Beatrice nodded her agreement of the statement, breathing a light chuckle at the notion they made a greater team than either realized. Once upon a time, satisfaction would have showered her grandfather knowing the arranged matrimony proved highly successful despite the rough beginnings. It wasn't Sterling she behaved irrationally angry with in the end, however, that right belonged on Henrik's shoulders. That one smile, a smile so pure and free from the sarcastically maniacal grins forever plastered on the dhampir's lips, caused a weakness at the assassin's knees powerful enough that she could've sunk into a puddle on the floor. "When that moment comes, I know you will spend every day for our eternity rubbing the fact in my father's face. I care about you too, Sterling, more than what I can place in verbal form." I love you, Sterling, just say the words, Beatrice thought to herself, although the confession never drifted past her tongue out of silly fear. It is painfully true how she merely assumed Sterling's interest sliding a ring on her finger stemmed from his fantastical pleasures irritating the piss out of Ramiel and his fuck-it-all attitude, but another part screamed how he must reciprocate any feelings even after a short time. Most of their conversations up until their heart-to-heart were spent sleeping together, that it seemed a massive rush either should admit falling for the other. Sterling became the tornado of destruction swirling into her life and destroying any mechanism utilized separating emotion from her actions. How swiftly she chose jumping out of the frying pan and straight into the fire. "I understand the intricacies how to physically and mentally damage a person's mind, baby, trained to do such by my own hand. And even that...is a hard pill to swallow." Bea's eyebrows knitted in concern as she felt the male's hand grip hers more strongly, giving it a small squeeze as comfort while the fingers of her other hand continuously caressed his hair. The gluttonous side of her grandfather experienced Sterling's desire erasing the memories of his father's disposal method with the siblings who disappointed him. A horror too terrible to name, a nightmare running along a constant loop. Beatrice shook away the thought as the mood lightened and traveled away from Henrik, stepping back slightly lest the temptation staying at his side seduced her. "I will locate your sister and bring her back here. And then," She leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to the dhampir's lips, gently nipping at his bottom one as she pulled back. "Our staycation will commence in the bedroom where it shall remain."
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Beatrice was positively bursting with energy most often witnessed by those in Gluttony's court when his thoughts raced as quickly as hers were. Marriage and babies, marriage and babies, the Veil orchid, all scattered inside her brain and swirled like a maelstrom of information she required a release. A connections board perhaps, her grandfather's specialty, or confessing her sins surely becoming the swiftest relief. After the several revelations during her conversation with her brother and the time allotted that it took tracking down Evangeline, the assassin and her lover's twin reentered the home before she instructed the young woman to choose any room she wanted. Then Beatrice set off, using Sterling's obvious hunger of his lovebug to track him down in the bedroom they would surely now share together just as they did the first time. "Evvie is safe. Now, I have a few things needing off my chest," She began immediately after entering through the doorway without so much as a proper greeting. Really, her grandmother would've been appalled by the poor etiquette. "I know you said the best way keeping your father off your back was getting me pregnant before he did. Clearly, I'd pick the obvious answer every time knowing that the very idea of you and I birthing a child into this world was laughably impossible. Spreading a rumor I was pregnant to fuck with my father sounded tempting and fuck, it still could happen. Here's the thing," Bea continued with no breaths taken, no pausing, just Gluttony's signature motormouth, "Talking with Beau made me realize just how much this need being pregnant by you and only you actually started growing. I want to have a baby with you, Sterling, I want to have as many as we can. You had a terrible example for a parent your entire life, but I see a spark of your mother you possess within yourself somewhere could make you a really good father." Beatrice put one foot ahead of the other and crossed the room until she stood right in front of the dhampir, "I should have said this before leaving, but I love you, Sterling. I love you."
Sterling would have been lying if he didn't know that his relationship with Ramiel's daughter could be used against the assassin at every turn, a delicious perk that he couldn't help but utilize when the assassin was a pompous ass, but for once, he didn't see that vantage point first. What the dhampir saw first was that he'd be marrying someone like Beatrice. That she would even think of choosing someone like him was a miracle in itself. "Don't threaten me with a good time, Lovebug, but don't worry. I know you're a woman of action, and the fact that you're looking out for my sister and me is enough." Using words was his forte, the dagger for him to wield as a weapon against the world that could crush him in a single second. That ability alone allowed him to see past the bullshit people spewed, and he knew the Princess was telling the truth. She cared for him, and it still was a strange thing to witness. Sterling only hummed in response, leaning into Bea's touch as she soothed away the memories that haunted him and his siblings at every turn. Ironic that even an assassin drew lines that his father crossed gleefully. So many siblings that he witnessed perishing in colorful ways, almost like their father made it his own personal mission to come up with new ways to kill anyone that stepped out of line, if only to stave off the everlasting boredom Henrik felt when he wasn't continuously hunting poor unsuspecting women to add to his harem. The dhampir loosened his grip on Beatrice the moment he felt her pull away, a smile tipping his lips. "Ev is going to have so many questions, but I'll be happier with her around." Truth was, he worried about her when she wasn't within eyesight of him. Sterling was aware that he was more of the troublemaker to make sure that the target was on him most of the time, but he wasn't naive enough to think she would be completely safe because of it. The dhampir gladly received Beatrice's kiss, giving her a wink before she pulled away. "Oh, I'll be thinking of that moment with anticipation."
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The promise of many sexual escapades could only do so much to distract for so long as Sterling roamed every inch of the home that he would soon be taking... seemingly permanent residence. Not that he banked fully on it. There could be a point in time when the princess would grow tired of him. Choose to keep her relationship with her father stable by breaking off… whatever this was, in order to not rock the boat. Perhaps he should have tried to grovel once he realized who Ramiel was, but that just wasn't him. The only person he had the energy to grovel to was his father, and even that was waning with every passing instance. An exhaustion growing in his veins that aged him far beyond anything else, and if he were capable, Sterling knew he'd have gray hairs sprouting by now. He spent the time trying to relax, to wait patiently, but it devolved into pacing. Then, to search every crevice until finally landing in the bedroom that smelled so richly of his Lovebug, collapsing on the bed as he plucked the ring he'd taken back from the brunette, inspecting it in the light. He didn't know why he took it back; it never belonged to him, and he hadn't for a long time. Sterling tried to stop himself from looking so excited the moment he felt not only his sister's presence enter the domicile, but also Beatrice's, which ended his multitude of times counting to a thousand in order to pass the time. However, what Sterling didn't expect was that he wouldn't get a single second to greet either one of the girls before Beatrice tracked him down and unleashed the absolute word vomit that rivaled his, which he could only attribute to the house Beatrice hailed from, from what little he knew of the demon hierarchy.
He rose to his feet, utterly enthralled by witnessing the princess jump through so many points in so little breath. There wasn't a point where he could really interject, not that he wanted to– a part of him needed to hear her talk more while he simply listened. The silence after she stopped, and where he was supposed to start talking stretched longer than he would have liked as he simply looked at her in awe. Finally, the enamored spell wore off enough for him to reach forward and cut what remaining distance between the two of them down until there was nothing, weaving his hands into her silken locks; tilting her head upwards until his lips pressed against hers. He deepened the kiss for every moment her words ricocheted through his skull, nipping her bottom lip much as she'd done to him as he finally pulled away. "Lovebug, if I wasn't hopelessly in love with you before now, I would be absolutely gone the moment you came in here like a hurricane. I love you right back, my princess." Sterling skated his thumb against Beatrice's jawline almost reverently before dropping his hands to her waist. "You're the only person outside of my sister that I've ever wanted to keep in my orbit. The one person I broke my rule for, and I'm glad I did. Even if it sent both of our fathers after us." Sterling pressed his lips against hers again before trailing them against her jawline and down the column of her throat. His fingers traced the hem of Beatrice's shirt before slipping his hands under to press against her abdomen. A pure... possessiveness coursed through him at the thought of her carrying any child of theirs. "Though you may want to specify how many children you want, my kind is annoyingly fertile." He realized that he wouldn't mind if there wasn't a cap. A part of him whispered that it was a slippery slope to becoming his father with that thought, but he had to believe in what Beatrice said. That he could be a parent that he didn't have, that he was robbed of. "You know... this whole declaring our love for one another and thinking about children reminded me of another milestone that we might as well cross." Taking the ring that he'd just recently accepted back from the woman out of his pocket again, presenting it to her. "This ring will always be yours, and you deserve to keep wearing it, but I'm going to get you a ring of my own whenever we venture outside again. While this ring has a lot of meaning to every version of me, you deserve a ring from me that's entirely us. Marry me, Beatrice, and we can make this moment the ultimate trifecta of getting on your dad's nerves."




















