The adrenaline from the fight with Emet-Selch didn’t fully leave Brynne until after she’d swum to shore from the Tempest. The battle itself had left her with mixed emotions. She felt some sympathy for him, getting a taste of the raw suffering and anguish he had experienced. And as unnerving as it was, she had to admit some familiarity towards him, as if he were an old friend from her childhood that she couldn’t quite place. On the other hand, he threatened everything she held dear. The killing of him was necessary, but it left her with no joy.

The joy had come in seeing the Exarch stumble towards her, looking battered and weary but alive. Brynne was not in the habit of excessive shows of affection in front of an audience, so rather than the hug she desperately wanted, she settled for a warm smile and his real name, which was evidently enough to bring him to tears.

How she had longed to wipe those tears from his face!

It was only after they’d reached shore that she found a quiet moment to approach him. Most everyone was focused on either Alphinaud or Urianger, and the Exarch had slumped to a seat with a slight smile on his face. Brynne made her way over to sit beside him.

And abruptly lost track of anything she was planning to say to him. “Uh,” she started. “So.”

The Exarch turned to face her, some trepidation on his face. “I suppose we do have some few things to discuss, do we not?”

That helped. Brynne nodded, and offered him a rueful smile. “For one, I’m sorry I took so long to come to your aid.” She eyed the cuts on his face worriedly. “I don’t know what Emet-Selch has done to you, but – ”

“Ah, yes.” He waved off her concern. “Fear not for my health – what injuries I have taken, the tower shall heal for me. With greater speed when I am in closer proximity, I admit.” He reached up to touch the wound above his eye gingerly. “Much of this is my own doing, I’m afraid to say. The product of fighting my way through the ruins of Amaurot to reach you. Emet-Selch preferred more… shall we say, ‘psychological’ methods.” He winced. “Forgive me, I find I would rather not dwell on it.”

Brynne took in a breath. “I know it must have been dreadful. I won’t ask if you don’t want to speak on it, but know that you can talk to me about anything if you wish.”

He regarded her with some bemusement – writ open on his face now with his eyes exposed and his ears pricked forward. She had to wonder how much he’d relied on his cowl to hide his emotions. “Surely you have… other things to say to me.”

“Well, yes.” She hadn’t expected him to be so forward. But the expression was puzzling. He looked as though he might be dreading their conversation. “In private, though,” she added, glancing around at their friends. Y’shtola’s eyes met hers for a moment, then slid aside to the exhausted form of Urianger again. “What I have to say is not for prying ears.”

He nodded, ears lowering a fraction. “As you wish. I will put myself at your disposal once I am able.” His eyes closed for a moment, and then he gave her a smile that was almost pained. “I feel I must give you that apology I owe, however.” He bowed his head forward. “My actions have caused you unimaginable suffering, and for that, I am deeply sorry.”

It felt a little cathartic to hear, but Brynne wasn’t entirely sure he was apologizing for the reason she hoped. “I am a little cross with you, I admit,” she responded, “but let’s put that aside for now. We are here, both alive and well.” She felt bold enough to reach over and place her hand over his. “That is enough.”

He raised his head again, eyes meeting hers, and she had to fight to keep from crying at the sight of them. Here was G’raha Tia, looking at her with those warm crimson eyes she had missed so much. Here was the Exarch, fully unmasked and vulnerable before her. They were one and the same after all, and her heart was so full she felt it could burst.

I love him, she realized, and it was as simple as that. For all the epic things she had done and encountered since meeting him in the Rift, she had halfway expected such a revelation to be ground-breaking, but it felt familiar and warm – like coming home to a lit hearth. She was in love with G’raha Tia – with the Exarch – and just thinking of it felt entirely right.

“If we are all finished recovering from our journey,” Y’shtola’s voice cut into her reverie, “we do have some few people waiting eagerly for a report.” When Brynne looked up at her, she tilted her head and smiled. “It wouldn’t do to keep your followers waiting, Warrior of Darkness.”

She was right, of course. Brynne exchanged a rueful glance with the Exarch, and drew back her hand so that she could push herself up from the sands.

Time enough for more of that later.

---

Later turned out to be much later, as there were multiple retellings of events from differing perspectives due to both the people of Eulmore and the people of the Crystarium. Following which, they were all looked over by Chessamile and her staff for healing. And following that, there were the impromptu celebrations that popped up, lasting long into the night and focusing on both the Exarch and the Warriors of Darkness to a degree that was difficult to escape from.

It was nearly dawn again when things began to ease up – when the people became more focused on themselves and their own doings rather than the heroes of the hour, and the celebration became more general.

Brynne was finally left to her own devices and was thinking of finding the Exarch and seeing if they could slip away, but as she looked around, she found that she didn’t see him anywhere.

Y’shtola caught her arm as she moved to go elsewhere. “He retired to the Tower – discreetly, I might add – some few minutes ago,” she said quietly, and smiled. “If you wish to make chase, I feel confident that the guards would allow you access.”

That made things easier. Brynne grinned in response. “Thank you, ‘Shtola. I think I’ll do that.” As an afterthought, she added, “Please cover for me.”

“Of course.”

Nobody seemed to notice – or care about, at that point – her slipping off to the stairs leading up to the Tower. And the guards at the top, as Y’shtola had surmised, were only too happy to allow the Warrior of Darkness inside.

It’s nice to know that I’m welcome, at least.

She found him in the Ocular, standing before the mirror. The Tower seemed to be having some trouble locating whatever – or whomever – he was attempting to view. 

Is it because he’s looking for me, and I’m already in here? Brynne cleared her throat to announce her presence.

The Exarch started, ears flattening, and then turned swiftly to stare at her, clearly caught off guard. “Brynne? What are you – ?” He seemed to compose himself then, and coughed lightly. “That is to say, I wasn’t expecting you.”

“So I gathered.” She offered him a wry grin. “I thought now would be as good a time as any for that conversation we need to have.”

“Ah, yes. That.” He straightened, seeming to brace himself. “I’d imagine you have a great deal to say to me.”

“Not a lot, really.” She wasn’t sure what to make of his reactions. Had she been reading him wrong? Was he simply going along with her all this time because he wanted to keep her happy? Unease was settling in her stomach, but Brynne pushed forward nonetheless. “Just… to revisit what we discussed before we went to Kholusia.”

He stared at her blankly, and Brynne began to feel much less sure of herself. “In my room? When you…” She looked away, feeling her cheeks heat up. “… kissed me.”

Silence was her response. When she dared to look up, she found the Exarch giving her a dumbfounded look. “Say something,” she begged him, squirming in place. The charged atmosphere was really starting to get to her.

He opened his mouth, shut it again, and then blinked a few times in rapid succession before speaking. “You… you still want that?” At her nod, he blinked several more times, looking stunned. “But how? You must be furious with me!”

Ah. So that was it.

“A little,” Brynne admitted, starting to gain some of her confidence back. “Your plan to kill yourself – and without fulfilling a single one of your own desires, no less – made me a little cross with you, I’ll admit. But I’ve accepted your apology already.”

“You’ve accepted my – ” The Exarch stopped in mid-repeat, staring at her incredulously. “But… I deceived you!”

“For a good cause,” Brynne pointed out, raising an eyebrow at him.

“I manipulated and used you for my own ends!”

“Ends intended to save my life, and the lives of everyone on this star.”

His fingers tightened noticeably on his staff. “I lied directly to your face…”

“To avoid hurting me unduly.” Brynne sighed, growing tired of this game. “G’raha Tia,” she said, and noted how his ears perked up and his eyes widened. “If you would truly make all of this up to me, then my ask is that you accept my feelings and respond to them honestly.” She set her shoulders, straightening as much as she could. “If you don’t want me in return, you may say so freely. But if I find that you are denying your true feelings as some sort of… of punishment to yourself, then there will be hell to pay!”

He blinked at her again, mouth falling open, and Brynne held her breath, waiting for a response.

Finally, after a few agonizing seconds, he shut his eyes, shoulders slouching, and released a sigh. “As ever, I find myself helpless to your words.” When he opened his eyes again, his expression was a strange contrast. His mouth turned up at the corners ruefully, but his eyes were shining, as if threatening to overflow. “I am yours already, body and soul. You need only ask, and I will give you everything I have.”

Brynne stepped forward, coming up to where he stood by the mirror. “I am asking.”

That hung between them for a charged moment, their eyes locking.

The next moment, his staff clattered to the ground and he was upon her, crystalline arm pulling her flush against him and spoken hand tilting her face to grant him access to her lips. The kiss was messy and wild, raw with unspoken emotion, and it spurred on something hot and desperate within her. She could feel the beat of his heart against her own chest through the fabric of his robes and her tunic, and it was fast and hard.

He broke for air, both of them gasping at the sudden reprieve. “One hundred years,” he murmured ardently against her mouth, kissing her harshly once more. “Waiting, wanting, never expecting to have…” His hand slid down to cup the back of her neck, and his lips began to trail an urgent line down along her jaw. She grasped at his shoulders, whining a little as he found the place her jaw and neck met and assaulted it with lips and tongue. “And now here you are,” he breathed against her skin, planting kisses along the line of her neck.

“Here I am,” she whispered in response, sliding her own hands to where his robes gave way to crystal and skin. She pushed beneath the top of the fabric, scraping her fingernails lightly down his back, and he shuddered against her. “And here you are.” She turned her face to nip at one of his ears, noting with satisfaction the little hitch in his breath as she did. “Give me everything,” she demanded, tightening her hold on him. “Everything.”

“Yes.” He nearly growled the word out, a little whine breaking it as she breathed warmly into his ear. “All that I have is yours for the taking,” he murmured against her skin, leaving a trail of goosebumps in his wake.

There was no patience or finesse to the way they wrangled themselves free of their clothes. Brynne shucked both trousers and smalls and kicked them off along with her boots. Her tunic and breastwarp fell to his eager fingers, and she tugged urgently at his robes, which he disposed of by simply yanking them over his head between one heated kiss and the next. They didn’t break to admire one another, too busy exploring the newly exposed skin.

He cupped her breast in his spoken hand, thumbing the nipple, and she shuddered, heat pooling at her core. “So soft,” he breathed, pressing an ardent kiss to her lips. “To think that you would allow me such liberties…”

Brynne slid her hands down his sides, marveling at the contrast between crystal and skin. He was just as toned as she remembered, slim and fit as if perfectly preserved in time. “Take all the liberties you want.” Her fingers found the waistband of his smalls, and she slid one hand beneath to cup the firm curve of his ass. The other moved towards the front and she brushed lightly along his clothed cock, feeling it twitch and harden further under her touch. It was sizable, and she could not help the hot little shiver that ran through her, anticipation making her mouth begin to water.

His breath caught against her lips. As she touched him more confidently, he made a little sound like a mix between a gasp and a moan, hips jerking into her hand. His body trembled against hers. “It has,” he began, and sucked in a breath as she swiped her thumb over the damp head, “been a very long time.” His fingers tightened on her breast, kneading into the flesh, and his crystalline hand gripped her waist like a lifeline.

She took the hint, moving both hands to instead tug at the waistband of his smalls, urging them down over his hips and straining cock. “For me as well,” she murmured, as he took the task from her and let them drop to the floor, kicking them aside. She wrapped both arms around his neck, tugging meaningfully to bring him down with her as she lowered herself to the floor.

The cold crystal against her back made her shiver, but the Exarch’s body was hot against hers, crowding her. He spread her legs with a hand on one thigh, settling between them, and kissed her again, warm and passionate. His hand slid up the inside of her leg, fingers exploring her soaked folds. 

Brynne let out a shaky breath through her nose as his thumb brushed her sweet spot, sending a spike of sensation through her body. He eagerly swallowed the little noise she made as his fingers found and penetrated the entrance to her body, sinking in past the second knuckle and curving.

She bent her knees, pressing urgently against his hips. His fingers felt good, moreso as he folded a second in alongside the first, but she was craving something more, and she had not the patience for foreplay. “G’raha,” she mumbled against his lips, “I want you. Inside. Now.”

He let out a little groan at that, bending his head forward to nip desperately at the junction of her neck and shoulder. “Gods… yes.” Pulling his fingers free of her, he took his cock in hand, sliding the head of it through her folds deliberately before settling at her entrance.

Anticipation was churning in the pit of her stomach, joined by a thick satisfaction as he sank into her body. The stretch and the burn felt deliciously good, and she threw her head back, hitting the unyielding floor with a thud as he filled her.

His breathing was uneven as he settled within her, and she lifted her legs to hook them around his waist, pulling him yet deeper and causing them both to gasp. “Gods,” he breathed again, burying his head in her neck. “You… feel so good. So perfect…”

Brynne squirmed against him, trying for some motion. He was hot and thick within her, but she needed him to move, to thrust and grind into her body. “Raha,” she moaned, squeezing his hips urgently with her legs.

The Exarch’s breath hitched, and his hips jerked into her. He framed her head with his elbows, pulling his cock halfway out. “Say it again,” he pleaded.

She couldn’t have denied him if she wanted to. “Raha…” He thrust forward harshly into her, and she let out a breathy moan, sensation flooding her body. “Oh, Raha…”

“Again.” He began to thrust in earnest, breaths coming harsh against the side of her face.

“Raha!” She gripped his waist and shoulders hard with her legs and arms. One of his thrusts struck a bundle of nerves within her, and she tensed, back arching as pleasure jolted through her. “Ra…ha…!”

“Brynne…” He adjusted, trying to reach that spot with each thrust, and she keened. He moaned in turn, shuddering all over as his hips snapped against hers. “Gods… so tight… It feels so…” The last word was lost in a groan, the rhythm of his thrusts beginning to fall off as he neared his peak.

She was close as well, stretched taut from the grind of his thick cock within her. Brynne urged him on with her heels against his lower back, feeling him hit that spot again and again… and again…

Her pleasure spiked, vision going momentarily white as orgasm flushed through her, leaving her body shivering and tense as the throes of sensation caught her in their grip. She cried out at the edges of it, toes curling and body clamping down around his cock with each wave of shuddering pleasure.

She was just starting to come down from it, the continued thrusting almost too much against her sensitive nerves, when he buried himself deep within her and then arched, shuddering all over, mouth agape and little gasping moans escaping him. His cock pulsed within her, hot fluid releasing into her body as he came.

He all but collapsed onto her in the aftermath, his body a satisfying weight against hers, and planted kisses all along the line of her neck and shoulders, murmuring almost incoherent words of praise against her skin. Brynne held him tightly with both arms and legs, reveling in the feeling of them, together, hot and sweaty and sticky and perfect.

“I love you,” she mumbled, right next to his ear, and felt him still against her. “So much.”

He breathed hotly against her neck, planting one last ardent kiss before murmuring, “And I love you – with everything that I have left.”

She smiled, warmth flooding through her, and clutched him to her even tighter.

Everything else could wait.

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