There was something so entirely peaceful in those moments of completion when little existed save for beating hearts and ragged breath and too that sweat the shone on the skin of them both. How wholly satisfied his body was! His very limbs felt heavy in that warm afterglow as his side rested against his lovers own and they both struggled to even their breathing atop those crumpled silken sheets within that very room that had been the start of so very much in turn. How far they had come since that first coupling! Dorian wholly assured that their first union had been all but tame in comparison to the eagerness that they now embraced each other with and yet he looked back upon that first night with a sweet fondness all the same. It was curious, really, the way in which his body found itself entirely sated and yet that far more emotive side so desired to draw his lover closer all the same. For all those beings he had bedded within his own time the Monarch had never before been truly beset with any desire to cuddle afterwards. It was a blessing of his position within his own time and surely still now should he desire it, that he need hold little reason to remove either himself or those other beings from his bed once he had so achieved what he had desired from them from the beginning and yet- ever since that very first night- the desire to leave Sebastian had been utterly non-existent. He had contemplated it before, surely a thousand times over, Dorian so having little explanation for it save for perhaps those touches of fate itself and yet in the wake of all they had done he so continued to crave that closeness with him. Indeed, he had come to utterly adore it. Dorian no longer caring to analyse it, the Monarch so simply assured that it was surely the fault of love in some capacity and yet he would have it no other way.

His arms reached easily to draw the vampire to him, the manner in which Sebastian so nestled into his own chest stirring that flutter of his heart once more as his lips lowered to merely brush over the man's shoulder in that lazy, simple affection. Dorian far more satisfied with his lover held against him now, the man relishing that body heat that so continued to exist between them both and too- so unable to deny the pleasure he took from Sebastian, for once, appearing almost as if he was truly tired. Ah, but to tire a vampire out in bed! Surely this was cause for reward itself, Dorian so unafraid to admit to a certain smugness of sorts in the wake of those unsteady breaths he had left upon his lover. Sebastian so often seemed to recover from those trysts within a few minutes, the Monarch assured that this time his lover was truly given to feel just how exhausting sex could be. That warm simper resting upon his own features as he so offered the man just that explanation only to be rewarded with that almost teasing complaint, a yawn and the vampires assurance that he hardly knew how Dorian so handled it each night. The Fae's eyes rolled lightly in response and yet he so contemplated those words all the same before allowing his shoulders to lift in a ready shrug.

"I suspect I have simply mastered a living body. Although, I suppose that over time and so many nights with you, I simply became fitter and my body became used to what we do. That could also be the reason."

The softest of chuckles teased readily at his throat. It was, Dorian supposed, the most logical of explanations for his own ability to thoroughly enjoy his lover between the sheets only to get up and so go about his evening but an hour later. The Fae assured he had never been so physically fit in all his life as he surely was now, his body so readily adapting to simply keep up with the vampire and yet Dorian was assured he would have it no other way all the same. The man having come to almost relish that feeling of tiredness in turn, especially late in the evening and before that sun rose, the Monarch wholly willing to embrace that exhaustion and fall into a wholly blissful sleep in its wake. Tired, after all, was what so came from living, that a trade he was wholly willing to make. His own form shifted just so, his head resting against Sebastian's own frame now as one hand lifted to idly push a few of those tousled locks aside. Dorian wholly content in that thoroughly tousled look to his lover's hair before meeting that bright blue of his gaze with the silver off his own. The man making some effort to explain that those exquisite feelings of utter bliss he had so learned to create were surely wholly inspired by the venom Sebastian possessed in turn and his desire to so show his lover how glorious that living body could be. After all, he had so spent the day in the sun purely for Dorian's desire along, the Monarch assured he so deserved some reward for that, didn't he? This, perhaps, his own way of thanking his boyfriend for that all-too perfect day they had shared upon the sand. The vampire's assurance that his venom could hardly be quite like that least Dorian be so unable to handle it every night stirring that glorious grin to his features once more.

"Oh, I think it's rather close, although I do suspect I may have cheated tonight by so affording that feeling to you from beginning to end. You usually bite right at the end, sometimes a few times before- I gave you very little chance to rest in between as you offer me. Either way, your bite is utterly glorious. As are you."

The warm grin rested upon his lips. Dorian wholly content to remember but one time Sebastian had so overwhelmed him with those bites in turn within that bed in Belton. The vampire so having used his venom alone to send him over that pleasurable high not but seconds after his first climax! Dorian so recalling that night was utter fondness. The Fae utterly delighting in each and every coupling they had shared before or since. Even the mere thought of Sebastian's fangs so capable of stirring a response within him at the memory of that ecstasy to be found at their tips! That shift of the vampire within his arms to press his lips to Dorian's own readily saw that gesture returned, that perfect sweetness off it entirely felt before those soft words of thanks were uttered.

"Thank you too- for today and tonight."

He offered within return, assured that this day had been for the both of them in turn. The Fae so at last shifting from his place against his lover, assuring the man he would be back in just one moment as he rose from that bed, crossing the room in but a few strides to reach his overnight bag, fishing that small leather-bound book from within it before eagerly returning to his place atop those sheets and to the warmth of his companions side. Dorian holding that gift out for the vampire to take now, allowing him to open that photo book and view the plethora of photos within so taken during their time in Caserta, each page having been crafted into a photo itself and yet these were hardly those photos either of them had posed for. Indeed, not a single photo within had been posed for in any fashion, each one of them wholly taken without the subject so being aware.

"It is a gift for both of us really. I had forgotten of it entirely but when we returned to my palace there was a young Fae girl there, you may not recall her, she had very straight black hair and was what I suppose one might call plain to look at- she was very quiet and I'm assured barely spoke a word to either of us. She had worked within the kitchens since she had been born but upon the break of that curse she had discovered photography. She asked if she might take some photographs about the palace. I did not quite realise that candid shots of us was what she meant when I agreed and yet I quite adore some of these. They say so much more than some of those official pictures."

There had been several truly splendid official photographs of them taken during that time, along with but a plethora of others snapped by the media in turn and yet these, so taken within the depths of the palace itself held a curious sort of intimacy to them. Dorian assured he had barely even caught a glimpse of the girl herself as she moved about and yet with the palace so filled with people he was hardly surprised. The Monarch reaching to flip to that third page. That grin touching his features at such a photograph. When it had been taken even he hardly recalled. The picture so depicting them standing upon one of the palaces endless balconies, Sebastian's arms wrapped about his waist from behind, his head resting upon Dorian's shoulder as Dorian so leaned into him in turn. The Monarch's hand holding the tie he had pulled from himself moments ago and yet perhaps most striking in that photo was the very fact they had both been caught mid-laugh. Dorian hardly recalling what had been so funny and yet that look simply added to the perfection of the picture all the same.

"I think it was after the state dinner, judging from our suits."

He uttered softly, flipping but another page, this one a photograph of Sebastian alone that had surely been taken while Dorian had attended one meeting or another. The vampire having been photographed with his beloved piano Bernard, Sebastian so depicted with a look of utmost concentration upon his features as he peered into the interior of that piano. Dorian turning another page to find a truly curious black and white photo then, one in which had clearly been taken in the middle of a crowded room and yet every other person had been almost blurred in a fashion, leaving only Dorian and Sebastian within focus of the camera itself. Sebastian was so clearly engaged in conversation with a lady and yet whom she was remained to be seen. Dorian standing but several feet away speaking to another man or rather- that man was speaking to him while his own attention was clearly elsewhere. That simple look of utter, pure, irrevocable adoration and love upon his features for the vampire he was so clearly looking towards was so evidently the focus of that photograph- snapped in a single moment of time. The Monarchs gaze so clearly on one being in that entire room and yet how glorious it was! Dorian grinning softly even now. How much those photographs so showed. The book veritably filled with them.

"I wasn't even looking at your butt that time."

That almost impish grin so found its way to his features then, Dorian chuckling softly before pressing his lips a final time to his lovers cheek. Uttering those words he had already offered today and yet seemed all the more fitting now.

"Happy Anniversary, love."

Dorian Aragona