noblemagicks / Liliana !
Once given permission, Liliana let her hand venture forwards. Her fingertips gently brushed against his run, running over the scars with all the tenderness of a FEATHER. Making sure her touch was careful and cautious in case he decided it wasn’t wanted. She may as well have been as careful as if she were dealing with an actual wild wolf rather than a man. Still, how he had tensed up from her merely raising her hand hadn’t gone UNNOTICED. Was the other witch truly so cold, so CRUEL? It made Liliana briefly wonder then why she might have viewed her enough of a threat to investigate and what plans she might have. To hurt someone bound to you, even as a noble woman, Liliana couldn’t imagine hurting any of those that served her without REASON.
❝ You weren’t even given a choice? That hardly seems fair. Especially if you were so young. It’s not as if you CHOICE to be born like this. ❞ Perhaps she was speaking from her own experience as well. She hadn’t chosen to be born with magic, and yet many would see her BURNED ALIVE if they knew, if they even thought that it might be true. ❝ You should at least have some say what witch you go with. It’s not exactly FAIR to be told you have to be with one to serve them or what not and then end up abused by them when you were just doing what you were told.If I had——— If I had had any idea you existed and what you were going through——— ❞ What? What could she have possibly done? Probably nothing. She was just a Lady with no real power in such matters and still the sense of DEATH felt wrong. She probably would have felt pity but what else could she do?
As her words trailed off, her fingertips slipped from his face to fall back at her side once more. NOTHING. She wouldn’t have been able to do anything. Killing the other witch had been sheer luck and even using her powers intentionally, she surely would have been no match for her. And if Liliana had gone to her father to beg for his help, he would have had Merek killed all the same whether or not she informed him of the familiar. He would have found out and anyone whose magic he couldn’t CONTROL, they had to be killed. It was another reason why she took to meeting him in secret rather than anywhere else for fear of others noticing and her father growing suspicious.
Even the thought of her wanting to do something against his old master made him smile, just a little bit. It kind of gave him the realization that she was more human than the other one would ever be. Still, her touch was seen as a careful, but he couldn’t stop his muscles from tensing up from the mere movement toward his face. Her touch was soft, not hard. And after a moment, he felt his muscles relax.
❝ There was nothing you could’ve done, my Lady, ❞ he said. A sudden urge to grab her hand and to squeeze it with reassurance, but he didn’t. ❝ But, I appreciate it. ❞ He did, truly.
And he watched as her hand left his face, he watched her eyes. How sincere they were. Maybe that’s how his father looked upon him when he returned with scars on his face. That was how many people looked at him nowadays. A man with scars, a broken boy.
