Sternenstaub und Abendfeuer

59. Path of Strength

"I am baffled how you never lost even a trifle of your beauty. No matter the years that passed and no matter the scars you bore, you still shine the same way."

Seonghwa lifted soft eyes from where he had been dusting off his sleeve. He wore a graceful combination of a long-sleeved top that exposed patches of his torso with filigree swirls of fabric tugging over his chest. The wide pants rode low on his hips, shimmering in the colour of moonlight. As usual, expensive jewellery adorned his feet and hands, matching the pins in his hair.

Hongjoong leaned in the door, entranced by the elf's grace. He moved fluid like water, leaving not a clue about the torment in the orc lands. His injury healed and his body recovered from the strain of his pregnancy.

"Would you have despised if I grew worn with fatigue?" Seonghwa chuckled as he ran his eyes down the suit of crimson his sorcerer donned. It matched his black cane and the fire blazing in his eyes.

"Truthfully speaking, I am confident you would be stunning, no matter your years. Elves are notorious for their ever-lasting beauty and the celestial ones seem to radiate particularly." Hongjoong flashed him a grin. The others already assembled in the foyer and their voices travelled down the corridor. Yunho taught Buddy a new trick and he wouldn't stop showing everyone.

"I am glad to hear you won't bore of me soon. Though your infatuation with me was always evident, it might have been fleeting until you gained what you sought."

With long strides, Seonghwa crossed the room. Like liquid light, his clothes fluttered with him. Hongjoong's magic floated his fur-lined coat closer, and the sorcerer took it to tug it around Seonghwa's shoulders. With an elegant dip of his knees, Seonghwa accepted it. When he rose back up to smile at Hongjoong, the wonder in the sorcerer's eyes was ever so devoted.

"I could never, Damiana. If there was ever a doubt about the depth of my feelings, it evaporated with every day I see your shining beauty. Your glow becomes brighter and brighter and I boast with the knowledge I am partly at fault."

Endeared by his smug husband, Seonghwa grasped his jaw in delicate fingers. His lips ghosted over Hongjoong's, relishing the way his tension fell off to melt against Seonghwa's chest.

"I am honoured you discovered more in me than my status. I cannot imagine a life without you now. You or any of the others."

"Don't mention them while it's just the two of us," Hongjoong grumbled. Seonghwa giggled and appeased him with a kiss.

"I cherish you, Hongjoong. Thank you for being by my side, even if some days bring suffering."

Soothed, Hongjoong tugged him closer to kiss him properly. For a moment, they lost their feeling of time and the urgency to depart in the waiting carriages. Hongjoong's lips tasted of the sweet honey candy he and Wooyoung always fought over.

Seonghwa's eyes batted open and glanced past Hongjoong's head when steps neared his room. He pulled back, leaving the sorcerer with a yearnful sigh.

Yunho appeared in the doorway with a sly smirk.

"Need more time, dove?" His eyes raked over Hongjoong's frame, over the moment of vulnerability in Seonghwa's embrace before the sorcerer gripped his cane and whirled around. He marched past Yunho without looking at him.

"I'll be right there," Seonghwa promised. He glanced about the room still foreign to him, so grand and colourful in the Crystal Palace. Though he had another conversation pit installed since he would exchange the late nights lounging with his husbands for nothing in the world, the pillows felt too new and the scent too fresh.

He promised himself he would return to his place of comfort soon. He made tremendous progress and once no lockdown was needed anymore, he, too, could go home.