[BL] I Didn't Sign Up For This-Chapter 109: In Which Void Learns About Consequences

I woke up to Azryth’s hand still in my hair and the quiet sounds of someone moving around in the common area.

His breathing was steady, relaxed, already awake but not moving.

"Morning," I said against his chest.

"Morning." His fingers shifted slightly, not pulling away. "Sleep well?"

"Yes, better than I expected after yesterday."

"...Void stayed in the corridor throughout the night."

"Good." I tilted my head to look at him. "It should."

His eyes met mine, and the binding hummed between us...content, settled, both of us present after days of separation.

I shifted closer, one leg sliding over his, and his hand moved from my hair to my waist.

"You held your ground yesterday," he said quietly. "And the creature backed down."

"Doesn’t mean I’m ready to forgive it."

"No," he agreed. "Not yet."

I pressed closer, feeling the warmth of him through the thin fabric separating us.

His hand tightened on my waist.

"We should probably get up," I said, not moving.

"Probably."

Neither of us moved.

The binding pulsed with awareness, his interest matching mine, both of us acutely conscious of proximity and the fact that we’d spent days apart.

I leaned in and kissed him.

He responded immediately, hand sliding up my back, pulling me closer.

The kiss deepened, became something more deliberate, and I shifted to straddle him properly, feeling his immediate response beneath me.

"Definitely should get up," I said against his mouth.

"Definitely," he agreed, hands moving to my hips, pulling me down against him.

I pulled off my shirt and tossed it aside. Azryth’s hands were immediately on my skin, warm and possessive, mapping familiar territory like he was relearning every detail after days of distance.

His shirt came off next, and I pressed against him, skin to skin, feeling his heart beating against mine.

"Missed this," I said, kissing down his jaw to his neck.

"Me too." His hands slid lower, pushing down the waistband of my pants.

"Good."

I helped him with the rest of our clothes, impatient and not particularly coordinated about it, and then there was nothing between us.

Azryth pulled me back down, one hand in my hair, the other at my lower back, and kissed me like he’d been waiting for permission.

I moved against him, slow and deliberate, feeling his grip tighten, feeling the binding pulse in time with our movements.

"Riven," he said, voice rough.

"Yeah?"

"You’re..." He stopped, pulled me into another kiss instead of finishing the sentence.

I didn’t need him to finish it.

I knew what he meant.

The binding made it impossible not to know, his need matching mine, both of us falling into rhythm without needing to coordinate, both of us chasing the same thing.

When I finally took him in, the binding flared bright and certain, settling into something that felt like completion.

We moved together, slow at first, then faster as patience wore thin and urgency took over.

Azryth’s hands were everywhere...my hips, my back, my hair, pulling me closer, guiding my movements, making small sounds that sent heat straight through me.

I braced my hands on his chest, found a rhythm that worked, and lost myself in the feel of him and the binding singing between us.

When I came, it was sharp and sudden, pleasure crashing through me and bleeding across the binding so Azryth felt every second of it.

He followed immediately after, pulling me down hard against him, holding me there while he finished.

We stayed like that for a long moment, both of us breathing hard, the binding humming contentedly between us.

"Feel better?" Azryth asked eventually.

"Much." I shifted slightly, still not moving off him. "You?"

"Very much."

I kissed him again, slower this time, just because I could.

Then we actually got up.

***

The shower was hot and the water pressure was better than it had any right to be in a fortress carved into volcanic rock.

Azryth leaned against the stone wall under the spray, looking more relaxed than I’d seen him since before he left for the infernal realm.

I stepped under the water with him, washing off, taking my time.

"We’re going to be late for breakfast," Azryth observed.

"I don’t care."

"Mara’s going to make comments."

"Let her."

He smiled and pulled me closer, kissing my shoulder.

We eventually finished, got dressed, and headed toward the common area.

***

Mara had made breakfast.

Eggs, toast, bacon that shouldn’t exist this far from civilization but did, and coffee that smelled strong enough to raise the dead.

Henrik sat at the table with his tablet. Ryota stood near the far wall, looking out through one of the narrow windows at the gray morning.

Azryth sat down, and I immediately took the chair next to him, wrapping one arm around his and reaching for coffee with my free hand.

"Sleep okay?" Mara asked, bringing plates to the table.

"Yeah."

"Void behaved?"

"Yep, it stayed put since yesterday."

"Impressive." She set down plates. "Most creatures don’t handle boundaries well."

I took a sip of coffee, Mara had made it strong, exactly the way I liked it.

Azryth settled back, and I rested my head against his shoulder while I ate, fork in my free hand.

Henrik looked up from his tablet. "We need to talk about the Equilibrium Emissary."

The room went quiet.

Ryota turned from the window. "We’ve been avoiding it."

"For days," Henrik said. "No sign of it returning, no indication more are coming."

"Doesn’t mean they’re not," I said.

"No. But the silence is concerning, it suggests planning rather than reaction."

Azryth’s hand moved to rest on my leg under the table. "The Emissary made specific threats that we created imbalances and said Riven was a transgression. Those aren’t statements that disappear because a furball drove it off once."

"So we’re waiting," Mara said, sitting down with her own plate.

"Essentially."

"It feels like a calm before the storm."

We ate in silence for a minute, the weight of unfinished threats hanging over breakfast.

I kept my arm wrapped around Azryth’s, occasionally glancing toward the corridor entrance where I knew Void was probably hovering.

I still hadn’t looked at it directly, I still wasn’t ready.

Ryota brought more coffee without being asked, refilling cups before returning to the window.

"The fortress wards are holding well," Henrik said, apparently moving past apocalyptic topics. "Whatever your bloodline built here, they knew what they were doing."

"Of course, they’re ’my’ bloodline."

....

"Have you explored much?" Azryth asked, a smile tugging at his lips.

"Some. There are rooms I haven’t figured out yet, they feel like they’re waiting for something I don’t know how to activate."

Movement in the corridor caught my peripheral vision.

Void had appeared in the entrance.

Not approaching, just there, hovering about ten feet back, eyes dimmed to a soft glow.

I didn’t acknowledge it, I took another bite of eggs.

The furrball made a small sound.

I ignored it.

We finished breakfast. I helped Mara clear plates while keeping one hand on Azryth’s shoulder, which made the process awkward but I managed.

When I sat back down, I pulled my chair even closer, one leg folding under me.

Void was still in the corridor.

Still watching.

Then it moved.

Not toward me...toward Azryth.

Rolled forward slowly, stopping about five feet from him.

Made a soft, uncertain sound.

Purple-black energy manifested above it, condensing into a small sphere that glowed gently.

The sphere drifted toward Azryth and settled near his feet, dissipating into sparkles that faded like dying embers.

We all watched.

"Did it just..." Mara started.

"Apologize," Henrik said quietly. "To Azryth."

Void made another soft sound, eyes fixed on Azryth, waiting.

Azryth looked down at the furball for a long moment.

"I accept your apology," he said.

Void’s eyes brightened, hopeful, not aggressive.

Then it rolled back and turned to me.

Made a different sound, quieter, pleading.

Another sphere formed, gentler than the first, drifting toward me with obvious care.

It settled near my feet and faded the same way.

I looked at Void.

At the small creature that had attacked Azryth yesterday, that had ignored every boundary, that now sat waiting for forgiveness.

"I see you’re sorry," I said.

Its eyes brightened slightly.

"But we’re not okay."

The brightness dimmed...sad, not angry.

"You attacked him. You tried to hurt someone I care about because you didn’t like him being near me. That’s not acceptable."

Void made a small sound and rolled backward.

"Maybe we’ll be okay eventually, but not today."

The furrball stayed there for a moment, then turned and rolled toward Azryth instead.

Settled a few feet from him, closer than it had been to me.

Still watching me.

Still waiting.

"Smart," Mara observed. "Staying near the person who forgave it."

"It can wait as long as it needs to," I said.

Void made a sad sound but didn’t move closer.

I leaned into Azryth, wrapping both arms around one of his.

The furrball could learn patience.

***

The rest of the day passed quietly.

We talked about the fortress, about training schedules, about nothing critical.

I stayed next to Azryth through all of it, resting my head on his shoulder during conversations, keeping one hand on his arm, shifting closer whenever he moved.

Void had moved closer to Azryth by afternoon, almost touching him, drawn to whatever connection to me that represented.

Its eyes still tracked my movements, still sought acknowledgment.

I almost gave in a few times.

I almost looked directly at it.

Almost said something that would indicate forgiveness.

But I didn’t.

Not yet.

The furrball could wait.

And I could stay next to Azryth and pretend the world wasn’t waiting to throw another crisis at us.

For now, that was enough.