[2] WEEPING MONK║you're not what I was looking for

59| To Protect A Heart - 𝐈

═ 𝘛𝘰 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘈 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 ═

In the aftermath of human's being exiled from the forest, Ari and Lancelot are on rocky waters, and she is left to wonder when he disappears off into the night.

❖
don't say what you're about to say
look back before you leave my life
baby, think twice
❖

The end of winter was upon the forest. With all of the rain came the first buds of spring. Snowdrops were growing in bloom alongside the brooks and streams. Delicate yellow aconites flowered alongside those. Crocus' and daffodils had begun to paint the clearings and the training fields and paddocks, anywhere where the trees were sparse.

Lancelot watched the pointed yellow celandines move past him from upon his horse, how they were embedded amongst the low greenery on either side of the trail that they patrolled upon this morning. The grey sunlight streaking between the treetops was harsh, and he kept his head bowed beneath his hood to shield his eyes from the glare.

Goliath plodded on along the well ridden trail without needing much prompt from him. Lancelot's breaths made a slight fog on the air, his stiff fingers flexing around his reins. They followed behind four riders up ahead. Four more were lumbering behind them.

"Is there something on your mind?" Ari asked after a length of silence.

It seemed that now Lancelot himself was well enough to ride again he was always at her side on the daily patrols, which she was attending more and more. The first had been to ensure that she had the strength to ride her horse. The rest had been to observe.

Spying on his own lover was not what he wanted to do but she was giving him little other choice. He watched her reactions to things, or the lack thereof. Who she spoke to and where she went when she thought that she was alone. If she used the Dagger again like she had lied to him about. And it were all for her sake — to stop another callous decision from being made before it happened. To keep her safe, he told himself.

Lancelot kept Goliath moving forwards, not answering her question since there was no straight answer. He could feel her looking at him from her own horse.

Her voice was softer when she said, "You look troubled."

Lancelot could not say nothing at all, nor could he ignore her. He raised his face from under his hood, narrowing his eyes at the clouds' refracted glare.

"I am worried for our future. That's all," he said, and he meant it.

"You don't need to worry," Ari told him and a confident smile spread on her lips. "Everything is as it should be."

Her hand squeezed over the bend in his arm and whether he had wanted to or not, Lancelot met her eyes. She was leaning towards him, her horse closer to his than he had realised. He bit his tongue but pursed a small, agreeing smile which felt foreign, then she drifted her hand away to take her reins.