Blue Blood

What Is Love?

My breathing is staggered and uneven and everything hurts. Rody is breathing heavy too and pacing back and forth.

"Oh gods-oh gods-oh gods-oh gods!" He whimpers.

Tears start to fall down his face and he's looking around for something.

I try to crawl to him but I can't and I groan weakly. Rody hears and whispers, ' it's gonna be okay' over and over again. He holds his head like it might explode.

"Rody . . ." I gasp grabbing his attention. I can barely see his blobby outline.

"It's . . . It's gonna be okay." I breath out heavy.

He kneels down next to me and holds my hand tightly. There's so much fear and pain in his eyes.

"It's go-gonna be . . ." The world around me falls into darkness and I slip into a slumber just as Rody says something I can't make out. Whatever he said, it sounded important and causes him to cry more.

I'm on the barrier of consciousness. One second I'm here and the next I'm somewhere else. Something cold, I think it's wind, hits my face and puts me back under. It's like I'm swimming in the ocean during a storm. The waves crash over you and hold you under until you fight your way back to the surface.

One second it's wind and the next it's rain. The water hurts my wounds and I groan. Someone says something to me but I can't understand it, it's all garbled and messy. I don't understand how I'm moving but I know that I am. My legs don't move but I'm going forward. I slip out of consciousness again.

When I slip back, I'm lying on something hard face down. My back feels like it's on fire and being stabbed all over again. I whimper and yell at the pain and something shooshs me gently. Wherever I am now, it's no longer wet or cold. Orange warmth radiates all around me and it lulls me back to sleep.

I don't know where I am or how long I've been asleep but when I wake up, my chest and head are on something soft. Someone rubs gentle circles into my hair and I moan quietly at the wonderful feeling. The more I wake up, the more I can hear. Someone is humming something beautiful and what I can only assume to be a fire crackles in front of me.

My eyes slowly start to open and the humming stops. Just as I suspected, a fire lays in front of me. I smile slightly at the warm flame and almost close my eyes again.

"Magnus?"

I hm out a response and follow the voice. I look up and see Rody with happy tears in his eyes. Wait, am I laying in his lap?

"Rody . . ."

I try to turn over onto my back but wince at the pain.

"Wait, don't move. I don't know if I patched it up well enough."

I look over my shoulder at my back and see white bandages covering me and little spots of red seeping through the white. Oh yeah, I was stabbed wasn't I?

A wave of embarrassment, nervousness, and nausea flood over me as I realize I'm not wearing a shirt. 'Well duh, why would I be wearing a shirt?' I reason with myself. 'How else was he going to bandage my wounds?'

I sigh and rub my face with my hand even though it hurts to do so.

"Magnus . . . Did you hear what I said to you earlier?" My brows furrow. "Ya know," he continues, "When you were passing out?"

I try to think back but find nothing. I shake my head no. His face flashes with relief and disappointment.

"O-ok . . . Good."

"Was it something important?" I mumble.

He stares for a second then looks down without an answer. Guess not.

We both sit in silence staring at the fire. We're in a cave somewhere, how did we get here?

"Roman, how did we get here?"

"I sort of carried you a little but it was really hard, you're really heavy-I'm not saying you're fat though! Just that you have a lot of muscle and your bigger and-"

I start to laugh at his fluster and his face goes deep red. The laughing hurts though and I cut it short. We fall back into silence once again but it's awakened by Rody.

"Magnus."

"Yes?"

"Have you . . . Have you ever, ya know," He rubs the back of his head nervously. "Been in love with someone?"

My heart starts pounding for some reason and I start to sweat. "Define, being in love."

He starts fidgeting nervously, not making eye contact.

"Like . . . You look forward to seeing them everyday and they make you smile, you want to see them smile. They make your heart feel fuzzy and your stomach feel funny. You care about them so much and you'd do anything, even dangerous, for them like . . ." Suddenly realization comes across his face about something.

"Like . . ." He looks at me for a second and I look back up curious.

" . . . Like what?"

His face flushes red again and he looks away. "Like um . . . L-like put yourself in harms way for them."

My heart beats louder. Is that really what love is? Well, it's what he thinks it is. I give it a lot of thought and gulp. " . . . Maybe I do." I mumble so quietly I'm surprised he could hear it.

"Who?" He asks with anticipation.

My face must be a boiling hot mess right now, my cheeks are on fire. I turn away from him.

"I'm tired, can we just drop this for tonight and get some sleep?"

I feel him shift and look away.

"Y-yeah, you need your rest."

He slides out from under me and gives me a blanket. Even though the question is over, my heart is still beating so heavy and I can't stop thinking about how sad he looked.

He snuggles into his sack and quickly falls asleep, never cracking a smile which is odd. He didn't even say goodnight. I watch his body slowly go up and down peacefully. He's so beautiful when he's asleep. Oh no. I hide my face in my hands and sigh. This is so bad, so very, very bad. I can't believe it. This can't be true. I can't believe I'm in love with the prince.

The word sticks in the back of my throat and makes my stomach do flips. Love. Yeah I mean, I would do anything for him but does that really count? I mean, it's kind of my job isn't it? I try to tell myself this but I don't believe it, as much as I want to. He's attractive yes, and maybe he's really considerate . . . And charming and . . . Sweet and pretty and kind and his smile could melt steel but . . . But . . . Oh Magnus, why'd you have to fall for him?