"Enjoying the view?" he asked, coming to stand beside her.
"Mmm." She glanced over at him with a smile. "Always loved a thunderstorm."
"Because of the - " He made a vague gesture at her. "The thing, right?"
She laughed a little. "The dragon in my blood?"
"Right, that thing."
"Maybe." She shrugged. "Never really thought about it. Makes sense, though."
A wind blew past, carrying the promise of rain, and she leaned into it as lightning flashed again. Astarion reached out to wrap a hand around her arm, worried she'd forget where she was and topple over the wall, but static popped against his skin and he yanked his hand back.
"Dammit!" He massaged his fingertips. "That dragon of yours is getting jealous."
"I'm sorry." She turned towards him, reaching out for his hands but seeming to think the better of it. "No one's ever really tried to touch me during a storm. I think people get weirded out by how...into them I get."
"Well who am I to judge from weird," he muttered, glancing up at her with a quick flash of a smile. His eyes darted right back up in a double-take, however, when he saw the way her eyes were practically dancing with lightning themselves. She'd always had unnaturally blue eyes, even for a tiefling - from the dragon, she claimed - but tonight they practically glowed in the dark around them. He reached out towards her, fingers flexing a little in hesitation, but his hand slid across her cheek without incident to rest his thumb under one eye.
"Astarion?" Taran tilted her head into his hand. "What's wrong?"
"You appear to have a little bit of a storm caught in your eye, darling." His voice was soft, almost reverent. Something about this woman - already more powerful than he ever would have anticipated - having a literal force of nature reflected in her eyes inspired a kind of awe in him that he hadn't previously thought himself capable of.
She laughed, those lightning-bright eyes crinkling at the edges, and all he wanted to do in that moment was kiss her.
So he did, because he could, and the feel of her smile against his mouth was worth the crackle of static over his skin.
"Someday," he murmured as he pulled back, resting his forehead against hers. "We're going to do something really fun with this little quirk of yours."
She grinned at him, and he swore he saw a spark dance across her irises. "Holding you to that."
Astarion wrapped his free arm around her, pulling their bodies together. "Oh, you can hold me to anything you want, darling."
Her laughter was echoed by the distant thunder.
