α΄‘α΄ΚΚα΄Κα΄ α΄‘α΄α΄α΄ 2024 βΆ α΄
α΄Κ 1
β³ a new life
Alannah doesn't see the point in denying it, not when this is the third time in as many hours that he's called her out on it. "And if I am?"
Ardbert chuckles, squeezing her shoulder.
"I'm not going anywhere," he tells her as he presses a kiss to her temple. "You might do me the favor of believing it."
"It's not you I don't believe," she grumbles, stretching her cramping limbs out in front of her. Her fingers lace between his, as though of their own accord, yet her lips remain bent in a frown.
"You think this your imagination then?" he asks lightly.
"No." Her answer is firm. "I trust that you are real and this is real, but..." She hesitates and bites her lip.
"But what?" He nudges her knee with his.
"I'm afraid I won't get to keep you," she whispers, her distant gaze fixed on the sea. Her grip on his hand tightens and he squeezes back reflexively.
He acknowledges her words with a hum, knowing that any encouragement of this line of conversation will only serve to make her moody and withdrawn. Instead he pulls her into his lap, trailing his lips along the line of her jaw.
"Whatever may come," he murmurs against the softness of her skin, "I will fight for this life with everything I have. Having mucked things up my first go-around, you can be sure I won't give up my second chance so easily. Will that suffice?"
Her answer is a wordless sigh as they lay back against the long grasses. There are a thousand things she needs to tell him, starting with how much he means to her, and a thousand questions she wants to ask. There are places she wants to take him and experiences she wants to share with him, a list that grows ever longer every time she thinks about it.
And gods willing, this time they will have time.
