The city of Byzantium slept as the low rocking of the wave matched the droplets of water trickling in the marble floors of the bath of the imperial palace.
As Eleanor's eyes slightly widened--You do...?
Flaytus then darted out--Then his gaze held something else as it flickered back to her--Then a nod. Eleanor's eyes then fell to the floor as he began to walk in closer--His gaze never leaving hers-- as his fingers then reached out for her Natmika.
Eleanor gritted her lips, her body tensed.
Tears pooled over her eyes as the image of Slav went through her mind, her husband played out in her mind. How he gently he had held her and whispered his love to her.
Now standing Infront of another man, her enslaver, the prince, "how shall she reject him?" Would such a thing happen...?
He didn't need her consent.
Eleanor gritted her teeth as a single droplet of tear rolled down her cheek then down her neck. Then--He stopped.
his head tilted further, his gaze studied her, at how the delicate veins in her hands twisted like ropes. Tears clung her lush forest like lashes Sensing her discomfort, Flaytus's eyebrows furrowed.
After all this time...
Her gaze flickered to him then to the floor: she was in distress. His jaw clenched, he had saved her.He had loved her,she had clung to him--Yet, now...?
Even his fingers disgust her...
Eleanor...? his voice came out low, uncertain. She glanced up at him as tears still clung her eyes. Flaytus gazed at her, his eyes holding thousands of unanswered questions.
"Have I displeased you...?" he asked.
Eleanor's fingers reached her face; she shook her head as she wiped away the remnants of the tears. "No master, you d-didn't"
Then why do you cry? he pressed. She didn't respond, not right after that. Flaytus never left her--"I... have been meaning to ask you this"...
Her eyes shot up to him, w-what is it my master...? her eyebrows raised at seeing his conflicted face
--"Are you married?"
his voice pierced the night as the question alone knocked the air out of Eleanor's lungs.
I... her voice trailed off as her eyes widened at his face--Flaytus was unreadable his eyes were on her, they were pained, they held something else far more than she knew.
M-My master... she murmured, struggling to form any coherent words.
--"Just answer me for heaven's sake Eleanor...
Are you...? his voice faltered.
Eleanor gazed at him then lowered her head--She nods* her sobs then came out, low as she then sensed him back away.
He stood; eyes fixated on her--He was the prince of the holy Byzantine empire for God's sake! With a flick of his finger, he could get whatever he wished-But now... his eyes then flickered to the empty floor, hands clenching to his sides--But now... it didn't matter.
Eleanor panted softly, her head stayed low.
--Because he couldn't get the only thing he really wanted, needed.
Silence fell as she then bowed and walked past him--Her trembling hands reached for the latch, she then without a glance pushed it open and walked.
Leaving him with an indigestible truth.
"She was claimed"... his chest's heaved, she was another man's... his eyes widened slightly as the image of her nodding played out on his mind.
His eyes then darkened with something else--If she wasn't his...
His hands clenched further, "he would make her"
.