A Court of Love and Healing {ACOTAR}

The Weight of Truth

Emerie stares at him in disbelief, swallowing hard. She goes to say something, but nothing comes out of her mouth. However, her mind is running a mile a minute.

"Am I even ready for this? Why now? Why him? Why, why, why...?"

Balthazar clears his throat and steps back shyly, giving her room to breathe, yet still staring into her eyes. "Don't be afraid, or worried, or...horrified. I don't expect anything from you, nor are you obligated to want me in that way, Emerie", he whispers, shock still upon his features as well.

Taking a deep breath, she clears her mind and looks at the male before her. The male that has shown her nothing but kindness, understanding, and, despite being unconscious at the time—safety. Moving close to him again, she reaches up and takes his face between her hands, her big brown eyes wide, yet determined.

"I am not afraid of you. Nor am I horrified. I'm not even very worried, at least not of you. I—I am a damaged person, Bal..."

"I know who you are, Emerie. While I may not have years or even months of time of knowing you under my belt, I believe I know your heart. And I definitely know your strength, your courage, your kindness, and your empathy."

Brushing her thumbs along his cheekbones, she allows a soft smile to come to her face. "Did you know I never thought this would happen to me?"

"Did you know that I never expected it to happen to me either?"

She chuckles and drops her hand, only to pick up his larger ones in her small ones, watching as she interlaces their fingers before looking back into his eyes. "Mate", she whispers.

Balthazar turns a shy shade of red and swallows hard. "Mate", he murmurs, gently leaning down to place his forehead on hers.

"Thank you. For allowing me to say it first. Usually, a male can hardly contain it from spilling from his lips."

"It was very difficult to hold in", he chuckles deeply. "But I pride myself on being controlled and aware. And I know you didn't want to hear it from me until you were ready. You wanted to process it first to prepare yourself."

Emerie smiles and lightly nuzzles his nose with hers. "Maybe you haven't known me for years or months, but it certainly feels like you have. That's exactly how I felt. You just seem to know."

"As I said, I pride myself on awareness. I like to be in tune with both myself and others. How they're feeling, how they think, and what their desires are. You must remember, I enjoy politics over violence. The biggest part of politics is the verbal and emotional relations between people. I find we only take a hundred steps back when we either scream at one another or refuse to speak. Discussions have to be had. Hard ones, difficult, horrifying, and sometimes depressing ones. But they need to be had or no progress will ever be made. At least not for Illyria. So I like to live my life that way too. Deciphering individuals for who they are on the inside, long before making a judgment based on the outside."

Emerie tears up and squeezes his hands. "You are one incredible male, Bal."

"Lucky for me, the Mother mated me to a female who is beautiful both on the inside and the outside."

Eagerly tossing her arms around his neck, Emerie sniffs and settles into his gentle hold, realizing that she has truly been blessed by the Mother, after all her trauma. That she deserves this male. And he deserves her.

"You're not so bad yourself you know", she chuckles through a soft cry.

"Phew! That's good to know, I was really worried there", he laughs. "Hey, why are you crying?"

"Happy tears, I'm happy. I'm actually very very happy. However unexpected, I-I don't think the Mother could've chosen anyone better for me than you."

"Em...", he blushes, placing a soft kiss upon her cheek.