how come I never got used to the feeling of sleeping in a cage?
too long driving, too damn hungry; a tied-up hound but nothing stays
How did this happen? His eyes chilled her bones and his growling voice trembled her core only a year ago. This was not at all intentional. Valdis savored the power that she had over him – although it wasn’t immediate – and found pleasure in having been untouched. No man, other than her twin and father, had breathed so intimately on her skin as Sinner. It changed everything. As much as she enjoyed having an upper hand, Valdis suddenly found herself content to settle into this new role and melt into his side. Everything inside her bursts into life as their eyes connect and their bodies touch. She wants more of him, and his hungry, needing eyes mirror it back. Say it - she thinks to herself - say you want me. The words never reach her lips as she swallows them further down, still afraid of this mounting crest of emotion and want.
A breath holds in her throat as she presses the flat plane of her cheek against his neck. Her pulse gradually syncs with his own, settling until she could nearly be convinced that they are one. Somehow, it feels right. A smile threatens to crease her lips and brighten her eyes, but it wavers under the baritone of his confession. There are enough context clues to piece together his implications. He searches for her reaction, but Valdis doesn’t immediately offer him one. Her heart flutters in her chest. Her mind clutches onto his words.
Her eyes fall.
But despite the rushing of her thoughts, her breaths remain steady as she asks, ”Anything?” Against her own will, Valdis peels her cheek from Sinner’s neck so that her eyes may lift to search his. A brow lifts underneath her metallic forelock. ”Would you ever hurt me?” The question is attended by a suspended quiet that makes her suddenly more aware of the forest’s noises. A wind rustles the branches above their heads and a frog croaks at the edge of a nearby pond. Sinner hints at his role in the plague, but even then, as Valdis suppresses a cough, she doesn’t scorn him for it. In contrast, his persistence and determination is admirable. She is a victim of his decisions, but even then she wants to be next to him. ”Only a strong King can rule Sylva,” she affirms with a soft press of her lips against his jaws. He did what he must to gain the throne. It hadn’t been readily – or easily – handed to him.
Not like it could’ve been handed to her.
The conversation was comfortably focused on Sinner, but as expected, it beckons for her own answer. Admittedly, an answer should have already been floating around in her thoughts. It’s natural that he would want to dive into her own life like she just had into his. A contemplative lick of her lips creates pause and hesitation as Valdis wracks her brain for something – anything – that can equate the heaviness of Sinner’s confession. Much of her life has been sheltered, however, and her experiences are minimal. Alas, there is one thing that comes to mind because it’s what has engulfed her entire existence.
”My family is extensive,” she begins slowly, her voice low and her eyes distant as she stares toward the empty shadows of the forest. ”My father was absent during childhood and so I was raised by mother and Kagerus. They have their own brood of children now, so I feel that my twin and I are on the outskirts – not really belonging anywhere.” So much confessed in just that little bit. She has a twin. The caretakers of the east raised her. Yet, she doesn’t end there. ”I hold animosity toward Kagerus for the sole fact that she isn’t my actual parent, even though she has only been kind to accept my brother and I…” her tongue feels swollen and her mind is swimming.
No one knows this.
No one knows what has been brooding inside Valdis, simmering beneath a calm surface. ”I would turn against them – against my family – if it meant getting ahead.”
Her breath catches as she slowly blinks before peering up at Sinner, surprised even by herself.
Valdis
@[Sinner]