Aurora's Pov
The coldness I heard in his voice just made my muscles tense and a part of me wanted to run far away, yet I knew that I hadn't come this far just to flee.
I tried swallowing the lump that had gathered up in my mouth, noticing the goosebumps that were creeping all over my arms.
As his unblinking emerald green eyes stared silently at me with an intimidating look on his face,
I answered," No, I don't have a death wish"
He smiled, the stern expression he held over his face suddenly disappearing into thin air.
"Then it's settled, you leave tomorrow." He said in a carefree manner, lowering his body to the cold and rocky ground, using his hands as a pillow, he shut his eyes closed and turned his back to me.
I felt my face getting hot and my temperature rising at his nonchalant attitude.
How dare he think he can just make up a decision for me.
"I may not have a death wish but I have a duty to my people and obviously you have no idea how it feels to carry such a responsibility," I told him, venting out my anger like a raging storm but he didn't even say a word, yet I knew that he had heard what I said and only was pretending to be asleep by lying still on the ground and keeping mute.
Closing my eyes, with my fingers curling up into a fist on the ground, I took in a deep breath trying to cool off the hotness that I felt within me.
At least if I wanted to convince him to come along with me to Kimoptra then it would have to be in a much calmer and more understanding way. I mean, it's not like I was expecting him to just agree with me.
"You know, I feel like it's okay to admit it if you're scared to go. I…"
"I'm not scared to go." I hear his voice as it cuts through my sentence.
"Then why are you refusing to go with me?" I say to him, replying to his answer with a query.
"Maybe because I don't want to be free from this cage I've been born into and that I no longer crave to experience the world that lies outside of it." He mumbled, and I felt something strange wash over me. It was the same feeling I felt when he talked about his mother, it was the same feeling that also prompted me into sliding my hand over his arm just as a way to comfort him earlier.
Just as Kimoptra needs him to help her heal from all the sufferings and pains, he also needed someone to help him heal from his own pains and sufferings too.
And the raw pain I heard in his voice made me feel sad, overwhelmingly sad and all I wanted to do was to take those hurts away, maybe help him heal and move past his childhood and present life.
"That's also called fear, but it's the fear of uncertainty. You've been hiding for too long and you fear what will happen if you decide to come out of your hiding.
You are afraid to let people down even without you giving it a trial." Trailing off my words to welcome the silence thrown at me by the brooding man that lay stiff and quiet on the ground.
I crawl closer to him before laying down, my eyes taking a stroll through his huge form that is stretched over the ground.
Suddenly, he flips himself over, his face stone cold but his emerald green eyes flickering with pain swirling inside them.
I blinked, seeing how close we were, his warm breath fanning across my face made me forget the coldness on the ground that pierced through my clothes and onto my skin.
"And how do you know that?" His voice dropped so low that if I wasn't so close to him I wouldn't have heard him speak.
"Because I've felt what you're feeling and still feel it till now….
But I keep reminding myself each time of the reason why I need to keep going, to keep pushing even when it seems like I won't survive what would come next.
I know that I might not be brave, fearless, and strong enough to withstand some storm that may come my way, but at least I'm willing to try for the sake of a better tomorrow, to be able to live freely and out of the cage to experience every aspect of my world.
I'm willing to try because even when my parents knew that they were embarking on a journey that might lead to no return they still went ahead, ignoring the looming dangers.
I'm willing to try because I know that I won't be able to live with the guilt of knowing that I could have been of help but stayed still all because I was scared of uncertainty.
I'm willing to try for the love of those I've lost in the war and so that their death would not go in vain." As I ended my talking, I watched as he stared at me oddly, his lips parted with no words coming out of them until a few seconds later.
"But what if you don't have a reason to keep going?"His voice held the innocence of a child. A child that was denied love and attention.
"Then you must find one and live for it."
Seeing a smile form on those cupid bow lips of his made my heart warm with happiness.
For a moment, we just laid there, staring at each other until I saw his eyes flicker to my lips, that was when it hit me.
I blinked rapidly composing myself before snorting out loudly.
"Umm, good...good night," I said, flipping my back to him, all in a bid to calm my jittery nerve before I felt his hand gripping my hip, and flipping me over, dragging me closer to him.
I freeze in shock as my heart hammers violently in my chest like it was going to rip out of my skin any moment from now, as I found my face pulled closer to his when he suddenly brings his face to my neck, running his nose all over making me squirm as it tickles, and the feeling of his breath made my entire body feeling like it's engulfed in sparks.
My heart race increased and a chill ran down to my spine as he moved down to my ear, and whispered in a hoarse voice."I just want to feel warm, I'm not gonna try anything, I promise."