Astarion's Arc

Chapter 4 of 5

The stranger slept for two days. Astarion stayed by the bed. He told himself he watched the wound, nothing more. But he learned the man's name when the fever broke. Finn Ashwood. The name came out in a cracked whisper, along with blue eyes that had seen too much. Astarion wiped his brow with a cool cloth and did not leave. He fetched water. He changed the bandages. He trimmed the candle so the light stayed soft. When Finn woke again, Astarion fed him broth with a spoon and caught himself smiling without any trick behind it. The dead ritual circle still marked the floor across the room. Astarion forgot it was there. "You keep sitting here," Finn said. His voice was weak. "Why?" "Because you're interesting," Astarion said. "You bled on my sleeve. That earns a man some attention." He meant it as a joke. It did not land as one. He found he wanted the young man to live for no reason he could name. Jareth found him there on the third night. Astarion's master crossed the room without a sound. He looked at the spoon, the bowl, the cloth folded over Astarion's knee. His mouth curled. "How touching," Jareth said. "The great seducer, playing nursemaid." He lifted the bowl and set it aside. "You've forgotten what he is to us." "He's a man," Astarion said. "He's bait." Jareth crouched to Astarion's level. His red eyes held no warmth. "The beast marked him. It wants his blood. It carries your scent now too. Every hour you nurse him, it comes closer to this cottage." He stood. "You have a ritual to finish. You cannot finish it dead. So choose. The boy or your sun." Astarion looked at Finn's sleeping face. He thought of centuries behind shutters. Three fingers of skin burned away by one blade of dawn. He had crawled through forty years of dust for the chance Jareth now dangled. One soft human would not stand between him and the sun. "What do you want me to do," Astarion said. It was not really a question. "Draw the beast out. Use the boy's scent. Hunt it before it hunts us." Jareth smiled. "Tonight." Astarion rose. He set the cloth down on the bed. His hand paused over Finn's hair, then drew back. He scowled. "No." He simply said. "I will not let Finn be harmed. He is mine." Jareth's lip curls up in disgust. "This human will be the death of you." He scolds. "I will not let this cottage or the castle fall because of your stupidity. The boy will be given to the beast, and that is final." Astarion moves to stand between Jareth and the sleeping man, baring his fangs.