#eykiw

|| Astarion/Kara/Eris || ongoing || E || || Chapter Three - What Pleasures Lie Beneath The Pain || || 8031 words ||

Like the last times with wonderful art done by @ashalle-art​ 💕

When she hears him come up behind her only a few minutes later, Kara is still fighting down her arousal from the scene she just witnessed.

“What in the hells was that?” she asks as he is close enough, and his soft laugh doesn’t help her agitated mind at all as she turns towards him.

“You saw that?” he says with a smile. “Good, in that case: entertainment.”

Kara looks at him skeptically. “What would it have been in any other case?”

“Why, a brilliant and effective way to get her to drop her questions, of course,” comes Astarions’s smooth reply. Kara can’t help but snort in amusement as she realizes that this certainly is something he has done before. Successfully. But there is a question burning on her tongue nonetheless.

“What if she would have said yes?”

His smile widens, and his eyes sparkle with mischief. “Then you’d have gotten a marvelous show, I assume.” At Kara’s sharp gasp, he laughs. “Ah, come on, I am mostly joking. She wasn’t going to say yes; she was far too startled by that. But you…” Astarion pauses, and his eyes narrow as he takes in her flushed face and faster-going breath. “Oh, you would have actually enjoyed watching that, wouldn’t you?”

Kara doesn’t even have to say anything. She knows it is clearly visible on her face, and so she simply looks away in a fruitless try to avoid his knowing grin.

“Just the thought of getting to see her in the throes of passion makes you already weak in your knees,” Astarion murmurs as he steps closer. He does the same thing he did down at the river with Eris and tilts her head up by cupping her cheek until she looks at him. “Don’t worry, darling,” he says with a gleeful curl of his lips. “It’s only a little bit pathetic.”

The small stab of anger at his insult barely registers under the surge of need going through her at his words. Not for the first time Kara curses the fact that something about her is so terribly wrong, so twisted, that even the harsh and unkind things Astarion says to her manage to get under her skin in a way that is definitely not supposed to happen. And yet it does, every single time. With a growl, she reaches for him and pulls on his clothes until she can kiss him. She puts all her anger and all her frustration into it as her lips move harshly over his.

Astarion doesn’t object. He never does. He kisses back enthusiastically, and a moment later, he is already undoing her shirt. Kara wears no breastband underneath, just like she has done the last few times they met up like this late at night. Bothering with underwear of any kind when they usually didn’t stay clothed any longer than necessary seemed like a waste, anyway.

She is more than glad about her decision when his hands are kneading her breasts only a moment later, and Kara, in her impatience, tears her mouth away from Astarion and tilts her head sideways in a blatant invitation. He doesn’t need to be told twice before he lets out a small growl himself and sinks his fangs into her neck.

Kara gasps in both pain and pleasure, her whole body tensing for a moment before she relaxes against him. He drinks from her almost casually, she notices. His bite is shallow as his hands are still busy with getting her all the way out of her shirt, and Kara pushes herself up against his mouth, urging him for more.

Instead of getting what she wants, though, Astarion draws back entirely, mustering her with a curious look.

“You don’t like me going easy on you at all, do you? Not even a little bit?” he asks with a furrowed brow as if he is contemplating something.

|| Astarion/Kara/Eris || ongoing || E || || Chapter Five - Forgive Me Not || 6252 words ||

A sharp gasp makes Kara look up after all. Eris looks at her with that same mix of trepidation and hopefulness from earlier. There is hesitation mixed with the glint of desire burning in her eyes as she clears her throat before she turns to Astarion.

“Can you stop for a moment and take that gag off her so we can talk?” Eris asks, her quiet voice only slightly shaking.

Kara knows his answer way before he gives it. Astarion’s hand still moves, fingers teasing her clit and sending shivers through her, and when Kara turns her head towards him, she sees the slow smile spreading over his face.

“No.”

Astarion’s answer is simple and clear. Eris shifts again, looking taken aback for a moment, like she wants to protest but Astarion isn’t done.

“I’m afraid, dear Kara and I have a plan for the night,” he says smoothly. “And I am not inclined to take that gag off until I have a much better use for her mouth. So unless you were thinking of volunteering…”

In the pale shine of the moonlight, Kara can see Eris’ cheeks darken in embarrassment before she catches herself and sends Astarion a scolding look.

“I was just trying to…” Eris starts but Astarion interrupts her with a scoff.

“To what? To talk?” he asks mockingly. “You are as bad a liar as our Kara here, darling. If you were just here to talk, you wouldn’t have stood there, watching in secret, for as long as you did.”

Kara’s eyes widen as the surprise on Eris’ face followed by a look of guilt affirms just what Astarion claims.

“You knew I was there?” she asks and her breath hitches in her throat.

“For a while.” Astarion’s voice holds his usual smugness that is always extra pronounced when he knows he is about to get his way, and he inclines his head. “So why don’t you just do what you really want to, come closer, and get a good look?”

|| Astarion/Kara/Eris || ongoing || E || || Chapter Four - Not without Incident || || 6332 words ||

The next morning, they barely manage to sneak back inside their camp before the others start to rise. Kara takes the opportunity to hurry down to the river and take a quick bath.

The water is bitingly cold, but she knows that with how strong the current is, it won’t heat up much during the day, no matter how much the sun warms everything around them. It is something she still isn’t used to. Back home, the city is built around a set of hot springs. Warm air and water always sprout from the ground somewhere.

Shadowheart explained that the source of the river is a further away mountain range, and its coldness is due to the amount of barely melted ice and snow that fills the stream regularly. So the baths and washings stay a short endeavor, and not much later, Kara is back in camp where Wyll had already gone through the effort of making breakfast.

It’s nothing fancy, but it is warm and welcome. Kara automatically sits next to Astarion and leans a bit forward, giving him ample space to make the food he is only pretending to eat disappear. They had fallen into certain habits over the last weeks that Kara doesn’t even need to actively think about.

Kara tugs on her scarf, something that had become necessary to wear after last night’s activities when the places around the fire fill up. Eris is the last to join them. From the look of her wet hair, she too comes from a morning river batch as she takes some food and sits down with them.

As if she had been waiting for everyone to be there, Shadowheart puts her bowl down and fixes her eyes on Kara with a strangely intense look.

“So,” she drawls slowly, “you and Astarion then…” and Kara nearly chokes on her food before she freezes completely, not daring to look around.

“Oh, don’t look so surprised,” Shadowheart laughs as Kara does nothing but splutter. “You weren’t exactly quiet last night, were you? And, well, your scarf is not covering all of that…” And by that, she points at Kara’s neck with a raised eyebrow. “Which raises another important question, actually.”

“Uhm…” is all Kara gets out, hastily looking around only to find everyone else staring at both her and Astarion. Eris, in particular, seems to be fixated on her neck and Kara knows just what she most likely sees, what her scarf doesn’t cover correctly when Eris’ eyes widen.

Kara feels like a trapped animal, instinctively getting up as everything in her screams at her to run away, her usual calm withering under having the careful attention of their entire camp on her.

“I can’t believe I didn’t see it.” Wyll tilts his head, looking deep in thought before he frowns and his eyes narrow on Astarion. “A vampire.”

Gale doesn’t say anything, but his hand closes around his staff as he observes them carefully.

Shadowheart just looks at them curiously, but Eris - Eris seems completely frozen, not moving a muscle as she still stares.

|| Astarion/Kara/Eris || ongoing || E || || Chapter Six - For I Still Sin || 5502 words ||

When Kara comes out of her resting trance, it’s to a surprising amount of different sensations.

The sun breaks through the leaves, making the tiny beads of moisture from the morning dew on the surrounding moss and grass glitter under its light. The fresh smell of spring morning is in her nose, and the chorus of birds singing around the small clearing fills the air with a light and upbeat feeling. The air is fresh, but her bedroll is warm. Warmer than usual, Kara notices, and a moment later, she realizes that there is someone pressed flush against her.

From the warmth of the other body, she knows immediately that it isn’t Astarion, and her heart beats a little faster as memories of last night rush back to her.

“Good morning,” Eris mumbles at that moment, and Kara can’t help but smile as she turns and looks at the other woman who lies next to her, head propped up on her elbow.

“Morning,” Kara gets out in a rough voice before she notices something else - they are alone.

“Where is Astarion?” Kara murmurs, her eyes still slowly adjusting to the light as she looks at Eris.

“He went back to camp to get some things; I told him to bring breakfast.”

Eris’ smile looks almost shy like she isn’t quite sure just how to behave. She seems close to fidgeting before she notices Kara’s skeptical look.

“Did you really send the Vampire who hasn’t eaten food in two hundred years and has no idea anymore how anything tastes to get us breakfast?” Kara asks in a dry tone, and after a brief moment of looking adorably confused, Eris has to laugh.

“I guess I did,” she admits sheepishly. “In my defense, I only learned about the whole Vampire thing yesterday; I’m still getting used to it.”