noctium inbox

[solmate]

« solntse » TEXT ✧ AUDIO ✧ VIDEO ✧ ACTION ALINA STARKOV ✦ GRISHAVERSE
RESIDENCE ✦ Emerald District
GEMBOND ✦ RUBY like calls to like INFO ✧ PERMISSIONS

Comments

[reznikolai]

[One by one she places the pills on his tongue, and one by one he swallows them with a gulp of water. The accidental brush of her touch against his lips sparks another flash of fantasy. It would be all too easy to draw her fingertips into his mouth, press kisses into her skin. The glimpse he gets of the tops of her breasts certainly doesn't help him purge these thoughts.

Saints. Before he can start tumbling Alina in his mind, Nikolai forces himself to focus on the last pill sliding down his throat. He thinks of falling into a sleep so deep it's like a chasm swallowing him up. He thinks of the monster lurking in his heart curling up into something small and helpless.

He passes the half-empty glass back to Alina. Then he slides down the pillow and positions his hand at his bedpost. Signaling for her to finish the job. Surrendering his last shred of freedom.

Her question surprises him. He doesn't think it's pity — but it's something that softens this excruciating ritual. Something that alleviates the darkness, like the light Zoya would leave burning for him even as he sank into sleep. Nikolai looks at her with an expression naked of his usual defenses. His voice is uncharacteristically quiet.]

If you're sure you have nothing better to do...yes, I would like that. It shouldn't take long.

[He isn't sure if it's the effect of the pills or the effect of the long day accumulating in exhaustion, but already he feels his head going blurry, his eyes growing heavy.]

[solmate]

[ She nods, agreeing quietly. It sounds more like an apology than anything. ]

Of course.

[ She's gentle as she guides his arm, but ultimately the tightness of the restraints is necessary to keep the both of them safe.

There's little for him here that her company feels like the only thing she can offer that might make up for her closing the leather and metal bands around his remaining hand. And how could she deny him after he wore such stark honesty in his request? Only Nikolai could be expected to still wear a mask over his vulnerability when literally in chains, but she blames the lapse in the swift effect of the sleeping pills.

She grabs the edge of the blanket and fixes it to lay gently over him. With little other furniture, her only option is to perch at the end of the bed and wait for sleep to take him.

Quietly, as not to disturb him, she offers: ]

Goodnight, Nikolai. I'm grateful you're here.

[reznikolai]

[Like always, Nikolai must steel himself against the urge to resist. Against the panic that rises in him as the cuff clicks shut around his wrist. Her touch against his skin, however brief, acts as a counterbalance to the cold metal. It provides something else for him to focus on.

Then the job is done. But she stays — not because he is her king, he hopes, but because he is her friend. Something about the way she rearranges the blanket, the way her weight quietly sinks the mattress to mark her presence, is overwhelmingly tender. It's the sort of thing that has been absent from his life for too long. The sort of thing he has craved.]

It was good to see you again, Alina. I missed you.

[That quiet voice again, fuzzier around the edges as he fades. His eyelids are already drooping.

As promised, she won't have to wait long before he slides into sleep. Within ten minutes, he's snoring softly. His face is placid. For now, at least, he is not a king, or a demon, or any of the countless roles he inhabits.]