Golden Swords

This is hurting those I love

She paused before the armoured knights guarding the entrance to the war room. "I would see my Lord Dastar if you please," she gave them her most haughty look, and the closest one opened the heavily carved wooden doors. "The Lady Mycena is back, my lord."

Dastar looked terrible. He was unshaven, and his eyes were red and puffy. She had brought this upon him. He still looked handsome, but he was a far cry from the self-assured, unbelievably good looking man that he'd been only a week ago. His normally silky hair was rumpled into furrows from where he'd dragged his hands through it. What had she done? Could she continue with this life she loved when it hurt him so? The answer, she knew, was yes, she wouldn't give away this life for anything, but it made every leaving painful, and every return bittersweet.

"You promised me." His voice was flat, only the slightest tremble of his lip gave away the emotions he had buried deep inside.

"You could come with me. Then I wouldn't have to run off without you." I sounded petty and I knew it.

"What if something happened out there that I couldn't protect you from? What would I do then? How could you expect me to live knowing that I had failed you? Why can't you just stay in the manor where it's safe?"

"I'm not completely helpless! I can protect myself you know. See, I haven't died yet and I've been away all day!"

His face closed down and she knew she'd gone too far. "I know you can protect yourself, Mycena. I never doubted that. But you are just a woman, and there are things out there that even I couldn't protect you from. I don't even know if I can trust you anymore, after you lied to my face and ran away in the middle of the night."

Mycena turned, tears pouring down her face. She ran, ran back to her room, slumping onto the bed. She twisted her fists into the bedsheets, clenching her jaw, and rubbing the tears off her face with her sleeve.

Dastar entered after she had cried herself to oblivion, sobbed until there were no tears left to come. He sat softly down beside her, rubbing her back. "I'm sorry Mycena. I didn't mean to speak to you like that. I lost my temper because I didn't want you to question my authority and my ability to protect you in front of my men. I shouldn't have done it." Her only answer was to curl herself into his arms and fall softly asleep.

The next day she found herself trailed by another three guards. The security around the manor had almost doubled, and some part of her found it amusing that they needed so many guards to stop one supposedly pathetic little woman from escaping. The activities she had spent several months performing suddenly seemed unbelievably dull.

And a very short chapter. I am clearly inconsistent.