He turned them to intersect with it sooner, and Celia let out a cry as she began falling forward.
Darian turned and caught her before her face landed in the grass, his heart rate spiking as she landed in his arms.He nearly fell with her, but he somehow kept them both upright, pulling her close to his chest and helping her stand again.She stood closer than she ever had, looking up at him, her eyes still glossy with tears.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, reaching up to wipe the tears away, letting go of her hand and brushing them away with his thumbs.“I never should have asked.”
“I haven’t told anyone,” she said, the words catching.“You’re the first person I’ve talked to about it.I left in the night after we buried him, and talking to the dragons apparently doesn’t count,” she said with a tearful laugh, “because I can tell them without crying.”
“You’reallowedtocry,”he said, pulling her closer.She buried her face in his chest and began to cry harder, sobs wracking her whole body.
Darian rubbed circles on her back.As much as he hated to see her like this, something inside him felt an innate sense of rightness with her in his arms.
This was where she belonged.
He shook off the thought.He shouldn’t be thinking that while she cried over the loss of the man she loved…but he couldn’t help it.She fit into his arms like she was made for them.
After a few minutes, she sniffled and straightened, wiping her face and looking at the wet spot she had left on his tunic.
“Sorry,” she mumbled.“I didn’t expect that.”
“Anytime,” he said, already regretting the loss of her in his arms.“You’re the only woman allowed to cry all over me.”
She sniffled, but the corner of her mouth almost turned up, and he tried not to take that as a personal triumph.“I shall reserve my best tunics for your tears,” he added.
“Not the best ones,” she said.
He shrugged.“Tears will dry.”He offered his hand, but she ignored it, striding off toward home determinedly.
Darian tried not to grin as he followed her.
If she wanted to pretend that moment had never happened, he could pretend.
But he wouldn’t forget.
And if he had to guess, she wouldn’t, either.
Perhaps it was wrong of him to treasure that moment, but until he could continue to break down her walls and convince her to give him a chance, he would.
As they walked, he reached down to pick a few flowers for her, and when they arrived at her home, he presented the small bouquet.
“Please accept my apology,” he said.“I never meant to make you cry or ask such an invasive question.I will endeavor to control my impulsivity better.”
She took the flowers from his hand.“I accept your apology,” she said, before turning to survey her home.
“It’s still standing?I wasn’t sure it would be,” Darian joked.“You did leave them for uncommonly long.”
“I don’t leave them.I only leave them to go to town when I need to,” she said.There was a bite to her words that hadn’t been there before.
“I know,” he said quickly.“I was only teasing.”
She stared at him for a moment before nodding and opening her front door.
He wasn’t sure he’d ever understand her.
Darian followed after her, both surprised and excited to see that the pen he’d fixed for the baby dragons had worked this time.There were no new scorch marks in the house, which he was going to consider a win.
Celia opened the pen and Sizzle and Spark launched themselves into the air, Sizzle settling to the ground shortly after, while Spark perched himself on the tall bed.Celia lifted Flame out, the tiny dragon leaning into Celia’s touch like she belonged there.
I thought you would never come back,Spark exclaimed.
