The Casualty «Dukat/Damar & OFC» 🔞 ✔️

4. Rapid response

The trip back to the palace alongside Gul Dukat was confusing and disconcerting.

Nyran said right away that she would just go back to her apartment, change and go to work on her own. No way she was going to let everyone know she had spent the night at her boss's. But Dukat swept that idea off the table with a firm "nonsense" and told her to replicate whatever dress she fancied and come downstairs to the shuttle. He did not give her any room to voice an opinion and she found it hard to argue with the head of state without an enormous dose of adrenaline in her system, so she obeyed.

The second they got off the shuttle near the palace and aimed for the main entrance, Nyran tried to separate herself from him to not raise any more suspicions, but he caught up to her. He put his arm firmly around her waist, pressed her to his body and continued towards his office with a light smile.

Everyone they met gave them long, disapproving glares, eventually moving their gaze to Dukat's neck ridges; Nyran could see their nostrils flaring and their eyes bugging as soon as they received the whole picture of what happened between them.* Tears stung in her tear ducts and she was panicking. This was not supposed to happen.

As soon as the door to his office closed behind them, she turned to him, eyes pleading.

"Sir," she said, trembling and fighting tears, "I know we haven't really discussed just how much we're going to disclose to the public, but this was extremely uncomfortable for me. I thought we were done. To be completely blunt, I thought you'd lose interest the minute you got under my skirt and no one would ever get wise. I've worked hard at the Academy and I don't just like this job, I need it, I have no one to support me. I don't want to lose it and I don't want my colleagues to start treating me like a tramp that fucks her way up to the top."

Dukat gave her an infuriatingly content smile.

"And did you fuck me to get to the top?" he asked slyly.

"No!" she exclaimed, appalled. "I did it for fun. I wanted you, plain and simple. But I didn't expect you to be so... indiscreet about it. You're our leader, I thought you'd want to keep this your dirty little secret. You can't possibly be so aloof about your own reputation."

"Nyran," he purred and annoyingly, the sound stroked her very core, as usual. "I'm not married anymore. I'm free to sleep with whoever I choose. And this was never going to be a one-time thing for me. I won't hide you away like a mistake I'm ashamed of, because being with you was no mistake."

Nyran's jaw fell while her eyebrows rose. He came a little closer, touching her face lightly.

"I have always admired Bajorans," he caressed the characteristic ridges over the bridge of her nose. "Our union might be just the step towards some sort of reconciliation between our peoples. I knew I needed you the moment I saw you, and the fact that you're so... Cardassian inside makes it all the more perfect."

He held her face in his palms, gently, yet passionately. "You may have come from another world, but your home is here now and I can see you love it as much as I do. You could be a great asset to us all if you choose. You could be a hero to the people, just as you fantasize about in combat simulations. Without the sweat and violence," he smiled. He had obviously figured out the fighting was not her only reason for loving that particular exercise.

"There is nothing about what we're doing together that could taint my reputation -- or yours. This is bigger than us."

Nyran blinked in shock. That was unexpected, to say the least, yet she could feel warmth spread from her core to her limbs. His words may have been a little too dramatic, a little too grand, ignoring a number of details that could make this all go horribly wrong, but his speech made her heart ache with affection.