Hush, love.
Even when she was alone, crying for the earth she could not feel and the sky she could not see, she heard him in the darkness and felt his gentle caress. She spent much of her time alone, wandering the onyx halls and counting down the seconds until she could resurface, and yet she often felt his presence in the emptiness. She was beginning to wonder if he ever truly left her at all.
"I cannot," she would say, again and again, and she would continue to cry until she ran dry and her chest felt heavy with all the tears she could not shed. Distantly she would register her pain mirrored in his eyes on the few occasions that he actually appeared before her, but she was often too far lost within her own despair that she couldn't bring herself to care about his.
The days were long, but the nights were longer. Their bed was so often cold and she slept alone most nights, the howls of the dead weaving into her dreams and turning them into snarling nightmares. After a while she learned to simply stay awake, gathering the sheets to her chest and staring up at the ceiling with a kind of emptiness in her eyes.
She was like that on the night that he finally came. He came to her side, walking like a ghost, and she couldn't help but realize that there were worse men to be eternally bound to. While he was, indeed, dark and cold, he had the same handsome features that made his brothers so adored. His hand reached out and brushed some of the hair away from her forehead. "I'm sorry," he said after a long while.
She blinked up at him. "Why?"
He sighed and moved around to the other side of the bed, lying down next to her. He didn't touch her, though, as if sensing her discomfort. "Because I am shamelessly selfish."
She remained silent for a long time before turning toward him and propping herself up on one elbow. "How so?"
"I..." he trailed off, dragging his fingers through his hair in frustration. "I know a great deal about darkness. I spend my days in its embrace. I know how it haunts, how it lingers, how it taints all things pure and beautiful and light. And yet, I brought you down here, and now I find that we are no different than the dark in the light. I see you wilting like a flower without sun. I should not cling to you so."
He did not continue, but she wasn't sure quite what to say. After a long while she lowered herself back down and rested her head back on the pillow, still facing him. He'd turned away, his back to her, and that was how he remained until she finally fell asleep.
She had no nightmares that night.
They dined together sometimes. He always tried to make them spectacular meals, but she often was too distant to notice.
"You do not love me."
He said it during one meal, his words cutting sharply through the silence that had become standard when the two of them spent time together. Her head jerked up, eyes meeting his. He didn't look angry, but his expression demanded honesty. She quickly dropped her gaze. "No, sir, I do not."
"Will you ever?"
She wanted to say no. She wanted to say that she could never love her own captor, someone as dark and terrible as he. But she was slowly learning that he was not entirely awful and his kindness toward her prevented her from hating him. She sighed, eyelids fluttering closed. "I cannot say."
She felt his eyes on her for a few moments before he spoke again. "I want you to be happy, love."
For some reason, that made her chest ache. "I know."
I want to show you something.
They hadn't spoken since the dinner. It had been days. (She'd missed his presence in the shadows.) She looked up, trying to spot him in the darkness, but he was nowhere to be seen.
Come, love. Please.
She paused, uncertain, before trotting after his voice. The halls of his kingdom were so plentiful that she lost herself in the labyrinth, but following him her footsteps had never held more certainty. While she never saw her she felt his smile, something rare and strange, and it made her heart feel slightly lighter.
When they finally reached their destination she stopped in her tracks, drawing in a sharp breath. Her eyes widened.
The walls and floor glittered with precious gems, silver and gold woven between the vibrant hues. Everything shone with its own unique vibrancy, and it filled the room with light.
"Oh," she whispered. Her mind couldn't form words. "Oh."
Do you like it?
"It's..." she cautiously took a step in, drinking it all in. "It's beautiful."
I am not welcome to the color that grows from the earth. The color that glitters within it, however, is mine. You are welcome to as much as you'd like.
In that moment, she realized two things.
The first was that even within darkness, there was color and light.
The second was that yes, one day, she would indeed learn to love him.