The Tiger Within 389 Tainted Truth

She was lost, and yet the pain in her eyes was all he truly noticed. With her arms folded across her chest and her body pulled to full height she seemed to be warning those around her not to mess with her right now.  Clovis sighed moving behind her, he slid his hands over hers, gently holding her back to his chest. Kyera looked up at him her eyes searching his face.

"Clovis, you… you can't go." Kyera whispered softly. Her eyes were pleading with him to understand.

"Someone has to and your Grandmother clearly doesn't want it to be you." Clovis reminded her gently. He placed a kiss on her forehead before abruptly sitting down on a swinging seat. His hands holding hers which were still crossed over her chest caused her to fall back on his lap.

"Clovis, this is a public garden." she reminded him a touch sharply and he smiled.

"Love, if you didn't want to be on my lap, could I have really pulled you down like this?" he teased wrapping his arms around her waist now. Kyera blushed crimson realizing he was right. She didn't even resist as he pulled her into his lap.

"Grandest Mother doesn't want me to go, but if you go you won't make it home." Kyera replied seriously, trying to slip past her own embarra.s.sment for the moment. He nodded slowly, seeming to think this over for a long moment. "I need to do this."

"Kyera, why do you need this so badly? Help me understand." Clovis's request was made clear by his tone. This was yet another layer to his wife he wanted to reveal.

"Because my worth is not decided by that sorry excuse for a woman. Everything she has ever touched she has ruined…" Kyera growled looking away, her voice hard as steel, but he felt the anger was fake. Just a mask for how she really felt.

"Mmhm now tell me why you really feel this way." Clovis whispered to her gently, trying to coax the truth from her lips. She pulled away and he let her slip off his lap. The proud beauty that was his wife seemed to shrink, her shoulders pulled inward, her arms crossed over her waist. She faced away from him for a long moment.

"I don't want her curse to take what family I have left." Kyera whispered. "She disapproved of us, so my marriage and my child should be safe. Yet her 'sacrifice' paid my due to this family… if i don't fix it what if she ruins this too?"  

Clovis felt his heart ach as he watched her turn to look at him. The force of the emotion in her eyes was heart wrenching. He could feel the helpless child she had been when her brother's died. He could feel the keenness of pain from the knives the betrayals embedded in her back. "Then let me pay the cost. Let me help you build a bridge on our own terms."

"No… I can't live with it if you die." Kyera replied firmly. Clovis frowned as a thought crossed his mind, making him uneasy he stood from the chair swing.

"So you don't have faith in me?" he asked, there was a soft edge to his voice. "If it was Verone, would you have let him?" he asked remembering the brutish power that tiger had. He knew he was weaker, but he had never minded it before. Not till now, this woman made him want to he stronger. Stronger than anything that might threaten her, or their family.

"Yes, but there is a reason for that, Clovis. Verone is… was a forest knight. He is accustomed to the illusions the shadows cast." Kyera replied as she settled back in place on his lap till she sat sideways. Her arms wrapping around his neck now, after slipping her hands free of his. "I am also not afraid of losing Verone." Kyera replied, letting the rest of that sentence hang in the air between them.

Clovis chuckled woefully. In one statement she had managed to ignite his anger and extinguish it in the next breath. He truly felt like a coaxed bride. He was also surprised to find he kinda liked that feeling, as long as it was her doing the coaxing.

Author's Note

so one more authors note:

The way I am using familial t.i.tles in the Frost Kingdom is a little unique.

your own generation is Cousin or by name

parents are mother father, parents

siblings are Aunt or uncle

Parents Parents are just Grand mother or grandfather, their siblings are Grand aunt Grand uncle

the Great Grandparent generation is great grandmother or great grandfather except if it is the eldest living generation. then its Grandest Mother, grandest Father ext. such as Grandest Mother being Crystalsa in Kyera's eyes

it was brought to my attention that this might be complicated so i wanted to clarify.

thanks

Vali