Kyana Of Cintra

42

Kyana woke up to the sun streaming through the window. She smiled at it, thankful for something so common to have been gifted to her. After completely breaking down in front of Geralt, he had refused to leave her. Instead, they had divided the double bed into two and agreed to remain on their respective sides. 

Kyana felt a weight on her waist. Looking down, Kyana noticed Geralt's arm placed protectively over her, keeping her safe from the harm he was sure Elias would cause her. Kyana wasn't sure what to do. Does she get up and disturb Geralt or stay there? In her small moments of deliberation, a noise grumbled from behind her, sending vibrations over her back. "Good morning." Geralt's voice, if it was even possible, was deeper from sleep, filled with the huskiness of disuse. Kyana smiled gently, even though he couldn't see it.

"Good morning." She replied, watching the colours of the sun shimmer in odd patterns around the window. Kyana decided if she was to have a conversation with Geralt, she would have to turn. She did so, careful to leave his arm leaning gently on her side.

She faced him, his almost angelic hair a little bit of a mess, which she was sure she could match. His eyes were so bright; the good night's sleep and the sun brightening and heightening every single beautiful speck of colour in his eyes. His face held a relaxed smile, lazily curving it's way onto his features. Truth be told, Kyana felt a little embarrassed about her actions the night before. She reacted stupidly, even through Geralt's reassurance she knew that. Her trials and tribulations just hit her that day, and she broke down like she never had before.

Instead of focusing on what was fixed last night, she focused on him right now. Her small moments of overthinking were perfectly timed so that she didn't notice Geralt memorize every curve, angle, mark young and old on her ethereal face. Her eyes, like his, were heightened by both the sun and the night's sleep, shimmering like diamonds to compliment her hair, full of sapphires. He couldn't ever tire from looking at her face, ever.

"What?" Geralt snapped back to reality, watching as Kyana's eyebrow tilted upwards in question.

"Hmm?" He hummed, having broken out of the trance of her beauty. She gave him a small, delighted smile.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" He tried to hide the grin from flowing freely onto his face, but it was useless.

"Like what?" He questioned innocently, although his eyes held absolutely everything he felt.

"Like that!" She gave a small laugh, watching as he absorbed the emotions on her face with amusement.

"I can't tell what you're talking about." Kyana gave him an unconvinced look, but dropped the subject. It was silent for a moment where neither of them knew what to say.

"Do you know what time it is?" Kyana broke the silence, her eyes wandering over to the window.

"Well, it was sunrise around half an hour ago, so early." Kyana nodded, her head snuggling closer into the pillow, eyes closing in comfort.

"Good. I can sleep in." Geralt chuckled, a rumbling sound that shook every fiber in Kyana's being.

"In a situation like this, only you would think about sleeping." Kyana gave an amused hum, a small sigh of discontent leaving her parted lips. She didn't want to address the issue that would surely await her in a few hours.

"I don't want to deal with him." Kyana complained, burying her face even further into the pillow. Geralt laughed, watching her beauty disappear into the soft cotton of the snowy pillow.

"But you could be Queen." Geralt admitted lightly, tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear. Her head moved, allowing her left eye to see him. Realizing that her voice would be muffled if she tried to speak to him through the pillow, Kyana just decided to move her face for him to hear her.

"But I'd have to leave you."

Through the genuinity of her statement, Geralt saw something in her eyes, something he had seen in the eyes of people who got hurt. He saw affection. And it frightened him. In every way, he felt for her just as much as she felt for him, maybe even more, which also frightened him. He had never felt like he had then, he had never had someone like her in his life. What if someone came after her to get to him? What about the vise versa?

"Then," he cleared his throat, preparing for the lie about to flood out of his mouth. "maybe it's for the best." Kyana's face turned from carefree and happy to confused and sad. The look of utter rejection shattered his heart. He knew it had to be done. If someone killed her to get to him because they saw how he felt about her, he would never forgive himself. He knew it would cause both of them pain if someone took advantage of their feelings. And through all this, through all the reasons he told himself it was okay, the truth was that he was just terrified of someone actually caring.

"What?" If the look on her face didn't break him, the small, defeated and confused whisper did. His stomach felt wrong, like he'd been punched, his head hurt, but it was his heart that hurt the most. It took everything in his power to keep up his facade, to keep his face serious and void of how he truly felt.

"I said maybe it's for the best if you leave. You'd be a Queen" Kyana scoffed, leaning up on her elbow, her hair over one shoulder and falling over her arm.

"You think after how I reacted yesterday I want to be Queen?" Kyana looked sullen, screaming at herself in her head about letting herself actually feel, about thinking he wanted the same thing.

"No, but maybe you'll change your mind after Elias tells you what he has to say." Kyana looked at him incredulously. If he didn't know that she would never, ever be swayed to do something like that, maybe he didn't know her at all. Kyana turned and pulled back the covers, getting out of bed and letting Geralt's arm drop to the worn mattress. She didn't care if it hurt him or not. He just led her on for months, years if you count all of the comments that could be flirting, then flat rejected her, practically telling her to just leave him. A strange and unfamiliar sense of misplacement overwhelmed her, as though she had put something in a safe place and couldn't find where that safe place was.

"Kyana-"

"Just get up and get dressed. I'm sorry I fell asleep in your bed. I'll see you in a few hours."