the way you kiss me will work each time // Chryseis

[Rhaegor]

and I could easily lose my mind; the way you kiss me will work each time
calling me to come back to bed, singing Georgia on my mind

As Rhaegor looks up from his coughing fit, he expects to see any emotion except the one he finds; anger, sadness, or that unfeeling stare that only women seem capable of expressing. Instead, he finds the last expression he expected: concern. Perhaps he ought to have expected it given the nature of his illness, but he hadn't; and in seeing it now, the boy buckles. What facade he had up in the minutes before makes way for lips split in a silent cry and eyes half-closed in the same as a sob ripples through him from chest to throat. A pathetic clicking noise sounds in his throat as the emotion overwhelms him.

She steps forward to wipe the spatter of blood from his shoulder, but he keeps her there a moment longer than she anticipated, leaning his neck against hers as the clicking continues. No one else knows about his illness, about his contraction of the contagion - none except her, now. Shifting some of the weight of this burden to her shoulders creates a kind of release in the prince that he'd far from expected, and yet he struggles to regain control of himself and his emotions as they stand together, trembling for the terrors of this reality and clinging to one another as the only two threads of hope left in all of the known world.

The clicking gradually subsides, and Rhae shakes his head vehemently. No more tears. When he pulls back, Chryseis wastes no time in reaching to displace the blood on his lips with the delicate tissue of her own muzzle. The gesture makes Rhae want to start into the water works all over again; but he holds it together long enough to feel the girl's lips press to the sickly warm expanse of his forehead. The boy nods his head gently into her kiss, as if burrowing deeper into the safe place he knows exists within his darling Chryseis.

She speaks, the words as soft as his were loud. Ears, trembling for exhaustion, flick immediately to her such that he might catch every word, every syllable, every whisper of breath that passes from her to him like manna from heaven. It is a scolding that she gives him, but not a heartfelt one; before she can finish saying that coming to see her should have been the last of his plans, Rhaegor slides away from her touch such that he can give a small tug on her mane and then press his cheek against hers, ear pressed to her flesh such that he can hear the sound of her heart pumping.

But I'm glad you did. I've missed you.

The boy waits a moment before answering; the sound of her heart working and healthy take priority, even now as the catharsis they've both being waiting for dawns upon them.

Leaning back, Rhae gently finds the soft flesh of her lips with his own, then retreats further to speak. Not far, though; she mustn't lose his words to the howl of the wind.

"I've missed you desperately, Chryseis." His eyes, clear new from the tears that he'd shed into the dark blue of her coat, find hers and hold them. Sincerity rings in the shallow sounds of his voice. "I don't know how I can ever, ever apologize to you. I was a fool."

"Please... Please, will you forgive me?"

Rhaegor

@[Chryseis]