Threads of Fate

Chapter 44 ~ To Grant a Fantasy

    Tissaia was in the middle of brushing out her hair when the lock clicked and the door opened. She spared Azael half a glance but continued with her task. "I'm surprised you didn't find somewhere else to sleep. You were gone so long I thought you must have."

    "I was just trying to give you ample time, and I was delayed from returning."

    "By?"

    There was a note of humor in his response. "Your brother."

    "Nepenthe spare us," Tissaia sighed. "What did he do?"

    "Nothing, surprisingly. He knows you were lying between your teeth though." Tissaia slipped her comb back into her satchel and began to braid her hair, but paused when Azael caught her wrist. She frowned at him. "Leave it down for a while," he requested.

    She crossed her arms, but digressed. "So, what else did my brother tell you?"

    "That you're still confused about some things, and that I need to be more honest with you than I've already been."

    Tissaia cocked her head. Much as she could smack her twin for sticking his nose where it didn't belong, she had to admit that he'd achieved the results she'd been wanting. She rolled her hand, gesturing for Azael to continue.

    "Like I said before, I can't promise that you'll be Queen someday," Azael repeated. "It's still too soon. There are things I have to sort out for myself before that time comes."

    "But?" She pressed, sensing there was more he needed to say in spite of his hesitation.

    "But I don't want you to think you're wasting your time on someone who doesn't care for you in return." Her eyes widened at that. "I do," Azael reaffirmed, taking the look as one of disbelief rather than surprise. "I do care for you, Tissaia, and I always have. I was just too afraid of the future to let it show." He inched closer, and when he took her hand in his own, she didn't pull away.

    "I know you do," she replied. "That's why it hurt so much when you pretended otherwise. I thought there was something wrong with me. That I had done something to make you dislike me. And your actions were so conflicting. Sometimes I thought maybe it was all in my head."

    "It's been better though, right?"

    She smiled and offered him a slight nod. "Yes, for the most part. I just wish you would give me the full truth. The answers I know I'm still missing. But I won't push you for them until you're ready, and you don't have to give them to me until then, no matter what my brother might say."

    Azael averted his gaze, his lips moving but no words emerging. He closed his mouth finally and she saw his throat bob. Her brows pulled together and she laid her hand over his, squeezing it gently. It was so odd, seeing him wrestle with such heavy confusion and so much self-doubt.

    For as long as she had known him, he'd been firm and heavy-handed, never backing down from what he knew needed to be said or done. Except when it came to her. What was it about her that unnerved him so? Or was it something within himself?

    Tissaia bit her lip, considering the words that had risen to mind. "I told you before that I would give you everything," she whispered at last. "And that is still true. I would give you whatever you asked, even if you asked me to leave you forever."

    Azael's pale gaze met hers. "I don't want you to leave me. I just want you to be safe."

    "I'm safe with you."

    Something within his expression twisted her heart but she didn't get the chance to question him further. His calloused hand cupped her face and her breath stole away. He leaned down, touching his cheek to her bare one before his head dipped lower and his nose brushed against her shoulder. Tissaia angled her face into his palm, arching her neck. She was breathing again somehow, though it remained light and shallow.