To Kiss a King 2

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

It was weeks before Fiora was able to come out of her shell, she couldn’t stand her own thoughts so she hid away. It reminded her of more than a year ago when she had lost her mother. Just as before she had curled into a ball and felt empty. Her head felt heavy, her limbs felt sluggish and so she sat and stared. Stared at nothing, stared at the vast sadness that threatened to take her away. Away from the world, and away from the pain. It was all so enticing, but Raphael wouldn’t let it happen. At first she spited him for it. She just wanted to lock herself away, escape the hurt but he was always there, anchoring her to reality. 

“Good morning.” He would always say, as if testing the waters of a vast pool. Deciding if it was too deep to swim, or too shallow to dive in. 

And all she could do was blink up at the ceiling, afraid of her own voice cracking her exterior. 

On this particular day she sat out in the garden, staring blankly at the landscape. She couldn’t enjoy the changes that the warm weather was making. There was life happening around her but all she could feel was the cold sting of death. 

She sat there all afternoon and soon the sun began to fall. Fiora couldn’t even notice the chill beginning to creep around her slimming form. 

“Fiora.” Raphael’s voice hit her, in the way it used to. That warm velvety voice , sending life back into her. Pushing blood back into her cheeks and she blinked suddenly. 

He came around the bench to kneel in front of her. His eyes alight with sadness and brow knotted with worry. Fiora’s hand came up to trace the angry lines that collided between his eyebrows. 

Raphael seemed to sigh at the touch and reached a hand up to captured hers in his. 

“Fiora, come back to me.” He cupped her cheeks gently, and stared into her eyes. 

She watched as his pupils flickered from one of her eyes to the other, as if desperately searching for a sign. 

“Listen, I know...I know what happened is horrible. And, I know you’re struggling. Hell, I’m struggling too. More than you know. But you wouldn’t know that would you?!” Anger and frustration made his grip tighten on her face and tears threatened to spill over in his eyes. 

“No.” he continued. “Because you’ve left me. Escaped into your head, where I can’t reach you, or help you or talk to you!” 

Fiora blinked roughly feeling the first pang of tears in weeks. 

“Let me talk to you, talk to me! We can get through this together.” He inhaled roughly as the tears spilled over. 

“I need you, and you need me.” 

Suddenly spurred by his words Fiora took a large breath, as if coming back to life. 

“I’m...broken.” Her throat felt raw and unused. 

“I’ll fix you.”