Ash and Sun

3.

"Cassian," I say meekly, as I turn around to face him. I found myself naturally inching closer to the wall, as he stood before me and cornered me closer. His face wore a hard concerned expression.

In the moonlight, he looked different from when I'd last saw him. The day I awoke, I was still adjusting to my surroundings, and didn't get a chance to take in his full appearance. He was ethereal.

"What are you doing?" Cassian's voice rings out. He didn't sound angry, just slightly annoyed.

His eyes were tired from what I could tell, but he was still one of the most handsome men I'd ever seen. How did he managed to grace my presence?

"I-I'm sorry," I say pathetically, he towered over me like a hawk did its pray. His arm made its way to the wall on the side of my face. "I-I needed some fresh air. That room was making me go mad."

He frowned a bit, before his shoulders relaxed minimally. I watched as Cassian's head dropped before me, almost apologetically. He looked guilty.

"Fuck, no, I should be the one apologizing." He says softly, eyes meeting mine again. "I didn't mean to leave you there. I didn't even think of what it would feel like for you. I've just been so busy that it slipped my mind. I was coming to check on you."

"It's okay," I figured I would leave out the details about my escape, and that if I'd been successful, I would have likely never seen him again. "I should've asked first. I just thought since it was late, no one would miss me."

"Here," he says taking my hand in his. I couldn't help but shiver at his touch. "I'm taking you back. You shouldn't be out here alone."

Cassian began to pull me away from the wall and start back in the direction we came, and a small bit of panic set in.

How could I tell them that in that room, the walls felt like they were closing in on me? Like I couldn't breathe or sleep?

"I can't go back there," I blurted pathetically. He turned to me with a small from. "I-I'm sorry Cassian, but I can't. That room has been hell for me."

His features soften slightly, "I understand. Come, this way."

Suddenly, we're pulled off away from the room in the opposite direction.

I walked closely behind him, taking in the palace and mentally trying to remember the twists and turns in which we took. Cassian was silent, and I had more time to take him in.

He wore an all black outfit, a tunic and pants, but his wings weren't showing. His skin, slightly less pale than mine was smooth against my hand where we touched.

His dark curly hair looked soft to the touch, but I admired from afar. God, he was gorgeous. How had I not noticed it before? I know how, I was too consumed with fear and grief upon our first interaction that I had not taken notice of his beauty.

He was the prince after all.

A small blush made its way to my cheeks as I cleared my thoughts of him. I didn't even know if he liked men in that way, and if he did, he probably has a whole army of people dying to get close to him, and thought the exact same thing as I did.

Could he have someone? Was he old enough to have a spouse? Impossible, right? He only looked a few years older than me at best.

I found myself silently wishing he was single, and oh how pathetic I felt for it.

This man wouldn't find me attractive in a million years, especially not in the state I was in.

No doubt he could have anyone he wanted, and I was a mere stowaway, a blip in his plans. Me being here was a very big inconvenience, according to Ala.