V E L O R C A
As she studied him, he allowed himself to do the same, carefully savouring the sight of her soft skin and supple lips. Some might have looked at her and seen fragile limbs and breakable bones.. but Velorca saw nothing but strength. It bloomed in the determined set of her rosy smile, in the ever-glowing gold of her lion eyes. Her slim spine held it's own scars and yet here she was, amid all this blood and fury... and still she found the strength to smile.
“I did say I would come to Solterra, you know.”
His lips curved grimly — almost a smile. He'd wanted her to come, truly.. but to see her set foot upon the sand of his unpleasant childhood was too much. This was the place that had ruined him... Davke or no. Visiting Terrastella had shown him as much. Their court thrived, swollen with healers and do-gooders — while Solterra had withered all these years, lost to a time where a King could kidnap young boys for his bed with no reprimand. To see her here was like going back to the past — as if he was that same innocent boy, fierce in the face of his captors but terrified of what they might do. Now he was terrified again... but for a wholly different reason.
“Many things have — changed, since then,”
He was reminded, starkly, of the night that kept appearing over and over again within his dreams. The taste of her lips pressed close to his, sweet with alcohol but sweeter still with the essence of her behind them. Lorca loathed to wake these days, when waking meant opening his golden eyes to sand and sun rather than stars and Cyrene.
But she was here, now.
He saw her gaze loiter on the spear hanging at his side and was reminded, too soon, that they were from different worlds. She was strong and kind and good, using her healing skills to aid Solterran and Davke alike... and he.. he'd suffered too much to be anything close to that.
“Please let me heal your wounds.. we have many hours until the sun rises. I will tell you all that has happened since last we met.”
Velorca stared at her in silent appraisal, his golden eyes slipping helplessly to her supple lips before he sighed and nodded sharply;
"Fine. Follow me.."
He turned fluidly, gritting his teeth against the scent of congealing blood as he found his way easily through the shadowy streets. A doorway loomed and Lorca slipped inside, waiting for Cyrene to follow before closing the door after her. They stood in an old room... his old room, part of a series of permanent dorms where Zolin had kept his pretty things — it had been Lorca's home for a time.. Before darker things had progressed. It was pitifully bare now, illuminated by the single window set high in the wall.
Velorca turned, feigning disinterest in the room before setting his long lashed eyes on Cyrene. He sucked in a quick breath as he saw her against the backdrop of his despair, her vibrancy leaching all the darkness from the room, all the pain. How could he think when the moonlight bloomed on her full lips, stroked the edges of her flyaway curls? His heart clenched as he looked at her, then loosened, sending a warm rush through his slender body. Sometimes she was so good she made him forget he wasn't.
He set his golden gaze on hers as he settled comfortably upon the floor — it was sand. There were few luxuries for slaves. Lorca had preferred it as a child, though, so used to sleeping in the dunes with his Davke tribe.
"So tell me, is this the Solterra you dreamed of?"
@Cyrene Sorry this took so long, I've been writing it on and off for three days cx
some princes don't become kings
