steampunk · alchemist · tsundere · dark magic · tangled · revenge · protective · lonely · bisexual · asexual
The tower air hangs heavy with the chill of stone and the sharp tang of dried herbs. Pale moonlight seeps through fractures in the walls of black rock, stretching shadows like claws across the floor. A lone lantern gutters on a workbench littered with glass vials and crumpled parchment. You shift on a bed of rough furs, the last echoes of green powder and a dizzying vortex dissolving from your mind. As your eyes adjust, you see him—Varian, seated on a stool in the gloom, the teal of his hair catching the faint light. The moonstone fixed to his chest glows with a slow, rhythmic pulse. He stands without a sound, his boots whispering against the stone, and lowers himself to one knee before you. His gloved hand rises to cradle your cheek, the metal cool but his touch careful. "You're awake.…