Snow's White | ✓

37. First and Last

When she had seen her husband and her brother walk back into the palace, both alive, her joy was short lived as she saw the state they were in, her brother in particular. Keir's eyes, eyes that were mirror images of hers, had been stolen, and the sight made her feel nauseous again. Rose could not imagine what her brother went through at the hands of their step-mother, and seeing him so broken did not bring the best images to mind. 

Keir's last remaining eye could not be saved, his finger pushing too hard and too deep, the healers deciding that removing it completely was the best route of action, since sight could not be restored and the open wound would only fester if left inside the socket. Rose had long been carried out before that happened, the next thing she saw being the ceiling of her and Lucas's chambers. 

She had startled the poor maid that was tending to her as she jumped out of bed, black hair flying behind her as she ran back to where her brother was resting, feet bare as her feet lightly pounded on the carpet. She had pressed her hand against the door, but a sudden fear gripped her, hands dropping. Rose was not good at handling gruesome things, and from the brief image of her brother's face flashing before her eyes, she felt sick immediately.

It had taken her two hours of pacing barefoot outside her brother's chambers before she dug out the nerves from inside her to open the door. Tentative and afraid, Rose had opened it so quietly, so much so that Lucas did not hear her approach. 

Lucas had not left the prince's side since he returned, not even when healers begged him to get his own wounds tended to, the prince bleeding a puddle into the carpet as he sat beside Keir. His stubbornness had forced them to patch him up in the room on the long couch, barely getting Lucas to even move there, the seat only a stride or two away from Keir's bed. Lucas could not bare not being able to see Keir, the fear of him disappearing out of sight making it hard for him to breath. 

Rose's head had barely peeked through the crack in the door when she saw it; Lucas sitting in a chair beside her brother, his right arm held tightly in a sling, his other, deformed hand linked tightly with Keir's. She had softened at the sight of the two most precious men in her life sharing such a bond, so close and so brotherly, until that notion was shattered in front of her eyes. Rose slapped her hand over her mouth as she saw Lucas bend down to press his lips against her brother's own.

She had run back to her chambers without a glance behind her, rushing over to the silver wash basin, retching into it. Her knuckles grew paler as she gripped the sides of the bowl tightly, the sour taste of her vomit making her feel even sicker. 

While he could barely even look at her, she had just seen her husband kiss her brother. Rose's whole world broke, as the two men she loved betrayed her in one, short moment. 

~~~

Lucas stroked Keir's hair as he watched the boy sleep peacefully, his lips curled into a light smile, despite all of the horror he had just endured. Crisp white bandages wrapped across his eyes, Lucas feeling heavy every time he saw them. It killed him to think that his lover would never be able to see the light of the morning again or a red and orange sunset. He would never be able to look at Lucas with that warm gleam that heated his body all over. 

Now, there were only one set of those startling blue eyes in the world, but they were not in the man he loved, but his wife. 

Lucas stood hastily as he felt Keir's face stir beneath his hand, Lucas sucking in a deep breath.

"Keir?" Lucas whispered, Keir's brow creasing as he mumbled under his breath. "Keir, it's me."

"Lucas?" Keir asked, looking around the room. Lucas felt his heart break as Keir's mouth turned down in a frown as he continued to look around, Lucas's hand clutching his. "Lucas, I can't see you." Keir felt wet tears slide down his hand as Lucas pressed his lips against it. Lucas's breath shook, Keir feeling his trembling through his skin.