Her Pretty Little Throat : An Ascended Astarion Fan Fiction

Astarion

I look down at Amara's hand, and the shock of silver skin marrs her normal coloring, drawing my brows together. I know exactly what I'm looking at, but I don't know why it is.

That is to say, there is no reasonable explanation for this to be happening to her. Though, with magic in the equation, one does do their best to throw reason out the window. I am a vampire, after all. One of the most unreasonable beings out there. An undead creature with my strings cut, without a master, and with an eternity of life ahead of me.

"...and I feel horrible for keeping this from you." Amara says. I realize that she has been talking while I inspect her wound. Her voice has a vulnerable quality that makes my heart ache, thick with an emotion that I don't see too much as she keeps it all hidden away from me.

"What did you say?" I ask, looking down at her amber eyes.

Her lashes flutter. "I said that I felt horrible for keeping this from you. I didn't know what to think for the longest time. I knew what the Sigil might bring based on what King said. I am sorry."

"What do you think is happening to you, my dearest?"

She looks down at her hand, "The curse. I'm dying, Astarion."

I breathe out and raise her hand to my lips, pressing a kiss on the silver flesh of her palm. Her rapid heartbeat resonates from her wrist, so forceful that I can feel the evidence of her fear as I hold her hand. I allow my fingertips to trace gentle circles across the back of her hand.

"You are dying, my love." I say, smiling as her eyes go wide, "But every living thing does after a time. This, my dear, is not killing you. That is the peculiar thing. It should be, but this." I lower her hand and trace my fingertips over the scars, trying to draw her eye, "This is very much life."

Amara swallows, I can almost see the tension leaving her body as the news takes root in her. My poor little thief has spent days worrying, hiding this condition from me, and suffering alone within the cage of her own mind. If she only allowed me access to the key.

"That's to say, my love. It is not killing you, but it is still very dangerous." I explain.

"What is it?"

I hold her palm up and kiss it again before returning it to her.

I look around the room, my eyes going to the stacks of books dotted across the tables. A plan is beginning to take hold in my mind. I have not summoned a god on my own. I lack the magic and the will to dive that deep into ancient rituals just to potentially be ignored by my old friend.

"I have my suspicions, but before I can say for certain, I need a few answers that can only be given by the divine." I say, walking over to the table and grabbing a few books. "Grab those." I say, gesturing before shaking my head, "On second thought, grab whatever seems the most academic. Books about spells and magic."

"What are we doing?" She asks as she follows my instructions, her beautiful face deep in consideration as she sorts through the piles of books we grabbed from the shelves.

"I am going to talk to an old friend of mine."

Amara grabs a few books and holds them to her chest as she follows me out into the hall and towards the study. I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing or if my attempt to summon Gale is going to be successful. I just know that he is the only one who might have insight into what is happening.

I place the books I gathered on my desk and take the ones Amara has from her, setting them in a neat stack. I turn towards the fireplace. It has been banked. There isn't enough left of it to even catch a single sheet of paper on fire, let alone a whole book.