudge the piano bench out enough so he could straddle it and nod for her to join him. She did so without hesitation and with a bubbly smile still on her face. Of course, she is obedient. My pet comes to heel like a treat. She doesn’t really want to leave me. Astarion smirked and drank her loveliness in, like he was doing so with new eyes. Why didn’t I think of this sooner? It’s perfect. We’ll both get what we want and so much more. His grin grew so his lips parted and she saw his fangs. Even if she doesn’t agree with me at first, I have all the time in the world to make her see things my way. “I don’t think I’m in the mood anymore for the limelight.”

“No?” She snorted. Since when did Astarion not revel in the limelight at one of his own parties? 

“No. I think I’d prefer to have some fun. Like we used to.” He leaned forward and spoke so close to her lips that her pupils dilated and her throat bobbed as she swallowed. All things the expert predator noted and relished. 

“What, like, finding some bad guys to separate from their heads and coin purses? Or going to the elf song for a drink and a song from their bard?”

“Oh, no no no.” He chuckled and tipped his head to one side so he could glance at her pretty little neck, before looking her right in the eye. “Sex, my dear. Let’s go back to my room and have a night of unbridled passion, darling.”