The Emperor's Concubine

Chapter Eighty-Seven

My limbs numbed and heavy, I open my eyes to see black.
A view of distant stars appear as I look around.
As if floating, lost in space I stare at my hands. The cuts gone yet the burning sensation of poison lingering.

"You shouldn't be here."

An echoing voice calls out.
I turn, searching for the direction of the voice.
Instantly, I feel the gentle touch of hands covering my eyes.
"Child... Who are you?"
The voice calls out to me.
Tingles rush down my neck as I feel their breath on my ear.
"Well, who are you?" I question back.
"Hm? Someone you should not be meeting." The person chuckles, amused yet kind.
My floating body instantly drops.
Their hands covering my eyes as they hold me close from behind.
"W-What?" I try to hold onto their hands yet my hands touch nothing.
My body drops as their hands let go of me.

I flinch, abruptly opening my heavy eyes.
I look around the room to see the sun shining brightly through the window.
Cabel leaning onto the bed from his chair, his hand resting on my stomach.
I look down at my hands, both bandaged up.
Quickly, I bite the bandages with my teeth, unravelling my hand from it. The bandage falls to the bed as my healed unscarred hand is revealed.
I take a deep breath as I grow anxious yet unafraid of that dream.
"Cabel?" I whisper.
Cabel's body flinches, his head shoots up to look at me.
"Luna... You're awake..." Cabel's eyes fill with tears.
Abruptly standing, he tackles me with a tight hug.
"You're an idiot..." I mutter into his shoulder.
"I know... I know I am. I'll take all the blame, please forgive me."
"Why didn't you ever just ask me? How could you decide to do that?"
"How could I ask when I had no right? I was surrounded by those annoying princesses, and I knew it was difficult for you to watch. How could I ask if you were okay, when I knew you weren't?"
"Because you should have asked if I wanted help. I can't rely on you for everything, I need to earn the right to sit by your side. To hide behind you is not what a queen should do."
"You're not going to be my queen. You're my empress. It's unfair for the empress to not rely on me, when she expects me to rely on her." Cabel scoffs, kissing my forehead.
"I know it's unfair but for this point in time, I have to earn the love and respect of citizens with my own hands."
"You don't need to keep doing things all by yourself. You're enough as it is, it'll take a while for word to spread of what kind of empress you'll be... But only a woman who brings me to my knees, has the only right to wear any crown by my side." Cabel nuzzles his face into my shoulder, "You scare me all the time. I want you to stay still so you're safe, but I know you won't which excites me, but it's nerve racking every time. It's only worrying me more that if you're willing to hold a poisoned blade, what other things are you willing to do?"
"Isn't that the best part though?" I pat his head as I giggle, "To live an exciting life, a life where you do reckless things without thought, is better than to stay reserved and quiet. Living a life where everyday's the same, isn't living. Who knows maybe I'll fight a monster, steal the moon, maybe I'll get mad, or maybe I'll live peacefully. It's only fun when you don't know what happens in the future."
"You worry me by saying that... What do I do with my anxiousness?"
"Nothing, you learn to accept that I'll do the unpredictable, just as I have to live with the fact that you're unpredictable too." I smile, kissing Cabel's head.
"Love is difficult, isn't it?"
"Yes, but we can work through it, can't we?"
"You think I'd let you leave me again?" Cabel kisses me passionately, running his fingers through my hair.
"Are you feeling okay now?" He asks, gazing into my eyes.
"Yes... I guessed that I would've survived. I trusted that my powers wouldn't let something like that kill me." I smugly shrug.
"It could have. You worry me, what if it killed you before your body could heal you?"
"Then I guess I would have died. It was worth it though."
"Worth it?"
"Yes, if they died because of me, I wouldn't know how to continue to live."
"You would risk your own life for those peasants?"
"I know you might think it was selfless, but it was a selfish act. I didn't want to live if I knew I was guilty of having them killed at your hands... I'd rather have killed them by my hands if I wanted them to die."
I honestly speak, the words cruel and chilling, yet my honest thoughts.
Cabel's eyes widen slightly as he raises a brow. His expression not seeming to be disappointed, rather proud.
"How amusing." Cabel grins, kissing me softly.