Maea
The worst of all blessings
The sweetest kind of torture it was, to simply hold his gaze with hers and let him see the truth of her emotions as they playes across her face. Maea had never been good at hiding her feelings, but at least a thin veneer of bravado and fierce independence had built up over the years, in defence of a heart that cared too quickly and too much for casual relations. Somewhere along the way she had accepted that she would likely remain alone for the rest of her days... or thought she had, anyway. The fear that sprung up when she'd thought Liam would be taken from her suggested otherwise, and now... now?
From now on, 'alone' looked like it might be the exception to that rule. A choice and temporary state meant for thinking and recharging, a thing she never had to endure again... because Liam had said always and she had never wanted to believe anything more than she wanted that.
It tickled, braiding her fingers into his. Letting her gaze drop to their entwined hands with a dazed feeling of unreality, she didn't blame him for needing a second confirmation. This was happening? Here, now - despite the purple pulsing through his veins and the scars on her hands? She hardly knew him. He barely knew her, had only been told a fraction of what she'd seen and done - gods, she didn't even know how old he was, if he dreamed of the kind of family he'd once had, whether he felt as passionately as she –
ah. But she wanted to. Wished to find out, if this ember shared between them could persist, and grow into the kind of partnership she'd seen and envied in others. Like her brother and his wife, like Ronin and Remi, like so many others she'd only gazed at from afar.
"Yes. Truly." Lifting her gaze back up to his, the hint of a smile lingered in the corner of her lips as she took in his face, gazing at him like she hadn't allowed herself to other than in secret before. Abashed, but earnest in her quiet admiration of what she saw. "I just... uhm, I've only been in one relationship before. So, you know... if I'm bad at expressing it... that's why." Certainly not for a lack of interest; her hands simply didn't know when to reach out, or how often, or when to let off before it became suffocating.
From now on, 'alone' looked like it might be the exception to that rule. A choice and temporary state meant for thinking and recharging, a thing she never had to endure again... because Liam had said always and she had never wanted to believe anything more than she wanted that.
It tickled, braiding her fingers into his. Letting her gaze drop to their entwined hands with a dazed feeling of unreality, she didn't blame him for needing a second confirmation. This was happening? Here, now - despite the purple pulsing through his veins and the scars on her hands? She hardly knew him. He barely knew her, had only been told a fraction of what she'd seen and done - gods, she didn't even know how old he was, if he dreamed of the kind of family he'd once had, whether he felt as passionately as she –
ah. But she wanted to. Wished to find out, if this ember shared between them could persist, and grow into the kind of partnership she'd seen and envied in others. Like her brother and his wife, like Ronin and Remi, like so many others she'd only gazed at from afar.
"Yes. Truly." Lifting her gaze back up to his, the hint of a smile lingered in the corner of her lips as she took in his face, gazing at him like she hadn't allowed herself to other than in secret before. Abashed, but earnest in her quiet admiration of what she saw. "I just... uhm, I've only been in one relationship before. So, you know... if I'm bad at expressing it... that's why." Certainly not for a lack of interest; her hands simply didn't know when to reach out, or how often, or when to let off before it became suffocating.
The most beautiful of curses
Base by Skylark
