The Villain's Hero
I slowly lifted my head, looking up at him.
His hand shook as he stroked my hair back from my face and his face softened into exquisite tenderness as he ran the pad of his thumb under my eye, collecting the trail left by my tears. “You cry a lot, at the moment,” he whispered. “Your eyes are often bloodshot and swollen by tears. I saw you… crying at the river, last night… Do you cry because… of me?”
I swallowed thickly. That rustle of stones falling down the bank had been Aien and not a river creature wandering in the night. “Not always,” I said honestly. “But often.”