2. Shadowlight | ✓

4. Tell Me Your Love

Iftia: Lyx Palace, Rowan's Bedchamber

• Rowan •

She asked him if he loved her. 

How do I explain these feelings to her? 

He loved her since their first encounter. The moment they locked gaze, he fell deeply into the aureate brilliance of her eyes. There was light and warmth that he never felt from anyone else, except for his mother. He knew she was a few years younger than him but she held an air of confidence and bravery that one would never find in a girl of her age. To him, she was different, or maybe even special. All that he ever felt for her were fluttery but never fleeting. 

When he lost his mother the following year, he thought he had lost all the light in his life. Then, he was reminded of her. He wasn't sure why that brief encounter meant so much to him but in his memory, she shined in gold. She was the only light he remembered. Hence, he held onto the last bit of radiance and hope in his life and struggled through the grief. Days weren't easy, but at least he had her there with him. 

He held her in his mind so much that whenever he could visit Thethia, he would go to the place where they first met but she never appeared again. There wasn't even a single trace of her in the entire huge land of Thethia's Royal Grounds. It was as if to all intents and purposes, he made her out of his imagination. But his heart refused to give up because what he felt was too legitimate and perhaps it could also be out of desperation that he wanted her to be real. 

Then, ten years flew by with him still believing that she existed. He trusted that they were simply geographically apart but under the same azure sky. Maybe it was true that all things come to those who wait or the Goddess herself took pity of him and arranged for a fateful meeting, he woke up one fine day to those mesmerizing amber eyes staring at him once again. 

At that moment, he felt lost in a space that doesn't even exist and that he was being held in the air, in a pause. Time had stopped, together with his heart. When he looked at her, what he saw was a breathtakingly beautiful lady that left him perilously gasping for air. She was her even after ten whole years, brave and magnificent as ever. 

He was attracted to her in a way that he wouldn't even hesitate to render himself defenseless and bare all his vulnerabilities to her. He trusts her without knowing her and those emotions were so overwhelming and complex. It was almost an unfathomable concept to formulate. 

So, do I love her? 

Yes, so goddamned much. 

But even the word 'love' could not provide an apt justification for his feelings for her. Without a single hesitation, he would hand his entirety to her. 

※

• Elianna •

She stared at him as he went silent. His brilliant blue eyes speckled with confusion and something incomprehensible that did not sit well with her.