I am a quiet god
and my hunger
is cavernous

All it takes is a slide of her eyes across the landscape to the point of her shoulder, to where her Laurelin - golden, shining russet and well-loved in the light of her sister-hues - comes to a rest beside her. He is more familiar to her now than he has ever been before.

In the past he would disappear into the night, leaving her silent and aching as the cold wrapped around the places he had touched her, erasing the lingering scent and touch of him no matter how she tried to cling to it. Days and weeks would pass without seeing him, closing her eyes to try and recall the exact shade of his eyes or the devilish twist of his smile. Trying to cling to each snapshot in her head until the colors faded and left her wanting. Waiting for the next time he came to her, to soothe the burn of frustrated desire and longing like a wildcat clawing in her chest.

Though they had been gone far longer than anticipated, Hotaru did not regret their absence. It was aptly dubbed a honeymoon in her lover's thoughts. She had possessively dug her claws into every inch of Thranduil she could think to touch, and even places she had not. Memorized him down to his molecules. No matter what happened now, as they slowed beneath the bowers that rustled with the cold wind, nothing would steal those memories from Hotaru again. And though nothing could truly show his mark on her as boldly as his children within her womb, the Valkyrie knew she would not release him from her clutch as she once had. Even if it meant leaving the northern towers of her home, following him to the Goddess she had kept in her prayers the entirety of their travels. Nothing would take him from her ravenous, greedy grasp any longer.

Truly Hotaru owed him more than he knew. He could have turned her away so easily with the proof of her past laid out in front of him, catastrophic and condemning. Ashamin...it still hurt to even think his name, to see him in her daughter's angled face and body. She would not do him the disservice to claim she had not loved him, or that she no longer did in her own way. But he had disappeared, abandoned her - though Thranduil had done the same in his own turn - and all promises of love and sweet whispers of a future together were carried away with him. Leaving her bereft, leaving her struggling and in denial when Thranduil swept along in the wake of her heart's devastation to remind her of the glaring fact that she was mortal and flawed. And he had followed her into the unknown, to hunt down a child that was not his. Because of her.

Faithful mate this time. Strong pack. Strong pups. Loved pups. Alice rumbled in her head like touching a humming wire against her wrist, vibrating all along her neural frequencies. Hotaru smiled. Yes, this time she would make things work. World and rule be damned.

Warmth brushes against her hip, and Hotaru turns to watch him with naked fondness on her face. Perhaps he would even feel it, warm and pulsing against his chest, where the charm lay. It had made their lives easier on the road, forcing the reality of their emotions to light when they tried to hide behind layers and layers of masks.

When he comes to her side, she leans against him, silent gratitude exuding from her tired frame. Though her pride was at times crippling, she would not deny herself this closeness. Not when faces from their past may soon reappear, forcing them into roles they had abandoned what seemed lifetimes ago. Hotaru knew that when she stepped back into those well-worn clothes, however, that they would melt against her body in welcome and recognition.

Her beloved must be thinking along the same lines, as his teeth tease at her tresses and his eyes dance with mischief. Like kindling the fire sparks and races from him to her, contagious, and her smile is a vixen's gleam in the dark of a den as her prey wanders forth into patient claws.

"I could use the excitement after so long with such transient, pitiful prey out there," she agrees with a gleaming smile. Reaches up to lip at his forelock in call-and-response to his tugging at her mane. "I've certainly missed seeing you in action," she teases with simmering eyes. As if she'd jump him then and there had he not already knocked her up. What could she say? They were a matched pair; one side royalty, the other Joker. Mischief and power.