The Heir and the Undoing

Chapter 12

He offers his arm to me dramatically, and I take it. Somehow it feels right. His skin is cool against my own and I feel my cheeks flush.

"You look beautiful today." He blurts out.

I nearly trip over my own feet, eyes shooting to his face in surprise. "I beg your pardon?"

"What? Am I not allowed to say nice things?" He teases.

"You are. I just am not used to you directing them at me."

He frowns. "You know I think you are beautiful though? I always have done."

Alessia clears her throat behind us and I jolt. Yet again, I had half forgotten she was even there. I shoot her an apologetic look and she rolls her eyes.

"Always." I hum.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

My mind drifts back to the day he left. I remember his blank expression as I begged him not to leave. I remember the back of his head. He never looked round, even when I called out to him.

We've reached the terrace now and I un-link arms to take a seat. Watching as he takes the one opposite and we both begin eating in silence.

"I see Alessia is giving us some privacy." Ezra comments, nodding his head towards the doors.

I glance round to see her waiting just inside. "She knows the only thing I am in any danger of breaking around you is my heart."

"I would never break your heart." He vows.

"You already did when you left." I snap.

"Oh, so we are back to this again are we?" He huffs and stuffs a large pastry in his mouth, turning to look out over the gardens.

If I wasn't so annoyed, I probably would have found the action hilarious. "It's not something easy to forget. I begged you to stay. I've never begged for anything in my life."

He rolls his eyes, "Of course you haven't, princess, because you've never had to fight for anything. It has all been given to you!"

My hand curls into a fist around my fork, fingernails digging into my palm as I struggle to keep my temper. "Never had to fight for anything? You weren't even there that day on the battlefield. You don't have a clue whether I fought."

"Not all fights are physical, darling."

I take a deep breath before I speak. "I don't doubt that my position has given me extraordinary privileges in my life, but don't you dare think for one moment I've never had to fight for something. You don't know me the way you think you do. When you left, and you can pretend you had no choice if you like, but everyone has a choice and you chose what you did."

His hand on the table flexes as I realise he's struggling with his temper as much as I am. Perhaps this is a sign of how incompatible we are? If we cannot even enjoy a simple breakfast without fighting.

"Don't you know how much I wanted to stay?" Ezra whispers.

"Then why didn't you even look back at me?"

He stands suddenly and rounds the table, dropping to his knees so our eyes are level, "Because I knew if I looked back and saw your face that there wasn't a Dearg Dues chance in Alfheimr that I could leave you."

I blink, "You can't say things like that."

"Things like what? The truth. I'm sorry princess, if it's hard to hear. Perhaps I don't know you as well as I should now. Perhaps I have made a huge mistake. All I know is that when I look at you, I'm home. When I look at you, the demons in my head are quiet and nothing else matters. I don't know how, I don't even know why, but something in my cold little heart tells me I can't live without you and you without me." He stands and pulls me to my feet so that I am looking up at him. "I know you had something to do with my recovery from my injuries." His hand caresses my cheek and his eyes search my own for answers I cannot give. "Whatever the truth, princess, I thank you."