"I heard that."
Before I become a human pyre, my legs move as quickly as my body will allow, carrying me through the halls until I can slip into my throne room. I wanted to cut through the passageways, just in case, and I was feeling pretty good that I’d hobbled all the way to the hidden door without–
"A-hem."
My feet come to a harsh halt at the raspy sound.Shit. The aggravating feeling of being caught spreads throughout my chest, and I grind my teeth together.
Draped languidly in my throne is Rorin. His cropped hair is disheveled beyond the point of just bedhead, the bandages are gone from his shoulder, and his eyes are bloodshot.
So I can safely assume, he didn't just wake up…
He drags his left hand down his face, gritting out, "how long?"
"Wha—?"
SLAM!His fist hits the stone arm of the throne — the sound jarring. "How long have you been taking off in the middle of the night?"
"Every night."
Rorin pinches his brow, swearing to himself before raising his voice at me. "Fuck, Eveera. Every fucking night?"
"It's none of your concern."
"None of my… none of my concern?" He asks, exasperated. I nod, but that only serves to make him angrier. Pushing up harshly from the seat, he sprints down the steps until we’re standing only a few feet apart. "YOU ARE MY ONLY CONCERN." There’s a wild look in his stare, the vein in his neck bulging as he crosses the rest of the distance between us.
Fear. That's the look on his face… fear.
"I'm fine," I mutter, feeling uncomfortable with his distraught behavior.
"You weren't." He replies coldly.
"I was—"
Rorin’s head shakes, and he lifts his hand, showing off the angry rune on his wrist. "Youweren't."
“I would have been–”
“I can't take any chances with you!" Rorin cries, and my heart stills. “You were taken once already, and what I did on my hunt to find you, to bring youhome, the horrible things I imagined were happening… it would have been better for someone to have killed me. Losing you almost did."
"I didn't ask for you to react that way, tofeelthese things." I snarl.
"WELL, I FEEL THEM, EVEERA. I feel them all the fucking time, and when you behave this-thisrecklessly?How could you?"
My Wield prickles at the question, my mouth parting as I sputter, “ho–how couldI? How couldItake flight in my own kingdom, on my own dragon? Needing space from a court that has dozens of people hovering around me as if I’m a glass resting on the edge of the table, liable to fall and shatter? I amnotfragile.”
Rorin brings himself another step closer until his bare chest grazes against me. The new position bringing me eye level with the wound I’d left in him. "You cannot be selfish; you don’t have the privilege right now. We are at war, Eveera! Your lands are not as impenetrable as you'd like to think, and we cannot afford for you to be self-destructive." He continues his rant, and a hot tear slips down my face, a heavy silence descending over us.
Regrettably, I break the quiet first, "I know." Surprise flickers across his face, and I blow out a tense breath, "I know."
"What do you mean, you know?"
"I know that we are at war. I know what we have lost. I knowwhowe have lost, Rorin, and I'm doing my damndest to make sure it never happens again."
His head tilts, "whatareyou doing out there?"
My jaw tilts up, defiantly, “what I have to."
The muscle in his jaw ticks, disdain for the vague answer plain on his face. He scrapes his fingers through his hair, pacing back and forth. "Arghhh." He growls, turning back to brace the sides of my face, dropping his forehead to mine.
