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Post by Ventia on Jun 30, 2022 13:22:17 GMT -5
"I am just thinking," He eased himself up from her shoulder and took one hand away from her back to soothe out the wrinkles of her brow, he didn't like her worrying over him but knew he couldn't stop it if he tried. Rikara cared for everyone and along with that, she worried over them as well. He didn't wish to add to her worries, instead wanted to lessen them.
"Don't frown so much, you'll get wrinkles." He paused to press a kiss on her forehead and chuckled as he pulled back and winked at her. Even though he was jesting, he wouldnt mind watching her face grow in every season of their life, and would be blessed if he was by her side by the time their old age caught up to them.
Before she could tell him he hadn't answered her, Jackson lifted her up and into his arms, princess style, and began walking deeper into the earth. He passed by the stream where he felt her essence in the waters and then finding a comfortable and dry spot on the ground, with a large tree with shading, Jackson eased down getting comfortable with Rikara still on his lap.
"Are you mad with me for the kiss?" He couldn't help but ask, petting her hair and letting the strands curl around his fingers.
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Post by Thea on Jul 1, 2022 14:40:03 GMT -5
"Wrinkles are the least of my worries," Rikara responded immediately, but couldn't stop the smile that lit her face up in response to the forehead kiss. She thought back to all his teasing and compared the Jackson then to the Jackson she had in front of her. She knew that they were the same, and she was used to the teasing he had given her before, she did like how he was being sweet to her now.
What was he thinking?
She was so busy trying to decipher the look on his face that she was caught off guard. Immediately she wrapped her arms around his neck once more to combat the feeling of falling, a squeak escaping her before she could catch it. When she realized that Jackson only picked her up, she eased the hold she hand around his neck and relaxed. "I can walk," she murmured but didn't protest too much.
She looked around the forest as he carried her, feeling their environment reaching for her once more. Guilt melted her insides; she didn't believe that the tree she had chained Jackson to would have let him go regardless of how he tried. And in the midst of her worry, she had blocked her connection with her surroundings even if it was unintentional. Now, she heard the birdsong, and felt the gentle breeze against her skin as if it was saying "no worries". She let her lungs inhale some much needed air before letting it go slowly in a sigh of quiet relief.
Rikara felt no guilt in taking pleasure sitting in Jackson's lap, however. She knew she should, however. After all, she was still betrothed. And for however much she wished that Jackson stood in Tolor's place, she knew that Tolor needed her.
But what if he wasn't looking for her?
That was the question that had been haunting her for the last few days. She's been on Earth for what felt like months now. Countless nights before she went to bed she sat in front of the mirror and watched her home, looking for a search party or a traveler or any sign of life. But there had been nothing. It wasn't until recently that she had given up hope watching the mirror, telling herself that Tolor would come. But even that sounded like a false promise to herself.
"No," Rikara murmured, far away once more. "I should be, but I am not. I would like for you to kiss me again, actually." She didn't meet his gaze, fearing that if she did she wouldn't be able to keep her hands off him. "I have ... prior engagements after all. But I can't help but think I've been forgotten."
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Post by Ventia on Jul 3, 2022 20:03:40 GMT -5
Jackson nodded, still stroking her hair softly as she spoke, he didnt want to be reminded of her engagements but it didnt bother him for he couldnt forget the fact that she did have a whole life away from him. She had a Kingdom, a husband to be, and countless people waiting for her to come back. There was a scheme at foot back at Gahal and he knew she needed to be there to put it all back into its right place.
That didnt stop him from feeling the way he did, he smiled down at her, happy that she liked the kiss enough to want another, and wished he could give her one. Yet his own code of conduct made him hesitate, he didn't just go about kissing anyone with a betrothed after all, Rikara was the sole exception. He laid a kiss to her bare shoulder, wishing he could kiss her lovely lips once more.
This was the part that he didn't like, the part where the last shreds of decency came into play. "I need to tell you the truth Rikara, if I don't do this now, I never will."
He touched her chin, lifting her gaze up so that she was looking at him instead of the ground, "You took me by surprise when you crossed through that mirror, I never thought I would meet that little nature girl who liked to scold me so much ever again, yet when you walked into my life it felt like you never even left." He pulled a strand of her lovely hair to his lips and pressed a kiss to its softness.
He let it go before continuing. "These last few weeks that you've been here have been the happiest days of my life, I never thought such ordinary peaceful days could be so fulfilling and yet they have been, because of you. You fill up my world with just a smile or a laugh, when you scold me about how I manipulate energy and show me the correct way of doing, you think too highly of me and it only makes me feel like I can be a better person for you...makes me want to, even if I know that you're not meant to be with me, even though I know you have a whole different realm waiting for you, a husband to be, a throne, I still want you by my side."
He tightened his hold around her waist, pulling her closer. "My family has a curse surrounding true love, we are always cursed to find our better half and then lose them one way or another. Maybe I should stay silent of my feelings, maybe I should stay cold with my heart shut, but I will always wondered what would have happened if I didnt at least try. So here it is, I'm in love with you Kara, I have been since we were children and I didnt even understand the emotion, but i sure as hell understood it when I was banished from Gahal. When you were gone from my life."
"I dont want that to happen again, not at least without telling you my true feelings. I love you, you wouldnt have to choose your realm over mine, I'm willing to follow you wherever you'll go, willing to go through any and every trial, I'd even fight a God if I had to, or a Demon, or nature itself, anything for us."
He gave her a smile, one of the true ones, that showed his dimples and made his eyes shine brighter as they did while he was still a innocent. "Choose me, together we can handle just about anything, you dont have to say anything right now, I can wait for you, even if I can tell that our time is limited, I'll wait until you made your decision." He brushed his fingers against her cheeks and leaned forward, pressing his lips so lightly against hers that it was more of a whisper of the wind than anything else, before pulling her into his chest and holding her gently.
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Post by Thea on Jul 6, 2022 4:13:12 GMT -5
There was so much that the foreign princess was feeling. So many emotions warred within her, stirred into action at Jackson’s confession. And she did so little to hide them from him as he bared himself to her. Not only was she not physically able to, but that was what he deserved.
At first, she felt a sort of curiosity. Rikara had thought for so long that Jackson was never the one to hide his thoughts. Never to lie at all. His first words had her wondering if she really knew him.
Then came the sense of connection. She never thought she would see him again either. Certainly not in the circumstances they had found themselves in. She had been right that very first night, when she told him that he changed. But in her mind’s eye, he was still the same as he was back when they were children at his core. It took a lot to change the very essence of a person. His mannerisms were more grown, sure, more hardened. But time and age did that to everyone. She, too, had to admit that he filled that hole his absence created, making it quite clear that he shouldn’t have been away from her in the first place.
She couldn’t help but laugh at his second mention of her scolding him. A bright laugh that echoed through the forest, making it sound like their surroundings were laughing with her. But soon, she sobered again. The talk of her duties slammed into her with the full force of an orsar, a great beast that – usually gentle – tended to use its full weight against you if angry. Shame made her stomach shrivel into the size of a grain of sand. It butted heads with the hope growing within her chest when he told her he wanted to change for her.
When he pulled her closer, she moved to be more comfortable, wrapping her arms around his neck. They were so close that she could feel his breath fan her face. When he uttered the word “cursed”, she was concerned. Yet the heart of his confession was what shocked her still.
He … loved her?
The man might as well be speaking another language at that point. One that she knew vaguely but couldn’t decipher it right then and there. Her brain took what he said after that and filed it away for further examination. Her eyes were wide as saucers and body stiffened ramrod straight, conveying how stunned she was. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but it wasn’t that.
His smile was what freed her from the shock, and awe took over her features. Curved around the Mark that bespoke her royalty. Softened her gaze. Her limbs moved from around his neck so that she could touch his dimples tentatively. No one in Gahal had features such as those. She found them to be so oddly charming back then, and now it was like they greeted her like an old friend.
What broke the dam was his gentleness. The softness of his fingers and lips as they touched her brought tears to her eyes. Silently, they fell to her cheeks in reckless abandon. With no protest, she let him press her to his chest, and she wrapped an arm around his waist to anchor to him once more. There was so much she was feeling, she was overwhelmed. He was her rock, she found out. The thing that kept her from floating away. This only made her tears fall harder; she couldn’t help to press her face against his shoulder, not caring that his shirt was what was actively drying her face.
She wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that – maybe seconds. Maybe minutes. Eventually, she stopped crying, now left exhausted. And filled with resolve. “I need more time,” she said. “Please.”
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Post by Ventia on Jul 21, 2022 23:25:10 GMT -5
"I can do that," Jackson said softly, stroking down the lengths of her hair, "I can wait." Was waiting for their grand loves part of the curse? He thought and for the first time didn't feel the aggression he always had whenever he saw his mother or grandmother always looking like they were waiting. Starring out the window or out of space, that distant look in their eyes, as if replaying their happiest moments and waiting for the day it would come again.
Jackson used to hate it. Would get so sad over it until that sadness turned to bitter anger. But now, with Rikara in his arms, he didn't see the harm in waiting his whole life if he needed to, just to have her once again in his life. "I can wait forever, there hasn't been anyone since you Kara. There never will." He confessed gently as he brushed his lips against her crown, her lovely markings and softness of her skin would always become his sweetest memory.
She had came like a wild wind, throwing him off course and slipping through the countless layers and walls he had built around him, found her way back where she belonged-in his heart-and this time intended to stay. She forevermore changed him, as she always had, and Jackson knew she would always belong to him as he belonged to her. His true love, Rikara, in this life, in the last and in the next.
"Are you hungry? We can go back to the suite and order room service." He asked her, watching the sun move along the trees, falling down upon the pair in such a light that it looked as if the heavens were smiling down upon the lovers.
"Or you can nap in my arms, looking as beautiful as a nature goddess and I will be fearful of a specific greek god trying to come and take you from me, then I will battle to the death and you will wake to give me, your Champion, another sweet kiss as my prize." He teased sweetly, chuckling gently under his breath, and caressing the sides of her face.
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Post by Thea on Aug 21, 2022 20:37:18 GMT -5
Relief washed over Rikara like a cool bath would combat a fever. She really did need more time to process everything he had just said. A curse to be rejected by their true love? She remembered when he had asked her to go with him back to Earth when they were younger. How she had never thought she would see him again. But it wasn't because she didn't love him. It had been that she couldn't shirk her duties to her home. Was it the curse that made her feel that way? Or had it been her will?
Why was she here with him, then? Again? If the curse had done it once already, who was to say that it would happen again? When she stepped through that mirror, she wasn't expecting to see Jackson, all grown up and more powerful than he had been when they were 12. He had been taken by surprise too, he said. No wonder why he had been so crude. So brash. She couldn't help but imagine herself in his shoes. She wouldn't have exactly welcomed him with open arms either.
"Has there really been no one else?" she asked quietly, glancing at him with teasing eyes. "What about the girl that looks as if she were my twin?" But behind her jests, there was a bit of guilt there, too. She didn't love Tolor, not in the way Jackson loved her. He had been there, though, almost as soon as Jackson was gone, a steady presence in her life as she grew older and took on her mantle. And while he needed her more than she needed him, she still had him as a companion. Did Jackson really have no one on this planet to ease his loneliness?
She couldn't help but roll her eyes at his own teasing. They had exchanged tales of gods and monsters one night when she couldn't sleep. One god of this planet had her exclaiming with indignation and befuddlement, thanking the Great One that not only was he not like that, but neither were the gods of the clans back home. Rhytix would not have allowed such debauchery, meddling with human affairs like that. Tonight, though, she had no energy to be baffled. "If Zeus would come down to attempt it, I shall be my own Champion and send him back to the heavens with my ire as his parting gift. But if you wanted a kiss all you would have to do was ask." She took his hands in her own, his being half a size bigger, from her face and pressed her lips delicately, almost hesitantly, against each of his palms.
"The room service sounds good," she murmured after a few moments, staring into the hazel color of his eyes. "I liked the spaghetti from earlier. I think I'll try the lasagna next. And then tomorrow could we visit the ... I don't remember how to say it. The Coli-zeum?"
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Post by Ventia on Aug 31, 2022 6:42:46 GMT -5
“Thea?” Jackson remembered the inner shock he had felt when he first met Thea, while she mistook him for his father Jackson had wanted to believe she was Rikara. Though try as he might, despite having the same face and likeness there had been something missing in Thea’s eyes that he had only seen in Rikara’s.
“No. Despite all my jests to her, I never saw her in such a light. There’s been no one. A few nameless faces when I’ve been too far gone to think straight, that only ended in different types of kisses,” he gave her a quick look, making sure she didn’t get mad at that, “but none made it to my heart or my bed. None that lasted for more than a moment in time.” Jackson stroked her cheek, wishing he hadn’t even done that wishing he could have said instead that he had been loyal and chaste in his wait for her, but he wasn’t a liar. He wouldn’t feed her the words every girl wanted to hear because he knew she would always prefer the truth.
He watched her closely then, his eyes light and filled with emotions, the main was how much he cared for her, he could see the guilt and pain hiding within her eyes, in the dark tendrils of power that always seemed to flicker into existence whenever her mood went sour, Jackson had a good idea what she was thinking and hated himself for placing her in such a difficult spot. But he would hate himself even more if he didn’t. His love for her too strong to deny even a second longer now that the truth was out in the open.
His smirk tugged into place at her words, then softened at her delicate kisses, his fingers rubbing her skin lightly. “So you’ll be my Champion then?” Jackson chuckled, amused with himself as always, “that sounds kinky, you’re the top im the bottom? Oh Kara. You naughty girl.” Another chuckle as he dipped his head to kiss her nose really quick.
“The Coliseum, yes, that’s how you pronounce it and yeah we can go. We can eat all the pasta Rome has to offer and boy does it have a lot.” He licked his lips, happy that her worries had slunk back to their depths, stroking her cheeks he pulled her face a little closer.
He decided to kiss her forehead instead of her lips, then pulled back his hands from her face. Straying to brush back some wayward strands before leaning back on the tree with his hands on the ground.
“Theres many museums, catacombs, cripts, pretty fountains and the like. We can do it all.” He flicked his fingers as he spoke, opening a portal that showed every spot he knew in the city, giving Rikara a peek into what was to come. Finally the portal picture flickered to their presidential suite, primary the main living room that was lavishly furnished.
He left the portal open and waiting and shifted his gaze back to Rikara. His eyes warm and open with her when with everyone else it was always dark and distant. She would always be set aside from everyone else. Better. Greater in importance to him.
“Let’s go shopping too, I want to buy you things, I want to spoil you Rikara, I want to take all your last firsts for myself before anyone else gets the chance to.”
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Post by Thea on Sept 5, 2022 17:50:56 GMT -5
An arrow of jealousy shot through her chest and pierced her heart. Rikara had been worried that Jackson had no one to assuage the loneliness he felt, and even jested about Thea, the girl with fire in her eyes and words rough as stone, but when he spoke about her and the few nameless women that he kissed, she couldn't help but feel the darker emotion. She rubbed her chest absently as if that would get rid of it. Yet spoke no more of the topic and moved on.
Rikara couldn't help the eye roll at the familiar word he used. "Kinky" had to be taught to her, and when it was she had been appalled. Now, she knew that Jackson was only being playful with it, even though she wasn't sure how being kinky tied into being a Champion or whether someone was a "top" or "bottom". In the Gahalian language, top and bottom had strict definitions. Usually, being the curious person she was, she'd ask what he meant. Though when it came to Jackson, it would involve a lot of teasing and references to coupling. Today, she didn't bother to be inquisitive, and instead enjoyed the small peck he gave her nose.
"It's something that I would love to introduce back home," Rikara replied softly when he said Rome had all the pasta to offer. Her hands, decorated with the soft yellow feathers for Sky, framed his larger ones as he pulled her face closer to his. She had closed her eyes in anticipation of another heart-melting kiss, where his lips met hers in passion. Instead, she ignored the small sense of disappointment and settled for the tenderness of the forehead peck, smiling as it filled her with a soft warmth.
When he pulled away, Rikara bit back her protests and instead looked to the portal he opened, nervous and excited all at once at the sight. She was awed that he was able to do such a feat, something that no magic user at home could do, though knew that his magic was dark. Of course, she had to travel through a portal as he called it to get here - she was still in one piece and reasoned that he wouldn't cast any magic that would harm her intentionally. Still, she was hesitant in standing up from his lap, watching the locations change within the circle briefly until it settled on the room they were sharing.
She looked back at him when he spoke of spoiling her, giving him a rueful smile as she knelt beside him and offered her hand to help him up. "But you have given me so much already. I think I am plenty spoiled. My people won't know what to do when I am craving ice cream and there isn't a way to make it at home."
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Post by Ventia on Sept 12, 2022 20:18:22 GMT -5
"Princesses are supposed to be a bit spoiled aren't they though?" Jackson countered, his tone flirty and teasing, as he gladly claimed her hand as his own, interlocking their fingers getting a good warm and firm grip and using the power in his lower half to raise himself straight up, making sure that he barely put any of his weight on her lovely body. He knew she could easily haul him up, even carry him if she needed to, but Jackson felt no need to give her any kind of strain. The emotional baggage he had just dumped on her was enough of that as it was, plus he was still a little too manly to let himself need help in merely standing up from a sitting position. Pride definitely being one of his many sins.
Greed too.
Jackson thought, rubbing his thumb over the soft texture of her skin, even being able to hold her hand like this after years of restraining himself even more so since Rikara came back into his life, it was like a small miracle had presented itself to Jackson, and being the greedy man he fully planned to soak it all up, to reap all the rewards and enjoy every touch and moment he had with Rikara like this.
"When you become Queen, that spoiled meter can skyrocket, you've earned it!" He said with passion, his hazel eyes brimming with delight and brightness. "I'll bring you anything you desire. I'll spend days weeks hell years if I need to, to teach your people what they have to do, I can probably farm on a large scale, my garden is doing pretty good...What?" He squinted his eyes at her playfully.
"Are you laughing at me? You've seen it. So what if it's a family garden, I still water the stupid things, every day I'm not even allowed to use my magic, I got to go out there every day in the hot sun and water them like my life depends on it. I guess it does, considering my mother and grandmother would kill me if any of their 'babies' died." Jackson sighed, tsking and shaking his head at the ridiculous way the woman in his family could be. Still a smile was closely behind that sigh, because Jackson completely loved the two woman in question.
He was grateful that he had been able to share them with Rikara since her stay, of course they were little moments throughout the day but Jackson felt they had grown fond of each other in the little time that passed. He wanted to prolong his time with her, their carefree days with no real threat to them besides from Rikara learning to deal with her darker nature of magic. If he could bargain with the devil, he would, but knew from his grandfather's warnings, that nothing good came from dealing with Lucifer. Still, he would if he had to. Jackson thought stubbornly, his hold on Rikara's fingers tightening for a moment before relaxing once more.
"I can be quite the resourceful man, I'm sure I'll succeed." In everything, he silently vowed and gave her another charming smile, his eyes showing his promised vow.
"After you, my lady." He nodded at the portal and waited for her to enter, stepping alongside her as if it was his rightful place to be, beside her, and for Jackson it was.
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Post by Thea on Sept 26, 2022 17:47:37 GMT -5
It was later.
The sun had since set from their time in the forest. The Earth's moon hung low in the sky, becoming smaller and smaller every day, not unlike the phases of the moons back home. There were decidedly less stars, however, due to something Jackson called "light pollution". Nonetheless, they were pretty, with a more pragmatic - if not happier - origin story. The lights of Rome were equally as bright, spanning in all directions for miles around beneath the balcony their suite had attached to it. Rikara felt torn between enjoying them and despising them that they were part of the cause of the disappearing stars.
After eating dinner and taking a well-deserved nap, she and Jackson woke up tangled in each other's embrace. Still yet Rikara felt torn between duty and desire, with Jackson's mentions of the curse that was over him and his family. How they were doomed to be rejected by their true love. The gelato they ordered from room service tasted bitter in her mouth; she couldn't make up her mind whether it was because she finally found a flavor that she didn't like or because of the feeling she had of teetering on a ledge.
She thought back to Jackson's mother and grandmother, both sweet women that reminded her of the maternal figures in her own life back in Gahal. With how open they were with her, one wouldn't think that she wasn't destined to break Jackson's heart, but fated to be welcomed into the family. She knew that she wished that it was so, too. The Jackson that she had been reintroduced to versus the Jackson that stood beside her were two different people, with the former being abrasive like sand and the other being soft as silk. She knew that it was because he no longer wanted to hide from the curse and thus no longer hide from her. Rikara's heart couldn't help but speed up at that. She could no longer deny that she wanted him, as well.
Yet she also couldn't deny that Jackson's mother and grandmother held an air of ... sadness. A deep, aching sadness that was nearly palpable. She only felt that kind of loss when her mother and the rest of her family had passed, but never had she felt it with someone that was still alive.
Which brought her to stare off into space, a question forming in her mind that had her wondering if it were better off being left alone. Her hand stirred her "chocolate orange" flavored gelato idly, turning the spoon clockwise a few times before going the other way. By the time she broke the companionable silence it was reduced to a dark brown and orange liquid similar to melted ice cream.
"Didn't you say that you had a relationship with your grandfather?"
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Post by Ventia on Sept 30, 2022 19:20:15 GMT -5
Jackson was behind her, they were resting on one of the overly large chaise lounge with Rikara between his legs watching the night sky of Rome. The day felt almost perfect in Jackson's eyes, if he didn't let himself think of their situation, he could really believe that they were a couple. He had confessed. They enjoyed a fabulous dinner together. Rikara even slept in his arms. Now they were they snuggling on the balcony, eating dessert like any loving couple would do on such a beautiful night.
The nocciola gelato he had was already finished leaving a sweet taste on his tongue, he was never the type to go out of his way to eat desserts but he had wanted to with Rikara. He wanted to give her everything. Every experience he would conjure up, it was hers. Yet, he didn't miss her silent musings, though it was still comfortable to be with her, he could feel the soft tensing in her shoulders and the swirling of her own gelato was a dead giveaway.
"Didn't like it?" He asked instead, reaching over for the cup and taking it out of her hands moving it next to his on the table next to them before wrapping his arms under her belly, pulling her snug and close. He laid his head on the curve between her neck and shoulder and turned his face to look at hers.
"I do, we have a good relationship. Raziel was the only father figure I had in my life. Why? What is that curious mind thinking about?" He asked softly, looking at her distant gaze, wishing he could keep her anchored to him, should he make it so she could never leave him? Should he lock her up, isolate her, to where even her past couldn't reach her? There were places, places that were beyond the other deities touch, he could create a world within them, fill it with whatever she desired, a replica of her kingdom, filled with both their cultures all in one, hell he would even kidnap every citizen of her homeland, force them to join her in their private domain, they could make a life together, spend eternity hidden away, where neither of their pasts, their duties, his curse, could get to them.
He hummed softly, the curse, would she grow to hate him if he did that? Maybe not in the beginning, maybe not even in ten twenty or even fifty years, what about a hundred years? A thousand? She would hate him then, hate him for making her run away, to take the coward way of life, Rikara would never be a coward, he wouldn't let it happen, he sighed, letting the idea go, it wouldn't do in the long run.
"Are you wondering why I like him and not my father? When they both did the same thing?"
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Post by Thea on Oct 5, 2022 12:30:51 GMT -5
"It was too bitter," Rikara answered distractedly, still not sure if she was talking about the gelato. Instinctively, her fingers tightened the hold they had on the glass of the container before she realized that it had been Jackson trying to put it away for her. She let him take it with no more hesitation and allowed herself to be pulled back toward him. The feeling of guilt tried to rear its ugly head, but she refused to give it any attention and allowed herself to enjoy this moment. To enjoy his arms around her middle and his head on her shoulder.
She had asked for time to sort out her own feelings. But it was like she had asked for time they didn't have. That his confession had been years ago and not just earlier that day. The sensation of desperation threatened to drown her. Smother. Despite him telling her he could wait, that he would wait, there was something within her that chafed at that. Like she was cruelly dangling something in front of him that he desperately wanted. Falsely offering a loaf of bread to a beggar man.
Was it this curse that made her feel that way? Because she did care for him. And she did want to be in his life. But was that love? She never really had a true example of love in a romantic sense. Her mother had never married. And yes there was the man that everyone had assumed had been her father, but she had never seen either of them be romantic with each other. She knew that she didn't love Tolor because she knew that their union would have been one of convenience. He would have gained access to the spirit realm and she would have gained ranks of strong and loyal soldiers to add to her mother's army. There was camaraderie between she and Tolor, but nothing past that.
And did Jackson really love her as he claims he does? Or did the curse decide that since he was next in line to make him fall for her? Why her? It was evident that there were millions of other women on his home planet. What made her to be the one, a foreign being from a different planet, to break his heart? She didn't want to.
"Yes." Rikara's answer was simple, but the smile she had on her face was genuine. He always seemed to know just what she was thinking. She figured that it was because she always seemed to be an open book, having no need for secrecy when she was growing up. But Tolor never really could decipher her thoughts the way Jackson did without her having to explain herself. Her question had been simple, yet Rikara's thought process was never simple. "Your mother and grandmother have twin airs of heartbreaking lonesomeness. Yet ... how did you say his name? Ra-zsh-iel?" Z's were nonexistent in the Galarian language, and every time she heard it in English she couldn't quite position her mouth in the way Jackson could. Her attemts always came out as soft, vibrating shhing sounds. "He is still around. At least, around enough so that he could be in your life.
"I would like to believe-" she paused just long enough to turn her body in his arms so that she didn't have a massive crick in her neck, looking him in the eyes- "that I know you well enough to know that you allowed him to be in your life. You do not do things that you do not want to do. You do not have things you do not like. Your father is not in your life because you do not like him. What makes your grandfather different?"
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