This is another excerpt for Night IV, conveniently following the last except I posted. Read that one first for the context. Night IV is coming along well, I'm currently editing the Heretic route. As I mentioned on my blog, the Heretic route will be uploaded tomorrow, the Zealot route will take a couple more days to wrap up and edit. Pious brats hang tight, or give the Heretic route a try. There are still plenty of ways to make Valdricht adore you. Look, she can quote scripture, too:

★★★

Tentatively, you reach up to touch his face.

Before your fingertips can make contact with his smooth skin, Valdricht seizes your wrist. You suck in a breath. You didn't see his hand move from the back of your neck—it simply vanished and reappeared in front of you.

"I'm sorry," you breathe, searching his eyes.

His neutral gaze is at odds with the tight grip on your wrist. "I did not give you leave to touch my face."

Valdricht speaks low and deliberately. Curiously, there isn’t a hint of reprimand in his voice. Something about his response emboldens you.

"May I touch your face?"

He doesn't answer. His grip on your wrist loosens, but he continues to hold your offending hand captive, his thumb tracing a strange pattern against your sensitive skin.

My veins, you realize.

"Do you... Are you hungry?" you ask.

"I have no interest in drinking your blood, if that is what you offer."

"How come?" You're surprised to find his remark irks you.

"I do not care for the blood of women."

You run your tongue along the back of your teeth. "Really? What do women taste like?"

"Too sweet for my tastes."

"Sweetness dulls the blade of will," you whisper offhandedly.

His lips twist wryly. "And now you quote scripture to me?"

"You recognized that?" you ask, smiling despite yourself. "It's strange. Since... everything, I find myself clinging to faith more than ever. Truth be told, I was never much of a believer before. I don’t think I believed in the gods at all."

I'm rambling.

Valdricht continues tracing your veins, now with the tip of his claw. You're acutely aware of how easy it would be for him to dig into you—puncture your flesh down to the bone. Yet in those same bones, you know he won’t hurt you. The same instinctive way you know he isn't bored and that he’s glad you’re ignoring his order to sleep.

"To think, you almost had me convinced that you are a Maiden of Morning," he says.

You recognize the title. It’s what Vestals of Dawn had once been called before The Reformation, more than five centuries ago. It piques your interest.

"How old are you?" you ask.

His skepticism about your identity doesn’t bother you as much as before. A small part of you likes the idea of being someone different. A beautiful woman who sprang from the ether by the will of a goddess—not the deformed, blinded halfling who had only ever hurt people.

"It is not polite to ask a darksinger his age."

He doesn’t look the least bit offended. You’re about to press the question when he draws your wrist to his nose and inhales.

You have to work moisture back into your mouth before you can ask, "Do I smell nice?"

Whatever you thought he might say—assuming you thought at all before asking such an audacious question—it certainly wasn’t:

"You could use a thorough washing."

You pull your hand away on reflex, bringing your wrist to your nose as your cheeks burn. "Truly? My nose isn’t attuned to my scent. I am usually most fastidious."

"Would you like for me to wash you?" Valdricht asks.

✧ Yes?
✧ That's rather inappropriate. (Coy +)

★★★

By this point you've already branched off into the intimacy route and there's no turning back. The whole NSFW scene diverged quite a bit from my original draft but in the best of ways. Later I will re-write it from Valdricht's POV and it'll be even better. I generally prefer writing "first time" scenes from the male POV, as my inner realist will not permit me to write an it-was-so-magical-and-perfect-and-the-best-thing-ever scene for a woman losing her virginity. Despite that, I'm very happy with how this night played out. The non-intimacy route is also nice, albeit a bit shorter and with considerably less romance. 

If you choose not to engage in intimacy this episode, either because your bond isn't strong enough or because you want to delay gratification, you'll have your chance before the week is out. That goes for Zealot players, too. For the Zealot route, the road to intimacy will be a bit longer but worth the wait.

-Mortish