Burning Heart | Outside of Self | A Rising Power
Through the pale moonlight, our hearts ignite to the call / Oh claim your price for a crown of stars / In the name of love be the sacrifice / You and I will stand and fight, our backs to the wall
Hero – Elizaveta
Characters: Blade Kajj, Healer Yhinn
Content Warnings: N/A
Words: 627
Full Prompt List
The silver pin’s gleam was quickly covered by the black of his gloves. He could feel his sweat gluing the leather against his chitin. He swallowed.
Yhinn floated ahead of him, oblivious, her laughter a sweet harmony to the festival around them, the colored lights painting her white gown in a beautiful display. “Hurry up, Blade!” She teased him, smiling back over her shoulder at him. “Aren’t you supposed to be my Guard for the evening? If you lag much further, you’re going to lose me in this crowd.”
You’re going to lose me.
He flashed her a nervous grin, jogging to catch up, his prize still clutched within his hand. “Apologies, Healer,” he sang to her, offering her a sweeping bow as he caught up to her — half sincere, half a joke. Technically he outranked her, but who else had him so often upon his knees…? He was still smiling as he bent to press his forehead to hers, wishing he could simply tilt his head, press their scapes together, press their lives together, real and true…
But she wouldn’t accept that, he knew. Who would? But he could offer something else instead.
Her shawl slipped from her shoulders as they parted, as it always did, but his hands bumped hers as she went to fix it. She laughed, softly, and allowed him to adjust it for her, her expression turning curious as silver flashed between his fingers and he carefully pinned the fabric into place.
His hands were shaking.
He did his best to hold them steady. It would not do to prick her, or damage the fabric of her gown.
“What’s this…?” She sang to him, her fingers tracing the carved ridges of the pin. A night-blooming flower, her namesake, gleaming in the moonlight against her chest. Her sea green eyes met his, full of questions he did not dare to answer.
“It’s a gift,” he murmured, curling her fingers around it. Curling his fingers around hers. “It seemed like… it belonged to you. Like… my love. Like my self.”
He looked at her.
The festival was all music and noise and lights all around them, but in that moment he could only hear the soft intake of her breath and the music of his adornments that chimed as he tilted his head.
Brave, they sang. Brave.
He could not have her love, perhaps. But she would forever have his.
“Oh,” she sang softly, her expression melting into warmth. “Kajj…”
Her fingers uncurled, but he brought his other hand up, holding them captive. His hands. Her hands. His love.
“It’s yours,” he assured her, forcing his smile not to waver, forcing his eyes to meet hers. “Yhinn. You never asked for it, I know. But it is yours all the same. Like a gift. Like the pin. Yes? I give it to you freely, and ask for nothing in return. Just that… you do not throw me away.”
“…I would never,” she told him at last, her own smile slipping towards something more sorrowful. “But… you are sure?”
“I am certain,” he emphasized, and gave her hands a squeeze before he allowed them to drop to his sides. “I could no more take it from you than I could take the color from your eyes. It’s yours, my love. To do with as you please.”
She smiled at him again then, her hands raising to trail along the line of his jaw. “Well. I can think of a few things, in that case. Come then, my Kajj. The night is young, and I can hear the music calling me.”
She took her warmth with her as she left, laughing as she slipped into the crowd. And he followed, like a moon reflecting her light.