i am the mace, the map, the fall and the high
It’s a strange thing, watching her as she reminisces on her family. On those she left behind. She wishes so badly to be free, to act as though she is quiet and unbothered by their failings. And yet she is not. She is trapped by the endless cycle of their mistakes, tethered undeniably in their grip. Her denial only makes it all the stronger.
Reave of course should not speak on such matters. Not with the weight of his own ancestry dragging behind him with each willful step. Not when the machinations and deceit of his own grandmother had filtered down through generations. He is only the latest in a string of them. So many stories had already played themselves out long before he was born, but they too lie as a yoke around his neck. His only fortune is that he does not bear the curse so many of them do. That at least he could not blame on the grandmother who had caused the rest of it.
Love is disobedient, she says, and Reave’s lips twist at that. He hasn’t known love, but he has seen enough of it to understand. “It is,” is his equally simple reply. He wouldn’t exist either if it weren’t.
He watches curiously as the faces of those she loves crash through her memories, all those she had left behind. The garden she even now remembers with a wistful longing. His eyes never leave her as she looks to the sky. For a moment, from an outsider's perspective it would almost appear as though she were praying for absolution. Reave knows better.
He grins at her questions, blue gaze wickedly enticing. “Why not?” he quips easily, teasing her for her sudden hesitance. She had not been nearly so reticent only moments earlier. “I have a garden of my own I could show you.” He pauses, grin turning devilish. “Since you love flowers so very much.”
His head tilts as she admonishes him once more, though he does not appear at all repentant. Neither does he reveal his satisfaction however, when she admits his assumption might have been right. Instead, with only a gleam in his blue eyes, he simply says, “I am glad I haven’t frightened you off.”
As Rune launches into the sky, Reave turns with a grin to do as she had indicated and lead the way.
reave
@[Elliana]