Crossing Paths

25

Third Person POV
Maven was struck, causing his head to whip to the side and his teeth to sing. He held his bruise, and straightened.
Cal looked at him dead on.
"That is for lying to me, brother." The elder did not hesitate to leave Maven alone after that.

~}~}~}~}~}~}~}~}

"How did he know of you in the first place, Maven?" Chaol questioned, patient but tired all the same.

"He claims that we were careless, seen in the halls as he was chasing his new doll." Dorian, at this, glanced at his lover. His statement and name he decided to give the girl stopped him short. He remembered when he had been how Cal is now. How charming and pleasant on the outside, but quite evil when he made the girls leave him be. All except...well, all except Amber. She, like the others, had swooned when he offered his bed. He had shut the door and told his guards to not disrupt them. And that was that. But in the morning, when he woke, he watched as she sat upright in bed.

The early morning sun spraying in through the window, catching at her golden skin, her delicate fingers combing through her fine hair, that then fell on her bare breasts . Her breasts that he had marked his own. His eyes had moved, and then so did he. He caught her in an embrace, his mouth claiming hers. And she had stayed in that bundle of blankets, entangled in his arms for the rest of the day. Instead of ordering her to leave, a crying mess the girls had usually been resulted to.

He smiled, faint, and in the moment it took him to realize it, he stopped. That was not who he was anymore, whom he loved, and he had almost caught himself longing for that memory. Maven caught Dorian's eye, and a firm line had set on his mouth where a smile should've been. Where Dorian really wished a smile was.
"Chaol, would you excuse us a moment?" Maven asked. Chaol stopped mid-sentence and walked out, leaving the princes alone.

Dorian's POV
Maven approached me, his arms crossed and his stare unwavering, but his voice is gentle. "What did you recall?"
"Nothing." I lied through my teeth, hoping it sounded convincing enough so Maven will drop it. But I wasn't.
"I thought we were passed a point in our relationship where you wouldn't have to lie to me." The sentence was a slap to the face, so much that I recoiled.
"Maven, I..."
"What is it?" His eyes searched mine.

"Nothing." I breathed. He still waited.
"Nothing." I spoke firmer, my hand going to his cheek.
"Just, just kiss me." I kissed him, and his arm came to rest on my waist. But his hold was weak.
I broke away, opening my eyes.
"Maven." My hands went to his face.

He looked down, holding my wrists and bringing my hands down, still grasping them.
"A relationship can not be built on lies. Learn that, and I will come back to you." Our hands disconnected
"Until then, well..." He met my eyes, "you'll have Celaena."

Third Person POV

Maven turned, walking to the nearest door.
"Maven, I-I was thinking of Amber!" Maven stopped when he heard his voice.
"I did not want to, I did not plan to. But I did." There was a shift in the room. "But that does not mean that-"
"Maven, I love you!" Dorian's heart was breaking, you could hear it in his voice. And Maven's, the silence spoke volumes.
Maven was facing him a second later.

"This is not love!"
Dorian could only stare. "You thinking of someone else as I am right here!"
The tears flowed freely now. Dorian's breath was shaky, and Maven fisted his hands at his sides.
"That is not love, Dorian."
He could not answer.
"It is pain."
"You cause me pain." His voice is ragged. Fatigue had clung to it so heavily that if Dorian hadn't known how much he meant to Maven in that exact moment, he would have guessed he no longer loved him. That he had somehow fallen out of love with him despite his efforts to smother him with affection. Well, as of late.

But now all Dorian wanted to do was hold him until he could feel nothing but his heat, because now all he felt was unbearingly cold.

All he felt was the space between them.

He staggered slightly, everything was too cold. There was too much raging within that Dorian could no longer hang on. His heart felt like it was cracking, the thing made of ice itself.
"Dorian." Maven spoke calmly, his hands reaching out in worry.
He fell to his knees, and Maven went forward immediately and caught him. Dorian's breath was coming out in short pants, it visible in the now freezing room.
"Dorian, Dorian." Maven spoke quickly, his hand rubbing his hair and the other around his waist protectively. His hand grasped at Maven's back, his nails digging into the fabric of his coat.
Dorian was staring at the floor, trying to focus, trying to make sense of anything. He could hear Maven's teeth chattering from above.
Dorian crumbled.
He let out a strangled sob, his hand moving and covering his mouth but the sound could not be stopped. His body is shaking and his fingertips were becoming numb.
A broken cry tore its way through his throat a second time.
Maven grasped his face, and for a second they only stared at each other.
Before Maven kissed him.

His grip lessened only a moment, before he wound around Maven completely. He kissed again and again, until the ice wasn't so cold. Until the air wasn't so moist. Until the bad didn't seem so bad.
Until they were both covered in a thin layer of sweat.
They did not mind at all.
Maven's hands lost themselves within Dorian's damp hair, Dorian's on Maven's slick cheek.

"Mhm, wait." Dorian kissed along his jaw. "Wait, wait, wait." Maven panted. His mouth detached itself, only to kiss one more time against his lips.
They caught their breath and Maven held onto his cheek. "Are you alright?"
Dorian wiped the sweat from his nose, and got his hair out of his face. "I am."
He looked down. "I am sorry if I scared you. I...don't know what happened."

As he spoke this, Maven gazed at his mouth. His thumb ran along Dorian's jaw and then his bottom lip.
He sighed. "Promise me you are alright." He met his eyes then.
"Please."
"I-I can't, I can't see that again. Please." Maven's voice broke.
"Please tell me you are alright." He whispered.

Dorian swallowed, his hands going to Maven's face.
"You will not see that again."
"No. That will not happen again."
Dorian's gaze came down and Maven grabbed onto his wrists.
"Tell me."
"Maven, I'm not like you. You have teachers and help and a country who loves you despite your gifts." He sniffed.
"I don't have that here."
"I-I thought I could handle it alone. And I was, but seeing you have so much restraint..."
"It's hard." He concluded.
"It's so hard." He wheezed, and Maven hugged him once more.

"We will get you the help. Alright? Don't cry, beautiful. Don't. You'll be okay."

Dorian eventually fell asleep to his lover's calm, soothing voice. Maven shushed any fidgeting that Dorian got at night, kissed away any nightmare.

And promised, now he can promise, to be here for Dorian irrevocably. And Dorian slept peacefully, away from any terror.

Unbeknownst that his monsters slept beside him.

A/N- Only about 5 more chapters in this story, guys. Although I am thinking about whether or not I should do a sequel.