Divine Realizations [ Clarion X Milori ]

Chapter 44

Guilt, regret, anger and sadness all fought for dominance in his head as Milori let the letter flutter to the floor.
Minutes passed as he continued to stare down at it, torn over the next course of action. 
Her letter was clear; Clarion just wanted to move on, to divorce.
Putting both his hands to his face, Milori began to massage his pounding temples and pace the room.
He had gotten what he wanted in the end, only to realize that he had all he ever needed.
Without thinking, he sprinted out of the room, intent on finding Avalon.
At this point he owed it to Clarion to honor her wishes, but he had always believed in settling disputes face to face and hers' was a face he was desperate to see, at least once more.
Over the years she had gotten better at masking her feelings, yet he could still read her like a book.
He needed to see her eyes, only then would he know if this was what she truly desired.
Milori wove his way through the maze of halls that was his keep and finally came to Avalon's door once more.
He quickly knocked and couldn't help the grin that slipped as his gorgeous daughter opened the door and gave a little twirl for him.
Smiling widely, she bowed to him and adjusted her tiara.
She was wearing one of her best silk gowns as he had instructed.
Back when his world had been right, back when he thought he still had time to fix things.
"I am ready for dinner, my Lord."
In hearing this, Milori's smile faltered.
Bending to one knee, so as to match her height, Milori gently grasped her shoulders.
"Something has happened honey, I need to go to Pixie Hollow tonight. Can I get a raincheck?"
Milori watched as Avalon's eyes went round, nervousness evident on her face.
"What's happened? Is it Clarion?"
Yes.
"No, no everything is fine, she is fine. Clarion simply forgot some important documents here that must get to her by tonight."
His stomach recoiled at the lies he spoke but he refused to let Avalon worry about Clarion all night.
He alone deserved that punishment.
"Ok? Is that ok?"
Avalon gave a genuine yet distracted smile and nodded, "Of course".
Milori let out a relieved sigh, grateful he had been blessed with a relatively easy-going child.
Moving to kiss the top of her head, he stood. "There will be extra guards posted and you are to stay in this room."
He wouldn't put it past both Skye and Ashe not to act upon finding out both rulers were not in the vicinity.
Avalon's eyes widened, "Oh my god, I'm going to be home alone, that's so cool!"
Milori barely refrained from rolling his eyes at this.
"Be good, order whatever food you want and go to sleep whenever you'd like. I will be back as early as possible tomorrow morning."
Avalon clapped her hands together, clearly excited.
"I'll read books, draw, play games and..."
Her voice slowly faded as he walked away and all humor once again fled in face of the situation.
With incredible speed, he had extra guards posted, himself dressed, and Archimedes readied for the journey.
Not more than 20 minutes later, he was on his way to the warm realm, it would be but a few hours before his arrival.
But a few hours was more than enough to mull over Clarion's letter and all of the things he should have done differently.
Despite what she believed, he remembered the day he had met Clarion well, if not just as well as she retold it in her letter.
How could he forget?
It was truly the best day of his life, alongside the day they had discovered Avalon.
He was sure it was also every man's dream to find a beautiful woman in the woods, at any rate.
Even if she had been nosy, reckless, arrogant and borderline rude.
He smiled to himself.
But those were all qualities that easily faded into the background in face of her intelligence, beauty and thoughtfulness.
He wanted her to fit into his world, he didn't want to be "free", he didn't want a divorce.
He wanted all 3 of them to live content, together.
Forever.
Spurring Archimedes, he rode faster into the night.
He would fix this once and for all, of that he was sure.

*Note from Author:
1. Take a look at the above chapter image, it's honestly what I imagine Clarion to look like in real life, what do you guys think? Courtesy of Artbreeder, I do not know the original creator.
2. I'm sorry that I write to this story so infrequently, to explain, I live in St.Petersburg, Russia. It is very hard with Russia banning foreign social medias/apps and internet blocks to come on here more frequently but I am eager for this story to be finished since I started it when I was 18 in 2018 (ha!) This is a great time to also state that the war going on with Ukraine is wrong and that I support the Ukrainian people <3