When it comes to his King, Erin can’t help himself.

He brushes silver hair away from the delicate skin of his king. Long, lovely lashes flutter and he finds himself arrested by a half-lidded glare with silver eyes, brighter and more beautiful than Lama’s twin moons.

“Erin.” His pouty voice is like honey, thick with sleep and sweet enough to make his mouth water. It’s poison to Erin’s mind, to his resolve to let go of his love for their duties. “Sleep.”

“Let me indulge, my King.” Erin very rarely begs, but he cannot help it tonight knowing that he might never be able to hold his king like this again once the sun rises. “At least for tonight.”

His king needs an heir he cannot bear. His king needs a queen, one who has noble blood and influence in the courts to support him where Erin cannot. His king needs-deserves a lover who can openly be by his side.

His king needs everything Erin cannot be.

Orion was strict on others, and stricter on himself. That strict king would never cheat on his wife, loveless marriage or not. Loyalty to Lama, to his duty to the people came first, always.

That was their promise. That was why Erin had fallen for Orion in the first place. To change that fundamental part of his King…

Erin cannot be so selfish as to ask his King to change.

To ask Orion to stay with him was to ask his King to turn his back on duty, to ask his King to turn his back on his duty would be to destroy the very foundation of their trust and relationship and Erin cannot bear to lose Orion so thoroughly.

They had both known going into the relationship that it wouldn’t last.

Erin had know it was coming. Even if his King didn’t have his duty, everyone he's ever known leaves him in the end.

At least, like this, he can stay by his King’s side.

At least, like this, he can watch over-

He hears a sigh and strong arms wrap around his waist, they bring him down and pull him close enough to feel his King’s breath against his neck.

“I won’t be king forever.” Orion whispers, nose buried in his shoulder. Erin's breath catches at the thought. “One day, Lama will be at peace, my heir ready to take the throne. I’ll quietly divorce the queen. If, at that time, you’ll still have me…”

An assassin could die any day. Erin isn’t in the habit of thinking beyond the immediate future aside from keeping his King alive and what he might want at his funeral. Hadn't considered that the King might retire.

What his king was offering…

“We could travel around Lama, report everything we see back to my heir and let them take care of any problems we might come across. We could join Fang, take to the stars and see all the other planets have to offer. We could be together… just exist together.”

It’s a dream, a goal. It’s something for him to hold onto.

Another promise for a future he doesn't dare imagine for himself. Again, just like that night they first met.

Orion doesn't break his promises.

“I'll wait.” He whispers. “I'll wait for you forever if I must.”

-

Additional notes:

I shall send you both. I love your art and I think you deserve something back. Also, I requested your old art to use as an inspiration boost for my writing. It just feels right.

Unfortunately, I'm not in any of your other fandoms. (Yet. I am eyeing Moriarty but the stars have yet to align.)

They're both flashbacks from the same fic so it's no trouble. Which, now that I think about it, probably makes this scene a bit more sad.

- Orion has to have a child because there are no others of royal blood to carry on the line even if they trace the line back several generations. Succession battles were rough.

- I really like the idea that Lama has two moons (Not just so we can compare them to Orion's eyes it absolutely is.). They don't always appear in the sky together, but when they do, it is so pretty. There is probably some romantic folk tale that Curse will hear and be like lmao and not explain unless Hope asks.

Just the idea every star planet has a different number of moons because the original planet splitting apart must have left some debris that turned into satellites aka moons. Sometimes the moons crash into each other so you might lose one. (The incident in Hoshimeguri where the star and thus the original planet reforms for a moment implies they might get some new moons and maybe caused some of the older moons to crash into each other. But also that must have been a devastating incident, like holy-)

HC: Eterno has a whopping 16 moons of various sizes so it is a very good thing they do not have a lot of water. (But hydromancers that visit may get a bit drunk off moonlight at night.) It makes me wonder if the hypothetical tsunami just gets replaced by frequent and turbulent sandstorms.

Sirena, I like to think, has 3 moons but they're small or far enough that it doesn't cause issues with living on water like they do. And I cannot decide for the rest of the planets but the idea that Alba has moons they can't see because the sunlight doesn't reach them makes me feel kinda sad. If they can't have sunlight, they should at least have moonlight.

I ended up going off some inconsequential world building. Hoshimeguri's backstory just has some wild implications. Or maybe I've misunderstood something and am wildly incorrect. But it's fun to think about.

How okay would you be with me dropping “temporary character death OriEri/reincarnated in canon I7" in your ask box as a thank you for finding that old Riku in Lama art for me?

Or would you prefer OriEri established relationship but it's their last night together because Orion needs to get married and have a child for duty? (It has a poly ending with Queen Tsumugi that I never got to.)

Or should I try to find something less angsty?

Do you still have the Riku in Lama comics?