Astelion
He pulled back from the kiss first.
His hands lingered on my jaw, his touch incredibly gentle, but when I looked up into his eyes, they were welling with a fresh wave of tears. The blue illusion was gone, leaving only the raw, exposed dark green of his true self staring down at me in absolute agony.
"What is this, Astelion?" Kiono whispered, his voice cracking under the weight of his heartbreak. "What game are we playing? My heart... I can't keep doing this. It hurts."
"I am hurting too," I choked out.
With a trembling breath, I slowly forced myself to step back, pulling away from his warm arms and letting the cold garden air rush between us.
"I am hurting too," I repeated, my voice rising as the tears finally spilled over my eyelashes. "Do you think I want to feel this way? Do you think I want to make you feel like this? I hate it. I hate every single second of it."
"Then let's stop," he pleaded, taking a desperate half-step forward, his hands reaching out into the empty space between us. "Let's stop pretending. I know you love me just as much as I love you."
"I have tried," I wept, shaking my head as the memory of the sleepless, agonizing night clawed at my throat. "I thought about it all night, Kiono... and I still can't. Every time I kiss you, every time I hold you... I just think of him."
Kiono let out a long, ragged sigh, dropping his hands to press them against his temples. He rubbed his head, his shoulders shaking with frustration. "You're killing me here. I am me, and my father is my father. Why can't you just see me for me?"
"I am sorry."
Instinct took over. I reached out, my fingers stretching to touch his hand, to offer some piece of comfort to the man I was actively breaking.
But Kiono pulled his hand back, flinching away from my touch.
He stared at his empty palm, his green eyes darkening with a sudden, heavy resolve. When he looked back up at me, his gaze was intensely focused, striping away all the tears. "Is there one thing I can do to fix this? To fix us?"
I looked at him, my heart freezing in my chest. The hatred for the lineage that had destroyed my life flared up, cold and absolute.
"Kill your father," I whispered.
Kiono didn't blink. The silence between us stretched, heavy and dangerous, filled only with the distant sound of the garden fountains.
"That's all it will take for us to move forward?" he asked, his voice dead quiet.
"Yes."
"Are you sure that's what you want?"
"Yes."
I took a slow, deliberate step closer to him, the distance between us vanishing once more. I leaned in, my voice carrying the dark, demanding weight of a siren. "Will you kill him for me? Will you watch your own family burn... just for me?"
"For you, I would even try and kill Castel to give you the world," Kiono answered instantly, his voice entirely devoid of hesitation. He looked down at me with a fierce, terrifying devotion that shook me to my very core. "I would give my life if you asked me to."
My throat went completely dry. The sheer gravity of his promise—the fact that he would tear down the entire kingdom and murder his own blood just to hold my hand—left me completely breathless. I saw the absolute truth in his eyes. He meant every single word.
"Give me time," he whispered, stepping back slightly, suddenly overwhelmed by the monstrous weight of what he had just asked.
My brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"
"Please," he begged, his hand coming up to rest against his chest, feeling the frantic, steady beat of his heart. "Just give me time. That's all I ask."
I stared at him for a long, quiet moment. Slowly, he reached into the deep pocket of his dark guard uniform. When he pulled his hand out, his fingers uncurled to reveal the delicate, glittering ring I had violently thrown into the bathroom trash bin only hours ago. It was clean, completely untarnished, resting in the center of his palm.
He took my hand, his fingers warm against my cold skin, and gently placed the metal band into the center of my palm.
"Keep it," he whispered, his green eyes searching mine. "For me. Just for me."
My chest ached so badly I felt like my ribs would crack. I slowly closed my hand around the ring, my fingers locking tightly over the cool metal.
Kiono gave my hand one last, lingering squeeze before he turned around to walk away, preparing to disappear back into the shadows of the palace.
But as I watched his back retreat, a sudden, desperate panic seized my mind. Not yet. I couldn't let him go yet.
"Kiono!"
I lunged forward, grabbing his hand and violently pulling him around. Before he could even register what was happening, I threw my entire weight against him. The sudden momentum caught him completely off guard, and the two of us tumbled backward, crashing onto the soft, shaded grass of the secluded alcove.
He hit the ground with a low gasp, and I instantly pinned him down, capturing his lips in a fierce, starving kiss.
He groaned into my mouth, his hands immediately coming up to lock around my waist, holding me tightly against him on the earth. I kissed him with everything I had left, tears leaking from my eyes and wetting both of our cheeks.
Just a little longer, I screamed silently in my head, deepening the kiss as I tangled my fingers into his hair. I just need him... just a little longer.