#insecurities she forgot she had come rushing to the forefront

[susiesamurai]

mina ingellvar x lucanis dellamorte

The energy in the room suddenly shifted as Lucanis all but stalked towards her. An unintentional step backwards had Mina’s back making contact with the cool stone wall. Wide dark eyes tracking his every movement as he raised an arm and boxed her in.

While only being half an inch shorter, Lucanis almost seemed to loom over her. Mina was suddenly hit by the intimacy of the small room, pooling shadows and flickering candle and the smell of coffee beans.

“This isn’t a good idea.”

Impossibly his voice seemed lower than usual, his Antivan accent turning the words thick and syrupy in his mouth. Embarrassingly Mina could not stop her eyes from fluttering at the proximity, her legs feeling oddly weak. This close she could see how the candlelight gilded the angles of his face with gold. The scattering of moles like constellations she longed to trace with her finger. Long thick lashes surrounding eyes that were darker than usual.

Teasing the edge of her senses was another voice. Spite. Chattering over Lucanis’ shoulder.

“Smells like…honey!” A pause. “Why is Bones’. Heart racing? What’s wrong with. Bones?!”

It was enough of a distraction for Mina to catch her breath. To allow a small smile to curve her lips as she replied, “that depends entirely on who you ask.”

Leaning closer with a smile of his own Lucanis whispered in her ear, “you like to walk a little too close to the edge.”

Reaching out, Mina hooked her finger around the silver chain connecting the two crow head pins at his collar. Gently pulling it towards her she looked up through her lashes, “so do you.”

“At least I know I’m doing it.”

He was so close now. So close that she could feel his breath against her cheek, a prickling sensation in its wake. The warmth of his hand as it curved around her waist to rest in the dip of her lower back. Fingers spread wide and sending jolts of electricity up her spine. In response her hand pressed against his chest, over his heart.

Just as their lips were about to meet, the pounding of his heart beneath her palm increased in tempo. His nose gently skimming her cheekbone as he turned away. Eyes fluttering open she caught a glimpse of the anguish in his eyes as he took a step away.

“I…forgive me,” Lucanis muttered as he ran a trembling hand through his hair. “I need to clear my head.”

“COWARD! LUCANIS UPSET BONES! BONES SMELLS LIKE SALT AND OZONE!”

Just before he was about to escape into the dining room, Mina turned to look at him over her shoulder. Through the fall of auburn hair her dark eyes were hard and bright with unshed tears.

“He’s right you know,” Mina felt her lips twitch as Lucanis flinched at her implication. “You are a coward.”

Eyes wide at her admission, that she had hidden being able to hear Spite for this long, Lucanis slipped away between one blink and the next.

Alone in the cloying atmosphere of the pantry, what was once intimate now oppressive, Mina allowed herself to cry.