The Sword Of A Princess

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

The void in my chest was slowly filling with love. After all this time my hope was becoming reality. Lionel was getting better. His case was recorded by doctors all over the land, it was a first someone had managed to bring themselves out of wars insanity.

Cole was satisfied. Lionel would not die.

I placed a fresh grape into Lionel's mouth, he happily chewed on it as I put one into my own mouth.

"I'm glad you're enjoying the fruit." I chuckled holding another grape inches from my lips. We sat on Lionel's bed, one he had found himself living in.

"I enjoy your company more than wine grapes." Lionel replied his eyes dropping down to the grape I pressed against my lips.

My head turned to him more, my body wanting to absorb all of him in that moment. His head bandages were replaced with a custom-made leather patch for his missing eye and all the other bandages were gone now too. Lionel kept the rest of his body covered with his long-sleeved shirt and the bed sheets overtop. Even though his cheeks had filled in slightly, he was still dangerously slim.

No one bought up walking- his legs didn't look as if they could hold his weight without snapping in two. The effects of two years in that cell weighed on him still, and I knew he hid it in front of me.

Miya always told me how he was when I wasn't there, or how terribly he slept while I was on duty. Behind that sweet smile, Lionel hid the pain.

I pressed my lips against his, the bowl of fruit forgotten. It was the first time since the morning before he woke for real.

Lionel hesitated slightly before his lips kissed me back, I discarded the bowl while the rest of my body yearned to touch his. I ran my fingers up his torso over the sheet and to his arm.
Our kiss was broken and my hand suddenly moved as Lionel pushed my hand away with his arm in one swift motion.

"I'm sorry, I can't-"

"It's alright Lionel." I smiled placing my hand on his cheeks, the base of my palm resting on the metal infused to his jaw. It felt cool under my gentle touch.

"No, I don't want to have you like this." Lionel frowned sitting up more, turning his gaze from mine.

"The way you are now-"

"Exactly, the way I am now. I don't want you like I am now. I can't hold you properly, can't touch you like the way I so desperately want to touch you. The things I would do to you, make you feel." Lionel blinked away a tear as I slowly turned his head back to mine. "I could never give you want you deserve Athena."

"I only want you beside me. Now and always." I wiped my thumb under his teary eye. His hand came up near mine, not grabbing it but motioning for me to move mine away. I lowered my hand, wrapping it around his in our laps.

"Don't think that I don't want you. Ever. It's just harder now." Lionel's nose grazed mine. I placed my lips back on his and he kissed me gently. I didn't care that it was harder now, we were both two broken people coming together as one whole.

"Marry me."

Lionel pulled back looking directly at me- through me. My heart skipped more beats than I could count, I really had just asked him to marry me.

"No." His voice was quiet. I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I would not be able to put a ring on your finger myself."

"I don't care about that. Marry me Lionel, be mine." I said moving to my knees, the sheet falling to the bed beside me.

Lionel's lips parted, his eye darting between both of mine.

"I could not make you spend the rest of your life looking after me the way you do. I will most likely never walk, never run again. Never hold you in my hands. Never consummate the- I am only half a man." Lionel frowned over at me, his arms leaving my body.