Lux [h.s]

twenty-six

Cora opened her eyes just to discover that Harry was still lying down next to her.

A quick glance to the window confirmed that it was late morning, but he hadn't left early in the morning like he usually did. He was sleeping peacefully, his eyes closed and his lips parted, and she felt her breath die in her throat. How could someone be so naturally beautiful?

She turned to him, but he didn't make a move, surprisingly. He was a very light sleeper—it didn't take much to awaken him. And yet there he was, on the mattress next to her, unaware of the voices coming from outside and of the way the bed had just moved under him.

Cora frowned, worry coming over her. She hesitated a little before slowly peeling the blanket off his torso, trying not to wake him up. It wasn't weird to check if he was all right. She gently raised his shirt and saw that the only thing that remained of the wound from the night before was the scar Thalia hadn't been able to erase.

She covered him with the blanket, feeling calmer now that she knew he was just oversleeping, and put her own head on the pillow again, facing him and letting out a deep breath as she let herself get lost in the admiration of his sleeping features. The relaxed look on his face made him look even more breathtaking, the intimidation he instilled in her when he was awake nowhere to be found.

He opened his eyes, a confused look flashing through his forest green irises when he caught her observing him. She sat up quickly, her heart beating violently in her chest, feeling her cheeks redden. She glanced at him from over her shoulder, but felt even more embarrassed when she saw he was still looking at her.

Harry sat up as well, brushing back his brunette hair, and she let out an exasperated sigh when she noticed that his side profile was just as stunning, the pointed tip of his ears adding softness to his looks. The thin little gold hoops of his earrings were oddly placed because he'd been lying on that side, and she bit her tongue to keep a chuckle for coming out of her mouth.

He noticed her eyes were still on him and turned to look at her, tilting his head.

"I didn't expect you to still be here," she said quietly, and he hummed.

"I didn't expect to still be here, too."

Cora glanced down. Part of her was disappointed by his reply. He hadn't planned on being there when she woke up. After everything that had happened between them, even after the events of the night before, he couldn't let that wall he'd erected between them crumble.

But, inadvertently, he had.

"Have your ears always been like that?" he asked all of a sudden, and she gave him a confused glance.

"What do you mean?"

"You know..." He drew a little arch in the air with his pointer finger, not daring to say that word they were both thinking.

Round.

Cora shrugged. "Yeah, why?"

"Just wondering." He stood up quickly and took off his shirt, putting it on the chair.

Cora's mouth fell open, and now she was sure her cheeks were going up in flames.

Her eyes followed the lines of his body; the curve of his shoulders, the path of his collarbones, the elegant dip of his waist, the perfect merge of what was muscle and the gentle flow of his form. She wasn't so sure she knew how to breathe anymore.

He turned his back to her to open the window, and that's when she noticed it.

There was a scar running down his spine, all the way from the spot between his shoulder blades to halfway through his back, mixing with some dark lines that twisted and turned, like unreadable signs of an alphabet unknown to her. The sight made her heart hurt, but she didn't know why. What had happened to him?