Between Waves and Clouds

27 - Broken hearts

Igvid would have never thought she would see this kind of expression on Nuffink's face, even less she would be the one to paint it on his features. Sadness, shock, confusion and doubts washed away his bright smile. She still assumed he had looked like this three years prior, when he had found out about Avock cheating on him.

''What... ?'' The blond hesitated.

''I'm sorry, Nuffink.''

How come, she was sorry ? Frost should be ! She had not made it up, she had spotted him !

''I saw them, with my very eyes.'' She added, trying to hold back her burning hatred for the white-haired boy.

It had not been easy to tell Nuffink. She had thought about it during the night, wondering how to phrase it, when and how she could tell him, without anyone else to overhear it.

The dragon riders had reunited at the Academy for their daily activities, Gorth and Sneezelout had asked her if she had solved her problem, the only answer she had managed to give them was 'Not really', while looking sadly at Nuffink.

Seeing him arrive at the Academy, holding hands with Frost, it had broken her heart once again. They looked like the perfect couple, in love and happy... Frost was a really good actor, she had thought. She had wondered how to separate them, how to talk to Nuffink only, or if it was better to say it while the boy was next to them, to they could question him.

In the end, Birdlegs was the one to solve this problem because she had offered Frost to come with her on a nearby island to study a group of Gronckles. The boy had been thrilled with the idea, and Nuffink had liked the idea of his boyfriend leaving for his first official dragon rider mission. The boy had earned the title but nothing was really official because he didn't have his own dragon scales armor. Though Igvid had heard the Haddocks had started to gather scales from Ruffrunner. The dragon was young and shedded a lot, it wouldn't take more than a month before they had enough to make a entire set.

So Igvid had made profit of Frost's mission to talk to Nuffink. She had interrupted a conversation between him and Zephyr, talking about Ruffrunner's scales, so she could take him away from the others and tell him the bad news. The devastated expression on his face felt like a stab in the chest for her. She had expected it to hurt him, thought she rathered act before Frost would fool Nuffink like Avock had done. She wanted to spare him more hurt, or at least diminish the damages. That's what she told him when he said he didn't believe her.

She insisted, tried to convince him, and soon their conversation turned into a fight, until the blond viking just left. He was so hurt and angry Igvid felt bad for him. He was denying it. But she knew him well enough to know he would think about it and end up confront Frost. And then, she could only picture two scenarios.

Nuffink would realise it and break up with Frost, or Frost was such a good actor he would manage to fool him. Either case, it would fire back at the brunette, but she would gladly take the risk if it could help Nuffink. If the second case occured, she would confront Frost, tear the truth out of him and make sure he would leave Nuffink alone. Either case, it was just a matter of time before Nuffink would be freed from this.

She could only hope it would be sooner than later, so he would suffer from this the less possible. She watched him leaving, then she met the other's gaze. The three remaining riders looked at the both with surprise and worry. No doubt they had heard the argue, and Nuffink storming out of the arena wouldn't go unnoticed either.

Nuffink left the Academy. It left like he had been slapped in the face, stabbed in the heart and guts and beaten all the same. The pain was dizzying, the emotional pain was almost turning physical, his body was deprived of his strength, though his mind was wide awake... but empty. It couldn't be true, that's the only thing he could think of. It couldn't be true. Frost would never do this. He was nothing like Avock, he wouldn't cheat on him, that didn't sound like him. Plus, he had promised to be careful with Selina. And everything they had shared, their love... it was true, wasn't it ? He wouldn't have cheated on him... would he ?