When Summer Dies
Chapter 9: Returned and Torn Away

Cerron knew that pacing wouldn’t bring Maria back any sooner, but he had to do something with all his conserved energy. So, pacing it was.

It had been three painful weeks. He had not truly realized how much Maria meant to him before a frantic Dinna stumbled into the study, carrying a small note left behind by a troubled heart.

Groaning, Cerron turned sharply and walked briskly in the other direction. He scowled at the floor, and behind his back, his nails dug into the flesh of his wrists. The Entrance Hall smudged around the edges, and everything seemed unnaturally dark, as if his eyes had been covered by transparent cloth. All his surroundings had been like that most of the time the last three weeks.

Oh, how things had changed after Maria had trotted into his castle. She brought change into his life, something new. She was someone who understood him. Someone who wouldn’t look at him and think king.

It frightened him, how much her friendship meant to him. How much someone who could make him laugh meant to him.

Someone who could make him want to live again.

Abruptly, the huge entrance doors swung open, and four guards marched in before stopping a few feet inside. Cerron didn’t linger on their identities, however, because a girl was walking in front of them, bearing a solemn yet fragile expression.

Cerron stopped, and even though he had been expecting them, he drew a sharp breath. The sight tugged the black veil away from his eyes, and something inside of him sung out in greeting. “Maria,” he breathed, and her calm expression broke.

Letting out a strangled sob, Maria took off in a run to cross the room. Before Cerron could fathom what was happening, she wrapped her arms around his torso and hid her face in his chest, her shoulders shaking with silent sobs. “Cerron,” she mumbled. “Oh, Cerron…”

“Leave us,” Cerron barked to the Guards, who saluted him in unison and left the room. “Maria, dear, calm down,” he whispered, then, and wrapped his arms around Maria’s shoulders to return the embrace. “What is troubling you?”

Maria only shook her head, and drew a shivering breath. “Sorry,” she whispered. “I just – I missed you.”

Cerron, despite the situation, smiled widely, and closed his eyes to savor in the warmth of the embrace. “I missed you as well,” he confessed softly, and Maria giggled.

“I don’t – I don’t want to marry some random dick from the Human Kingdom,” she told him, still hiding her face in his chest. “And when I say dick, I mean serious issues.”

Cerron laughed merrily, and felt like flying at the happiness and gratitude surging through him. “Will you tell me the story?” he asked, voice crackling with happiness.

When Maria looked up from his chest, she met his slow smile with a stubborn grin. “As if you had any choice.”

He had to support Maria for most of the way to the study, and when they arrived there, she all but collapsed into one of the chairs. “Oh, Nie,” she breathed, and covered her mouth with her hand as she screwed her eyes shut. “I thought I’d never see this place again,” she confessed, and when she opened her eyes again, they were sparkling with fresh tears. “I thought I would have to marry Keri and never come back and oh Cerron I’m sorry.”

Cerron frowned, and held her warm hand between two of his. “You should not apologize,” he muttered carefully, meeting her gaze with a soft look on his face. There was something reminding him of glass in her eyes, something fragile yet fierce, and Cerron could see the ambers of the fire he had seen the day she had introduced herself to archery. “But rather tell me the story.”

Maria nodded sluggishly, and wiped away the tears that were still spilling out of her eyes. “He came to me in the middle of the night,” she muttered, and inhaled shakily. “And left me no time to think or consider my choices.”

“So, you went,” said Cerron.

“I went,” Maria nodded solemnly. “I wish I had not. Keri turned out to be worse than the men at the Human Kingdom were; sweet at first glance, but creepy once you get to know him. He treated me as if I were nothing but a toy.”

Cerron hummed lowly and scowled. “You did nothing about it?” he growled quietly, though he wasn’t directing his anger at her.

“No,” Maria shook her head. “I did not. Until he decided that we should stay at a tavern for the last night at the Demon Kingdom, I did not dare go against him terribly much.”

“That was when you were recognized?”

“Yes, and thank Nie for that,” Maria laughed weakly. “Even though I had to punch him before he let me go home.”

Cerron blinked, and sat back in his seat. “You punched him?” he asked, raising his eyebrows in disbelief.

Maria narrowed one eye at him. “Yeah,” she said. “Problem?”

Cerron laughed a relieved, awed, and breathless laugh. “Problem, why, of course not! Maria, dear, you actually – you actually punched him, oh, that is great…”

Smiling, Maria’s dark eyes lit up. She laughed, as well, and sat back in her chair. They lapsed into silence, but it was a comfortable one. One filled with relief, and joy, and hope, and Cerron felt as if the world had returned to normal.

Then, after a few minutes of content silence, Maria’s smile faded. “They call me the King’s Jewel, you know,” she said, quietly, and looked at her lap.

“Who?”

Maria bit her lip and flexed her fingers. “I – some villagers. I don’t know if it was just the two of them or what, but I’m still called the King’s Jewel by someone.”

Cerron frowned, and tapped his chin. “I can tell them to stop it, if you would like.”

Maria shrugged. “It’s meant as an endearment, so why bother?” Her gaze flickered for a moment, and then she squared her shoulders. “On that note,” she said, and the ambers in her eyes flared to life as she took on a determined expression. “I do not wish to be a visitor any longer.”

Cerron’s world tilted before reassembling again, and he carefully unclenched his fingers from the armrests. “Well,” he said. “Of course. Yes. Why – why not. I shall certainly not hinder you.”

Maria beamed, but before any of them could say another word, the door burst open and Dinna stumbled in. “I heard Maria’s back -” she gasped, before cutting herself short when her pale gaze landed on the only other female in the room. “Oh,” she breathed. “Your Highness.”

Before Dinna had the time to finish her bow, Maria was up from her chair and holding her in a tight embrace.

Dinna seemed to forget about her job as a servant as she returned the tight embrace with a watery laugh. There were tears glistening on her cheeks, and first then did Cerron realize how deep the friendship between the two girls ran.

“You’re back,” Dinna whispered. “You’re really back.”

“I have something for you,” Maria replied, and took a step back to pull a carved wooden heart out of a pocket. She handed it over to Dinna, and Dinna, who’d never had any personal belongings, burst into tears anew.

Cerron, in his chair, smiled.

Things were going to be okay.

Time passed, as always, as if nothing had ever happened. Cerron wasn’t sure if he should be worried or relieved that Keri’s stunt had not changed his and Maria’s routine, and in the end, he decided that it didn’t really matter. She was back, and that was what counted.

“I feel freer,” Maria told him, when a whole week had passed, and they were walking through the Royal Gardens.

Cerron raised an eyebrow. “You are just as free now, as you were before,” he reminded her, and Maria rolled her eyes as they rounded the corner to the Fountain of Mäti.

“I know,” she groaned. “But still, I just… I feel freer in a different way. What father did was stupid, and I should never have agreed to it in the first place. And now, when I have made the conscious choice to stay here – well, I feel like I’ve defied him, somehow. Disappointed him.” She drew a shuddering breath, but the look in her eyes wasn’t sorrowful. It was proud. “That’s the most freeing thing I’ve ever done.”

Cerron smiled. “Good,” he said. “Morris can be a twat.”

Maria laughed. “You have a point,” she agreed. “Still. Everything is just – so much clearer, after I realized that he did never actually ask me what I wanted. He just wanted an heir that wasn’t a girl.”

“Morris can be a twat,” Cerron repeated, and Maria turned to look at him with laughter in her eyes.

The laughter died when she laid eyes upon him, and her gaze drifted to something over his shoulder. Shock and horror lit up her face, but before Cerron could ask what was wrong, he heard a crunching sound behind him, and then there was a sharp pain in the back of his head, and then everything

went

dark.

An angry dwarf was hammering at the inside of Cerron’s skull, and he was cold to the bone. He groaned, and tried to rub at his face, only to notice that freezing chains were digging into the flesh of his arms, keeping him from moving too much. Fear shot through him, and his head snapped up to take in his surroundings, his instincts kicking in.

There was a thick layer of snow covering the ground, so he was outside. The skies were bright enough to see, so it was still daytime. There were trees surrounding him, so he must be in a forest.

Maria lay in a heap on the ground a few feet away from him, her eyes closed and her expression peaceful. She was wearing thick, woolen clothes, so she couldn’t be freezing, and after a few terrifying seconds, Cerron noticed her chest lifting and sinking with every breath she took.

A deep shudder wrecked through him, and he gritted his teeth as he tilted his head to look down on himself. He was wearing only his white cotton shirt - its sleeves rolled up to expose his pale arms - and his simple leather pants. His robes, cape, gloves and boots were all gone.

No wonder he was freezing.

“Ah, hello, little monster,” a gruff voice grunted, and Cerron’s head swiveled around to look at the man who’d spoken. “Finally awake, eh?”

Without a pause to take a breath, Cerron glared at the newcomer. “Who are you, and what do you want with us?” Cerron snarled, straining against the chains effortlessly. Coarse bark dug into his back, but he didn’t care much now.

“Ah, ah, ah,” the man said, and waved his finger as if telling off a naughty child. “Not so fast, young man. I’m Awre, the knight King Morris sent out when Knight Keri returned speaking of brain-washed princesses and a terrible cold.”

A raging fire burned in the hearth of Cerron’s chest, and he wriggled around in an effort at getting loose. “What have you done to her?” he spat, and nodded sharply at Maria. “If you have hurt her -”

“Then what?” Awre asked curiously. “Will you kill me? Will you set your knights on me? Declare war on my Kingdom?” He cocked his head, and tapped his lips before lighting up. “Oh, that’s right! You can’t.”

“What have you done to her?” Cerron yelled, snarling like an animal. He felt like an animal, wild and raw and furious.

“Shut up!” Awre cried, and strode towards him before punching him in the face.

Cerron turned at the impact to ease the blow, and grunted at the back of his throat. A dull, aching pain bloomed on his cheek, and his nose throbbed painfully. “What have you done?” he repeated forcefully, ignoring the pain, and turned back around to glare at Awre.

His skin looked dark, but it was probably only tan. Everything looked darker than normal when he was angry. Awre punched him again, and a thick substance – blood, Cerron thought drowsily, I’m bleeding – trickled down Cerron’s chin. “She’s just asleep,” Awre sneered. “I didn’t even punch her that hard.”

Cerron’s mind went blank. “You utter fucking bastard,” he snarled. “You punched her?”

“Shut the fuck up!” Awre screamed, and kicked him in the ribs. Cerron gasped, and his back arched painfully as he coughed. “I had to, you’ve obviously brainwashed her, since she refused to go back home with me!”

“She is not brainwashed,” Cerron grunted. There was copper on his tongue and something salty at the back of his throat, and even when he spat it didn’t go away. He didn’t care. He couldn’t care. “Everything she has done, she has done out of her free will.”

This time he received a punch to the side of the head, and Undera spun as he let out a choked gasp. “I don’t believe you,” Awre whispered harshly. “You’re all lying scum.”

Blood trickled down the side of Cerron’s face, and he shook his head to get it away. It didn’t do anything but make him feel dizzier, however, and Awre took it as an answer.

“Can’t speak, eh?” he mocked. “I must’ve twisted your tongue with my shocking truth!”

“The only liar here is you,” Cerron said, and closed his eyes as he received yet another kick, this one to his stomach. He gasped after air, and then slunk back in relief as Awre took a few steps away from him.

Before the man could give a reply, a soft, pained groan came from the other side of the clearing, and two pairs of keen eyes snapped over to the source.

Maria, Cerron thought. Thank Nie.

It was, indeed, Maria, who was blinking sluggishly and rubbing at her eyes as she slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position. “Ah, you’re finally awake,” Awre said, his voice suddenly warm and welcoming. “Fear not, my lady, you’re-”

Before he could finish his sentence, however, Maria groggily swept her gaze over their surroundings – and her eyes landed on Cerron. The fog that had been clouding them cleared up, and she gasped. “-Cerron?” she whispered, eyes wider than he’d ever seen them as she struggled to stand up. It didn’t take long for her to understand what had been happening before she woke up, and she glared hotly at Awre.

Cerron caught a glimpse of the raging fire he’d gotten familiar with, and he smiled a slow, dangerous smile. “Oh, now you’ve made her angry,” he drawled. There was blood in his mouth and something was clogging his throat so that he couldn’t breathe properly, but that wouldn’t stop him from gloating.

Awre turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow. “And? She’s just a girl, how much harm can she do?”

And Cerron, battered and bruised and bloody, grinned from beneath his bangs. It was not a nice smile. “Fool,” he purred, and before Awre could turn around to face Maria, she’d kicked him in the crotch.

Awre yelped out in pain, and fell to his knees. Maria, scowling fiercely, bent her knee and kicked him in the face, as hard as she could, while he was down. She did it again, and again, and then a few times more, until he laid unconscious on the ground and small drops of red shone up at them from the snow around his head.

Cerron’s uneven heartbeat thundered in his ears, and for a few moments that, and Maria’s heavy breathing, was the only things that were audible within the clearing. “I would have applauded,” Cerron said, for Maria was simply staring at Awre’s fallen body in a mixture of shock and disgust. “But my hands are unfortunately tied.”

“Cerron,” Maria breathed, and, tearing her gaze away from Awre, stumbled towards Cerron through the thick snow. “What happened?” Maria asked, and tugged fruitlessly at the chains keeping him in place.

Cerron shuddered. “We had a disagreement,” he said, and noticed, now that there was nothing else to notice, that his arms had begun to tremble from the overwhelming cold.

Maria laughed, breathlessly and nervously. “I can tell!” she said, and then her brows furrowed in concern and her nose creased with frustration. “Ünner,” she cursed, before tugging off a woolen glove. Without hesitation, she pressed her bare hand to his neck, and Cerron hissed at the contact. Her palm, which had once been just a few degrees warmer than his, now seemed like it was on fire. “Cerron, you’re cold as ice!” Maria exclaimed, and pulled off her other glove to press it to his forehead. “Oh, oh no, oh no, your lips are turning blue,” she rambled, and when she brought away her hand there was a dark-red smudge on her palm. “Oh no. Oh Nie. Oh no.”

Cerron’s vision swam, and he finally noticed that the cape Maria was wearing was far too large for her. “You – you’re wearing my - my cape,” he remarked, and through his fogged mind he realized that his teeth were chattering, and that the cold was seeping into his bones.

Instantly, and even though Cerron hadn’t meant for her to do so, Maria reached up to tug off the cape. With some minor help from Cerron, she managed to stuff it in between his shoulders and the rough bark behind him, and then she had him twist his hands to hold the wool in a tight grip through the chains. “There,” she rushed, and took a step backwards. “Okay, stay like that, don’t move, and I’ll replace his keys.”

Instead of telling her that Awre probably didn’t have any keys because Cerron was meant to die, he nodded his head and closed his eyes. He was still cold, the chains were icing over and still digging into his flesh uncomfortably, but at least the cape helped a little. The chattering of his teeth wasn’t as bad as it had been just a few moments ago, but the chill still made his bones tremble in fear of death.

“Yes!” Maria hissed, and with a sharp tingle of metal clanking against metal, she hurried over to Cerron again. “I found them! Now, where’s the lock?”

Cerron had no answer to that, so Maria stumbled through the snow around the tree to see if she could replace any lock.

“Oh, thank Nie,” Maria breathed, and the metal around Cerron’s arms and chest fell away.

He couldn’t feel his legs, and just barely move his stiff fingers, and therefore Cerron could no nothing but slide to the ground with a soft sigh. He rubbed, with trembling fingers, at the flesh that the chains had been rubbing against, and reveled in the fresh freedom.

Maria nearly fell on her way back to him, and when she got there, she tore of her cloak and wrapped it around his shoulders, before grabbing the cape where it had fallen to cover Cerron with more clothing. “I’m going to rib that ass from most of his clothes,” Maria snarled. “And anything else he might have,” she added, as if an afterthought, and Cerron nodded mindlessly.

It might have been only a few seconds, and it might have been an hour, but Maria eventually returned to where Cerron sat sunken on the ground. She removed the cape, only to throw more clothing over his head. He couldn’t tell what it was, only that it was far too large for him and also impossibly warm.

He couldn’t even stutter a thank you, but Maria seemed to understand, and with a sob that wrenched out of her very soul, she pulled him against herself in a tight embrace. “Don’t die on me now,” she whispered into his hair, and Cerron could feel her hands through the four layers of clothing. “We can do this.”

Cerron didn’t have the strength to tell her that Demons had been known to survive far worse than this, it wasn’t even a roroly, and instead he nodded against the warm flesh of her neck.

Maria held him for some time longer, and then she released him with a small sigh. “I’m going to try and tie him up. I won’t be able to chain him to the tree, but at least I can hinder his movements.” Cerron nodded again, his eyes closing almost against his will. He was so tired, and the darkness seemed so welcoming… from darkness we have come, and to darkness we shall return.

Maria could handle this, couldn’t she?

“Cerron,” Maria hissed, and Cerron blinked drowsily at her. There were tears in her eyes as she glared at him, but there was no fire in her gaze and no hate on her lips. “Don’t go to sleep,” she begged. “Please, I don’t even know where we are, I don’t know what to do if you die out here – I don’t know what to do if you die, Cerron, stay alive, please.”

Cerron held her gaze for a moment more. She was truly a strong personality – and the most honest person Cerron had ever met, as well. A thought that had been at the back of his mind for some time sprung up, again, and Cerron thought why not.

“He – hetin,” he began, and Maria blinked before her expression cleared at the beginning of a question. “K – ka Mïzelmásä?”

Maria started to cry, then, and sunk to her knees once more. She took his cold hands and her touch burned, but Cerron didn’t complain. She brought his hands up to her face and pressed her lips to his palms in a faint kiss. “Yes,” she whispered tearfully, and nodded frantically. “Yes, Cerron, if you stay alive I will be your Queen, but you cannot go to sleep.”

Releasing a shivering breath, Cerron nodded. “I won’t,” he muttered, and Maria released his hands.

“We’re gonna talk about that,” she told him softly, and stood up in one fluid motion. “But later. That man might wake up any moment.”

Cerron nodded again, and could only watch absentmindedly while Maria, with a mighty heave and a shove, managed to get Awre up in a sitting position. She moved too fast for Cerron to keep track off, and when he blinked, she’d already managed to twist the chain around Awre’s wide torso twice.

At last, Maria returned to Cerron’s side. “Can you walk?” she asked softly.

“I can – I can try,” Cerron mumbled, and struggled to his feet. They shook, he could tell, and he was starting to regain some minor feeling in them. His toes, however, were still dead to him. “Yes,” Cerron said, and nodded shakily.

“Good,” said Maria, and still supported him when they made their way over to where Awre sat knocked out on the ground. “See, there,” Maria muttered, and helped Cerron over to a tree. “Lean against that tree.”

Cerron did so without complaint, and then Maria stomped over to Awre. The fire was back in her eyes, and with a fierce scowl, she slapped him. As if she had worked magic, Awre groaned, and his eyes fluttered open. “Wh – what?” he muttered sluggishly, squinting at Maria who stood before him. “Lady Maria!” he exclaimed, before looking down at himself in surprise. “What have you done?”

“Tied you up, you pig,” Maria spat. “You shall leave this place alive, but only if you return to my father and tell him that I am very much not brainwashed, as you seem to think.”

Cerron remembered, absentmindedly, that he hadn’t told Maria that, and then he recalled that Awre had said something about speaking to her or having to punch her or something like that.

Punch her.

Cerron growled, and Awre’s attention snapped from Maria and over to Cerron, who pushed himself away from the tree and stalked towards where he sat. Well, he tried to stalk. It was more like a graceful waddle.

Awre gaped. “Are you still alive?”

“Yes, and very much so,” Cerron glared. “As I told you, Maria has not –” He took a pause to blink as Undera spun, and then his glare returned, just as fierce as it had been before. “Maria has not been brainwashed.”

Maria frowned worriedly at him. “Indeed, I have not. As I just told him.” Then she shook her head and faces Awre once more. “I have been staying with Cerron out of my free will, and not some dirty tricks.”

Awre grunted. “That’s what you think,” he argued, and trashed against the chains. “But I don’t believe you!”

Maria huffed, and set her hands on her hips with a scowl. “Very well,” she said, and the frigid air around them could not compete with the chill of her voice. “I can tell that we will not get anywhere with this. Cerron,” she snapped sharply, and twisted her head to look at him. “Do you still have that vial of Marly?”

Cerron blinked, his still-fogged mind having some trouble keeping up with two languages spoken almost at once. “Oh, Hell-Liquid,” he said, then, and his hand went to his neck to feel after the thin chain he should have there.

By all wonders, it was still there, and he pulled it off before holding it out for Maria to take.

Instead of simply accepting the vial, Maria grabbed Cerron’s hand and pulled him closer.

Awre hissed, and scooted away from them with all his might. “Get that thing away from me!” he cried, and there was true fear glowing in his eyes.

“Relax,” Maria said. “Cerron is a Truth Demon. His Ability allows him, and others, to see if we are speaking the truth. Nothing harmful.” Maria, who hadn’t let go of Cerron’s hand, turned it so that his palm was facing the sky. “First, we’ll state some obvious truths, and then some obvious lies, so that you see how it works.”

She pulled at the cork of the vial, and it went out with a pop. Then she proceeded to pour some of the thick liquid into his palm.

Cerron felt almost like coming home, as he, and many other Demons, always did whenever they used their powers. And use his powers he did, for he closed his eyes and searched for that pale light that shone within his soul.

Maria pressed her palm flat against his, and the same pale light that filled Cerron poured into the air around them.

Awre shuddered. “You’re sure this ain’t harmful in any way?”

“I am sure,” Maria replied, coolly. “Okay, statement one. I am a female human.”

“Maria is a female human,” Cerron repeated, and the air around them trembled before turning red.

“Cerron is a male demon,” Maria proceeded to say.

“I am a male demon,” Cerron repeated, but the air didn’t change colors.

Awre shuddered, again, and Cerron realized that it wasn’t from fear, but from the cold. “Okay,” the man muttered. “Well, say this. Awre Eltun is younger than 42 years.”

“Awre Eltun is younger than 42 years,” they said, and when the air faded into a pale blue, Maria wrinkled her nose in disgust.

“Awre Eltun’s favorite animal is the Duleddy,” Awre said.

Maria and Cerron repeated it, and the air turned from blue to red.

Awre huffed, pain evident in his eyes. “Fine,” he muttered. “That Liquid thing obviously says when both of you are speaking the truth, but what if just one of you are lying?”

“I am a female human,” Cerron said promptly, and when Maria repeated it, the air turned blue again.

“Okay,” Awre growled. “Okay! I get it. You can show me when you’re lying or not!”

Maria turned to smile pleasantly at him. “How nice,” she said. “Are you ready for the painful truth?” Without waiting for Awre’s reply, Maria turned back to Cerron. “I have not been brainwashed by anyone, ever, in my entire life.”

“I have not brainwashed anyone, ever, in my entire life,” Cerron repeated dutifully.

The air around them faded into red.

“I have not been pressured into doing anything that might harm me, my family, or my friends, neither emotionally or physically, while I have been staying at the Castle of Leron. Everything I have done has been of my own, free will.”

Cerron blinked. That was too much for him to repeat in his current state, and so he stuttered out a lame, “I am a Demon.” He knew that it would be enough for Marlyn, but it was still awkward to spout something like that after Maria’s well-worded declaration.

The air around them, however, didn’t care, as the color stubbornly stayed a pale red.

Awre whined. “Truly,” he whispered, and Cerron pulled back his hand, which had begun to shake under the strain of holding it up. He dried away the remaining Marly on the cape he was wearing, and Maria did the same. “You’ve – actually stayed. Out of your free will.”

The man was slumped over, a terrified look on his face and a hurt glint in his eyes.

“I have,” Maria said. “Now, before we leave you here, we have a few questions.”

Defeated, Awre closed his eyes, hung his head, and nodded.

It didn’t take them very long to extract their location (near the coast, at the outskirts of a local village south of Leron) and how Awre had gotten into the castle (most of the guards had been absent because of the search after Maria, and the ones that remained were easy enough to get past) out of him. After that, the two of them left with the promise of having someone come replace him before he died of the cold.

Maria had to support Cerron through most of the forest, as he still couldn’t feel his toes and had just barely regained control of his legs. He was going to survive. If he summoned a Healer Demon fast enough, then he could avoid the worst of any sickness, as well.

When they finally stumbled into the village, it took only one look from a local to recognize him, and after that, everything went smoothly until he was once more back at the castle.

Corel had him into a warm bath in no time, and after that, Dinna fetched him with the promise of a thick blanket and a cup of hot chocolate in front of the fire.

Things were okay. Things were going to be okay.

Three weeks later, Maria sought out Cerron while he was in the deserted ballroom. He was standing by the windows, his back facing his Mother’s grand piano.

The piano that no one except Maria had played on after his Mother had died.

Cerron heard her enter, so he was not surprised when her soft voice filled the empty room echoing of a past long forgotten. “Cerron, can I talk to you?” she asked, the words spoken gently.

“Of course,” Cerron replied, and turned around to face her. The candle she held lit up her face by casting it in a faded, golden glow, and he knew that his own candle did the same, where it was located near his right elbow.

Maria walked over to the windows and set down the candle on the wide windowsill. “I -” she began, but cut herself short with a small frown. “It concerns what you asked of me three weeks ago.”

Cerron stilled. He had hoped she would have forgotten about that. With a sigh, he turned back around to gaze into the utter darkness just outside of the windows in an attempt at escaping Maria’s impossibly soft gaze. “Apologies, my Lady,” he said, and out of the corner of his eye he caught her frowning unhappily. “I was not in my right mind, and neither were you, at the time. It was wrong of me to ask you something like that.”

“But it must have come from somewhere!” Maria exclaimed, throwing her arms out in a wide circle. “You must’ve had a reason to ask!”

A beat of silence. “I did,” Cerron whispered.

Another beat. “…Cerron,” Maria said, softly, so softly. Everything about her was soft now; she was shedding her scales and laying herself weaponless and vulnerable in front of him. “Do you love me?”

Cerron blinked, and turned to look at her again. “Of course I do,” he confirmed, baffled at why she would doubt that. Maria’s eyes widened as her mouth fell open, and only then did Cerron realize what kind of love she was talking about. “-like a friend!” he hurried to assure her. “A family member! I am not in love with you!”

If the situation would have been any other, Cerron would have felt slightly offended by the relieved look on Maria’s face. He understood where it came from, however, and was instead glad that it was not disappointment. “Then - why did you ask?” Maria continued. “Where did it come from?”

Cerron sighed. “I was raised on politics,” he said, and turned away once more. “They have, are, and will always be at the back of my mind – and currently, the best solution for the Demon Kingdom would be… would be if…” He swallowed. He couldn’t make himself say it, and his knuckles turned white at the tight grip he had around the edge of the window-sill. How could he? Why had he even dared to think about asking it of her? He was so stupid – to think, risking their friendship for politics.

“If we married,” Maria finished softly. “I see.”

“I do apologize, Maria,” Cerron offered, in all honesty. “I really am sorry. It was cruel of me to put you into that situation at the time.”

Maria gaped and raised her eyebrows. “No, no!” she rushed, stumbling forward and waving her hands. “Cerron, I was raised on politics, too, although not as harshly as you!” She took a deep breath. “I – I know what you mean. And I agree with you. Besides, the Human Kingdom does need heirs, after all. I can’t let my aunt take control. That would end in disaster...” she added the last part in a dark mutter.

Cerron blinked. She couldn’t possibly be saying what he thought she was saying. “I – am not sure if I understand what you mean,” he said carefully, shaking his head lightly as he asked for confirmation, or perhaps an explanation.

Maria rolled her eyes. “I’m saying that I accept your proposal, you oblivious goof!”

Cerron blinked again. “Oh,” he said. “You – you do? Okay. Okay, well – that’s. Okay.”

Maria laughed. “If you don’t want to that’s fine, Cerron, just tell me. It’s not like you’re gonna hurt my feelings.”

Cerron nodded, his eyes wide. “Right,” he said. “No, I want to. The Kingdom wants – needs – oh, Nie. How do I say this without sounding awkward?”

Maria snorted into her sleeve, and the stars were in her eyes. “Cerron, it’s fine,” she offered helpfully. “I get what you mean.”

“Good,” Cerron muttered. “That’s – good. Yes. So. Proposal.”

“Yes.” Maria said, and smiled. “I’m getting married to the Demon King. My father will be so disappointed.”

Cerron frowned worriedly. Was she backing out of it? But no, his fears were unnecessary, as Maria opened her mouth and spoke again.

“So, when’s the wedding?”