The King's Challenge #39

TKC 39

In the gloom of a rainy day, in a city about to be abandoned, with life changing around us by the minute, Damin turns to me and breaks my heart.

“Alyssa is a good person, Lyra, and I did sleep with her, if that is what you want to know.”

I do not want to know. I swallow. Of course five years have passed and I did not expect Damin to remain celibate, and yet I hoped he would. As I have been, not that suitors knocked at my door.

Shrugging, I jerk around and stride along the wet streets. Damin follows, wisely saying no more. I do not watch where I go. By some fate, when I need it most, the close buildings abruptly give way to open space.

I am amazed by the park spread before us. A pond, bridge, trees, benches. Silence and serenity. I need clarity … and space appears. Is this inner instinct?

“Lyra.”

Shaking my head, I make my way onto the stone bridge. I stare into the water. Raindrops form circles and spirals. When Damin is beside me, I look up. “Did you love her?”

“For a time, yes. I questioned everything I was and she made me forget. I could not hear her the way I hear you and it was a comfort.”

“Why did it end?”

He stares into the water. “I heard you one night as if you were beside me as you are now. You were sobbing, so hurt, agony in your soul. Your face …” He takes my face into his hands and shifts aside hair covering my left temple to touch a scar there. “They stoned you, two eyes. I wanted to kill someone. I knew then I loved you more than life. I ended it that same night.”