~.✧ Austora ✧.~ [COMPLETE]

~.✧ twenty-one ✧.~

The three of us were quiet, the shuffling and talking of the other people in the room the only noise around us. I wondered how long they would stay this time. I knew they had to be getting tired of coming down here to keep me company. I'd be okay if they didn't, if it inconvenienced them. I didn't want to drag anyone else down with me if Larklind took a turn for the worse. But I knew my family. They'd keep coming even if I told them not to. So I didn't.

"Saidy..." Braz started, making me turn to look at him. His expression was troubled and his eyes dark with real concern. "What are you going to do after..." He didn't finish that sentence, but he didn't have to.

I turned my gaze to Larklind. "If he dies... I don't know what I'll do. I'll try my hardest not to break apart but..." My eyes stung. "I can't make any promises. But if he wakes up then... I won't ever let him go."

"Even if that has consequences?"

I nodded in all surety. "I'll be ridiculed and thrown from the palace. I don't care. I will never love anyone else and I won't leave him if he comes back to me." I reached out and took Larklind's hand. I wasn't sure if it was just my imagination, but his fingers felt a little less cold than usual.

Braz seemed to not have anything else to say about this so it fell quiet again.

Not much else was said between the three of us and soon they left. Asria didn't take my plate this time, her subtle indication that she wanted me to eat. I set the plate on the ground next to my stool after five bites.

I was left mostly alone for a long stretch of time, a couple of hours at least. I kept a hold of Larklind's hand for most of that time and I kept questioning if his fingers really did feel warmer. I hoped they were but I couldn't tell if it was just my imagination wishing for something that wasn't there. It wasn't like I'd exactly had all that much sleep or food to keep me functioning very well. It could very well be a fantasy of my mind. But the back of my thoughts kept praying that maybe it wasn't just a hallucination. That maybe it was real and this small thing could mean there was a chance that he could be getting better.

Sometime in the afternoon, I was drifting off leaning up against the wall. I felt bad for falling asleep, but my exhaustion was catching up with me after staying up so late with Larklind for so many nights now. But a curious sound of hesitant footsteps made my eyes flutter open. When my gaze connected with a figure of an older man, I startled awake, realizing who it was.

"Mr. Sarcroft."

"Your Highness." He'd barely finished his bow before his eyes turned to his son, heartbroken and filled with pain. "I... I didn't even know until today. I'd been away visiting a friend on the other side of town for a few days to help him with a project and when I came back last night, no one informed me that he was here. I assumed that he was with you last evening and that he'd come home later but I woke up and he still wasn't back..." He let out a long breath, his graying eyebrows furrowed.

Guilt coiled around my stomach. "I'm so sorry. If I'd known, I would have told you."

"Please, it's not your fault."

I still felt like it was so I pulled a stool up for him and explained, "He's... The healers have done a good job with him but he's still struggling." I swallowed, not sure how many times I could relay the information the physician had told me before it wore me down to the bone.

Mr. Sarcroft seemed to sense this as he sat and patted me on the hand, changing the subject. "Thank you for staying with him. I know that there would be no one else he'd rather have at his side right now."

I blushed but didn't turn my eyes away. "I don't know. Did... did he tell you about what happened? W-with us?"

He nodded. "Yes. He was very conflicted and... hurt. But I believe that if the two of you have fought this hard for each other that you'll make it. I know from personal experience that sometimes the strongest relationships are the ones that have gone through the hardest situations."