They deserve it all.

Chapter 53

"I am not jumping in there!"

"Come on! The starlight is breathable for any pure Anakian!"

But I'm not pure ... I'm just Royal. It's a wonder the border lets me through with minimal pain, but though I can swim, I don't want to jump. Because if I do, I'll sink and he'll dive down and laugh and talk to me but I can't hear him, I'll have to struggle to get up there, to take another breath of air, to swim to the light. And he'll be be confused and I'll have to say it, I'll have to say that I'm a quarter human, I'll have to remind not just him but also me about that, that I'm not pure.

"I'm not jumping! I don't even know why you brought me to this cliff!"

He rolls his eyes from down there and keeps gesturing at me to come.

"I'm coming down— down from the mountain! I'll see you in minute!"

He stares at me and I stare back. And as I walk down the mountain, I realize he could've pushed me using a slab of air, or a rock thrown at my feet, to go as far as shaking the mountain and making me fall, I would have done so was I in his position. But he didn't.

When I arrive, I put my feet in the starlight and wiggle them around. Even if I could breathe in starlight, even if I was pure, the makeup, although waterproof, would budge, it would fade somehow someway. And I'm not about to take that risk. And though I have spots on my legs as well, I have a spare maxi skirt in the basket I took here.

"Not coming in?" He asks me as he swims towards me.

"No. I'll stay right here. Much more comfortable."

He rolls on his back and floats around me, using my legs to pull towards me and the walls of the river to push away. And he keeps doing that until he jerks at my leg a little too much.

"I'm not coming in." I tell him sternly.

He smirks and gets closer to me. His hands placed so that he can jump out of the water. His hands right by both my thighs. His thumbs unintentionally grazing my skin. And he pulls his upper body out of the water, showing off his drenched skin, his detailed muscles. He doesn't get out, he just looks at me, each moment getting closer. His hair is stuck to forehead and he tries to throw it out of his face, but it doesn't work, so he looks at me with his wide beautiful brown eyes and he convinces me somehow. I lift my hand and I touch his face before I touch his hair. I can see him following my hand, watch his eyes basically. I see his lips parting. I feel the texture of his hair, feel the warmth of our bodies, so close yet not close enough. And then I put my hand so that I touch his eyebrows, the hairs by his eyebrows I shove away and then I use both my hands. I place them right by his jaw, his sharp jaw in which I can feel his muscle jump. And for a second, just a second, I leave my hands on his jaw. And in that second I meet his eyes, I meet his lovely brown eyes and they stare at me, they stay staring. When I can't hold his eyes anymore, when that second passes, I end up using my hands to shove his hair away, awkwardly and pathetically. I see how botched it look and then feel the odd need to rake his hair so it looks proper. I feel myself getting red, feel myself burning up with each movement of his eyes. First my eyes, then my hair, then my cheeks, my lips, my chin and before he can lower his eyes anymore I take him in a headlock. And he tries to get out but I wrap my legs around his hips and hold him down.

"I'm not coming in." I whisper with force in his ear.

He makes inaudible noises, a few nods and then I let him go. He gasps for air and looks at me with wide eyes.

"My stars ..." He says perplexed. "That was violent ... just where did you go to have learned that." He softly touches his neck. "You didn't use any magic yet it felt like my life was leaving, like I couldn't breathe anymore ..."