It was a difficult thing to grasp, that Arkash wasn't as strong as he believed himself to be. He'd seen mages cut through entire manors in stark streaks of shrivenflame, liches of multiple ascensions, and ruling nobles with many marks of control. Even so, Arkash thought his strength comparable to theirs, that he was near the apex because of the ease with which he cleaved through his foes, how he'd felled giants, nobles, terrorists, mages, and beasts without struggle or lasting injuries. In his own mind, there wasn't much that could keep up with him. That was to change in the weeks that followed.
"...I know," Arkash spoke with the beginnings of a grin that broke his agitated scowl. "I'm... Well acquainted with the element of surprise, don't worry about that," Arkash assured. Indeed, the element of surprise was how Arkash, the starved, downtrodden laborer had managed to fell his first number of victims. Still, he waited around corners and ambushed his prey when they turned their backs; it was a powerful thing that he felt no shame in using to his advantage. And again, Arkash overlooked that such a thing could be used against him in his own arrogance.
"Then trust me," Arkash spoke, tone bordering a plea as the aggravation in his gaze all but completely broke away. "I've handled myself for so long now, Degare. I can handle this too." It was perhaps there that the cause for Arkash's cover of anger was evident; the hurt that came hand in hand with his lover's doubt.
And when Degare spoke his offer to teach the Rathor to read when he returned, the last vestiges of his onset anger dissipated entirely. His eyes welled a little and a somewhat shaky sigh rolled from his lungs. "...I'd love that," Arkash said softly with a sad smile and lifted a hand to his eye to brush away the tears that accumulated with the back of his thumb while he held the Veir's fair hand. "Then I'll be able to go to the library without help," Arkash spoke with a slight laugh, only partially in jest.
Some degree of euphoria wove through him while he basked in the aftermath of the emotional turmoil that had raged behind his eyes. So, when Degare's ask came, Arkash shook his head softly, and wordlessly lifted Degare's arms at the wrists to rest beside his head, and pressed him into the fabric of the settee before he moved his lips to the Veir's in a deep, passionate kiss. He parted Degare's lips with his own and pushed his tongue into the Veir's mouth.
There, he tenderly pushed and curled his muscle around the Veir's in a fiery display of affection, only to speak "it's not the last," when he broke the kiss with quickened breaths. Again, their lips united by his will, and a tremored sigh flowed from his lips when he next broke the kiss. "There will be more," he assured, his tone hushed while he held his features a mere inch above Degare's, bathing the noble's fair skin in the steamy warmth of his lungs. He stayed quiet for a moment in the quiet that their beating hearts and quickened breaths occupied, then quickly spoke before he kissed the elf again.
"...I love you."
