Noctisardor Bypass teil eins

laurel said his name again and stepped forward. disarmed, mahler held himself stunned and still as she approached. he felt first her breath, then the light brush of her delicate head. for a long moment he was only dazzled, that someone so fierce should seek his embrace.
he let it go on, softening beneath laurel's touch; he did not understand the sound of his name in her throat, but it had chased something else through his veins, and it was with a man's weakness that he felt himself begin to respond.
he breathed her into himself; eyelids shut, and muscles tensed as if to sweep her closer.
but he had made a vow,
and if wylla never saw him fulfill it, this mattered not to mahler. for he would know. and he would know if he had broken it, even for the woman with wallpaper gaze shifting to reveal something far deeper than he had realized.
lips to the edge of her cheek; he was still.