Hearts at Dusk

Chapter 15

Umbrum couldn't stop thinking about Urainia, and it bothered him. Every time he had to focus on something, he thought of Urainia instead.

He'd be in the middle of telling Kolin to stop beating up Thrym and he'd think of her as an example of how to be kind to others. When he checked on how the misery circles around the perimeter of his territory were doing, he wondered what Urainia would think of it.

When he saw Manx he thought, What would Urainia think if she knew I once felt an attraction to him, the one who wanted to hurt her?

Why was he thinking of her so much? I get that I like her a lot, but I can't keep thinking about her like this! It isn't productive!

Manx met Umbrum later. He saw how moody he was getting, and wanted to be there for him.

"You're more moody and irritable than usual. Is there something on your mind?"

Umbrum sighed. "Urainia, of course...Ever since we hugged that time, I haven't been able to stop thinking of her."

Manx narrowed his eyes at the last statement. "You want to stop thinking about her?"

"I don't, but it's been distracting me! Why can't I focus without her invading my mind?!"

Manx put his hands on his shoulders. "Easy, easy...From what I can tell, this is normal. You should be thinking of her if you feel attracted to her."

Umbrum wasn't pleased with this answer. "Fine...what should I do about it?"

"You should spend more time with her. I can handle things while you're away."

"Alright, Manx...But just don't get comfortable running the place."

Umbrum went to find Urainia in the middle of creating some constellations. Despite the overwhelming amount of light that surrounded her, he still went near her.

Urainia was surprised to see him.

"Umbum, shouldn't you be-"

Umbrum waved it off. "Manx is handling all of that. I needed to see you again. You've been in my thoughts for a while now."

Urainia held Umbrum's hand. Time moved slowly as they looked into each other's eyes.

Urainia smiled. "It's good that we have privacy, isn't it?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Urainia put a hand on his waist. "How's this? Like it?"

"Yes, but where are you going with this?"

Urainia went quiet. "That depends. What do you want?"

Umbrum's gaze wandered. "I'm not so sure right now.

I mean, I am sure what I want, I just think it's too early for that."

It's sex, isn't it? Urainia thought. She moved her hand from his waist to his chest, feeling his rapid heartbeat. It was too fast to be good.

"Umbrum, relax. You can do that for me, can't you? You're so tense..."

Urainia used her relaxing aura on Umbrum, not realizing it at first. Umbrum responded by holding Urainia close to him, glad to have her in his arms.

Urainia hugged him back, glad she was able to get him out of his shell.

She motioned to lower his hood, but Umbrum didn't let her.

"What are you doing? You know what I look like underneath it!"

"I do, I just wanted to kiss you."

"Kiss me with it on, OK?"

Urainia nodded, and ended up kissing him on the jaw.

"I missed, didn't I?"

"You either miss your target or you hit it. It's that simple."

"I know, Umbrum. I was trying to kiss your check."

Urainia put her hands on his shoulders and ended up kissing him on the mouth.

"Oops. I missed again. It's hard to tell where everything is with your face in the dark."

"Well, can we switch places then? I can see your face very well."

"Sure, you can kiss me!"

Umbrum gave her a kiss, slow and passionate.

"Was that a hit?" Umbrum joked.

"Oh, absolutely! We should do this more often!"

"We'll have to schedule it out. I can't neglect my duties, and neither can you."

Urainia smirked. "Well, let's not have this keep us apart for too long!"

Umbrum wasn't entirely sure how to feel about Urainia's statement, so he said nothing.