and i found love where it wasn't supposed to be; any

[Killdare]

when you feel my heat look into my eyes

He can not discern their lament.

Their cries are a hammering of nonsense to his ears,  meaningless in their chaotic makeup. They did not compel him to feel their sorrows, nor would he know them if it did. He only knows his own hurt, his own loss and he does well to lock it away. He would sooner discard those memories than to live with them,  to be a victim of their agony. It's not a useful memory, it is just that, memory.  A stolen sun, a light extinguished, he doubted she be'd back.

A cradle, one of membrane and sinew is where he holds them. Driving the flock away so that they may speak but flesh does little to diminish the turbulence from above.

Then she startles him, his eyes wide and wild. He owned nothing, not anymore, not ever. He was owned, first by his father and now he was kept by no one but the Chamber. The flesh and sweat that had given him anything else in return was gone, a dream, a nightmare. He can't make promises, none as grand as she asks of him. He is no one.

"You'd give me the same promise then? That she won't bother coming for you at all?" He didn't ask something of someone that he wasn't willing to give or do himself. Promises, they meant nothing when you broke them. He was a man of his word, it was all he had, all he had left to give anyone. He can't promise what she asks, he has no dominion over others, he can't shield her from sight. The Chamber could, might, but not likely in the way she seeks. "I can't be your protector." His green eyes grow hard, hurt. He had failed at this before, he couldn't protect what he couldn't keep and she had severed their ties with ease.

He was strong, strong enough to go on, strong enough to fight- not yet strong enough to let go. "You don't have to give yourself to me, you can give yourself to the Chamber." He paused, thoughtfully considering her plight. They were not the Gates, they didn't console the weak, aid the needy. The did not protect the meek. "I serve the Chamber, I defend it's lands, its subjects. If you stay, I would be expected to defend you." Perilous words for one who does not know their meaning, does not know to whom or what the price of them will be paid. Words.

But that's all he has anymore.

KILLDARE

The Dragon Lord & Colonel of the Chamber