Lost Child from Another World

Talk with Ronan

Cyrus and Atlas were always surrounded, whether they were together, by themselves, with their dance partners, or with family.

After a while, Cyrus felt suffocated so he walked to an unoccupied balcony and sighed in exhaustion. Unlike Atlas, he was a lot more introverted and only opened up with people he knew and loved.

He didn't know how Atlas could be surrounded by so many people without getting tired.

As he looked up at the stars and sipped on juice, the door to the balcony opened.

It was Prince Ronan.

Truthfully, this was the first time Cyrus had ever been alone with Prince Ronan since Ronan visited them to be friends. Ronan mostly stuck to Atlas, and Sophie was always there with them.

"Oh, I did not know this balcony was occupied. Is it alright if I accompany you?" Ronan asked while shutting the door already.

"Be my guest. This is your home anyway." Cyrus didn't care and continued to look at the scenery in front of him. The garden was lit up for the night, so he could see the fireflies drifting through the flowers and trees.

There were a few fountains in view that were well-sculpted and polished.

There was even a rose bush maze that people could walk through. He could see some couples walking through the maze, seemingly in a world of their own.

"This is the first time without Atlas or Sophie around," Ronan said, his expression not changing. Honestly, he wasn't sure why he was filling the silence like this, but he did have something he wanted to say to Cyrus.

Cyrus didn't glance at him and just nodded. "You look like you have something you want to say to me. Though we are not close like you are with Atlas, I do see us as friends and therefore, should be able to talk about difficult topics."

"You are straight to the point as always, but that is what I appreciate about you." Ronan looked away and closed his eyes. "I can see you are suspicious of me and my feelings for Atlas."

"Of course, you keep saying that you do not like him romantically, but your actions say otherwise. It is also confusing Atlas who has high emotional intelligence. You look like someone who is in denial. You seem to be conflicted about your feelings for him and you keep telling him you do not like him like that to reassure some deep-rooted issue you cannot get rid of and do not know how to get rid of."

Cyrus' words were like a sharp blade, stabbing Ronan in all the right places to make sure he wouldn't have a chance of coming back to life.

"I knew your tongue was sharp but I did not realize how blunt you were with your words... You are right."

For the first time, Ronan gave a helpless and worried expression. "I do have romantic feelings for Atlas, but I am scared that it is rooted in a superficial interest and not in emotional attraction. I do not want to hurt Atlas with my problematic feelings of obsession and surface-level interest.

"Like the dragons of our world, I feel obsession and possessiveness like a dragon hoarding its treasure. I do not know if I see Atlas as a person or an object to be observed. I do want it to be the former, but the guardian dragons have said I am closer to being a dragon than I am to a human. Meaning the blood of the dragon is much stronger in me than any of my ancestors.

"I am different from my family members. I rarely feel emotions and if I do, it is mostly superficial feelings. Atlas does not deserve to be with someone like me, someone who does not feel like a human should."

Cyrus listened carefully to everything that Ronan told him and felt that his feelings were justified. More than anything, Ronan cherished Atlas and was worried that the dragon side of him would hurt Atlas. Dragons of this world were mostly uninterested in the mortal world and only protected the Hirean Empire because this was what Sohtris wanted them to do. They protected the Empire out of their self-interest instead of the betterment of the people.