Swordspoint
[Als Selbstzweck] by Todesengel
Richard/Alec.
I find Alec quite a difficult character a lot of the time, but he is a lot easier to love in this story. Beautifully written.
There was blood on his boots. Dark, wet blotches on the worn leather, like ink carelessly dripped onto a page. Absurdly enough Alec found his attention focused entirely on this fact, ignoring the body on the ground and the giddy thundering of his heart. He found himself annoyed and when Richard came back from cleaning off his sword, he said "I do wish you'd be more careful, Richard. You've gotten blood on my boots and you know that I'll never be able to get it out; and these were nearly new."
Richard shrugged. "Give them to Marie. Besides, it's hardly noticeable."
Alec hmmed quietly to himself and stared at his boots and that led his eyes, quite naturally, from the spray of blood to the body. He stared, hard, and his skin felt tight and strange, blood roaring like sex, like the drugs. The world tasted like glass on his tongue, like crystal -- cool and sharp and brilliant, prismed, faceted.
Richard/Alec.
I find Alec quite a difficult character a lot of the time, but he is a lot easier to love in this story. Beautifully written.
There was blood on his boots. Dark, wet blotches on the worn leather, like ink carelessly dripped onto a page. Absurdly enough Alec found his attention focused entirely on this fact, ignoring the body on the ground and the giddy thundering of his heart. He found himself annoyed and when Richard came back from cleaning off his sword, he said "I do wish you'd be more careful, Richard. You've gotten blood on my boots and you know that I'll never be able to get it out; and these were nearly new."
Richard shrugged. "Give them to Marie. Besides, it's hardly noticeable."
Alec hmmed quietly to himself and stared at his boots and that led his eyes, quite naturally, from the spray of blood to the body. He stared, hard, and his skin felt tight and strange, blood roaring like sex, like the drugs. The world tasted like glass on his tongue, like crystal -- cool and sharp and brilliant, prismed, faceted.