Altar of Fire honoris officium sacrificium

@Vaenyra only please <3

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully

religious conviction

as when they do it from

He could see the mounting spires in the distance, drawing a wicked grin to his features as he stepped alongside his wife, his fur brushing against hers for a moment before he circled around her in something of a dance, his eyes analytical and intense as he gazed over her. “Do you need a rest, my love?” He asked gently, a rare tender nature slipping into his usually steely voice. She was someone who saw his rare affections, earned them as he worshiped her akin to the gods that they sacrificed to.

He had stained his paws earlier in the day with the blood of a rabbit he had slain for her, but with the amount of streams they passed through he knew he would need to replenish such markings with his next kill as well.

“Their scents are nearby, but staler… they should be in the area.” He planned to go ahead, taking Sova with him for the learning experience as he received information back from their forward scouts. “And there is a mountain on the edge of the horizon.”

He was always handsome, in her gaze, but somehow more so when he grew pensive. Anyone else might have struggled to wait, to extend such patience, but if the reward was so grand she would have waited their whole life.

"I will not say no to stealing you away for a moment," Her eyes danced with a mischievous gleam to them. She was a trickster on her best days and a wicked ice beast on her worst. He would always see her best days even if he might adore her worst.

Her eyes soaked in the lands around them, fixed upon the mountain in the horizon. Would this be it? A place meant to be a throne for them to hold worships more grand than any commoner's imagination could conjure. "Perhaps they dared to explore the mountains without us." She purred warmly but something cold swam in her glacier hue eyes. "Maybe your apprentice will help you corral them."

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully

religious conviction

as when they do it from

He had been drawn deep into her snare, just as the Whisperer had predicted. She balanced him, provided him the power and logic he lacked by himself, giving him what he needed to be successful.

Mischief gleamed, a rare presence in his eyes that ebbed at his usual brutality. His maw would move to run along her maw towards her neck, a light nip lingering where it met though not enough to break the skin… a tease.

His gaze turned back to the mountain, listening as she critiqued those sent ahead. “They’d go no further than the foothills without me.” He held a confidence in his voice in that regard… if not because they knew better, than because of how far behind they were… he liked to think there would not have been enough time for them to scale the spire before he caught up.

“But if they have, then I know Sovanya will welcome to opportunity to draw their blood for their crimes.” He mused back with a vicious purr, his gaze turning back to her again with a wickedness this time. “Perhaps you’d like to watch?”

Only he could be so near where her pulse thumped beneath the surface. Only he might be the one to someday taste it, when her grand great end eventually came. She knew that this vessel would only be temporary.

Greater things called to them all eventually.

"I would," She declared as if she was a teacher and not some onlooker to brutality. "If only to see how well she is learning." This season had brought them not children and while she did not dare to think that Sova was a fill-in for such, especially considering the girl was only a year younger... Vaenyra held a maternal pang of longing beneath all the blood. Perhaps even because of the blood.

"More lessons will always be needed. For all of them."

She had meant to lay and rest, but the sudden churned thoughts within her made her feel the need to move about. Her stance had become a prowl, slowly winding through tall grass.

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully

religious conviction

as when they do it from

Greater things would call to them in due time, but for now they could simply dance through the fires and the ash that they left in their wake, proving just as demanding as the god they worshiped and spilt blood for… a hunger burned deep under the surface. Always.

A malicious grin formed dangerously on his maw, canines flashing in the process as it carried the glint in his eye. “I am certain she will mind her teachings… but if she does not, we shall ensure she does in a future.” Paeryl was no kind or easy teacher. He was as demanding and rigid as Lakonia had demanded of him… if not more so.

Blood and sacrifice were the only true ways to learn.

“Once we settle on the mountain, we shall increase the training regiment… ensure that all are ready for the physical strain required to worship… and those who shall not… well, they will meet the same bitter fate as those we lure into the clutches of the Gods.” He would drive them from the cliff himself if he needed to.