A/N: Anyone and anything you recognize is the properties of the great TP, not myself.
Liam Ironarm watched Alanna sleeping by the fire. Her head was turned away from him, brilliant red hair falling softly against her face and bedroll. Her body was finally still, no longer shaking from the tears Liam knew she had shed. He wanted to reach out, to touch her, to wipe away the tears and hold her in his arms, but he couldn't. Not without that stomach dropping out from under him feeling again, the tight clench of fear acoss his heart.
Magic, he shuddered. How could I fall for someone with MAGIC.
But he had. Fallen hard and fast, unable to resist those violet eyes, that pert smile, her sharp tongue. But more than that, her ability to keep him always guessing, his respect for her fighting skills, for her eagerness to learn, her education and pride without being another stuffy noble.
Liam touched the scars on his face. Alanna loved him, despite those scars. But he couldn't love her in the same capacity. You're a fool, he told himself. Just tell her. She'll understand. Mithros Liam are you the Shang Dragon or what? Slowly he stood, and crept to where Alanna lay. Her hands were curled into fists, tucked under her chin, the lines in her face softened, eyelashes suddenly very feminine against her cheeks. Liam touched his hand gently to her head, tucking a stray piece of hair back behind her ear. He felt her reach for his touch and allowed his hand to stray over her face, caressing her cheek.
"Kitten, forgive me," he whispered. "Gods it would be so much easier if I didn't love you. I—I know you feel it, too. We can't be anything, not like how I am. I can't be with you forever if I'm scared of you." He touched his scars again, tracing a particularly rough one that went from the center of his forehead to his right eyebrow.
"We were attacked, Alanna. Me, an' the Wildcat, and two other Shang. Bandits. They had a mage, a strong one, I tried to take him down but, he touched me, you see? You feel, when you kiss me, when you touch me at night? Only when he touched my face it burned, so Gods-cursed badly."
Liam swallowed, feeling the fire of magic on his face again.
"I couldn't fight it. I could only stand there and feel the burning, watching my friends fight for their lives. They didn't know if I'd live. It took forever for the mage to be killed. We're not Gifted, you see? No Shang can be. Maybe there should be some that are. But there weren't any and it was just luck that an arrow hit him. Then his spell stopped, the fire let me go but it left me this…" Liam traced the scars again.
"I can't fight magic, Alanna. I'm the Dragon. I'm…I'm one of the best. Like you. But different, always different. If your weapons were gone, your hands tied, you could still use your Gift. Against magic I am as weak as a kitten in the spring. It would have been so easy to kill me. I wouldn't have been able to even get in a punch of kick. I would have been just…gone. You…you've killed with your magic, kitten. I know you've healed but you've also killed. Against men as helpless against magic as I was."
Liam swallowed, his eyes suddenly bright as he forced the tears to stay checked behind his eyes.
"You see? This could never work. Your Prince…or Cooper, they don't fear you. They'd make you happy."
Alanna moved slightly under his hand and Liam pulled back quickly, moving to the other side of the fire, not wanting her to see his face like this, his eyes bright with tears.
"Forgive me, Alanna," he whispered.