Astarion x M!Reader

Thirty-Six

A soft breath escaped your lips as you sat down in the warm water and it wrapped itself around your chest like a constantly moving blanket.

Steam rose from the clear surface in which no reflection curved. Vampires had no reflection. That's why you never knew if your appearance was passable.

Small red rose petals and green herbs nestled against your bare skin. It was warm, or so you thought. Probably rather hot. But you couldn't feel anything more than a pleasant warmth.

Astarion's almost white skin turned a light pink colour, so the water must have been really warm. It gushed, small waves curving the surface as he took a sponge to wipe it off his long, lithe arms. Watery blood tinged the clear water a light pink colour, then dissipated in thin swathes as if it were nothing but colour.

One edge of your mouth twitched, head tilted, your red eyes watched him trying hard not to get his hair wet while he put the sponge on the back of his neck.

Red, your eyes had been like that since Lorelei's death. The chosen (E/C) had not returned, either because your mind was still too preoccupied with anger or because you had finally shed that part of your disguise as well. It was hard to tell.

And yet.

You couldn't deny that you had never felt more like a vampire lord than you did at that moment.

Astarion turned his head and let out a long sigh. His eyes were lowered and he looked at you with long lashes that any woman would have envied.

You snorted again, this time to suppress a chuckle. The way he sat there, water bobbing around his legs, knees pulled almost to his chest, he looked almost innocent. Yes, Cazador had chosen him really well. If you hadn't known better, you would have fallen into that trap too. This charm paired with the art of pretending. Astarion had mastered both.

"I won't pay you for anything.", you said teasingly to break the silence.

His eyes narrowed, small wrinkles appearing on his forehead as he furrowed his eyebrows.

"There's nothing you can offer me.", he replied defiantly, but gave you a thin smile anyway. "Or maybe I just want you here.

He didn't seem to like smiling with his mouth open. Perhaps he had got out of the habit so as not to scare off his prey as soon as he came face to face with her.

Suddenly there was that thought in the back of your mind again, that question you were longing for an answer to.

"You haven't given me an answer to my question yet.", you said, resting both arms on the edges of the bathtub.

He paused. Water poured out of the sponge, ran down his slender neck to his chest where it melted into the rest. He thought for a moment.

"What question exactly?", he asked back, knowing full well that you had only asked one.

"Which prey is your favourite?", you repeated.

And again his muscles tightened at the question. He wasn't a hunter. One didn't have to be a clairvoyant to realise that. Astarion was a seducer. He didn't kill but probably served Cazador to get what he wanted.

Even if you knew his master well, you didn't think you could guess what his preferences were. It was difficult to recognise a pattern from the spawns in his palace.

And then there was the fact that he stopped at nothing. If he could suck Brennan dry in front of you and had sweet-talked Lorelei into helping him, then his intentions on assuring you probably weren't very accurate.

Something twitched in the back of your mind.

Had he actually bewitched Lorelei?

Or had your spawn simply been a traitor?

Closing your eyes, you shook off the thought and took a deep breath of steam from the water.

No matter what the answer was, it wouldn't change the fact that he was no longer here. The opportunity was lost and you had failed. In many ways.

"Animals.", Astarion's voice suddenly snapped you out of your thoughts.

You raised your head in surprise.

"Pardon?"

His face flinched. Some bitterness appeared on it, but his eyes were sad.

"If I have to, I'll drink from animals.", he repeated, resting his chin on his knees.

Sighing, he closed his eyes.

"Ah...", you murmured, reaching out a hand to brush a strand of hair from his face. "But no. We both know what I meant."

Darkness spread in the red of his eyes. He seemed annoyed by the question.

Or was it the answer after all?

Then there was that hesitation again that you had despised from minute one. It was a sign of Cazador's abuse, caution born of horrific experiences.

"Speak.", you said softly, rubbing the tip of your nose against your forehead. "He can't hear you here. And he won't know either. Now it's just the two of us."

Swallowing hard, he gently pulled away. It didn't seem as if he disliked the touch of skin on skin, but the fact that he had let you get so close to him without hesitation.

His chest rose and fell as he breathed. Steam made his cheeks rosy. Small beads of wetness dripped from his hair.

Your eyes watched them as they ran over his long ears, then over his square jaw and down his chin into the water.

"You know Cazador.", Astarion said with a hint of reluctance in his voice and shook his head slightly. "Then why ask what you already know?"

You shook your head with a grin.

"Nobody really knows Cazador except him.", you replied and leaned back into your old position.

"You were friends."

"And so much more."

His eyes narrowed. Scepticism gleamed in them as they wandered over your body.

"And yet you claim you don't know him, Platinum.", his tongue was sharp.

You let out a deep breath.

"I once thought I knew him. Could trust him.", as if of its own accord, your hand went under the water to feel for the scar, which felt in the warmth as if the flesh was dissolving to create a wound again. "Then he killed me."

He sucked in a black breath.

"You are a lord."

"Because I was lucky. Or unlucky. Who can tell the difference?"