Chapter Text
Astarion couldn’t stand that empty look in her eyes. Though her soft curls, the same color as the sky, were adorned with the most opalescent jewels gold could buy, and her slender body was draped in the finest gowns in all of Faerûn, she never smiled. Once upon a time, she had beamed at him every time she saw him, her azure eyes shining brightly like the sun. Now, her gaze was hollow, as if she wasn’t truly with him. This was unacceptable - she was his. Why did his former pathetic and weak self elicit such joy from her, when now that he was the most powerful being in Toril, she barely even looked at him?
“My darling, why do you not smile for me?” he cooed, grabbing her chin and tilting it upwards. Her eyes, crimson now, held no trace of emotion at all. She was practically a ragdoll in his arms, never resisting his ministrations, but also never present. He hated it.
He could compel her to smile. It would be so easy. But so, so, meaningless.
“Answer me!” Frustration coursed through him, hot and horrible. Why wouldn’t she look at him?
No response.
“I love you,” he tried. That’s what she had been waiting to hear, right? Honeyed words, soft caresses - she had been so happy to receive them in the past. Surely, this time would be no different.
The tiniest flicker of emotion, and then a tear slowly rolled down her cheek.
Why wasn’t it working? She wasn’t supposed to cry at his profession of love - what was he feeling, if not love? He would give her anything she wanted. All she had to do was ask.
She never asked for anything.