03-15-2026, 06:10 PM
who could ever leave me, darling,
but who could stay?
but who could stay?
Heat flushes through her at the way he speaks to her and looks at her, and for a moment that hollow ache in her chest seems to ease, as if soothed by his reverence. Something else sparks alongside of it—an unyielding need to chase more of this feeling that she can only describe as being wanted. She does not recognize this yet for what it is—her fatal flaw, the thing that would likely someday be her undoing should the history of her mother’s blood decide to repeat itself. All she knows is that her heart had given an unexpected skip at the sound of his voice, and this feels like the very scenarios she had built in her mind while dreaming up in the clouds.
“That can’t be true,” she says, her demure smile nearly hidden by the way she casts her eyes to the ground instead of his face as she tries to gather herself. He is such a stark contrast to the last man that she had met that she finds she is even more unsure of herself than ever before. To swing so quickly from the dark to the light had her feeling unsteady, and almost timid, afraid that he might see whatever it is the ice demon had found so off-putting about her.
“Starros,” she tests his name, liking the way it felt on her tongue and how it seemed so fitting of him. “My name is Empyreal.” It did not escape her that both their names inspired thoughts of the sky and the heavens, a celestial string that she has decided will tie them together. “I hope I wasn’t intruding. I saw the deer,” she pauses, her gaze drifting to where the light had dissipated into the morning light, “and I couldn’t help but to get closer. They were lovely.”
“That can’t be true,” she says, her demure smile nearly hidden by the way she casts her eyes to the ground instead of his face as she tries to gather herself. He is such a stark contrast to the last man that she had met that she finds she is even more unsure of herself than ever before. To swing so quickly from the dark to the light had her feeling unsteady, and almost timid, afraid that he might see whatever it is the ice demon had found so off-putting about her.
“Starros,” she tests his name, liking the way it felt on her tongue and how it seemed so fitting of him. “My name is Empyreal.” It did not escape her that both their names inspired thoughts of the sky and the heavens, a celestial string that she has decided will tie them together. “I hope I wasn’t intruding. I saw the deer,” she pauses, her gaze drifting to where the light had dissipated into the morning light, “and I couldn’t help but to get closer. They were lovely.”
Empyreal
@Starros