Diamant

Chapter 28 - Swaying Emotions

They approached the cave in silence, each one thinking about how things had turned out terribly in such little time. When they got in, they prepared a little fire and started going through the small bags with them that Diamant had mandated they had taken with them. 

Diamant frowned at the numerous bottles of herbs in her bag. She didn't really have much of anything else. She had quickly grabbed on them before leaving Alusa and she was glad she had learnt a thing or two from Sunain. Although, they hadn't seen each other before Diamant had to leave hurriedly for Canilus.

She looked to DL and her heart clenched. Her decision seemed to weigh down on her and once again she couldn't help but doubt herself.

What was wrong with her? It was just one arrow, one arrow laced with sleeping herbs! What was the big deal about that? Why should that allow her to see him in a different light?! He was still what he was, still who he was. He was still a murderer, he was still her punishment! Nothing had changed.

She stood up immediately and her stomach grumbled. She sighed unhappily, she wished she had not skipped lunch. She went to DL who was adding some woods to the fire. He wouldn't have stopped to rest in the cave if not for Diamant stubborn persistence that they rest and she tends to his wound.

She touch his arm and he stiffened, Diamant gasped. He was burning! She looked up at him and he looked pale. How was that even possible, it was just sleeping herbs. It wasn't even poison or was it? She clenched her teeth allowing denial to play its cruel game.

He enjoyed it, her hand on his arm. He could have smiled at how relaxing he thought it was but her hand was so cold and it stung his skin.

"A living ice, take your hand away." He said, his voice lacking emotions like it had from the time he had been struck with the arrow.

"No way." Diamant exclaimed her eyes shaking in fear and her chest heaving and falling back again. Her mind tried to deny what it could possibly be. "No way." She cried again.

"No way what?!" He was angry now. This woman frustrated him, one could ever really tell what was going on in her head. He wanted to say something when he felt a warm liquid dripping down his nose. He reached his hand to it and without even looking, he knew it was his blood. The pain he had been hiding behind his straight face tickled down his nose. 

He had been poisoned.

How had he not known? He had thought the pain was just because of the injury the arrow had caused. 

"Poison." He heard Diamant's faint voice say, he felt like he could hear her from a distance away. He wiped the blood away but the blood kept dripping.

"Come here." 

He felt Diamant guiding him away from the fire to the cloth she had spread on the bed for herself. He allowed her to continue guiding him as he obeyed her mindlessly.

He could hear her rushing around with her bottles, feel her applying different herbs to the wound, he could hear he whispering things out of fear but he laid still. As a warrior, one would come across a lot of poisons and he had. The one thing about the poison he was struck with was that it was already too late for him. He was going to die, he was already bleeding. There was no saving for him. 

So while the poison seemed to cut him and tear him apart, he didn't fight it. Fighting would make it more painful but he still couldn't help but ask himself how he didn't realize that he had been poisoned.

"Keep your eyes open. DL, keep your eyes open. I said don't close your eyes!" He could hear Diamant's voice distantly again. Her voice sounded like she was pleading, like she was begging him. He tried to answer her, he tried to do what she wanted but he couldn't.

He couldn't keep his eyes opened.

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"No! Please do not do this! I have used everything! What more can I do?" Diamant pleaded as she placed her hands on both sides of DL's face, questioning like he could hear her but he was unconscious. His body was still burning with fever and the blood was still tickling down his nose. She cleaned it away again and she looked backed to the bottles scattered on the floor of the cave, she had tried every single one. She had tried every antidote that she had with her.

She looked back at him. Her throat tightened with choked tears and it ached with pain. She looked at his pale face. She didn't think she had ever looked at him like that, looked at him like he wasn't a King, looked at him like he wasn't the one that caused her so much pain. She looked at him and could see the tender features of his face. 

His face was hot against her hand yet she pressed her hand against it like if it stayed there long enough it would heal him. She blinked quickly. 

He was just another person suffering from a cruel fate. Someone who didn't know how to get over his past. Her hand trailed down his face, to his neck then to his chest. He didn't have a single scar. She felt drawn to him and she looked away quickly like she just snapped out of a spell.

She took a wet piece of cloth and wiped it on his chest to control his temperature. She knew it wasn't really helping but something couldn't make her just give up. She wiped the cloth on his chest again and something felt off. His chest wasn't heaving slightly and falling back anymore. She lent quickly to his nose and his breathing wasn't fanning her face lightly like it did some minutes ago.

He wasn't breathing.

She froze. Was he d...? No! No! He couldn't, she couldn't even allow herself to finish the thought before she stopped it. Her heart twisted in pain and she felt knives stabbing into her chest. It hurt, so much that she wished she could pull her heart away from herself. Her throat tightened and it ached even worse than before. Blood drained from her face and she hurriedly searched the bottles with her hands, picking and dropping them. 

She couldn't understand what she was doing, she felt like she was losing her mind. She had no time to question her actions, allowing herself to feel every wave of emotions that hit her. 

She grabbed the only bottle that wasn't empty and gripped it tightly. She closed her eyes and hoped for everything that it would work. She went to DL and drew his head on her laps. He was heavy and her hope flattered but not for long. She poured down the antidote, which was only little, to his mouth.

She waited and it became an agony. The wait was painful and it dragged on. Her heart still squeezed with regret and sadness. It felt like she had lost something valuable. She soon realized that she was in tears. Tears fell from her eyes seizelessly and her sobbing became really loud.

"No! No! You can't be dead. You can't be dead. Stay alive for me, please just stay alive, Dragon Lord. Was it something I did? I am sorry?! It is my fault." She said as she looked at him, her hand caressing his face. "That arrow was for me. I am sorry, I am sorry." She closed her eyes and her tears fell on DL's face. His body was still cold and she wept till her throat felt like it would rip apart. She felt so drained, like life had left her. Still she wouldn't leave him, he couldn't possibly be dead! Because of how tired she was, she fell asleep but she was still sobbing quietly in her sleep.

"Please, wake up." She whispered in her sleep. "You can't die, please stay for me."

"I never left." A hoarse voice said, sounding strained and tired. Diamant woke up immediately, it was like she didn't even fall asleep. She looked at him in surprise and her heart flooded with relief and joy. 

It must have been the antidote or was it just a miracle? She had no time to think about it and without thinking she placed a kiss on his head. She wiped away the tears on her face and stared happily to him.

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She had helped him lay on the cloth and given him water. He still shivered from cold and Diamant put another wood in the fire. They lacked a quilt to pull over him and she was worried on how to keep him warm. She was desperate to keep him alive.

Without thinking she lay beside him and wrapped herself around him. His breath fanned her face lightly and he seemed to relax in her arms. Still she wondered if it was helping enough, he was large and she was small compared to him. Was she even providing him enough warmth?

She was laying on her side and he was laying on his back. Her hand went across his stomach and his head stood close to her bossom.

He was quiet and she started to get scared.

"Dragon Lord?" She questioned.

There was silence, although she could still feel him breathing, she was scared. Was he dying? She was about to speak again when she heard him speak.

"Forgive me." He pleaded. It was strange to hear his hard voice sounding so weak, so vulnerable. Diamant doubted what she heard but she still held him tightly in her arms. She was satisfied with how he felt alive, with the warmth that had slowly taken over his skin.

"I shouldn't have attacked Lobina, they did nothing wrong to me. It was just a craze of power and my war upon Lobina had brought you so much pain. Forgive me." He pleaded again.

She wanted to cry. There was something about that moment that made her feel like he was saying the truth.

Still were his apologises enough to soothe her vengeful sprit and if it was, was it enough to make her forget?

"Will you also apologise to every single person that you have caused pain? Dragon Lord, your sorry will do nothing to bring back the people that they have lost. Look now, your sorry hasn't brought me back my Grandpa Gloss nor had it brought back Rider. Now you tell me that you are sorry?! What will that do? What will it do for me?!" Diamant said quietly her voice choked with tears, her words coming out defeated.

She pulled away from him and wanted to turn away but DL didn't give her that chance. He pulled her quickly into his embrace, although by doing that she was resting on his injured arm but he felt it was worth it. The pain suddenly meant nothing to him. He had to pull her to him quickly or he would lose her forever, that was what he felt.

Her face was buried in his bare chest and she couldn't stop herself from crying. Her sobs were muffled but each one pierced DL's heart. He could see how much pain he had put on her. He could finally understand.

In the bid to find his own peace and justice, he had punished those that weren't even guilty.

"I know that my apology can not do as much as I wish it could but I hope you forgive me." He said his voice filled with pain. 

She pulled away from him to look at his eyes. They were filled with regret. He brought up a hand to wipe her tears away, still holding her firmly to him while they shared a penetrating gaze.

"I know that I do not deserve to be loved but do I not also deserve to be forgiven?" He questioned his eyes searching hers.

"Do I not even deserve forgiveness?" He whispered lowly, his eyes now glassy with tears and his voice strained with pain.

"Dragon Lord..." Diamant whispered but was cut short.

"Drako," he said and she looked at him confused. "My name is Drako."

She blinked in surprise. She had never even thought that he was someone like her, someone who also had a name. He looked at him, her eyes searching for something. She leaned in closer, her eyes still staring deeply into his. She found it, she found him with his walls down. 

"Drako." She whispered and it sounded perfect the way his name rolled down her tongue so easily. He looked at her lips, her voice echoing in his head. He could still hear her saying his name.

It had been years since anyone called his name, been years since he allowed anyone to call his name.

His heart raced and he pulled her ever closer, despite how close they already were. It just didn't feel enough. She gasped from the sudden movement. His mouth dried up from need.

He crashed his lips against hers and she was too surprised to even react immediately. She soon tugged at his chest, there was no way she would allow this to happen. Though her mind was in a mess, she still couldn't allow it to happen. Her heart was racing madly, she felt herself slipping away into his kiss. She was losing control over herself but she had to fight.

She tried to push him away but his lips were needy, his kiss tender yet rough. Was that even possible? His lips tugged at hers desperately seeking acceptance.

His hand went up and down on her back till he found a way to place his hand on her bare back. The warmth shook her and she shivered, her mind raced with different images and her body grew hot with need. She found herself pressing herself to him, leaning further into his kiss.

She was kissing him back and her hands ran across his chest up to his neck. She pulled him closer like no matter how close he was, he still wasn't close enough. Her kiss was now desperate, her vulnerability all laid out before him.

He couldn't think about anything else. Just her, the kiss and her again. His walls were crumbling down yet he didn't want to stop. Here it was just him, not the Dragon Lord that cruelly ended people's lives, not the king in control of a dragon. Here he was just a man, a man who desperately needed the woman in his hands.

Soon they had to break apart so they could breath. He pulled her close to him and her breath fanned his chest, his hand caressed her back. The air weighed with unspoken words. Neither said a word as they felt it would destroy the peace they had.

They couldn't explain why they had done what they had done but they didn't want to. If the peace would be temporary, if they could stay like this a little longer, then why destroy it? 

The cave was filled with their soft breathing and the fire was dieing out. 

Even if it would be just tonigtht, they wanted to get away with it. It took a while before they fell asleep, they could still taste each other, they still wanted more but they stayed still. Each scared that if they moved ever so slightly, it would ruin everything.