As she fell into his arms, Orion was stunned still. He indeed caught her, right under her armpits, but it was the crying and her words that made his body freeze and his brain glitch. His mouth opened as if to say something to help end this, but all that came was a broken stutter. As if he suddenly forgot how to breathe. He had never been with someone while having a breakdown like this- broken and sobbing and so scared. Orion knew what anger looked like. Snobbery and aloofness. But not this.
He took a deep breath to focus. The abuse that Walburga suffered from was clear. If not for her words, then from the way she looked at him, like he was going to hit her. Orion knew that he would never do such a thing, let alone condone it (he thought of his sister and mother immediately), but he was surprised by how disturbed he felt learning all this. The buzz he had earlier was gone long before he got home, but Orion suddenly felt as if he could throw up everything in his stomach. Especially as the slow realization of who did this came upon him.
“I’m not going to hit you, love,” he said softly, holding her close and firmly. She may be breaking down at this moment, but Orion has seen glimpses of the strong woman underneath and treating her as if she could never be fixed wouldn’t get them anywhere. He pressed a kiss right against her hairline and simply held her, a sway he didn’t notice in his steps as they stood over the broken plates and Walburga stained his shirt with her tears and blood.
After a few moments, Orion finally spoke, “Come on, lets take care of those cuts on your hand.” He didn’t wait for a response and picked her up with ease to carry Walburga to the counter right next to the sink that was only a few steps away. He had already begun to pull out his wand after setting her down, pointing at a cupboard to silently command a cup to fill itself with water and be placed right besides her to drink if she wished. As that happened, Orion found clean towels and got one wet, keeping the other one dry and setting those near her as well. He placed himself back between her legs under a minute, took her hands in his with her palms facing up and looked into her eyes.
“You are a wonderful wife. I am a horrible husband. You cook every meal for me, I’ve never once seen dust in this house, and my clothes are hung up just as I like. You do so much for me and I’ve never once thanked you,” Orion paused to take a deep breath and look away for one second. He didn’t know where this sudden confession came from, but he knew it was the truth. He hesitated to act, but then decided to, and tucked the hair that was hanging around her face behind her ears. “I’m sorry for being such a prick these past few months. You deserve so much better than that, then me. I know I’m an ass pretty much all the time, but I promise- I promise, Walburga, that I would never hurt you like that. I would never hit you, never demean and humiliate you like that. Please forgive me?”
Orion gave her a small reassuring smile and then started to clean her hands; picking out tiny shards of porcelain, wiping them down with the wet towel, and then drying them so he could better inspect the cuts. They weren’t that deep at all and a simple bandage would do.
Walburga’s face was buried in his shirt. He felt so good, his smell enveloped her and it was perfect. She tried to breath but it felt as though everything was caving in. She felt his arms around her and it only made her cling to him harder. She heard his words but did not understand. “You’re... You’re not gonna hit me?” She said her words slightly muffled by the fact that her face was pressed into his chest as though she could hide from all the world in his arm. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and it felt nice. The fleeting moments of affection from him were always nice and their sex was still great, but he had always seemed uninterested in her since they got married. She always assumed it was because there was nothing he found interesting about her, she had felt hollow since the marriage trying to stay in line and keep him happy. It had been so extremely boring and she could have sworn she was dying faster from the sheer boredom and despair at the prospect of this being the rest of her life.
The sway in his step was soothing as he help her. His voice was startling. “I could clean it...” She said softly her voice still ragged from crying. “You don’t need to take care of me you made it clear you have no interest in that before we got married.” She mumbled surprised at herself and at the bitterness in her voice. She went to pull away but he had already picked her up. She wanted to fight but she was so tired and it felt so good to be in his arms again. She held onto him wrapping her arms and legs around him before he set her down on the counter. She sat quietly as he collected things, she didn’t feel like fighting she didn’t feel like anything when she knew come tomorrow she would be with the same guy who doesn’t look at her twice.
He started speaking and she shook her head. “You don’t mean that. Our lives are fine but don’t lie to me and pretend this is something its not. You like the sex we have and sharing a bed with me, but you have no use or care for me other than as your whore or a pretty thing to have on your arm. So don’t speak falsehoods because I’m upset and you want to make yourself feel better. Beat me if you want but don’t pretend I’m worth something to you.” She took a breath apathy and sadness filling her. “I thought I meant something... Our seventh year you made me feel seen and happy in a way that I’ve never been before, but you made it very clear that I was deluded to think it was real. You were the one who said what we had was kids stuff. You decided to change. How do I know this version of you wouldn’t hit me?” Walburga said her voice choked.
He tucked her hair behind her ears, such a familiar gesture from when they had been only a few years younger. His words hurt. She wanted her Orion back, her Daddy, but that wouldn’t happen and it hurt to even think about it. She used to feel precious in his arms... now she didn’t know what she felt. Slow tears rolled down her face, she would have hit his chest if not for the glass in her hands. Her wand was on the other side of the room so she couldn’t just fix it herself. She was trapped with him and now he had the nerve to be kind. “I deserve better than being hit. Is that so? What about deserving not to have my heart shattered by a boy who didn’t care that his future wife was completely in love with him.” She breathed heavily. “In school, being with you, that wasn’t kid stuff. Not to me. I loved you Orion. I was excited to marry you. To get to spend the rest of my life with my closest friend, with my Daddy. I don’t even see that person in you anymore and fuck do I miss him.” She said looking down at her lap tears falling onto her hands and stinging slightly. “Is that person still in there?”
Walburga sat thinking as he started to clean her hands. It was quiet for a time as his hands worked over hers, the familiar callused hands and their gentle touch only for her. “Can you just let me know if my Orion is still in there? I want what we had. You don’t need to be him to the rest of the world but you should be different with me.” She reached out and touched his face gently with the pads of her fingertips. “I miss you.” She said softly and sighed, all of her father’s cruel words flowing through her head. “Sorry. I keep thinking that you care... or that you should. I’ll just be quiet. Quiet and compliant the two things needed to be a good wife.” She said her voice getting quieter as she tried to withdraw into herself where his rejection wasn’t so real. Where she wasn’t married to a man she had once loved. Where she wasn’t a prisoner.
