[private] oh, these wings, they flicker; desire

[aureus]

Aureus

oh, these wings, they flicker and my feathers stir
'til I'm an ancient soul in a cascade world

Whatever he expects, it is not this.

He has known her to be soft and sweet. Knows her to be kind and loving. Knows her to be beautiful and gentle. He does not truth his own clumsy hands with the delicacy of her—does not trust the way that he might crush the glass beneath his heel. Does not trust the way that he would fall upon the sword and still not be able to keep himself from breaking her beneath his brutish hands, never worthy of her.

So he is startled at the sudden solidity to her mouth.

Startled by the way she stiffens—her face growing cold.

He is unable to keep the surprise from his face. The way that it darkens his purple eyes, pulls the corner of his mouth, deepening the frown into something pained rather than just studious.

Aureus swallows, hard, but doesn’t speak right away.

Is not sure that he even knows how to give voice to the thoughts that spiral in his head.

When he does speak though, he is surprised that his voice is as steady as it sounds. He feels so shaken that it is shocking that his voice does not tremble with it. “The difficult path has never been my preferred one,” he admits and having to face that truth of himself causes his pulse to stutter.

A broken pause that stretches on longer than he would like.

“I never meant to hurt you.”

Not that it mattered what he meant.

and I'm quick with the bullet when it comes undone
I got a head like a turret with a mouth for a gun