Rain poured down over the weathered ruins.
The streams soaked his pale ash-brown eyelashes before running across his bloodless cheekbones and tracing the °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° line of his jaw.
At first glance, it looked as though he were crying. Yet there was nothing to read in the man's frozen face. At most, one could barely discern the desolate, hollow shadow lingering there.
As though he could no longer bear the weight of the rain, his arms fell limply to his sides. A heavy sigh escaped between lips that were still struggling to steady their ragged breathing.
"Let's go back."
"..."
Talia merely looked up at him with vacant eyes.
Then a crack appeared in the face that had been as still as hardened wax.
"You... shouldn't stay here like this. You lost... blood..."
As though his thoughts refused to connect, he spoke in broken fragments.
"You lost... so much blood. So if your body gets cold..."
His voice faded beneath the intensifying roar of the rain.
Moving with the caution of someone approaching a frightened wild animal, the man slowly came closer before kneeling on one knee in front of her.
A white hand, the knuckles sharply defined, gently enclosed her dirt-covered hand. Faint warmth seeped into her icy skin.
Holding it between both of his hands, he carefully rubbed it before pressing it against the warmth of his own neck.
Talia suddenly remembered that, once before, he had done the very same thing for a pitiful little bird that had fallen into muddy water.
The sobs that had finally begun to subside surged up again.
"Let's go."
His arm wrapped around her frail back through the thin nightgown.
Talia twisted violently, trying to push him away.
She was terrified of this man who could lift her to the clouds simply by reaching out his hand.
She resented him for making her hope.
If she had remained at rock bottom all along, she never would have known the agony of falling.
She knew it was an unfair accusation.
Even so, she wanted to demand an answer.
Why didn't you leave me to rot beneath that mound of earth that day?
Why didn't you leave me abandoned in the shadows of the Imperial Palace?
Why did you make me dream of happiness?
"I don't want this anymore. Just leave me alone!"
As she convulsed and struggled, he wrapped both arms tightly around her body, preventing her from breaking free.
Overwhelmed by helplessness, Talia burst into tears.
A warm hand slipped into her rain-soaked hair and gently cradled the back of her ice-cold neck.
A voice as heavy and rough as forged metal fell over the top of her head.
"We have to go now."
Realizing that he intended to take her away even if he had to force her, Talia twisted her head toward the grave.
Before her eyes floated the image of the baby shivering beneath that cold mound of earth.
Once again, the cry of a newborn mingled with the sound of the rain.
She wanted nothing more than to gather the child into her arms and soothe it, and the knowledge that she could not made her wish she were dead.
Panting as though each breath would be her last, Talia eventually let her arms and legs fall limp.
The whole world slowly drowned beneath rain and tears.
She wanted to sink beneath them as well.
As her vision gradually faded into darkness, she prayed between broken sobs.
Please... let me sleep like this forever.
Let me escape this unbearable reality...
* * *
Carrying a waterskin filled with cold water, Tiuran climbed the stairs before stopping when she spotted Daren Dru Siorcan standing in one corner of the corridor.
Perhaps there had been some formal event, for the broad-shouldered man was dressed in an elaborate doublet tailored perfectly to his imposing frame, a finely engraved breastplate strapped over it, while he spoke with a young aide.
Noticing her awkwardly standing at the top of the stairs, he offered a perfunctory greeting.
"You've been working hard."
Tiuran bowed with a tense expression.