Elora's eyes slowly opened revealing her electric blue iris.
The first thing she registered was warmth — an impossible, all-encompassing warmth that seeped through her frozen bones. She opened her eyes just a crack, the world around her blurry, and yet, somehow, she felt… safe. Arms like steel encircled her, one palm brushing lightly against her cheek, the other holding her body with a tenderness she hadn't experienced before.
For a split second, she wondered if this was a dream. No one had ever held her this way, as if she were precious. The heat from the body pressed against hers felt different, a far cry from the numbing cold that still seared in her blood, She stirred, rousing from her sleep.
"Elora?" The voice was a low rumble just like a barely contained storm.
She immediately knew who it was the instant she heard it — Azazeal. His tone was softer than she expected, underneath, there was something like … sorrow?
Her eyelids fluttered open fully, her sight clearing enough to take in his face. His cold gray eyes locked with hers as the moonlight glinted off anger simmering just below the surface. She wanted to reply, but her throat was dry, and her mind was fuzzy.
"Are you okay? , should I bring you water? Do you feel pain anywhere?"
She blinked confused by the hint of panic in his voice and the undisguised worry he showed.
" W-why are you here, taking care of me and being kind to me?"
She questioned with genuine confusion, as if he were doing something abnormal
Azazeal's eyes turned cold." Why wouldn't I? You're clearly unwell and it's only normal to take care of you, why is that even a question?" he growled out
Her lips parted, and she answered in a barely audible voice.
"Because I'm not really that important."
Her head ached as she spoke drowsily still under the effect of the medicine.
"I am … the king Haze's — abandoned … child," she started, each word costing her effort. " I'm always left alone to tend for myself, nothing but a bastard child whose mother merely used the pregnancy to secure to gain a place in his household."
Her voice shook
I'm only an inconvenience."
Azazeal's jaw tightened, his expression hardening further. His hand on her cheek felt soft, his thumb wiping a stray tear that rolled down her cheek. The tender gesture sent shivers through her body as she had never had so much kindness.
"Aren't you supposed to be loved and cared for as their child? He asked, softening his tone just a bit.
"No," she responded with a nervous little laugh, her voice shaking. "I never was, and I will never be."
The words echoed in the air, and for the first time, her cold and determined facade shattered.
She stained his chest with tears, her tiny frame quaking as heartwrenching sobs rippled through her. The freezing pain inside her subsided, replaced by the warmth of being in his arms.
The raw pain in her voice as she spoke and cried made Azazeal ache and boil in anger, he had a feeling that Elora's relationship with her family wasn't good, her father had never inquired about his daughter's welfare even after two years of marriage, nor had they requested to see her or asked for her to visit home.
Neither has he ever heard her speak of home, or fondly talk about her family, but he thought he just hadn't heard her talk about family because he's rarely around her.
But now, he knew the truth.
She wasn't loved at home, that's why she always kept her distance and closed herself away from emotions.
The people who were meant to show her love and care from birth had deserted her ruthlessly and even barely cared if she survived with the monster king. They only cared about Azazeal protecting their kingdom, whatever happened to Elora wasn't their concern.
Not even her mother cared.
"Does it hurt?" he asked softly, his voice threaded with a distinctive tenderness.
"It doesn't hurt," she lied, choking on her words.
Azazeal didn't believe her. His hand rubbed soothing circles across her back, his touch cautious yet firm. "I'm sorry," she breathed, her tears seeping into his tunic.
He raised her chin with a finger, making her meet his gaze. "Why are you apologizing?, You have nothing to apologize for, you can stick a knife through my chest and I still won't accept an apology from you, love. "
He pulled her closer to his chest.
" They are the ones who did wrong, not you ." The anger in his voice was evident.
Elora froze, her breath held in her throat.
His words were like foreign words to her, a reassurance she had never had, never thought to seek. He was not speaking as a king or as the cold, unfeeling man she believed he was. In that moment he was just… Azazeal, a man who was upset for her sake, a man who seemed to care.
"I'll never let them — let anyone — hurt you again," he vowed, his tone resolute.
" I would do anything you want, just to make you happy for the rest of your life and forget all you've gone through.
She teared up, and looked up at him, her heart aching with what she wanted most in this life. "Will you let me go?" she asked hesitantly, her voice fragile like a whisper. That's truly what she wanted in this lifetime, to live everyone and everything and live her life alone and happy. The only person she would trust not to hurt her is herself.
"Can I finally leave?"
His eyes cooled, tightening his grip on her. "Where do you want to go?"
"The cold, snowy mountains," she whispered. "Tye beautiful meadows again … Snowy mountains, I miss training too…" she whispered drowsily.
"I never wanted you to stop doing the things you love you little stubborn thing. "
He placed a soft kiss on her hair unable to stop himself.
" I'll take you when you're better," he said strongly but gently, his warm hand back to her cheek.
"I shall take you wherever you want to go, just get better for me okay? "
Now he was glad he had made the decision to make the winter festival happen in Ardennes this year, his wife would undoubtedly love the capital castle and the views on the way there.
"Why won't you let me go?"
She asked directly this time, her voice cracked and her hopelessness weighed thick in the air.
"I want to go far away alone, with no one else, I don't want to be here anymore."
"Elora," he groaned softly, his voice sounding almost pleading as he held her closer, his face burrowing in her neck as he breathed in her scent deeply.
His arms clenching around her almost afraid, as if she was really leaving him.
"That's the only thing I can't give to you love, I'm sorry but I need you all to myself."
Elora wanted to plead for her release again, this was a chance in a lifetime, if she could get him to grant her permission to leave, then her wish would be fulfilled.
She struggled to speak but her strength was failing again, her body giving in to fatigue.
Her eyelids grew heavy, and she felt him wrap himself around her, his solid and warm embrace was like a barrier against the rest of the cold world, a world which had never been anything but horrible to her.