It was a rare, rainy day. The receding spring had taken most of its storms with it, the unyielding sun bearing down upon the lions of Caladan, oftentimes forcing them to bathe in the colder sea when they were not huddled in the shade of the nearby cliffsides. Kvare had spent the following days pacing outside of Keligan's den, barking orders to their worried soldiers and leaving only for a few hours at a time to eat, sleep, and rest his weary paws. But when the rains had fell that morning, Kvare did not make the trek to the former King's den; instead, he remained at the mouth of his, watching as the storms began to roll in from the distant horizon, swallowing the endlessly blue sky and causing the cliffsides to tremble at its approaching thunder.

He was bedraggled, restless, his fur disheveled and face gaunt with sleeplessness. For so long had he been torn between caring for their fallen King and maintaining the careful balance that Caladan existed in. It felt strange, wrong, to assume leadership in such a way, to be told not only to take his crown but his wife. In that moment, he had agreed for the sake of Keligan's fragile mind, but in that moments that came after, he couldn't help but feel the hesitation. The excitement, cruel as it were, and the guilt that swallowed him whole. He had wanted a crown, and Keligan had dropped it into his lap; so too had he wanted @Sunder, but there was something almost cruel in the way he'd handed her to him.

Kvare would happily oblige him, which perhaps made the feeling worse. He had told Sunder time and again that she were no object; she had made it abundantly clear that night in the gardens that she was not something to simply be controlled. And yet, some aching and cruel part of him delighted in the fact it was all his now.

Isn't this all that you had wanted, Kvare?

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She could hardly sleep, could hardly eat. Had it not been for the children, for their scared faces and endless questions she would have certainly crumbled. She kept vigil alongside Keligan as he slept, sometimes moaning in pain and other times making no noise at all. Sunder was distraught, infuriated with herself for pushing him to this point of breaking. All of this was her fault, and no one could tell her otherwise. Even still his words echoed in her mind. Why would he decree such a thing? Why would he do this to her. Why would he make her go on living as if he weren't here at all? As if she didn't stay right beside him to count his breaths. Her mind would never comprehend his reasoning. She was haunted by it. And by the time nightfall came and Keela took over Sunder found herself running from their shared den. The rain was coming down full-force but Sunder didn't care that she was waterlogged and exhausted. She moved as close to the ocean as she could before her paws began to carry her into the water.

She paused only when the water was at chest level. Sunder wasn't a very tall woman to begin with and it wasn't a difficult feat to have the waves lapping against her frame, rocking her back and forth. The sea was angry, it mimicked all of the turmoil she felt inside herself. So tempted was she to be swept away by the waves, but there were small tethers pulling her back to shore. Reluctantly she moved from the water only when a boom of thunder echoed from behind her. She slumped down into the sand, ears flopped and drenched, tears streaming. She was exhausted, she was broken. And yet still her heart ached to be comforted. Her icy gaze would lift, moving to land on his den where she could just make out the gaunt features of his face as he sat watching. Come. Her eyes beckoned as she waited.

@Kvare

The dark recesses of his mind blamed Keligan, infuriated by his lack of strength, a lack of a drive to push through the pain in spite of it all. Though Kvare had not quite experienced such a heavy blow, he had lost Kozrain, the one thing that had ever been a constant; and he'd still held his head high, bore through the pain. But whatever primitive and cruel thinking that was, Kvare hid it beneath his uncertainty, leaving that grieving grace period and entering into their strange new, one that demanded a King who did not lay or weep about. Beyond that grief was anger, a resentment for all that was taken from them, for all the pieces they'd have to place back together.

At the very least, he was not alone in that stasis.

His gaze cast outward, watching the whirring of rain as it began to will away the sun and into the evening, indiscernible now that the sky was heavy with rain and thunder. At first, he did not see her wading into the sea, his fiery gaze following the striking lines of lightning and it pelted the sea; but when she emerged from the waters and stared up toward him, the burning feeling of her gaze drew his own downward. Come, they seemed to say, and Kvare slowly rose to his paws and pressed out into the storm.

It took only a few careful bounds to descend the cliffside from where his den was nestled, abandoning its dry comfort in favor of the drenching tempest. As he neared @Sunder, he felt the heavy ache of his heart, the constant push and pull of wanting her more now than he ever had, but feeling as if he were taking something he shouldn't, falling prey to the type of man who would betray his ailing King. But in those long moments of grief he'd grown touchstarved and haggard, just as desperate as she for a shared grief. Thus, when he came upon her, he did not stop just short; his head lowered, aiming to press deep into the crook of her shoulder and chest, to feel his hot breath against her fur.

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His gaze locks with hers and almost instantly he begins to make his way down the cliffside but even those few moments are too long. Soon enough he is in front of her, the familiar smell of smoke and timber wrapping her in a warm embrace as he places his face against the crook of her neck. Immediately her body is melting against his, her own chest heaving with unevenness as she bites back the sobs that threaten to crawl their way up her throat. She releases her breaths slowly, reining it back in and before she can even stop herself she's finding his mouth with hers. Slamming their lips together in a starved kiss, desperate to feel again. She cannot stomach the pain and turmoil any longer and in it's place she craves passion and longing. Emotions she knows @Kvare can stir from her so easily with a single touch.

And with their embrace her body is ignited. She soars higher than she's been in weeks and she moves to deepen the kiss, to press her body tighter against his own until reluctantly she must pull back to catch a breath of air. "Your den." She says quietly, though the roar of the storm around them would do a fine enough job of covering her words. She slides past him, intent on letting him feel every curve of hers in the process before she begins to make her way across the beach and soon up the cliffside. It's steeper than it looks, and she nearly loses her balance once or twice before she makes her way through the mouth of his den. She takes a quick glance around, realizing it was the first time she'd ever seen it. For a moment she just wants to take it in before she turns her attention back to him. Back to the man that her husband wanted her to wed. "So what are we then? A fling? Star-crossed lovers? Or am I to be your beautiful wife?" She murmurs quietly, her words reminiscent of those he said to her before in a moment just as vulnerable.

It still feels so wrong, but never had it quite felt so right. Kvare can no longer deny himself of the feelings that had begun to stir, that desperate desire lurking in the darker recesses of his mind, yanking them forth into the light. When he feels the press of her lips against his he cannot contain the way his paw surges upward to cup the back of her head, to somehow find some strange way of pulling her closer, as if they could somehow melt into one another, leave behind all that threatened to tear them apart. He had not realized just how much he'd missed her, how aching his heart felt that she still wanted him in that same way, that she had not receded to protect Keligan, to protect herself.

He is almost certain he'd lose himself then and there if she hadn't pulled back. The rain be damned and forgotten, the whirring of the angry sea all but a blissful afterthought. Your den, she says, and Kvare nods wordlessly. He watches her carefully as they ascend to his den, attempting to brace against her each time she nearly slipped, careful to guide their way up against the sleek, steep climb. And once they finally made their way through the opening of his den, Kvare found himself suddenly nervous, embarrassed by the half-disheveled state he'd left it in in the wake of his sleepless nights, his endless pacing. Once his brief fretfulness passes, Kvare stares in contemplative silence, meeting her gaze when it passes as she observes his den, drenched and dripping-wet.

So what are we then? she asks, causing Kvare's brow to lift, his lips to part. A fling? Star-crossed lovers? Or am I to be your beautiful wife? His shocked expression swiftly falls away, his lips half-turned in a toothy grin. The recollection of that day still just as fresh in his mind, the memories a delightful little secret slipped in between all his worrying and frustration. And where once he might have thought they love lost, left behind in the wake of their aching Keligan, he now found that @Sunder had not forgotten it at all, and nor had he.

Is that what you want? He asks, stepping forward, allowing his claws to delicately trail down her cheek, toward the crook of her jaw. I would make you mine right this moment.

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She sees the hint of embarrassment on his face and wonders just how intimate her seeing his den is to him. Surely, he'd had plenty of other women in here already, she doubted that she was the first by any means. His toothy grin is enough to make her insides melt and she tries hard not to blush, though she's sure she's already failed at the attempt. Is that what you want? I would make you mine right this moment. She stares at him, shocked to even really say anything. She'd been so worried that he would be pushed into this; that he wouldn't actually want her to be his wife. "Is that what you want?" She would ask him quietly, both desperate for his answer and afraid of it in the same breath.

Her heart belonged to Keligan but during this time, during the weeks that had passed, she knew deep down that part of her would always be @Kvare's. Two halves to make her whole. She wanted nothing more than the both of them, and if she could have them she was certain she'd live her life with no regrets, no remorse. She leans in to offer him another kiss, this one softer and more tender. With far more meaning behind it then all the others. "I want to be your wife. I've wanted it before all of this. I want .. so much more with you." She whispers, ears draping delicately alongside her face like curtains. And if he wanted her to, then was that so wrong? Had Keligan been giving them his blessing to continue without having to worry about disappointing him? He had told her of having multiple wives before, of how they had lived in harmony with one another. Was this his way of saying that they could do the same? She wanted to believe it was and she was willing to take the risk.

Is that what you want?

Of course it is, he wants to say, to quash any worries she may have. But even Kvare knew there was a tenseness there, a lingering haunt in the air that took shape and breathed and now lay comatose inside Keligan's den. It were one thing to fall for each other when the man was waking and breathing and capable of voicing his displeasure, but the last words he'd hinged on were ones of defeat, one that concede @Sunder to him, not allowed her the freedom to choose as Keligan himself may have. It were a damning situation they had both been put in, and Kvare half-wondered if it were a test; if, when Keligan were to awaken, when he saw Kvare sitting upon his empty throne with Sunder at his side, he may cast him out a traitor who'd never cared for him or the Cove at all.

But Kvare was devoted to the Cove unlike most other men, and loved Sunder unlike most other men.

When she leans forward to brush another kiss upon his lips, he lets his eyes close, a soft chuckle to breathe against her mouth as she neared. He wanted to say everything at once, to air out his grievances in hopes of working through their fears, finding the other side that saw them comfortably together. But another part of him doubted they ever could, and so long that Keligan was strung in that unconsciousness, they would forever be treading the line of wrong and right. But if he were to suffer this grief, and she too, should they not endure it together? Perhaps it were this selfish justification that afforded Kvare what he truly wanted: Her, entirely.

More than anything, he finally breathes, letting his mouth push past her lips, trailing down her jawline and toward her slender neck, You will be my wife. I say that with certainty.

Now, later, and forever.

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She could feel his hesitation and wondered if it was because of her. There is doubt that courses through her like poison. Was she not smart enough, pretty enough? He certainly had other suitors, perhaps he fancied one of them more? She swallows the lump that grows in her throat. Perhaps she had made a giant mess of all of this? Had it not been for her, a lot of this would not have happened at all. More than anything, you will be my wife. I say that with certainty. The words nearly bring her to her knees, her whole body feeling as if it might drop entirely. He wanted her? Even despite all of the chaos and madness? Despite what might come their way? "It won't be easy.. I won't be easy." She says softly, after all wasn't Keligan a testament to how marriage with her had gone so far? She could nearly combust the moment his teeth nibble down her jawline. "What will we say? I think.. we tell the truth?" She asks him then. Sunder knows that she will have one confidante and supporter in Lagertha but she was unsure how the others would feel. And of course, they would need to alert the pride to Kvare's change in position, it had all sort of been swept under the rug with trying to get Keligan settled back in. It seemed overwhelming and she worried that the pride would look at how things were and think harshly of them. Of Kvare. She wouldn't be able to stand it if that was the case. "Or .. you don't need to tell anyone about us if you don't want to." She says to him, thinking that he may be ashamed to let others know of their relationship.

Kvare indeed had no lack of suitors, but each of them had found their independence and strength within the hallowed halls of the Cove, and had become less and less reliant on his guidance. Tilly and Novalie had both been enraptured by their duties, and the fleeting flings of other girlish fancies and passing glances had seemed just as preoccupied. It wasn't to say Kvare was starved of it, but it gave him the mercy of focusing on her, for it were not just her anymore. It was them, leaders and lovers tied together by some strange and cruel twist of fate. It won't be easy, @Sunder cautions, I won't be easy. But she is a challenge Kvare is willing to endure.

He said it himself, he breathes, feeling a strange sense of rising anger, a frustration that Keligan weren't awake, that he weren't here to tell them with certainty if what he said were a forgiving truth or a lie, a test of their loyalties. The last time he had faced the man, it had ended in a fight; it had surprised him when he'd given the crown to Kvare instead of anyone else. Didn't he? He commanded you to marry me. His tone deepens, an almost snarky, sultry tenor accompanying his drawl. What loyal soldier would I be if I didn't?

Or .. you don't need to tell anyone about us if you don't want to.

I'll shout it to the sea so that everyone can hear, he said, his gaze refocusing onto her, his paws coming up to hold either side of her shoulders, to capture her own icy stare. You are mine, nin bereth, and I am yours.

---

¹ My wife.

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He said it himself, Didn't he? He commanded you to marry me. What loyal soldier would I be if I didn't? One of her ears would flick ever so slightly at his tone, noticing the rise in that Tollaire fire of his. She knew his frustration, had felt it herself. All of this would be so much easier if they just had a little bit more clarity. Keligan had commanded those things, yes, but whether or not this was a test remained to be seen. Sunder wanted to believe that her husband would not chastise her for choosing to welcome @Kvare as her mate; not when she and Keligan had already discussed such matters. But considering how precarious the situation was she worried what the pride would think, hell what anyone would think. Ultimately she was concerned that a lot of backlash would come down on Kvare's shoulders. That was the last thing that she wanted. She wouldn't blame him if he wanted to keep their relationship a secret, it almost felt warranted given the tension.

I'll shout it to the sea so that everyone can hear, You are mine, nin bereth, and I am yours. He grabs her shoulders and she pins him with her stare, his own fiery gaze nearly taking her breath away. But hearing those sacred words, his wife, coming from his own admission, well she could have sang in response. A low purr rumbled in her throat, her gaze turning molten as a sultry look overtook her. "Husband." She croons to him, reaching upward to nibble his jawline. The water was rocky, their destination still unknown, but Sunder was certain she'd go anywhere with him. Do anything for him. "It is done then. We will tell the pride of Keligan's current condition first.. and our marriage at a later date. I don't want to overwhelm everyone. But you.. I'd like to overwhelm you with that nirvana we've experienced." She says lowly, whispering into his ear before she begins to trail kisses downward and across his large frame. Intent on worshipping every inch of him, thoroughly.

exit via fade.