Ronodin's Backstory

Part 7

Ronodin awoke to the unfamiliar feeling of a hand running through his hair. He opened his eyes and confirmed his suspicion that the hand belonged to Cairnon.

"Rise and shine, beautiful."

"Cairnon, what- how did you get in here?"

Cairnon laughed. "Anything to see my favorite angsty unicorn."

"Oh hush," Ronodin grumbled.

Cairnon hopped into his bed and laid an arm around Ronodin's shoulder. "You're cute when you're annoyed, did you know that?" Ronodin rolled his eyes. "What? You are."

"Stop playing with me, Cairnon. It's really not that funny," Ronodin said, struggling to hold back the heat that was rushing to his cheeks.

Cairnon grinned. "I see you blushing, Ronnie."

Then he did something Ronodin never would've expected. He moved his arm to hold Ronodin's jaw in his hand, and gently brought his other hand to Ronodin's face.

"Cairn-" Ronodin was cut off by Cairnon pressing his lips against his.

It was brief, but Ronodin didn't care. Somehow everything had aligned and Cairnon had discovered his hidden feelings, despite how hard he had tried to keep them from being seen. But that didn't matter now, because clearly Cairnon felt the same. He opened his eyes- fully prepared to say three terrifying words, but Cairnon was gone.

"How did-" Ronodin was cut off by Bracken shaking him awake.

"Come on, wake up! We've got lessons this morning," Bracken said.

Ronodin groaned. "Yes, yes, I'm awake. Now get out of my room and let me get ready."

Bracken grinned and ran from the room, not noticing the rare tears in his cousin's eyes.

"I should've known," Ronodin mumbled. "I should've known it was far too good to be true."

He leaned his head against the wall, cursing himself for letting his emotions take control like that. He knew it could never happen; it would be best for him to push those thoughts as far away as possible. But whenever he closed his eyes, he saw Cairnon's playful grin and felt his gentle touch- one hand on his neck, the other on his jaw. He traced the places where he had so clearly felt Cairnon hold him, for a brief moment wishing the dream had been real. He shook his head, cleared his thoughts, and dragged himself out of bed to get ready for the day.

To say that Ronodin was preoccupied would be an understatement. He was completely and utterly distracted by thoughts of his dream the entire day. Bracken managed to disarm him for the first time ever, and he did it within two minutes. Ronodin was more quiet than usual, holding back remarks and consigning himself to contemplative silence.

"Uh, Ronodin?" Bracken asked finally, after finding his cousin sitting silently under a tree in the garden. "Are you doing okay? You seem a bit... off."

Ronodin looked up tiredly. "Yeah, I'm fine, Bracken. Just a bit worn out."

"From all that time you spent with Syndra?" Bracken questioned.

Ronodin hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. She- she's very nice. Talks a lot." He smiled faintly. "Like a lot a lot."

Bracken sat down next to him. "Seems like you like her."

Ronodin nodded again.

"Well that's great! Now you have someone you can spend time with- and this time it's someone mother approves of!"

Many different responses rattled through Ronodin's brain. He almost said, "Yes, of course. All I seek in life is the Queen's approval." or he could've said "You're seriously going to talk about Cairnon like he doesn't even matter?" or even "If only you had the sense to recognize how messed up that sentence was." But he settled on "Yeah."

Bracken shoved him playfully. "You can be a bit more excited, you know."

Ronodin frowned. "I think I'm gonna head back up to my room... I'm pretty tired."

"Oh... yeah, of course, you go on. Can I stop by for a sparring session later? I wanna see if I can beat you again."

"Oh, please. You just got lucky," Ronodin replied, standing up. "I was distracted."

"Thinking about Syndra, hm?" Bracken teased as his cousin walked away.

"Something like that," Ronodin muttered, feeling a sharp ache in his chest.