I think this is the right way to do it... Brave Enough by Lindsey Sterling for Jude and Cardan
Here ya go hun! enjoy and I’m too tired to think up a title so let’s just call it...
Brave Enough
Jude strolled into the apartment, an odd sort of smile plastered on her face. She moved with a slight bounce jumping into the microfiber couch. Grabbing a handful of popcorn from the bowl sitting on the coffee table. Tossing each piece in her mouth. She was acting differently. Happier than usual. Honeyed colored eyes were ablaze. She looked like she said something to say and given her actions, it was good news. Cardan glanced up from his book, watching her with curiosity at first. Until his gaze fell on his lips. Watching how her deep crimson lips moved as she chewed. Followed by her pink tongue sweeping over her top and bottom of her mouth. Swallowing thickly his throat bobbed and Cardan felt his heart hammered at her beaming smile. He wouldn't, he couldn’t let her know that her very presence around him brighten his day. Instead, he looked at her out of the corner of his eyes. Acting as if she disturbed him.
“What’s with the face Duarte? Make some kids cry?” Cardan teased, flipping another page in his book, “And get your popcorn.”
“I would, but why when there’s a perfectly good bowl here?” Cardan huffed out a response. Sometimes she couldn’t believe they’ve lived together for two years when she acted this way. Like Jude owned everything including him. In a way she did. But that was his secret., “I didn’t make anyone cry either,” she clipped.
“Then...are you going to tell me? Or are we going to play guessing games all day?”
It was this moment her excitement turned nervousness. As if she was nervous about how he’d react to whatever she’d say. The only thing he could think of was that she would be moving out. Panic started to fill him at the thought. He didn’t want to go a day without food stealing, messy roommate, the intoxicating scent of blackcurrants that was so undeniably Jude. Cardan couldn’t imagine missing drunken take out nights and trashy tv, then passing out on the sofa with her. There was nothing worse than her moving out. The pang in his chest hit him harder than he cared to admit. Least of all her. Yeah, it was their as prominent as the sun shining through the windows of their lofty condo. Or as real as Jude and Cardan. Jude moving out was something he wasn’t ready for. Being honest with himself. He wasn’t sure if he’ would ever be ready.
“I have a date. On Saturday,” Jude confessed.
Cardan sat upright, closing his book and blinking at her, opening and closing his mouth several times. Oh. This was worse.
“With who?” he questioned sitting the book down.
He wasn’t paying attention, focusing on Jude, the book fell to the ground hitting his foot. Cardan swallowed the pain. It didn’t matter. The throbbing pain was nothing compared to his insides twisting in agony. His pulse quickening. It fell like someone took the very air from his lungs.
“Locke Liriope.”
Oh, mother above. This was only getting worse. Locke was once Cardan’s best friend and old roommate. Until he found him in bed with his then-girlfriend. Cardan moved out, finding Jude. In the beginning, Jude stressed him out and infuriated him every day.
Clothes everywhere, Dishes stacked, wet towels on the bathroom floor. And she always forgot about the laundry in the washing machine. He spent the better part of the first months playing maid and arguing with her. He wasn’t sure when it changed. When she started getting better at it and treating Cardan like a roommate instead. They still had their squabbles over chores, tv, bills, books, and who’s cooking next. He fell into a domesticated rhythm with her. Before he knew it, like a thief in the night, Jude had captured his heart. Now she isn’t even aware of the death grip she has on it.
How that very name squeezed blackened his heart. Cardan could feel each beat slowing as Locke’s name off her lips reverberated in his mind. Jude was pulling him down like an anchor in the sea. If only he could tell her how he felt. To summon up some form of bravery and say those three little words. They worked so hard on being friends. That it was best to keep the thought to himself. What they had now, this beautiful friendship, he was too scared to lose it. And now. Now it was too late.
Jude clicked her tongue, standing from the sofa, “Cool. I at least expected you to say something witty if not congratulations. I’m happy for you. Silence honestly-”
“You can’t date him. He’s a cheating asshole,” His voice turned venomous as he spat out the words. Cardan stood towering over Jude.
She scoffed resting her hands on her hips, tilting her head as she glared at him, “ You have a say in this why?”
A burning flame into those honeyed eyes. Good. let her be filled with fury and rage. Cardan ran his fingers through the thick, inky strands trailing down to rub the nape of his neck while shrugging nonchalantly in the process. His mind and heart working as one, for once in his miserable existence. Both shouting at him to tell her. He wasn’t good at listening. Never was.
“You don’t want to know,” is the only reply he gave and it made him want to drag his palm over his face for the stupidity of those words.
Jude worked her jaw, folding her arms tightly across her chest. Her face remained expressionless, “What?” she stood there facing him. The air between them thickening with tension like a dense fog. Jude pinched the bridge of her nose, “Let me get this straight. You didn’t ask me to not go on a date. You told me,” she seethed, tone rising and filling with anger at each word, “ When I asked you why. You said I don’t want to know. Are you jealous?”
Yes
Cardan scoffed in disbelief, “I’m not jealous Jude. Out of all the people in the world, Locke is the one I won’t be jealous of.”
“Right,” She responded, clicking her tongue. A cold flame in her eyes, “Well if you have no reason then I won’t be around Saturday night,” She turned to leave.
Cardan grabbed her wrist. She turned around to face him holding his gaze. His heart thundering wildly in his chest. Wanting to tell her she deserves so much more than a date with that cheating bastard. Maybe a date with him. The words fumbled over his tongue. He hated feeling so damn cowardly about this. At least he could tell her about NIcasia.
“Okay wait. You remember I said my ex cheated on me.”
“Yeah. With your roommate what does that have to do with anything?” she snapped, once again glaring at in his direction.
“He let out a breath, “Locke was my roommate. They were seeing each other behind my back for three months. I found them in my bed.” Jude wants to wrap her arms around him. Take away the hurt that lingered in his tone.
Eyes black as night searched hers, holding a different emotion that made Jude’s stomach flip. Gingerly, he cupped her face, trailing a thumb along the edges of her cheekbone. Neither was sure when they moved closer, breaths mingling. The fog of tension slowly disperses around them. Slowly Cardan drifted his gaze to her full red lips, pink tongue sweeping over them. Jude fluttered her eyes close, tilting her head. Cardan pressed his lips to hers. It was soft, warm, and far too quick. Like a breeze in summer.
“Please don’t go on this date Jude,” she could hear the brokenness in him. The remainder of a pain long past, the implication of her going on a date with someone would break his heart in two.
Cardan wasn’t brave enough to tell her the words he longed to say. Not yet. He hoped with his confession and a touch of his lips that she knew.
Congrats on 1k!!🥳💜 Your gorgeous writing deserves it😍 For the mutual mixtape, do you think you could do Manorian + K. by Cigarettes After Sex as a drabble, please? 😘✌️
🥺🥺🥰 Aww thank you love! You’re so sweet!
I’ll wait forever
Song of Choice- K.- Cigarettes After Sex (I actually made this a drabble *pats self on back*)
Dorian climbed the stairs up to his old chambers. His footsteps along the cool stone are the only sounds to be heard. Parts of the palace were still being reworked and this was one of them. It had been five months since they saved Terrasen and all of Erilea from Erawan and Meave. Five months since he had seen her. The night of Aelin’s coronation where the two of them poured all their passion and love into each other throughout the night. Holding Manon until she slept soundly in his arms. It was as good as it would be with her for sometime, he knew that. Yet he wished she could stay with him and never leave.
He told himself every night, every day that Manon hadn’t visited because she was busy delegating in the witch kingdom. As time passed he was beginning to think she’d never return to him. Perhaps as the last Crochan queen she found her place and no need to look back. The feeling unsettled him. More than he cared to admit. It was there and grew ever present as days wore on.
He despised only having Manon in his mind, his dreams. Despised that the tip of his fingers could not run along her skin, or through strands of hair kissed by moonlight. The dreams he had of crimson lips and golden eyes were more haunting than blissful. It pained him and yet, he couldn’t let go. Believing she would one day return.
Dorian wasn’t sure when he fell for the half Crochan, half Ironteeth witch. He knew the first time she stayed and slept in his arms, that Manon was no distraction. She was more than that, and slowly she healed the cracks in his heart from Sorscha. With every smirk, kiss, touch, the way she loved her people and Abraxos. Cold on the outside, but on the inside she was burning with love only few could see. He considered himself lucky to have been so close he could touch that fire.
His palm moved along the smooth stone walls as he reached the hall. There were still scratches and marks littered across the stones from when the witches attacked Adarlan. If he shut his eyes he could still hear servants screaming during the chaos of it all. Dorian made his way through the isolated hall reaching the wrought iron door. He yanked it open with a loud thud. The door groaned with an almost eerie sound as he stepped in.
There was no debris scattered along the floor anymore. The bed had been removed as well as most of the furniture. Whether saved or tossed he didn’t know. From what transpired here, thrown out was his estimation. Dorian could picture Manon flying into his chambers on Abraxos. Her face all the might of a warrior ready for bloodshed. Her eyes when she landed on him were mingled with worry and care. He knew she’d still deny it. The King of Adarlan smiled at the thought wandering to the edge of the room. Towards the gaping hole on the side. He saw the building she landed on mere nights after the Valg Prince was cast from his body. How she waved at him. He waved at her.
Gods above did he miss her. Perhaps he should have taken her on the marriage alliance. Dorian sat on the floor with a soft plop staring out into the darkened skies. Thinking of all the times they were entangled together. The nights during and after Morath where he thought of her. Not only the way she felt when they laid together and forgot the world. But how she said his name when she reached her high. Like he was her divine salvation. When they stayed in their camp on a cot talking of the shared burden of crowns. Thinking of the way she shielded herself from worrying of him. When he knew deep down Manon was terrified for him. It was that moment, when she refused to speak to him for days, that he could tell her feelings were changing. She was starting to feel something genuine and true.
Now as he sits on the cold stone floor, feeling more like a boy with a broken heart. Than a King ruling a land. Resting his cheek on his fist, fingers tracing the floor making icy swirls in their wake as he sighed deeply out of frustration and boredom. Being separated from her, Dorian learned one thing. He preferred the world just with her and no one else. A foolish thought for a king and wItch queen, it was one that gave him comfort nonetheless. That and the thought of kissing and holding her until she fell asleep in his arms.
“Manon,” he spoke to the open air, watching the stars twinkling in the night. Wondering if she’s looking at the same ones, “I know it’s stupid and you can’t hear me. I wish you’d come back already. I’ve been waiting for you and I still will. However long it takes.”
It was that moment, he heard the thunderous roar of a Wyvren.
@piratejudedemdji here ya go hun! I had this sitting in my drafts and thought I hit publish forever ago. With the song edits. It's literally just a edit/moodie with some lyrics from the song chosen.
