The discordant beat of her heart settles at his assurances, unexpectedly relieved. It's still not a life she would ever wish for her own child, but Kellan appears to harbor no ill will. It is his opinion that matters here. "I'm glad you were not alone. I can't say I understand your mother's choices, but you seem to have grown into a fine man nonetheless." At least so far as she has seen. Roots and history aside, however he was reared does not matter so much as the end result.
His distraction is only noticed in some distant part of her hummingbird mind, constantly active and sharply aware. The rest is consumed beneath the haze of her own flushed cheeks, internally blaming the cast of light over the water, the heat of the day, finding any excuse aside from being enchanted by his presence. Though it does not bolster her for long, laid low by his shy compliments yet again within moments. "Thank you," she responds softly, eyes bright with gratitude that her lips cannot share, flitting to the gesture of his hand against his chest. For all his lack of familiarity with her type of ruling class, Kellan seems to understand what matters most. That though she is forgotten and meaningless now in this land, she can never fully shed those gilded robes. "Consorts...of a sort," she agrees, voice going a bit stiff and stilted. "I had many children whom I loved deeply. Many not of my own blood that I brought into my family. But their fathers never stayed." Old heartbreak echoes like rain in a cavernous pit in the valleys of her words. His offer of another topic is not an escape she chooses to indulge in. She may be ashamed that she could never keep her beloveds at her side, but Hotaru will not turn cheek against her own flaws. "No matter how I loved them, how I asked them to stay for their children at the very least if not for me, it did not seem to matter." Giving a hoarse clearing of her throat, she summons a smile, focusing instead on her children. "The time never came for my children to succeed me to the throne. But I would have been immeasurably proud if any of them had."
His distraction is only noticed in some distant part of her hummingbird mind, constantly active and sharply aware. The rest is consumed beneath the haze of her own flushed cheeks, internally blaming the cast of light over the water, the heat of the day, finding any excuse aside from being enchanted by his presence. Though it does not bolster her for long, laid low by his shy compliments yet again within moments. "Thank you," she responds softly, eyes bright with gratitude that her lips cannot share, flitting to the gesture of his hand against his chest. For all his lack of familiarity with her type of ruling class, Kellan seems to understand what matters most. That though she is forgotten and meaningless now in this land, she can never fully shed those gilded robes. "Consorts...of a sort," she agrees, voice going a bit stiff and stilted. "I had many children whom I loved deeply. Many not of my own blood that I brought into my family. But their fathers never stayed." Old heartbreak echoes like rain in a cavernous pit in the valleys of her words. His offer of another topic is not an escape she chooses to indulge in. She may be ashamed that she could never keep her beloveds at her side, but Hotaru will not turn cheek against her own flaws. "No matter how I loved them, how I asked them to stay for their children at the very least if not for me, it did not seem to matter." Giving a hoarse clearing of her throat, she summons a smile, focusing instead on her children. "The time never came for my children to succeed me to the throne. But I would have been immeasurably proud if any of them had."
Hotaru
