#wc 3

That certainly got his attention. Larek's eyes snapped to her face, wide with momentary shock. Bellona refused to look at him. Her eyes glued to the book in her lap, trying to remain cool as her brain agonized in embarrassment. The expression on his face shifted as his eyes narrowed, an uncertain flush biting at his cheeks. "How, exactly?"

The scant space between them, on the library couch, warmed and sizzled. If a hapless dust mote happened to fall between them, it'd burn up. Bellona pretended to finish her page, before calmly placing her bookmark and closing her book. Her attention slowly turned to Larek. He shifted beneath her eye and, she thought, he was holding his breath. He looked stiff and awkward, like the young men in the village whenever a woman repaid a flirtatious remark. Making a contemplative sound, Bellona set her book aside before bridging the space between herself and Larek.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," she started, trying to keep the smile off her lips as she reached to his cheek. His body heat seared into her fingertips and the pink on his cheeks darkened. "But you're more of a physical learner, aren't you?"

The knot in his throat bobbed as he swallowed, eyes never leaving her face. When he spoke, his words came out in a rasp, "Very much so."

"In that case," Bellona purred, the smile cresting her lips now. Her hands drew to his chest, pressing her palms flat against him. Beneath her touch, his heart thundered. She leaned close, lips brushing his as she spoke, "I should show rather than tell, shouldn't I?"

When their lips met, heat bloomed in her and her eyelids fluttered shut. Bellona leaned further into his heat, feeling his chest rise and fall with excitement as she deepened the kiss. His warm palms pressed to her hips, their positions shifting until she was straddling his lap. A throaty groan left his lips, her hand finding itself buried in his hair and giving him a little tug.

Excitement flashed through Bellona as Larek's hands tightened on her hips, his own bucking up into her. She answered with a little gasp of her own, breaking the kiss. Her eyes flickered open, her mouth returning to his to catch his lower lip between her teeth.

Larek groaned again, deep in his chest and vibrating against her palms, as her nip sunk in. Instead of pulling her closer, his hands pressed to her arms and firmly pushed her back. Her curious look was met with three words that brought chilly displeasure to her gut. "We should stop."

"What?" Suddenly, the delightful heat she'd stoked turned sickly and painful. Her eyes searched his face, wondering if this was a cruel teasing on his part. But a sober seriousness pinched at Larek's features. "Why?"

She hated the fact she sounded so hurt.

It took Larek a moment to answer. His eyes turning away from her, as if to find a physical representation of his excuse. "None of this is fair. Especially not to you."

The heat inside Bellona shifted. It turned from warm and fuzzy to biting and rigid. Her time with him, idling away the days, had nearly made her forget. He was her captor, keeping her in the castle through a deal. How could she forget that? How could she so eagerly kiss him, let alone climb into his lap? Why was she so upset he'd stopped?

Confusion bit at the back of her eyes as she pushed off him. She blinked back the tears, anger whirling around her head. At herself, the situation, Larek.

For once, Larek's tone was hesitant. "Bellona?"

Her name on his lips spurred the rage inside her. She wheeled her hand back, letting it fly through the air until her palm made impact with his cheek. A satisfying SMACK echoed in the library. With her hand stinging, Bellona stormed from the library, leaving Larek behind. His eyes wide and a red hand mark flaming at his cheek.

After the library incident, Bellona ignored Larek. He'd approach and she'd brush passed him. He'd ask about the book she was reading, but she never looked up or she got up and left the room. By the third day, he took the hint and tried to smooth things over. They were sweet attempts - bouquets of wildflowers, baking her a dessert, trinkets from carved wood - and almost melted her cold exterior.

Instead of thawing, his actions ended up cracking her. One morning, while in a sun-dappled garden, she stared at the things Larek had thrust into her arms. A bouquet of flowers - lilies, this time - and something new. A necklace made of bone and carved with delicate designs. Her thumb traced the carefully etched lines as he explained where he'd gotten the materials and bumbled over his reason for making it.

She didn't fully hear him. Her brain was stuck on flowers and sweets and, now, jewelry. Trappings of courtship and mocking ones, at that.

"Stop!" Bellona threw the bouquet and necklace - made of bone decorated by Larek with intricate carvings - back into his face. Clenching her fists, she glared up into the man's face, face ruddy from frustration and confused tears swelling on her lashes. "Stop with all this! This is confusing enough for me, as is."

"What?" The word came out small for someone who liked to pretend to be bigger than he was.

"What happened in the library was a mistake." Her words came out fiercer than she anticipated. Or maybe a subconscious part of her liked how pained Larek looked from her outburst and wanted more. Still, perhaps, she couldn't deny the hurt and confusion making her heart ache. Tears started to stream down her cheeks and, savagely, she wiped them away as they fell. "No matter what, I'm a captive here. Anything developing between us would be wrong."

With her eyes on the ground, Bellona could tell he stared at her. That just made the heat in her flare again. She wanted to scream at him to say or do something. Pride kept her shoulders hunched, palms swiping at her cheeks as more tears fell.

"Go home."

Her head snapped up, brows furrowed as the surprise halted her tears. "What?"

"Go home. See your father." Larek spoke slowly, as if he didn't want to say the words. His gaze locked onto previously offered gifts in his arms. "Return to me when you're ready."

The world felt strangely still to her, though birds fluttered overhead and bugs flitted in the corner of her vision. Her pulse throbbed in her ears, anxious trembles clenching at her stomach. After a deep breath, Bellona asked, "And if that's never?"

He didn't answer right away. His eyes were still on the items in his arms while the knot at his throat bobbed. Finally, he drew his eyes to Bellona's face, expression pinched with an ache she couldn't define. "Then I'll accept that."

---

Moments later, she was in her room, intending to pack to visit her father. But, as she entered the chambers, a voice said she shouldn't have anything to pack. He'd kept her there, against her will. She should have fled the garden and gone straight home.

Numbly, she began gathering items, laying them out atop a blanket she'd later fashion into a bag. A book of pressed flowers, started by she and Larek. Sloppy drawings the teacup children had made. Her own sketches, in a bound book made with Miss Lumi's direction. With the book she was currently reading in hand, she paused.

"You can take that," Causton's clipped tone came from the doorway. Bellona spun, eyes widening as she saw the crowd.

Causton, Miss Lumi, Fruk, Miss Chai and the little teacups, and... more. It surprised Bellona that she could name each one, had grown to know them well. Their expressions ran the gamut from dismal to embittered. A miserable cloud hovered over them, each staring from the hall, none entering her room. Many seemed about ready to say something.

"Bellona, please don't leave. We need you to-" One of the little teacups - Grey -clattered forward, their small voice sounding close to breaking. They were stopped by Miss Chai, tilting her spout to halt their progress.

"I need space from Larek, from here." She turned back to her things, deciding she had what she wanted to keep. Trying not to look at them, she tied the blanket closed, before folding and wrapping until she had a makeshift bag. Did they know what had happened between she and Larek? He seemed to tell them everything. That thought made her stomach spin and, if she hadn't been fighting down tears earlier, now she was. "I'll be back. I just... I need to think."

No more was said as she shrugged on a coat, the spring days still a tinge chilly from winter. She had made her way out of her bedroom and down the hall when one of them spoke again. Again, her heart lurched, closing her eyes to stymie the sudden flood of tears.

"Come back soon," Fruk growled, voice thick with hurt. His words softened as he added, "We're going to miss you."

It took her a moment to reply. Two deep breaths and a swallow, before she half-turned to give the assembled a watery smile. "I'll try."