Truthfully, the scene before Hope wasn't unlike the many parties she'd attended in New Orleans.
Nothing compared to Mardi Gras, of course, but it was lively with food and drink, with people dancing and singing, simply enjoying each other's company—each other's victory. With freeing Halsin and the Goblin Camp decimated, the Tieflings were free to travel the road to Baldur's Gate.
There was one thing, however, that violently stirred against Hope's guilty conscience.
Here she was, partaking in a celebration through a victory she didn't help earn. Her companions had torn through the hordes of goblins to free Halsin, and where had Hope been? Chained and unconscious in a cellar. She would admit there were times, with her upbringing, she could make selfish and possibly questionable decisions, but this felt different.
This felt…weak.
Hope pulled her lower lip between her teeth as she watched the partygoers. She didn't dare look at Lae'zel from across the way, knowing she would be thinking the same thing about her that she was feeling about herself: Useless. Ordinarily, the opinions of others didn't bother her; maybe it was the liquor.
In an attempt to shake off her own disdain, she swallowed the last gulp in her goblet and circled the camp until she found herself approaching Gale. He looked almost as lonely as she felt. There was a chance, she supposed, she'd misjudged his intentions. Say he truly did care for her, for her safety, what would she even do with that?
The types of people she surrounded herself with were either on her list to be kissed or killed, and she wasn't sure where he fell if he had a place in her life at all. Hope didn't have friends, and the physical interactions she had—like fucking Astarion on a riverbank—were always a means to an end. She wanted pleasure, so she got it from where she could without the pressure of attachment or abandonment.
"Ah," Gale smiled as she approached, lifting his own goblet in the air, "enjoying yourself, I hope?"
A sly smirk ghosted the corner of her mouth as she stopped a foot short of him, "I suppose so." She watched the slight narrowing of his eyes before she quickly moved on. "How's it feel to be a hero of the grove?"
Gale snorted and shook his head, "Ah, hero," a sudden sadness glittered in his eyes, "I am glad our actions worked in our favor, still…"
Leaning against a boulder that stood near them, Hope offered him her full attention. "Still what?"
It was then that he gazed on her, not in any way he had before, but in a knowing way—an intimate way. A thrill of something sharp and sweet raced up her spine and tinged the back of her tongue with a bitter edge. Why was he looking at her like that? More importantly, why did it feel like her heart was about to break free of its ribcage?
"What?" Hope repeated with more urgency.
Gale's lips pursed as a muscle feathered in his jaw, "I do not claim to know you, Hope," he breathed, swallowing harshly before continuing, "but do not think I am ignorant enough not to know power when I feel it."
Holding her expression still, she waited and listened, best not to jump to any conclusions about what he did and didn't know about her.
"I can feel it," Gale whispered harshly, leaning in with eyes so alight with passion. Hope's breath stuttered, "and while you may not have lied inherently about your capabilities, I know true power when I feel it, and you, Hope, are truly powerful."
Hope glanced around the camp, wondering and desperately hoping no one else was paying attention to this conversation.
"I've not told anyone," He murmured, pulling Hope's attention back to him, and the passion in his eyes waned. There was still warmth there, but mostly guarded understanding. "I will not relay what I know if that is what you wish, but..." his brow furrowed as he hesitated, struggling to say the next few words that had been hiding in the back of his throat, "I will not lie to them for you."
Hope's skin felt flushed, hot to the touch as she stared at him, choosing her next words carefully, "I never asked you to…"
"I know," he offered a small, genuine smile.
He studied her for a long moment, long enough that Hope could feel herself starting to squirm beneath his stare, "As strange as it sounds, I trust you. There is something…instinctual in that trust I continue to question. Until that trust is breached, I offer my alliance."
Honestly, Hope didn't know how else to respond, only that she wanted to be done with this conversation and away from his penetrating gaze, "Goodnight, Gale…" It was all she could say before pushing herself away from the stone and away from his tent.
When speaking with Gale, she never truly knew what might come from his mouth, but she certainly hadn't expected that. Oddly enough, it wasn't the suspicion that surprised her; it was the blind allegiance. What about her had him convinced she was someone to trust? Her lies, theft, and murder?
"You look troubled, darling," Astarion purred from his tent.
Hope glanced his way, realizing she'd unwittingly advanced toward him in her thoughts. She smoothed her scrunched forehead and breathed deeply as he swirled a bottle of wine. She approached and, without a word, held her goblet up to his bottle.
Smirking, he arched an elegant brow before pouring a generous amount of red liquid into the vessel and chuckled, "It isn't good, by the way. It's straight piss."
"It could light me on fire at this point, and I wouldn't care."
"Ooo," Astarion smirked, "someone's feeling haughty."
She rolled her eyes, took a deep swig, and pulled a face.
"Told you."
Forcing herself to swallow the mouthful, she sighed, "I am not haughty. I'm annoyed."
"At Gale?" He asked, flicked a wrist, and sighed. "I thought you two had some sort of bond, what with the way he flaunts his books at you—the professor and his student."
Hope resisted the urge to curl her lip at him, "I'm going to pretend you didn't say that." She said, taking another regretful swallow. "I don't bond with people. I fuck them."
"Is that right?" He asked, tilting his head to the side as a feline-like grin curled his lips with almost as much animation as the bits of hair at his forehead. "Because I was thinking along the same lines…especially tonight." His heated gaze drifted up and down the length of her body, and Hope could practically feel him undressing her in his mind.
A sudden image of her limbs tangled with his as they breathlessly fucked each other under the still moon made Hope's core ache. She tingled between her legs as she imagined the tip of his tongue circling and teasing her clit until she screamed for relief, something he wouldn't allow until she begged.
Fuck.
"Where?" She asked, glancing around at the partygoers.
"Beyond the trees, there's a clearing. I'll meet you there when everyone's asleep."
Hope sucked on her teeth and smirked, "I'll see you then."
The fire had reduced to smoldering embers by the time Hope made her way through the darkened wood. On the way, her stomach revolted in somersaults. It wasn't like this was her first time; hell, it wasn't even her first time with Astarion, but she couldn't chase away this sensation.
Hope realized then that it wasn't from nerves alone that trembled her breath, but from hunger—she craved him. Passionately, intimately. She wanted to wreck him and fuck away the irritation that had been steadily growing since that morning.
Through the trees, she saw a pale figure in the moonlight. Astarion faced away from her, and again she examined the markings on his back as she approached. He must have heard her steps because as she entered the clearing, he turned. The usual smirk that graced his fine lips was replaced with a genuine, almost gentle smile.
While he may have been looking her over, she was much too distracted by his bare torso and the lines and ridges that made up his physique. Fuck, she wanted to lick him—drag her tongue across his bare skin and taste the salt and sweat of him.
Astarion chuckled, a pleasant rumble in the back of his throat, "You look as though you want to pounce on me, my dear."
Hope flashed a grin, letting a bit of the devil show, "So what if I do?"
He sauntered toward her, his gait elegant with perhaps a hint of snobbishness, but that only made Hope want to bite his lip—maybe she could fuck the snob right out of him. She didn't get the chance to make the first move before his hands slid down her waist to her hips, and her back was suddenly against the solid trunk of a tree.
Lifting her chin, she tilted her head back to look up at him, entranced by the hunger in his eyes and the quiver of his lip. Hope knew then he was equally as starved of her as she was of him because suddenly his mouth was on hers in a hot, bruising kiss. Their teeth clashed, and Hope prayed her own fangs didn't make a guest appearance.
While Hope didn't mind his tongue tangling with hers, she liked it even more when he pulled away and dragged his sucking kisses down her throat and to her collarbone, which he exposed by pulling her neckline to the side.
"I don't care if you feed on me," Hope gasped, "but you better fuck me, too."
A soft, almost animal-like snarl came from him as he pulled back and grinned down at her with shining fangs. His thumb pressed against her bottom lip, pulling her jaw down as he chuckled low in his throat, "So brazen…"
Hope grinned as she let her jaw fall open for him, her breath shallow while his middle and ring fingers slid into her mouth, past her tongue, and down her throat. Hope gagged around his fingers at first, but when he started to pull away, she sucked hard and leaned her head back.
He gazed down at her as his fingers pumped in and out of her throat at a slow pace, "You seem to forget your place, which is beneath me." Astarion murmured, and while one hand fucked her throat, the other slid beneath her pants and under the fabric of her underwear, where she was already soaked with arousal.
Shooting pleasure rocketed through her body at his delicate touch, which skated through her folds, but didn't touch where she needed him most. She moaned around his fingers as he ventured further, diving into her core. Stroking slow and deep, his hooked fingers found the spot that made her legs feel like jelly, and suddenly she was drooling around his fingers while her vision relaxed into fuzzy shapes, crossing with each distinct pull.
Hope lost the sensation of him inside of her far too soon, but as she cried out in protest, he replaced his fingers down her throat with the ones that had been fucking her cunt. She tasted herself on her tongue, eyes watering as his fingers pushed and pulled with more vigor than before. Squeezing her legs shut, she tried to fight off the desperate need to grind herself against him. He didn't allow it as his leg shoved between her shaking thighs, keeping them open as his knee ground against her cunt.
She couldn't take it anymore.
Snatching the back of his knee with her hand, she put him on his back with a quick thud. While Astarion looked surprised, he looked up at her with wide, eager eyes.
Hope leaned back and slipped off her shirt, tossing it aside, and his hands were on her breasts in an instant. Her jaw fell as he squeezed and massaged her chest, but he earned a gasping groan as he squeezed her hardened nipples between his fingers.
She must have had her guard down because he was suddenly rolling them, and his mouth replaced his finger. Crying out in surprise, Hope threw her head back while he sucked her nipple into his mouth, rolling his tongue in quick, hot circles. Her nails bit into his shoulders and raked down his back, earning her a deep moan.
With their breathless panting, there was no room to speak, but Hope managed a ragged, "Astarion…" And that's when her pants came off, and his mouth crash landed on her already quivering pussy.
Clutching the grass with a grip so tight her fingers threatened to spasm, Hope cried out as Astarion splayed her thighs open and devoured her like she was his last meal. He ate hungrily as he ravaged her. Truly, it was probably the only time he didn't seem to care about making a mess as her arousal now slicked his mouth, nose, and chin.
The first release was unexpected, but small. It was truly the tiniest death compared to what she craved, and when the final wave of her orgasm diminished to only a dull thud, she clamped her knees around his head and rolled them. Climbing down his body with violent desperation, she settled on his rock-hard erection (when he'd taken his pants off, she didn't know, and she didn't care) and, with her hands against his chest, she lined herself with his crown and slammed her first thrust down—hard.
Astarion threw his head back as he cried out, and his features twisted into a mask of pained pleasure. Still, his fingers hooked claws around her waist, urging her to continue. So, she did. Using her strength, speed, and stamina, Hope rocked his shit with her hips, driving him forward with each impaling thrust. With each stroke, she searched for that spot inside of her that would send her flying to another dimension. It took a moment, and she could feel the tension growing in Astarion—he was going to burst, and she had to act fast if she wanted to cum with him.
As if reading her mind, one of the hands that held her waist fell down and rubbed hard, feverish circles against her clit while she continued fucking herself on his cock. Everything seemed to shift into static dark as the building pressure suddenly released and Hope's channel pulsed around Astarion's now writhing cock.
She fell forward on the damp skin of his chest, which rose and fell as fast and shallow as hers did. Despite her head still living somewhere in the cosmos, her tongue darted out, and she tasted his skin. She moaned. More than anything, she wanted to sink her fangs into his flesh and greedily feed, but it was his fangs that punctured her skin instead as he rolled them, so he was above her.
Hope sighed with satisfaction, eyes closing as she relished each pull as he drank deeply, releasing her of her built-up tension. How the fuck he was hard again against her thigh was beyond her, but she didn't hesitate to let her legs fall open in invitation, which he obligingly accepted and stroked into her. Hope groaned against his shoulder. This time, it was slow and deep. The race to the end was finished and now…now she could simply enjoy the sensation of him being inside of her—so full and perfect with a tight pinch that brought relief with each inward thrust. And that was how they spent their evening, Hope's soft moans intertwined with his sighs and grunts.
They fucked each other until they couldn't fuck anymore.