Her Pretty Little Throat : An Ascended Astarion Fan Fiction

Amara

I hold my breath, bracing as I crash into Matthias and through the portal.

It is a different sensation all together than when Astarion teleported us to the alleyway. This magic is a raw and unbidden invasion of my senses. I feel at once like I am plunging into icy depths, the shards piercing my flesh before it fades away and warmth envelops me. The shock alone feels like I am being torn from the inside.

Matthias' arms wrap around me instinctively, causing me to lose a grip on my dagger. I know it passed through the portal with me, but it's not in my hand as the world begins to tilt out from under me.

I hear the back of his skull hit the carpeted floor with a crack as his body cushions my fall. His widened, dark grey eyes stare up at me before they roll back, and his head lolls to the side.

Fear grips my insides as I stare down at him, his dark blond hair splayed across the floor like a halo. The last few moments slowly catch up with me—the gravity of the situation that I quite literally threw myself in.

Fitz is dead because of me. The man I knew since I was a girl turned around and sold me out to the highest bidder. Not just that, but Moria's power has begun to overtake me. The small patch of divine skin that once ended just above my wrist now extends past my elbow, and it burns. Perhaps it's my body getting used to the invasion of her magic, but I can feel it there under my skin, a mind of its own begging to be free.

Even staring down at Matthias as he groans, his chest rising and falling with shallow breaths. I could touch him, take whatever pain away, and bend him to my will.

I huff out a breath, shaking that thought from my mind. This isn't me. It's not a power I wish to command. I didn't ask for Fitz's death, and in spite of everything he did to me in those last moments, I didn't want to kill him. I wanted to push him away.

"No. No, no, no." I mutter, running my unmarked hand up the silver of my forearm. Even the flesh feels different to my touch.

The artifact.

I watch Matthias, taking note of the simple rise and fall of his chest under the same elaborate red robes that the other wizards wore. Under them, concealed by the layer of black, I see the silvered skin of his condition.

Reaching forward, I slip my hand under the wrapping and feel for the chain of the artifact. He murmurs in response. Grey eyes begin to flutter, his arms moving to either side of me as I remain hovering over him, holding myself up by my free hand.

He shifts underneath me, a hand going to my shoulder.

My heart hammers in my chest as I feel the chain of the necklace, but I come up empty. I lean back on my knees and use my two hands to rip open the robes. The sigil of Moria is nowhere to be seen, but the pale flesh of his chest is all but covered in the same silver skin.

That's when I realize it. He wore the pendant over his heart. That's where the curse began. That's the reason why his blood poisoned Saffie. It progressed further when she bit him. I only touched the coin, and Moria needed something more. She needed an injury to heal to invite her in. To change me.

Matthias' fingers grip my shoulder, and I look down to see his glassy eyes staring up at me.

"I should have known." He growls out, his voice thick with something. His free hand encircling my throat. "Even now, you're acting like a common whore."

I claw at his grip, and I can tell he lacks the strength to do any major damage. If he did, I would be dead, but still, darkness begins to creep at the edge of my vision. In a haste, I try to gulp air down, pushing against his grasp.