Sali Alen

“‘Jon…’ He tried one more time, just one more time, gently reaching down to touch his cheek and cup it in his palm. He did not wake. You are a good man, Jon, and they killed you for it. ‘I’m so sorry.’

Satin studied him long and silent – his face, his hair, his shape to commit it all memory – before leaning down and pressing a kiss, closed-mouth and innocent as the Maiden, to Jon’s lips. They were cold beneath his, stiff and unyielding, but they were Jon’s and tomorrow they would be only ash and gone forever. Would that he had kissed Jon last night when they were abed. Would that he had simply rolled to face him in the darkness and mounted him to straddle his hips and cover his lips with his own as he finally touched him with gentle hands. Jon’s iron will of resistance had been so close to faltering, Satin was sure, and one final push would have seen it crumble. But Satin had not done it because Jon had not yet been ready to take of his volition. Almost but not yet. And now he would never be ready. Now, all there would ever be was a kiss goodbye to ice cold lips that could not kiss him back.

Satin knelt beside the palette when his legs could no longer hold him. How many nights had he slept beside Jon, curled up together under the pretense of sharing warmth? How many mornings had they woken in a tangle of limbs close enough to hear each other’s heartbeat? Satin had long since lost count. Tonight would be their last night at each other’s side but Satin would not be warm and at peace. He would be cold, kneeling at Jon’s side in a cell of ice, and there would be no shared moment come dawn. But a whore must learn to take what they can get. So, he leaned against the palette, slumped over and empty as though someone had taken his insides from him, and slept”

・❥・ ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ・❥・

🎨 Art by the incredibly talented @salialenart / sali_alenn on Twitter, commissioned by me ❤️‍🩹

✎ Based on a scene from Once for Sorrow, Once for Joy, Part 7 of the incredible JonSatin fanfic series A Slow Burning Fire, Tended With Care by my amazing friend @back-on-my-nerd-shit 📖 this is the fic that covers Jon’s death and eventual resurrection, and the text quoted in this post is an excerpt from it! 🩶

Close-up below ❦