You (Solangelo AU)

14. Atop this Castle and its View

Our eyes were locked and after a while, I feared we would never find the key. That is, until Austin awkwardly cleared his throat and tapped my shoulder. Startled, I turned my wide eyes on him.

"Will," I knew Austin was speaking to me but the real Will Solace did not and I saw his eyes flick in Austin's direction. "I'm not sure what exactly is going on here but uh, if you guys could scream or stare at each other somewhere else it would be great."

I could feel the blush spread across my cheeks as the embarrassment fully manifested itself. "Yeah. Of course."

After what had just happened, I could not return my gaze to Will's and simply waved at him to follow as I made my way out of the pub and started for my room.The silence followed us all the way to my room. I opened the door, still not glancing at Will, and gestured for him to enter. I followed him in and closed the door, leaning against it. Because I could not bring myself to look at him, I decided to stare at his shoes. From that I could tell that he was facing me.

"Why did he call you Will?"

"I told him it was my name."

He did not know what else to say. Neither did I. His feet did not move. I wanted to take a look and see if he was staring at me or if, like me, he could not look at me. I slowly tipped my head back to sneak a glance and found he was staring at me. Fuck. Now I could not look away. I was absorbed in those baby blue eyes and it was impossible to get out. In his eyes were flashes of hurt and wonder, like he could not decide what feeling to focus on. Though as the minutes ticked by his wonder won over the hurt.

The moment he took a step in my direction, the trance was broken. He reached out to me and then hesitated. In the end, he dropped his arm and spoke. "You really frightened me. When I awoke and found that letter, I didn't know how long I'd slept. The first thought I grabbed onto was you, dead somewhere because I was not there to help."

I sighed, maybe he would not bring up the 'I love you' matter. "Solace, I left for you. I was not expecting you to come chase me."

"Then what? You expected me to be elated at your departure?" He took another step towards me. "Nico, I love you. I always have. The moment those cocoa eyes met mine the first time, I was smitten. Why would I be happy that you left me? And on your own when a psychotic king is looking for you."

I was wrong. He brought it up. I was not sure how to handle it. This was all new to me. I had never had a gorgeous, thoughtful, intelligent guy tell me he loved me all the while I loved him back. So, I took a step toward him. I had to tell him. I had to tell him before I changed my mind, before he changed his mind. I was scared but I would not let my fear control me. I had asked for love if I was to marry. I had it here standing before me and I would take it. I took a deep breath and let out as I exhaled, "Iloveyoutoo."

The grin that broke out across his face when I said it was brighter than a full moon on a clear night. He was going to say something else but there was a knock on the door. I jumped away from it and it opened. Kayla poked her head through, "Hey." She saw Will. "Hello." Then she turned back to me. "I don't know what's happening or what happened but we do need you back down at the pub."

I nodded, "I'll be right down."

She closed the door and just like that she was gone as fast as she had appeared.

"So, let's go." I turned on my heel and opened the door. That was when I felt Will take my hand. I stopped breathing. His hand was soft and warm and I quite liked the feel of it around my hand. But almost as quickly as he had taken a hold of it, he let go. I started breathing again.

"Sorry. I apologize. I should have asked first if it was alright." He sounded sincerely regretful.

Instead of answering, I reached behind and took back his hand. "Let's go." I did not have to look at him to know he was grinning.