[ koby looks at him with loving wonder and his magic doesn't feel like a dangerous thing. his head aches dully from the use of it, but at every little kiss the warmth of it flares up between them, like waves on a sea, adrift and gentle. he reaches hands to slide along koby's thighs, rub up and down every inch of him to sooth him where his magic can't. ]

Alia. I don't know what she did, or how she did it - I could feel her. She could feel me.

[ quiet, because alia has been sentenced, has been sent down to a dungeon she does not belong in, regardless of what the house may or may not do. but he sighs, wrapping his arms tight around koby and gently nudging him to lay out on his chest, across his body. ]

She could see it - like you could. I didn't know. [ a little huff. ] I don't know what I can do or how to control it. I just - I was just thinking about protecting you. Defending you from all of this, and frankly I don't know how to.

[ i can't lose you is what it whispers, and quentin leans back up to kiss him again. ]

I'll do whatever it takes to keep you safe.