Of Doves and Dragons

Chapter Thirty-five: The Rise and Fall of Tension

"Falling from high places, falling through lost spaces. Now that we're lonely, now that there's nowhere to go. Watching from both sides these clock towers burning up. I lost my time here. I lost my patience with it all."

-Ben Howard, The Wolves

"Ember I swear, you can't honestly be considering this!" Draco shouted brazenly. His shoulders were bunched together like a panther about to pounce, his teeth bared, eyes cold liked hardened marble.

"It would only be for a night!" She argued.

Bianca had invited Ember to accompany her to a book signing in Montreal the following weekend.

Draco stared scathingly at her, stubbing out his cigarette angrily in the ash tray she bought him the week before. He stood by the open window with the top of his shirt unbuttoned. His habit had generally become an unresolved issue that winter. Every time he needed the relief of nicotine, Ember would freeze, even more than usual, as the Canadian wind blew into their room. He seemed to be immune, and this time it was almost as if he brought the cold with him.

"The answers no." He said bluntly with a bitterness most unbecoming. "Have you forgotten that we are in exile and on the run? We can't just go off roaming because we want to."

She flinched slightly, it wasn't exactly nice to accuse her of forgetfulness. Even if it was an overdramatic hyperbole brought into the heat of an argument, she didn't appreciate it. Huffing, she lowered her own voice, "Are you arguing with because I'm going to the city or because you weren't invited?"

His eyes narrowed, pointing a deliberate finger at her. His reasons had absolutely nothing to due to the fact that he hadn't been invited and laid with the ache that she would want to separate from him when they were still in hiding. "You know that it's insane to separate, even if it's only for one night. I don't even like you walking across town to work in that damn bookshop!"

Her stance became accusing as much as his had become defensive. "Is that why you come with me three days out of the week? Why can't you just work for Wallace too?" She shook her head abstrusely. "Why do you have to be so sullen and complicated? We left your world so that we might have a chance to have a life in this one, not to stay boarded up in this damn surrogate of the manor."

He slammed the window in aggravation. It bounced off the hinges and swung back open, narrowly hitting him in the back of the head. "Fuck Em! Why did I even fucking come with you if you were just going to blatantly ignore all of our problems. They still exist even if you brushed them under the rug. You can't just place them out of sight out of mind. It doesn't work that way."

She frowned, but was still invigorated with anger. "So you wish you stayed with them and rotted the rest of your short life away drinking and avoiding mirrors? Waiting to be punished, no matter the crime; waiting to be let out of your cage?"

Both, in the heat of the argument, ignored that their conversation was blurring over lines and coalescing all their problems into one dangerous clump, leading to the damaging exclamation:

"Yeah, sometimes I do!"

The words, so simply stated with no remorse, punctured her like a thousand little cuts. Those doubts that had always lingered had just been given a voice, underlining the facts and causing a strong swirl of guilt to clutch at her heart.

She plucked her coat off the bed, all the anger melted away into solidifying ice. "If this is so horrible for you then maybe you should go back." She whispered quietly, without meeting his softening eyes, and left the inn.

He stared at the space she left for a long moment. With a string of curses, he fished for another cigarette and lit it in front of the window with a sigh. As a huddled figure amongst the snow, he saw her walk down the lane with her head bowed.