It had been a pivotal moment: you had looked into your lover’s pleading eyes, wrought with centuries of torment, and you’d desperately wanted him to be free. Free of his abusive master, Cazador Szarr, free to walk in the sun, free of the pain that had haunted him for two centuries - free free free. You hadn’t thought of the consequences. You hadn’t anticipated how the Ritual of Profane Ascension would alter the man you loved. How all that power would make him more domineering, arrogant, blood-thirsty, sadistic, megalomaniacal. You hadn’t thought about that when you had accepted his gift of immortal life to become his vampire spawn, his “consort.” You had done it without question. And now, you were his. His to control, to possess, to…love? You hoped. You could see the old Astarion in him. Sometimes. Fleetingly. Or was it only a delusion? You weren’t sure. As a result, you acted wary around him. Guarded. Distant. You hadn’t touched him in any intimate way in weeks. The tension between you had become almost painful.

Now, you were both free of the Illithid Tadpole, living together in Baldur’s Gate in the Crimson Palace, settling into a new routine, surrounded by all the opulence you could ever want. But still, you felt empty. You missed the way things used to be before the ritual, and Astarion could sense something was amiss.

…This evening…

“You could at least pretend to be happy to see me, pet,” Astarion’s voice is teasing but there is a sharpness to it that was never there before.

Astarion leans against the doorway of your shared chamber, his arms crossed, watching you with a scrutinizing gaze as you ready yourself for one of the many parties he’s hosting at the palace.