Tithe

Eyes still glued to her black eyes framed by her golden face. Every second that passed seemed to steal away from him in breathless stillness. Where her heart beat faster, his heart seemed to hold its breath with his lungs. Stillness gripped him. He could feel her hesitancy and it stilled him. The words she spoke both warmed and froze him. A silence settled between them. Very carefully he moved towards her, touching his nose to her face, moving slow so she could move away if she desired.

You need never fear my desire for you, the depth of it. He was finally able to breath. Nor that you will fail me. I do not believe that you could. However, I understand. Beside her he merely stayed and breathed while he thought about where they had found themselves and how. He understood her desire to know what was happening, and if it was true. He had considered it himself, tried to move his mind away from what fate had twisted them to. Pandora had shown him a number of times a stubborn determination deep within her, an intellect matched by few and surpassed by possibly only her family. He breathed deep and exhaled slowly, steadying himself to do for her what she needed from him.

I will always be here. You will always have a place by my side, when you chose to be there. He yearned to ask her what she needed, what he could do for her, what he could do to prove his words true. Somehow he hoped she would know, that the truth of his being shined as bright to her as everything else in him seemed to do. To her, he was completely an open soul. She had nothing to prove to him, but seemed to have everything to prove to herself.

He sighed, clearly loathing into an alternate conversation, even though it had been one he had intended to speak to her about. I will not accept you as Spirane’s Viceroy. At least not now. As Armiger I believe you would have what you desire? In such a position she would be able to be privy to the plans of the pack, and to him.