Whispers at Witching Hour

Chapter 54

Musical inspiration: Helium – Sia

Lilith sat down next to Zelda on the piano stool, her hand never leaving the ginger's waist and she pulled her in closer. God, this woman. Yes, I thought "God". The lower realms could never create such beauty.

Zelda intertwined their fingers to rest between them on their legs while she wrapped her other arm around Lilith as well. They rested their heads against each other's and remained like this in the dim, warming light the lava emitted for a while, speechless by how good it felt to have their respective lover back by their side.

Lilith brushed the pad of her thumb over Zelda's hand and let her tears flow freely without Zelda noticing. It was not because she was sad, on the contrary, she was indescribably happy in this moment. It reflected the weeks of longing for, missing and aching for Zelda's presence. As Queen of Hell, she could not allow herself to show such weakness, which is why she had to hide her sorrow most of the time. And up until now, she had not realised how much it had impacted her.

Watching the loving play of their thumbs caressing the other's hand warmed her heart while Zelda's heavenly, angelic voice, the deeply felt words and everlasting symphony of their souls replayed in her head. Never without her. Never again.

Lilith lifted her head up and turned her face towards Zelda who did the same. Their faces were so close to each other only a single hair could fit in the space between their noses. Auras mixing, their bodies' heat merging and locking eyes. They were entirely connected, and they felt the enormous force that always used to draw them towards the other again. Impossible to think they had been able to keep apart for so long at all.

The brunette's breath tickled Zelda's skin when she spoke in a whisper: "I've missed you so much."

Only then did Zelda notice the wet stains on her lover's face and affectionately wiped them away with her thumb.

"I've missed you too."

They brought their mouths together in the slowest of motions and barely applied any pressure when their lips met, wanting to prolong the sensation for as long as possible to feel each other. With their eyes closed, they let their mouth's wander across the other's face, brushing the side of their noses, their cheeks, temples, and chin only to return to their favourite spot again.

Zelda opened her eyes at some point and cupped Lilith's cheek with one hand, getting lost in these blue oceans.

"Why have you never visited?", the ginger asked.

"I wanted to, but you made it clear you never wanted to see me again. And that hurt too much. I couldn't handle more rejection."

"I didn't mean it... I was just-", Zelda could not find the words, but Lilith noticed and helped her out.

"Shh... I know... Hilda told me."

Zelda pulled away harshly. "What?! Hi-"

"No, not like that", Lilith could not stand the loss of contact and brought Zelda closer to her body again, "Before I went to hell, I sensed something was off, but the situation was already so... difficult I couldn't ask you about it. Hilda saw how beaten I was and simply told me it wasn't about me."

The redhead relaxed, but something was still not like before. She smiled at her, yes, but she missed the tiny wrinkles that formed in the corners of her eyes only when she smiled at Lilith.

"Zelda... Why have you summoned me here? Why now?"

These questions had been flying around in her head ever since she arrived and even though it did not really matter, as she did not intend to ever let Zelda go again, she wanted to know.