Burntout

Mine

Andromeda Claire Holloway

"No!" I yelled as a sword plunged downwards. The circle of flames rose to twice their height and I watched a body slump downwards, a sword gleaming with fresh blood yanked out triumphantly. I fell to my knees, the blood soaking through my clothes and a cold feeling numbing me as I whisper again, "No..."

I wake up, my limbs thrashing as I fall to the floor, my legs tangled in the white sheet wrapped around me. Cold sweat dripped down my face as I hauled myself up, looking around at the unfamiliar room. I tried to move forward but a terrible pain shot through my leg, causing me to wince and look down at it, prepared to see the ghastly wound worse than the night of my escape.

Except, there wasn't a wound. I stumbled backward, falling right back onto the couch I assumed I had been sleeping on. There were no cruel, red marks lashing through my flesh, only the sight of baby-pink skin, the color of newly healed skin.

"How..." I muttered, looking at it.

A noise behind me caused me to scramble off the couch and instinctively put my hand on my thigh, reaching for my dagger. It wasn't there and instead, I watched Regulus come out of an adjoining room, his sword strapped to his belt and my dagger twirling around in one hand and a bottle of whiskey in the other. He frowned at the sight of me and I returned it with a glare, "You're not supposed to be walking yet."

"That should be the least of your concern because-"

He cut me off, "It should be my concern! I nearly watched you die because I underestimated my powers! I nearly killed you!"

The edge in his tone caught me off-guard and I watched silently as he downed the bottle. When he wiped his mouth, I started again and asked, "How did you nearly kill me?"

"Let's just Riserian protection magic and Thalorian curses and hexes don't mix well," he said and I noticed the way that he wanted to steer clear of the topic. I noted that his hands were also the same shade of pink as my new flesh and I wondered what the effects of mixing the magics were.

Trying again, I asked, "How many days was I out?"

"Three."

I gaped at him. The guards would've surely appeared and killed both of us by now, a runaway prince and the king's pawn would be dangerous together, especially because that prince thirsted for Theodore's blood as much as I did.

He shot me a look and said, "Whoever was after you can't find us because of the spell I cast. It hides this house and when you knock on the door, you'll find yourself knocking on number 3 instead."

I had vague memories of that night but I was barely awake at the time, struggling to remember what the address was to the house and such. I did vividly remember that woman, Leah or Liana or something like that. Regulus snapped me out of my thoughts by saying, "You don't know how worried I was about you."

For some reason, I felt myself flush but that was probably from how warm the room was. Had it always been that hot or was that because I could feel Regulus' body heat emitting off him as he came closer to me? It was probably that or whatever he did on me was making me delirious or something.

"You don't mean that, R," I managed to snap back only for his lip to curl into a smirk.

"R?"

The room was sweltering now and I questioned why I had said that as he came nearer to me, his voice growing softer. I managed to barely snap back at him, "You already call me darling so it's only fair I have a nickname for you as well, don't you think?"

Why was I feeling faint in the head?

Being passed out for three days was doing this to me and I refused to believe otherwise.

"What if it's not a nickname?" he questioned and I felt my cheeks heat up.

I gritted my teeth, keeping myself from saying anything stupid. Don't listen to him, I chided myself. His eyes flashed with amusement and he leaned in closer to me, "I've had a lot to think about in the past few days."

"About how rash some of your decisions are, perhaps?" I forced myself to say. I silently cursed myself for how rude it sounded. Wait, why would I care about that now?

He laughed but didn't continue on what he was saying, instead, leaning closer to me, so close our lips could nearly...

I silenced both my heart and my mind at the thought.

I couldn't seem to force my legs to move away and he must've noticed because he took advantage of the situation and wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him. My pulse quickened at how close we were and images of the past seemed to mix with my imagination and delirium because I found myself wondering what it would be like to kiss him.

Stop it, I yelled at myself, trying to be heard over the sound of my pounding heart and his breath touching my lips. Distracting myself I tilted my head up to look at him and his mischievous eyes, "I can smell the whiskey on your breath."

"It's making me brave," he whispered back as he brushed my hair from my face.

I sucked in a sharp breath, forcing myself to focus, and let out a light laugh, "We both know you don't mean anything by saying those things."

Trying to live in blissful ignorance is a sure sign of how I really felt but I sidestepped that thought as well.

"What if I do?" he asked thoughtfully, letting out a low chuckle.

I felt his grip tighten and I fought to get out, "So, about that nickname."

Regulus smirked at me, "Do you want a nickname now, darling?"

My head was spinning now and the room felt like it was a melting pot but I made myself smile at him, "Sure, I want to see how creative you can get with my name-"

"Mine. I want to call you mine."

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A/N:

I LOVE THIS CHAPTER!!! Seriously, y'all can't tell me it wasn't good, okay? Special thanks to @sapphires-in-the-sea for your comments and support!

 Remember to vote, comment and read, my Ravens! #VOCOR

-Rae