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18
KRISTA
“He’s taking longer than usual,” I mutter as I twirl my finger in the water of the pond.
I look over my shoulder toward the direction of the palace. Once the moon’s at its zenith, we meet here to spend time together. Lasta’s one to take pride in being punctual. I’m starting to worry that he might not come.
I take my finger out of the water and warm it against my dress. I’ll just wait a little longer before sneaking back to my room. My heart already stings at the fact that I possibly won’t see him tonight. A knot forms in my throat and my hands get clammy at the thought of being without him, even just this once.
I press a hand over my chest, calming my racing heart and stopping any kind of negative self-talk. I’m sure he got caught up with work and wanted to take care of other things before coming. That’s it.
With a sigh, I pace around our meeting spot, admiring the surroundings that never seem to lose its charm. Quickly, I get bored at the sight, already looking back towards the palace. I consider whether I should just go look for him myself, even though I’m not really supposed to do that.
“Krista.” Finally, I hear the gruff voice I always long for.
I turn towards Lasta, ready to run to him, but the expression on his face stops me. I slowly walk over to him, cautiously searching his face for a clue to the source of his bad mood.
He holds his hand out for me, and I take it. He pulls me suddenly, taking the air out of my lungs for just a moment. Then, he squeezes me tight as I hear him ‘sniff’ me with his tongue.
I press my ear over his chest, wanting to hear his heartbeat, finding it the most comforting sound in the world. He breathes hard, like he’s trying to contain his frustration. So, I carefully break the hug to look up at him.
“Is everything okay?”
“Be silent for a moment,” he orders as he pushes my head back on his chest.
We stand there, just holding each other. Instead of relishing in his embrace, I start to get nervous. There’s a growling deep in his chest that only gets louder as I wait. It makes me think back, wondering if I did something wrong or disobeyed one of his rules.
I wait for him to break the hug or even say the first word. After a few more moments of absolute silence, he loosens his hold.
“Did you wait long?” he asks, caressing my left cheek.
“A little. I was worried something happened to you.”
He sighs and looks away. I notice him clenching his jaw, and the slits in his eyes grow thin. He darts them all around, as if searching for movement. Something definitely happened if he’s acting this cautious.
He pulls me towards a darker area, checking our surroundings once more.
“There’s a problem on our hands,” he finally says.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, trying not to sound panicked.
Sensing my uneasiness, he holds the sides of my arms.
“Don’t worry so much about it, but it appears that we may have been found out.”
“By whom? The king?”
He shakes his head. “No. A soldier of mine, Seliss, accused me of having a love affair with you, a human.”
“O-Oh, I see. And… what did you say?”
I stop myself from expressing my hope that he defended our relationship. At least maybe he said something that proves that I mean something to him.
As much as I want to believe this is more than just a bedsport, I’d like to have something I can hang that hope on. The truth is that I still worry.
“I denied it, of course. I wasn’t aware how much he was against human-naga mating.”
Just like that, there’s a prick in my heart. “I see,” I utter, hiding my disappointment. “What else did he say?”
