He leans closer, and you feel his warmth reaching the skin of your cheek, so you hold back your breath.

"Calm yourself," he orders. "Your heart is racing, your muscles are tense. I can't show this without pain."

You can't back up as he catches your hand again. When you try to free yourself, his grip only turns stronger, his nails clawing your skin.

"I said stay still!" he shouts angrily, and you freeze. The darkness makes you uneasy and scared, the burnt flesh pulsing and filling your mind with pain.

The Lunarian growls deeply, and you get ready for a hit.

But his hold turns gentler, his voice steady once again.

"I need you to understand," he whispers. "You must see how desperately you're longing for this fire."

And your eyes widen as his palm lights up with flames again, now keeping distance from your hand.

He presses your wound, and you hiss as he forces out some blood from the burnt edges.

You don't dare to resist, and then can't, when you see it.

His fire is leaning in the direction of your blood, the flames lengthening and glistering just by trying to reach it.

King lours, and he lets you go. The flames disappear from his hand, and the larger one shows up between his wings, bringing light to the room again.

A shiver runs down your spine as you see a wave of disbelief on his features for the first time since you met him.

"What kind of Halfblood are you?" he asks almost inaudibly.

But before you could answer, King suddenly stands up and turns around.

You stay silent and watch him going to the other side of the room, covering his face with his hand. You hear his breath turning fast and deep.

Disturbed.

He walks to his table, and you hide in the darkness as he starts rummaging in a drawer.

You scowl and run your fingertip over the edge of the wound, grimacing from the sight and the smell of burnt flesh.

You raise your head and try to talk without letting your voice break.

"What did you mean?" you ask him, trying to stop the shaking of your hand.

King stops moving for a second, but then keeps his work up without glancing back at you.

He doesn't answer, and your intact fist clenches in helplessness. You stand up and walk closer but stop a few meters far from him.

"I'm not a slave anymore," you grit your teeth, holding back your fear of him hurting you again. This fire somehow caused more pain than rational. "Right?"

King looks at you over his shoulder, his left wing moves up a little to hide his face like it has its own will.

You feel like he can hide his emotions in his voice and on his face, but they reflect on the movements of the black feathers.

"You are not," he answers calmly. "You are a guest. A guest who I let see my identity and who I let see the history of my kind."

"A guest you will kill as soon as she steps out of this room," you growl.

"A guest who was given a choice to see my face or not," he turns around suddenly, and you need all your self-control not to back up right away as the tall man steps closer to you. "A guest who shouldn't talk about herself in third person singular because it's deadly annoying."

And both of you freeze as his voice cracks at the last words, running high a little.

King's upper lip flinches, and his jaw drops as you watch him with wide eyes full of doubt.

The Lunarian recoils outragedly as you start laughing loudly.

You lean over your leg and try to stop it, but have no chance. After so many years without being able to laugh, now only such a tiny thing broke the ice.

King is glaring at you without a word for almost a minute before he shakes his head and yells at you, asking what are you doing, but you can't even stop it for enough time to ask him not to kill you.

But when he lifts his hand angrily, you hide your face as a reflex.

You can't dodge as he throws something at you, but you are scared only for a moment before you feel a piece of fabric falling against your face.

You lose your balance and fall with a thump, then peel it off, scowling confusedly as you feel the scent of herbs and medicine.

When you look up again, your heart misses a beat when you see him smiling.

A miracle that disappears in a split second.

King shakes his head and turns around, walking back to his bed. You stay on the ground, watching as he lays back, stretching the slender wings.

The feathers sing a song as they resonate with the air, but this thought of yours is interrupted by his voice a second later.

"Treat your wound and go to sleep," he says silently, with the semitone of order. The man stays silent for a moment. Then you hear him taking a breath exactly when you do. "If you find that fire within yourself, you will never be cold again."

King waits for a moment, and your eyes meet his. Endless sorrow and strange tenderness fights in the red ocean.

"And if you understand what it needs to stay alive, maybe you will defeat me for your freedom one day."

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Halfblood [King|Alber × Reader]Where stories live. Discover now