Everything turned to smoke.
The laughter, the chants, the music, the crashing of goblets and the howls of drunken wolves...it all faded into static.
She burned like fire.
Not just her dress...well, the red did cling to her like sin and temptation...but her presence. It struck him like a punch to the gut.Like a memory he was not ready for.
A wound he never stitched shut. A truth he never stopped bleeding from.
His senses zeroed in...sight, sound, scent...only her.
He could not breathe.The world dissolved.
Everything blurred into a dull roar, muffled as if underwater. The only thing that burned sharp and clear in Kieran’s vision was her.
She stood at the edge and her gown shone like a wound against the night, the emerald wolf pendant pulsed hotter than before.
The silver mask hid her expression, but her eyes...locked onto his like a blade pressed to his throat.
Varric’s voice slithered through the haze.
"Look at that fucking ass," the Stormfang Alpha slurred, elbowing Kieran hard enough to knock him off. "Bet she’s got a bite to match those pretty claws. You think she is Velor’s? Or just some whore he picked up for the party?...Kieran?!Are you listening???" Varric’s voice broke into the trance, yelping like a drunken fool beside him.
"Tell me you are seeing what I am seeing? I mean...fuck me sideways, that is a sight for a sore cock!"
Kieran did not move. Did not blink.
Varric’s voice reached his ears but his senses were too numb to react.
"She’s got that wild thing in her eyes," Varric continued. "Bet she is wilder when she fucks."
Kieran’s jaw clenched.
"Wolves like that..." Varric continued muttering, already pushing through the crowd, "You don’t let them walk away. You collar them. Break them..."
"Don’t...", Kieran’s mind growled.
His muscles coiled, his claws threatening to break skin where they dug into his palms.
Varric, too wasted to notice the danger, kept laughing. "I will find out. Watch and learn, Blackmoon...this is how you handle a bitch who thinks she is too good to..."
Before Kieran could react further...Varric staggered forward, shoving straight through the crowd with all the grace of a rabid dog.He cut through the press of bodies, swaggering, his grin all teeth and sleaze.
Kieran’s heart kicked once...hard...when he saw her smile. A faint smile. Polite. Measured. Distant.
But then... she turned away.
But Varric was not done.
Kieran’s eyes sharpened as he saw the motion...Varric’s hand catching her wrist
Kieran lost sight of her.
Then...Kieran’s vision tunneled.
Kieran bolted, moving before he could think, before logic could leash him. He shoved through the masses, storming toward the stairs.He was bolting before he had made the decision, taking the stairs six at a time, shoving past drunken guests and gasping servants. The world narrowed to the pounding of his pulse, the snarl building in his chest.
The balcony was empty when he reached it.
No sign of her. No sign of Varric.
Then... A yelp. A thud. A crunch of bone.
Kieran followed the sound like a predator scenting blood.
Around the corner, in a secluded alcove, Varric was curled on the ground like a gutted fish, his nose smashed, blood streaming down his chin. His expensive shirt was torn at the collar, one sleeve nearly ripped off.
"Fucking cunt!" Varric spat, crimson flecking his teeth. "I will skin you alive for this! Do you know who I am?!"
"Nooo! Varric you did not..." The word sliced through his thoughts like lightning.
"You mad bitch!" Varric bellowed. "You..what the hell did you do?My face...my pretty face...!"
The woman stood over him, utterly still. Not a hair out of place. Not a tremble in her stance.
Like a goddess who had already judged him unworthy.
Then Varric spotted Kieran.
"Blackmoon!" he wheezed, hope lighting his drunk, bloody face. "This slut just...fuck...she broke my fucking nose! Help me up. Let’s teach her a lesson she won’t forget."
Kieran did not blink.
The chaos of the party felt miles away now. The world had fallen into a vacuum of silence around her. She looked like she belonged to another realm.
"Oh, thank fuck," Varric rasped. "Come on, brother. You saw it...crazy witch. We should teach her a thing or two she will never... "
He took slow, deliberate steps forward, his boots clicking against the marble. Varric grinned, thinking salvation was so close.
"That’s it," Varric slurred, extending a shaking hand. "Grab her. Hold her down. I will show her what happens when you..."
Varric’s grin widened.
Kieran’s fist connected with Varric’s face with enough force to snap his head back. Blood sprayed, splattering the wall in an arc. Varric howled, collapsing again, clutching his now twice broken nose.
"You...!" Another blow landed with a wet crunch. Varric’s head snapped sideways, another streak of blood spraying across the floor.
He slumped with a moan.
Kieran did not look down.
He stepped over him...boot heel pressing into Varric’s shoulder as he walked past, straight to the woman in red.
His voice came out rough, too raw, too unhinged with concern.
Just held his gaze, her green eyes burning into him.
As if he were the one who had put hands on her.
As if he were the monster.
Varric groaned behind them, whimpering through the blood.
Kieran did not turn. Did not acknowledge him.
His entire world was her at that moment.
The way her chest rose and fell.
The way her fingers flexed, like she was resisting the urge to strike him next.
The way her lips...fuck, those lips...parted, just slightly, as if she might finally speak.
A slow, mocking clap echoed from the shadows.
Velor Bloodfang emerged from the darkness, his grin sharp as a knife.
"What do we have here?"