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What she was about to do was stupid.
Utterly stupid, and probably her ultimate undoing.
But seeing him gaze at the sky, the stars reflecting in his brown eyes, she couldn’t help but hope.
“Anakin.”
He turned to look at her. She met his gaze with one that she hoped was firm and earnest, despite the way her heart did backflips in her chest.
“I like you.”
There, she said it; so simple, yet they felt heavy on her tongue. She didn’t know what kind of face she was making, not that she could control it now anyway. A split second of silence passed as he processed those words.
Then, an explosion.
He shielded her, and the moment was gone as it plunged into chaos.
Medea’s words echoed in Eris’s mind like a haunting, faraway mantra. Never go anywhere alone.
“Stop it, Your Highness,” Eris begged, feeling the back of her thighs hit the bed as the Crown Prince stepped closer. “Stop! Think of Helena!”
But Alecto’s eyes were empty, devoid of emotion, like he was somewhere else, and it was just his body here to do a duty that neither of them wanted.
It was only when he pushed her onto the bed did she feel herself shaking. Medea’s voice rang in her head once more. Never go anywhere alone.
“Anakin!” Eris cried out, her eyes watering and blurring her vision, turning Alecto into a faceless dark figure, as she violently struggled against his grip.
It was like iron. No matter how much she thrashed, she couldn’t muster the strength to throw him off. The fear only worsened when he pressed his weight into her.
No. This can’t be happening.
No!
Her voice cracked as she yelled out again, desperate and afraid: “Anakin!”
She turned and grabbed the vase, hitting Alecto on the side of the head as hard as she could. The sound was grisly, and there was blood and it didn’t kill him, but it was enough to make him pause.
Then, the Crown Prince was pulled off her.
She had yet to process what was happening. The sharp whistle of a sword slicing through the air; the grotesque sound of blood spilled. And Anakin was there, panting heavily, the corpse of royalty in a puddle of blood at his feet.
“Master.”
His voice broke her out of her fight-or-flight. She flew forward and he promptly caught her in his arms.
“Anakin,” she sobbed, gripping his tunic so hard that it almost tore. “You’re here.”
Anakin hugged her tightly, his jaw clenched and eyes closed. Relief. Dread. Fear of what might’ve happened had he been a second too late.
“Master,” he murmured, burying his face into her hair as she held onto him like a woman drowning. “I’m here.”
He eyed the vase on the bed, the bloodstain on its side, and he felt sick. His master had almost been forced to have blood on her hands.
Thank god, if there was one, that it didn’t come to that.
Eris’s face was pressed against his chest, tears soaking into his shirt. The myriad of emotions in her heart was too complicated to describe with one word, and so they all accumulated into an endless stream of tears.
He could feel trembling as he held her close, but was that from her, or from him?
Then came the bells, and the witches.
Holding onto her tightly as Medea and the others formed a circle around them, with magic glowing beneath their feet, he could feel Eris lean into him, her eyes slightly swollen from the tears, but otherwise relaxed.
“I’m glad you’re with me,” she murmured, right as the room filled with a blinding light.
He held her a little tighter.
As they sat down on that terrace, gazing up at the sky once more in a strange sense of deja vu, Eris recalled the first time they had been in this moment.
She glanced at Anakin. Did he even hear her confession? Or was everything just too fast-paced and messy to process?
This time, instead of looking at the sky, he turned to meet her curious eyes. Despite not saying anything, it was there in his gaze— what he knew, what he acknowledged, what was left unsaid between them.
With a soft smile, he reached out, offering his hand, and she took it. Vulnerable and exposed for him to see... for once, she didn’t feel like that was a bad thing.
She returned his gentle smile. He didn't have to say it for her to know what he meant.
I’ll never let you be alone.
The explosion came again, and this time, they were prepared.
~~